The Charity Commission has ordered military charity Support the Heroes to stop fundraising and frozen its assets after opening a statutory inquiry.
This is the first time the Charity Commission has used a new power to direct a charity to cease a specified action. This power was among several granted the regulator in the recent Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act.
Support the Heroes was one of those featured in a BBC Scotland investigation into wrongdoing by military charities. This is the third investigation in recent weeks into a military charity working with firms owned by the same fundraiser – Tony Chadwick. The others are Our Local Heroes and Afghan Heroes.
In all cases, the charities have been criticised for channelling a high percentage of their funds to Chadwick’s firms, and little to beneficiaries. In the case of Support the Heroes, the charity received £191,000 and paid more than £60,000 to Chadwick’s company, Targeted Management.
The Charity Commission issued a statement confirming the investigation.
“The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Support the Heroes on 10 November to further investigate public concerns about fundraising activities conducted on its behalf, and the management of conflicts of interest and arrangements with a professional fundraiser,” the statement said.
“The Commission has directed the charity to suspend fundraising activities until further notice and issued a freezing order on assets held directly by the charity or on its behalf. The decision to open the statutory inquiry follows on from the Commission’s recent preliminary investigation into the charity’s activities. A further public statement will be made in due course.”
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