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
- Investigations and complaints
- Tax and VAT
- Sector general
- Safeguarding
- Company law
- Subscription contracts
- Health and social care
- Social enterprise
- Social investment / social impact investment
- Education
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission says it has made further updates to its guidance Sales, leases, transfers or mortgages: what trustees need to know about disposing of charity land (CC28) to reflect the Renters’ Rights Act changes to leases that came into force on 1 May 2026.
The Charity Commission has also updated its Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees guidance to reflect changes to some DBS checks introduced in 2026 and the Online Safety Act 2023.
Investigations and complaints
The Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry into Crossfields Institute due to regulatory concerns. These include concerns about whether the charity has been operating with a sufficient number of trustees and whether it has appropriate financial controls in place to manage risk to charity funds.
Tax and VAT
Thanks to Charity Tax Group for providing the following updates:
- Some larger charities have experienced longer processing times for Gift Aid claims, affecting their cash flow. HMRC said that a processing issue had created a backlog of claims requiring approval and that processing times were returning to normal.
- HMRC has confirmed that zero rating will apply to electricity used for domestic purposes or by charities for non-business purposes from 1 October 2026 until 31 March 2027. This temporary measure could help eligible charities reduce their winter energy bills.
- Unless the government agrees an extension, the temporary zero rate of VAT for the installation of qualifying energy-saving materials will end on 31 March 2027. If your charity is considering a project such as solar panels, heat pumps, insulation or other energy-efficiency improvements, it’s worth considering if installation can take place before the relief expires.
Sector general
A date for your calendar, the Chancellor will deliver the Autumn 2026 Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026.
The Charities SORP-making body has published a three-part helpsheet to support charities and those preparing charity accounts to understand the new lease accounting requirements. The guidance explains the new rules and includes examples covering market-rent leases and social donation leases.
Safeguarding
See above under ‘Charity Commission‘.
BBC News reports that Ofcom has opened an investigation into whether Meta complied with its obligations under the Online Safety Act when launching Instagram’s “Instants” feature, which allows users to share disappearing images with selected contacts. Ofcom is examining whether Meta carried out appropriate risk assessments, including assessments relating to illegal content and potential harms to children, before introducing the feature. The investigation forms part of the regulator’s wider enforcement of the Online Safety Act and its requirements on online platforms to assess and mitigate risks associated with new services and features.
Company law
The Investment Association (IA) has published updated guidance on virtual participation in AGMs, favouring hybrid meetings that combine physical attendance with online participation. The IA believes this format supports wider participation while preserving shareholders’ ability to hold boards accountable. Companies using virtual elements should enable shareholders to be seen and heard, ask live questions and view all board members throughout the meeting. They should also explain how questions are grouped or filtered, publish a full record of submitted questions, including those not answered, and have arrangements in place to address technology failures.
Subscription contracts
New guidance is expected shortly from the Department for Business Innovation Science and Trade on how the subscription rules under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act will apply. The guidance will comment on the exclusion for charitable memberships relating to attending performances, seeing collections and visiting places.
Health and social care
As you’ve probably seen in the press, the Prime Minister has announced a £48 million industry partnership to back dementia research and speed up the development of new treatments.
Social enterprise
The World Economic Forum and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with SK Group’s Center for Social Value Enhancement Studies and Social Finance International, have published ‘The Impact Economy: Turning Disclosure into Demand’, which identifies pathways for measurable social outcomes to be connected to economic value and financed at scale. The report calls for corporate disclosure to be paired with incentives, procurement and standards that create demand for verified social value creation.
Social investment / social impact investment
Marie-Alix Prat, Investment Director at Better Society Capital (BSC), has written about why BSC’s affordable housing portfolio is pushing for the provision of white goods and furnishings, and calling on the sector to address this aspect in housing provision. Prat notes statistics indicating that social renters are four times more likely to experience ‘furniture poverty’ than homeowners and that around 1.2 million people in the UK live without a washing machine or fridge freezer.
Funders Together announced that it will host the Corporate Social Impact Investing Network, a new pilot initiative to create a space for corporates to explore social impact investing and engage in peer learning. Inspired by research into the potential for increasing corporate social investment, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment is supporting the pilot as part of its wider work to develop the social investment ecosystem.
This year’s Impact Flock 2026 gathering, co-organised by ImpactVC and Impact Europe, took place in London and was attended by around 140 fund managers, LPs, impact leaders and ecosystem experts. ImpactVC has published a summary of the discussion and emerging themes, including exploration of the need for a gender lens in healthcare investment and other interventions to improve founder diversity on a wider range of aspects. Among other points noted was an increased level of comfort with complexity and understanding of the need for system-level change.
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has published the Impact Investing Messaging Playbook, developed with support from the Soros Economic Development Fund and reflecting the work of the Investors’ Council Impact Narrative Taskforce. The playbook aims to provide clear, concise, and unified messaging on the purpose and work of the impact investing sector. GIIN describes the need for the playbook, noting increasing scrutiny of impact investing and the risks of inconsistent messaging, which it argues can be mitigated through a shared foundation for communicating about impact investing that supports collective credibility as the sector grows.
Convergence, a global network for blended finance, has published its 2026 ‘State of Blended Finance’ report, which finds that private financing in blended finance transactions increased 27% in 2025, with commitments totalling $11.2 billion, and that commercial banks drove much of this growth. It describes this increase as having helped the market remain resilient despite cuts to international development assistance. The report also notes a record level for commercial financing leveraged per dollar of concessional capital, at $5.33. It analyses transaction data to identify the trends from 2025, the risks thought to be constraining private investment, and case studies of country-driven approaches to supporting governments to coordinate and scale investment.
Education
General
New Department for Education (DfE) research suggests strong support among young people for vocational and technical education reforms. According to polling commissioned by the government, 84% of young people support greater access to practical and technical learning from age 14, while many continue to perceive vocational routes as being viewed less favourably than academic pathways. The findings have been published alongside the government’s wider programme of vocational education reforms, including the proposed introduction of new vocational qualifications.
Schools
The DfE has updated its free school meals guidance for families with no recourse to public funds, including eligibility and evidence requirements. Separate guidance introduces expanded eligibility from 2026/27 for all children in households receiving Universal Credit, alongside targeted eligibility, and covers checks, evidence and census reporting. It also confirms that local authorities should consider equivalent food support for eligible children receiving education otherwise than at school where this would help them benefit fully from their education.
Ofsted has published independent research suggesting that most education providers view inspections under its renewed inspection framework positively. The research found that providers generally considered inspections to be more collaborative, respectful and tailored to their individual circumstances, with many reporting that inspections helped identify strengths and support improvement. However, workload and staff wellbeing remain significant concerns, despite most respondents reporting that inspectors took steps to minimise stress during the inspection process.
BBC News has reported on the early impact of school smartphone restrictions at the start of the 2026/27 academic year. Schools in Kent and Sussex reported better pupil engagement, attention and social interaction, with some pupils saying the restrictions encouraged more face-to-face friendships.
Further Education
Updated guidance on Apprenticeships.gov.uk gives employers and learners clearer information on the apprenticeship journey, funding and tailored employer support.
The government has expanded the Mayoral Strategic Authority Apprenticeship Brokerage Pilots to all 14 mayoral areas in England, with £100 million in additional funding over two years. The programme will offer locally tailored support, focusing on apprenticeship opportunities for 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training. The first areas are expected to begin delivery in early 2027, with the rest joining from spring 2027.
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.