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

Charity Commission

The Charity Commission has published its Inquiry report into The Captain Tom Foundation. It found Hannah Ingram-Moore (former trustee and interim CEO) and Colin Ingram-Moore (former trustee) are “responsible for a “pattern of behaviour” which saw them repeatedly benefitting personally from their involvement in the charity”. The Commission also noted that the charity’s unconflicted trustees sometimes lacked sufficient oversight and control of the charity.

The report highlights numerous issues including: managing conflicts of interest; handling of intellectual property rights owned by the Ingram-Moore family and used by the charity; management of fundraising arrangements; use of the charity’s name in a planning application to build on the Ingram-Moores’ private property; and the Ingram-Moores’ handling of public communications about books written by the late Captain Tom, in a way that led the public to reasonably expect that sales would benefit the charity (when in reality no such donation has been made). See ‘Investigations and complaints’ below.

Tax and VAT

HMRC has updated its guidance ‘Check if you must register for VAT if you receive private school fees’  to add guidance on how a charitable incorporated organisation can register for VAT..

Sector General

Civil Society has reported on comments from Rebecca Mear, the CEO of Voscur (a charity which supports the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in Bristol) to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Charities and Volunteering. Voscur polled its member charities about the increase to employer national insurance contributions and 87% felt it would negatively impact their budgets. Mear called it “poor timing” for the upcoming covenant between charities and the government, noting her view that the covenant “needs to have investment” given the financial pressures facing the sector.

In its UK Civil Society Almanac 2024, NCVO has considered the state of the voluntary sector (looking at 2021/22), finding it is still recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic but has remained resilient in the face of economic and social challenges. Income increased by 9% from the previous year (after adjusting for inflation), with 48% of the sector’s income coming from the public and 26% from the Government (down from 30% in the previous year).

Climate change and environment

The Prime Minster, Keir Starmer, has launched the UK-led Global Clean Power Alliance which aims to “unite countries to speed up the clean energy transition globally, while bolstering the UK’s energy security”.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has announced £239 million of new funding to tackle deforestation in countries around the world, with aims to “unlock private and public financing to safeguard forest ecosystems, drive restoration efforts, and create sustainable opportunities for the communities who rely on them.”

At COP29 UK Nature Minister, Mary Creagh, announced that 20 projects will benefit from funding from Round One of the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature (OCEAN) Grants Programme. The programme aims to enable projects to “deliver lasting change to the marine environment and coastal communities across the world.”

Diversity and inclusion

The Law Society’s Disabled Solicitors Network has published a new guide to disability terminology and language, designed to support employers and employees and improve disability inclusion.

Centre for Charity Effectiveness has an in person seminar on 5th February at 3pm Perspectives on Leadership for an Inclusive Sector. It will be a panel session of leaders discussing what it means to have an inclusive and diverse work culture including why inclusion and diversity needs to remain at the top of our agendas; how far we have to go (and how we can get there); and what does it mean if you are a white leader without a disability? Speakers will include: Louise Harris (COO, Crisis) Kamran Mallick (CEO, Disability Rights UK) and Ruth Ibegbuna (Founder and CEO, Rekindle School).

Election and campaigning

Last week we held our annual charity conference, Spotlight, with brilliant speakers from across the charity sector. Civil Society has covered a panel event hosted by Bates Wells Senior Associate Suhan Rajkumar about the opportunities and risks of being bold in the public debate. Suhan has shared his highlights from the panel in a post, you can watch a recording of the session here.

Fundraising

The Data and Marketing Association has sent a letter backed by 19 leading UK charities to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle. It calls for the government to include an amendment in the Data (Use and Access) Bill to support charity fundraising by extending the ‘soft opt-in’ for email marketing to the third sector (as had been proposed in the former Data Protection and Information Bill). The DMA estimates that extending the soft opt-in to charities could annually increase donations in the UK by £290 million.

Civil Society has reported that JustGiving will be the first UK fundraising platform to start accepting cryptocurrency donations. 

From 29 November 2024, there will be new provisions in force in relation to Personal Management Licences including who within the organisation should hold one, which will be relevant to some organisations with gambling licences. Many charities fall within the ‘small-scale operator’ exemption and do not need a Personal Management Licence. For more details, the Gambling Commission has summarised the upcoming changes.

Legacies

Legacy Foresight has shared its Legacy Market Review 2024, finding that legacy income grew in 2023/24 (albeit at a slower rate to previous years), largely due to a lower death rate and delays in the probate administration system. The long-term outlook seems positive, with Legacy Foresight expecting income to remain largely static in the next three years and then grow from 2027/28.

Data and privacy

See above under Fundraising. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office has published new guidance to clarify data protection considerations and provide support for organisations to share data responsibly to tackle fraud.

