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

Charity Commission

Inquiry Report

The Commission has published its inquiry report into the Birmingham Education Trust, a charity which operates a Muslim school in Birmingham and was run by two married trustees. The Commission concluded that the trustees had repeatedly failed to comply with their legal duty to file the charity's annual accounting information, despite comprehensive advice and guidance from the Commission. From the charity's registration in 1997 until the opening of the inquiry in 2020, it had only submitted an annual return once. The trustees also failed to maintain sufficient financial records, only one of the trustees acted as a signatory to the charity's bank account and they were unable to manage any potential conflicts. Conflicts issues were also complicated by the employment of one of the trustees as head teacher and their two daughters as teachers at the school.

The two original trustees have been removed and disqualified from acting as trustees as result of the inquiry. New independent trustees were appointed during the course of the inquiry and one of the directions they have received is to ensure all employees are remunerated in line with the minimum wage.

Statutory inquiry opened

The Commission has announced the opening of an inquiry into The Queen Alexandra Cottage Homes, a charity which provides a range of accommodation and support to older people, after repeated failures to file annual accounts.

Sector General

ACEVO has published the results of its 2023 Pay and Equalities Survey. It reports that whilst there have been encouraging year on year increases in voluntary organisation CEOs who report themselves to be disabled, have a learning difference or a health condition (25% of this year's sample, up from 20% in 2022 and 17% in 2021) there has been no discernible progress in the proportion of CEOs from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic backgrounds (remaining static at 7%). The gender pay gap has stuck at 8.3% and there was a lack of progress on investing in CEO professional development and supervision.

Climate Change, biodiversity and nature

Courtesy of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority we now have our very own UK Green Agreements Guidance, long-awaited competition and consumer focussed legal guidance on Green Agreements. Bates Wells' Lindsay Draffan comments, "It's a great step forward in encouraging environmental sustainability agreements without fear of breaching competition law" and explains more in a blog here.

Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Woodland Trust and National Trust have published the Nature Markets Principles, developed with Finance Earth and Federated Hermes (press release). The Principles aim to ensure that 'Nature-based Solutions' are science-based and effective in supporting nature recovery, therefore helping to ensure the integrity of the carbon credits, biodiversity units and nutrient credits generated from such initiatives. The Principles are designed to encourage responsible private investment to help fill the £6bn annual funding gap for UK nature recovery.

A new 'super' National Nature Reserve has been created in the Mendip Hills by Natural England. The site brings together 31 existing nature sites with an additional 400 hectares of land and spans the Cheddar Gorge and the Mendip Hills. Several organisations including the National Trust, the Woodland Trust and Butterfly Conservation will work in partnership to manage the reserve and restore nature.

Diversity and inclusion

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to the Minister for Women and Equalities to urge it to publish a draft Bill, the aim of which is to ban harmful conversion practices, for pre-legislative scrutiny by Parliament. They are anticipating the inclusion of this legislation in the forthcoming King's Speech and want to provide their advice to ensure that individuals are protected from harmful practices, whilst ensuring that appropriate care and support is not caught by the ban, and religious freedoms are protected.

Gambling

The government has launched a consultation on a statutory levy on gambling operators. In a press release, the government estimates that this will raise £100 million of new funding for research, prevention and treatment of gambling addiction, with the NHS being the main commissioner of the treatment. Society Lotteries with gross profits of over £500,000 will have to pay 0.1% of their gross gambling income. Therefore, this is only likely to impact larger charities and, whilst the levy may not be substantial, they may wish to respond to the consultation, which closes on 14 December 2023.

Northern Ireland

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has published a leaflet, 'Is your charity ready for the traffic lights?', which gives more information about the new traffic light system which will indicate if a charity has submitted their accounts on time.

Health and social care

On 19 October, Government brought together members of the Smokefree Action Coalition to discuss plans to introduce a new law stopping children who turn 14 this year or younger from being legally sold cigarettes in England. Charities, academics, health leaders, local government and medical royal colleges also discussed how to support plans to tackle youth vaping.

The government is consulting on the draft of the first UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment. The consultation closes on 8 December 2023.

The Care Quality Commission has published its 'State of Care' 2022/2023 report. Findings include over half (51%) of respondents waiting more than an hour to be examined by a nurse or doctor in urgent and emergency care, up from 28% in 2020.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit is recruiting 2 Regional Stakeholder Network chairs in Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North West. The deadline to apply is 26 November 2023 and more information can be found here.

Also see below under social investment.

Refugee services

The government is to consult local authorities on plans to determine an annual cap on the number of refugees resettled in the UK each year. The Illegal Migration Act 2023 included provisions for such a cap. The announcement states that whilst the 'consultation is open to local authorities, NGOs and charities who provide accommodation and support are encouraged to work with councils to help provide a clear picture of capacity in local areas.'

Social Enterprise

A House of Commons written question asks the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the contribution of the cooperative sector to the UK economy. Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith MP responds citing the findings of the Co-operative and Mutual Economy Report 2023 and notes recent measures intended to support the co-operatives sector, including the Government having commissioned the Law Commission to conduct reviews of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 and the Friendly Societies Act 1992.

Social investment/social impact investment

Opinion: We can help to solve the UK's social care crisis – so why can't we access more social investment? Pioneers Post reports on a speech from Charlotte Newman, CEO of social enterprise Carefree, at The Gathering 2023 conference about how social enterprises, particularly in the social care sector, can access more investment. Newman touched upon three ways social investors can help:

  • Create more flexible finance – e.g., an overdraft facility to help manage overheads in the waiting period before getting local authority contract payments.
  • More blended finance.
  • Raising awareness of social investment products and making them accessible to organisations.

The UK's Growth Impact Fund, a fund aimed at diverse-led UK social enterprises, has received new funding – £1.5m from the Macquarie Group Foundation and £250,000 from Barking & Dagenham Giving. This new investment comes as the fund confirmed its second close, as it aims to reach £25m.

City Bridge Foundation has collaborated with Responsible Finance to provide £600,000 in support for Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). This will allow CDFIs to lend up to £10m to over 10,000 Londoners, meaning they can avoid high-cost lenders.

Education

Schools

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Minister for Schools Nick Gibb, and Minister for Skills Robert Halfon have written to schools and colleges with advice on how to respond to "the Israel-Hamas conflict".

The Welsh Government has updated its Elective home education guidance, setting out the roles and responsibilities of local authorities and parents in the context of home education. It focuses on the legal issues surrounding home education, identifying children not known to local authorities and school attendance/education supervision. As mentioned last week, the Government is planning to introduce minimum service levels in schools and colleges, following The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. Government has now proposed reaching a voluntary agreement with union leaders, but if this does not pan out then a formal consultation will be issued. See this Department for Education press release for more information.

Further Education

See here for the Education and Skills Funding Agency's 'ESFA Update' with information for academies, local authorities and FE providers.

Higher Education

A new Student Mental Health Evidence Hub has been launched by Office for Students and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes. The Hub aims to provide easy access to information, evidence and guidance to help improve mental health support for students.

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