The Charity Commission has launched a website dedicated to helping charities in the fight against fraud, providing an initial point of reference for trustees, staff and volunteers in a bid to clamp down on the estimated £2bn of VAT fraud
Estimates of the scale of charity fraud in recent years vary between nearly £150m and almost £2bn per annum, and the loss to fraud has a significant impact on the work that charities do.
Charities are at risk from internal fraud by employees and volunteers, as well as external fraud with fake or sham charities unscrupulously collecting donations and duping the public.
The launch coincides with a week of action aimed at cutting fraud levels across the charity sector. Charity fraud awareness week runs from 24-28 October and is a concerted campaign aimed at limiting fraud risk at charities.
The aim is to ensure that trustees and charity staff can recognise the warning signs of fraud and shape an effective and proportionate response.
The website has been developed in collaboration with members of the charity sector counter fraud group and offers guidance, tips and case studies.
Any frauds reported to the Charity Commission will be investigated by the regulator, who will:
- consider whether the criminal activity indicates there has been mismanagement in the charity;
- decide whether it needs to act to protect charity property; and
- make sure trustees are dealing with any incidence of fraud responsibly and are taking appropriate steps to ensure that the charity is better protected so that it does not happen again.
Trustees should report any fraud in their charity to the police immediately, and also to the Charity Commission, under its dedicated reporting facility at [email protected].
Michelle Russell, director of investigations monitoring and enforcement at the Charity Commission said: ‘Fraud can thrive in an environment of weak governance and poor financial management, so we are reminding charity staff and trustees to seek out the good practice guidance that is widely available and to review their charity’s financial controls and procedures.’
The Charities against Fraud website is here
