The Charity Commission has revised ‘The Hallmarks of an Effective Charity’ guidance (CC10) “to clarify the key areas of governance that will provide a governance framework based on good practice for all charities” and reflects the increasing importance of financial prudence and accountability.

News item at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/news/hallmarkspr.asp or go direct to http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc10.asp.

An updated version of the Charity Commission’s directions and guidance on Independent Examination of Charity Accounts (CC31) in England and Wales brings it up to date in terms of legislation and accounting regulations.

It also addresses the inclusion of charitable companies in the statutory IE regime from 1st April 2008 and the new ‘Duty to Report’ to the Commission on certain issues (the old Direction 12) has been completely re-written with greater detail and a change of emphasis. The duty applies to any work carried out from 1st April, with the other provisions applying to accounting periods beginning on or after 1st April 2008.

In web or pdf versions from http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/ccpubsar.asp.

(From Fiona Gordon, ACIE)

The Charity Commission has created a facility for Members of Parliament so that they can find and collate details of registered charities in their constituency (based on correspondent address), making it easier to get in touch. There is also an MPs toolkit of practical factsheets on issues such as what to do if a constituents complains about a charity and charity collection scams.

Commission news item at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/news/Toolkit1.asp, interview on the background to the development at http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/sarah-atkinson-charity-commission/ or go to the microsite on ePolitix.

OSCR, Scotland’s charity regulator, has published its second profile of Scottish charities, drawing on information collected over the first two years of regulatory operations.

At the time of production there were 23,806 charities registered with OSCR, after 7,763 charities had been removed from the initial register during July 2006 to March 2007 as they could not be traced, and another 1,841 charities removed since as a result of winding up or amalgamation with another charity.

Download ‘Scottish Charities 2008‘ in pdf, 976KB.

The search for people to sit on the board of commissioners for Northern Ireland’s soon to be established Charity Commission  has officially begun.

The Department for Social Development has responsibility for this and needs to find a Chief Commissioner, a Deputy Chief Commissioner and three Commissioners.

Closing date 15th August, see CommuntyNI news item.

The UK Intellectual Property Office has started a consultation on certain copyright exemptions which “principally allow not-for-profit and charitable organisations, in certain specific circumstances, to play copyright sound recordings in public without being required to pay a licence fee for use of those sound recordings or the performances they contain”.

The Office of the Third Sector is encouraging charities to respond, with one option being to exempt only small charities from having to purchase licenses, or even repeal of the exemptions. OTS news item or go direct to http://www.ipo.gov.uk/consult-musiclicensing.htm.

Consultation runs to 31st October.

The Charities Bill for Northern Ireland completed its progress through the Assembly on Monday (30th June).

In a remarkably short Final Stage debate, the Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie said that she hoped to be able to announce the names of the new charity commissioners (up to 5) by the end of October, with adverts in early July. She also wants the commission to be up and running by the end of the year and restated a commitment to locate the organisation outside the greater Belfast area, with a staff of up to 16, including a chief executive, based on comparison with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

However, Ms Ritchie warned that it would take some time to get the necessary subordinate legislation and other mechanisms in place to implement all aspects of the legislation. http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports2007/080630.htm#6.

There are a few new items of interest from the Charity Commission:
– Updated ‘Complaints about charities’ guidance (CC47) looks at when the Commission will, or will not, follow up on complaints about charities. http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc47.asp.

– ‘Conflicts in your charity - A statement of approach by the Charity Commission’ gives guidance on when the Commission will or will not get involved in a dispute, plus provides details of organisations that may be able to offer additional information and support. http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/investigations/conapp.asp

– ‘Affordable Home Ownership - Charitable Status and Tax’, published jointly with HM Revenue & Customs and the Housing Corporation, explains when providing affordable low cost home ownership may be charitable and the legal and tax implications. http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/supportingcharities/homeown.asp.

Restructuring of the varied collection of tribunals set up by the government will see the new Charity Tribunal (hearing appeals against Charity Commission decisions) become part of the first-tier General Regulatory Chamber, alongside the likes of the Immigration Services Tribunal and the Consumer Credit Appeals Tribunal, reports Plaza Publishing News Alert.

The changes were outlined in a speech to the Charity Law Association by Charity Tribunal president Alison McKenna, who also said that the Tribunals Service aims for 75 per cent of cases to be completed and the judgement delivered within 30 weeks. “The Charity Tribunal has been resourced on the basis that we will have 50 cases a year, so unless we are deluged with cases we should be working within that target.”

See http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=1994.

A specialist panel of lawyers is being set up within the Bar Pro Bono Unit (http://www.barprobono.org.uk) to ensure that every appellant to the Charity Tribunal has the chance of legal representation. With charity law being quite specialised, there is a need to expand and formalise arrangements with specialist lawyers.

See Third Sector news item for more, http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/817594/ (registration required).

The Charity Commission has issued draft guidance on how the requirements of charity law and NHS legislation apply to NHS charities (in England and Wales) and sets out the policies and practices adopted by the Commission. They emphasise that this is essentially a consolidation of guidance and principles already issued.

Responses by 9th September - http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/enhancingcharities/nhsintro.asp.

Guidance for trustees on reporting serious incidents has been revised by the Charity Commission.

It contains important information on when and how to report serious incidents within a charity and the legal requirements placed upon trustees, and also clarifies what the Commission considers to be serious or significant.

Introduction at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/investigations/rsi.asp, the guidance (pdf, 253KB) at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/investigations/pdfs/rsinotes.pdf.