Remuneration of trustees and potential alternatives to the Charity Tribunal are just two areas that the NCVO’s Charity Law Advisory Group will examine as part of its review of the Charities Act 2006.

The NCVO group will conduct its own review of the Act in parallel with Lord Hodgson’s review, with both taking place throughout the first half of next year.

Rose Chapman, former director of policy and effectiveness at the Charity Commission, is one of the members of the NCVO group and has written a summary of its terms of reference for civilsociety.co.uk.

Chapman says that while Lord Hodgson’s review will look at the effect of the 2006 Act on the willingness of individuals to volunteer, that is “very wide in scope” and so the NCVO group will focus on how to encourage more trusteeship.

Within this, it will looking at areas such as whether trustee liability should be extended to trustees of unincorporated charities, whether trustee remuneration should be made easier for charities to adopt, and whether trustees' regulatory obligations might be made simpler.

The group will also look at how the Charity Commission works, including whether it is still realistic for the regulator to have an objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities, and whether it could play a different role in relation to public benefit.

The role, remit and purpose of the Charity Tribunal will be examined too. Chapman said: “During the debate on the Charities Bill, the creation of a Charity Tribunal was seen as a ‘light-touch’ and inexpensive way for Charity Commission decisions to be challenged.  However, the reality has proved somewhat different and costly for charities and other appellants, as well as for the Commission.

“We will also take the opportunity to look at alternative means of redress, such as the e-petition campaign for a Charities Ombudsman.”

Read Chapman’s full summary here.