Tania Mason

Which?, the charity that campaigns for consumer value, is examining the potential for launching some own-brand products and services into markets that it judges currently give consumers a raw deal.

Tania Mason talks to Paul Winter, the ‘leaders’ leader’, about leadership training, charity bursaries, and getting back to our roots.

The Charity Commission has fired off a letter to all MPs and peers to remind them that it was parliament that created the public benefit requirement and not the Commission, in the wake of the recent media backlash against the failure of two independent schools to pass the public benefit test. The letter, from the Commission’s chair Dame Suzi Leather (pictured) and chief executive Andrew Hind, begins: “You may have seen some media coverage recently regarding the Charity Commission’s public benefit assessments of 12 charities including some independent schools.

Charity Tax Group has held a meeting with the Treasury to present evidence of how charities are being put off sharing back-office functions by a VAT charge that makes it too costly. Because the sharing of back office services – such as IT, finance and human resources staff – often requires a new organisation to be set up, this incurs VAT which can cancel out any savings.