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

Finance and reporting

The Commission has called for a ‘redesign’ of charity accounting rules, arguing that current UK financial reporting standards do not adequately reflect charities’ role in creating public benefit. The comments, by assistant director of accountancy Amie Woods, come in the context of the government’s consultation on Modernising Corporate Reporting.

Relatedly, the Commission has engaged agency Manifesto Digital to research how charities approach their annual reporting. Manifesto have published a short form allowing charities to register their interest in participating in surveys, interviews or workshops.

Summit of charity regulators

Last month the Charity Commission’s CEO David Holdsworth attended a nine-nation summit for representatives and heads of charities regulators from Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore and the United States. The meeting covered regulatory approaches, geopolitical challenges for the charity sector, digital transformation and AI, and compliance. They agreed to establish a working group on digital transformation and AI to share learning and explore the ethical use of AI in regulatory work.

Criticism of the Commission

As you may have seen in the press, last month the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) published its report on the Charity Commission’s engagement with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. In the 88-page report:

  • The committee criticised the Commission’s handling of two safeguarding cases, which had led to the complaints to the Ombudsman. It was “mystified as to why further regulatory action was not taken” following allegations of sexual misconduct against a charity’s former chair. In giving evidence to the committee, the Commission accepted that a criminal conviction was not a prerequisite for regulatory sanctions in safeguarding cases.
  • The committee said it was “hard to believe” that the Commission spent £70,000 on a failed judicial review to stop the Ombudsman from laying its findings before Parliament. (Earlier this year, the Committee of Privileges found that the legal action had been a contempt of Parliament, and the Commission now accepts that “it should not have persisted in challenging this matter through the courts”.)

Earlier this year, in July, the Commission’s chair Dame Julia Unwin offered an “unreserved” apology to the committee for its actions which prevented the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration from laying special reports before the House. The Commission has assured the committee it was determined to ensure these cases would lead to change, and has now instructed former judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom to carry out independent reviews of the two cases.

Investigations and complaints

The Charity Commission has:

  • Opened an inquiry into the House of St Barnabas-in-Soho (207242-1), a charity dating back to 1862.  The inquiry follows the liquidation of the former corporate trustee House of St Barnabas (207242) in January 2024, and the appointment of The Explorers Club (Soho) in its place as trustee of the unincorporated charity (207242-1).  In October 2026 the Commission received a serious incident report alleging that a loan had been fraudulently secured against the charity’s property at 1 Greek Street, and that the creditor was taking steps to recover its loan.  The Commission states it is concerned that the property is at risk.
  • Opened a statutory inquiry into a Hexham-based disability charity. The inquiry will look into governance and financial controls, and the conduct of former and current trustees. Four former trustees stated that they would cooperate.
  • Appointed interim managers to Merseycare Transport Services Ltd which is already under statutory inquiry. 

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Charity Law cases

The First-tier Tribunal has largely upheld the disqualification of four former trustees of the Noble Tree Foundation. The tribunal found misconduct, mismanagement, unauthorised trustee benefits, failure to manage conflicts of interests, failure to safeguard the interests of the charity and breach of Charity Commission orders. One trustee’s disqualification was reduced from 15 to 12 years, but the remaining appeals were dismissed. Overall, the tribunal reminds us trustees cannot ‘abdicate their legal responsibilities’ by relying on the oversight of others.

An Employment Tribunal has reduced the basic award to zero for a former employee of The Carrbridge Centre Limited. In considering remedy for unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that the employee had been ‘heavily involved’ in plans to establish a competing charity and take over aspects of her employer’s work and premises. The tribunal held that this amounted to a ‘clear breach of trust and confidence’ which struck ‘at the heart of the employer and employee relationship’, making a 100% reduction in the basic award ‘just and equitable’.

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Autumn Budget

The Autumn Budget included a range of measures aimed at addressing cost-of-living pressures and wider social challenges. These included:

  • A £432m, two-year investment to tackle rough sleeping;
  • £55m to support the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy;
  • £5m a year for three years to increase the provision of books for pre-school children, supporting organisations such as the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and BookTrust.

Civil Society has looked at sector reaction to the Budget. Charity Tax Group has shared its initial reflections and key announcements on the Budget.

