Where TF is the Charity Commission report into Mermaids?

[Taytoface]

I know they are not renowned for being fast, but we must be coming up to two years now.

If, as we suspect, they are actively damaging children, this is two more years they have been allowed to do this.

If they see nothing wrong in handing out binders, pointing kids to Reddit, having nonce apologists on the Board and having staff members make incredibly graphic pornographic art, then that is two year of a shadow hanging over them unfairly, making fundraising really difficult.

Wha go'an?

My assumption is that they are waiting for Mermaids to jump, rather than pushing them.

At this point you have to wonder if the CC uncovered something more serious and their investigation is paused while other agencies look into it. It does seem to have gone on for a long time and the silence of all concerned raises questions.

I bloody well hope not. They’ll be waiting a long time.

If that is the case then they should suspend operations. They are dealing with really vulnerable kids. They could be doing a massive amount of damage.

The original enquiry was launched in Sep 2022 and then advanced to a statutory enquiry in Nov 2022. They have been at this for over 2 years. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulator-announces-statutory-inquiry-into-mermaids

My prediction is - it will never happen.

The Labour Party will have done a deal with the activists and will quietly bury whatever findings were discovered and a report will never get published.

OR

The findings were so bad, they implicate the Charities Commission themselves for not looking into it earlier, due to ignoring the red flags raised for years.

The activities will get absorbed into a completely different charity and take over. Like Stonewall slowly being taken over by the Good Law Project.

I'd love to be proved wrong.

I get your pessimism, don't think this can happen. This is a statutory enquiry, it can't be buried, even if Mermaids morph into something else, the Trustees in charge during the wild years are still legally responsible for the operations of the Charity. The enquiry is looking at whether they carried out their legal duties.

It will never happen, the results will never be published.

I would be starting to think there were one or two TRAs in the Charity Commission who are trying to steer it/water it down, or perhaps those investigating have "trans" children in their own families. We already know that fear for family can skew people's responses. Is there any way to find out who is doing this report?

I also worry about pressure from the self interested. We know how invested so many are from the legal profession, the charity sector, the civil service and politicians including the current government. Prioritising the safety of children often comes a poor second to defending the interests of this "sacred caste" as we repeatedly see.

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/mermaids-appeal-raises-thousands-as-probe-is-significantly-impacting-finances.html

That's what I thought. Just stringing it out in the hope Mermaids solve the problem themselves by folding. Haven't mermaids come out and asked them to hurry up, because their funding is drying up as a result of the uncertainty?

I can't see them doing that if they knew they were under investigation for something even worse.

On the other hand, how bloody cowardly is that? There would have to be questions asked about why it took them so long.

These things just take a really, really, really long time.

There are so many legal stages you wouldn't believe it.

'Mermaids’ campaign says the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry into the organisation, which began at the end of 2022, is “significantly impacting our services, staff and volunteer wellbeing, our reputation, and our finances”.

“Securing funding is increasingly difficult, and corporate partners are hesitant to work with us due to potential backlash,” it says.the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry into the organisation, which began at the end of 2022, is “significantly impacting our services, staff and volunteer wellbeing, our reputation, and our finances”.
“Securing funding is increasingly difficult, and corporate partners are hesitant to work with us due to potential backlash,” it says.'

-from the article I posted upthread.

When they say 'backlash', do they mean 'consequences'?

Oh dear, how sad, what a shame.

I've been worrying about this too. If all is well (which I know it is not) then get the report out so it can be scrutinised. If all not well then shut the bloody place down before it does even more damage.

They must not be allowed to cover anything up. There has to be a way of unearthing what they have found.

I wonder if a good journalist could be persuaded to take this up, Julie Bindel? Janice T?

That is a good point. Hopefully it's just weaving its course as expected. But I do share the scepticism and concern of PPs above about activism from self-interested parties.

As an indication of timelines, I had a look at another high profile case (that's in the headlines again now because another former charity staff member has won the right to carry on with a legal battle to try and clear people's names, following the death of the CEO).

Here's an extract from a Guardian article (my bold):

In a statement it said: “After an investigation lasting over six years, the Charity Commission has not found anything that would warrant bringing regulatory action against anyone involved with Kids Company..."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/10/kids-company-criticised-for-failures-by-watchdog-year-after-exoneration

The police will probably involved as well.

Possible reasons:

1. It's genuinely taking a long time because it's complicated, they're uncovering a lot of stuff they weren't prepared for, or they've only allocated one staff member half a day a week to work on it.
2. They've uncovered some nasty stuff, and are absolutely terrified of the backlash if they find against Mermaids, so they're hoping everyone forgets about it and/or the charity goes under in the meantime.
3. There's a bitter war going on in the CC between hardline trans activists who think Mermaids is wonderful and people who still retain some sense, and so the findings are stalled while they try and resolve this.

There may be other explanations that I haven't thought of.

If it were anyone but Mermaids I'd been astonished that they'd issued a statement talking about the impact on "services, volunteers and staff" without once mentioning the service USERS, but... It's Mermaids, innit?
I suppose they'll say we are meant to see "services" as a proxy for that, but I think it's telling.

I am thinking that Cass Review seemed to take a very very long time but when it came it was very well considered and irrefutable (well at least if relying on logic/facts/evidence). So hoping the same is true for this?

Have you seen their finances?

They are in massive trouble.

I would be surprised if Mermaids could survive a six year investigation.

I think 4 years is getting to the end of the line.

Cass Review involved transparent methods and processes, had a blog, published an interim report, releases updates on timelines and various other items that I can't recall at present. It feels different.