Charities will soon be required to state in their annual return whether they pay their trustees and whether they are members of the Fundraising Standards Board, as a result of changes being brought in next year by the Charity Commission.

Earlier this year the Commission consulted on proposed changes to the annual return and to the information about individual charities that is displayed on the online Register of Charities. Of the ten proposals outlined in the consultation, all were supported by the majority of respondents.

Today the regulator has published its analysis of the feedback and announced the key changes charities should expect next year.

The key changes will include:

• A requirement for charities to state in their annual return whether it pays its trustees. The answer will be displayed on the online Register of Charities.
• The publication on the Register of whether a charity is a member of the Fundraising Standards Board.
• The Summary Information Return will be scrapped, as recommended by Lord Hodgson.
• Charities will be asked whether they raise funds from the public; whether they work with a commercial participator and, if so, whether they have an agreement with the commercial participator. This will be displayed on the charity’s register page.
• Charities will be asked whether they have various policies in place, such as conflicts of interest and safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries, and these answers will be displayed on their Register page.

The regulator also plans to highlight on a charity’s entry on the online Register whether the organisation is insolvent, in administration or subject to enforcement action for non-submission of accounts. If a charity’s accounts have been qualified by an auditor or independent examiner, this will be made clear too.

Jane Hobson, head of policy at the Charity Commission, said the regulator was mindful to strike the right balance between improving transparency and making the task of completing the annual return too burdensome.

“We are pleased that all ten proposals were agreed to by the majority of the respondents to the consultation,” she said.

“We have also taken additional comments from the respondents into consideration and we understand that charities will need new, comprehensive guidance to support them in completing their annual return. We will publish this alongside the new form in January 2014.”

The changes will not affect the annual return for 2013 that many charities are still due to complete. The changes will come into effect for the annual return for 2014 and the new questions and form will be available in January 2014.

The Commission’s full response to the consultation can be viewed here.