We are pleased to announce that the Charity Commission for England and Wales has announced the discharge of its Interim Manager appointed in 2023 to take legal responsibility for the oversight of certain functions of the Centre. The appointment included reviewing the arrangements in place governing the Centre’s hosting of events and speakers.
This is an important and welcome achievement for the Centre and positively demonstrates how the Centre has worked together with the Interim Manager and Charity Commission to reach this level of confidence.
The appointment of an Interim Manager provided the Centre with an opportunity to build upon and accelerate the governance improvements which had commenced prior to the appointment, as the Trustees had been working with its external advisers to develop new policies and make amendments made to key provisions of its Constitution, in line with the Charity Commission’s guidance.
We are grateful to the Interim Manager for continuing this work and for supporting the Trustees and Centre team, to ensure that our policies equip the Centre in practical terms, and enable its personnel to better understand risk and plan accordingly.
We view the Interim Manager’s discharge as an important milestone in the Centre’s governance journey. However, we also recognise that there is more work still to do to develop the Centre’s legal and governance framework. The Commission has issued an action plan which will support this ongoing development work, and the Trustees and Centre personnel are fully committed to delivering this.
The Centre operates to deliver its religious purposes and to promote its spiritual teachings and doctrines of the faith in order to enrich the lives of our beneficiaries. We recognise that we operate in a climate of substantial political unrest, with increasing cross-border territorial hostilities, and in circumstances where violence is often seen as a solution to disagreement. Notwithstanding this external environment which places the Centre at particular risk, and over which we have no control, the Centre must ensure that it continues to deliver its religious preachings and observes its spiritual doctrines, and meets the requirements of our beneficiaries, whilst also ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.
The Centre cannot be insulated from world events, however, it is committed to maintaining its independence from political interference, and delivering its religious and educational charitable purposes. The Centre plays a pivotal role in ensuring we operate in a way which respects all faiths, and where we allow our own faith to continue to be used for good, peacefully and without harm.
Regulatory intervention is an unsettling time for any organisation and the Trustees have previously expressed concerns over the appointment of an Interim Manager and continue to engage with the Commission to ensure there is a consistent understanding of its findings. However, the guiding light which has supported the Trustees and the Interim Manager through this period of intervention has been a mutual desire to create stability for the Centre and to deliver for its beneficiaries.
Our work in the future will see us transparently engage with those who misunderstand our purpose or the Centre’s role, and to build trust in how we work and what we do. We wish to record our heartfelt thanks to our beneficiaries for their continuing and wavering support throughout this period.
Chair of Trustees Abbas Abedi said: ” The Trustees and Centre personnel welcome this important development and wish to acknowledge the contribution made by both the Charity Commission and the Interim Manager. While this announcement provides reassurance regarding the robustness of our governance framework, we remain committed to continuous improvement. Trustees look forward to further strengthening our ways of working to maximise impact and continue operating responsibly and effectively in an increasingly complex and evolving environment. Regardless of how the Centre came to be under regulatory scrutiny, the overwhelmingly positive direction for the Centre from here is something the Trustees stand fully behind”.
Interim Manager, Emma Moody said: “This is as an important milestone for the Centre, and follows over two years’ of working with the Trustees and Centre personnel, to gain a mutual understanding of one another’s perspectives. We have approached our work together with a view to ensuring that the Centre’s governance framework and ways of working facilitates its compliance, with the paramount objective being to meet the needs of beneficiaries, who are at the heart of Trustee decision-making. The next phase of work should embed and further develop this foundation, and create resilience for the Centre.”
For more information on the discharge of the Interim Manager, see here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulator-orders-reform-to-governance-at-islamic-centre-of-england
For more information on the Centre and its work, see here https://ic-el.uk/
Board of Trustees
Islamic Centre of England
