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

Charity Commission

Guidance on donating during the festive season

The Charity Commission, Fundraising Regulator, and Action Fraud have shared joint guidance on giving with confidence over the festive season. It contains practical tips to avoid charity fraud and help people make sure their donation reaches its intended cause.

Holiday closure of charity registration service

The Commission’s charity registration service will be unavailable from 4pm on 20 December 2024 to 10am on 6 January 2025. 

See ‘Investigations and complaints’ below.

Investigations and complaints

The Charity Commission has published an Inquiry report into Pug Life Rescue (formerly Muffin Pug Rescue). The Commission found serious issues with how conflicts of interest and the charity’s finances were managed, noting “the charity’s financial records were in disarray” and there was an “ongoing pattern of lifestyle payments that clearly benefitted” two of the former trustees, Kristine Lovelady and Declan Poole (a mother and son). For example, the charity paid £7,000 for a watch in Poole’s name. The Commission also found that the charity paid £96,000 in rent payments for their family residence, and the charity failed to manage conflicts of interest and unauthorised trustee benefits in relation to this. Lovelady and Poole were removed as trustees and are disqualified from being a trustee or senior manager of any charity. In terms of recovering money spent by them in breach of their duties, the Commission has stated the “current trustees are primarily responsible for taking reasonable steps to recover any property or money lost or misappropriated, and the Commission has advised them to follow the Commission’s guidance on this and take independent legal advice.”

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into The Dog You Need.Com, after the trustees failed to act on an Official Warning which required the charity to provide outstanding financial information. The inquiry will consider whether the trustees are complying with their legal duties and have adequate financial oversight of the charity.

Community benefit societies

Back in September, the Law Commission published a consultation paper containing provisional proposals for reform to the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. Bates Wells partners Oliver Hunt and Luke Fletcher have been busy engaging in the detail of the consultation, and submitted a response on behalf of Bates Wells in time for the 10th December deadline.

Community interest companies

The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (CICs) has updated guidance which outlines the “Do’s and Don’ts of completing an application to incorporate a CIC”. This includes updated information on the requirement to provide live/written signatures from directors on form CIC36 (Community Interest Statement).

The CIC Regulator has updated its guidance on model constitutions and Articles of Association for community interest companies, noting it has amended the information on who can be an asset locked body. 

Governance

The Association of Chairs has published two new guides:

  • ‘It starts from the top’ which is aimed at equipping chairs and boards to focus on equity, diversity and inclusion;
  • ‘Financial Leadership in Small Charities’ which is written for and with chairs to help boards become more confident in financial governance. – you can download a copy here.

AOC has also published an updated version of “A Chair’s Compass”, its general guide for chairs. 

Reactions to Autumn Budget 2024

The Charity Retail Association published the results of a survey about how charity shops will be impacted by the upcoming increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage. Over one third of those surveyed said they would need to reduce paid staff and/or paid hours of work.

The Charity Finance Group has shared results from a post-budget UK-wide survey. It found that 84% of charities have serious concerns about affording the rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions, and 67% are likely to cancel plans to expand, hire new staff, or launch new services.

Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion

See above under Governance.

Funders and funding

In this article, Carol Mack, the CEO of the UK’s Association of Charitable Foundations explores a pivotal question facing foundations today: how to allocate resources effectively to address both immediate needs and long-term goals.

A new guide from New Philanthropy Capital considers good practice for monitoring, evaluation, and learning and how charities can take a more equitable and trusting approach. It calls for funders to share power, bring in other voices, and set proportionate requirements.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy Impact has published the second part of its Autumn magazine.  There’s a range of interesting articles including:

  • A case study: how sustainable investment is helping to tackle homelessness
  • How Gender-lens investing is key to next generation philanthropy
  • Sustainable philanthropy: the case of female empowerment: an evaluation
  • Animal welfare as an emerging frontier in sustainable finance

National Philanthropic Trust UK have published the 2024 UK Donor-Advised Fund Report, which analyses data from 2019 to 2022 from UK charities offering donor-advised funds.

