Charities will be forced to include the number of fundraising complaints they receive in their annual reports, under new amendments to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill put forward yesterday.
The amendments, put forward in the House of Lords by Lord Bridges of Headley, parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office, include requirements that any charity with an annual income of over £1m must have specific sections on the “number of complaints received by the charity or a person acting on its behalf about activities by the charity or by a person on behalf of the charity for the purpose of fund-raising”.
Under the same new amendments, charities must also include statements in annual reports regarding “the approach” to fundraising, whether or not fundraisers are bound by “any voluntary scheme for regulating fund-raising” and whether or not a charity has failed to comply with any regulations.
New legislation would also require charities to report on the approaches they take to protect vulnerable people and the public at large from behaviour including “unreasonable intrusion on a person’s privacy”, “Unreasonably persistent approaches for the purpose of soliciting or otherwise procuring money or other property on behalf of the charity”, or “placing undue pressure on a person to give money or other property”.
The FRSB already collects and publishes a report of complaints made to its member organisation annually. The report does not name organisations or reveal how many complaints were received by each of its member charities.
Etherington review publishes terms of reference
The amendments follow on from Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, being asked by minister for civil society Rob Wilson to lead a review of fundraising self-regulation.
The review itself will be “strategic” and not make detailed recommendations about the “content of the Code of Fundraising Practice” according to the terms of reference, which have been published today.
The findings of the review are due to be made in September, some of which might be incorporated into further amendments to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill.
Baroness Pitkeathley, Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Lord Leigh of Hurley have been confirmed as members of the review panel.
The review will consider direct mail, telephone, doorstep and textile collections and consider the current self-regulatory system and bodies operate. It will also look at the role of third-party fundraisers and the relationship between fundraisers and the public.
The panel will take evidence from:
- Representatives of the public interest
- Consumer experts
- Parliamentarians
- Fundraising self-regulatory bodies
- Leaders of large fundraising charities; umbrella representatives of small charities
- Representatives of commercial fundraisers
- Representatives from the media
- Other self-regulatory bodies
- Academics specialising in regulation
In an email to stakeholders earlier this week Etherington said: "I have been asked by the Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson MP, to carry out a review of the current system of regulating fundraising.
"I have agreed to do this as I believe it is crucial we get fundraising regulation right, in order to protect charities’ reputation. This is a crucial juncture for the sector. Ministers have been clear that they are prepared to introduce statutory regulation if we do not come up with a satisfactory solution."
The review is expected to report by 21 September.
The review panel
Pitkeathley is a Labour member of the House of Lords and former chief executive of Carers UK and a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Civil Society and Volunteering.
Wallace is Liberal Democrat peer and was the Cabinet Office’s spokesman in the Lords during the last Parliament.
Leigh is a Conservative Lord and is the president of a think tank charity, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. He also holds a number of directorships in the corporate world and is a senior partner at Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP.
Additional reporting by Kirsty Weakley
