An update from the Charity Commission for England and Wales

By Linda Trew

Colette Bennett from the Charity Commission recently presented at Faith Charities Forum, an excellent event held by Civil Society.

Collette provided an overview of key developments and issues for faith charities from a regulatory perspective. She covered important changes to the commission's guidance, updated in July 2021, as well as providing some information about its engagement with faith charities.

Recent research confirmed that 20 per cent of charities are faith based – that’s 35,266 charities across England and Wales – but it was also recognised that there are thousands of others that are not registered.

Colette told us that public trust in charities has gone down from 70% to 63% over recent years. I have to admit to being surprised at this, as I had believed that after Covid and all the great works in the charity sector, the faith in charities would have increased. While this may well be the case for small, local groups that were seen by their communities to be “stepping up”, it seems that negative media coverage has taken its toll.

When asked what the public’s key concerns are, Colette shared that late reporting of accounts is a major red flag for supporters. In addition, the research showed that public expectations include:

• Funding – Unsurprisingly they expect to see a high proportion of the charitable funds used directly for the benefit of the beneficiaries
• Impact – They want to see a positive difference made
• Values – They want to see you live out your values consistently – this includes how you invest your funds
• One voice – There is a sense that as charities “we are all in it together” and as such there is a collective responsibility across the sector.

Helpful tools

The Charity Commission has produced a range of simple 5 minute guides for trustees https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/5-minute-guides-for-charity-trustees

And there is specific guidance on Managing faith charities as trustees https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/faith-based-charities. This includes recruiting trustees, safeguarding, managing finances and more.

Details of the new Charities Act 2022 can be found online along with details and dates of the implementation. You can sign up for updates online.  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charities-act-2022-implementation-plan here are some upcoming

Section 4: Power to amend Royal Charters                                 Autumn 2022

Section 6 and 7: Failed appeals (cy-pres)                                     Autumn 2022

Section 15 and 16: Ex gratia payments                                         Autumn 2022

Section 30: Paying trustees for goods                                          Autumn 2022

Section 9-14 and 35(a: Permanent endowment                       Spring 2023

Section 17 – 23: Charity land                                                               Spring 2023

Section 25 – 28: Charity names                                                         Spring 2023

Section 1 – 3: Amending Governing Documents                       Autumn 2023

Section 29: Appointing trustees                                                        Autumn 2023

Section 31: Payment of trustees                                                        Autumn 2023

Section 33 – 35: Charity mergers                                                       Autumn 2023