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
- Charity Commission
- Investigations and complaints
- Charity law cases
- Mutuals / community benefit societies
- Sector general
- Climate change and environment
- Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion
- Safeguarding
- Fraud
- Fundraising
- AI
- Northern Ireland
- Health and social care
- Housing and homelessness
- Social enterprise news
- Social investment and impact news
- Faith based organisations
- Sport
- International development
- Culture and creative
- Education
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 of sanctions. No timeline has been given for the changes to be made.
Charity Commission
Question guide for 2025 charity annual returns
The Charity Commission has published a new question guide and glossary to help charities complete the questions in their annual returns for financial years ending on or after 1 January 2025. The questions themselves are set out in The Charities (Annual Return) Regulations 2024, which came into force on 1 January 2025. For annual returns relating to financial years ending between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024, the Commission’s previous regulations and question guide and glossary still apply.
Speech from David Holdsworth
The Charity Commission’s Chief Executive, David Holdsworth, delivered a speech at Charity Times’ Annual Conference 2025 about challenges facing the charity sector. He mentioned three trends – a challenging economic environment, rapid technological and social change, and global conflicts, geopolitical shifts and instability. Holdsworth emphasised the “astonishing” impact that charities achieve for society despite these challenges – sharing examples of successful mergers, corporate partnerships, and public appeals.
Charity Connection newsletter
The Commission’s May edition of its LinkedIn newsletter ‘Charity Connection’ has been published. This brings together updates we’ve mentioned in previous Briefings, including recent guidance, speeches, and blogs from the Commission. It also includes links to get involved with Volunteers’ Week (2-8 June) and Small Charity Week (23-28 June).
See ‘Investigations and complaints’, ‘Charity law cases’, and ‘Faith-based organisations’ below.
Investigations and complaints
The Charity Commission has published its inquiry into the Olive Grove Foundation, a charity which works overseas in high-risk areas with vulnerable beneficiaries. The Charity Commission concluded that the charity was not properly managed, had acted outside of its purposes in paying for an individual’s bail, and had little infrastructure in place for its governance. The Commission also found the charity’s policies and records to be insufficient, whilst noting “complete disregard for, or lack of understanding of” the importance of financial controls, with issues including funds of over £151,000 being transferred to a trustee’s personal bank account.
East London Mosque Trust has been issued with an Official Warning from the Charity Commission, relating to an investment in an NHS-approved supplier which resulted in a £1 million loss. The Commission’s press release notes that it “would expect any charity to conduct substantial checks on any investment which uses charitable funds, particularly one of this size.” The Commission has given the charity six months to take remedial action before possibly facing more regulatory scrutiny.
The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Seven Dials Playhouse following concerns about significant risks to the charity’s funds and long-term financial sustainability.
Charity law cases
As you may have seen in the national press, the High Court recently published its judgment in a judicial review case brought against the Charity Commission in relation to its 2022 inquiry report into the charity Keeping Kids Company (known as Kids Company). The judicial review was successful in relation to two aspects of the inquiry report which the judge agreed were “irrational”, but the report as a whole was not held to be irrational. The court also found that a fair-minded and informed observer would not view the report as showing a “predetermined” decision from the Commission to criticise the charity.
For background, Camila Batmanghelidjh (the founder and former CEO of Kids Company) originally brought the judicial review case. The case was continued by Michael-Karim Kerman (a former clinical director at Kids Company) after Ms Batmanghelidjh died in 2024. After Kids Company closed in 2015, there were High Court proceedings attempting to disqualify the former CEO and former trustees (which were unsuccessful) and the Charity Commission then published its own inquiry report in 2022, which was the subject of this judicial review.
The Charity Commission has released this statement on the judgment and it has updated its inquiry report to reflect the findings. Bates Wells Partner Philip Kirkpatrick has written this blog with his thoughts about the case.
Mutuals / community benefit societies
The Financial Conduct Authority has published an update about its work on mutual societies: Annual update. This covers the year from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. It includes information about the work its undertaken in the last year and explains changes in the law.
Sector general
It is Volunteers’ Week this week, with the website showcasing many ways to get involved, from crocheting a thank you star, to taking part in a ‘Big Lunch’.
