The Cabinet Office has opened a consultation on extending the Charity Commission’s powers to tackle abuse in charities. The Charity Commission is the regulator for over 160,000 charities in England and Wales and has recently faced criticism for failing to tackle abuses of charitable status, such as misconduct or mismanagement of charity property. The consultation considers a range of proposals aimed at strengthening the powers of the Charity Commission to enable them to tackle abuse in charities more effectively. The consultation also considers changes to the current rules on trustee disqualification. A Response Form is available from theCabinet Office website. The consultation will close on 12 February 2014. If you would like further information on this issue, please email us at charities@druces.com or contact Richard Monkcom, Partner in Druces LLP’sCharities team.