Charities Act 2016: Fundraising New Rules
New rules for charity fundraising start on 1 November 2016. They affect the trustees’ annual reports of larger charities that fundraise from the public, as well as the contents of the agreements that must be in place when professional fundraisers or other businesses (‘commercial...
Take early steps to manage financial difficulties, Commission reports show
The Charity Commission (‘the Commission’) today published 2 reports which show that trustees who take early, pragmatic steps to actively identify and manage their financial difficulties will secure better outcomes for their charities and their beneficiaries. The reports have been...
Charity Commission Update
Collection: Accruals accounts pack (CC17) – SORP FRS 102 Form: Charity accounting templates: accruals accounts (CC17) – SORP FRS 102 Form: Independent examiner’s report template (SORP FRS 102) Form: Trustees’ annual report template (SORP FRS 102) Collection:...
Charity Commission: Getting to know your Governing Document
One of a trustee’s main duties is to ensure their charity is keeping in line with its principles and purpose, which are set out in the charity’s governing document. The governing document is likely to be a constitution, trust deed, or article of association and acts as...
Pensions and Auto Enrolment Seminar
Are you a Community Organisation that employs people? Are you aware, under the government auto-enrolment scheme, as an organisation you are required to enrol members of staff onto a pension scheme? CRCC is keen to ensure that community organisations in Cornwall are aware of the...
Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme – Call for Evidence
As announced in the Autumn Statement, HMRC has brought forward the start of its promised review of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme and has launched a call for evidence. The call for evidence...
Charity Commission frozen until 2020
The Chancellor has today announced in the Spending Review a freeze to the Charity Commission’s funding over the next 4 years. The current funding for the commission in 2015/16 is £20.3 million. The new financial settlement for the next 4 years up to 2019/20 will therefore remain as...
Changes to Gift Aid Declarations: Guidance from the Charity Tax Group
HMRC has published new Gift Aid Declarations for one-off donations, multiple donations and sponsored events. This follows a series of discussions with the Charity Tax Forum Gift Aid Working Group, of which CTG is a member, during which various new drafts Declarations were considered....
Charity regulator launches updated essential guidance for trustees
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities, has published the new version of its guidance ‘The essential trustee’, the key guidance for all charity trustees in England and Wales. The guidance explains what the regulator expects of trustees and outlines their...
Join the national campaign for Community Building support
Village Halls say VAT is a Tax on Voluntary Effort The National Village Halls Forum says volunteers should not have to fundraise to pay VAT bills on improvement work to charity run community facilities. The Forum, which campaigns on behalf of 10,000 community buildings in rural...
Technical Issues in Charity Law
On 20 March 2015 a consultation paper was published on technical issues in charity law. This project originated from our Eleventh Programme of Law Reform. Part of the project is a review of the procedures by which charities governed by Royal Charter and by Act of Parliament amend...
Financial difficulties in charities
How to identify financial problems As trustees, you have a legal duty to look after your charity’s money and other assets. You need to understand and keep track of your charity’s income and spending to spot any issues as early as possible. To do this, you need trustees with the right...
License Fees to continue to be set nationally
A Home Office ruling on licensing fees is being hailed as a victory for CRCC’s Vital Venues members and wider network of village halls. Hall committees had feared that Government proposals to set fees locally would lead to an increase in charges. However, after listening to the views...
Courts to recognise good intentions of volunteers and small businesses
Volunteers, community groups and ‘good deed doers’ have been given legal reassurance that courts will take account of the fact they have been acting to help society if something goes wrong and they end up having to defend themselves against being sued. New measures in the...
Legal Update
Temporary event notices (TENs) From January 2016 the number of temporary event notices that can be used in a calendar year for the same premises will be increased from 12 to 15. A temporary event notice (TEN) can be used for a one-off event involving the sale of alcohol and/or...
New Feed in Tariff legislation
ACRE has notified us that the changes to the Feed-in Tariff Legislation which will enable charities to manage a community energy project has been laid before parliament and will come into force 1st April. ACRE has been alerting Defra and DECC through briefings and consultations that...
Defra suspends decision to cut RCCs
Thanks to public support Defra has agreed to invest in Rural Community Councils across England for 2015/16. In January with news that one of our main sources of funding was about to be withdrawn, the RCC network of charities embarked on a frantic campaign to see if people would...
Urgent campaign against funding cuts
Vital Venues is calling all community buildings in Cornwall to join CRCC’s urgent campaign to call on the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs not to withdraw funding for the ACRE Network of rural community councils (RCCs). The Network, of which Cornwall...
Government Consultation on Charities: audit and independent examination thresholds
The government are currently consulting on recommendations to increase financial thresholds determining whether charity accounts must be audited or examined. The consultation is open until the 27th Januaury 2015. One of the recommendations of Lord Hodgson’s review of the...
Government to stop charities losing out on Gift Aid
The Government has announced the Gift Aid model declaration form is to be improved, to stop charities losing out on potentially billions of pounds of Gift Aid. According to National Audit Office (NAO) estimates there are donations of around £2.3 billion where Gift Aid is not used....
Vital Venues funded training for hall committees
Vital Venues is pleased to announce ‘Trustee Induction’ and ‘Business Planning’ workshops funded by Awards for All to support volunteers who manage village halls, community centres and other community buildings. The Trustee Induction Workshop...
Consultation on parish polls
DCLG has recently launched a consultation on its proposals to modernise parish polls, which closes on 30 January 2015. A parish poll allows for a ballot of local government electors in the parish to be called on any question arising at a parish meeting. The consultation seeks the views...
New food allergy legislation comes into force
New food allergen requirements come into force on the 13th December 2014 under the new EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (No. 1169/2011). Community buildings will be pleased to hear official advice from the Government’s Food Allergy Team: Individuals or undertakings,...
Start-up Funding to establish Community Micro Libraries
Could your community building host the next Community Micro Library? A micro library is a browsing collection of approximately 200 books which include fiction, non-fiction and junior books, to give a flavour what is available from the wider library service in Cornwall. Customers are...
Charity Commission Announces Changes to Annual Returns
The Charity Commission has announced changes to the annual return. Changes will apply to returns made for the year ending 2015 and have been designed with the intention of making charities more accountable. The annual return 2015 will include three new question areas, which received...
National minimum wage increases
The National Minimum Wage is increasing as of the 1st October 2014. This will effect management committees who employ reception staff, cleaners, caretakers etc. The new hourly rates will be: Age 21 and over will be £6.50 18 to 20 will be £5.13 16 to 17 will be £3.79 Apprentices...
Charity Commission website is moved to Gov.uk
The Charity Commission’s website has been moved to: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission
energyfund Cornwall: Last call for applications!
There are now less than four weeks remaining for groups to submit an application to energyfund Cornwall to claim their share of £300,000 of grant funding. There are lots of great communities across Cornwall already taking part – view projects here and don’t forget, projects...
Changes to VAT on buildings and construction
HMRC has made several changes to VAT Notice 708: buildings and construction, which was updated on 14 August and which cancels and replaces Notice 708 (April 2014). The following changes have been made to this Notice. Paragraph 2.1 has been amended to show VAT liability of works of...
DCMS call for Evidence on Lotteries
DCMS Select Committee has issued a Call for Evidence on Society Lotteries. Whilst this is aimed at National Lottery and Health Lottery any recommendations coming from the Committee could possbily impact on the small society and private lotteries run by village hall committees and other...