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This resource provides a UK charity complaints policy template and explains the Charity Commission complaints procedures and how to:
The third section has templates for complaints and to obtain information for your complaint. If you want a complaints policy template for your charity, it's 1 of 40+ you can download from within Charity Excellence system: everything is free.
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If possible, it's always best to try and resolve your concern informally. This section explains how to complain about a charity and, if that's not successful or for more serious issues, how to report and complain about a charity to the Charity Commission E&W and/or other regulators.
You should complain to the charity in the first instance, unless you suspect illegal activity, in which case you may wish to consider calling the Police (Tel:101).
You could simply phone or talk to a member of the charity. Charities exist to help people and the vast majority will respond positively and do their best to resolve your issue.
If that doesn't work, or you feel unable to, or for more serious issues, many will have a complaints procedure, which you can ask for. If you are a staff member, you should use the grievance procedure, or in certain circumstances for specific serious issues, the whistleblowing procedure (Public Disclosure Act). If you need advice, you could contact the Acas helpline.
See below for a charity complaints template.
You can use the Charity Commission complaints procedure to report or complain about a charity if it is, for example:
Here are links to the relevant Charity Commission complaints procedures:
There are different regulators and slightly different reporting procedures in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Other Regulators. There are a whole range of regulators, either for sectors, such as education, health and social care, to specific activities such as data protection and health and safety.
Parliamentary Ombudsman. You can ultimately take your concern to the Ombudsman, but not until you have completed other complaint procedures.
This section explains the different ways to complain about the Charity Commission E&W and the additional steps you can take if your compliant isn't addressed.
You should complain to the Charity Commission within 3 months of the event or outcome that you are complaining about. See below for advice on how to make an effective complaint. You need to tell them what you think:
The Charity Commission aims to respond within 30 working days. If they don't, send them a hastener.
If you are not satisfied, with their response to your complaint, you have 1 month to ask for it to be reviewed by a member of the Records, Information, Governance & Assurance (RIGA) team.
If you remain unsatisfied, you can complain to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. You need to make your complaint to an MP within a year of when you became aware of the problem. The MP then needs to pass your complaint to the P&HSO for you. You can complain if the Commission has not acted properly or fairly or has given you a poor service and not put things right. If the P&HSO decides that they have got things wrong that have had a negative effect on you, it can recommend what the Commission should do about this. You can contact the P&HSO on 0345 015 4033.
If you are unhappy with a Charity Commission decision, such as refusing registration of your charity, it might be worth responding immediately asking for them to reconsider. This may be worth doing, if you are quickly able to respond to any issues they have raised, or they have simply got it wrong. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
The next step is to seek a decision review. This will reconsider the original decision to determine whether it is legitimate and justifiable within the facts and circumstances of the case. At the end of the review the Commission will clearly explain its decision and what further action, if any, it will take. The Commission’s instructions to its own staff on managing a decision review can be found in its operational guidance OG 736-1.
You do not need to go through the decision review process before applying to the First Tier (Charity) Tribunal.
The First Tier Tribunal (often called the Charity Tribunal) enables charities to challenge a decision by the Commission and, if found in your favour, to direct the Charity Commission to act.
You do not need to be a lawyer to submit an application and there is no cost in doing so. I've now submitted 3 applications and on each occasion the Commission conceded and registered the charity. However, obviously legal advice really helps. For organisations that provide pro bono legal support, click the AI bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and ask it to find some for you.
You should submit your application within 42 days of the decision you wish to appeal, but you can ask for an extension of this.
You can find the guidance on the Tribunal here and there's also this comprehensive video by Law Works.
You can contact them by phone (020 3936 8963) or e mail grc@justice.gov.uk. I've found them to be very helpful.
The Charity Tribunal staff, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Parliamentary Ombudsman all provide advice and help. All 3 are external bodies that are able to hold the Commission accountable. You may also be able to take legal action through the courts, but for most of us that probably isn't an option - seek legal advice, if you think it is.
I provide a friendly, low cost service, if you wish your Charity Commission queries responded to, or a decision challenged. I’ve never failed to register a charity and 100% of fees are used to help fund the Charity Excellence charity. Details here. However, I am not a lawyer, so not competent to offer professional opinion. If you need legal advice, then you should seek it. You can find a number of organisations that provide pro bono legal advice using the Legal Pro Bono search on Help Finder. Yopu need to register and login but it's free.
If you think you need more information, you may submit a subject access request and/or, for public authorities, a freedom of information request. I've inserted 2 templates to help you below.
You can download an example charity complaints policy in Word format from within the Charity Excellence system. Just register then login; everything is free. Once logged in, click the AI bunny icon, then his Policies button, then ask him nicely for any policy and he'll hop off and get it for you.
You may well feel angry, but the purpose of your complaint is to get the get the charity or Charity Commission to address your concern, so you need to make your case politely and well. We all make mistakes (self included) and you just might be wrong?
The majority of issues I deal with are about charity registration, so I've used this as an example that may be helpful in making a compliant.
