Inquiry launched into heart disease charity

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the Have A Heart Foundation 

The regulator of charities has launched an inquiry into the Have A Heart Foundation over serious concerns about its financial management.

The charity was set up in 2013 to raise awareness of and support patients with heart disease. It is based in Cheshire.

Despite engagement and guidance from the Commission, the trustees have failed to file any of the charity’s accounts since 2019.

The Commission is also concerned about the trustees’ financial record-keeping more widely, and the level of charitable expenditure.

It therefore escalated its engagement with the charity to an inquiry on 17 April 2023.

The inquiry will examine:

• the trustees’ failure to comply with their statutory reporting duties including the timely submission of the charity’s accounts and annual returns to the Commission
• the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of their administration, governance and management of the charity, including compliance with the charity’s governing document and whether the charity is operating in line with its objects
• whether potential conflicts of interest and connected party transactions have been properly managed
• whether there has been any unauthorised trustee benefit

The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge.

It is the Commission’s normal policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing the issues examined, any action taken, and the inquiry’s outcomes.