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

Speech from David Holdsworth

The Charity Commission’s Chief Executive, David Holdsworth, delivered a speech at the Trustee Exchange 2025 to celebrate trustees. He said that “making trusteeship an attractive prospect – both for current trustees, and for new recruits – is absolutely vital for us” and announced the Commission will publish refreshed guidance on finding new trustees in the coming months. He also commented on discussions about whether paying trustees would broaden the appeal of the role, particularly amongst underrepresented groups. He claimed that “according to research from the volunteer recruitment charity Reach, the data shows that for age, ethnicity, gender and sexuality this does not hold true. Voluntary service has proven to be no barrier to diversity when it comes to trustee recruitment” and “I want to be very clear – it’s the Commission’s belief that voluntary trusteeship underpins the public’s trust in charity.”

Civil Society has published an article about this speech, including various views from charity leaders at an earlier panel event. For example, they report that Mita Desai (Co-chief Executive of the Young Trustees Movement and Chair of Community Action Redbridge) “said paying trustees would not affect the passion that people have for the organisations they serve, but not paying trustees, she said, would affect how much trustees can participate”.

See more about paying trustees under ‘Governance’ below.

New research about trusteeship

In the speech from Holdsworth, he also referred to new research from the Charity Commission and Pro Bono Economics. The press release explains this was based on the “most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of trustee motivations and skills”. It considered over 2,000 responses and found that 80% of trustees are likely to recommend the trustee role to others. The research investigated board demographics, finding that 43% of trustees are female, 8% are from ethnic minority backgrounds (compared to 17% of the general population), 29% come from a working-class background, and 17% identify as having a disability, neurodivergence, learning disability, learning difficulty, or long-term health condition. The survey identified a significant lack of representation for younger people, as 54% of trustees were retired and just 1% were aged 30 or under.

Also see ‘Investigations and complaints’ and ‘Charity law cases’ below.

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Investigations and complaints

OSCR has published a report as part of its inquiry into The Jericho Benedictine Society (SC016909). The charity runs facilities which provide accommodation, support, and treatment for people with drug and alcohol problems. OSCR identified serious issues with the charity’s governance and financial management and petitioned the Court of Session for the appointment of an Interim Judicial Factor, aiming to protect the income from the sale of one of the charity’s properties and to protect vulnerable beneficiaries. His appointment was later made permanent. The trustees have now raised a petition in the Court of Session for recall of the Judicial Factor’s appointment (which is being defended by OSCR and the Judicial Factor). There will be another report once the inquiry finishes.

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into CG Community Council, after its regulatory compliance work has suggested that charity property may be at risk. The Commission issued an order preventing the charity from selling or disposing of its properties unless it has the Commission’s consent.

The Charity Commission has issued an Official Warning to the Oxford Initiative for British Islam after the charity filed its accounting records late for five years, and it has concluded its regulatory compliance case into the charity. The Commission opened the case last year, after the charity’s Chair made “concerning comments” in an interview. The Commission found that the trustees did not take sufficient actions to distinguish the Chair’s personal comments from the charity’s identity, and the Commission has now issued regulatory guidance requiring the trustees to put in place effective written policies and procedures to manage situations in future. The press release notes “the Commission recognises the importance of freedom of expression for those leading charities but also expects trustees to be aware of the potential impact of comments on their charity’s reputation.”

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Charity law cases

In The International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice v The Charity Commission for England and Wales, the First-tier Tribunal has upheld a refusal by the Charity Commission to register The International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC) as a charity, because it was not established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit. Described in this Civil Society article as a “pro-conversion therapy group”, IFTCC’s mission statement includes that it “exists to support dedicated providers of services to individuals seeking change of their unwanted relational and sexual behaviours, attractions and patterns”. IFTCC had stated it had purposes including advancing education in the field of human sexuality and Christian ethics and promoting health and the saving of lives. However, the Tribunal concluded that there could be no doubt that IFTCC had a political purpose and as such was not charitable. The Tribunal also concluded that there was substantial risk that IFTCC would engage in non-charitable activity.

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Governance

Civil Society has published an article about various studies from nfpResearch about the public perception of charity governance. According to Civil Society, a recent nfpResearch study found that 34% of the public think that the Charity Commission is responsible for the activities carried out by individual charities, while 21% think the government is responsible. Interestingly, the article reports that a previous nfpResearch study in 2023 found that 41% of the public think that trustees are paid.

