The charity commission has released a report on Paradigm Solutions in Witney which recruited self-employed franchisees to find donors for a number of charities.

The law states that people should be told if fundraisers are being paid, but that Paradigm and its employees failed to do this.

The inquiry, which ran from September 2001 to February 2002, found that franchisees paid the company a fee in return for training and permission to solicit money.

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The investigation also found that Rodney Hindmarsh, who ran Paradigm, was a joint signatory on bank accounts maintained jointly with two of the charities, despite being disqualified from such a position because of a fraud conviction.

Fundraisers signed people up to make monthly donations, but the charities concerned paid a fee which typically amounted to up to half the money given over a three year period.

It accepted that Mr Hindmarsh may have been unaware of this.