Council is first in the country to get regulator warning over mismanagement of 13 charities

According to the commission, Calderdale has failed to file annual returns and accounts for all the 13 charities, and these have been overdue for several years.

The regulator’s Tracy Howarth said it had warned the local authority of the risks of noncompliance, as well as providing advice and support, reported the BBC.

The council’s deputy leader, Coun Scott Patient, said the authority accepts the faults and pledges it will learn from the commission’s warning and ensure it does not happen again.

Coun Patient said: “We acknowledge the official warning from the Charity Commission and are taking this very seriously.

“We accept that our work to file accounts for the charities for which we are trustee should have been better, and the delay does not meet our high service standards.

“We are confident that the charitable purpose of all the charities is being fulfilled.

“We are working to correct the delayed filing of accounts and will act on all of the Charity Commission’s requirements.

“We will learn from this and put procedures in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The commission says the charities concerned are Bacup Road Recreation Ground, The People’s Park, Tetley Memorial Park, Shaw Park, Public Central Library, Long Wood, King George V Playing Field, Brighouse (Hipperholme), Henry Whiteley’s Park, Halifax Open Spaces, Roils Head Road Recreation Ground, Shibden Park, Beacon Hill Recreation Ground, and The Heath Charity.

As trustees, councils are responsible for running the charity and managing its assets, including filing annual returns with the Charity Commission.

The regulator said the failure equated to “misconduct and/or mismanagement” in the administration of the charities.

Ms Howarth, assistant director of regulatory services, said Calderdale “fell below” the expected standard in light of this issuing an official warning, the first using this power with any council.

Calderdale is one of more than 1,200 councils across England and Wales which are trustees of charities.

The commission called on the authority to file its outstanding accounts, set up processes to ensure compliance, provide up-to-date details and set up a register of all its charities and their assets.