Impact on legacies

As you may remember, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be brought within the value of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This was legislated for in Finance Act 2026.  In this Budget, the government has said (see para 1.27 of the Budget overview) it will introduce legislation allowing those administering an estate to decide whether notional pension property is included in the ‘general’ component of the estate or as a separate component for the purposes of calculating the reduced rate of inheritance tax when part of the estate is left to charity.  Vikki Watts comments “We will need to see the detail of how the options will be applied once the technical note is updated as there are a number of ways that this could happen. In any case, those administering estates may then need to consider the potential tax impact of the options available to them.”

Paul Browne from the Institute of Legacy Management has written this very short update about the Budget. 

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Tax and VAT

The government has published the outcome of its consultation on VAT treatment of land for social housing. The government says it “intends to bring in legislation to allow land to be zero rated where it is sold to a registered provider of social housing as defined in existing VAT legislation” and “will lay secondary legislation for the new zero rate in early 2027 to take effect from 1 April 2027”.

Charity Tax Group has revealed a rise in Corporation Tax filing penalties for charities.

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Sector General

Civil Society has reported findings from the Charity Finance Group (CFG) survey on preparedness for the new Charities SORP 2026. The survey found that although most respondents believed they understood the forthcoming requirements, only 4% considered themselves fully prepared and 20% had yet to begin preparations. Additionally, respondents identified lease accounting and income recognition as possible areas for additional support.

In September the chancellor, first secretary and attorney general wrote a three-page letter to all ministers which was boldly titled the Simplification and Agency of Government. In it, they report “three areas where this government will act with greater alacrity […] to pare back counterproductive administrative burdens”.  One key area is the government’s plan to cut down significantly on public consultations. In this Civil Society article, Mark Abbott and Helen Fry explore what this means in practice and whether we should be concerned about it. 

Following growing concerns about the ‘pattern’ of closures amongst charity infrastructure bodies, four umbrella bodies, ACEVO, NCVO, CFG and NAVCA, have proposed an independent commission on the future of charity infrastructure.

HM Land Registry is consulting on the future of its fee structure and on increasing access to data on land ownership. These are two separate consultations; both close on 22 December 2026.

PBE and CAF Bank’s analysis of the Office of Budget Responsibility’s forecast warns that inflation forecasts could erode the real value of regular donations by £125 million over the next three years. The report highlights the charity sector’s vulnerability to inflationary pressures, and its limited ability to offset rising costs, while demand remains high and above pre-pandemic levels.

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Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion

The government has launched a new fund to “root out misogynistic attitudes and support women and girls”. The Chancellor is providing £15 million over 3 years which is intended to unlock further philanthropic and corporate funding. The press release says “The fund will operate a bidding process through which organisations will receive grants to deliver programmes that meet the government’s ambition of preventing misogyny in all its forms, and reducing its impacts.”

The LGBT+ Fund Report 2026 highlights ongoing financial pressures and a ‘hostile environment’ across the LGBT+ voluntary sector. It reported real funding fell by 8.6% between 2023 and 2025, while demand continued to rise. It also reports increasing funding concentration, with 88% from the top twenty funders, alongside growing reliance on trust and foundation grants.

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Funders and funding

The Community Wealth Fund, backed jointly by the National Lottery Community Fund and the government’s Dormant Assets Scheme, has announced the sixty areas in England that will share £175m of funding. The fund aims to support long-term, community-led investment, with a particular emphasis on empowering resident-led decision-making to shape local priorities over the long-term.

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Fundraising

You may have seen that the Fundraising Regulator announced recently that its current CEO, Gerald Oppenheim, plans to stand down in the first half of 2027.  

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has provided updated guidance on working with vulnerable donors. The guidance emphasises assessing individual support needs over making assumptions. It centres on assessing risk, tailoring fundraising approaches and avoiding assumptions, and explains appropriate responses to vulnerable donors. It sits alongside the Rule Book, which sets out public fundraising standards for organisations.

Civil Society and the Fundraising Magazine have published their Fundraising Leadership report. Key themes included the importance of effective and strategic leadership approaches, legacy fundraising opportunities, diversification of revenue streams through international fundraising as well as the role of AI in fundraising operations.

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Legacies

See above under Autumn Budget.

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Data and privacy

See Education Below.