NCVO and ACEVO have shared the results of their engagement exercise (working with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS)) about the Civil Society Covenant. As a reminder, the Covenant is being designed as an agreement to reset the relationship between government and civil society. The report finds that civil society organisations encounter “entrenched and significant” barriers to working with government and often feel disempowered, but there is broad support for the draft principles of the Covenant. It calls for actions including amending legislation which restricts the right of charities to campaign and having Ministerial and senior civil service leads for civil society in every government department. Civil Society has published an article summarising the report and reactions from NCVO, ACEVO, and the DCMS.
Bond has released this report on civic space in the UK. It highlights 9 trends which it believes are shaping the environment for civil society in the UK including growing concerns over protest rights, the rollout of new technologies such as facial recognition and artificial intelligence, and a stifling effect on civil society engagement in elections following the introduction of campaigning rules.
Climate change and environment
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has announced that Britain’s coastal and rural communities will receive funding to be spent directly on local priorities for hosting clean energy infrastructure.
Environmental charity WRAP has shared a report warning that most UK used textile businesses are operating at a loss and, if the sector collapsed, there would be a predicted additional cost of £64 million per year of gate fees for local authorities to dispose of used textiles, an increase of around 2.5 million tonnes CO2e per year because of an increase in landfill and incineration, as well as a loss of income and collection issues for charities.
Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion
Equality and Human Rights Commission consultation
Two weeks ago we flagged that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had launched a consultation (open until 30 June 2025) on updates to its Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations (Services Code) following the decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16.
The consultation looks at changes the EHRC is planning to make, including to definitions and explanations. For example, it is proposing to change its definition of “legal sex” from “the sex that was recorded at your birth or the sex you have acquired by obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate” to “the sex that was recorded at your birth”. Once the consultation closes, the EHRC has confirmed that it will submit the Services Code to the government by the end of July. The government will decide whether, and when, to lay it before Parliament and bring it into force.
Bates Wells colleague Thérèse Rankin shares these thoughts.
Further implications of the For Women Scotland judgment
Bates Wells colleagues Rob Turner, Thérèse Rankin and Matthew Smith have written about the implications of the For Women Scotland judgment in the world of sport.
Safeguarding
The Department for Education has opened a consultation about future safeguarding policy for Out-of-School-Settings (such as sports clubs, arts clubs, faith-based education settings, and youth groups like Brownies and Scouts). The consultation closes on 21 August 2025.
See ‘Faith based organisations’ below.
Fraud
Civil Society has reported that a charity, Beit Halochem UK, has lost £1 million in a fraud carried out by an unnamed foreign exchange company. The charity understands that at least two other organisations have been subject to the same fraud.
See ‘fundraising’ below.
Fundraising
Civil Society has published an article summarising concerns raised by MPs about the level of commission claimed by online fundraising platforms which charge fees to process Gift Aid claims for charities. Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth, Stephanie Peacock, responded that many charities “pay a fee for this service to be provided because it is cost effective and efficient to do so”. And a spokesperson from the Fundraising Regulator said that this “is a service arrangement, and any associated fees are a matter between the charity and the platform” while flagging that its new Code of Fundraising Practice, which will be effective from 1 November, will introduce revised rules for fundraising platforms.
HMRC has published a collection of guidance about reporting responsibilities for those who provide cryptoasset services in the UK, as well as guidance on information that must be given to service providers used to buy, sell, or exchange cryptoassets.
The Crown Prosecution Service has reported that two members of a national fraud gang who fraudulently solicited donations have been ordered to pay back more than £100,000. They posed as collectors for charities including Great Ormond Street Hospital, Children in Need, Mind, The Children’s Society, and Comic Relief.
See ‘AI’ below.
AI
Blackbaud’s ‘The Status of UK Fundraising 2025: A Benchmarking Report for the AI Era’ reports that 77% of those surveyed use AI (compared to 57% last year). They are mainly using generative AI and natural language processing.
