In our last edition we featured how charities are being affected by the cost of living crisis. Six months on and the financial pressures remain. Recent research published by the Charities Aid Foundation as part of its Charity Resilience Index shows that: 57% of charities have seen an increase in demand for their services over the past year, with charities in the North of Eng ...

All employers are required to pay their staff either the National Living Wage (for those aged 23 and over) or National Minimum Wage (for those of at least school leaving age). The Living Wage Foundation is a charity that campaigns for improved rates of pay for those on low wages, with accredited employers, including many charities, committed to paying their staff at pay rates o ...

VAT Notice 701/1 How VAT affects charities has seen the business test section updated to reflect a two stage test to bring it into line with a recent policy change. It makes clear that although an organisation may be run on a not-for-profit basis it could still be regarded as a business for VAT purposes if there is a direct link between the services received and the payment mad ...

It has been confirmed by HMRC that the naming of a building after a donor who had given a substantial amount to the charity does not count as a donor benefit that would restrict a charity’s ability to claim Gift Aid on the donation. For this treatment to apply the naming must not act as an advertisement or sponsorship for a business. HMRC’s guidance on Gift Aid has been updated ...

Cash couriers are those persons who physically transport cash from one jurisdiction to another. In conjunction with the Counter Terrorism unit of the Metropolitan Police, CCEW has published a warning to charities operating internationally against the use of cash couriers as a means of transferring charity funds due to the significant risks involved. Those risks include: As c ...

CCEW has held a consultation on the content of the annual return, proposing a number of changes to aid their regulation of the sector. The consultation has now concluded and the responses are still being analysed, but it seems clear that charities will have to answer a significant number of additional questions as part of their annual reporting to the Commission. For the first ...

In our last edition we reported on the reforms set out in the Charities Act 2022. More information is now known on when these reforms will take effect, with the following changes expected to come into force this autumn: Paying trustees for providing goods to the charity At present charities can only pay their trustees for goods provided as part of a related service. Followin ...

In recent months both CCEW and the Fundraising Regulator have sought to promote the opportunities available to charities from the use of cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) whilst at the same time highlighting some of the risks involved. Cryptocurrency is a form of unregulated digital currency which uses technology to record the transaction history and for making paym ...

To address some of the concern over increasing energy prices the Government has announced an Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This will apply to all non-domestic customers, including businesses, the voluntary sector and public sector organisations, and will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices that is equivalent to the Energy Price Guarantee that has been put in ...

The level of trust placed in the charity sector remains high, despite there being an overall decline in the level of trust being placed generally in public bodies, according to a report recently published by CCEW. The charity sector is placed second in the list of the most trusted parts of society, with only doctors being ranked higher. The report does show though that support ...