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You and Yours: Fundraising Regulator, Shopping Fraud, DIY Pothole Fixing

Fundraising Regulator, Shopping Fraud, DIY Pothole Fixing

24/11/2016

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Fundraising Regulator, Shopping Fraud, DIY Pothole Fixing

The Fundraising Regulator criticises some of the big charities in its first ruling.

The Fundraising Regulator talks to You and Yours about its first adjudication. Staying safe online this Black Friday. The council recruiting DIY workmen to fix holes in the road.

The Fundraising Regulator was set up in July 2016 against a backdrop of public outcry over how charities used fundraising companies to enlist donors and donations. Now it's published its first adjudication - and it's critical of some of the biggest names in the sector, including Save the Children and UNICEF. The report says a company they hired for door-to-door fundraising used aggressive tactics and targeted vulnerable people, and the Trustees didn't do enough to check what was going on. It concludes that the charities are too focussed on how much money is being raised rather than the way in which it is done. The Fundraising Regulator's chair, Lord Michael Grade, speaks to You & Yours about the findings.

It's the eve of the biggest online spending period of the year: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, then Christmas. And where there's big money being spent, the fraudsters are never far away. This time they're using social media to target shoppers, as well as setting up fake adverts on auction websites which look like the real deal. Their techniques are becoming ever-more sophisticated, including real-time chat boxes to lure consumers into paying up for goods they'll never receive. So how can you stay safe online this year? We speak to the Head of Action Fraud in the UK.

They're the bane of every motorist's and cyclist's life. Potholes are often left unrepaired as councils hit by funding cuts say they can't keep up, especially in winter when the problem gets worse because of icy weather. It's got so bad the Local Government Association claims it would take 14 years to fix them all. So one canny town hall is training up civic-minded locals to do the job themselves - and it isn't Blackburn in Lancashire. Our reporter went out with them to try her hand.

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