The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has called on Parliament to hold the Charity Commission to account after it failed to comply with recommendations following an investigation into its handling of concerns about sexual abuse.
PHSO investigated two cases involving the Commission and how it handled concerns regarding serious safeguarding issues of sexual exploitation and child sex abuse at two separate charities. The investigations uncovered several failings, including around its decision making and its communication with complainants.
The reports, issued to the Commission in March 2024, recommended that the Commission apologised and provided financial redress to both complainants, and took action to stop the same failures being repeated. This included reviewing its handling of these two cases and the original decisions, and its risk assessment and communication guidance.
Financial remedy has been provided to both complainants. However, while the Commission has reviewed its case handling, the Commission has not complied with all our recommendations, and, in particular has not acknowledged or addressed all the failings identified, implemented service improvements to our satisfaction or accounted for the decisions it made.
Since the reports were issued, PHSO has had extensive discussions with the Commission regarding compliance with recommendations in both cases. In March 2025, PHSO took the rare decision to lay the reports before Parliament so that Parliament could hold the Commission to account.
The Commission then issued legal proceedings to prevent the reports being laid. Parliament have now intervened and asked that the reports are brought to Parliament’s attention.
The reports have been laid today before Parliament with a request that it intervenes to find a resolution that will put things right for both complainants.
Parliament may arrive at its own views about rectifying the injustice. We have shared what we consider to be an appropriate remedy.
Lara Hall, 37, complained that the Commission failed to appropriately respond to her concerns about her sexual exploitation by a trustee at a UK charity.
Lara, who waived her right to anonymity, said the Commission failed to communicate sensitively as would have been appropriate given that they were working with a vulnerable survivor of sexual abuse and a whistleblower.
PHSO’s investigation found failings in how the Commission communicated with Lara and in its decision making. The Commission did not follow its safeguarding and risk assessment guidance and it also failed to keep Lara informed throughout the handling of her complaint, including when it decided, without explanation, not to proceed with a course of action it had previously assured her it was going to take.
Lara said:
“The Charity Commission’s repeated failures have caused me profound pain and ongoing injustice. Instead of holding a trustee to account for appalling sexual exploitation, it questioned my experience and forced me to relive my worst trauma. How can survivors feel safe reporting abuse if they think they will be treated like I have?
“By trying to block Parliament from seeing the reports, the Commission attempted to avoid scrutiny - striking at the heart of accountability in our democracy. Even now, it refuses to accept responsibility or act to put things right.
“It is my hope that by bringing the reports to Parliament’s attention action will finally be taken. The Commission must urgently address safeguarding to protect vulnerable people. Right now, it is failing in its core duty.
“It is time for change, oversight, and accountability within the Charity Sector so what happened to me is never repeated. I call on Parliament to hold the Commission to account and restore public trust. People deserve to feel safe approaching charities, and they deserve a regulator that takes safeguarding seriously.”
In another case investigated by PHSO, Damian Murray, 66, complained about how the Commission and the Department for Education (DfE) responded to his serious allegations regarding the concealment of non-recent child sexual abuse by a charity that founded and ran a college.
Our investigation found the Commission failed to understand or consider all the issues in Damian’s complaint. It did not show that it had looked at all the relevant evidence relating to his complaint, and it did not assess the charity’s failings in accordance with its risk and safeguarding guidance.
Failings were also found with DfE’s decision-making process. DfE complied with our recommendations for service improvements, and we are satisfied with the actions it took to put things right.
Damian, from Leeds and who also waived his right to anonymity, said:
“For over seven years the Charity Commission has refused to act upon my complaint about the concealment of child sexual abuse.
“The Charity Commission has doggedly resisted all efforts by me, and latterly the Parliamentary Ombudsman, to encourage it properly or promptly to discharge its statutory responsibilities, choosing rather to shield the charity and its Trustees from scrutiny and accountability.
“After much unnecessary time incurred due to this resistance, the Ombudsman's report has now been laid in Parliament. I trust now that politicians will hold the Commission to account, where I as an ordinary UK citizen failed.
“By stark contrast with the Commission, I very much appreciate the careful, professional and empathetic way that the Ombudsman's team have dealt with me and with the complex and consequential concerns I have raised.”
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman CEO, Rebecca Hilsenrath KC (Hon) said:
“The Charity Commission indicated throughout our investigations that they did not agree with our findings. They have not complied with the bulk of our recommendations, despite our best efforts and our willingness to work with them to ensure compliance.
“It is important that the Commission provides a full apology for their failings and reassures Lara and Damian that they will put things right by complying completely with our recommendations. They have not done this so far.
“Our report has now been laid in the House of Commons, following the intervention of Parliament last week. The Commission had prevented us from doing so by bringing legal proceedings. We act on behalf of Parliament to hold Government and other national bodies to account for failures, and we have a responsibility to make Parliament aware of cases of non-compliance. I am pleased that Parliament has taken an interest in these cases and has given us the opportunity to bring them to the attention of the House so that it can intervene.
“The purpose of our investigations is always to encourage learning and service improvements. If an organisation looks at what went wrong, it will be able to stop the same mistake from happening again.”
- Read Damian Murray’s full investigation summary.
- Read Lara Hall’s full investigation summary.