The Charity Commission and the Information Commissioner have today published a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which aims to enable closer working relations between the two regulators, including the exchange of appropriate information, in order to assist them in discharging their respective regulatory functions.
The MoU establishes a framework for cooperation and information sharing between the two regulators, setting out the broad principles of collaboration and the legal framework governing the sharing of relevant information and intelligence between them.
For example, if the Charity Commission receives a complaint, data breach report or other intelligence relating to a registered charity which appears to be relevant to the GDPR, DPA, PECR or any of the other legislation regulated by the Commissioner, the Charity Commission may liaise with the Commissioner and refer the matter to her if appropriate. Equally, if the Commissioner receives a report from a charity citing a reportable matter, the Commissioner may notify the Charity Commission of the incident, or if the Commissioner moves to take regulatory action against a registered charity or identifies matters indicating poor governance, mismanagement or misconduct within such charity, the Commissioner may notify the Charity Commission accordingly.
All charities should note that regulators do work together across the sector to ensure regulatory and legal compliance; intervention by any one regulator can lead to other unrelated compliance weaknesses being identified and action taken.