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.
The Charity Commission spent nearly more than £445,000 on recruitment advertising and services in the last financial year, and has budgeted to reduce the figure to £200,000 for the current year.
The independent expert group on sector expenses says there is no significant evidence of expenses abuse in the sector and so charities should not be required by law to publish their trustees’ and managers’ expenses.
Charity Commission staff are set to strike next week after union members from across the civil service voted in favour of industrial action.
Phil Crier outlines the implications of the forthcoming removal of charities' exemption from needing a music licence to play copyright music to the public.
HM Treasury has agreed to defer for a year the implementation of the international accounting standard that threatened to see donations to NHS charities lumped in to general NHS balance sheets.
Scotland’s charity regulator has given short shrift to the Accounting Standards Board’s proposals to develop a new accounting standard for public benefit entities.
The Fundraising Standards Board has slashed its marketing budget to £35,000 this financial year in order to ensure it breaks even without any further government funding, according to its chief executive Alistair McLean.
Community Interest Companies will be able to pay dividends of up to 20 per cent of each share under changes outlined by the CIC regulator.
Andrew Malin explains the background to changes in the regulation of exempt charities in England and Wales, and offers an early insight into the approach of the Higher Education Funding Council for England to its new role as a principal regulator.
Thirty-three charities have been caught misapplying funds or acting outside their purpose over the last year, according to the Charity Commission.
The First-tier Tribunal (Charity) has overturned the Charity Commission’s decision to remove Nagendram Seevaratnam from his trustee position at the South London-based temple Sivayogam. In its second case, the Tribunal (presided over by Alison McKenna, pictured) found that none of the Commission’s seven grounds for dismissing Seevaratnam were sufficient to justify the decision.
So Professor Paul Palmer, a member of the "independent" expert group that will issue guidance to charities on how they should report their expenses, also sits on the board of a company that stands to profit from sales of a new software tool that helps charities report their expenses. And he doesn’t think there is anything wrong in this, because he told the other members of the board of Charity Business that he couldn’t discuss with them anything about his work with the expenses group. Because he declared his conflict of interest at the outset, there is nothing wrong with him holding down both posts, he contends.
Charities that opt to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation will follow the same accounting requirements as other unincorporated charities, after most respondents to a consultation on the detail of the new legal form supported this approach.
The government has stopped the water regulator Ofwat introducing higher water charges for community groups, including churches, sports clubs, and some charities. The new water charge, dubbed a 'rain tax' by campaigners, saw water companies bill non-domestic properties for surface water drainage on the size of their site area instead of the rateable value of the property, meaning churches, charities and clubs, which often had a zero rateable value, faced huge extra charges on their water bills.
The Charity Commission is investigating Prince Charles’ heritage charity following accusations that the organisation has intervened in major building developments. The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment has been accused in the press and by anti-monarchist group Republic of interfering in major building projects, opposing designs and having top architects kicked off builds.
A government scheme to get publicly-funded religious charities to agree not to discriminate against or preach to service users has been scrapped. The Department of Communities and Local Government has abandoned the proposed ‘Charter of Excellence’ which would have required religious charities that receive government contracts to agree to codes of conduct preventing them from discriminating against, preaching or trying to convert service users. The British Humanist Association has slammed the move.
The Independent Safeguarding Authority and the new Vetting and Barring Scheme: Jean Tsang asks are you ready? Established by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the little known Vetting and Barring Scheme, which launches in October, heralds very significant changes in the way that people who work with vulnerable groups will be vetted. The new compulsory scheme will be overseen by a new body called the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), and it will apply to both paid workers and volunteers and cover a much wider workforce than under the current statutory schemes.
The Land Registry’s long-term objective of creating a comprehensive land register for England and Wales was brought a step closer on 6 April by the introduction of two new triggers for compulsory first registration of land, one of which is likely to be relevant to quite a number of charities. The appointment of a new trustee of unregistered land held in trust where the land vests in the new trustee by deed (including a memorandum executed as a deed to which section 83 of the Charities Act 1993 applies) or by vesting order under section 44 of the Trustee Act 1925 will now trigger first registration of the land. If you are involved with a trust which holds unregistered land and a change of trustees is proposed then you should seek legal advice.The Land Registry notes that currently 67 per cent of the land in England and Wales is registered. The remainder amounts to some 5.2 million hectares. The Registry anticipates that the new triggers will lead to the registration of more than one million hectares of land within five years. In combination with the original triggers and voluntary first registrations this is expected to see 80 per cent of all land in England and Wales registered by August 2013. The new trustee trigger will be highly relevant to any trust holding unregistered land although it will have the greatest impact, statistically at least, on landed estates and charities.