Northern Ireland
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI) has shared an update about what the new approved Scheme of Delegation for CCNI means. The Scheme was created following a 2020 Court of Appeal judgment that all CCNI decisions had to be made by Commissioners, rather than staff – which led to delays in decision-making. The Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 then allowed certain decisions to be delegated to staff, once a Scheme of Delegation had been consulted on and approved. Now that this Scheme has been approved, CCNI staff will be able to make more decisions – though more significant decisions are still reserved to the Commissioners or their committee. Steps are being taken to shorten processing times, with CCNI currently aiming to process straightforward registration applications within six months.
Health and social care
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a new report, which will inform its future strategy, exploring how people with dementia experience health and social care services in England. Drawing on direct engagement with individuals living with dementia, their carers, and sector stakeholders, the report highlights significant gaps in care—particularly around continuity, staff training, and the suitability of care environments. It also identifies examples of good practice, where compassionate, well-trained professionals and supportive primary care have made a meaningful difference.
The Health Foundation has released a briefing comparing trends in mortality within the UK with 21 high-income countries, based on research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It highlights significant geographic inequalities with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all having higher mortality rates than England and a decline in UK health compared with international peers.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has released this report ‘The care expectation gap’ highlighting the fact that people are unaware of the challenges that the social care system is facing and therefore are unprepared for a future in which they may have to pay significant care costs, or care for themselves. For instance, only 19% of the public correctly guessed that the cost of professional home care services could be more than £1000 a week – 47% thought they were between £200-£600 a week.
This report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, concludes that Sure Start, one of England’s biggest early years programmes, generated widespread and long-lasting benefits for children. This press release highlights the key findings.
See ‘Education’ below.
Housing and homelessness
The Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Bill has been laid before Senedd Cymru, together with an explanatory memorandum. It is anticipated the Bill will be implemented over a ten-year period, with at least 12 months any part of the Bill comes into force.
See ‘AI’ above.
Social enterprise news
Collecting Data on Social Enterprises: A Playbook for Practitioners has been published by the Schwab Foundation’s Advisory Group on Social Enterprise Data and the World Economic Forum. The paper explores the gaps in social enterprise data collection, presenting lessons from more than 25 organisations and providing guidance for practitioners on designing and conducting surveys, with the aim of harmonising the collection of social enterprise data worldwide to improve quality, consistency and comparability. The Advisory Group has also developed a set of core survey questions and encourages the adoption of these questions in order to strengthen the global understanding and visibility of social enterprises.
Social Economy News reported that the European Parliament has renewed the Social Economy Intergroup, after campaigning by Social Economy Europe following the last EU elections. The group will be called the Intergroup on Social Economy and Services of General Interest (IG 10-23), and it is reported that this is due to two groups joining forces because of their overlapping areas of policy interests. For more, Impact Europe notes that, on the same day, the Intergroup on Attracting Investment to Ensure a Competitive and Sustainable European Union was also inaugurated. Impact Europe describes an important link between the social economy and competition and sustainability, and a role for impact investing at the intersection of these agendas.
Social investment and impact news
Convergence, the global network for blended finance, has published the spring 2025 version of its State of Blended Finance report. The report provides a market overview and considers deal and investor trends over the past five years (press release). Key findings include that blended finance deal flow was higher in 2024 than the market average for the prior five years, with deal sizes trending upward, and more buy-in from the private sector. The report also considers the main challenges impacting blended finance, including the lack of a private sector mobilisation strategy and action plan, the underrepresentation of local investment, the lack of transparency on blended finance activity, and the sector’s underdeveloped ecosystem.
Impact verifying firm BlueMark has published its annual Making the Mark report, which highlights what the organisation identifies as best practice in impact management systems and practices. Among other points, the report finds a steady advancement of the industry’s adoption of impact management best practices and, based on 153 practice verifications across 131 of BlueMark’s investor clients, Better Society Capital and British Investment International made it into BlueMark’s 2025 Practice Leaderboard for best-in-class impact management systems and practices.
UK think-tank and consultancy NPC (National Philanthropy Capital) and the Beacon Collaborative have announced a merger, through which the organisations will come together under the NPC brand and consolidate their activities with the aim of strengthening UK philanthropy.
Foundations Go in First. Impact Europe writes about the outsized role that foundations play in the impact investing ecosystem, noting that some have evolved beyond traditional grant-making towards venture philanthropy approaches, including using tailored financing such as repayable grants, debt, and equity investments. Impact Europe describes other features of this space, including untapped potential for impact investing of endowments, and the tension faced by some corporate foundations in their relationships with their associated companies.
