Proposals from a review of the provisions in the National Minimum Wage Act that relate to voluntary workers are out for consultation from the Department of Trade and Industry.

Voluntary workers are distinct from volunteers, put simply due to some form of contractual arrangement, and are covered by a ’section 44′ exemption. There have however been issues around allowances given by youth volunteering bodies Project Scotland and v, for example, which this seeks to address. (The document gives some illustrations on what sort of training and payments are allowable under section 44.)  http://www.dti.gov.uk/consultations/page39871.html.

Runs to 4th September.

HM Treasury is consulting on ways to drive up charitable giving through Gift Aid, and aims to hear from a wide range of organisations through online consultation and a series of regional events. Press release at http://hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_67_07.cfm, consultation documents here. Responses by 30th September.

The main sector umbrella bodies have set up a working party to discuss the consultation. This follows a meeting where acevo, CAF, CFDG, Charity Law Association, Charity Tax Group, the Institute of Fundraising, NCVO and Philanthropy UK agreed to meet regularly to discuss tax issues and to co-ordinate their approach where possible. See Charity Finance news alert: http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/charity_news_alert/issue34/taxmeeting.asp.

The final deadline for giving evidence to the independent Commission on the Future of Volunteering has been extended to 31st July.

The commission has noted gaps in where evidence has come from so far - for example, volunteers who work for animals or the environment, those working to regenerate neighbourhoods and improve transport, and volunteers from faith groups. Go to http://www.volcomm.org.uk .

A consultation on changes to the audit, accounting and reporting rules for charities (England and Wales), as part of implementing the Charities Act 2006 and Companies Act 2006, has been published by the Office of the Third Sector, working closely with the Charity Commission.

Areas covered include harmonising the audit and independent examination requirements for company and non-company charities, a statutory framework for the preparation and filing of group accounts and requiring the trustees annual report to include information on public benefit provided by the charity. Consultation documents including reference material, Charity Commission press release.

Responses by 14th September.

Research commissioned by the Office of the Third Sector into the ability of third sector organisations to access finance has found that the majority are focusing continually on organisational survival, which can lead to mission drift. From Charity Finance news alert, http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/charity_news_alert/issue34/finance_report.asp.

OTS’ summary says that the study shows that “the third sector is facing a significant transitional period whereby many organisations are moving from grant funding to contract based income or to more independent income generation and debt finance. It also reports that debt finance is still widely perceived to be high risk, and that use of equity is non–existent.” The research will feed into policy development within the OTS and the Treasury’s Comprehensive Spending Review. News release with link to report.

The National Consumer Council has published ‘Delivering public services: Service users’ experiences of the third sector’, which it states is the first in-depth national study of third sector delivery. The report “unpicks what tenants, older people and job seekers think about their services” and, although the voluntary sector plays an important role in the delivery of public services, it may not always be the best solution for consumers. Read more, and download the pdf (314kb) from http://www.ncc.org.uk/cgi-bin/kmdb10.cgi/-load863017_nccviewcurrent.htm. Society Guardian opinion piece ‘Voluntary sector and the dangers of hype’ at http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,2106406,00.html.

And Third Sector reports (http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/664981/, registration required) that union representatives last week told Parliament’s public administration select committee inquiry ‘Commissioning Public Services from the Third Sector’ that increased competition among charities for contracts would result in poorer working conditions and training opportunities for staff as organisations try to slash costs. While the transcript of the evidence from Amicus (now part of Unite) isn’t yet there, you can see their written submission along with everybody else’s (in pdf format, 1.22MB but may grow).

The Carnegie Commission for Rural Communities delivered its final report ‘A Charter for Rural Communities’ last week (20th June).

Its Ideas for Action include:

• A major expansion in community ownership of local assets;
• An enhanced role for parish and community councils;
• A Centre for Excellence supporting rural community development policy and practice on the ground;
• Encouragement and assistance for local communities to develop and manage their own services and to engage in community planning.

See http://rural.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/the_commission, or Guardian news item at http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2107792,00.html.

The Commission on Integration and Cohesion’s final report, ‘Our shared future’, was published as the VolResource newsletter went out the other week.

As trailed, this includes proposals on volunteering. “The Commission would like to see a new national programme of voluntary service for young people expressly linked to local citizenship and the chance to contribute to their local area ….. youth volunteering body v taking the lead on this …. and in particular would like to see young people taking part in voluntary work immediately after their GCSEs.” Plus for adults “large employers should consider allowing employees up to 3 days paid leave a year to participate in activities.”

From government news release at http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2441. The report is at http://www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/Our_final_report.aspx.

The thousandth Community Interest Company, a legal form only available since July 2005, was registered last week. City Healthcare Partnership CIC will provide primary and community health services across the City of Hull and is being established by staff at Hull Primary Care Trust. Government news item.

See Social Enterprise Coalition for an introduction to CICs - http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/Page.aspx?SP=1626.

NCVO’s Compact Voice project wants every area in England to take a practical step on 4th July towards strengthening the local voluntary and community sector’s independence as well as using the day to celebrate campaigning.

See their news page at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/index.asp?id=3396, or download the briefing, pdf format, 22kb (US Letter).

The Advicenow web site, an independent provider of information on rights and legal issues, is producing a series of articles aimed at raising awareness and promoting debate on the role of public information in the rights and legal sector.

Its first provocative item, ‘Why so bland?’ looks at the style of much of the available information on the law and rights and asks why it is so dull and boring. Read and comment at http://www.advicenow.org.uk/whysobland.

An Executive Summary of NCVO’s ‘Campaigning in Collaboration’ guide is available online, giving an introduction to the case studies and key lessons learned in working with other organisations on campaigns.

See http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/publications/publication.asp?id=4452.