Just a few months ago many charities would have been hopeful that with restrictions related to the COVID pandemic being relaxed things would return to normal and they could start to look to the future with optimism. Sadly though in 2022 the challenges for the sector keep on coming. At the start of the year the crisis in Ukraine saw many organisations looking to help with the in ...

Here at Ward Williams we subscribe to a weekly delivery of fruit to each of our offices. The business case for providing fruit in the workplace is strong.  Providing fresh fruit to staff is the most cost-effective employee benefit which in turn increases staff productivity and promotes staff health and wellbeing. Most of the fruit is sourced from the UK and Western Europe to ...

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 ...

Details have been published of how the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief Scheme will work. The scheme only applies to England, and it will only apply for the 2022/23 financial year. The scheme will provide a 50% reduction in business rates for eligible properties up to a limit of £110,000 per corporate group. Eligible occupied properties are those which are ...

New climate-related disclosure requirements come into force for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2022. Only a handful of charities though will be caught by these requirements, those which are limited companies and have more than 500 employees and have incoming resources of more than £500 million. These requirements, which are based on recommendations made by the ...

Preparers of charity accounts need to be aware of how the Ukraine crisis could affect their reporting. The ICAEW has published guidance on the key issues that should be considered, which although not written with charities specifically in mind may be of use for those currently preparing accounts for charities that have been affected by the conflict. Areas to focus on include t ...

The Fundraising Regulator, which oversees charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, has developed a self-reporting tool so that charities can inform the regulator of any known or potential breach of the Code of Fundraising Practice where in poses an actual or potential risk to the public, the charity sector or public confidence in fundraising. There is no f ...

Those charities which take the form of limited companies may be interested to know that the government has now published a white paper setting out their position on reforming Companies House ahead of introducing legislation into Parliament, following a consultation process that took place over the winter of 2019/20. The key changes that are being proposed include: Expansion ...

In our last edition we reported on the reforms set out in the Charities Bill 2021. This legislation has now completed its parliamentary journey, becoming the Charities Act 2022. To recap, this new legislation (which only applies to England and Wales) implements a number of recommendations from the Law Commission’s 2017 Technical Issues in Charity Law Report which seek to make ...

CCEW has published summary guidance on safeguarding for charities and trustees, setting out their responsibilities to keep everyone who comes into contact with the charity safe from harm. It includes links to more detailed guidance in areas such as identifying and managing risks, having robust safeguarding policies and handling incidents or allegations of abuse. The more detai ...