The Charity Commission has closed a regulatory compliance case into Citizens Advice after assessing complaints of “internal discrimination and political activities” last year.
In September, campaigning charity UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote to Citizens Advice about “worrying complaints” regarding alleged political campaigning and actions that it said breached its charitable objects, commission guidelines and UK law.
The letter shows that the “incidents and activities” related to staff supporting Palestine at work, including the publication of social media posts and use of the Palestinian flag as background during virtual meetings.
UKLFI raised these concerns with the commission which were then passed to a casework manager in the compliance casework team.
In October, the commission opened a compliance case into Citizens Advice to engage with its trustees and gather more information.
The commission has now closed its case and is not taking further action after finding no breach of the charity’s objects or legal duties.
‘This was an internal matter’
A commission spokesperson told Civil Society: “We opened a regulatory compliance case into the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and engaged with its trustees to assess concerns that the charity had breached its objects and legal duties relating to campaigning and political activity.
“The commission found that this was an internal matter for the charity’s trustees to address rather than an activity carried out by the charity, and it appeared that it wasn’t a breach of the charity’s objects or legal duties.
“As part of the case, we issued regulatory advice to the trustees.”
In a letter to UKLFI, the commission said the alleged campaigning and political activity was “undertaken by Unite the Union or took place during a union meeting”, rather than Citizens Advice itself.
“The trustees provided assurances to demonstrate that they’ve considered and reviewed the concerns raised with them and that they’re taking reasonable steps to manage the situation,” the letter reads.
“This includes obtaining legal advice, reviewing internal policies, and reminding employees of their duties when fulfilling union activity on (or using) the charity’s property.”
The letter adds that Citizens Advice was not the petition’s author and did not engage in boycotting any products.
“The trustees also provided assurances that they didn’t procure lanyards displaying the Palestinian flag for its employees, nor did they promote their use.”
UKLFI’s response
In response, Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI, said the complaints were not that Citizens Advice had promoted the anti-Israel political campaigns, petitions and lanyards but that it had “done nothing to prevent them”.
“Indeed, many managers at Citizens Advice had themselves participated in the anti-Israel petition,” she told Civil Society.
“This had caused a feeling of harassment and intimidation at work for Jewish employees, and certainly any Jewish clients would be shocked and offended by seeing Citizens Advice members promoting the Palestine cause after the 7 October massacre.”
She added: “It remains to be seen whether this behaviour will now be curbed, following the regulatory advice it has been given by the Charity Commission.”
More charities reported to regulator
Separately, UKLFI recently wrote to 12 charities it said are associated with the Climate Justice Coalition (CJC), which it alleges “may have been acting illegally” by signing up to CJC’s “campaigns against Israel”.
UKLFI accused CJC of listing “anti-Israel campaigns on its website”, including a campaign against arms sales to the country with Global Justice Now and a petition for a ceasefire with Friends of the Earth.
“Several of the charities which are either members or associated with CJC don’t include political campaigning against Israel as part of their charitable objects,” UKLFI said.
“Charities are allowed to conduct political campaigns as long as they further their charitable objectives, but in the case of the 12 charities identified by UKLFI, this wasn’t the case.
UKLFI wrote to the charities in mid-November before reporting them to the regulator for allegedly “breaching” their charitable objects.
A commission spokesperson said: “Concerns have been raised with us about a number of charities allegedly undertaking political activity outside of their charitable purposes.
“We’re currently assessing these to determine if there is a role for the commission, and any next steps.”
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