A children’s disability support charity’s online registry page is considered “potentially misleading” by the Charity Commission in relation to its activities, the regulator has said.

The Street Foundation was set up as a grantmaker to support individuals and organisations involved with children and young people with a disability or special needs.

The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to use the law to protect the interests of the public, said the charity has given more than 40 per cent or £749,000 of the money it handed out in the past five years to right-wing pressure groups.

Among these groups are think tanks that have “called for the abolition of the Equality Act”, which protects groups including disabled people.

Other groups the charity has donated to have allegedly “cast doubt on the legitimacy of mental health issues” and “[promoted] privatising disability benefits”.

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: “We have carefully examined concerns raised with us about The Street Foundation and its grant-making.

“We have seen no evidence that the charity is acting outside of its objects.

“However, we do consider that information the charity presents on the online register as to its activities is potentially misleading.  

“We have therefore written to the trustees with advice on how they can make their register information clearer.”

The Street Foundation reportedly gave £250,000 to the New Culture Forum, a think tank that suggested abolishing the Equality Act was one of “10 election pledges that can save Britain”.

The group has also claimed mass immigration is “an existential threat to Britain”.

Between 2021 and 2022, the charity gave £55,000 to the think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, which faced calls earlier this year by politicians, supported by the Good Law Project, for the group to be investigated because it allegedly “fell foul of charity rules about its political campaigning, conducted unbalanced educational research and had inappropriate relationships with its offshoot organisations”.

These calls were refused by the Charity Commission.

The Street Foundation has also given funds to groups backing climate denial, fossil fuels, Brexit and other right-wing causes, including Civitas and the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

The charity is mostly funded by the aerospace company HR Smith Group and one of its subsidiaries, TechTest, according to the Good Law Project.

HR Smith Group’s chief executive is Richard Smith, who serves on the charity’s board. 

Smith also owns the building in Tufton Street where the New Culture Forum, Civitas, the Global Warming Policy Foundation and the Institute of Economic Affairs are based.

Jo Maugham, executive director of the Good Law Project, said this was a “grim set of facts”.

He said: “The Charity Commission continues to force hardworking taxpayers to fund political activity and misinformation through its disinclination to regulate right-wing charities.

“And diverting money away from disabled children is a new low.”

The Street Foundation, HR Smith Group, the New Culture Forum, the Institute of Economic Affairs, Civitas and the Global Warming Policy Foundation have been contacted for comment.