The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a Leicester-based homelessness charity after reporting that it failed to act on a legal order.
GiftingHumanity was already under investigation as part of the regulator’s double defaulters class inquiry, after the charity failed to supply financial accounts for five consecutive years.
In December last year, the commission ordered the charity to file all outstanding financial information but its trustees failed to do so.
The regulator said this failure to comply with the order amounts to misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.
GiftingHumanity is also, the regulator said, currently operating with an insufficient number of trustees, which is in breach of its governing document.
Therefore, on 13 September, the commission opened a statutory inquiry.
Its investigation will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal obligations regarding the content, preparation and filing of the charity’s accounts and annual returns.
The regulator will assess whether trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance and if the charity has a sufficient number of trustees who are capable of managing it in accordance with its governing document.
It will also consider the extent to which any failings or weaknesses identified in the administration of the charity during the inquiry are a result of misconduct and/or mismanagement by the trustees and extend the scope of the inquiry if further issues emerge.
GiftingHumanity, which also supports people affected by disasters, recorded an income of £247,000 in the year to April 2018.
Its accounts for 2018-19 are overdue by more than 1,700 days, according to the regulator’s website.