Charity Digital has advised organisations using the programming language PHP to follow National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance and carry out security checks.

The Information Commission’s Office (ICO) has published a Data security incident trends dashboard. The dashboard and supporting resources provide a useful reference point for practitioners advising organisations on their data security obligations, breach prevention and incident response under the UK GDPR.

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AI

See Charity Commission above.

According to the Charity Digital Skills Report, 19% of large charities have experienced falling website traffic due to AI search tools. Against this backdrop, Patient Information Forum has sent an open letter signed by a coalition of more than 100 health charities and organisations calling on the government to develop a framework for safer AI-generated health information. The signatories call for measures including verification of trusted information sources, greater transparency, and patient safeguards.

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Public procurement and subsidy control

See below under Social enterprise re ‘Guidance on using PPN 026: The Social Value Model’.

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Company law and small business reforms

Last month, the government responded to a report and recommendations from the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce. The government accepted recommendations about measures to: improve directors’ understanding of their duties, streamline regulatory interactions for small businesses, assess the impact of new requirements on businesses of different sizes, and create a new channel for small businesses to highlight unnecessary regulatory burdens.

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Immigration Developments

The Government has announced the details of their ‘earned settlement’ proposals, under which the default qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) will rise from 5 to 10 years, with shorter routes proposed for higher earners and certain public service and care roles. Volunteering will not reduce eligibility periods following significant pushback from the charity sector. The proposals do not affect the EU Settlement Scheme. Applicants will face new mandatory requirements including a good character test with a much stricter criminality threshold. The English language requirement will be raised to level B2, equivalent to A-level standard. There will be a minimum earnings requirement for dependant partners as well as main applicants, although a couple can rely on their combined income to meet this. Most refugees will need to remain in the UK for twenty years before they can apply for ILR, or can reduce this to ten years if they move into a work or study route. The likely impacts include increased precarity and visa costs for migrant staff earning less than £50,271, workforce planning implications for employers and licensed sponsors, and a greater need to monitor compliance and visa expiry to avoid business disruption. The Government indicated that the rule changes will begin in December 2026 and continue to be rolled out in 2027. Further guidance is expected in due course. We have written about the changes here and the Autumn budget changes here.

UK Visas and Immigration and the Home Office have published guidance and opened applications for charities to become lead sponsors for refugees to come to the UK through the refugee sponsor routes. 

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Health and social care

See AI above.

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Housing and homelessness

See Education below.

The Prime Minister’s speech at the Rough Sleeping Summit on 26 October 2026 has been published.

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Social enterprise

The Autumn Budget 2026 included the announcement of £165 million in additional funding for community development finance institutions (CDFIs) through the British Business Bank’s Community ENABLE Funding programme. The funding is intended to increase access to finance for underserved small businesses and communities, particularly those unable to secure funding from mainstream lenders. For more, Responsible Finance commented on the announcement, noting increased lending by CDFIs, up by 28% on 2024 to £181.4 million in 2025, including to many businesses that had previously been declined finance, which it estimates has created an additional 7,000 jobs.

The Cabinet Office updated its ‘Guidance on using PPN 026: The Social Value Model’. While the new draft reiterates the focus on jobs, skills, and opportunities for people facing barriers to employment in local communities, key changes include a new section on “Scoring inherent social value” and a sub-criterion for “activities to increase the number of SME, scale-ups and VCSEs in the supply chain”. This may be of interest for those who have been tracking recent policy changes regarding the inclusion of social value in public procurement.

Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) has commented in response to the Government’s publication of PPN 026 and compares the policy changes reflected in the new guidance to a set of recent recommendations that SEUK shared with government, which were based on survey input from the sector. For more, SEUK has also publicised its campaign to highlight Social Enterprise Day, designated as a global celebration of the social enterprise community, which falls on 19 November this year.  

With support from Co-operative Bank, Co-operatives UK has published a free toolkit to help local communities adopt ‘Neighbourhood Boards’, which are organisations that receive funding from, and are expected to deliver on, the Government’s £5.8bn Pride in Place Programme for local development. The toolkit includes practical guidance based on a co-operative approach, aimed at helping boards to meet the governance requirements of the Pride in Place Programme.

