The Charity Commission has issued One Young World with an official warning after finding governance failings and breaches of trust at the organisation.
The regulator opened a compliance case into the charity in September 2022 after reports of its six-figure salaries paid to its CEO Kate Robertson.
As Robertson had also been a trustee of the charity for 10 years, the Commission’s probe found that bonus payments made to her were not covered by earlier permission to compensate a trustee for their employment and were therefore unauthorised.
“The regulator accepts that the trustees made these bonus payments in good faith at the time, and the trustees in turn now agree that they should have sought specific authority on this point”, the Commission said.
According to the official warning, the charity had a legal duty to seek authority for the payments from the Commission because of its governing document.
The regulator has provided advice to the charity, which it has already implemented such as Robertson stepping down from her additional role as a trustee in October.
One Young World hosts annual summits for young leaders, one of which was attended by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Conflicts of interest ‘not properly managed’
The Commission's probe found that the charity did not keep accurate records of trustee decision-making or their steps to identify, manage and avoid conflicts of interest.
It found that the salary paid to an employee connected to one of the trustees was unauthorised under the requirements of the charity’s governing document.
It is understood that this refers to the salary paid to managing director Ella Robertson McKay, who is the daughter of the charity’s chief executive.
The regulator found breaches of trust by the charity’s trustees which included poor minute-taking, a lack of evidence that conflicts of interest had been effectively managed and unauthorised payments to a connected person employed by the charity’s trading subsidiary.
Alongside the official warning, the regulator has provided an action plan for the charity that requires trustees to address its “governance and administrative failures”.
Failure to do so could lead to further action by the Commission, it warned.
‘Uncovered governance errors’
Tracy Howarth, assistant director for casework at the Charity Commission, said: “Our engagement with One Young World uncovered governance errors that every charity should take care to avoid when managing a charity, especially in relation to executive pay and conflicts of interest.
“We welcome efforts the trustees have made so far in addressing past failings and making improvements to the charity’s administration and governance.
“The official warning sets out the further improvements we now expect the trustees to make. We will continue to monitor their progress.”
A spokesperson for the regulator advised charities to read its guidance on conflicts of interest to avoid similar mistakes.
Charity responds
“One Young World is naturally disappointed at the Charity Commission’s findings over two limited administrative errors. However, the charity also sees this as an opportunity,” the charity said in a statement.
“The Commission’s decision was a consequence of two particular, historic mistakes in legal processes, originally dating from 2015, which were – unfortunately – the result of the trustees’ placing reliance on their former professional advisers, which they did entirely in good faith.
“Even so, the board of trustees do, of course, regret these issues in process ever arose. However, there is no suggestion whatsoever that any senior executives nor trustees did anything wilfully wrong or untoward in either case - and the Commission recognised senior executives and trustees acted in good faith.
“Nevertheless, as a result of the findings and with the Charity Commission’s stimulus, One Young World’s senior executives and board of trustees has evolved several of its administrative and governance processes to make sure these technical errors do not happen in the future. It has also, notably, appointed new legal advisors.”