Philanthropy Impact Magazine has published the first part (of three) of its Spring 2025 edition, on the theme of ‘Redefining Giving and Investing for Impact – Building the Impact Economy: How innovative models are revolutionising philanthropy and impact investing’. The issue is described as exploring the evolving landscape of giving, highlighting how innovative models – from new advisory wealth management models, Donor-Advised Funds and giving circles, to cryptocurrency and impact investing – are reshaping how individuals and organisations contribute to social change (press release).
On behalf of the Fair Banking for All Campaign, The Finance Innovation Lab has published a response to the Department for Business and Trade’s call for evidence on small business access to finance (landing page). The campaign group includes the Impact Investing Institute, Triodos Bank, Access Foundation, the Key Fund, and Social Investment Scotland. Among other points, the response highlights that a Fair Banking Act could increase funding available to community development finance institutions and credit unions and support the growth of social enterprises and the coops and mutuals sector, as well as setting out broadly how such an Act could achieve this. The response also notes that the government’s call for evidence document did not identify social enterprise as a group that struggles to access lending, and describes some inequities in access to finance that have been identified within that group.
The UK has shown the way in tackling the challenge of child poverty. Sir Ronald Cohen wrote for New Statesman about how ‘social outcomes partnerships’ could help address child poverty in the UK, drawing on examples of social impact bonds and investors already engaging with outcomes partnerships, including local government pension schemes. Cohen also urged the government to create a central Outcomes Payment Fund to help unlock private capital through outcomes partnerships.
See also under ‘Sector General’ above.
Faith based organisations
Martin Sewell, a member of the General Synod of the Church of England (CofE), has written an open letter to Dr. Helen Earner of the Charity Commission (amongst others) asking the Commission to investigate concerns about the financing and functioning of CofE safeguarding operations. The letter alleges that payments for interim support allegedly made by the CofE to victims of abuse (as set out in its accounts) do not align with amounts the victims say they have received.
See ‘Safeguarding’ above.
Sport
See ‘Safeguarding’ and ‘Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion’ above.
International development
Bond has shared these thoughts after Baroness Chapman’s recent first appearance in front of the International Development Committee.
Bond has highlighted this Save the Children report about the Labour government’s manifesto pledge to tackle unsustainable debt burdens, describing it as a ‘moral and strategic priority’.
Culture and creative
The new £85 million Creative Foundations Fund will open for expressions of interest at the end of June. Arts and cultural organisations across England can apply for a share of up to £10 million each from the fund for projects including repairing building infrastructure, replacing outdated or failing energy systems and providing access to inaccessible spaces.
Education
General
The Department for Education (DfE) has shared updates respectively for further education providers, academies, and local authorities. These collate information about its funding, assurance and resource management.
See ‘Safeguarding’ above.
Schools
The DfE has announced £3.4 million in funding for the Early Language Support for Every Child programme, which will aim to provide earlier targeted support to support up to 20,000 more children with speech and language challenges.
The DfE has also shared a press release explaining how it will provide support for neurodivergent children in mainstream schools. For more details about this, Schools Week has published an article which notes the funding available will be lower than its initial trial run.
The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill has been passed by the Welsh Parliament but is currently awaiting Royal Assent. The Bill intends to support the Welsh Government’s commitment to there being one million Welsh speakers by 2050, by ensuring that all pupils are able to use the Welsh language by the time they reach the end of compulsory school age.
Further Education
The DfE has announced there will be 120,000 new training opportunities for healthcare support workers, carpenters, and builders.
Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson has issued a letter outlining the priorities for Skills England in 2025 to 2026. Priorities include using data to understand the nation’s future skills needs, and simplifying a fragmented skills system.
Higher Education
The DfE has published a research report on the national review of higher education student suicide deaths. The review was conducted by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health and provides recommendations centred around safety concerns, suicide prevention within university systems, amendments to key pieces of guidance, and safety messages for the broader higher education sector. For a summary of the report, see this blog post from the DfE’s ‘The Education Hub’.
The Office for Students has received guidance from the DfE on how to allocate £1,348 million of funding for the 2025/26 financial year.
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.