Our weekly roundup 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.

Government news

The Chancellor John Healey has announced that the Budget to move “power and money out of Westminster, and into every postcode around Britain” will be on Wednesday 28 October. The budget will include more details of the government’s plans for local areas to retain a share of locally generated revenues, including business rates and income tax retention. HM Treasury has launched the Budget Representation Portal where you can submit comments on existing policy for consideration in the Budget. The portal will close at 23:59 on Wednesday 9 September. The representations will be collated and shared with HMT policy officials. Following this announcement, Civil Society has shared that the chief executive of NCVO, Kate Lee, has called upon England’s mayors to use their recently announced new spending powers to bring “charities and voluntary organisations into the heart of local decision-making”. The article includes commentary about and reactions to the government’s devolution plans. 

As you probably saw last week in the press, the government announced a rearrangement of government departments including:

  • the transfer of devolution strategy and local economic growth policy from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and HM Treasury to a new No 10 North Office.
  • the establishment of an Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC), which will house No 10,
  • No 10 North and teams within the Cabinet Office, directly serving the Prime Minister and Cabinet. OPMC will also include a new AI taskforce that will “drive the government’s AI strategy, including public sector transformation”.
  • the Office for Equality and Opportunity will move to the MHCLG
  • the Office for Impact Economy and responsibility for policy on digital identity will move to the renamed Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
  • the functions of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will be redistributed, and the Department for Business and Trade will be renamed the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST), taking on responsibility for the science and innovation portfolio, as well as emerging sectors.

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Charity Commission

The Charity Commission has appointed Interim Managers to CG Community Council as part of its ongoing statutory inquiry into the charity.

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Tax and VAT

Charity Finance Group has provided this overview of the VAT cut for electricity bills announced last week, including what charities need to be aware of.

Charity Tax Group has launched a sector-wide survey to better understand the impact of VAT on social media advertising and gather evidence from charities about the growing costs of reaching beneficiaries and supporters online. This CTG article gives more background. 

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Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion

Civil Society has reported that a group of not-for-profit organisations providing services to men and boys has asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to clarify aspects of its new Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations before it comes into force this Wednesday 5 August. The article includes comments from the EHRC that it has met with the Charity Commission to “help ensure charities are provided with accurate information about their specific obligations under the Equality Act”. As we reported recently, the Commission is updating its Equality Act guidance for charities and aims to publish it this Autumn.

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Banking

Charity Finance Group has published its Charity Banking Report 2026. More than 2,400 people responded to the survey which fed into the report, with every respondent experiencing at least one banking challenge in the past two years and the most common challenge being changing signatories.

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Fundraising

The Institute of Licensing (IoL) has invited its members to submit evidence to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to inform the reform of the Police, Factories etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916. This follows growing concerns from councils, police forces and the IoL about the rise in unlicensed charitable street collections and the lack of effective enforcement powers. Proposed reforms include increasing penalties from a level 1 fine to a level 5 fine, introducing Fixed Penalty Notices, and extending offences to officers of a body corporate. Deadline for submissions is 30 August 2026.

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Philanthropy

Philanthropy Impact has published a practical guide developed by Mary’s Meals intended to help charities better understand and maximise the opportunities presented by donor-advised funds (DAFs).

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AI

If you’re considering the impact of use of AI, see our blog by Philippa Courage “How should purpose driven businesses consider the impact of their AI usage?”

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Children’s services

The House of Commons’ Communications and Digital Committee has launched an inquiry into the implementation, enforcement and effect of the Online Safety Act 2023. As an initial step, it has issued a public call for evidence on questions about how Ofcom has interpreted, implemented and enforced the Act, whether its measures have led online services to make meaningful changes to their systems, processes and design, and the impact of the OSA so far on the experience of children and adults online. The inquiry is a response to criticism that Ofcom has been slow and ineffectual in taking the OSA forward, that new technologies have rendered some of the provisions less effective than they should be and that the OSA itself requires amendment to make it sufficiently effective. The deadline for responses to the call for evidence is 5 pm on 7 September 2026. For more information about navigating online safety legislation, please see our website.

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Health and social care

The Care Quality Commission has published health and social care case studies, with the goal of helping to spread good practices between services.

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Social enterprise

Social Enterprise UK has outlined five actions it believes Andy Burnham’s government could take in its first 100 days to support social enterprise, arguing that the sector should play a central role in the government’s economic strategy, including its public service reform and devolution agenda.

Following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s recent speech on social care reform, Co-operatives UK and its collaborators in the Reclaiming Our Regional Economies (RORE) programme have called for a care system prioritising “quality, fair pay and local communities over investor returns”.

In the news from a global perspective, the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy has announced the issuance of the first Declaration by the ‘Group of Friends on the Social and Solidarity Economy’, building on other, recent supranational commitments to support the global social and solidarity economy (SSE). The Declaration sets out commitments to strengthen intergovernmental cooperation to promote the SSE, relating to decent work, sustainable development and social justice, and is supported by 20 governments. 

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Social investment / social impact investment

Access has published a blog on the role of subsidy in supporting “good growth”, drawing on lessons from social investment and blended finance. The article argues that subsidy can help create public benefit where markets would otherwise underprovide and highlights the role of social investment in supporting local ownership.

