The Charity Commission has pledged to ‘tackle capacity and demand pressures’ after latest figures showed its response times have ‘not been where we want them to be’.

The regulator’s annual report details that 80% of registration, permission and advice request decisions were dealt with within 30 working days during 2025-26, down on the previous year’s figure of 86%.

Also, 87% of calls made to the regulator were answered within seven minutes.

It aims to investigate and provide a response to complaints about the Charity Commission within 30 days. This was achieved among 83% of complaints, although this is up on the previous year when responses were provided in 76% of complaints.

The response rate figures come amid a record year of registration applications, with it assessing more than 11,700 applications, leading to 4,650 new registrations.

It also saw a 23% increase in regulatory compliance cases and complaints and a 7% rise in its regulatory authority cases.

“These increases obviously required us as many charities have had to do to adapt often meaning our timeliness and response rates has not been where we want them to be despite improvements to productivity achieved,” said the Charity Commission.

“This will remain a key challenge in the months ahead as we work to address capacity and demand pressures.”

---