The High Court has granted an application to strike out claims made against certain individuals involved with a charity called Leather Inside Out where it was alleged that they had failed to comply with the claimant’s data subject access requests. The High Court held that the claimant had failed to set out a factual basis to support his assertion that the individuals were data controllers obliged to respond to his requests rather than merely agents for the organisation. Savva v Leather Inside Out and others [2024] EWHC 2867 (KB) (18 November 2024)

AI

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has announced the creation of a new Laboratory for AI Security Research. It will work with experts from the industry, UK universities, and intelligence agencies to consider the impact of AI on our cyber security and create cyber defence tools.

Public procurement and subsidy control

The Welsh Government has published technical guidance for devolved Welsh Authorities on below-threshold contracts under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) (Welsh below-threshold guidance).

Company law

Companies House are currently carrying out user research to help them develop their new identity verification service that will be launched in 2025 as part of the reforms being brought in under the new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.  You can complete a short online form if you would like to help with the research.  Companies House are looking in particular for participants who are non-UK nationals and hold non-biometric passports.

For an outline of the expected timetable for the implementation of the remaining reforms under the new Act, see the latest blog in our series. We highlight that from Spring 2025, directors and PSCs (people with significant control) of existing companies will be able to verify their own identity voluntarily if they wish.  From Autumn 2025, it will become compulsory for directors and PSCs of all new companies to be verify their identify, and a 12-month transition period will begin during which all directors and PSCs of existing companies must verify their identity.

Children’s services

As you’ve probably heard in the news, the government has announced major reform of children’s social services which will include:

  • a focus on making child protection a multi-agency model to allow better information sharing and joint working.
  • For children who need to be in care, children’s home provision will be improved with a change to when deprivation of liberty may be exercised in a non-secure residential placement setting.
  • For children at risk of going into care, the government will introduce an offer of a family group decision making meeting. This may be in the form of a family group conference. Research has shown that such meetings have reduced the number of children entering the care system.
  • Legislation and updated statutory guidance will also ensure there are multi-agency child protection teams, which must include education.
  • Where a child is subject to child protection measures, parents will be required to obtain consent from the local authority before the child can be educated at home.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has published the “Multi-agency responses to serious youth violence: working together to support and protect children” report, which examines how local partnerships and services respond to children and their families when children are affected by serious youth violence. The report notes that delays for children with SEND to “access services, and variation in the quality and timeliness of EHCPs” is “making children more vulnerable to serious youth violence, as problems can escalate while they wait for an assessment or support.”

The UK Government’s Child Poverty Taskforce met in Scotland to discuss a cross-Government strategy to combat child poverty.

Health and social care

The Department of Health and Social Care has shared an update about the Mental Health Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Lords on 25 November in its journey to becoming law.

Following the Autumn Budget last month, the Nuffield Trust has shared comments on how the upcoming increase in employer national insurance contributions and planned increases to National Minimum Wage rates could impact the social care sector. The Nuffield Trust’s view is that “combined cost pressures outstrip not only the extra funds for children’s and adult social care announced in the Budget but will also eat up the extra spending power local councils are expected to have as a result of Budget-driven increases for other services and the likely hikes they will make to council taxes”.

Mind has published its annual Big Mental Health Report, considering the state of mental health in England and Wales. It found that the rates of “mental ill health among children have risen from one in nine in 2017 to one in five in 2023”. Mind (along with other mental health charities) has also written an open letter to the Prime Minister with concerns about nationwide mental health.

The Health Foundation and Q (a community of people in the UK and Ireland seeking to improve health and care) have shared a joint analysis about how the NHS can embrace digitisation and technology in health care, finding that building “trust and confidence is a key part of successful digital transformation”.

The Department for Health and Social Care has launched a consultation (closing on 13 February 2025) on the draft National Health Service (Procurement, Slavery and Human Trafficking) Regulations 2024 and their accompanying guidance. The proposals follow a review of modern slavery in NHS supply chains, completed in December 2023, which found that more than 21% of NHS suppliers were at “high risk” of involving modern slavery in their supply chains. Surgical instruments, gloves, gowns, uniforms and face masks were identified as the five highest-risk products.

Social enterprise

Opinion: Why we must unlock the potential of community-led energy. Whitni Thomas, Head of Corporate Finance at Triodos Bank, outlines for Pioneers Post the benefits and challenges of community-led energy, including in the UK, with reference to case studies across the Netherlands, Spain and Scotland. Thomas urges government and financial institutions to step up and facilitate a supportive environment that empowers communities to thrive.

Social Enterprise UK has published new research on the current state of the social enterprise sector to mark Social Enterprise day, on 21 November 2024. Key stats from the research include that there are 131,000 social enterprises across the country, representing almost one in forty-two of all UK businesses, with a total turnover of around £78 billion.  Better Society Capital also supported this research and reflected on its own journey of incorporating social enterprises into its supply chain, including key learnings, challenges and future plans.