Social Investment Business has published an article introducing a framework, developed with NPC, for understanding the impact economy and the different funding and financing needs of organisations within it. The framework is intended to provide a common approach for understanding the sector, with further work due to be published in the coming weeks.

Responsible Finance has shared learnings from a capacity building programme supporting Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), funded by JPMorganChase and other partners. The article reports that participating CDFIs have doubled their lending to small businesses over the past 18 months and sets out lessons on the role of organisational capacity in supporting sector growth.

Good Finance has published a guest blog by Inclusive Consultant and Good Finance Ambassador for the East of England, Rebecca White, exploring what Social Enterprise UK’s State of Social Enterprise data reveals about social investment uptake in the East, and drawing on the author’s own experience. The blog describes a social investment knowledge gap, leading to a mismatch between reported funding needs and the extent to which organisations will consider external finance.

Alliance Magazine has published an opinion piece by CEO of the Ursimone Wietlisbach Foundation, Stefan Germann, exploring the role of foundation endowments in advancing social and environmental impact. The piece argues that foundations should align their investment assets more closely with their charitable missions, including through impact investing approaches.

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International development

As reported by Bond, 104 leaders of UK NGOs have issued a joint statement to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, calling for his government to “confront the underlying drivers of inequality, injustice and poverty that affect people both here in the UK and around the world”. This follows a decision to reallocate £400m in international climate finance commitments to help fund UK bus fares. Executive Director of Climate Action Network UK, Catherine Pettengell, comments that “We won’t tackle poverty, nature loss, and climate change by pitting the needs of communities in the UK against those of communities on the frontline of the climate crisis”.

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Education

General

Lucy Powell has been appointed Secretary of State for Education following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s reshuffle, replacing Bridget Phillipson. Schools Week reports that Powell takes up the role as the sector awaits further detail on the government’s approach to education policy, including in relation to SEND reform and the implementation of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has announced proposals to introduce default overnight social media curfews, from midnight to 6am, for 16 and 17-year-olds, and to switch off features such as autoplay and personalised content feeds by default. The proposals also include measures relating to AI services used by children, including mandatory breaks for under-18s and restrictions on chatbots that offer mental health advice. The Government has stated that the first regulations are expected to be laid before Parliament by the end of 2026, with the measures anticipated to come into force in spring 2027.

Local Government Lawyer has reported on a Court of Appeal judgment allowing an appeal concerning the London Borough of Bromley’s decision to close the Poverest Centre, an adult education centre. The Court held that it was unlawful to decide to close the centre without first consulting learners with learning difficulties and disabilities and their carers, and that the council was under a common law duty to consult that group before the closure decision was taken.

The Department of Health and Social Care has published a cross-government action plan aimed at improving recognition and support for unpaid carers in England. The plan focuses on three central themes: recognising unpaid carers, referring them to support and helping them reach their potential, including through health, education and employment support.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have published shared principles to guide their approaches to inspections, assessments and other activity during local government reorganisation. The principles state that oversight of services will remain important during periods of change, and that local authorities’ statutory responsibilities continue throughout the reorganisation process.

Ofsted has published its equality objectives for 2026–2030, setting out how it will consider equality issues through its inspection and regulatory work, and how it will promote equality of opportunity for its workforce and contractors.

Schools

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced the next phase of its solar energy programme, with 100 more schools and colleges joining the Great British Energy Solar Partnership and a further 150 taking part in a private-sector solar pilot. The DfE says schools and colleges in the first wave are expected to save an estimated £220 million on energy bills over the lifetime of the panels.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 2) (England) Regulations 2026 have been made, bringing specified provisions of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 into force in England on 15 July, 17 August, 1 September and 30 September 2026. From 15 July 2026, provisions relating to children’s social care and education are in force, including section 1, which requires local authorities to offer a family group decision-making meeting to parents or those with parental responsibility before applying for a care or supervision order.

The DfE has published the Academy Trust Handbook 2026, effective from 1 October 2026. The updated handbook includes new content on inclusion and collaboration, and changes relating to chief financial officers, electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes, executive pay, financial reporting and transparency, procurement, and trustees’ and governors’ financial knowledge and training.

The DfE has published guidance on the school estate management standards annual return, which starts from September 2026. The return applies to responsible bodies eligible for annual DfE capital funding and is intended to help them assess how they meet the school estate management standards and provide DfE with information about implementation and support needs.

TES reports that school leaders are among those affected by a further DfE data breach. More than 600,000 data points, including the names and email addresses of senior leaders, are reported to have been compromised. The DfE has stated that it took swift action to contain the incident and is working with relevant authorities while the matter is investigated.

Further education

The DfE has announced new investment in apprenticeships and technical education, including bursaries for eligible households, fully funded apprenticeship training for eligible under-25s, and additional support for employers. It has also committed £287 million to create over 22,000 additional post-16 education places to expand access to skills training and vocational pathways.

The DfE has announced that Skills Bootcamp eligibility has been extended for young people, with learners able to join a Skills Bootcamp once they are 19. The change is intended to support earlier access to training and employment-related skills.

The DfE has published new Further Education Estate Management Standards, providing a framework to help further education colleges manage their estates effectively. The guidance is intended to support colleges in improving estate management practices and making best use of available expertise.

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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 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.