The Charity Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, has unveiled plans to expand its workforce and modernise its digital systems to meet “extraordinary” demand for its services.

Over the next 12 months, the regulator will recruit 80 additional staff. It will also increase investment in technology including AI.

Charity Commission chief executive David Holdsworth outlined the plans during the opening address at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ Charity Conference.

The announcement comes as the sector’s net income reached just under £100bn ($137bn) in the year to April 2025.

Over the same period, the Commission received a record 9,836 applications for charity registration, a 9% increase on the previous year.

This growth comes despite sustained pressures on charities including higher demand, rising employment costs and the impact of inflation on funding.

Holdsworth said: “We will be recruiting 80 new officials into the organisation over the next 12 months. That is about a 23% uplift in our headcount, so it will make a difference.

“We have to use technology to improve our capacity and our capability. So there will be investment in our technology and our digital services over the next three years as well.”

The regulator is already testing AI for analytical work. Holdsworth said proposals on “the use of AI for automatic assessment of data to flag anomalies” will be published soon.

He said the broad capabilities of AI would enable the Commission to review and identify data risks at scale, allowing earlier regulatory intervention and support for charities “before it starts to go horribly wrong”.

The Charity Commission’s funding is set to increase under the Treasury’s latest spending review. Its budget is due to increase by 27% in 2026–27 to £37.9m, up from £29.8m for the current financial year.