Not for Profit eNews - August 2011
Voluntary Sector Finance
Big Society Capital launched
The long-awaited Big Society Bank has been officially named as ‘Big Society Capital’. Two expert boards have been established and the first monies from dormant bank accounts received and passed on to an investment body. Big Society Capital is to be run independently from government with funding decisions made by an impartial investment committee. For further details see the Cabinet Office news item.
Future help for sector to prepare for enterprise
The UK government has announced a ten million pound 'Investment and Contract Readiness Fund' to help charities and social enterprises develop the skills and infrastructure to win more capital investment and public service contracts. The programme will operate over 3 years from April 2012 and the government will be testing the proposal over the summer. See also the NCVO response to the accompanying Open Letter to the sector 'The Road Ahead: A journey through public service reform for civil society organisations'.
Charitable payments to overseas bodies
HMRC has updated the 'Payments to overseas bodies' section of its detailed guidance notes for charities (part of Annex 2, non-charitable expenditure). As ICAEW's Charity blog points out, HMRC doesn't indicate precisely what has changed, but the section does provide a number of examples of how to apply the guidance. For charities making payments overseas this is a major area of risk and they would be well advised to read the guidance.
Voluntary Sector Governance
Charity Commission advice on Bribery Act
The Charity Commission has added a new section on bribery and corruption to its recent compliance toolkit; 'Protecting Charities from Harm'. This reflects the new Bribery Act, which came in to force from 1st July. The Commission recommends that all charities adopt a risk-based approach, putting in place policies and procedures to comply with the Act and which are proportionate to the risks faced by the charity. See a brief summary of the guidance from ICAEW.
Update on regulation of excepted and exempt charities
Updated guidance from the Charity Commission sets out the latest position on excepted charities, which fall under the regulation of the Commission but haven't been required to register. The exception from registration for such charities with annual incomes of less than £100,000 has been extended until 2012, allowing for the forthcoming review of the Charities Act 2006 to consider registration thresholds. The guidance also covers exempt charities.
Other news
Charity Commission News
The Summer 2011 edition of Charity Commission News has been published and can be found here. It includes an article on using the reporting on public benefit as an opportunity to demonstrate to grant-makers and funding bodies a charity’s impact. There is also news on the updated guidance on risk management for small charities. There is also an article in insurance - ensuring charities have appropriate insurance for their work – which introduces their updated guidance Charities and Insurance CC49.
Survey report on state of social enterprise
Our client, the newly re-named Social Enterprise UK(previously the Social Enterprise Coalition), has published research on the state of social enterprise. The report entitled ‘Fightback Britain’, based on a survey undertaken earlier this year, found that well over half of social enterprises grew last year. This compares with around a quarter of conventional SMEs (small and medium enterprises). See the news release on the Social Enterprise UK website for further details.
Community music licensing from 2012
The music licensing authority PPL has announced a proposal to charge community groups with 'defined income' of £10,000 or more a fee of 1% of that income, with the rest charged at a flat £42, for the public performance of PPL member sound recordings. The PPL fee is due to commence from 1st January 2012, after a year's grace following the removal of the previous charity exemption. To clarify defined income and read more detail from PPL, see the Civil Society Media article.
Basics of agency worker regulations
Solicitors Bates Wells and Braithwaite solicitors have published some basic advice on what organisations which use agency workers should be doing before the new equal treatment regulations come in on 1st October 2011.
Upcoming events
In the autumn, we will be hosting an update seminar on some of the key issues currently faced by the sector, followed by a drinks reception. The event will take place at our new London Blackfriars office conference suite. Further details will be available shortly.
We hope you will be able to attend and look forward to seeing you later in the year.
Contact us
To discuss your charity accounting needs, please contact a member of our Not for Profit sector team, email charities@mhllp.co.uk or send us an enquiry online. Alternatively visit our Not for Profit pages.
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