Bristol based charity We Care Foundation has had its bank accounts frozen while the Charity Commission investigates concerns around payments to its trustees and their companies.

The charity provides financial aid to victims of war and natural disasters abroad, as well as aid for refugees living in Bristol.

But its accounts have now been frozen by the regulator as it looks into “substantial payments from the charity to its trustees and companies for which they are directors”.

These payments were not included in the charity’s accounts “and have not been adequately explained to the Commission”.

The regulator first became involved with the charity two years ago amid concerns in its governance and financial management around the payments to its trustees.

This includes concerns around the charity only having two trustees, a married couple, for a period.

While their role at the charity “should have been limited to appointing the required number of trustees” instead the regulator is concerns “that significant decisions” around the charity's finances and management were made.

The regulator’s inquiry, which had opened in January, is looking into whether the trustees are complying with their legal duties, whether accurate financial information has been provided and around the “unauthorised” payments to third parties linked to trustees.

The order to freeze the charity’s bank account was made in March.

The Commission has emphasised that the inquiry is not a finding of wrongdoing, and it has not yet made any conclusions.

According to the charities register We Care Foundation has three trustees and eight volunteers. Its spending in the year ending April 2023 was £22,283, however its income was £216,498 over the same period

---