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Tax and VAT

The Treasury is consulting until 21 July 2025 on plans to introduce a VAT relief for goods donated by businesses to charities which are used in the delivery of their services or given away free of charge to those in need. The consultation paper notes “The Government recognises the current VAT rules, which relieve VAT on goods donated to charity for sale (for example through a charity shop), but not for onward donation or the delivery of the charity’s services, are not aligned”. The Treasury is looking to understand the different operating models that would be affected, and the impact of introducing a VAT relief.

HMRC has published a technical note explaining that businesses will have additional time to prepare for mandatory payrolling for benefits in kind and taxable employment expenses, which will now be introduced from April 2027.

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Banking

We mentioned in a previous Briefing that the government plans to introduce new rules next year to protect people and businesses from debanking. Civil Society has shared an article about this, which notes “While not explicitly naming charities in its announcement, the Treasury confirmed the new rules would apply to charity bank account holders”.

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Accounting

Whilst the consultation on the draft Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) is already underway, there is an opportunity to contribute your views via the Charity Finance Group survey, which is open until 6 June.

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Sector general

The VCSE Data and Insights Observatory at Nottingham Trent University has launched the 10th wave of its Barometer Survey, which is open until Wednesday 21 May. This round focuses on workplace wellbeing.

Civil Society has reported that the CharityJob Salary Report 2025 found a quarter of junior and entry level roles in the charity sector pay below the real living wage.

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Volunteering

Power to Change has published ‘Closing the Void’ which considers the relationship between involvement in associational organisations (such as community businesses) and trust in politics, political parties, and government. This includes recommendations to increase engagement with civil society, such as introducing a statutory right to voluntary service.

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Climate change and environment

Bates Wells and Fashion Declares have collaborated on a Sustainable Fashion White Paper: The Future of Fashion Regulation in the UK. Bates Wells Senior Associate Oliver Scutt, who assisted in drafting the White Paper, comments “The UK currently lacks a coherent fashion and textile regulatory framework and, as a consequence, there are avoidable harms being caused to society and the environment. Following extensive consultation with brands and industry experts, our White Paper promotes three key policy recommendations which aim to incentivise sustainable, regenerative and circular business practices through the introduction of new and effective legislation.”

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has announced that the Clean Industry Bonus will be increasing from £200 million to £544 million to meet a higher than expected demand. The bonus offers financial reward for offshore wind developers if they prioritise investment in regions that need it most or in cleaner supply chains and is aimed at leveraging private sector investment from clean energy projects into some of the UK’s most deprived communities.

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Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published an interim update on the practical consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16. It’s worth noting that the interim update is non-statutory guidance and courts and tribunals will not be required to take it into account, although they may choose to consider it. Bates Wells’ Thérèse Rankin, Paul Jennings, Robert Oakley, and Stanley Carrodus have updated their article about the Supreme Court case to include comments on the EHRC update. They note that the update “does not sufficiently clarify the position for employers and service providers. It is hoped matters will become clearer when the EHRC publishes further statutory guidance in June 2025, following a period of consultation with relevant stakeholders from mid-May 2025.”

Carla Denyer MP, co-leader of the Green Party, has written a letter to Bridget Phillipson MP, Minister for Women and Equalities, regarding the Supreme Court decision and the EHRC’s interim update. She has called for the interim update to be withdrawn if answers to her written questions cannot be provided.

The BBC has reported that a former judge, Dr Victoria McCloud, is planning to bring action against the government in the European Court of Human Rights over the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Also see ‘Charity law cases’ above.

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Safeguarding

Bates Wells’ Louise Sivey, Natasha Davies, and Emily Wilson have shared an update on Ofcom’s new codes on child safety under the Online Safety Act 2023. There is also a consultation on its draft guidance ‘A safer online for women and girls: practical guidance for tech companies’ which is open until 23 May 2025.

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Funders and funding

NCVO has published ‘The Power of Small’ as part of their project to find better ways to support small voluntary organisations and amplify their insight.

Charities Aid Foundation’s UK Local Giving Report 2025 has mapped the number of charities and the level of donations in different areas across the UK. This found that some of the most affluent places in the UK are (relative to income) the least generous.

The Welsh Government has shared an updated Code of Practice for Funding the Third Sector, which sets out five key principles and associated guidance for how the third sector is funded by the Welsh Government.

