Charity

Keys with conditions: What you need to know about service occupancies

Service occupancies are a common but often misunderstood arrangement, especially for organisations like charities, schools, care providers and religious institutions that offer housing to employees as part of their job. While convenient in many ways, service occupancies carry significant legal complexity, particularly if the employment relationship ends or changes over time. What is a service …
Read more

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 18 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 Updated guidance on raising concerns The Charity Commission has updated its guidance on raising a concern with the Commission (CC47). The press release …
Read more

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 11 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 We reported a few weeks ago that the Charity Commission’s guidance CC30, Finding and appointing new trustees, has been updated. We’ve reviewed the …
Read more

Using the law to create change – a new guide for charities and campaigning groups

In partnership with NEON, this new guide explains how your organisation can use the law to create meaningful change. Legal action is rarely enough to drive systemic change on its own, but the law can be a powerful tool for purpose-driven organisations, especially when combined with other tactics within a broader campaign strategy. The guide …
Read more

Webinar | Understanding the practical implications of the For Women Scotland Supreme Court judgment | 23 June at 3pm

With an enormous amount of public discourse and media coverage following the recent Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd -v- The Scottish Ministers, organisations are trying to discern what practical actions they may need to take as a result.   In this session, our Dispute Resolution, Employment and Charity teams will cover: Register …
Read more

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 3 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. Sanctions To strengthen the sanctions regime, the government is proposing changes to help sanctions whistleblowers qualify for statutory whistleblowing protection when disclosing information about breaches …
Read more

Kids Company judicial review – winners or losers?

Philip Kirkpatrick reflects on the recent High Court decision on the judicial review case brought against the Charity Commission in relation to its 2022 inquiry report into Kids Company. Many people will have thought that the Kids Company case was all over long ago. Well, it is now, following a recent High Court judgment in …
Read more

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 21 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 Updated guidance on finding and appointing new trustees (CC30) The Commission has published an updated version of its guidance ‘Finding and appointing new …
Read more

Setting up in the UK – support for US non-profits

At Bates Wells, we work with a wide range of international organisations, to support you in navigating the English landscape for charities and non-profits. In the face of increasing concerns about the regulatory landscape in the US, we are working with a number of clients to explore their options for maintaining resilience and mitigating risk …
Read more

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 …
Read more

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 – ID verification

Posted on 7 March 2025 and updated on 11 April 2025 In this blog, we continue our series on the reforms under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 and update you on the new identity verification regime. What is identity verification and who needs to do it? The Act requires the following people …
Read more

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 …
Read more