Social Enterprise UK has reported from an evidence session of the Social, Cooperative and Community Economy All Party Parliamentary Group, looking at the community energy sector. The article notes that the meeting brought together community energy groups, investors, and national bodies, alongside Great British Energy and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and describes discussion of the obstacles holding back the community energy sector and how to overcome them. It also states that the APPG is due to publish an inquiry report next year that is expected to include a chapter on community energy.

Andrew Pakes MP, Labour and Co‑operative MP for Peterborough, has been appointed as the ‘Co-operatives and Mutuals Champion’. This role is intended to, among other points, liaise between the co-operatives and mutuals sector and government to identify opportunities for, and barriers to, growth for the sector, assist in developing relevant policy, and raise the sector’s profile across government and in Parliament. For more, Co-operatives UK commented on the appointment. 

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Social investment

Good Finance has published guidance on Social Outcomes Partnerships (SOPs), explaining how this outcomes-based funding model can help organisations access longer-term funding through partnership with social investors and commissioners. It highlights the growing relevance of SOPs in light of the Government’s Better Futures Fund and explains the potential benefits and key considerations for implementation.

Better Society Capital (BSC) has published a report on leveraging an ‘impact mindset’ in the context of the local investment obligation under the Pension Schemes Act 2026, for Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS). Among other points, it argues that delivering meaningful social impact for local communities should be at the centre of LGPS investment strategies and identifies key areas for investment: social and affordable housing, SME lending through Community Development Finance Institutions, impact-focused venture capital, and Social Outcomes Partnerships. BSC has also commented on new regional analysis from its Better Society Index, which suggests significant public support for impact investing, with 70% of Londoners saying they would be willing to invest their pension savings in products addressing social issues such as homelessness, compared with a UK average of 52%.

Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has published a report on the ‘State and Size of the Impact Investing Market 2026’. It indicates modest growth in the global market (to US$1.76 trillion in assets under management) in comparison to preceding years, which it describes as a signal of maturity rather than shrinkage. Additionally, the report finds that capital remains concentrated with large investors controlling the overwhelming majority of assets. Regulatory clarity was identified as a challenge, as well as a tension between impact and financial returns. GIIN suggests the focus for the next phase of market development should be on impact-reporting, governance, and going further than simply growing assets.

Social Investment Business, The Ubele Initiative and Create Equity have partnered, with support from Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, to relaunch the £4 million Flexible Finance Fund, which aims to create funding opportunities (loans and grants) for Black and racially minoritised-led charities and social enterprises in England.

Access – The Foundation for Social Investment has published its Endowment Impact Report marking the final year of its endowment. It reported a cumulative net return of 25.24% since inception, with 39% of assets still invested directly in UK charities and social enterprises at the end of 2025. Later this year, Access intends to publish a ‘learning report’ drawing on its ten years of mission-aligned investing, for foundations and other asset owners seeking to align more of their money with their mission.

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International development

Bond has looked at the Autumn Budget and updated OBR forecast and says the “UK remains on track to miss its UK aid spending target of 0.3% of GNI by 2027”.

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Education

General
The Government has launched a Care Leaver Homelessness Reduction Action Plan for England. By the end of this Parliament, it aims to ensure no young person becomes homeless when leaving care and to halve the proportion of care leavers under 25 experiencing homelessness. Building on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, it sets out councils’ accommodation-planning and prevention responsibilities, including protections preventing certain care leavers under 25 from being found intentionally homeless. It also brings together guidance and resources and introduces a £3 million youth homelessness prevention programme.

Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) is to be restored as a distinct three-year phase under DfE plans for the new National Curriculum. Content will be slimmed down and better sequenced to support deeper learning and broader experiences, with higher expectations for oracy, reading and numeracy. Schools should not start GCSE specifications early for large cohorts or routinely narrow subject choices before Year 10. Teachers will retain flexibility to stretch high-achieving pupils or groups without narrowing their options.

Ofsted’s guidance on report cards and inspection grades was refreshed on 2 November. Report cards replace the single overall judgement with grades for individual areas on a five-point scale from ‘exceptional’ to ‘urgent improvement’; safeguarding is assessed separately as ‘met’ or ‘not met’. The guidance explains how parents and carers can use report cards and inspection data when comparing providers, stressing that the new grades are not directly comparable with the old judgements.