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Fundraising

The Fundraising Regulator has released its annual report and accounts 2023/24. Compared to 2022/23, there was a 5% increase in casework to 1,191 cases and an 8% increase in registrations with nearly 6,600 registrants. There has also been an increase in the use of the self-reporting pathway by charities, with 31 organisations submitting reports compared to 20 organisations in 2022/23. The themes of some of these self-reports included handling personal data, charity governance related to fundraising, potential fraud and vulnerable circumstances of the donors.

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Advertising

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has published its annual report for 2024.

The ASA has not upheld complaints it received against various RSPCA adverts and concluded that they were unlikely to mislead about welfare standards afforded to animals on RSPCA Assured farms. The complaints were brought by Adfree Cities and two others. Amongst their concerns were that some of the RSPCA Assured Scheme certified farms engaged in “intensive” farming and that those who saw the ads would not expect this from the ads’ message of respecting all animals. However, the ASA found no breach of the CAP or BCAP Code.

Data and privacy

The Data (Use and Access) Bill has had its third reading in the House of Commons. The Bill has now been returned to the House of Lords, which will consider the House of Commons’ amendments.

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AI

The House of Commons held a Westminster Hall debate on 23 April about the impact of AI on intellectual property. Issues were discussed including remuneration for content providers whose work is used to train AI models, transparency in AI training data, and the government’s previous consultation about copyright and AI. Chris Bryant MP, the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism said the government would listen to the creative industries before any legislation was introduced.

The Charity AI Task Force has responded to the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. They call for the government to engage with the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector urgently, to ensure that AI use is fair, representative, inclusive and equitable.

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Scotland

In preparation for changes which will come into effect this summer under the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023, OSCR has updated its guidance on disqualification criteria for charity trustees and those undertaking a senior management function from summer 2025. Two significant updates are that:

  • the automatic disqualification provisions will be extended so they also apply to employees and volunteers with senior management functions (as well as charity trustees); and
  • there are additional criteria to automatically disqualify individuals from serving as a charity trustee or having a senior management function in a charity (e.g. if someone is convicted of terrorism-related offences or listed on the sex offenders register).

OSCR has also told charities they will soon have to submit trustee information through OSCR Online, and asked charities to start collecting information to prepare for this change. Full guidance on the process will be made available soon.

The Scottish Government has published its Programme for Government 2025 to 2026. This includes a restated commitment to the Fairer Funding pilot, which will provide multi-year funding for Scottish third sector organisations.

See ‘Investigations and complaints’ above.

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Northern Ireland

See below under ‘Social enterprise’.

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Health and social care

The government has produced terms of reference for the independent commission into adult social care.

The UK Health Security Agency has published its research report into health inequalities in health protection.

NHS Confederation (in partnership with Local Trust and supported by PPL) has released a joint report, Resetting the relationship, summarising findings from a “national policy sprint” which brought together health system professionals to discuss a new neighbourhood focussed model of health care.

The government’s immigration White Paper, Restoring Control over the Immigration System, has revealed plans to end overseas recruitment for social care visas (see press release). For a transition period until 2028, the government will permit “visa extensions and in-country switching for those already in the country with working rights, but this will be kept under review”.

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Social enterprise

Social Enterprise UK has summarised some of the points raised at the first evidence session of the Social, Cooperative and Community Economy All-Party Parliamentary Group’s inaugural inquiry into the government’s commitment to grow diverse business models. Participants called for reforms and the removal of barriers, providing specific suggestions and examples, including in relation to public procurement rules, taxation, access to finance and awareness of social enterprise within government.

The Department of the Economy for Northern Ireland has published ‘Barriers to Growth Research’ on the Social Economy in Northern Ireland. The research identifies funding challenges, legal and structural constraints, market visibility issues, recruitment challenges and perceived gaps in programmatic support as the key barriers to growth faced by social enterprises in Northern Ireland. It also sets out key recommendations for the government and the sector to mitigate these barriers, encourage systemic change and further sector growth.

Social Economy Europe, a sector body that works to establish dialogue between the social economy (SE) and the EU, has published a statement/open letter: The Implications of DG GROW Abandoning the Social Economy at a Critical Juncture. It states that the EU Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) will have disbanded its unit responsible for the social economy and social entrepreneurship from 1 May. The statement, signed by over 200 signatories, argues that the move separates the “economic and industrial dimension” from the SE’s social mission, undermining its impact, and calls for DG Grow to retain within its remit some infrastructure/capacity for the SE, to ensure a joined-up approach that enables the SE to continue its broad contribution within the region.

