UK: Briefing For Charities & Social Enterprises | 14 November

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

The King's Speech

As you will have seen in the press, the King's speech on 7 November 2023, part of the state opening of parliament, set out the government's priorities for the coming parliamentary session which will be the final session before the next general election. The speech included 21 bills, including six carried over from the previous session and two that had been previously published in draft form. Those most likely to be of interest to charities and social enterprises include:

• the current Data Protection and Digital Information (No 2) Bill, which will be renamed "the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill".
• The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill (previously titled the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Bill), which is intended to prevent public bodies from pursuing their own foreign policy agendas.
• The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill ("Martyn's Law") – this aims to protect public premises from terrorism in light of the Manchester Arena attack. There have been concerns expressed that the Bill's measures will disproportionately affect many charities and place undue burdens on small premises such as village halls, churches and community venues. The Government has announced that there will be a further consultation on the duties to be placed on these smaller premises (known as "standard tier premises" with a capacity of between 100 and 799) before the Bill is introduced.
• Leasehold and Freehold Bill – this may be of interest to organisations that own leasehold property for investment purposes. The Bill proposes various reforms of the leasehold system aimed to improve the position of leaseholders, for example making it easier and cheaper for them to extend their lease or buy their freehold, and increasing the standard lease extension term from 90 years to 990 years for both houses and flats.

Notable absences from the King's Speech include:

• the draft Mental Health Bill which completed pre-legislative scrutiny on 19 January 2023, but has now been abandoned by the government.
• the Modern Slavery Bill, which was announced in the Queen's Speech in May 2022 but has not been carried forward.
• any legislation to address risks associated with AI. The government has set out its approach to regulation and does not intend to introduce legislation at this stage.

Charity Commission

CEO/Chair Speeches

During Trustees' week, Commission CEO Helen Stephenson gave a speech at BDO's Trustees for Change event, 'Holding the flame of trusteeship high', while Orlando Fraser spoke at Getting on Board's Festival of Trusteeship, 'Many voices, working together, with purpose.' Their speeches were broadly similar, but here are some of the key takeaways:

• The Commission aims to prioritise nurturing relationships with trustees.
• The regulator wants to widen the pool of trustees, aiming to recruit people of all backgrounds, skills and perspectives.
• Helen Stephenson held a roundtable with young trustees later in Trustees' week to better understand how the Commission can encourage more young people to become trustees.

Orlando Fraser also spoke at the University of Kent, as part of a lecture series established in honour of Dame Stephanie Shirley, on the 'past, present and future' of philanthropy in the UK. Some of the key takeaways are:

• The UK ranks as the world's 3^rd most giving nation.
• The top 1% of earners do not seem to be pulling their charitable weight.
• The Commission wants to better promote its data on charity funding and impact, to help philanthropists choose how to give.
• The Commission also aims to be a "convenor" of gatherings designed to promote and facilitate philanthropic giving.
• The Commission is working to update its guidance on Accepting or Refusing Donations. Orlando Fraser urges trustees to think more carefully about returning or refusing donations based on personal views "without very good reason" – he stated that the law expects charities to accept money where it is available.

Inquiry Opened

The Commission has opened its second inquiry this year into Devon Freewheelers, a charity which transports blood and medical equipment to NHS establishments in Devon. The charity has repeatedly failed to properly file accounts and concerns have also been raised around conflicts of interest.

Inquiry report

The Commission has produced its inquiry report into Middlesborough Central Masjid and Community Centre. This is the second statutory inquiry into the charity. The first was when the charity was placed into the 'double defaulter' class inquiry because it failed to file annual reports, accounts and returns for two or more of the last five years. A second inquiry was opened after subsequent repeated failures to file accounts.

The trustees cooperated fully with the inquiry and the Commission was satisfied with the steps taken to prevent reoccurrence of this.

Sector General

In this blog from Rosa, a UK-wide grant-making charity that funds women's and girls' organisations, CEO Rebecca Gill discusses Rosa's new research which highlights the scale of the funding challenge women's and girls' organisations face.

Environment and Climate change

See under Advertising.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

The government has laid the draft Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023. These will, from the end of 2023, reproduce in domestic law certain interpretive effects of retained EU law in relation to certain equality rights which would otherwise be subject to the sunsetting provisions of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. The intention is to ensure that the current law is preserved and there is no dilution of discrimination protection.

See also under Advertising.

Fundraising

Accepting and refusing donations

See above under Charity Commission, CEO/Chair speeches.

Fundraising Regulator Complaints Report

The Fundraising Regulator (FR) has published its latest Annual Complaints Report for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. The report combines information about complaints to the FR and complaints to charities. Key points include:

• The FR's casework showed a slight increase in complaints in 2022/23 of 6% compared to 2021/22. The methods that generated the most concerns were door-to-door fundraising, charity bags or clothing banks, addressed mail, digital and collections. The most common themes in the FR's casework included concerns about misleading information, repeated contact, fundraiser behaviour, handling personal data, not respecting door signs, or a simple dislike of the method of fundraising.
• For the first time, door-to-door fundraising generated more complaints than any other method both to the regulator and charities, making up over a fifth of all complaints received to the reporting charities.
• Marketing was the activity type with the highest number of complaints from reporting charities, with frequency of communication the leading reason for complaints. Misleading information in materials was also a common recurring theme in complaints. Marketing activity related to online/digital fundraising received the most complaints.

