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

Cost of living crisis

A survey of more than 600 charities carried out by the Charities Aid Foundation shows the extent of the current struggles faced by the charity sector. More than half of charities are at full capacity for their services, one in eight say they have been forced to turn people away, and almost a third have been unable to get any utilities relief from the cost of living crisis.

Charity Commission

New Annual Return questions

The Commission has launched the new Annual Return for 2023. The updated question set has been available for charities to review since December 2022, following a formal consultation between June-September. The new return is available via the new My Charity Commission Account service.

Social media policy

Emma Leeson, Digital Engagement manager at the Commission, has published a blog post on why charities should implement a social media policy. This follows the new social media guidance published by the Commission.

Annual Public Meeting

The Charity Commission's annual public meeting will be held on Wednesday 15 November at 11.00 in Liverpool, or online via livestream. You can book online here.

Tax and VAT

Charity Tax Group has published its response to the government consultation on Business Rates Avoidance and Evasion. It says that the consultation holds particular interest for charities because some avoidance and evasion techniques have used sham or unsuspecting charities for their success. However, they highlight in their response that some of the government's suggestions could lead to unintended and potentially disproportionate consequences for the charity sector, such as the tightening of the rules on Empty Property Relief.

AI

See under Data Protection re ICO and Snapchat's generative AI chatbot.

Diversity and inclusion

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its response to the UK Government's Disability Action Plan consultation. Its recommendations included urgently implementing section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, so that political parties are required to publish diversity data about their candidates, to improve access to elected office for disabled people.

Heritage assets

The government has announced new guidance for custodians of heritage assets facing calls for the removal of those assets in their care or ownership (press release). It applies to any commemorative heritage asset (statue, monument or commemoration), which is a structure, or is part of a building or structure, which is on public display or in places accessible to the public. The central government policy is 'retain and explain' meaning that the assets should remain in place and where necessary be accompanied by a comprehensive explanation. The guidance was developed by a Heritage Advisory Board established by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Historic England was consulted on the guidance and contributed a set of illustrative case studies.

Fundraising

Using subcontractors to carry out fundraising

The Fundraising Regulator's (FR) October newsletter includes that it has become aware of a noticeable increase in problematic practices surrounding charities' use of subcontractors to carry out door-to-door fundraising. In this new blog, Charities urged to review their subcontracting relationships, the FR's Head of Policy, Paul Winyard, discusses recent issues related to the use of subcontracting by fundraising agencies and the risks trustees should be aware of. He says the FR will be producing further guidance for the sector on managing subcontracting relationships.

Bates Wells partner, Hannah Lyons, comments, "It is of course very important for charities to undertake appropriate due diligence into fundraising agencies and their sub-contractors and to monitor their compliance with the Code. We do however think that more could be done by the Fundraising Regulator to educate third party fundraisers about their own obligations under the Code and to enforce the Code more robustly against them, rather than the burden solely falling on the charity."

Fundraising Regulator new Head of Casework

The Fundraising Regulator has appointed Nikki Renken as its new Head of Casework. Nikki has been the Fundraising Regulator's Case Manager for the last two years.

Data protection

New guidance on lawful monitoring in the workplace

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published guidance to ensure that organisations are practising lawful monitoring in the workplace. With the rise of remote working, an increasing amount of people find that they are monitored by their employer by tracking calls and messages, taking screenshots and tracking activity, which can undermine their privacy. The guidance encourages notifying workers of the extent of monitoring and obtaining consent to do so. It provides useful insight into how employers can monitor employees fairly and lawfully. The ICO also requires employers to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment for any monitoring that is likely to result in a high risk to the rights of workers and provide clarity on how data protection laws apply to the processing of workers' personal data.

Consultation on fining guidance

The ICO has published a consultation on new draft guidance on data protection fining under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) (it does not cover the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations). The guidance covers the ICO's legal powers to impose fines, the circumstances in which the Information Commissioner would consider it appropriate to issue a penalty notice and how the amount of the fine is calculated, including on the concept of an undertaking and aggravating or mitigating factors. The guidance will replace parts of the ICO's Regulatory Action Policy on approach to fining. The consultation is open until 27 November 2023. The ICO also plans to consult on new procedural guidance that will incorporate the other statutory guidance about regulatory action required by the DPA 2018, again to replace parts of the Regulatory Action Policy.

Preliminary enforcement notice against Snap

The ICO has issued a preliminary enforcement notice against Snap, Inc. and Snap Group Limited (Snap) which operates the UK Snapchat. Snap launched the 'My AI' feature, a generative AI chatbot powered by OpenAI's GPT technology, earlier this year. It was the first example of generative AI embedded into a major messaging platform in the UK. The ICO's provisional investigation has found that Snap's risk assessment before launching 'My AI' did not adequately assess the data protection risks posed by the technology, particularly to children. The ICO will now consider any representations from Snap, before reaching a final decision on whether there has been a breach of data protection law, or whether an enforcement notice will be issued.

Company names

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (an exempt charity) has been successful in its applications to change the names of two registered companies: (1) Imperial Education Services Ltd. and (2) Imperial College of Business Studies Ltd. The applications named different individuals associated with the two companies and both went undefended. In each decision there was an order for a contribution to be made towards the charity's costs in making the application.

Insolvency

Guidance on directors' duties upon insolvency

The Insolvency Service has published guidance on its Directors' Information Hub on director's duties upon insolvency, which covers specific duties and responsibilities which directors of insolvent companies should follow. These duties include minimising the amount of money owed by the company that will not be repaid.

Scotland

OSCR has published some information on its plans for the next three years:

OSCR has also published a new version of its Sector Overview Report (press release).

Northern Ireland

There is now no longer a deadline for charity registration applications, removing the 30-day window that previously existed. The aim is to allow charities to start their application when they are ready, and to build the register of charities.

Health and social care

The government has announced four new projects which will receive a share of £3 million in funding to transform technology in adult social care. Skills for Care CEO, Oonagh Smyth commented, "These projects will support the Skills for Care digital leadership, digital champions and digital skills programme where we are working with the adult social care sector to build the confidence and skills of our workforce to embrace, adopt and embed technology. Applications for funding can be made here.

Education

Schools

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its guidance, Establishing a new academy: the free school presumption route. In the guidance, the DfE advises how the free school presumption process should operate in practice and the characteristics, qualities and evidence that new school proposers should demonstrate. The guidance includes information concerning:

  • The steps for running a presumption competition
  • Funding arrangements and financial viability
  • Terminating the process

The DfE has published separate guidance on establishing new maintained schools.

The Welsh Government has issued a written statement on pupil absence in schools, announcing the establishment of a National Attendance taskforce to provide strategic direction, set priorities and identify further actions to improve school attendance and re-engage learners in Wales.

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