Probe Into Anti-Poverty Charity Over Compliance Fail

Destiny Community Services was registered with the Commission in 2015 and has charitable purposes including the prevention or relief of poverty primarily in Dagenham, Essex.

The charity came to the attention of the Commission's double-defaulter class inquiry in February 2024 for failing to submit its accounts for the financial years ending 31 December 2021 and 2022. Despite a final reminder being sent to the trustees, the charity entered the double-defaulter inquiry in March 2024 as it failed to submit the outstanding accounts.

As part of the double-defaulter inquiry, the charity was issued an official order by the Commission requiring it to submit its accounts, however the order was not fully complied with and some of the accounts remained outstanding. The accounts that were submitted were found to be non-compliant with the Commission's Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).

Since then, the charity has fallen further into default of its accounting requirements and has failed to engage meaningfully with the Commission.

The separate inquiry will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying or have complied with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity, with particular regard to:

• the trustees' compliance with their statutory accounting and reporting responsibilities.

• the operation of the charity, its viability and the extent to which it is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit.

• whether there has been any unauthorised private benefit to the trustees and/or connected parties including whether conflicts of interest have been properly managed.

The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge.

It is the Commission's usual policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing the issues examined, any action taken, and the inquiry's outcomes.