Charity regulator removes church's sole trustee after £652,030 of Gift Aid went unevidenced

The Charity Commission for England and Wales published on 29 June 2026 the statement of results of its statutory inquiry into Jesus Power House Ministries Ltd, registered charity number 1128363, concluding that there had been serious and sustained misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The inquiry was opened on 16 June 2023 under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011, after concerns were first raised with the regulator on 13 September 2022 about the church's banking arrangements and its operation by a single trustee.

The central financial finding is about Gift Aid. The report records that the charity received £652,030.18 in Gift Aid over five years but could not produce records demonstrating donations sufficient to support the claims. The Commission relayed the matter to HM Revenue and Customs on 20 July 2023 and concluded that the charity had significantly overclaimed. Separately, £33,999.78 of charitable funds was transferred to the personal bank accounts of the trustee, her husband and a family member without sufficient justification. Of £178,073 recorded as spent on musical and technical equipment, £135,997.80 could not be accounted for at an inspection on 30 November 2023, and financial documents had been altered so that expenditure appeared in different accounting years.

The governance finding is simpler and, on the Commission's account, the root of the rest. The charity's governing document required a minimum of three trustees. Mrs Onyekachi Anyanwu acted alone from 2013 to 2021 and again from April 2022 to September 2023, taking decisions the regulator describes as inquorate and invalid. Accounts for the years ending 2013 to 2021 did not comply with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice, and the report says an accountant was appointed without basic due diligence as to qualifications or professional affiliation.

The regulator escalated in steps. Bank accounts were frozen by orders made on 4 September 2023 under section 76(3)(d). Trustees were directed to appear before the inquiry on 26 June 2024 under section 47(2)(c). The trustee was suspended on 14 January 2025 under section 76(3)(a) with notice of removal, a decision review upheld that on 16 May 2025, and she was removed on 19 May 2025 under section 79(4), which carries automatic disqualification from acting as a trustee or senior manager of any charity. An action plan was issued to new trustees on 25 June 2025 and further regulatory advice on 27 November 2025. The associated company, Jesus Power House Ministries Limited, company number 06779830, remains active on the Companies House register, with accounts filed to 31 December 2024 and the next set due on 30 September 2026.

The case sits inside a busier twelve months for faith charities than the headline figures alone suggest. On 20 October 2025 the Commission reported on Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries International, charity number 1100416, an inquiry opened on 27 March 2018 after an inspection found more than 100 branch bank accounts outside trustee control. That report records income of £2,710,006 for the year to 31 December 2023, a freezing order on 2 February 2022, and interim manager time costs of £2,224,075 charged to the charity at a discounted £1,018,926 plus VAT. On 30 March 2026 the regulator reported on New Wineskins Charitable Trust and U-Turn Move on Homes, finding £34,217 of unexplained debits at the latter, of which only £1,349 was documented, and £3,956 taken to gambling organisations through unauthorised computer access. One trustee was disqualified indefinitely on 4 August 2025, another for ten years on 22 August 2025, and both charities were removed from the register on 3 November 2025. On 17 November 2025 the Commission found misconduct and mismanagement at The Order of Friars Minor Conventual over unfiled accounts for the years ending 2020 to 2023, and issued advice under section 15(2) on 5 August 2025.

The regulator's reach is not confined to small independent churches. On 16 January 2026 it issued Official Warnings to the Liverpool and Chelmsford diocesan boards of finance, charity numbers 249740 and 249505, over the handling of safeguarding allegations concerning the then Bishop of Liverpool, who resigned in January 2025. Trustees who knew of the allegations in 2023 did not put their boards in a position to assess risk or report a serious incident until early 2025, after press coverage. The chief executive, David Holdsworth, said trustees must be able to challenge powerful individuals, including those holding spiritual authority.

The record also shows the Commission declining to act. Its formal warning of 4 March 2026 to Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Slough, announced on 11 March 2026, addressed accounts filed late in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024, but concluded after substantial review that displaying boards bearing only the word Khalistan did not breach charity law, because the term carries theological significance in Sikhism. The regulator's own powers have been trimmed too: in the Mountain of Fire case, the First-tier Tribunal quashed on 27 January 2023 the part of an order that had appointed the interim manager to the exclusion of the trustees.

What is not known is whether HM Revenue and Customs has recovered any part of the £652,030.18, a question the inquiry report does not answer. Nor does it say whether the £135,997.80 of equipment was ever located, or whether the charity's next accounts will comply.