Shamed charity chiefs told: Clean up your act!
After we exposed how they prey on the elderly, minister says this is their last chance
CHARITIES exposed by the Mail for preying on the old and vulnerable have one last chance to put their house in order, MPs warn today.
In a devastating report, they will say the well-paid bosses of some good causes have been ‘incompetent or wilfully blind’.
They call for jail terms of up to two years for fundraisers who routinely abuse personal data. The MPs insist statutory regulation will be needed if the charities cannot restore public trust.
The report by the public administration committee says the Mail’s charity investigation last summer reached the ‘highest standards of ethical investigative reporting’.
We disclosed how the NSPCC, the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Macmillan were using outrageous ‘boiler room’ tactics to raise cash. Firms paid by them were regularly contacting homes on the official ‘no-call’ list. They were also prepared to take money from those who disclosed that they had dementia.
Staff were ordered to be ‘brutal’ and ‘ferocious’ when asking for cash and told even the old and poor ‘have no excuse’ not to give. In the wake of the disclosures, David Cameron announced a crackdown – including the establishment of a single, new regulator.
At the same time the administration committee, led by senior Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin, ordered a probe – taking evidence from the Mail and the charities we exposed. In its report, out today, Mr Jenkin says: ‘This is the last chance for the trustees of charities who allowed this to happen to put their house in order. Ultimately, the responsibility rests with them.
‘All the chief executives of the charities that gave evidence to us admitted they did not scrutinise fundraising by sub-contractors enough. The only possible conclusion is that, by failing in this responsibility, trustees were either not competent, or wilfully blind to what was being done in their names.’
The committee says trustees must now take proper control of the methods their organisations use or face statutory regulation. The Government last night said it was prepared to take this step itself, if more abuses came to light.
The MPs’ call for the Information Commissioner to be given the power to impose jail sentences of up to two years on those caught unlawfully obtaining personal data.
This new power could be used to target call centre staff who flout data protection rules.
In the past, there were three different bodies responsible for regulating charities – none of which had a grip on fundraising. The new regulator that will replace them – as yet unnamed – will begin work shortly.
MPs say the watchdog should encourage the public to report dubious practices.
During their inquiry, they heard that some charities, including Great Ormond Street Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support, made it difficult or impossible for donors to block further communication from them or other charities.
Personal information was sold on and fell into the hands of scamming companies. Vulnerable and elderly people were seen as ‘fair targets’ by some organisations.
The committee was told the Mail found telephone fundraising contractor Go-Gen ignored the telephone preference service that allows customers to opt out of unsolicited calls.
The report finds is ‘increasingly competitive’ and a large charity can spend more than £20million a year trying to bolster its coffers.
It points to evidence suggesting many charities believed they could carry on with business as usual. The committee says: ‘It would be a sad and inexcusable failure of charities to govern their own behaviour should statutory regulation become necessary.’
Poor practices were thrust into the spotlight last year after the death of 92-year-old Olive Cooke, one of Britain’s oldest poppy sellers. She had been receiving up to 267 letters a month, as well as regular phone calls, from charities.
A review chaired by Sir Stuart Etherington put forward plans to tackle the problems, including proposals for a new regulator.
Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, said: ‘I have made it clear that the sector has one last chance to prove that self-regulation can work, but I am willing to step in and impose statutory regulation if necessary.’
‘Responsibility rests with them’