Charities can take some simple steps to minimise complaints from whistleblowers and improve where concerns are made
According to Charity Commission figures released in 2025, the number of whistleblowing complaints about charities made from staff, former employees, and others has risen markedly over the last decade.
Among high-profile whistleblowing complains in recent years was in August 2025 when the charity regulator assessed a complaint lodged by staff at the Alan Turing Institute around governance issues.
The regulator’s figures showed a spike in whistleblowing reports across science-focused charities in 2025, as well as an increase in reports related to arts, culture, and heritage charities.
Here we look at whistleblowing reports in the sector, what is causing them, and the simple steps charities can take to ensure any grievances are addressed before they escalate.
The Charity Commission began recording whistleblowing disclosures made about charities in 2015/16, when just 87 were lodged with the regulator.
By 2024/25, the complaints had risen more than five times with 546 reports received that year. Of these a third were from current members of staff, one in five from former employees, and more than two in five were from those who had never worked directly for the charity.
The primary causes of concerns are problems around financial management, governance, and safeguarding. This has been consistent across recent years.
It is worth...
Rap star Nicki Minaj made an appearance at the US mission to the United Nations to echo President Donald Trump’s false claim that Christians are being systematically killed in Nigeria. Minaj appea...