Eldonian Community Trust to be investigated by regulator

The Charity Commission will investigate the running of the Eldonian Community Trust Limited, after opening a statutory inquiry. The community trust is part of a wider network of organisations linked to the Eldonian Community village in Vauxhall, founded in 1978 as a landmark inner-city redevelopment.

Several entities carry the ‘Eldonian’ brand, of which only Eldonian Community Trust Limited is a registered charity falling within the Charity Commission’s remit. The charity was incorporated in 1987 and its purposes are to advance education and to establish or secure a community centre.

The regulator opened a regulatory compliance case into the charity in 2022 over concerns about its governance. The commission has now opened a statutory inquiry.

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The commission says the scope of the statutory inquiry is to investigate:

• the extent to which the current trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity

• if the charity has a sufficient number of trustees who are willing and capable of managing it and have managed it in accordance with its governing document

• whether the trustees are complying with legal obligations for the content, preparation and filing of the charity’s accounts and other information or returns

The scope of the inquiry may be varied if new evidence comes to light. The commission says it is its policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were.

The Charity Commission’s inquiry will examine Eldonian Community Trust Limited only. There are several other Eldonian entities which are not charitable and are therefore not within the commission’s remit to investigate.

The commission understands that the trustees of Eldonian Community Trust Limited intend to challenge the decision to open an inquiry.

An Eldonian Community Trust spokesperson said: "The Community Trust has been engaged with the Commission since 2022. The focus of this enquiry centres around an issue if the charity rules were fully followed with the election of 3 members at an AGM in November 2023. There had not been any AGMs for several years due to the previous trustees' advanced aging, and of course the COVID pandemic. The Trust would like to clarify there are no financial issue concerns by the Commission, and will of course continue to co operate with the regulatory body."