Karen Collins

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 9 June

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. Charity Commission New Grant-Making Guidance The Charity Commission has published new guidance for charities making grants to charities and other organisations. This replaces and expands …
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Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 3 June

Our weekly roundup 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. Charity Commission The Charity Commission has published a blog and guidance promoting the role of charity trustee. Return to top. Sector general The government has published new research mapping …
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Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 27 May

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. Charity Commission Podcast The Charity Commission’s CEO, David Holdsworth, has spoken on the Civil Society Podcast (available on Spotify and other streaming platforms) discussing a range …
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Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 19 May

Our weekly roundup 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. Charity Commission Updated CC28 Guidance The Charity Commission says it has updated its guidance Sales, leases, transfers or mortgages: what trustees need to know about disposing …
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Real estate: Stay vs Go

Whether you’re thinking about disposing of your office, moving to a new location or reconfiguring your existing space we are here to advise on your options. We will: We’ve developed a fixed fee package, so whether you decide to stay or go, we can help you choose your path with confidence. Prices for the above …
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It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas…

The arrival of the festive season is usually a time for merriment but for employers it brings with it the challenges involved with sourcing additional staff. It’s important that you don’t let practices slip, otherwise, you may find yourselves in tricky situations. Here are our top tips for HR directors this festive season to help …
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Publishing and AI – recent developments

Richard Marke, head of Bates Wells’ Corporate and Commercial team, recently spoke at the International Federation of Computer Law Associations (IFCLA) conference in Madrid on the topic of the ongoing battle between artificial intelligence (AI) companies and the publishing industry. Here we summarise the key developments he highlighted. It is generally acknowledged that AI developers …
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Bates Wells discusses Charitable Funds with Independent Schools Management Magazine

Laura Soley and Alice Faure Walker have published an article in the Independent Schools Management Magazine, April 2025 edition. Their article, “Unlock your funds” gives top tips for independent schools on unlocking charitable restricted and endowment funds for broader use, including changing purposes of funds and accessing capital of endowments.This article should be timely, as we’ve …
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Protecting your intangible assets: Intellectual Property for charities and non-profits

Charities and non-profits own and use intellectual property – including their brand (often involving trade marks), copyright materials and rights in software and technology. These can be some of an organisation’s most valuable assets and should be appropriately safeguarded and managed. We’ve created a series of videos to discuss key considerations for charities and non-profits …
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How to prepare for new changes to consumer law – drip pricing

The DMCCA came into force on 1 January 2025. It has replaced the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and amended certain parts of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCRs). In this series we’ll be looking at key sections of the Act …
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Bates Wells advises Tearfund on innovative financing transaction

Bates Wells has advised the international charity Tearfund on a ground-breaking risk transfer transaction supporting their humanitarian relief activities in Nepal, Ethiopia, Malawi and Pakistan. The transaction involves the provision of a natural disaster risk transfer facility from Global Parametrics, part-funded by Humanity Insured. Global Parametrics is an organisation that structures parametric risk transfer solutions …
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Is your charity ready for the Online Safety Act?

The Online Safety Act (the “OSA”) imposes a range of duties on in-scope online services, aiming in particular to protect children from harmful content and to protect all users from illegal online content and activity. While the OSA received Royal Assent in 2023, the majority of its provisions will come into force in 2025 with …
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