Summary

  • The inquiry found that four £250,000 grants were made in 2022 without formal grant, financial-control or conflict policies; one £250,000 payment was not used as intended and was recovered after an NCA investigation.
  • An official warning and action plan now require documented grant monitoring, conflict controls, investment reviews and written reasons for decisions; the Commission says it will monitor implementation.

Analysis

A grant is not accountable simply because trustees approved it. The test is whether the charity can show, before and after payment, who decided, what conflicts were declared, where the money went and how the use advanced the charity’s purposes. The inquiry found those checks missing when the Schwarzschild Foundation made four grants totalling £1 million in 2022.

The Commission’s report says £250,000 intended for a charitable recipient was paid into an account under a trustee’s control and was not applied as intended. The National Crime Agency identified the funds and ensured their return. The charity did not independently monitor or verify the end use. Trustees checked the other three grants only after the Commission became involved. This is a finding about controls and oversight; the report does not establish criminal guilt or harm to a named beneficiary.

The control gap extended beyond grants. Trustees invested £600,000 without an investment policy, and the inquiry found no meaningful review of property investments worth about £4.5 million between 2020 and 2024. It also found unmanaged conflicts around grants, connected companies and professional payments, as well as decision records too weak to show that choices served the charity’s interests. The trust deed allowed professional-service payments only under conditions the Commission found had not been met.

The regulator issued an Official Warning on 27 March 2026 and a plan requiring additional trustees, usable policies, verification of grant outcomes, regular investment review, conflict documentation and accurate written decisions. The inquiry report was published on 21 October; the Commission says it will keep monitoring the plan. The trustees had begun taking corrective steps, but the published record does not establish that the plan is complete.

For beneficiaries, governance is the route by which charitable purposes reach real decisions. Here, the Commission identified exposure to misuse or loss and an inability to demonstrate that substantial allocations served the trust’s purposes. It did not report a quantified beneficiary loss.

Sources