The Charity Commission has published updated guidance on conflicts of interest after seeing a rise in cases, with new advice aimed at helping trustees spot both financial and loyalty-based conflicts. The charity commission said the change is intended to help trustees protect their charities from harm and reduce the risk of decisions being undermined. The update comes amid concerns that unmanaged conflicts can expose charities to financial loss and damage public trust.
What the charity commission says has changed
The revised guidance, known as CC29, is designed to help trustees identify and manage situations where a trustee, or someone connected to them, could gain money or other value. It also covers conflicts of loyalty, where a trustee’s judgment could be influenced by obligations to another person or organisation. The charity commission said the refreshed guidance has been shortened and simplified, and now includes common examples of when a conflict may arise.
Casework reviewed by the regulator suggests that many unmanaged conflicts do not stem from deliberate wrongdoing. Instead, the charity commission said most arise from a lack of awareness, with trustees often failing to recognise a conflict when it appears and then missing the steps needed to protect their charity’s assets or reputation. The regulator also said that trustees are sometimes unsure how to recognise and deal with a conflict in the first place.
Why the warning matters now
The update follows a rise in compliance cases involving the alleged abuse of charitable status for private benefit. In the commission’s first-ever Charity Sector Risk Assessment, published in 2025, those cases rose by 23% in a year, and the commission said figures due later this year suggest the upward trend may be continuing. The charity commission said conflicts involving trustees and their private interests were a recurring factor in many of those cases and remain an ongoing risk to public trust in the sector.
The regulator also pointed to recent enforcement action and inquiries, including the disqualification last month of a married couple after failings at two charities they managed, and a statutory inquiry opened weeks earlier into a Surrey-based charity that loaned £900, 000 to a trustee’s son. Those cases underline the practical risks that can follow when conflicts are not handled properly.
Immediate warnings from the regulator
Rachel Wenstone, assistant director of policy at the Charity Commission, said trustees who fail to manage a conflict of interest risk becoming part of a wider problem that can “shatter” public trust. She said the refreshed guidance will help trustees identify and manage conflicts of interest to protect themselves and their charities, adding that the perception of personal gain can damage confidence in charity as a whole.
The charity commission warned that decisions made without proper management of a conflict of interest may be legally invalid. That could leave a charity out of pocket and make trustees jointly liable to cover the loss from their own money. The regulator added that such failures may also count as evidence of misconduct or mismanagement.
What comes next for trustees
The charity commission is urging trustees to use the updated guidance to review how conflicts are identified and handled inside their charities. The wider message is clear: even where there is no deliberate abuse, unmanaged conflict cases can still trigger legal, financial and reputational damage. As the charity commission sees the casework trend continue, trustees are being pressed to act early, document decisions carefully and treat conflict management as a core safeguard for charity assets and trust.
