The trans youth charity ‘Mermaids’ was not governed to the standards expected by the UK’s Charity Commission, a new report has revealed. The British charity, which supports gender-questioning youth, was also ordered by the watchdog to remove and rewrite false claims it made about puberty blockers.
Poor governance at the UK charity amounted to mismanagement, the inquiry published on Thursday said.
The regulator for charities in England and Wales cited the charity’s failure to ensure that its governance, practices and culture kept pace with its growing size, along with demand for services and public profile, citing this as a “major factor” that led to wider governance failings.
A regulatory compliance case into the charity was brought by the Commission in September 2022 after complaints were made by the public, and raised in the media.
These included concerns around chest-binding and the online support being offered to young people, and the alleged ties between the former CEO of Mermaids and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. The inquiry came shortly after The Telegraph newspaper revealed that teenagers as young as 13 were being given chest binders against the wishes of their parents.
In the 22-page report, Mermaids was reprimanded for a series of decisions, including the inappropriate promotion of puberty blocker drugs and chest bonders to children. The charities watchdog said it ordered Mermaids to remove statements from its website about puberty blockers being “an internationally recognised safe, reversible healthcare option.”
Concerns had been raised in Parliament, with former Conservative MP Miriam Cates alleging that the charity was guilty of “serious safeguarding failures,” whilst former Prime Minister, Liz Truss, said that allegations against the charity “should be properly looked at.”
The Charity Commission, in its report published in recent days after an investigation spanning two years, said that charities are required by law to ensure information provided on an educational basis is accurate, evidence-based and balanced. However, it said that Mermaids had been “unclear” about whether the information it provided was a statement of fact or its own opinion.
The charities regulator said in the lengthy report that the charity “should have mechanisms in place to keep their position under review as this is clearly an area of medicine where there is ongoing development and change.”
Orlando Fraser, KC, Chair of the Charity Commission said: “The provision of services to children affected by gender identity issues is a highly challenging area that requires great care and sensitivity. This is especially so for charities, given the authority that registered status will likely carry with children and their families.
“We have carefully scrutinised Mermaids’ activities through a statutory inquiry and have found mismanagement in a number of areas. Mermaids cooperated with our investigation and has been actively addressing the various concerns raised.
“Additionally, following the Cass Review, we have required Mermaids to present a more accurate picture on its website as to the risks involved in the use of puberty blockers, and to follow Cass Review findings on the involvement of parents in social transitioning as regards any future provision of chest binders to children.”
He added: “As the report indicates, there are lessons for other charities working in these areas, including that they need to have regard to the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Cass Review.”
References to puberty blockers have now been removed from the charity’s website.
The Commission did not uphold all concerns raised about the charity. The inquiry found no evidence that the charity provided medical advice, which would have been outside its charitable purposes. Nor did it find evidence that Mermaids made medical referrals for young people without the approval of a parent or carer; held inappropriate influence or ties to GIDS at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust or to private medical practices; or that it failed to have appropriate safeguarding policies in place.
Kathryn Downs, Mermaids’ chairman of trustees, said the commission had “confirmed, as we have repeatedly asserted, that we have not provided medical advice or acted improperly in our work with children, young people and their families”.
Commentator and writer James Esses, who earlier this year won an apology over an expulsion from a London University for holding gender-critical views, said that the report’s findings represented “a rap on the knuckles for an activist group” who he said had “enabled and facilitated the irreversible harming and mutilation of children, and has done so while in receipt of your money as taxpayers.”