Our weekly round up of news and updates from across the sector.

To help you navigate this week’s content, the links below will take you straight to content by topic.

Investigations and complaints

The Charity Commission has concluded its investigation into four charities that were part of a statutory class inquiry into 105 charities found to have issued cheques that were then exchanged for cash to a value of £22 million. The charities all issued blank cheques. Although the commission was satisfied that each charity was undertaking charitable activities in line with their charitable purposes, the issuing of blank cheques was misconduct and/or mismanagement. The commission issued regulatory advice and guidance to all four charities – The Z.S.V. Trust, Bnois Jerusalem Schools, Forty Limited, and Friends of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz. It also issued action plans to the first three to improve their governance.

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Sector general

On 8 October Mathew Healey and Laura Morrish are hosting a ’Branding and trade marks: ask us anything!’ webinar. You can submit questions in advance when you register, email them to us, or ask them live using the Q&A function.

In the run up to the Right to Work regime changing from 1 October, Chetal Patel and Gill McKearney share a helpful checklist covering the key steps organisations should be taking to prepare.  As a reminder, the regime is expanding beyond traditional employment to include worker contracts, individual sub-contractors, and online matching services.

The Civil Society Group, which includes Charity Finance Group and over 80 civil society organisations, has submitted a joint response to the government’s Autumn Budget 2026 consultation. The submission calls on the government to “put the ambitions of the Civil Society Covenant into practice and position civil society as an effective strategic delivery partner, connecting national priorities with local communities”. Key recommendations include supporting place-based giving, supporting charities with access to AI, and ensuring government grants, procurement processes, and contracts recognise the cost and value of voluntary sector delivery (e.g. through the use of full-cost, multi-year contracts).

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Philanthropy

Charities Aid Foundation’s Corporate Giving Report 2026 found that FTSE 100 giving has declined to its lowest reported level despite record profits, with giving as a proportion of profits having halved since 2009.

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Fundraising

The Fundraising Regulator (FR) has issued advice for charities which have been affected by the Beacon cybersecurity incident. They advise charities (who have not already done so) whose fundraising data has been affected to submit a report via the FR’s self-reporting pathway. If you would like more details about this topic, Rayhaan Vankalwala and Hannah Lyons have shared a blog with tips for what charities should be doing in response to the Beacon incident. 

The FR has published its business plan for 2026/27. This is the fifth and final business plan falling under its strategic plan 2022-2027. Its priorities for the year are:

  • Delivering intelligent fundraising regulation that protects the public: This will include working to ensure free prize draw operators and fundraising platforms offer transparency for the public, and changing registration requirements for free prize draw operators so that the FR badge is only available to organisations that make a “meaningful contribution” to charitable causes;
  • Informing the public about principled fundraising: It plans to make changes to its directory of registered organisations and work with the Charity Commission to promote joint advice for members of the public setting up a fundraising campaign;
  • Supporting fundraising organisations to thrive: For example, it will review how the Code of Fundraising Practice is being used (one year after it came into effect) and working with an external research agency on a Sectoral Complaints Project;
  • Being a highly effective organisation: Along with other actions, the FR will develop a new strategic plan 2027-2032, engaging stakeholders in this process.

The FR has also shared some interesting blogs this week:

  • Guy Parker, Chair of the Standards Committee, reflects on the key role of trustees in fundraising. Parker suggests some questions for trustees to discuss to understand if their charity is meeting its fundraising responsibilities;
  • Paul Winyard, Director of Policy, shares a reminder about the FR’s guidance on using AI in fundraising. The FR is now calling on “organisations that promote, advise and inform the charity sector about using AI to acknowledge and, where appropriate, integrate our guidance”; and
  • Mary Roberts, Stakeholder and Policy Manager – Wales, considers Opinium research that the FR commissioned about public confidence in fundraising. 64% said their overall experience of supporting charities was positive.

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has launched a monthly public tracker, in partnership with CharityTracker, to provide data on fundraising activity and giving behaviours across the UK.

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AI

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has published a new AI Risk Management Toolkit for anyone involved in designing, operating, procuring or delivering products that use artificial intelligence.

Civil Society has highlighted comments from Andrew Harper, deputy CEO of Epworth Investment Management, speaking on the rise of AI at the recent Faith Charities Forum. Harper warned that “a policy nobody has read is not governance; it is insulation” and called on charities “to notice that the gains and the costs land on different people, on different timescales, with different visibilities”.

The Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology has published its latest impact report.

See ‘Fundraising’ above

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Cyber security

City of London Police and the National Police Chiefs’ Council National Cybercrime Team have launched Police CyberAlarm, a free cyber threat monitoring service funded by the Home Office. The service is intended to help organisations “identify known vulnerabilities and understand suspicious and potentially malicious activity targeting them from the internet”.