Fundraising

See above under ‘Charity Commission’.

Civil Society has shared an article regarding the regulation of charity prize draws. At the GambleAware annual conference, Minister for Gambling and Lords Minister Fiona Twycross stated she will meet the prize draw sector to discuss its regulation. Currently, prize draws such as Omaze and Raffle House which raise funds for charities are not regulated by the Gambling Commission. The chief executive of Raffle House, Benno Spencer, has stated that if the Gambling Commission “does feel the need for a different approach to the one that currently exists, we hope that it will take a sensible approach and opt for a code of practice or self-regulation system rather than bringing prize draws into the gambling licensing system”.

The Charities Aid Foundation has announced that it estimates the British public will give around £2.8 billion to charities during November and December this year, with research showing that 50% of the public always/usually donate to charities during the holidays. 

Volunteering

The government has published its Community Life Survey 2023/24 which tracks community engagement, volunteering and social cohesion for adults in England.  It found 16% of respondents had engaged in formal volunteering at least once a month. This is the same as the 2021/22 results, though rates have declined from 27% when data collection first started in 2012/13. 

Public procurement and subsidy control

The Cabinet Office has published two new Procurement Policy Notes (PPNs) intended to emphasise the importance of prompt, fair and effective payment by suppliers in major government contracts to their own suppliers. The two new PPNs will replace PPN 10/23, which addressed the same issues under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/102).  The two new PPNs are:

Commercial

The government has launched a new Fair Payment Code to tackle late payment of business invoices.  The new Code is voluntary and replaces the previous Prompt Payment Code.

The government has announced other measures to support growth of smaller businesses, including a Disability Finance Code for Entrepreneurship designed to boost access to finance for disabled entrepreneurs, and action to improve access to finance by female-led businesses was also announced.

Scotland

Nearly 20% of Scottish charities have a deadline in December for their annual return, accounts, and trustees’ report. OSCR has shared guidance on submitting these via OSCR Online and is hosting a webinar on 11 December to share advice.

OSCR and Foundation Scotland are collaborating on the Revitalising Trusts project, which has (so far) released over £5 million of dormant funds since 2021. It finds inactive charitable trusts and offers support to reopen, repurpose, or wind up the trust and make sure charitable funds can be used for public benefit.

OSCR’s office and phone lines will be closed from 12pm on 24 December 2024 until 9.30am on 3 January 2025.

Civil Society has reported on reactions in the sector to the Scottish Budget 2025-26, which was presented last week. Announcements relevant to the charity sector include £125 million for adult social care staff and £21 million for children’s social care and early learning and childcare staff, each designed so that staff working under private and third-sector commissions can be paid the real living wage by April 2025.

Northern Ireland

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI) has shared practical tips about document names when uploading annual accounts and reports to its Online Services.

CCNI is holding its annual public meeting on 22 January 2025. The event will particularly focus on banking challenges for charities, including a roundtable where those attending can share their thoughts on banking issues.

Punam McGookin, CCNI’s Head of Charity Services, has shared a response to the Charity Finance Group’s Charity Banking Challenges 2024 report. McGookin notes “Charities, which are struggling to survive week to week, deserve support but instead face additional hurdles and red tape”.

CCNI’s offices will be closed from 25 December 2024 until 2 January 2025.

Health and social care

The Health Foundation has published findings from its survey on how the public feels about health technologies and data. 51% of those surveyed think technology improves the quality of health care, and 75% are happy for at least some of their data to be shared to develop AI systems in the NHS.

A joint publication from the Local Government Association ADASS, Social Care Institute for Excellence, Mencap, Skills for Care, Think Local Act Personal, The Care Provider Alliance and Social Care Future considers the importance of prevention in adult social care.

The NHS Confederation has published a news item about a taskforce exploring how AI can be used in NHS Communications. The taskforce has published an engagement paper with proposals for implementing AI, and it is seeking feedback from NHS communication professionals until 28 February 2025.

