Anyone who has had any dealings with the Charity Commission for England and Wales knows that it is a bit of a sclerotic bureaucracy. It takes time to set up a charity and this is something that can be onerous for small charities such as local community organisations etc. My experience of charity administration tells me that there can be a lot of back and forth between the putative charity and the Commission in order to get charities set up. The Commission also has requirements that charities have to follow in order to show that they are being properly managed, that finances are all above board and that the charity is following all the necessary rules to safeguard both donors money and the charity’s staff and the subjects of the charity.

To a large extent though, provided that charities are following the rules once they are set up, such as managing the finances correctly, submitting annual returns to the Charity Commission and not involving themselves in non-charitable political activities, then the Commission leaves charities to get on with their jobs. The Commission really only gets involved if there are allegations of fraud or that the trustees of the charity are enriching themselves or there are other alleged breaches of rules.

Bearing this fact that the Charity Commission really only gets involved with charities when they absolutely have to then the news that there is an ongoing inquiry into the financial management and safeguarding policies for the Care4Calais pro-migrant group, should make people sit up and take notice. The inquiry, which was set up in August 2021 but which still does not seem to have been completed, is looking into how the Care4Calais group manages its finances and how it manages safeguarding.

Such an investigation by the Charity Commission has been a long time coming as there have been a lot of questions about the finances and probity of an organisation that appears dedicated to allowing into the UK the very much unwanted invaders camped out at Calais. Care4Calais is a pretty murky organisation because it is assisting those invaders who want to illegally come to the UK by giving them food, clothes and accommodation. Also some of those involved in this organisation are pretty dodgy morally with Claire Mosley the founder of the Care4Calais entity being exposed as having a romantic relationship with a Tunisian conman who tried to get into the UK by posing as a Syrian refugee. The Charity Commission has appointed lawyers to oversee the charity and this is not something that they do on a whim or without good cause as such a move is expensive, time consuming and imposes difficulties for both the Commission and the individual charity concerned.

Here’s some links to the Commission’s page on Care4Calais and the investigation.

https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regid=1169048&subid=0

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/charity-regulator-announces-inquiry-into-care4calais

I suspect that when the Commission’s report is finally completed and published that it will make for very interesting reading. Even if the Commission finds no overt issues with finance and governance it will certainly expose to public scrutiny this troubling organisation who are a big player in helping those who are of no use to us and who are not wanted here, get to the UK.

Let’s hope that this is the start of a period when the Charity Commission investigates the plethora of left leaning anti-British charities that gain much in the way of moral legitimacy and taxation benefits but who do little good for the average Briton. Let us also hope that the Commission will start looking at other high profile pro-migration and pro-Islam charities such as the extremely dodgy Citizens UK entity.