Charities regulator opens case against Policy Exchange

The Charity Commission is investigating the rightwing lobby group Policy Exchange, in respect of its transphobic campaigning. The investigation – a formal regulatory compliance case – follows a complaint made by Good Law Project last month.

Good Law Project provided the commission with evidence that the group was persistently and nakedly breaching the rules requiring educational charities (such as Policy Exchange) to act in a balanced and non-politicised way. The 27-page complaint outlined how Policy Exchange became a vehicle to advance a one-sided and wildly inaccurate trans-hate agenda.

The complaint, drafted by a specialist charity legal team, asked the charities regulator to open a statutory inquiry into Policy Exchange under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 and to require trustees to reimburse the charity for all funds spent on its blatantly political activities. 

According to Good Law Project’s executive director, Jo Maugham, the complaint reveals “very serious breaches of the obligations of an educational charity”.

“We think it’s long past time that the Charity Commission created real disincentives to breaches of this nature,” Maugham said. “In effect they amount to a misuse of public money, and if the commission fails to do so we will not hesitate to challenge it in court.”

The complaint is the latest in a long list of successful complaints made by Good Law Project about the rightwing Tufton Street ecosystem which, remarkably, accesses public funding by claiming to be charities.

In March 2024, we asked the commission to investigate the Institute of Economic Affairs, another charity with a brazenly rightwing agenda. The regulator issued formal advice and guidance to the IEA – actions that Good Law Project regards as inadequate. We are now considering with our lawyers whether to start legal proceedings against the commission. 

We also forced the regulator to investigate another organisation in the Tufton Street ecosystem, the so-called Global Warming Policy Foundation. The investigation concluded with findings against GWPF, forcing it to restructure. Good Law Project also caused the commission to investigate the activities of industry body Gamble Aware.