How social enterprise can support mission-driven procurement across UK Government. Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) highlights the significance of the new Government’s consultation (now closed) on procurement, which sought views on “how a new, mission-driven approach to public procurement could support delivery of the Government’s missions alongside local priorities”. SEUK emphasises that social enterprises have the potential to accelerate progress in making public sector procurement more collaborative and innovative, and increasing social value creation.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has published its Annual Report for 2023-24. Key findings include that $902 million in revenue has been generated by the cohorts of social innovators for 2022–2024, with 28,000 people directly employed by these cohorts.

Social investment/social impact investment

See above under Philanthropy

Impact Investor magazine reports from Europe’s Impact Investor Conference, putting forward that a more collaborative approach at the European level is needed to encourage the participation of large institutional investors and scale up impact, as well as the harmonisation of impact investing definitions, and notes the French 90/10 model for investment.    

Ben Rosoman, Consultant, and Sarah Forster, CEO, at The Good Economy compare the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) for Impact Europe. The article explores the key features of both regimes, their current use, and the lessons that Rosoman and Forster have learned from working with fund managers on their SDR applications.

Big Issue Invest has published its latest Impact Report for 2023/24. Key findings include that the organisation has invested £2.7 million into a further 13 social purpose organisations, bringing its portfolio to 145 organisation, and £5.6 million has been repaid by investees in the last 12 months.

HM Treasury has opened a call for evidence on credit union common bond reform, and is seeking views “on the merits of and considerations for changing the credit union common bond requirement for membership in Great Britain, under the Credit Unions Act 1979”. Common bonds are the links or common communities between members of credit unions. An organisation must meet the common bond requirements to be registered as a credit union. There are four types of common bond for membership under the Credit Unions Act 1979: occupation, employer, locality, and association. The call for evidence closes on 6 March 2025.

International development

David Lammy MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, delivered a speech at the UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East where he stated that in Gaza “Over three hundred aid workers have now been killed” which is “the highest number in UN history.” Lammy emphasised that there needs to be a “huge rise in aid” and to “respect aid workers once again”. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, also delivered a speech following the UK’s vote on the E10 draft UN Security Council resolution on Gaza, where she emphasised that “the aid reaching civilians remains entirely insufficient”. Archie Young, UK Ambassador to the General Assembly, also delivered a speech explaining the UK’s recent vote at the UN Fourth Committee on Palestine, at which the UK voted yes on a resolution to express its “longstanding position on the illegality of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.

Hazel Cameron, Head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Human Rights Department, delivered a speech at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, 2024, where she noted that the UK will provide Ukraine “at least 100 million pounds in humanitarian aid in this financial year, bringing our total humanitarian contribution to 457 million pounds since the start of the invasion.”

Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, delivered a speech at the UN Security Council meeting on Syria, where he noted that civil society must be actively involved and consulted in relation to the Syrian political process.

The UK has joined the Brazil-led Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, and will invest £70 million over the next eighteen months to “enable food-insecure households to withstand shocks, drive green growth in the agriculture sector, and improve social protection for those in need.” Prime Minister, Keir Starmer delivered a speech at the launch of the Alliance where he also announced the launch of “a new partnership to combat child wasting” with UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation.

Education

See above under Philanthropy and Children’s services.

Schools

Education Minister, Catherine McKinnell, has delivered a speech at the Schools and Academies Show in Birmingham where she outlined how the government aims to achieve its mission of ‘breaking down the barriers to opportunity’. McKinnell noted that the Department for Education (DfE) “will encourage more mainstream schools to include children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in classes” and new report cards will “outline schools’ strengths as well as their weaknesses, with inclusion being a key component”.

Schools Week has reported that Ofsted has proposed for schools to be judged “on a sliding scale from exemplary to causing concern against ten evaluation areas” which could mean that “schools would receive ten separate ratings for different areas of their provision”. Schools Week also highlighted that Ofsted’s National Director, Lee Owston, told leaders at the Schools and Academies Show that report cards will “be a sensitive middle ground” and that “we do need to look more at statutory outcomes than perhaps we do currently under the education inspection framework”.

The National Governance Association has published a blog which examines the risk of fraud in schools and trusts, and outlines how best to protect funds.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) held an evidence session on support for children with special educational needs following the National Audit Office’s 2024 report. In the session senior officials from the DfE and the Department for Health and Social Care were challenged on how to ensure the system delivers better outcomes for children and young people, including waiting times for assessments for EHCPs and the meaning of “inclusive mainstream” in relation to SEND. See commentary from Schools Week.

Further Education

Former Education Secretary, Damian Hinds, has urged the government in a debate at Westminster Hall on T Levels and apprenticeships, to design Skills England with ‘proper and full independence’ from the Department for Education. See commentary from FE Week.

Higher Education

Following the publishing of the “Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: November 2024 update” by Office for Students, the regulator has also published a blog, which emphasises that “the time for bold and transformative action is here.”

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 content is necessarily of a general nature – specific advice should always be sought for specific situations.