The Charity Commission has moved Barnabas Fund, also known as Barnabas Aid, into direct external management after appointing Edwina Turner and Catherin Gibbon of Anthony Collins LLP as interim managers. According to the regulator’s 19 June 2026 statement, the order was made on 18 June 2026 and places the appointees in control to the exclusion of the charity’s trustees while the statutory inquiry continues. (gov.uk) That step transfers authority over the charity’s administration, assets, records, banking and governance away from the trustee board and into the hands of the interim managers. In practical terms, the regulator has moved beyond monitoring specific transactions and into direct control of the charity’s property and affairs pending further investigation. (gov.uk)
The intervention sits within an inquiry the Commission opened on 17 September 2024 and announced publicly on 3 October 2024. The regulator said it was examining serious concerns about compliance with charity law and the use of charitable funds, including allegations of unauthorised payments to some current and former trustees and related parties. (gov.uk) The 2024 inquiry notice also referred to allegations that the charity’s founders may have exercised inappropriate influence, possible unmanaged conflicts of interest, and questions over whether the charity’s structure and relationship with Nexcus, a US-based subsidiary, were in Barnabas Fund’s best interests. The Commission also stated at the time that opening a statutory inquiry was not, by itself, a finding of wrongdoing. (gov.uk)
The interim managers’ remit is broad. The Charity Commission said they will take full control of administration, assets, records, banking and governance, examine historic decision-making and related-party arrangements, protect and recover assets where needed, and regularise governance before reporting back to the regulator. (gov.uk) Commission guidance explains that an interim manager acts as receiver and manager in respect of a charity’s property and affairs and carries the same duties and responsibilities as a trustee for the period of the appointment. The same guidance describes the measure as interim and protective rather than a final determination of the case. (gov.uk)
The legal route matters because the Commission cannot appoint an interim manager at will. Its own guidance says the power can be used only after a statutory inquiry has been opened under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011, and only where the regulator is satisfied that there is or has been misconduct or mismanagement, or that the charity’s property needs protection. (gov.uk) Guidance published by the Commission also states that an order under section 76(3)(g) can give the interim manager specified trustee powers and can provide for those powers to be exercised to the exclusion of existing trustees. Trustees or other affected persons may appeal the appointment to the First-tier Tribunal (Charity) within the relevant time limits. (gov.uk)
This is the second significant protective step disclosed in the case. In October 2024, the Commission said it had restricted Barnabas Fund from making transactions above £4,000 because of concerns that funds may have been misused in the past and because of questions about trustee oversight. (gov.uk) The charity remains a sizeable organisation. The Charity Commission register currently describes Barnabas Fund as distributing donations through Barnabas Aid International to more than 60 countries, chiefly in Asia and Africa, and records 24 employees and five trustees. For the financial year ending 31 August 2024, the register shows income of £16,536,572 and expenditure of £16,833,573. (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk)
For donors, staff and counterparties, the immediate effect is operational: authority over payments, records and governance now sits with the interim managers, not the trustee board. Taken together, the published orders show an escalation from transaction controls in 2024 to trustee exclusion in June 2026 while the inquiry remains unresolved. (gov.uk) What follows will depend on the interim managers’ review and the Commission’s continuing inquiry. The regulator has not yet published final findings, but its stated objectives are to examine past decisions and related-party arrangements, secure any charity assets at risk, and bring governance back into proper order before reporting further. (gov.uk)