A Charity Commission investigation has found misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of a Catholic charity that repeated failed to file its accounts on time.

However, the regulator has welcomed steps taken by trustees at the Order of Friars Minor Conventual to tackle its problems.

A statutory inquiry was launched in November 2024 after repeated failures to file accounts at the charity, which was set up almost 60 years ago to support the charitable work of the order of Franciscan friars, which dates to the 13th century.

This followed the charity entering the regulator’s double defaulters’ inquiry for charities that have failed to file their accounts for two years.

The probe found that the charity “lacked a number of” policies and procedures, particularly in relation to its financial controls.

Asset management issues

Concerns were also raised that two of the charity’s friaries were not registered with the Land Registry and the legal title of one of them was held in the name of former trustees.

The regulator notes though that the charity is working with a firm of consultants to ensure its financial controls improve and to address issues around its properties.

Improvements are also taking place to improve safeguarding procedures to ensure “that any serious incidents are reported to the Commission, auditing their procedures and discussing safeguarding regularly during trustee meetings”.

Also, the regulator found that trustees “knowledge and understanding of the charity’s governing document was limited” as was a policy on managing conflicts of interest.

But the Commission adds that a governance review is to be carried out by the charity, which the regulator says is part of a “complex structure” including charities in Ireland, the United States and Rome.

“The charity’s trustee board has overlapping meetings and membership with a group which oversees the local Order, called ‘the definitory’,” found the regulator.

It added that “The current trustees cooperated fully with the inquiry, accepting that the charity, historically, had not been governed to the standards the Commission expects and are acting proactively to identify and address any shortcomings.

“The Commission is satisfied with the steps the current trustees are taking to improve the governance and financial management of the charity.”

A study published this autumn carried out by financial firm Sorbus suggested that three in four registered charities may not have policies and procedures around financial reserves and controls, risk management, serious incident reporting or managing conflicts of interest.

The Charity Commission points out that many of the charities looked at by the financial firm may have policies in place, but have not reported them to the regulator as only around 100,000 charities are required to do so.

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