Absolute Return for Kids' star-studded annual gala dinner, which raises all of the charity's funding in a single night, will not take place this year as Ark moves to a new strategy to raise money.

Actress and writer Sally Phillips will host the upcoming Charity Awards 2013 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, accompanied by presenters including Katie Piper, Tanni Grey-Thompson and Huw Edwards.

A television advertisement for St John’s Ambulance which featured a man choking then dying was the tenth most complained about advertisement in 2012, according to the Advertising Standards Board.

Individual giving to charities increased by £945m in 2010/11, but the voluntary sector on the whole barely managed to grow in real terms as inflation ate away at minor improvements.