The BBC reports that the Government is considering including online marketplaces such as Vinted and eBay within the forthcoming ban on under-16s accessing social media, amid concerns about messaging functions allowing strangers to contact children. The ban is due to come into force in March 2027, although the full list of platforms in scope has not yet been confirmed.

The Government has responded to the Social Security Advisory Committee’s recommendations on how benefits influence education and training choices at age 16. It has announced a bursary of up to £4,500 per year per household for eligible Universal Credit households whose income would fall when a young person starts an apprenticeship. It will also improve information on how education and apprenticeship choices affect benefits.

Ofcom has identified four age assurance methods that could be highly effective in determining whether social media users are aged 16 or over: photo ID matching, digital ID services, banking-based checks and facial age estimation. The assessment comes ahead of the planned UK ban on social media for under-16s. The Government intends to lay the first regulations before Parliament by the end of 2026, after which Ofcom plans to consult on draft guidance for platforms.

Schools

Ofsted’s revised guidance explains how inspectors assess restraint, physical intervention and restrictions of liberty in education and care settings. The 3 November revision reflects new DfE guidance on restraint and restrictive practices in schools. It emphasises positive staff–child relationships and prevention: restraint should be proportionate, used for the shortest possible time and never routine. The guidance explains Ofsted’s inspection approach rather than providing a summary of the law.

The DfE’s non-statutory guidance on effective school and college travel assistance, issued on 30 October, emphasises joint working between SEND, travel and education teams. It covers considering travel arrangements when naming a setting in an EHC plan, alternative provision, independent travel training for children and young people with SEND, and collaboration with parents and education settings to meet individual needs.

Schools should listen to children and families, identify barriers to attendance and agree practical support, the DfE explains in its account of a ‘support-first’ approach. Support should reflect the child’s age, needs and circumstances, including reasonable adjustments where appropriate, and be reviewed with the family. Schools may work with local authority, health, mental health, SEND, early help or other local services where additional support is needed.

The National Governance Association considers the new inclusion strategy requirement for mainstream schools receiving funding through the £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund. Schools accepting funding must publish an inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026, setting out how they will use funding to support SEND and wider inclusive practice. The article highlights the role of governors and trustees in scrutinising and monitoring strategies, which will also form part of Ofsted’s inspection considerations.

The DfE has launched a call for evidence on school exclusion reforms covering internal suspension, reintegration support partnerships following suspension, and schoolwork during the first five days of suspension or permanent exclusion. Responses will inform the reforms and their supporting statutory framework. The call closes on 19 November 2026.

Further Education

The Sutton Trust’s Staying the course report, released on 5 November, examines why young people leave apprenticeships before completion. Drawing on the experiences of over 300 young apprentices, it identifies financial pressures, poor-quality training and weak support as barriers to achievement. Separately, FE Week reports that T Level funding allocations for 2026-27 cover fewer predicted students than the previous year for the first time since the qualifications launched. These allocations are partly based on provider estimates, rather than confirmed enrolments.

FE Week highlights a new DfE workforce survey in which 37% of respondents planned to leave further education. Among those planning to leave within five years, workload and working hours (63%) and pay (57%) were key factors. Work-related stress was reported by 72% of respondents. The findings also highlight recruitment difficulties in engineering and manufacturing, construction, and digital and IT.

FE Week covers apprenticeship measures in the 2026 Budget. The apprentice minimum wage will rise from £8 to £8.31 an hour from 1 April 2027. An additional £100 million over 2027-28 and 2028-29 will expand apprenticeship brokerage pilots to 14 mayoral strategic authorities across England.

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Higher Education

The Office for Students has set out its regulatory expectations for providers preparing to deliver modules and modular pathways under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement from January 2027. Its 5 November letter includes a preparation checklist and confirms that existing registration conditions, data requirements and risk-based monitoring will continue to apply. Module outcome indicators will not form part of the first quality-assessment cycle from 2027 to 2030; proposals for later assessment remain subject to consultation.

The DfE is seeking views on maintenance and tuition fee loan payment schedules under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement. The call for evidence explores how changes to current schedules could affect students, education providers and accommodation providers. Responses will inform future policy. It closes on 11 January 2027.

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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 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.