The class enquiry has been running since 2013 and focuses on charities that have failed to file annual reports, accounts and returns for two or more years.

Initially investigators concentrated on those charities with a last known income of over £500,000, and this was subsequently extended to smaller charities with income of maximum £250,000. This has now been reduced further to £225,000, drawing 74 charities in total into the inquiry.

Over half of those – 48 charities - under investigation responded by filing accounts correctly.

This resulted in over £48m of funds being transparently accounted for on the Register of Charities, and outstanding accounting information being provided.

Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: ‘As we continue to target defaulting charities, the message to trustees is simple; submitting this annual information is your legal responsibility, even if you delegate it to charity staff or your accountants to do.

‘We regularly remind charities throughout the year about their approaching deadlines, and have recently launched a tool which allows third parties to submit accounts, making the process easier for those involved.

‘Our inquiry has already resulted in millions of charitable funds being publically accounted for on the Register of Charities, and we will continue to crack down on defaulters, showing that we will not tolerate charities that demonstrate contempt for the public and their donors by failing to meet reporting requirements.’

Due to the number of charities involved, the Commission staggered this phase, releasing details of those brought into the enquiry in phases.

Those added in to the inquiry in November 2014 include:

• Friends of Horim Establishments Tel Aviv and Arad[1]
• Morris Feinmann Homes Trust
• Michael Batt Charitable Trust[2]
• Gaunts House Charitable Foundation Ltd[3]
• Marbitzei Torah

In January, the investigation was broadened to include charities with a last known income of £200,000 to £249,999. Under this phase, 12 charities were added to the inquiry between 26 January and 29 January 2015, including:

• Dominion Bible Church
• Shree Sorathia Prajapati Community UK
• The A S Charitable Trust
• The Barry Green Memorial Fund
• Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurudwara (Sikh Temple)
• Truro Methodist Church
• Orkney House Community Nursery
• Ezras Yisroel Trust
• Schools for Hope
• Shalom Employment Action Centre
• The Redeemed Evangelical Mission
• Qur’ani Murkuz Trust

All Charity Commission inquiry reports are available here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/charity-commission-reports-decisions-alerts-and-statements