VONNE Charities Seminar

1
VONNE Charities Seminar 5 February 2008
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• Introduction
• Ros Harwood
• Head of Charities

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Charities Act 2006

• Main provisions
• What is already in force?
• Whats coming?

4
February 2007

• Public benefit consultation
• Registration threshold
• Powers of the Charity Commission
• Restrictions on mortgages of charity land
• Relief from trustees and auditors liability
• Purchase Trustee Indemnity Insurance

5
November 2007

• Mergers of charities
• Register of Mergers
• Relevant charity merger-
• A merger of two or more charities, one charity
  transfers all its property to the other charity
  and then ceases to exist or
• The merger of two or more charities to a new
  charity and one or all of the merging charities
  then ceases to exist.

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First quarter of 2008

• The Charity Tribunal
• New powers for Charity Commission
• Remuneration of trustees providing services
• New definition of charity and public benefit
  requirement

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Public Benefit (1)

• Abolition of presumption (education, religion
  poverty)
• Charity Commission guidance
• Consultations on sub-sectoral guidance

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Public Benefit (2)

• Charity Commission guidance
• 2 principles
• Identifiable benefit or benefits
• Benefit to the public (or a sufficient section)

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Principle 1

• Must be clear what the benefits are
• Benefits must be related to the aims
• Benefits must be balanced against any detriment
  or harm

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Principle 2

• Beneficiaries must be appropriate to the aims
• Where benefit is to a section of the public, the
  opportunity to benefit must not be unreasonably
  restricted
• People in poverty must not be excluded from the
  opportunity to benefit and
• Any private benefits must be incidental

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Public Benefit revised timetable

• 16 January 2008 general public benefit guidance
  published
• January/February 2008 start of 3 month
  consultations on supplementary guidance
• Late March 2008 expected date for public
  benefit provisions in Act to come into force
• Late March 2009 charities will begin reporting
  on public benefit as part of their annual reports

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Summer 2008

• Charitable Incorporated Organisation

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• Catherine Rustomji
• Questions