New Charity Commission chair – not so much of a soft landing?

As noted above, the new chair of the Charity Commission, Orlando Fraser, has delivered his inaugural speech.

Having been without a permanent chair since early 2020, and with the debacle surrounding Martin Thomas’ appointment (and subsequent resignation prior to taking up the post). there was increased scrutiny on Fraser’s appointment, which wasn’t aided by MP’s on the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, rejecting him as the preferred candidate.

Ultimately, despite the Committee’s concern that Fraser represented “yet another archetypal and unimaginative choice” (although I should note that they had no concerns about his ability to do the job or about him as an individual), the DCMS pushed through his appointment to the role, which is for 2 and a half days a week for a three year term, remunerated at £62,500 per year.

Orlando Fraser is a barrister with almost 30 years experience and a strong prior commitment to the charity sector. He has involvement with the Charity Commission dating back to 2013 and his time as a legal board member under William Shaw cross's chairmanship.

In his augural speech, Fraser referred to his time as a barrister and his desire to lead a regulator that is fair, balanced and independent. He set out his intention to make the Commission available and responsive to Trustees, and encouraged trustees to consider how they manage their charity’s resources and how they recruit new trustees – noting that the cost of living crisis is likely to impact charities.

In reference to his desire to be fair, balanced and independent, Fraser said that under his leadership, he intended the Commission to strike a balance between being robust and benign and to act independently “without fear or favour from any other entity, whether it be Government, party politicians, beneficiaries or indeed the sector”. He went on to say ...”So, there will be occasions when the Commission will be very robust, but equally you will see a supportive side to us – it is a question of achieving the right overall balance over time between challenge and encouragement, and it is something to which I want the Commission to pay attention.”

We await to see to what extend Fraser will be able to influence the wider Commission and how this will play out in practice, but the comments seem to be more direct than many of his predecessors.