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Company law

The government has launched a consultation on Modernising Corporate Reporting to “modernise the UK’s corporate reporting framework, with the objective of supporting economic growth and strengthening the UK’s international competitiveness”. The government is seeking views on various proposals, including introducing a specific standard for not-for-profit companies and whether any other requirements in the Companies Act 2006 are challenging or difficult to implement for not-for-profit companies.

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Housing

As part of a review of statutory guidance on social housing allocations in England, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government is seeking feedback until 2 October from registered providers of social housing, representative bodies, tenant and resident groups, charities, local authorities, academics, and others with experience of the allocations system.

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Martyn’s Law

Laura Gibb, the Executive Director of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) for Martyn’s Law provides a brief update on the support the SIA is planning to offer organisations to help them prepare for compliance with the new law. This includes tools to determine if an event or premises is within the scope of Martyn’s Law, templates on how to document procedures and measures that are put in place, and a notification portal.

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Friendly societies

The Law Commission has published its final report on the reform of the law applicable to friendly societies. This includes a draft bill that would implement the reforms.  The report’s recommendations are aimed at ensuring the statutory framework is clear and workable in practice, and that unnecessary administrative burden is reduced.  Key recommendations include that the Friendly Societies Act 1974 be repealed three years after the Friendly Societies (Amendment) Bill takes effect; that a society that has not re-registered or converted by the end of the three-year transition period should automatically have its registration cancelled; conferring on the Financial Conduct Authority a power to cancel a friendly society’s registration; and the repeal of all statutory declaration requirements contained within the Friendly Societies Act 1992.

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Social enterprise

Co-operatives UK has highlighted plans for what is intended to become the UK’s first co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation in Middleton. The proposed model aims to apply co-operative values to local regeneration by giving residents, businesses, the voluntary sector and public bodies a greater role in shaping future development.

The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) has announced that it is leading an 18-month research project exploring racial disparities in social enterprise growth. It aims to find out why social enterprises led by Black and racially minoritised people experience slower trading income growth and what funders, policymakers, enterprise-support organisations and others can do to improve this. The SSE is working in partnership with The Social Investment Consultancy, with funding from Trust for London.

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Social investment / social impact investment

The Impact Investing Institute has announced a new project to explore how a broader range of investors can help scale the reach and impact of the community development finance institution (CDFI) sector.  The announcement notes ongoing difficulty for small businesses (which could include social enterprise and community business) accessing finance and the role of CDFIs in addressing this. The Institute plans to engage with combined and local authorities, wealth managers, family offices, foundations and institutional investors, and explore practical ways to mobilise new capital.

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Faith-based organisations

Gather Movement’s Heart of the Neighbourhood report estimates that England’s approximately 33,000 churches “may collectively provide around a quarter of a million instances of community provision”, based on initial findings from its social action mapping project.

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Education

General

The Department for Education (DfE) has launched a consultation seeking views on improving support, quality and oversight for children and young people educated outside school or further education settings through Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) arrangements. It covers responsibilities, support for children and young people with existing EOTAS arrangements, provision for children whose health needs cannot be met in school and the use of accredited online education providers for alternative provision. The deadline to respond is 18 September.

Schools

The DfE has launched a consultation on draft regulations that would amend rules of the England and Wales Teachers’ Pension Scheme. The proposed changes follow the latest scheme valuation and would rebalance member contribution tiers, clarify existing policy positions and support the effective operation of the scheme. The deadline for responding is 30 October.

The BBC reports that updated school food standards in England are due to take effect from September 2027, subject to Parliamentary approval. The standards will require more fruit, vegetables, fibre and wholegrains, prohibit deep-fried food, and place tighter limits on processed meat and sweetened baked products and desserts. The standards will apply to breakfast clubs, and schools will have to publish their food policies and menus online. Compliance arrangements will be developed with the Food Standards Agency.

Higher Education

The DfE has announced plans for a national community cohesion framework for students at colleges, universities and in students’ unions. It will be developed in five areas before being rolled out for wider testing and implementation. Students’ unions and further and higher education providers will be able to use the framework to review and strengthen existing policies and promote positive student relationships and civic participation. An accompanying toolkit will help organisations develop local frameworks, charters or initiatives, provide practical examples of how to build cohesion with students and establish an approach to monitoring and evaluating what works well.

The government has reaffirmed its target for two-thirds of young people to participate in higher-level learning by age 25, including degrees, higher technical qualifications and apprenticeships. At the Universities UK Conference 2026, Skills Minister Jacqui Smith also highlighted the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, more flexible study and stronger partnerships between universities, further education colleges and employers to meet skills needs and support growth.

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Disclaimer – The information contained in this update is not intended to be a comprehensive update – it is our selection of the website announcements made in the fortnight up to last Friday which we think will be of interest to charities and social enterprises. The views expressed in items we’ve included are the views of the named authors/sources, and should not be taken to be the views of Bates Wells, its partners or employees. The content in this update is necessarily of a general nature – specific advice should always be sought for specific situations.