There's a new ACAS code for disciplinary and grievance procedures and a 25 per cent penalty for not complying, says Jane Klauber. The much criticised statutory dismissal and grievance procedures were abolished on 6 April 2009. In their place Tribunals will have regard to a new ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures and awards of compensation may be increased or decreased by up to 25 per cent if either party unreasonably fails to comply with the Code. However breach of the provisions of the Code by the employer will no longer lead to findings of automatic unfair dismissal which was the case under the statutory dismissal procedure.
Following a process of negotiation which has lasted five years, the European member states and the European Parliament have failed to reach an agreement on changes to the Working Time Directive. The European Parliament proposed the amendments to the Directive primarily because, as it stands, member states can opt out of the maximum 48-hour week. The Parliament considered that to allow member states to opt out of legislation which had the purpose of safeguarding health and safety was not acceptable. The UK currently, along with several other member states, allows its employers to invite workers to opt out of the maximum 48-hour week. The UK has argued that it is crucial for the economy and the well-being of businesses for individuals to be able to opt out.
Sophie Whitbread offers some advice for avoiding employment discrimination claims. Recruiting the staff you want is never an easy task. Voluntary organisations understandably want to recruit like-minded people who are sympathetic to their cause, but how far can they pursue this without coming up against anti-discrimination legislation protecting individuals on the basis of their sex, race, age, religion, sexual orientation or disability? Is it possible, for example, for a charity linked to a particular religion to insist that its employees be members of that religion? How about a requirement that only women may be employed at a charity running a women’s refuge? And can a charity that provides care and support for people suffering from a particular disability seek specifically to employ those who are similarly disabled?
Support the campaign for the creation of a European Foundation Statute, urges Gerry Salole. The European Commission (EC) has launched a public consultation to assess the level of demand for a European Foundation Statute. It has also published a feasibility study that explains the potential impacts of allowing foundations to be established and recognised at the level of the European Union. The European Foundation Centre (EFC) is convinced that the creation of a European Foundation Statute would bring considerable benefits to the public interest, by increasing the level and effectiveness of philanthropic activity in Europe
The NCVO has launched the first manifesto from the European Network of National Associations, a new grouping of EU national umbrella organisations representing voluntary, community and non-profit organisations across 17 European nations. The EU Civil Society Manifesto, which is timed to pre-empt the June 2009 European Parliament Elections, sets out six recommendations and five specific requests to members of the European parliament (MEPs).
OSCR, the Scottish regulator, has removed 85 charities from the Scottish Charity Register, as it believes them to be no longer active and is pursuing a further 790 "defaulting' charities that are late in filing accounts and annual returns, despite repeated reminders.
The Community Interest Company dividend cap is to be reviewed by the CIC Regulator as part of a wider assessment of the legal form.
Charities should have their say on tribunal reform, says Alison McKenna. Over the past year the Charity Tribunal has appointed and trained a cadre of specialist legal and ordinary members who have the expertise and experience to hear charity cases. Now, we have the opportunity to adapt the rules and procedures of the Tribunal to fit with the unique sector it serves and I want your help.
William Jensen says we have lived through a period of abnormally high returns. It is difficult not to feel profound disappointment with the leaders of those financial institutions which underpin our economies and global commerce. At the top of that roll-call of let-down are the bankers who built a celestial city from a little bit of real things and a great deal of nothing that continues to crumble and suck the rest of the world into its vortex. Even the most generous of spirits will struggle to excuse the majority in that industry of the charge of cynical self-interest.
NIVCA, the umbrella body for voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland has produced a guide to the Northern Ireland Charities Act which gained royal assent last September. The Act details the statutory definitions of charity and charitable purpose; establishes a Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and a Charity Tribunal; creates a Register of Charities for Northern Ireland; introduces the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (a new form of charitable body); and sets out new rules with regard to fundraising and collections.
Third sector organisations are eligible for the government's provisions to help small businesses, according to charities minister Kevin Brennan.
Don Bawtree reviews the proposed changes to the substantial donor legislation. The deadline for submitting responses to the consultation process on the substantial donor rules has now passed, and we await HMRC's response. We knew that HMRC was aware of the key problems the charity sector faces in respect of this legislation and the suggested changes dealt with some of them.
