The Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry into a Catholic charity after it failed to file overdue accounts for the past two years.

The regulator has escalated its engagement with the Order of the Friars Minor Conventual, which was set up in 1966 to carry out activities that advance the religious and charitable work delivered by the Order of the Friars. 

The charity was ordered in January last year to file a number of overdue accounts as part of the regulator’s double defaulter class inquiry.

Although the charity did eventually submit overdue accounts for the financial years ending December 2020 and 2021, with the latter arriving more than two years late, it is yet to file outstanding accounts for 2022 and 2023, the regulator said. The charity recorded an income of almost £839,000 in 2021, accounts show. 

The Charity Commission’s website shows that Order of the Friars’s accounts for 2023 are 42 days overdue, while 2022’s accounts are overdue by 408 days.

The commission escalated its case to a statutory inquiry on 20 November. 

The investigation will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity.

This includes looking at how the trustees are complying with their statutory accounting and reporting responsibilities and financial management. It will also examine the adequacy of the trustees’ oversight of the charity’s operation and activities.

A spokesperson for the Order of the Friars Minor Conventual said: “The charity is aware of the investigation and is liaising with one of the investigating officers to provide her with the outstanding information required and other official charity documents. 

“The process will take a number of weeks but under the supervision of the investigating officer we expect to be compliant again early in the new year.”