The Department of Health & Social Care has shared a research and analysis report about the ‘Right Care, Right Person’ approach to mental health support and other health and social care.

Housing and homelessness

See under Philanthropy above.

Social enterprise

See above under Community interest companies and Community benefit societies.

Co-op News reported some key takeaways from the Co-operatives UK 2024 Practitioners Forum, which focused on five key themes: governance, membership, finance, HR and communications. The article includes Co-op Group’s chief membership and customer officer, Kenyatte Nelson, providing tips for co-ops looking to attract more members and, from another session, Amrit Singh, creative director at Rebel Creatives, discussing ways to use social media to connect with customers and drive sales.

The UK Social Enterprise Awards were held on 4 December with winners across a range of categories including social investment deal, environmental social enterprise, and community-based social enterprise. The Workspace Group, a profit-for-purpose social enterprise, won UK Social Enterprise of the Year.

Social Enterprise UK (SEUK), has published the “Social Enterprise Knowledge Centre: Insight” report for November 2024, which is a quarterly review of the sector based on survey data from members of SEUK.  The report provides a “snapshot” of sector conditions and expectations and evaluates the challenges that social enterprises have faced over the last year, the sector’s priorities for the new Government and views on the Procurement Act. Its recommendations include that, due to the planned increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs), social enterprises who are “providing public services on fixed contracts should receive an appropriate uplift in funding or [be] exempt from this tax rise”. For more, Pioneers Post commented on the report with a particular focus on this recommendation and the impact of increased NICs. The article includes commentary from Dean Hochlaf, SEUK’s Head of Policy and Research, and Ian McGrady, Managing Director of Edsential, a CIC.

Big Issue explores the work of Home Kitchen, a fine dining restaurant staffed by homeless people, which received investment from Big Issue Invest alongside other organisations. The article outlines the impact of the restaurant by interviewing employees.

Social investment/social impact investment

Investing in the North East: A closer look at social impact financing. Michael Burns, Investment Manager at Big Issue Invest, notes the role of social enterprises in the North East of England, where there is a ‘funding cold spot for early-stage or risky socially trading organisation (STO) models’. Big Issue Invest has partnered with the North East Combined Authority and Power to Change to offer the Flexible Social Finance Fund, which aims to enable growth and long-term impact for STOs.

The Co-operative Governance Expert Reference Panel is seeking applications from co-op finance experts, due to one member stepping down in January 2025. The panel is looking for an individual with “recent expert experience in leadership and innovation in governance, with a specific focus on financial co-operatives and/or credit unions.” Applications close on Friday 13 December.

International development

Baroness Chapman delivered a speech at the “annual forward look” report launch event, where she emphasised the importance of a closer relationship between Latin America and the UK to “deliver on our shared priorities of Growth, Climate, and Security.” Baroness Chapman also noted that Latin America “is the global centre of biodiversity” and is on the “front line of the climate and nature crisis”, which is why the UK is “committed to working with Latin American nations to protect the environment and promote sustainable development.”

Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, delivered a speech at the UN Security Council meeting on Syria, where he urged “all actors to ensure continuous and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance and access across the whole of Syria.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has announced £300,000 of new funding to support the White Helmet’s response to the current escalation of violence in Syria.

Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, delivered a speech at the UN Security Council meeting on Women, Peace and Security, where she highlighted the importance of the council increasing “support to grassroots women’s rights organisations”.

The Minister of State for Development, Anneliese Dodds, is due to announce several measures that intend to “drive growth in Africa.” This includes £39 million of new funding over five years to provide educational support in Malawi and a commitment from the UK to the UK-Zambia Green Growth Compact “with an aim to drive £2.5bn of UK private investment into green projects in Zambia and commit to greater UK support to the Zambian energy sector.”

In a speech from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council 2024 on human rights and fundamental freedoms, the UK stated that “civil society is an indispensable part of our countries’ conscience” and that “it is with deep regret that we observe a shrinking civic space within many OSCE participating states, including through the use of so-called foreign agent legislation or “sovereignty protection” measures.”

