Charity Commission chief executive Helen Stephenson has warned trustees not to weaponise the regulator amid rows they are having with each other.

She has delivered the warning amid concerns of an increase in the frequency of “problems in relationships in charities” which cause “huge rupture and frankly distraction” for the organisation and their beneficiaries.

Stephenson is particularly concerned that trustees involved in such arguments will approach the Commission hoping it will take sides.

“Please, don’t try to weaponize the Commission as a tactic in a quarrel with fellow trustees,” she said.

“And don’t assume that by coming to the Commission as one party to a dispute, you’ll achieve the outcome you hope for. There’s no guarantee that we’ll ‘side’ with you - indeed intractable disputes can cause us to take other types of regulatory action in response to governance failures that arise.”

The Commission is to “undertake some work” at Stephenson’s request to “better understand the scale and nature of disputes in charities”.

A factor has been tension arising from the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis and their impact on charity’s finances, Stephenson warns.

She said: “We know that the last few years have been challenging for charities, with a pandemic followed by a cost-of-living crisis and perhaps that is leading to cracks in relationships.

“I also suspect it perhaps has something to do with the passion and energy that so many trustees bring to their work. Occasionally, that energy can lead to fixed mindsets and a determination to be right at all costs.”

Earlier this month it emerged a religious charity blighted by a “schism” that created two warring factions in its organisation had been removed from the Charity Commission’s register.

The decade long feud at the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church St Mary Tsion charity, in London, was so “entrenched” that is it was “impacting on almost every aspect” of its operation, including religious services, finances and management, according to the regulator. It also “allegedly contributed to public disorder within the local community”.

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