Regulation

The Office of the Third Sector is a division within the Cabinet Office dedicated to leading and co-ordinating work across government that relates to the sector.

The OTS was created in May 2006 in recognition of the increasingly important role the third sector plays in both society and the economy. It claims that its work helps the sector to campaign for change, deliver public services, promote social enterprise and strengthen communities.

It also dishes out the government’s funding to the sector and during the 2008-9 year is overseeing a £515m funding programme.  Some 45 civil society organisations are strategic partners to the OTS and receive an annual grant.

The OTS is led by the minister for the third sector, currently Angela E Smith MP.

Displaying 1 to 30 (of 213) | next | last » 12345678

Legal changes ahead for Scottish charity websites
Technical briefing

Legal changes ahead for Scottish charity websites

Finance | Gavin McEwan | 8 Feb 2012
Tags: Websites | Regulation

New regulations which will affect all Scottish charity websites have been tabled in the Scottish Parliament and will take effect from 1 May 2012. Gavin McEwan explains.

Charities should beware of property leasing for tax avoidance
Technical briefing

Charities should beware of property leasing for tax avoidance

Finance | Nick Ivey | 31 Jan 2012
Tags: Costs | Regulation | Property

Property owners should make sure they are fully aware of the facts when entering the world of charity relief renting, writes Nick Ivey.

Sam Younger, chief executive of the Charity Commission
News

Commission outlines new regulatory approach

Governance | Tania Mason | 16 Jan 2012
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation | Risk and crisis management

Opening a statutory inquiry into a charity will be very much a last resort for the newly-slimmed-down Charity Commission and will be reserved for the most serious of cases such as those involving fraud, terrorist activity, or risk to vulnerable beneficiaries.




Royal Courts of Justice, image copyright Chris Harvey
News

Charity Commission will not appeal schools judgment

Governance | Tania Mason | 3 Jan 2012
Tags: Guidance | Charity Commission | Regulation | Law | Public benefit

The Charity Commission has decided not to appeal against the Upper Tribunal’s decision on its public benefit guidance for schools and other charities that charge fees for their services.

OSCR logo
News

A fifth of new Scottish charities are choosing to be SCIOs

Governance | Tania Mason | 12 Dec 2011
Tags: Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) | Regulation

Around a fifth of all new charities in Scotland are now applying to be registered as Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations.


Rosie Chapman, former director of policy and effectiveness at the Charity Commission
News

Charities should not pay for their own regulation, says Chapman 2

Governance | Tania Mason | 9 Dec 2011
Tags: Regulation | Charity Commission

The former policy chief of the Charity Commission has declared her opinion that requiring charities to fund the work of the Charity Commission is not a viable option.



Sam Younger, chief executive of the Charity Commission
News

Charity Commission publishes three-year strategic plan

Governance | Tania Mason | 7 Dec 2011
Tags: Accountability and transparency | Regulation | Charity Commission

The Charity Commission intends to focus most of its attention over the next three years on its objectives relating to accountability and compliance, according to its new strategic plan.

Malcolm Hayday, CEO, Charity Bank
News

Charity Bank applies to allocate profits to charity shareholders 2

Finance | Tania Mason | 29 Nov 2011
Tags: Banking | Regulation | Law | Trading

The Charity Commission is considering a request by Charity Bank to change its governing documents to allow it to distribute profits to its charitable shareholders, a decision that could have wider implications for all charitable companies.





Government to consider regulating Payments Council
News

Government to consider regulating Payments Council

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 16 Nov 2011
Tags: Regulation

The government will consider bringing the Payments Council under a system of financial regulation following what the Treasury Select Committee classified as the “cheque debacle”.

Commission stands firm against latest Times broadside
News

Commission stands firm against latest Times broadside 2

Governance | Tania Mason | 14 Nov 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation

The Charity Commission has defended itself against a stinging attack on its performance and leadership in Saturday’s Times newspaper.


Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts
News

Lord Hodgson to lead Charities Act review 1

Governance | Tania Mason | 8 Nov 2011
Tags: Law | Charities Act 2006 | Regulation

Conservative peer Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts has been chosen to lead the government’s review of the Charities Act 2006.

Commission publishes report into fraudulent grant applications
News

Commission publishes report into fraudulent grant applications

Finance | Tania Mason | 2 Nov 2011
Tags: Grants & Grantmaking | Charity Commission | Regulation | Fraud

The Charity Commission has today published the results of 30 different investigations that it launched in 2004 after the Big Lottery Fund raised concerns about various grant applications.

 

Houses of Parliament. Image courtesy of nikoretro.
News

PASC meeting provides clues to Charities Act review

Governance | Tania Mason | 26 Oct 2011
Tags: Law | Regulation | Charity Commission

Yesterday’s Public Administration Select Committee meeting on the work of the Charity Commission provided some insights into the topics that the forthcoming ministerial review of the Charities Act might address.

Charity Commission in Liverpool
News

Atlantic Bridge-style investigations were unlawful, say charity lawyers 4

Governance | Tania Mason | 20 Oct 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation

A number of leading charity lawyers believe that the regulatory compliance cases conducted by the Charity Commission in recent years were unlawful – including the investigation into the Atlantic Bridge charity set up by Liam Fox MP.