Fundraising Regulator investigation reports

The FR has published summaries of its investigation into Hospitals Charity and Princess Alice Hospice.

In the Hospitals Charity case, the FR found several serious breaches of the code but Hospitals Charity did not acknowledge them or say what steps it would take to comply with the code. So the FR has reported the charity's non-compliance to the Charity Commission.

Philanthropy

On 28^th November, Alliance magazine is running an event "Philanthropy and politics" which will look at how the relationship between philanthropy and politics is playing out, what form should the relationship take and where the limits should lie? For more details and to register see here.

See alsounder Charity Commission, CEO/Chair speeches.

Advertising

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

The ASA has published guidance for advertisements. One relates to International Men's Day and gives guidance on how to ensure they avoid making negative generalisations about men and boys, and stay in line with the CAP Code. The other provides guidance on employment advertisements.

The ASA has announced that it will be holding an event 'Greenspeaking with Confidence' on 28 November (you can register here). During the event they will discuss sustainable advertising and environmental and green claims, as well as introducing their new 5 year strategy.

Data Protection

As mentioned above under the King's Speech, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill has been carried over to this Parliamentary session. Ministers have said that the changes will make the legislation more about "common sense" and less about "box ticking". The Bill is also an important part of the government's plan to make the UK a "technology superpower" by 2030. We have written a summary of the changes the Bill makes here. We expect that the Bill will become law next summer.

Government has published the Data Protection (Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Amendment) Regulations. Bates Wells head of Data & Privacy, Eleonor Duhs explains here why these regulations are insufficient to stabilise the UK's data protection frameworks once the tsunami of legal uncertainty unleashed by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 engulfs us on 31st December 2023.

Scotland

Humza Yousaf, First Minister of Scotland, has pledged longer-term funding for charities, saying that the government's Budget, expected next month, will include more grants of at least two years where possible. OSCR has published a video with top tips on what makes a good, well-managed charity and how trustees can deal with some of the difficulties that arise when managing a charity.

Local authorities

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has issued a formal Best Value notice to the South Cambridgeshire District Council to ensure taxpayers' money is well spent after concerns were raised over its four-day working week trial (in which staff reduce their working hours by 20% but retain 100% of their pay). The Best Value Notice is a formal notification of the council's compliance with its Best Value Duty under the Local Government Act 1999 and sets out the government's concerns around whether the trial offers value for money, including the removal of up to 20% of the authority's capacity. The notice demands evidence related to staffing, costs, service delivery, resident feedback and overall performance since the start of the trial.

Health and social care

The Care Quality Commission's (CQC) 2019 interim report 'Out of Sight' into restraint, prolonged seclusion and segregation for autistic people and people with a learning disability led to an announcement that their care would be independently reviewed and Independent Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (IC(E)TRs) were introduced. Baroness Sheila Hollins was appointed to oversee the process and has now produced her report. Following this, the CQC will take the lead on IC(E)TRs for the next two years, working alongside NHS England in the first year.

The government has announced new funding for local authorities to help combat drug and alcohol misuse.

According to a Department for Education press release, a joint report published by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, and His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services shows a lack of capacity and resources is limiting local agencies' ability to make early help services a priority. 'The multi-agency response to children and families who need help' aimed to evaluate how effectively local partners including children's social care, health services, schools, police and wider services support children and families. The report calls for proposed government reforms to children's social care to take account of variability between local areas and capacity within different local agencies to deliver early help services.

Culture + Creative

On Monday, the Culture Secretary hosted the WeCreate conference in Manchester where further funding was announced for the creative industry, grassroots music venues, promoters and festivals across England. Further details of the Supporting Grassroots Music Fund can be found on the Arts Council website.

Housing

The charity Action with Communities in Rural England is working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the Rural Housing Enablers scheme. This will provide funding for a network of independent advisors to work with communities to develop affordable housing schemes.

The Regulator for Social Housing has launched a consultation on updated statutory guidance which sets out how it proposes to use its powers. The consultation can be found here and closes on 16 January 2024.

Social investment/social impact investment

Are real estate investments really supporting tenants? Big Society Capital has assessed its portfolio of real estate investments to determine whether they are delivering positive impact and concluded that the portfolio is helping to address the need for more good quality affordable and social housing. The assessment was made by reference to the Equity Impact Project framework for measuring impact, created by Big Society Capital, The Good Economy, and a number of leading fund managers.

International Development

Bond has this piece on how paid internships can transform inclusivity in the international development sector.

Education

Schools

See under Health above.

Further Education

A Department for Education press release details that £200m in funding has been announced to help colleges and universities provide skills training in growing sectors such as green energy, digital and construction.

This article from FE Week shows there have been 8 changes to Further Education providers' Ofsted grades since 2018, after being handed "wrong judgements". The article also reports that complaints from the sector about Ofsted inspections have almost doubled since 2018.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.