# Commission serves first ever official warning to local authority over charity mismanagement

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2024/09/02/commission-serves-first-ever-official-warning-to-local-authority-over-charity-mismanagement/
- Published: 2024-09-02T09:50:39+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The Charity Commission has issued Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council with
its first ever official warning to a local authority after the council failed to
comply with its duties as trustee of 13 charities.**

Charities overseen by this council include the Bacup Road Recreational Ground, Tetley
Memorial Park and Public Central Library.  

According to the [Charity Commission](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission),
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council has failed to file annual returns and accounts
for all 13 charities, which have been overdue for several years. The official warning
states that this, and the council’s failure to comply with an action plan the Commission
issued to it in 2023, amounts to misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration
of the charities.  

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The council must now file all outstanding accounts and also needs to: 

 * Implement processes to ensure all 13 charities are compliant with their accounting
   responsibilities going forward  
 * Provide up-to-date contact details for all charities 
 * Locate and identify all 13 charities on a local register containing details about
   the charities and their assets 
 * Hold regular trustee meetings, ensuring all councillors are aware of their duties
   and responsibilities – treating all charities as separate entities 
 * Review financial controls of all charities, taking steps to record and implement
   processes as well as provide evidence of this action to the Commission. 

The Commission has warned that failure by the council to take remedial steps and
any additional breach of duty may lead to further regulatory action. 

Tracy Howarth, Assistant Director of Regulatory Services, at the Charity Commission
said:

> “All trustees have a responsibility to their charities and beneficiaries to ensure
> that their charities are well managed. This is a duty that is really important
> when vital community assets are in their care.
>  
> “In failing to file accounts or take action, even after we provided advice and
> gave support to comply with our instructions, Calderdale Council fell below the
> standard we, and the public, expect of trustees. In light of this we have now 
> issued it with an Official Warning, which is the first time we’ve used this power
> with any council.
>  
> “All local authorities who serve as trustees should take note of our advice to
> ensure they understand what it means to be a trustee.”

The Commission’s Chief Executive David Holdsworth recently [wrote to all local authorities](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-local-authority-chief-executives)
warning them of the “significant administrative headaches” councils could face from
any failure to correctly comply with their duties. In his letter, Holdsworth set
out actions they can take to ensure compliance with their duties, including reviewing
the regulator’s newly [updated guidance for local authorities as charity trustees](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authorities-as-charity-trustees)
and [supporting guide for councillors.](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authorities-as-charity-trustees/d41c2473-904d-4bbf-b8d3-652591facf21)

The letter also advised charities to keep a register of charitable assets and land
held to help ensure any council correctly manages them in their capacity as a trustee,
with the Commission stating that failing to correctly identify charitable assets
could lead to the loss of public facilities that people rely on and, where charity
law is not correctly followed, its intervention. 

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