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Social investment/social impact investment

UK development finance institution and impact investor British International Investment (BII), International Finance Corporation and MetLife have announced a $60 million investment in Nepal’s first local currency green bond issuance by NMB Bank Nepal. The investment is aimed at supporting SMEs involved in climate financing projects, creating jobs and reducing Nepal’s greenhouse gas emissions. BII also announced a $100 million investment in ReNew Photovoltaics; BII’s first investment in solar manufacturing in India.

For more, BII announced a partnership with FMO, BIO, DEG and PROPARCO (respectively, Dutch, Belgian, German, and French development finance institutions), to provide a $155 million working capital facility to ECOM Agro-industrial Group, a business specialising in sustainable cotton, coffee and cocoa sourcing and trading. The investment is intended to “enhance ECOM’s existing partnership with over 500,000 smallholder farmers, fostering sustainable and inclusive supply chains that create significant social and economic impact”.

Toniic, a global community of more than 500 impact investors and philanthropists from over 25 countries, has published ‘Cruising Altitude’, the latest report from its T100 Project, a longitudinal study of impact investors’ practices and portfolios (see the press release and report highlights). Findings from the report include: an increase in allocations to investments where the investor takes an active role in contributing to the impact of the investment; that investors favour enterprises within their own geographic areas; and several market gaps including an estimated $2 trillion investment gap in water and sanitation.

Trust for London, City Bridge Foundation and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation have announced a £1.5 million social investment pilot to support Black and Global Majority-led social enterprises. The investment is designed around knowledge sharing and skills transfer from impact-first investor Sumerian Foundation to BUD Leaders, a black-led, female-led social enterprise in London, to build its capacity as a future social investor and business support provider. The investment will fund a new ‘Beyond Barriers’ facility that is aimed at providing Black and Global Majority-led businesses with the tools, networks and finance they need to grow.

Phenix Capital has published an impact report on the blue economy. The report considers the regions most targeted by blue economy impact funds, how many blue economy impact funds are open to new investments, which markets are most targeted by blue economy impact funds, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals most targeted by blue economy impact funds. Based on Phenix Capital’s Impact Database, some key findings include that 6.6% of impact funds are dedicated to the blue economy (of 2,800 impact funds) and that there’s been a 463% growth in the number of funds in the last decade.

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International development

Bond has published a collection of case studies which highlight the efforts of some UK based international non-governmental organisations to move towards becoming locally-led and anti-racist.

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Animal welfare

See ‘Advertising’ above.

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Education

General

Schools Week has reported that various education unions are seeking a judicial review in the High Court against the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) for ““significant non-compliance” with equalities duties”, following concerns about the TRA’s decision to not collect data on protected characteristics. The article notes various concerns from the unions, including that “black and minority ethnic teachers may be overrepresented in referrals to the TRA”.

Schools

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published an interim update following the recent Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers. This interim update includes some commentary which is relevant to schools. See more details about the update under ‘Equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion’ above.

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced that the government’s RISE (Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence) teams are expanding their reach from 32 schools, to more than 200 reaching over 120,000 children. This announcement is backed by a £20 million investment by the government and forms part of their Plan for Change. As a result of the investment, each RISE school may be eligible for up to £100,000 to “help turn around the quality of education for children and young people”.

The DfE has announced £8.2 million of funding for advanced maths programs in schools. Part of the funding is aimed at supporting around 7,500 girls to study advanced maths and progress into AI-related careers. The remainder of the funding will be used to update the Advanced Maths Support Programme, targeting support to disadvantaged secondary schools and “breaking the link between background and success”.

The DfE has announced a new digital exam results pilot which includes the use of a new app, called Education Record, that will store exam certificates and key information. For more information about the pilot, see this article from FE Week.

Schools Week has reported that the National Association of Head Teachers has filed a claim for judicial review with the High Court against Ofsted over its report card reforms, arguing that “adequate consultation has not been conducted regarding the plan for a new five-point scale to grade schools.”

Further Education

The DfE has announced a cut to the duration of teaching apprenticeships from twelve months to nine months starting this August.

Higher Education

The Office for Students (OfS) has published its annual financial sustainability report, finding that the financial performance of universities and colleges is set to decline for the third consecutive year. Philippa Pickford, Director of Regulation at the OfS comments, “Our analysis shows that if the number of student entrants is lower than forecast in the coming years, the sector’s financial performance could continue to deteriorate, leaving more institutions facing significant financial challenges”.

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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 week 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.