The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) is facing mounting allegations of entrenched bullying, chaotic decision-making by leaders and an internal culture that former employees have described as performative, nepotistic and ‘completely dysfunctional’.

The former employees, who have all asked to remain anonymous, have described a brief period of repair and openness before a dramatic reversal, despite a promise of a culture change following the charity’s previous EDI scandal in 2020–21.

One of the former staff members, named as D, described a “slow degradation” of collaborative culture, replaced by ego-driven decisions and chaotic management. “It was a completely different organisation than the one I joined,” they said.

Staff member B echoed this, saying that the organisation had become “impossible to do good work” with leaders increasingly naval-gazing, dismissive of members, and more focused on appearing impactful, rather than being impactful.

These accounts mirror repeated allegations on Glassdoor, where reviewers cite “a toxic culture being driven from the top down,” “egotistical leadership,” and an organisation “unrecognisable” after continual restructures.

‘A really toxic workplace’

The former staff members told Charity Times that the culture sharply deteriorated following hires to the senior leadership team, with multiple interviewees raising concerns about alleged nepotism within the senior leadership team.

Several people said a senior executive hired family members and close friends into roles, with HR unaware until ‘it was too late’.

Staff member E recalled a team away day where the senior executive displayed pictures of themselves clubbing with a friend recently hired into a senior post, surprising colleagues who had been unaware of the relationship.

“Suddenly you didn’t need to declare [conflicts]… processes started to go out the window,” said E.

Where hires were previously made by a balanced employee panel, this was eventually forgotten about, a number of staff members claimed.

Another former employee recounted being told by HR that they had “no idea” a candidate being appointed was the executive’s family member until after the job had been offered.

One Glassdoor review noted that “there’s a stunning amount of nepotism at leadership level… restructuring to remove or demote anyone who might challenge them.”

Many interviewees also described bullying behaviours, particularly from senior figures widely referenced across testimonies.

D said a senior leader used to ‘roll their eyes’ at the interviewee in meetings and talked about them to their manager behind their back, calling them a “problem”.

D added: “I know at least four people who left directly because of [one of the senior members of staff]”.

E stated: “It was just bullying – that’s the only way I would describe it. A really toxic workplace, nobody had a good thing to say”, adding that their experience at the organisation had discouraged them from working within the sector going forward.

When concerns were raised to senior leadership, or HR, interviewees described being gaslit.

E was put on a performance review “because they didn’t speak up enough in meetings” while simultaneously dismissed whenever they offered ideas.

One Glassdoor reviewer said HR allegedly refused formal grievances to be raised, and suggested the victim attended “resilience training” instead.

Staff member C talked about being excluded from meetings without explanation. They said they were told one thing by a senior leader and external partners told another in the closed meetings, claiming it was “miscommunication” between when confronted.

“It was gaslighting. When you provided evidence, they changed their tone or told you it didn’t matter,” added D. “They never once say: ‘We got that wrong.’ They gaslight you into thinking no one ever said it in the first place.”

A hostile environment

Staff also described NCVO as highly hierarchical with decisions only made by a small executive circle and information tightly controlled.

“[The senior leaders] thought that the expertise was held with people because they had director in their title, rather than actual experience,” explained C.

Several employees said they were explicitly told not to email the CEO and that feedback sessions became performative, with dissent framed as “negativity” or “grievance culture” rather than genuine concern.

Former staff members said that the restructures were often used to demote or remove managers who challenged senior decisions, reshape teams around leadership alliances and centralise power among a small clique.

One interviewee recalled watching their line manager be ‘broken down’ by a senior leader after they tried to protect staff working in their team, eventually demoted and bullied until they left.

They also reported witnessing decisions that placed colleagues into redundancy during group meetings, followed by confrontational exchanges led by senior members of staff within that meeting.

Glassdoor reviews described the environment as one where staff “disappear suddenly,” leaving colleagues fearful and unsure who might go next.

According to internal figures shown to staff, and mentioned on Glassdoor, there was an approximate 40% staff turnover in 2024.

The annual report figures for 2024/25 showed NCVO spent £55,000 on ‘termination and redundancy payments’ in 2024, an increase of £38,000 from 2023.

There was some concern in the interviews that some of these payments were for NDAs, which NCVO has yet to confirm or deny.

Performative decision-making

Former employees said that decision-making within the organisation had become performative as a result of these decisions.

“Everything became about headlines and what we could be seen to be doing, as opposed to what we were actually doing,” stated B.

As one Glassdoor review said: “Decision-making remains a set of vague, campaign-friendly soundbites that are out of touch with the sector.”

Other interviewees expressed the same concern, telling Charity Times that there had been projects dropped and funding lost because senior leaders instead wanted to focus on social media campaigns, or because the work was seen as “too difficult.”

“I’ve seen [staff] work for projects for hours on end… and then at the last minute the rug is pulled because it’s not flashy enough.” C explained. And anything controversial or challenging was removed beneficial research for the sector, because [a senior leader] said it was ‘too controversial’, they added.

Multiple sources also described NCVO’s recent enthusiasm for AI as ‘surface-level’ and disconnected from sector needs.

One staff event featured an external advisor who, according to multiple witnesses, misidentified Alan Turing as “Robert Turing” and dismissed small charities as unlikely cybercrime targets, comments that alarmed staff and contradicted Home Office concerns raised directly with NCVO’s own team.

These concerns add to previous concerns raised by sector leaders around the loss of small charity support within the organisation, including an open letter to the organisation.

Several interviewees and Glassdoor reviews warn that NCVO risks “imploding” without leadership change, and some question whether the organisation in its current form still serves the voluntary sector at all.

Charity Times asked NCVO a number of questions relating to the allegations, including the use of NDAs, staff turnover and routes for raising grievances.

In response, Adrian Stones, NCVO’s chief people officer said: “We’re proud to have a highly engaged, passionate and committed workforce at NCVO, who do all they can for our members and the wider sector.

“Co-creating an environment where everyone thrives, feels their voice is heard, and can have a positive experience is crucial. We are focused on co-creation, knowing culture cannot be enforced from the top down, and that everyone who works here plays an important role. Together we are building our new strategy, which will be underpinned by new organisational values, developed by our Colleague Forum, which reflect not just the organisation we are now, but the organisation we want to be.

“We strive to be an inclusive, welcoming and supportive employer and we also know that culture is always a work in progress. We carefully listen to all feedback, no matter how hard to hear, and make improvements where needed.”

---