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Casework and registrations data: October to December 2023 

This report contains the Charity Commission’s registration and casework figures for October to December 2023.ÌýÌý

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This report contains the Charity Commission’s registration and casework figures for October to December 2023. The release covers key areas of the regulator’s work throughout the period, including registrations and register information, regulatory action cases, statutory inquiries figures and ‘Revitalising Trusts’ cases. 

The Charity Commission 

The Charity Commission is the registrar and regulator of charities in England and Wales. Parliament has given us five statutory objectives which are to: 

• promote compliance by charity trustees with their legal obligations in exercising control and management of their charities 
• enhance the accountability of charities to donors, beneficiaries and the general public 
• increase public trust and confidence in charities 
• promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the public benefit requirement 
• promote effective use of charitable resources 

Registrations and register information 

There were 169,684 charities on the register at the end of December 2023 with a total annual income of £93.03 billion and a total expenditure of £90.92 billion.ÌýÌý

The register of charities contains an up-to-date .ÌýÌý

Category	October to December 2023
Registration applications	2,141
Charities registered	1,342
Removals from register	940

‘Revitalising Trusts’ programme 

The ‘Revitalising Trusts’ programme supports charities that have spent less than 30% of their income in the past 5 years. The programme helps charities in situations where it is hard for the charity to: 

• get new trustees 
• spend their income 
• identify beneficiaries 
• find time to run the charity 

To ensure the charity’s funds are spent effectively, charities can: 

• transfer their assets to another charity 
• close down or ‘wind up’ 
• change their purposes to continue working more effectively. 

Cases closed refer to charities spending funds effectively in any of the ways outlined above. The amount revitalised specifically refers to the transfer of assets to another charity.ÌýÌý

Category	October to December 2023
Revitalising Trusts – cases closed	59
Revitalising Trusts – amount revitalised	£3,756,359

Regulatory action 

Regulatory concern cases 

Occasionally things go wrong in a charity due to the actions or non-actions of the trustees. The Commission will identify and investigate problems in charities so we can work to resolve issues of concern. We prioritise the most serious issues: those which have the potential to cause the highest level of harm to public trust and confidence, or which may affect trustees’ ability to comply with their duties. 

These figures exclude serious incident reports, matters of material significance reports and statutory inquiries as these are reported in later sections of this publication.

Category	October to December 2023
Regulatory concern cases opened	1,049
Regulatory concern cases closed	999
Regulatory concern cases active	797

Serious incident reports and matters of material significance  

The Commission requires charities to report serious incidents. A serious incident is an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant: 

• harm to a charity’s beneficiaries, staff, volunteers or others who come into contact with the charity through its work  
• loss of a charity’s money or assets 
• damage to a charity’s property 
• harm to a charity’s work or reputation. 

The Commission has guidance for charity trustees on how to report serious incidents.

Reporting serious incidents is part of the effective management of a charity and reports are not necessarily an indication of wrongdoing in a charity. 

Category	October to December 2023
Serious incident reports opened	809
Serious incident reports closed	732

Matters of material significance include, but are not limited to, dishonesty and fraud, internal controls and governance, money laundering and criminal activity and support of terrorism. 

Any person appointed as an independent examiner or auditor for a charity has a duty to report matters of material significance.ÌýÌý

Category	October to December 2023
Matters of material significance reports opened	124
Matters of material significance reports closed	109

Statutory inquiries 

A statutory inquiry is a legal power enabling the Commission to formally investigate matters of regulatory concern within a charity and to use protective powers for the benefit of the charity and its beneficiaries, assets or reputation. An inquiry will help identify the extent, if any, of misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity; assess any risk to the charity and its assets; and decide if the Commission needs to act to protect the property of the charity. 

Category	October to December 2023
Statutory inquiries opened	19
Statutory inquiries closed	17
Statutory inquiries ongoing	112