Is it 'illegal' to falsely claim charitable status?

porto_bello

I know this kind of question is emotive and it is undoubtedly dishonest to falsely claim to represent a charity/ an organisation with charitable status - but this isn't the advice I am seeking.


Situation:
Someone (with the approval of several local Councillors) is obtaining funds for an appeal for a controversial local project. They claim to represent a charity, but neither HMRC nor the Charity Commission have any record of such a charity. [I will not give any identifiable details here for obvious reasons].


SPECIFIC Question: Is it illegal to falsely claim to represent a charitable organisation, which is unrecorded and unrecognised as a charity by both the Charity Commission and HMRC?


[I have written evidence (an appeal poster) that specifically and falsely claims that the endeavour and organisation has charitable status].

I have posed this question hoping that someone will know the answer. Please don't tell me it is dishonest and outrageous - I know this already! I simply need to know what to do and where to take the evidence - whether this is illegal (i.e. a police matter). Thanks!

NYM

I really don't understand why you need to ask as you are already aware they are not registered.

Every charity must be registered and should therefore have a registered charity number. The charity number should generally be displayed along with the name of the charity on any publication/paperwork.

Fraud is committed when a false representation is made by somebody, knowing that the representation is untrue or misleading, in order to gain financially for themselves.

Report it to Action Fraud.

porto_bello

NYM wrote: »

I really don't understand why you need to ask as you are already aware they are not registered.

Every charity must be registered and should therefore have a registered charity number. The charity number should generally be displayed along with the name of the charity on any publication/paperwork.

Fraud is committed when a false representation is made by somebody, knowing that the representation is untrue or misleading, in order to gain financially for themselves.

Report it to Action Fraud.

Thanks for your reply.


As is probably obvious from my original post, the individual running this appeal is well connected locally. The misrepresentation as a recognised charity that does not exist has already been picked up elsewhere, with the result that the observer was 'persuaded' not to take any action by, shall we say, "influential third parties".

Exam question:
I simply seek to clarify whether claiming to represent a charity, which is neither recognised by HMRC nor the Charity Commission represents a criminal offence?

CKhalvashi

porto_bello wrote: »

Exam question:
I simply seek to clarify whether claiming to represent a charity, which is neither recognised by HMRC nor the Charity Commission represents a criminal offence?

Is the 'charity' registered in any name or form, such as a Ltd Co?

It is a criminal offence to misrepresent with the view to gaining financially, however it's also important to point out that companies don't have to trade as their legal name, and this could be a case of XYZ Ltd t/a ABC. How much research has actually been done into this?

If fully legit, it should be easy enough to get the registered numbers from the website.

How locally well connected someone is shouldn't have an impact on whether a criminal offence has taken place or not, and if you feel that a complaint to the police hasn't been dealt with appropriately, then it should be worth bringing this up as a formal police complaint (to the force) and if that doesn't get the result you'd like, to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

porto_bello

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Is the 'charity' registered in any name or form, such as a Ltd Co?
No, it does not exist as a charitable organisation in any shape or form and there is nothing registered with the Charity Commission or HMRC at the address or even nearby.

It is a criminal offence to misrepresent with the view to gaining financially, however it's also important to point out that companies don't have to trade as their legal name, and this could be a case of XYZ Ltd t/a ABC. How much research has actually been done into this?
Quite a lot, certainly enough work to say for certain that the claim to be a "charity" or "charitable organisation" is without doubt, false.

If fully legit, it should be easy enough to get the registered numbers from the website.
There is no website: there is no registration number: The group name "Friends of XYZ" exists only as a small group of volunteers, known to have received circa £50,000 in public money and c. £20,000 in personal and private donations.

How locally well connected someone is shouldn't have an impact on whether a criminal offence has taken place or not, and if you feel that a complaint to the police hasn't been dealt with appropriately, then it should be worth bringing this up as a formal police complaint (to the force) and if that doesn't get the result you'd like, to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

I completely agree, but the police have not been contacted yet because I don't know if in itself, falsely claiming to represent a charity is illegal in itself.


[There is no transparency and nobody outside of the Friends of XYZ has any sight of where the money is going, so no comment can be made about how appropriate or otherwise the expenditure is - the only 'evidence' is the false claim of charitable status].

It doesn't seem right to me that someone can take donations for a charity, when that beneficial cause is definitely not a charity - but is it an offence to do so and would police care about such a thing?

CKhalvashi

I think it may be worth speaking with either your local force or Action Fraud (City of London police, but work nationwide), given the amounts involved and the nature of your suspicions.

If you go to your local force and not enough is being done (although giving 2-3 months for them to get someone assigned and start looking into it is advisable) then following the procedure above may help.

It may also be worth writing to the council (not the councillors) with your concerns, too, enclosing copies of whatever research you've done. Again, this should be entitled as a formal complaint with intention to go to the LGO. Address it to the Chief Executive. Again, this may take more than 8 weeks to be looked at properly, so as long as they keep in contact, sending it to the LGO isn't the best idea, as it will probably make things worse.

Good luck with getting it sorted out.

antrobus

NYM wrote: »

...Every charity must be registered and should therefore have a registered charity number. ....

No.

Unincorporated charities with an income of less than £5,000 are not required to register in England and Wales.

porto_bello wrote: »

...SPECIFIC Question: Is it illegal to falsely claim to represent a charitable organisation, which is unrecorded and unrecognised as a charity by both the Charity Commission and HMRC?...

To "falsely claim" anything could be construed as 'illegal'; but you have asked a loaded question. A more proper question to be asked would be 'Is it illegal to claim to represent a charitable organisation, which is unrecorded and unrecognised as a charity by both the Charity Commission and HMRC?'. To which the answer would be 'no'.

Whether or not something is a charity is a matter of law, and not a matter of registration. See, for example, http://www.smallcharities.org.uk/starting-new-charity-faqs/

What I would say is this; do you have any information that leads you to believe that the individual refer to is engaged in fraud, or have you simply assumed that is the case because of this alleged lack of 'registration'?

Stevie_Palimo

Just to add here Action Fraud will do nothing at all and are just a glorified chocolate teapot.

Voyager2002

Personally I would try to contact HMRC.

Voyager2002

You mention that they received a substantial amount of public money: was that from the local Council? If so, you might find the District Audit Service would take an interest...

antrobus

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Personally I would try to contact HMRC.

And say what, exactly?

HMRC do not police charities.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

You mention that they received a substantial amount of public money: was that from the local Council? If so, you might find the District Audit Service would take an interest...

They might, if the OP is in possession of evidence to suggest that public money has been misapplied. But that does not appear to be the case, as the OP has stated that "no comment can be made about how appropriate or otherwise the expenditure is".