Our weekly round up of news and updates from across the sector

Charity Commission

Statutory inquiry opened

The Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Al-Tawheed Charitable Trust following serious concerns over an event held by an external organisation at the charity's premises. A regulatory compliance case was opened in August 2023 after reports of anti-Semitic chants during the event. The trustees claimed the event was a "religious remembrance programme" for an Iranian military general, Major General Qasem Soleimani, who was subject to sanctions by the UK.

Charities and banking

Charity Finance magazine's annual Charity Banking Survey is now open, click here to take part. The deadline for completing the questionnaire is Wednesday 28 February.

Sector general

New research from The Employee Benefits Index shows that charities and NGOs are among the worst industries for employee benefits, with the Index scoring the sector 85 out of 2,000. Cycle to work schemes and parking were the most commonly offered benefits and the least commonly offered were health and wellbeing programmes, company share schemes and private dental insurance. See here for commentary from Civil Society.

NPC has published State of the Sector 2024, exploring the views of charity leaders, charity users, and the public on where charities are. Findings include:

  • Charities prop up state services by an estimated £2.4bn a year.
  • 54% of the public want the government to give more support to charities to work in poorer areas.
  • Only a small minority of the public (15%) think charities are 'too political'.
  • Charity leaders are having fewer strategic conversations about mission, mergers, and partnerships than they did three years ago.

Climate change

Everyone's Environment Charity Learning Group is a brand new group for all charity staff working on responses to the social impacts of environmental crises. If you are interested in joining, please e-mail everyonesenvironment@thinkNPC.org.

Equality Act

See under Higher Education section of Education below.

Funders and funding

The Guardian reports that in a series of updates to its policies, Arts Council England is warning organisations it funds to be wary of "overtly political or activist" statements made in a personal capacity by people linked to them. For more about the complex issues that can arise for charities and campaigning, see our General Election 2024: Charity Campaigning guide or sign up for our upcoming webinar on 28 February, Campaigning ahead of the next general election: the regulated period.

Also see below under Philanthropy.

Philanthropy

Everyone's Environment Funder Learning Group, co-hosted by NPC and the Environmental Funders Network (EFN), is a brand new group for philanthropists and people working in a grant making body in the UK who are interested in the social impacts of environmental crises. EFN has also created an Environmental Impact Investing Group which exists to support trusts, foundations and individuals who wish to learn more about environmental impact investing. Membership is open to trusts, foundations and individuals with investable assets as well as EFN members. Bates Wells' Oliver Hunt and Matt Fielden are speaking at the next learning event on 6 March about the legal framework for charities making impact investments.

Data protection

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued guidance on content moderation for online platforms. The guidance will help organisations in scope of the Online Safety Act 2023 to comply with data protection law as they carry out content moderation to meet their online safety duties.

The ICO has published its second annual Tech Horizons Report looking at technologies emerging over the next two to seven years and helping developers to identify and manage data privacy issues associated with emerging technologies during their design phase. The report focuses on eight further technologies the ICO believes may have a particularly significant impact on the UK's societies, economies and information rights: genomics, immersive virtual worlds, neurotechnologies, quantum computing, commercial use of drones, personalised AI, next-generation search and central bank digital currencies.

AI

The government has published an Introduction to AI assurance; the first in a series of guidance to help organisations and regulators upskill on topics around AI assurance and governance. The guidance aims to provide an accessible introduction to both assurance mechanisms and global technical standards, to help industry and regulators better understand how to build and deploy responsible AI systems.

Also see below under the Higher Education section of Education.

Company law

If you've missed our regular updates about how the new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 impacts regulation of companies by Companies House, we've pulled together some key information in this blog.

Scotland

See here for the latest version of OSCR's Sector Overview Report, giving a snapshot of the Scottish charity sector over the last three months. Some key figures from the report are:

  • 194 charities registered.
  • 283 removed from the register.
  • Significant increase in trustees.
  • 69% of charities run entirely by volunteers, including trustees.

Local government

The Local Government Association has published a new workbook concerning effective opposition in local government.

Social investment/social impact investment

Big Society Capital's 2023 Impact Report shows 11x growth in the UK social impact investing market, with £2.6bn channelled into more than 3,500 enterprises across the UK since 2012. The report notes growth factors including investment from institutional investors into BSC-backed property investments and increasing interest in impact investment from venture capital firms in the last year – in 2023, Big Society Capital launched ImpactVC to build a network of venture capital firms across Europe.

Social Investment Business reports that it has secured further investment for the Recovery Loan Fund, with £17m raised so far. The Fund is open to English, Welsh and Scottish charities and social enterprises that are improving people's lives or environments, offering loans between £150k and £1.5m to support initiatives across sectors such as training and education, employment, and health and wellbeing.

Culture + Creative

The fourth round of the Museum Estate and Development Fund has been launched. Grants from the fund have been used to support capital projects, repairs and improvements to visitor experience. Expressions of interest will open on 4 March.

Education

General

A number of Government departments, including the Department for Education, have written letters requesting a set of regulators including the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills to update their strategic approach to AI, with a view to increase transparency around the implementation of AI Regulation White Paper Proposals.

Schools

The Department for Education has issued new guidance on prohibiting mobile phone usage during the school day, as part of the government's plan to minimise disruption and improve behaviour in classrooms. The guidance advises schools to prohibit mobile phone use but gives headteachers autonomy on how to go about doing this. See below for:

The Department for Education has updated the correspondence page for its letters to Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate on the inspection of independent schools and joint working – it has updated the 'Ofsted Standard Inspection Cycle Letter' with a new version.

Further Education

The High Court has rejected the University of Bristol's appeal against a County Court judgment that the University unlawfully discriminated against Natasha Abrahart, an undergraduate student. Natasha suffered from depression and Social Anxiety Disorder, which were a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. Her conditions substantially impaired her ability to participate in oral assessments and she tragically took her own life in 2018 on the day she was due to give an oral presentation. Natasha's family claimed that the University should have removed or adjusted oral assessment requirements, instead of requiring her to participate, marking her down when she performed badly and penalising her when she did not attend. The County Court agreed that in doing so the University caused her a level of anxiety and distress which amounted to psychiatric injury and injury to feelings, and contributed to her suicide. The family therefore won their claim against the University on grounds of discrimination arising from disability, indirect discrimination and duty to make reasonable adjustments and were awarded damages of £50,000. The University appealed, including on the ground that oral assessments are a 'competence standard' which do not require adjustment under the Equality Act, and that it was required to maintain academic standards. However, in its recent judgment the High Court rejected the appeal and upheld the family's claim.

An independent analysis of the Office for Student's postgraduate conversion course in AI and data science shows that over 7,600 students have enrolled, with more than 950 scholarships awarded, to tackle digital skills gaps. See this press release for more information.

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