Correspondence

Charity Commisison News: November 2023

Published 13 November 2024

Applies to England and Wales

The Charity Commission’s Annual Public Meeting 2023

You are invited to join our Annual Public Meeting on Wednesday 15 November 2023 at 11:00am. Attend in-person in Liverpool or join online. Join our Chair (Orlando Fraser KC), CEO (Helen Stephenson CBE) and colleagues who will provide updates and insight into the Commission’s activities and answer questions about our work.

Charity Commission Annual Public Meeting 2023

Have you taken our new Trustee Quiz?

Our new quiz has been designed with a variety of questions based on everyday scenarios that you may encounter at your charity. It can help identify knowledge gaps and is an ideal refresher for trustees at all levels of experience. Over 50% of people are getting a score of 9 or more when putting their knowledge to the test – what will you score?

Take the trustee quiz

Fraud Awareness Week

Charity Fraud Awareness Week takes place during w/c 27 November, offering a range of events designed to enhance awareness of fraud prevention and cybercrime and sharing of good practice.

Fraud Awareness Week

New social media guidance

The Charity Commission has issued new guidance on charities’ use of social media. The guidance:

• sets out the expectation that charities using social media should have a policy in place
• makes clear that we do not expect every charity to involve trustees in the day-to-day running of their charity’s social media accounts but must understand their legal responsibilities even if delegating tasks

Charity Commission’s new social media guidance

Gift Aid – aggregated donations

HMRC would like to remind charities of the requirements for making gift aid claims in respect of aggregated donations.

According to HMRC:

• you can aggregate (add together) donations of £20 or less from different donors and show them as one entry on the claim spreadsheet
• the overall amount for each line entry on the spreadsheet can’t exceed £1,000 – don’t include any payments that relate to charity visitor attractions
• you must keep evidence of individual donations and that they are gift aid applicable

Read HMRC’s guidance for more information:

HMRC guidance – Gift Aid

VAT on energy for charities

HMRC advises that when making a claim for reduced VAT charities should only claim for premises that are used for non-business activities or domestic use.

HMRC’s ‘Fuel and Power’ guidance sets out the criteria for premises that qualify for the reduced rate of VAT.

HMRC guidance – VAT on Fuel and Power