International aid organisations have been warned that they must take abuse seriously if they want to access government funding

Complaints of misconduct within aid organisations have doubled since the Oxfam scandal broke.

England and Wales' Charity Commission has confirmed it has received 80 complaints about safeguarding issues from 26 different organisations.

The watchdog contacted 179 UK aid organisations after the revelations of Oxfam misconduct in Haiti, and is demanding the charities take action to help protect the people they work with.

The commission said that the 80 incidents broadly related to safeguarding issues and covered a wide spectrum of alleged incidents. The reports are now being assessed by a special taskforce that has been set up to tackle abuse.

It said reporting of serious incidents across all charities had doubled since last month.

At a meeting of charity bosses convened in London yesterday, international development secretary Penny Mordaunt said that tough new standards would be set for organisations which wanted to access government funding.

“Organisations should not bid for new funding unless they are prepared to meet these tough new standards,” Mordaunt said.

“We will not approve funds to them unless they pass our new standards. We will also start to apply these new standards to organisations we have ongoing work with.”

The department said it expected charities to sign up to a new vetting system, to agree protection for whistleblowers and victims of exploitation, and to allow an external body to scrutinise safeguarding.