The letter responds to the Government's new social cohesion strategy, ‘Protecting What Matters’, which proposes expanding the Commission's powers to remove charitable status and disqualify trustees and senior managers.
The signatories, which include leaders from some of the UK’s largest civil society infrastructure bodies alongside faith-based and community organisations, call on the Government to engage with the sector through meaningful consultation before any changes to Charity Commission powers are introduced, in accordance with the Civil Society Covenant.
CFG’s co-CEO, Clare Mills, commented: “Charities across the country are at the heart of local communities and play an incredibly vital role in bringing people together. We therefore welcome the government’s commitment to improving social cohesion and tackling hate and discrimination.
“We are keen to understand more about the proposed measures to expand the Charity Commission’s powers and how ‘extremism’ is to be defined. We want to ensure any changes don’t have the unintended consequence of curbs on legitimate campaigning by charities and other organisations that exist to drive positive change.
“We look forward to more details being laid out in the consultation.”
Both DCMS and the Charity Commission have now responded to the joint letter. You can read their response in the Third Sector article below.
Further reading
New Charity Commission powers could suppress advocacy and campaigning, culture secretary warned | Third Sector
Quakers among charities warning new regulator powers could stifle advocacy | Charities | The Guardian
LinkedIn post from ACEVO CEO, Jane Ide OBE
LinkedIn post from NCVO Chief Influencing Officer, Leigh Brimicombe
« Back to all news