Two charities ordered to run mosque as one entity

Two charities in dispute about the running of a mosque in the West Midlands have been ordered to merge by the Charity Commission, in a rare move not made in two decades.

The regulator has ordered Dudley Central Mosque and Muslim Community Centre to join with The Muslim Community Centre and Mosque 1977, in an "extremely rare" use of its powers.

The decision comes after years of regulatory concerns and uncertainty over the day-to-day management of Dudley Central Mosque, on Birmingham Road.

A report, published on Tuesday, said trustees have now been given a "transparent" way for members of the community to be involved. The BBC has approached the mosque for comment.

A new governing document has been created to combine the charities - both with "complicated structures" - to operate effectively following rules on how the merged charity should run in line with charity law and the commission's guidance.

The regulator said this was an "unprecedented" use of its powers not applied for more than 20 years.

An inquiry was launched into Dudley Central Mosque and Muslim Community Centre in July 2022, over "repeated failure" to meet accounting requirements for four years in a row despite being the subject of three regulatory compliance cases.

In April 2025, a separate inquiry into Muslim Community Centre and Mosque 1977 was launched because of concerns the dispute between the two organisations posed a risk to charity property.

All of the cases looked at issues which arose from the ongoing dispute between the two groups.

In November 2018, the commission said it advised the Muslim Community Centre and Mosque 1977 to seek legal advice to establish official trustees in line with its constitution while asking the two sides to mediate.

An election overseen by an independent committee took place, but one side disputed the independence of the election and governance issues remained.

The charity was also placed into the commission's "double defaulters" class inquiry in March 2022 as it had failed to submit its annual reports, accounts and annual returns for four years in a row.

The regulator said accounting information since March 2018 was still outstanding.

The inquiry looked at concerns that there was a lack of clarity around the respective charities' roles in managing its shared property and how related charitable funds are banked.

Both inquiries remain ongoing.

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