An inquiry has been opened into a Cornwall autism charity over concerns the trustees may not have fulfilled their legal duties.

The Charity Commission has opened an inquiry into Devon and Cornwall Autistic Community Trust, also known as ‘Spectrum’.

The regulator is concerned that the trustees may have failed to fulfil their legal duties and responsibilities under charity law, following several highly critical inspections of the charity's facilities by Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC’s inspections of the charity’s adult care facilities found five to be inadequate and eight requiring improvement.

It says the trustees have failed to take sufficient action to address all of the concerns raised by the CQC.

This has raised regulatory concerns about how the trustees are managing the charity. The commission’s inquiry will investigate whether there has been misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration and governance of the charity.

The inquiry will examine:

1. The trustees’ response and decision making in relation to the safeguarding concerns which have been raised by statutory and/or regulatory bodies.

2. Whether the trustees had complied and fulfilled their duties under charity law with particular regard to having sufficient oversight of safeguarding arrangements within the charity.

The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional issues emerge.

Devon and Cornwall Autistic Community Trust, which previously had its headquarters in Penryn when it was known as Spectrum, has been in existence for over 40 years.

It has its own school, the Three Bridges Education Centre near Truro, as well as 17 adult residential homes and one children’s home in Cornwall including Truro, Carnon Downs, Helston, Hayle, Camborne, Newquay and Redruth.

It says all of their homes provide safe and nurturing environments which match the needs and aspirations of the individuals we support.

A spokesperson from Spectrum said: “We are working closely with the Charity Commission and are confident they will find no misconduct and mismanagement in the administration and governance of our charity.

"Spectrum has a clear action plan, which has been created in partnership with Cornwall Council and the Care Quality Commission, and we have also enlisted the support of specialist care consultants.

"Many of the issues identified by the Care Quality Commission have already been rectified and we believe the Charity Commission will recognise the exceptional effort and progress that has been made by the Board of Trustees and our leadership team since the Care Quality Commission’s inspections.

“We would like to thank the people we support, their family members and staff for their on-going support of our charity.”