Regulator raises ‘perception of bias’ concerns at billionaire's charity

Concerns have been raised by the Charity Commission over the board membership of the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation.

The regulator has told the charity there could be a “perception of bias” as all its trustees are employed by companies connected to Ratcliffe, who is the second richest person in the UK and has been linked with a takeover of Manchester United Football Club in recent months.

While the commission says it is “satisfied” that the billionaire “did not influence the trustees’ decision on how to apply his donations” it adds that its current board make up “may cause a perception of bias or lack of independence which is a risk to the charity’s reputation”.

“The regulator has communicated this concern to trustees, highlighting that while no conflict of loyalty has been identified, the public may believe one to exist,” said the Commission.

“This has been acknowledged by the trustees who have agreed to take steps to appoint at least one trustee who is not employed by a company connected to Sir Jim Ratcliffe.”

The regulator’s assistant director of casework Tracy Howarth added: “We welcome the decision taken by trustees to agree to appointing another member to their board and thank them for their cooperation.”

The regulator’s advice has been made after it closed its regulatory compliance case into a donation made by the Foundation to French charity Club Des Sports Courchevel (CDS) to help build a ski clubhouse, which is used by an “exclusive members” ski club that charges more than £21,000 to join and an annual fee of more than £5,000.

The Commission has concluded that the donation was used to further its charitable purposes as this high fee club only uses a small part of the clubhouse and CDS receives income generated from membership fees.

In addition, the charity, which provides alpine sports opportunities for young people, charges its members “a significantly lower amount” of £25 a month.

“The Commission is satisfied that the facilities and ski programme operated by CDS furthers the charity’s purposes with other trading activities undertaken to generate income,” said the regulator.

It added that “changes have since been made to the website of CDS to make the charitable benefit they provide clearer”.

Howarth said: “The Charity Commission takes all concerns seriously and when necessary, we will open a case to carefully consider issues raised. On this occasion, our case confirmed that the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation had acted in its charitable interests.

“We advise all charities to ensure they communicate about charitable activities in a way that is clear and transparent, so that the public can have confidence in how their donations are being used. We encourage charities to ensure their partners do the same.”