Reflecting on the past year, Bond has shared a post about seven of its locally led activities in 2024. It is also currently preparing UK NGO case studies, to share learnings across the UK INGO sector about locally led development approaches.

Bond has shared reflections on civic space, democracy, and human rights in the UK and globally. In January, Bond plans to publish practical advice (prepared with Bates Wells) for charities acting in solidarity with communities and organisations facing violence and discrimination.

Faith based organisations

We’re pleased to report we’ve published our annual faith-based update. In this edition we cover a range of issues that commonly present challenges for faith-based organisations and explore recent developments that will impact faith-based charities.

International NGOs

On 7th March 2025 the University of Stirling will host a one-day workshop bringing together researchers, NGO representatives, and policymakers. The aim of the workshop is to facilitate academic and policy discussions on normative proposals and emerging frameworks for enhancing accountability within non-governmental organizations at the international level. 

Animal welfare

See above under Philanthropy. 

Education

General

Ofsted has published their annual report for the academic year 2023 to 2024, which summarises Ofsted’s Chief Inspector’s, Sir Martyn Oliver, observations from his first twelve months in post, and outlines the current position of education and children’s social care in England. Key findings include that “school absence rates remain higher than before the pandemic and more children are experiencing unorthodox patterns of education”. Additionally, “outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are poor” and “many children with SEND do not receive the right support at the right time.” See press release.

The Education Policy Institute has published the “Children Missing from Education” report which estimates how many children are not in school (those of compulsory school age not enrolled in any school) and missing from education (those not registered in school and those not registered in home education), as well as key trends, characteristics and recommendations. Key findings include that “up to 300,000 children may be missing entirely from education in 2023, a 40 per cent increase from 2017”, and that certain groups, such as persistently disadvantaged pupils, are at a higher risk of exiting the English education permanently.

Schools

The Department for Education (DfE) has made a number of announcements:

  • £740 million of funding (this forms part of a broader £6.7 billion capital settlement for education for the next financial year, announced at the Autumn Budget) to create more specialist places for pupils with SEND in mainstream schools. Allocation of funding is to be confirmed in the Spring, alongside the publication of guidance outlining how councils can use the investment to improve local mainstream provision.
  • The appointment of Professor Karen Guldberg as Chair of a new “Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group” which will work alongside the DfE with an aim to drive inclusive education.
  • The government will “not enter into any more of its Safety Valve agreements for councils in financial deficits, pending wider reform of the whole system to prioritise early intervention, properly supporting councils to bring their finances under control.”

Further Education

The DfE has introduced reforms to T Levels “designed to cut red tape and boost the number taking them.” This includes that “most students will now be able to complete up to 20% of their placement hours remotely, rather than having to do them from a physical workplace, with the allowance increased to 50% for Digital T Levels.” Placements will also “no longer be restricted to the specific T Level subject being studied by students.” The DfE has said that they will publish detailed guidance in January 2025, which will take effect immediately.

Higher Education

The Office for Students (OfS) has set out temporary changes to its approach to registering institutions and granting degree-awarding powers and applications for university title which aim ‘to allow a greater focus on the financial sustainability of the higher education sector and individual institutions’. Changes include:

  • no new registration applications will be accepted and all registration cases in the early stages of assessment will be paused;
  • no new applications for degree-awarding powers will be accepted, and applications that have been received but where assessment has not yet started will be paused; and
  • no new applications for university title, or for a change in an institution’s name where it already holds university title or university college title, will be accepted, while applications that have already been submitted will be completed.

The OfS has published a regulatory case report on the University of Wolverhampton which found that the university had breached condition B4 relating to student assessment and awards, as the university had not ensured that the number of assessment attempts was consistent between students registered on the same course. The OfS added that “we would ask all registered providers to be mindful of the requirements of condition B4, and to ensure that the number of attempts at assessment students are permitted remains consistent.”

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.