What we do

The first step to ensuring that charities in England and Wales really are all operating for the public benefit and independently from government or commercial interest, is to maintain a comprehensive register. We have oversight of a large part of the sector because charities submit accounts and an annual return which we use to maintain the Register of Charities and provide other key public information.

Once charities are registered, another area of our work involves providing them with advice and guidance or using our legal powers to help them to fulfil their aims and objectives. We encourage a culture of innovation and pragmatism to support continuous improvement and deliver sensible outcomes.

We aim to prevent difficulties from arising in charities in the first place through outreach work with the sector, the general public, government departments and other regulators, providing a framework of guidance and policies within which charities operate. We define best practice and encourage collaborative working across the sector through our partnership approach. We also operate a call centre which takes over 250,000 calls for guidance and information every year.

Even those with the best of intentions can make mistakes but in a small minority of cases, a charity is harmed as a result of deliberate wrong-doing. We have an expert investigatory and compliance role engaging with charities in a way which will make most difference to them and those who benefit from them. Investigations generally involve multi-disciplinary teams which include lawyers, forensic accountants and intelligence analysts.

The Commission also has a separately funded International Programme. This works with NGO sectors and governments internationally to promote healthy NGO regulation and civil society.