The National Council for Christian Standards in Society was established in 1986 to promote religion and religious education.
The regulator previously issued the charity with advice, making clear it must separate its charitable work from the political lobbying activities of Christian Voice, a connected, non-charitable body.
Advice given included ensuring a separate entity carries out any non-charitable work, evidencing a clear division of how each organisation is run and removing 'Christian Voice' as the charity's working name on the Register of Charities. The trustees did not take sufficient steps to act on this advice, which has led the regulator to now issue an Official Warning.
The Official Warning sets out actions the charity's trustees need to take to rectify the misconduct and/or mismanagement, including acting on previous advice. The regulator has also identified that the charity needs to amend its ambiguous purposes to ensure they are exclusively charitable. Failing to take remedial steps to address issues identified by the regulator can result in the charity facing further regulatory action.
Tracy Howarth, Assistant Director for Casework at the Charity Commission, said:
It's clear this charity has not taken our previous advice on board and so we have issued an Official Warning with the expectation that changes are made at pace. When carrying out any activity, trustees must consider how it helps meet their charitable purposes and if they are acting within charity law. We, and the public, expect this of charities as a minimum.
This intervention should serve as a reminder for all trustees to take any advice and guidance they receive from us seriously. As regulator, we issue guidance to help trustees ensure their charity is run well to deliver for beneficiaries. If we step in, we're giving advice to help avoid further regulatory action.
