Charities Regulator 2022 Annual Report

The Charities Regulator have issued its annual report for 2022. The following are the main points from the report. To read the full report click here

  • 11,506 charities on the Register of Charities
  • 73% of registered charities declare they fully comply with the Charities Governance Code
  • 6 guidance documents published
  • 1 investigation report published
    • Irish Wildbird Conservancy CLG t/a Birdwatch Ireland (RCN 20008963)
  • 2 statutory investigations opened
    • Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals CLG t/a ISPCA (RCN 20008734)
    • Navan Mental Health Housing Association Limited (RCN 20047023)
  • 642 concerns raised
  • 566 concerns closed
  • 14,640 contacts dealt with by our contact centre
  • 163 charities registered
  • 82 charities deregistered
  • 59% of charities filed their annual report on time – By the end of the year
  • a further 14% of charities had filed their annual reports, bringing the total reports submitted to the Regulator to 73%. This is a decrease of 5% year on year.
  • The Compliance and Enforcement unit continuously monitor declarations of compliance by charities and a random selection of charities are asked annually to submit their Compliance Record Form to the Charities Regulator, so we can verify the accuracy of their declaration. In 2022, the sampling found that 65% of the declarations of full compliance made during the year were accurate, a slight increase of 2% on 2021.
  • Non-compliance with annual reporting requirements –
  • The Charities Regulator takes a proportionate approach where charities breach the requirements of the Act, and in most cases will seek to work with charities to bring them into compliance in the first instance. However, even though reminders are issued in the lead-up to a charity’s filing deadline and sent when the deadline has passed, some charities still fail to file their annual report on time.
  • In the interests of transparency and fairness to those charities that do file their annual reports on time, the Charities Regulator is adopting a stricter approach to enforcing compliance with this obligation. It is committed to implementing a targeted compliance programme during 2023 to increase levels of compliance with annual reporting obligations with possible enforcement action including prosecution of the charity and the individual charity trustees and /or removal of the charity from the Register of Charities where annual reports have been outstanding for a considerable period.

NB. The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other advice.

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