The Complainant made a request for information to the Charity Commission on 10 July 2025. Within the request, the Complainant requested the following: “all the information relating to the current ongoing investigations into the Village Hall charity, registered number 301281”.
The Charity Commission FOIA response
The Charity Commission refused the request under Section 31(1)(g) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Section 31(1)(g) exempts information if disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice a public authority’s functions for the purposes listed in subsection (2). The Charity Commission relied on the following purposes:
- 2(a): Determining whether someone has failed to comply with the law;
- 2(b): Determining whether someone is responsible for improper conduct;
- 2(c): Determining whether circumstances exist that justify regulatory action; and
- 2(f): Protecting charities from misconduct or mismanagement.
Unhappy with the response received, the Complainant lodged a complaint with the ICO seeking to challenge the decision made by the Chairty Commission.
When carrying out their investigation, the ICO asked the Charity Commission what information was actually held. The Charity Commission explained that it did not hold any of the information requested as there had been no investigation into the charity.
The ICO did not agree with the Charity Commission’s analysis. The request asked for information relating to the current ongoing investigations into the charity. Whilst the Charity Commission had not carried out a formal investigation, it did assess the concern raised and ascertained whether an investigation/any action was necessary. There therefore must have been information held including correspondence between the Charity Commission and the charity notifying them of the decision not to carry out an investigation.
The ICO considered some of its previous decisions (those involving requests for information about charities and information related to investigations or concerns raised about those charities). The ICO accepted that the requested information in this case was sufficiently similar to the other cases and that its disclosure would have the same harmful effects set out in the previous decision. The ICO accepted that Section 31(1)(g) had been correctly engaged by the Charity Commission.
The ICO therefore considered the public interest. The Complainant argued that there is a significant public interest as the charity in question operates for the stakeholders and its budget is paid for by local people. The Complainant considered that the correspondence between the Charity Commission and the charity should be a matter of public record. The Charity Commission argued that disclosing the information could impact the voluntary supply of information between the Commission and charities.
The ICO confirmed that some weight should always be given to the general principle of accountability and transparency as it assists the public in understanding how public authorities make their decisions and carry out their functions.
The ICO found that, as the concern raised in relation to the charity did not warrant an investigation or regulatory action, disclosing the communication between the Charity Commission and the charity would not meet the public interest aim. It would not provide a public record of any breach but would undermine the confidentiality of the communications between the Charity Commission and those that it regulates which would prejudice the Charity Commission’s regulatory functions.
The ICO ultimately concluded that the weight of the public interest lies with maintaining the exemption under Section 31(1)(g) of FOIA.
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Contact usIf this article relates to a specific case/cases, please note that the facts of this case/cases are correct at the time of writing.