How charities can respond to the current hostile environment
Source: gov.uk (2025-12-09)

This guidance aims to provide clarity, practical steps, and reassurance to help charities navigate difficult circumstances.

Charities have operated in contested social policy debates for many years. The role of charities in speaking up for their beneficiaries is a key function of delivering on their charitable purpose.

Lawful free speech is a key pillar of any free and democratic society. Citizens have a right to voice their lawful views just as charities have a right to lawfully speak up on issues that further their charitable purpose. The Charity Commission will always be clear about the right of charities to campaign in support of, or opposition to, specific policies where this furthers their purposes and is in the charity’s best interests.

Charities, like other organisations, should expect to be challenged and criticised when engaging in debate. However the Commission recognises that some charities are now operating in an environment where a section of the public is actively hostile to their work and in consequence are responding in some instances to unacceptable circumstances and risks.

The Commission stands by charities as they navigate this challenging time and is ready to support them as they work to bring communities together, protect society’s most vulnerable and work to make our country and world a better place. Under charity law, what matters is that trustees make decisions in good faith, guided by their charity’s best interests and act reasonably on the information available.

Responding to safeguarding concerns

Some charities will have a plan in place in the event of incidents of threat, abuse or intimidation, and their trustees should draw on that plan as appropriate. Other charities may now feel the need to develop such a plan and should make that decision based on a risk assessment.

The Commission’s safeguarding guidance includes a section on how to handle and report incidents and concerns (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safeguarding-duties-for-charity-trustees#handle-and-report-incidents-and-concerns), which includes advice to:
- follow your relevant policies and procedures that keep people safe
- act quickly, ensuring you stop or minimise any further harm or damage
- plan what to say to those involved with your charity and the media if appropriate
- report it to all relevant agencies and regulators when required
Charities should keep the security and safety of their staff, visitors and premises under regular review and consider whether further protective measures are necessary. Trustees know their communities and areas best and are therefore best placed to assess and respond to any increased risks.

We recognise that what charities need will depend on their circumstances and should be proportionate. We also recognise that not every scenario can be planned for or mitigated against.

Questions charities should consider when reviewing operating practices and safety measures include:
- are your buildings secure, including entry points?
- are different entrances available?
- do you have alternative exit routes from the property if required? Are these clear and communicated to staff and visitors on arrival?
- should an incident occur do you have a clear procedure in place for what staff and visitors should do to stay safe? Is it clear who will issue instructions should an incident occur?
- do you need to have first aid trained staff or volunteers on site at all times?
- have you contacted the local police community liaison team to get advice on how they can help the charity in the event of an incident?
- Are the answers to these questions written down, accessible, and briefed to staff and volunteers regularly?
Some risks may be specific, or time bound such as an alert from police of a specific risk / threat based on their monitoring of social media or intelligence. You may therefore want to consider:
- how your charity reviews and shares with trustees or senior staff the latest advice, guidance or alerts from police forces or other local authorities including monitoring of social media channels.
- whether your charity should assess risk at the start of each day, and how to inform staff, beneficiaries and others about whether it is safe to attend.
- ensuring you have a clear process including a nominated person responsible for acting upon any urgent alert or risk.
Charities should not hesitate to call the emergency services if their staff, volunteers or beneficiaries face abuse, feel threatened, or are in danger.

The Home Office offers protective security schemes (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/places-of-worship-security-funding-scheme) where faith community organisations can apply for grants to improve security.

In certain circumstances, where displaying a trustee’s name may put them in danger, the Commission is able to grant permission for this name to be removed from the charity register. You can find more detail in our guidance about this (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/addresses-and-trustee-names-in-your-charitys-public-details).

Where a serious incident has occurred, you should report this to the Commission. Our guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-report-a-serious-incident-in-your-charity) covers what to report and how.

Trustees can contact the Commission directly if they need support on xx-xxxx-xxxx.

Further advice and support

There is further advice from the National Business Crime Centre on safeguarding your organisation during public events (https://nbcc.police.uk/crime-prevention/crime-prevention-guides/safeguarding-your-business-during-public-events).

Guidance is also available from ProtectUK on how to effectively protect and prepare (https://www.protectuk.police.uk/).

Charities can work with local emergency services, including Local Resilience Forums. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-resilience-forums-contact-details) Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are multi-agency partnerships made up of representatives from local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS, the Environment Agency and others. The LRFs aim to plan and prepare for localised incidents and catastrophic emergencies. They work to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans to either prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident on their local communities.

The VCS Emergencies Partnership (https://www.vcsep.org.uk/) is a network of more than 300 voluntary, community and statutory sector organisations that come together to provide a more coordinated and person-centred response to emergencies. It aims for greater national resilience and a better experience for people who are impacted by emergencies. It gives partners access to useful information, learning opportunities, capability-building events and a way to build trusted connections and community resilience with others, before, during and after emergencies.

Your local infrastructure organisation can be a source of information, useful point of contact for immediate support and connection to other organisations locally, and a good way to feed information back to statutory services. Find your nearest local infrastructure organisation for England (https://www.navca.org.uk/find-a-navca-member) or Wales (https://thirdsectorsupport.wales/).

Other areas for consideration

Charities should read our guidance on:
- It’s your decision: charity trustees and decision making (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/its-your-decision-charity-trustees-and-decision-making/decision-making-for-charity-trustees)
- Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safeguarding-duties-for-charity-trustees)
If you have concerns that you may not be able to deliver some of the activities set out in your funding agreements as a result of instances of abuse, threat or intimidation, seek an early conversation with the funder. They may be able to help by showing flexibility in these exceptional circumstances.

The Commission’s campaigning and political activity guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/speaking-out-guidance-on-campaigning-and-political-activity-by-charities-cc9/speaking-out-guidance-on-campaigning-and-political-activity-by-charities) outlines that charities have a right to robustly support or challenge particular policies, but must ensure that this activity is done in a way that does not imply support for or criticism of a certain political party or individual, rather than focusing on the issues the charity exists to support. Charities must remain neutral on party politics.

Some charities will seek to show support to affected communities through organising, promoting or participating in movements, such as rallies. As our guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/speaking-out-guidance-on-campaigning-and-political-activity-by-charities-cc9) makes clear, this can be a legitimate way for charities to further their charitable purpose and can offer opportunities to show the extent of public support for those charitable purposes. Charities should understand relevant public order legislation and undertake careful preparations to manage any risks, such as good advance liaison with the police and other authorities.

Misinformation can easily spread across social media, and charities should avoid sharing any content without ensuring it is from an official or verified resource. There is further advice in our social media guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-and-social-media/charities-and-social-media). Our guidance also says that if you are using social media in riskier contexts, for example on emotive issues, to use our decision-making guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/its-your-decision-charity-trustees-and-decision-making/its-your-decision-charity-trustees-and-decision-making) to help you make a proper consideration and assess the risks.

The NCVO (https://www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/) can also offer advice and guidance to charities. In Wales, information and support is available from WCVA (https://wcva.cymru/information-support/).