Gloriavale faces paying more tax after charitable status revoked over child labour, failure to report sex offending
Gloriavale’s Trust has lost its charitable status after an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
The “significant decision” will mean paying more in tax. According to its annual return for the year ending July 31, 2025, the trust had $47.7 million in net assets. If it had to pay 28% corporate tax rate on its $1.8m surplus for the year, it would be paying about $500,000.
The Charities Registration Board announced on Tuesday the Christian Church Community Trust, which supports activities associated with the Gloriavale Christian Community, would be removed from the Charities Register.
“The department’s investigation considered a substantial body of evidence, including court and tribunal decisions, interviews, governance and operational records and information provided by other agencies,” it said in a statement.
The board’s decision says the trust cannot apply for registration again for a period of three years.
The trust previously held onto its charitable status after a 2016 Charities Services investigation that found the community’s leaders may have acted in a manner that constituted serious wrongdoing under the Charities Act, particularly when it came to the handling of physical and sexual assault allegations and members wanting to leave the community.
At that time, the agency decided it was in the public interest for the trust to remain on the Charities Register, so it could help the leaders improve governance and management.
Not any more.
The DIA said in a statement the board’s decision heavily drew on findings from the Employment Court’s Courage and Pilgrim cases, as well as the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal.
“These findings described the use of child labour from the age of 6 in trust-owned businesses, work carried out in harsh and, at times, dangerous conditions, failures to protect children and workers from harm, and the internal handling and non-reporting of sexual offending against a child at a trust-owned school,” it said.
Changes implemented by the trust in recent years, including the appointment of independent trustees and strengthened governance and safeguarding arrangements, were taken into account, it said.
“However, the seriousness, scale and duration of the governance and oversight failures led to a finding that trustees had failed in their responsibilities, and that deregistration was in the public interest.”
As part of the decision, former trustee Howard Temple was disqualified from holding officer positions in registered charities for the maximum period of five years.
DIA Charities Services director Charlotte Stanley said the board’s decision does “not determine the future operation of the religious community, nor does it address questions of criminal liability”.
Brian Henry, lawyer for the leavers in the Employment Court, said a case currently before the High Court argued the trust should never have been a registered charity.
“This is going to cause a lot of problems for the trust and certainly helps our case,” he said of the board’s Tuesday announcement.
“For years and years Government organisations have decided that protecting themselves and their reputation is more important that protecting the children. Gloriavale was set up by sexual offenders to breed victims.
“Finally, two Government departments, firstly education and now the DIA, have stood up and said enough.”
Trust chief executive Philip Jamieson said the issues raised in the board’s decision were historical and the trust was meeting all its legal obligations.
“We have just received the decision and we need to digest it but I expect we will challenge it.”
When asked how much the trust would now have to pay in tax, he said the implications of the decision were complicated.
He said all staff working for the trust and its entities were now under individual employment contracts and were being paid.
“There is an acknowledgement of the progress the trust has made. We don’t see that it would be beneficial for a trust that is doing well and supporting the community [to lose its charitable status].”