Speaking at an Autumn Charity Update, organised by accountancy firm BWM, Jeff Prescott from The Charity Commission warned the sector was battling falling public confidence. Tony McDonough reports

Public confidence in UK charities is at the lowest point in more than a decade, an experienced figure in the industry has told a seminar in Liverpool.

Speaking at an Autumn Charity Update, organised by leading Liverpool accountancy firm BWM, Jeff Prescott, a senior accountant at The Charity Commission warned the sector was battling falling public confidence.

During the packed event at the city’s Quaker Meeting House, Mr Prescott said there had been a steady decline in public confidence since around 2005, adding this had accelerated since 2014.

He added charities could help fight this trend by ensuring their accounts were of good quality and the trustees annual report told the full story of their achievements – too many are failing to do this.

Major scandals

In the last four years there had been a number of scandals around the charity sector that had caused public confidence to ebb away – including the collapse of Kids Company, misconduct by Oxfam staff overseas and concern over what are seen as aggressive fundraising practices.

Earlier this year The Charity Commission published a report which found the average level of trust in charity had fallen to 5.5 out of 10 from 5.7 out of 10 two years ago.

Peter Taaffe, managing partner of BWM, which counts many Merseyside charities among its client base, agreed with Mr Prescott’s assessment adding that he now felt the charity sector was “under siege”.

Fantastic work

However, another speaker at the seminar – Caron Bradshaw of Charity Finance Group – took issue with the bleak assessment, saying she believed the public was aware that many charities carried out fantastic work across society.

She told charity representatives at the event that it was “time we stopped beating ourselves up” and started talking positively about the sector’s achievements.

Mr Taaffe said: “As always at our charity updates, the speakers offered a valuable insight into the sector as a whole and gave us a fascinating snapshot into how charities are perceived by the public.

“There has been efforts to tighten up regulations around charities and that will perhaps take time to make a measurable impact.

“I think both of our speakers made great points. There is no questions that a series of scandals has eroded trust in the charity sector but, on the other hand, I and my team at BWMhave seen first hand what an amazing contribution charities make to communities across Merseyside and they have every right to shout about that.”

ENDS