Correspondence

Charity Commission News: October 2019

Published 13 November 2024

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2024

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-commission-news/charity-commission-news-october-2019

CC news will be emailed to charity contacts with an instruction to forward to their trustees. It contains essential regulatory information that charities need to be aware of.

This issue is available in Welsh.

Your responsibilities around political campaigning

With the possibility of a general election this year, we are reminding charities of their responsibilities when it comes to political campaigning.

Charities have a proud record of engaging in public debate from a variety of perspectives, giving a voice to their beneficiaries and highlighting their cause.

However the current political context for an election is very different from that which we have experienced in the past.

Our Chief Executive Officer, Helen Stephenson CBE, has published a blog discussing charities’ responsibilities and guidance to help your decision making.

Get ready to submit your charity annual return

On the 12 November 2018 we changed our online service for the charity annual return. If you have not submitted an annual return online since then you will need to do things differently next time.

Find out what you will need to do if your charity last did an annual return before 12 November 2018.

You must submit your annual return within 10 months of the end of your financial year. For example, if your financial year end was 31 December 2018, your deadline is 31 October 2019.

Our guidance about preparing a charity annual return explains what you need to submit and when.

Improvements to reporting charity fraud and working together to prevent it

We recently published a new online form to report serious incidents in your charity, making it much easier to report cases of fraud and cyber crime.

Recent analysis of reported fraud reveals that charities are continuing to fall victim to the most prevalent threats, such as Mandate, CEO fraud and Phishing - all types of ‘social engineering’, involving manipulation or impersonation, usually by email.

These scams can put your charity’s valuable funds, infrastructure and reputation at risk, but they can be highly sophisticated and hard to detect, fooling even the most experienced and senior people across all sectors. If you think your charity has been targeted, it’s important to speak out and report this, so we can better identify the risks and help others across the sector.

You can also take vital steps to protect your charity from harm by getting involved in this year’s International Charity Fraud Awareness Week between 21 and 25 October 2019.

We are encouraging everyone in the charity sector to get involved to help fight fraud. You can:

Preparing your charity for Brexit

It is essential that charities put plans into place for the UK departure from the EU. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have published guidance to help civil society organisations get ready for Brexit.

It covers 5 key areas to consider, including what you need to do if your charity:

  • receives EU funding
  • employs EU staff or has EU volunteers
  • receives personal data from the EU
  • imports or exports goods with the EU

DCMS also recently hosted a joint webinar with The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) about Charities and a no-deal Brexit, which is available on the NCVO YouTube channel.

Charities and a no-deal Brexit: Actions and Implications

Safeguarding and protecting people

Safeguarding is a key governance priority for all trustees, not just those working with groups traditionally considered at risk.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has recently launched a range of safeguarding resources, supported by other organisations.

The resources were jointly funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Community Fund.

NCVO Safeguarding resources

You should use these alongside our guidance about safeguarding duties for charity trustees.

It is also important that you contact us about any safeguarding issues, or serious safeguarding incidents, complaints or allegations which have not been reported to us.

Find out about reporting serious incidents in your charity as a trustee.

Find out about reporting serious wrongdoing at a charity as a worker or volunteer.

Updated guidance on independent examination of charity accounts

If your charity’s income is over £25,000, the trustees must arrange for an independent person or accountancy firm to carry out an audit or independent examination of the charity’s accounts.

The purpose of this is to give the charity’s trustees, supporters, beneficiaries and the wider public, some independent assurance that the charity’s money has been properly accounted for. The trustees of most charities are able to choose to have an independent examination instead of an audit. Independent examination is a ‘light touch’ scrutiny that usually costs less than an audit.

To help trustees we have updated our guidance Independent examination of charity accounts: guidance for trustees (CC31), to make it easier to read and more accessible.

This guidance will help you appoint an independent examiner with the ability and practical experience needed to carry out a competent examination of your charity’s accounts.

In August 2019 we published a study that found that less than two thirds of charities with incomes less than £1 million that had prepared their accounts using the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) had fully disclosed related party transactions.

We know that public trust in charities depends on transparency, so it is vital that charities preparing SORP accounts provide a complete picture of any remuneration or expenses paid to the trustees and any other transactions involving the trustees and persons and entities closely connected to them.

Read the study about reporting of related party transactions.

How to get help for an inactive or ineffective charity

The ‘Revitalising Trusts’ programme helps charities who find it hard to spend their income on the public benefit. Charity trustees can get help from the programme, and should discuss their charity’s future if it is hard to:

  • get new trustees
  • spend your income
  • identify beneficiaries
  • find time to run the charity

Find out how to get help for your charity from the Revitalising Trusts programme.

Keeping in touch with us

Our contact centre opening hours have been extended to provide more support for you.

We want to give you the tools you need to succeed, ensuring charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society. The number is 0300 066 9197 and we are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm.

Signing up for GOV.UK email alerts is the simplest way to keep up to date with the latest information we publish on our website. You will be asked for an email address to create a subscription, and can choose how often you’d like to be alerted.

It is also useful to follow us through our social media channels Twitter and LinkedIn. We share important information, guidance and updates for the charity sector.

Back to top