The Charity Commission's extremism consultation

The Charity Commission has proposed that its statutory powers be extended in order to tackle extremism. 

The Commission's current powers: 

The Charity Commission already has a statutory power (s178 of the Charities Act 2011) to automatically disqualify a trustee in various circumstances including where the trustee has been dishonest, has been made bankrupt, committed a contempt of court or been involved in money laundering or bribery. 

The Commission currently has the discretion to disqualify a trustee where one of six gateway conditions is met. These conditions are based around scenarios where a trustee has been cautioned or convicted of an offence, found by HMRC to not be a 'fit and proper person' to manage a body or trust, involved in misconduct or mismanagement of a charity or where a trustee's past or continuing conduct is likely to be damaging to public trust and confidence in the charity. 

Proposed changes to the Commission's powers: 

The Commission is seeking to extend its power to automatically disqualify trustees to encompass a greater number of offences – (i) hate crimes; (ii) national security offences and (iii) scenarios which involve misleading the Commission. 

The Commission's discretionary power to disqualify trustees is also proposed to be extended to include (i) those who have been deprived of their British citizenship and (ii) employees or trustees who express views that encourage or are reasonably likely to encourage violence or hate. It is proposed that a trustee that is acquitted of a hate crime under the statutory definition may still be disqualified under the discretionary basis for expressing a view likely to encourage violence or hate. 

The proposed changes, if brought into force, would apply retrospectively. 

The Commission's consultation closes on 23 December 2026. You can access the consultation here [https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-14/hcws375].