Christian education charity receives official warning over failing to act on regulator's advice

The Charity Commission has issued an official warning to the National Council for Christian Standards in Society (NCCSS) for failing to follow its advice following shortcomings by the charity to separate its charitable work from the activities of its connected, non-charitable organisation.

NCCSS, which was established to promote religion and religious education, was previously issued with advice from the Charity Commission, which stressed that it must separate its charitable work from the political lobbying of its connected, non-charitable body, Christian Voice.  The advice called for NCCSS to ensure that any non-charitable work was carried out by a separate entity, to evidence clearly how each organisation is run and removing 'Christian Voice' as NCCSS's working name from the Register of Charities.

The Charity Commission has now issued an Official Warning to NCCSS following failure by the trustees to take sufficient steps to act on the Commission's advice, citing a need for the charity to rectify the misconduct and/or mismanagement, including acting on the previous advice, or else it will face further regulatory action.

This warning highlights the importance of charity trustees taking any advice issued by the Charity Commission seriously and acting upon it promptly. This also reflects the Commission's continued interest in charities with a close connection with non-charities, and the need to have clear dividing lines between the identities and activities of the two.