The Charity Commission and the Fundraising Regulator have issued a joint regulator alert reminding charities about the legal requirements of working with third party fundraisers.

Yesterday afternoon, shortly before a documentary exposing poor practices at some military charities was shown, the two regulators issued a joint warning reminding trustees of their legal duties to oversee fundraising. 

The two regulators said they were aware of a number of cases “where trustees have entered into arrangements with third party fundraisers that are not transparent and are detrimental to the charity and its supporters”. 

David Holdsworth, chief operating officer at the Charity Commission, said: "We are aware of and concerned about a growing number of cases where arrangements are in place that appear to be set up in ways that deliberately avoid the statutory regulations.

“These protections were put in place for the benefit of the public to ensure that fundraising is carried out in a way that is fair, open and transparent. These principles are ones we would reasonably expect any charity to agree with and try to meet in order to uphold the standards that the public, who give so generously to charity, expect."

The alert can be viewed here.