When I write something when I'm angry, or which I think may not go down well, I never send it immediately. Instead, I leave it for a day or so and then read it again and redraft it. Sometimes extensively! Alternatively, ask someone you know to read your draft complaint and give you honest feedback on how you might improve it, based on the points above.
You have the right to ask the Charity Commission, or another organisation, whether or not they are using or storing your personal information. You can also ask them for copies of your personal information, verbally or in writing. I've submitted an SAR and they ignored every e mail I sent to them, so I complained to the ICO.
This is called the right of access and is commonly known as making a subject access request or SAR. You can find the ICO guidance here. The Commission's own guidance is here and they may require you to provide proof of identity. You should receive a response within 30 days. Here's an e mail template that I've used.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I wish to make a subject access request in respect of myself. That is any information held about me, either as <name>, or as a director/trustee of <organisation>, including any derivatives, or other names relating to myself.
This documentation may include the names of other charity volunteers; <names>. They have given their consent for this to be released and are copied in, in case you may wish specific consent from them. However, for them, or any other individuals, you are welcome to redact their personal information, prior to sending the document to me.
I wish all information held to be sent to me, except that for which I am an addressee and already have this. In the event that you consider any of this to be exempt from disclosure, please identify the nature and purpose of this, and the basis on which you believe it to be exempt.
I have provided one form of proof of identity and one form of proof of address. I look forward to receiving this information within the Commission’s 28 day deadline.
Send it to RIGA@charitycommission.gov.uk.
The Charity Commission has to respond to your request within one month. If you have made a number of requests or your request is complex, they may need extra time to consider your request and they can take up to an extra two months to respond. If they are going to do this, they should let you know within one month that they need more time and why. If they don't respond, hasten them.
If they do not provide some/all of the information, you should complain to them and, if still unsatisfied, you can complain to the ICO. My experience on ICO case management was really poor. However, that's just my opinion and I may be wrong (and frequently am), so don't let that put you off.
They also have a dedicated help service for small organisations that you can contact for help and advice. I've used them several times and they've been really helpful.
You may ask for any information that is held by a public authority.
Here is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance on how to do that and below is an e mail template that I have used.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please provide all information, including any notes, minutes, email or other correspondence, relating to the ........................ and any other derivative names that refer to the organisation.
The charity registration application (number .....................) was submitted on <date>.
The individuals/departments whom we are aware have been involved in this case are names/appointments.......................... There may well be others. We wish all information held to be sent to us. In the event that you consider any of this to be exempt from disclosure to us, please identify the nature and purpose of this, and the basis on which you believe it to be exempt.
.................................... are the trustees of the charity. They have given their consent that any personal information regarding themselves may be released under this FOIA request. I have copied them in, as verification of this. If you require it, please contact them and they will send any relevant consent needed immediately.
We would prefer to receive this in digital form. In the event that the documentation is too large to be sent by e mail, we would be content to receive this as a zip file, by file transfer, or other method. If there are documents only in hard copy, please send these to the following address .......................
We look forward to your response within the next 20 days, thank you.
For the Charity Commission, e Mail your application to FOIRequests@charitycommission.gov.uk. They should respond within 20 working days. If they don't, send them a hastener.
There are various exemptions that may entitle the Commission to not release information. You can find details here. In 2020, the Charity Commission fully responded to the lowest proportion of freedom of information requests. That's not exactly reassuring. If they refuse to release some or all of the information, you can appeal against the decision and, if they still do not, you can complain to the ICO. The ICO has a dedicated help service for small organisations that you can contact for help and advice.
My request to the Commission in late 2021 was refused. I managed to take down most of their arguments, but they said that revealing information about my case would expose internal processes that might be exploited by fraudsters. I mean it was a charity registration and I was asking what had been said about me, not their processes, and both Downing Street and the MoD have released FOIA information, but whatever.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think using an FOIA is probably OK for general stats, but not for specific casework - use a Subject Access Request (above).
The Commission aims to ensure that it complies with all aspects of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s ‘Principles of Good Administration’ in all aspects of service delivery which can be viewed at www.ombudsman.org.uk.
You can find more details here.
The CEO of the Charity Commission published a blog on 10 Jan 22, in which she said:
.......we must continue to regulate charities proportionately, robustly and transparently, and further improve the experiences charities have when they engage with us.
If you feel you haven't been treated proportionately or your experience hasn't been all that good, you could always quote her. I'm sure they'd welcome your thoughts to help them achieve their aims in 2022.
And if your complaint is about charity registration, go to my guide on this, which includes the Charity Commission's targets and reported performance, which may be useful for you.
A registered charity ourselves, the CEF works for any non profit, not just charities.
Plus, 100+downloadable funder lists, 40+ policies, 8 online health checks and the huge resource base.
Quick, simple and very effective.
Find Funding, Free Help & Resources - Everything Is Free.
To access help and resources on anything to do with running a charity, including funding, click the AI Bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and ask it short questions, including key words. Register, then login and the in-system AI Bunny is able to write funding bids and download 40+ charity policy templates as well.
