440 new cases relating to safeguarding opened by Charity Commission

The Charity Commission has opened 440 cases relating to safeguarding concerns, after receiving 532 new reports of serious incidents since February, it has announced. According to the Charity Commission, it has seen a marked increase in reports of serious safeguarding incidents from charities in this time, relating both to historic and more recent incidents. In comparison, it received 176 during the equivalent period in 2017, and 1,210 throughout 2016-17. The reports cover a wide spectrum, with some relating to risks of harm identified by a charity, rather than to incidents of harm, such as internal audits showing that safeguarding procedures were not followed in certain situations. The 440 cases opened relate to safeguarding concerns raised in serious incident reports from charities, or complaints and whistleblowing reports, and are being prioritised according to risk. The new reports include those from 179 charities written to by the Secretary of State for International Development in February to seek reassurances that all appropriate incidents had been reported to the Commission. As at 9 April 2018, of the 179 charities Dfid issued the assurance request letter to, 33 charities had submitted incident reports. Of those 33 charities, 24 submitted reports relating to historic incidents. The 33 charities in total have now reported 219 incidents, 127 of which are historic. In total, 5,501 reports received between 1 April 2014 and 20 February 2018 have been put under review, with 3,300 of these reviewed so far. Of these incidents, just over 2,000 involved allegations of potential criminal behaviour with the Commission’s analysis identifying that only one of these was not reported to the authorities at the time. The Commission has ensured that this incident has now been reported to the police. According to the Commission, so far its analysis has not identified any cases where it has serious and urgent concerns that require immediate action, or where it needs to engage with the authorities about any ongoing risk or criminality. The review of historic reports is still underway, and once completed, the Commission has said it will publish a report setting out the key findings and lessons for charities. The announcement follows Penny Mordaunt MP's March update on safeguarding progress.  

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