Lord Hodgson of Astely Abbott
News

Lord Hodgson tells umbrella bodies to set up charity contract consortia 2

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 20 Oct 2011
Tags: Regulation | Volunteering | Public service delivery

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbott, president of NCVO and chair of the Red Tape Task Force, has called on umbrella bodies, such as NCVO, Acevo and Navca, to set up and manage charity consortia which can bid for public sector contracts.

Liam Fox MP
News

Commission to scrap regulatory compliance cases 2

Governance | Tania Mason | 17 Oct 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation

The Charity Commission is to stop carrying out regulatory compliance investigations, the type of inquiry it conducted into the charity operated by Liam Fox MP and his friend Adam Werritty last year.


Kenneth Dibble
News

CIO hold-up is not our fault, says Commission

Governance | Tania Mason | 14 Oct 2011
Tags: Law | Charity Commission | Regulation

The Charity Commission yesterday blamed Parliament for the ongoing delays in implementing the Charitable Incorporated Organisation.



Charity Commission in Liverpool
News

Charitable Incorporated Organisation delayed until next year 1

Governance | Tania Mason | 12 Oct 2011
Tags: Law | Charity Commission | Regulation

The implementation of the new legal form Charitable Incorporated Organisation is not now expected until the first quarter of next year.

Nick Brooks, chair of ICAEW's voluntary sector group
News

Applicants pour in to ICAEW peer review pilot

Finance | Tania Mason | 10 Oct 2011
Tags: Audit and accountancy | Regulation | Charity Commission

Forty-four charities have applied to take part in the pilot review programme announced by the Charity Commission and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales last month.


David Locke, executive director of charity services, Charity Commission
News

David Locke becomes chief adviser to Australian charity regulator

Governance | Tania Mason | 7 Oct 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation | International

David Locke, the executive director of charity services at the Charity Commission, has been seconded to Australia to be chief adviser at the new taskforce charged with setting up a charities regulator there.

Charity Commission in Liverpool
News

Commission orders governance review of aid charity

Governance | Tania Mason | 30 Sep 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation | International

A Charity Commission investigation into the activities of disaster relief charity Crescent Relief (London) has found no evidence of deliberate misuse of funds by the trustees but could not find where all the money had ended up.


Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission
News

Charity Commission expects all charities to join an umbrella body 32

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 23 Sep 2011
Tags: Umbrella bodies | Regulation | Charity Commission

The Charity Commission will expect all charities to become part of a voluntary sector umbrella body, and has mooted highlighting on the Commission website the memberships that charities hold.

Charity Commission in Liverpool
News

Fraud, terrorism and vulnerable beneficiaries will stay top of mind for Commission

Governance | Tania Mason | 23 Sep 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Regulation | Fraud

The Charity Commission has insisted it will continue to prioritise the most serious risk to the sector and its reputation, despite its funding constraints.

High Court to decide if Wedgwood Museum collection is protected from administrators
News

High Court to decide if Wedgwood Museum collection is protected from administrators

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 13 Sep 2011
Tags: Pensions | Law | Regulation

Today is the first day of a three-day High Court hearing to determine whether a 10,000 piece collection housed at the Wedgwood Museum is protected from administrators seeking funds for a £134m pension shortfall.

OSCR investigation leads to conviction of trustee for embezzlement
News

OSCR investigation leads to conviction of trustee for embezzlement

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 12 Sep 2011
Tags: Fraud | Trustee boards | Regulation | Trustee roles and responsibilities

A woman, who was the sole trustee of a public hall in Scotland, has been found guilty of embezzling £800 in charitable funds, after a  three-year inquiry by the Office of the Scottish Regulator into the Scalloway Public Hall Trust uncovered the fraud.

Adrian Kamellard
News

Payments Council appoints new chief exec

Finance | Celina Ribeiro | 12 Sep 2011
Tags: Regulation

A Cabinet Office executive director has been named as the new chief executive of the Payments Council.

HMRC at 100 Parliament Street. Picture courtesy of Steph Gray
News

HMRC agrees to reduce SAO admin burden for large charities

Finance | Gareth Jones | 25 Aug 2011
Tags: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) | Regulation

HMRC will no longer require large charities to comply with its onerous senior accounting officer rules, after discussions with accounting firm BDO and charities Barnardo’s and Cancer Research UK.

Paul Knight, tax director, BDO
Technical briefing

HMRC compromises on senior accounting officer rules

Finance | Paul Knight | 25 Aug 2011
Tags: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) | Regulation

Paul Knight reveals how BDO and a group of major national charities agreed an analysis with HM Revenue & Customs that will take nearly all charities out of the Senior Accounting Officer rules.

Community groups to be charged 1 per cent of income to play music
News

Community groups to be charged 1 per cent of income to play music 5

Finance | Gareth Jones | 25 Jul 2011
Tags: Regulation

Community groups have expressed their dismay after music licensing group PPL announced that they would have to pay 1 per cent of their "defined income" in order to play music at licensed events.

Charity Commission
News

Commission compliance staff numbers likely to be slashed

Governance | Tania Mason | 19 Jul 2011
Tags: Charity Commission | Human resources | Regulation | Fraud

The Charity Commission is looking at reducing by around two-thirds the number of staff whose main job is concerned with ensuring regulatory compliance by the sector, civilsociety.co.uk has learned.

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