Rules and Regulations | Winter 2017/18

Rules and Regulations Charity and Not-for-Profit Newsletter | Winter 2017/18

Charity Sector: Budget 2017 Update

Raffingers Foundation - Our Highlights

Charities and Trading: How to Optimise Your Revenue Stream

Find out what the Chancellor had to offer for the charity and notfor-profit sector in the most recent Budget.

Read about how we were able to raise over ÂŁ19,000 this year for Ovarian Cancer Action and Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Does your charity need to raise more money? In addition to receiving donations and doing fundraisers... what else are you permitted to do?

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Contents

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Welcome and Partners

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Special Feature Charity Sector: Budget 2017 Update

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Raffingers Foundation

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The Impact of Brexit on Charities

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Employee Spotlight

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Microsoft Office 365

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Improve Productivity by Taking on an Apprentice

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Six Types of Charity Fraud to be Aware Of

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Is your Charity Missing Out on “Touch and Go”?

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GDPR - Should Charities be Afraid?

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GDPR - Your Questions Answered

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Partners Perspective Charities and Trading: How to Optimise Your Revenue Stream

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Charity Commission Crackdown

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Welcome to our WINTER Newsletter Welcome to the winter edition of our charity and not-for-profit newsletter. This quarter, we are pleased to bring you all of the latest news and insights from the sector.

Last quarter, the chancellor announced the 2017 Budget, where the charity and not-for-profit sector had very few mentions, but there were still some changes to consider. The government seemed to focus on the issue of homelessness, as well as funding schemes, to prevent the risk of homelessness. Another significant change was the Gift Aid Donor Benefit Rules, where there will now be only two thresholds. We bring to you the key highlights that pertain to charities, on page 4.

Technology seems to be a prevalent theme within the charity sector. Moreover, we are finding case studies of how technology can significantly improve a charity’s operation, productivity and to also help boost donations. Find out more with our articles, “Microsoft Office 365” and “Is Your Charity Missing Out on ‘Touch and Go?’”.

Charities sometimes struggle to raise funds and may find themselves short of other options to bring in more money. See our article on page 14 to see how you can create a new revenue stream through trading.

As always, if you would like to be featured in our next edition or have any suggestions for topics that you would like to see discussed, please get in touch with Lauren on lauren.aston@raffingers.co.uk.

The Partners at Raffingers

Raffingers Partners Gary Inglis Managing Partner gary.inglis@raffingers.co.uk

Andrew Coney Partner andrew.coney@raffingers.co.uk

Lee Manning Partner lee.manning@raffingers.co.uk

Adam Moody Partner adam.moody@raffingers.co.uk

Suda Ratnam Partner suda.ratnam@raffingers.co.uk

Barry Soraff Partner barry.soraff@raffingers.co.uk

Paul Dell Partner paul.dell@raffingers.co.uk

Roy Butcher Partner roy.butcher@raffingers.co.uk

Neill Staff Partner neill.staff@raffingers.co.uk

Your Business Our Passion

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Charity Sector Budget 2017 Update SPECIAL FEATURE

Last year, the Chancellor delivered the Budget 2017. In what was declared a ‘balanced’ Budget that would lay the foundations for a ‘prosperous and inclusive future’, we bring you the key points those in the charity sector need to be aware of.

Gift Aid Donor Benefit Rules • The three thresholds will be cut down to two in order to simplify the rules on benefits There have been changes made to the Gift Aid Donor Benefit Rules. After a review, it has been recommended that the rules should be simplified.

Currently there are three monetary thresholds, which will now be reduced to two. These changes will come into effect from April 2019.

The current thresholds are • 25% limit on benefits for donations up to £100; • Maximum of £25 for donations between £101 and £1,100 • 5% of the donation from £1,001+ (up to a maximum of £2,500) The government has decided to remove the middle

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threshold and leave the first and third. The changes will come into effect from April 2019.

LIBOR Charity Funding Scheme • Government will commit to extra funding that will support armed forces and emergency services charities The government will commit to investing another £36million of banking fines within the next three years to support Armed Forces and Emergency Services charities. This is in aid of the LIBOR Charity Funding scheme, bringing the total to £773million.

Tackling Homelessness • The government aim to reduce the amount of rough sleepers It was announced that the government will launch the Homelessness Reduction Taskforce, which will be dedicated towards reducing the number of rough sleepers to half by 2022. By 2027, it will aim to abolish rough sleeping altogether.

It can’t be right to leave property empty when so many are desperate for a place to live. We will launch a consultation on barriers to longer tenancies in the private rented sector and establish a homelessness taskforce.

- Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond

• £28million will be committed to rough sleepers with complex needs During the budget, it was announced that the government will commit £28million to The Housing First scheme. The first three pilots of this scheme will be launched in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands. Its aim is to support rough sleepers who have complex needs with the aim of eventually turning their lives around.

• The government want to fund schemes to prevent risks of homelessness £20million worth of funding will support schemes that prevent the risks of homelessness. The fund will also support schemes that help individuals to sustain tenancies in the private rented sector.

Disabled Facilities Grant • £42million will be designated towards the Disabled Facilities Grant The Budget will offer £42million worth of funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant in 2017/18 to support individuals to stay in their own home. This increases the overall budget this year to £473million.

Personal Taxation and Wages • Tax-free personal allowance on income tax to rise to £11,850 in April 2018 • Higher-rate tax threshold to increase to £46,350 • National Living Wage to rise in April 2018 by 4.4%, from £7.50 per hour to £7.83 The changes to personal allowances and the higher rate threshold are very much in line with the normal changes, so there is nothing to be overly wowed by here.

Tax Revenues • The chancellor says the government has “raked in an extra £160billion over seven years” as a result of HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) compliance work since 2010 There have been claims and counter-claims about the amount of money that HMRC has saved or recovered for the exchequer as a result of their compliance work and particularly the efforts being invested to counter tax avoidance and evasion. The way that HMRC’s yield is measured leaves some room for uncertainty as it includes future yield figures as well as cash collected.

For advice on any of the items highlighted, contact:

Suda Ratnam, Charity Sector Specialist 020 8418 2681 | suda.ratnam@raffingers.co.uk

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Raffingers Foundation

£19,000 Thank you to everyone that has supported us in 2017, helping us to raise a massive £19,000 for Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF) and Ovarian Cancer Action (OCA).

Raised so far

Our Charity Ball in September was a huge success and managed to bring in an impressive £12,000.

We also held a cake sale and Christmas jumper day in our office where we managed to raise £140.

We’re very proud of our efforts and overwhelmed by the sheer generosity of donors, volunteers and staff.

If you would like to get involved or to donate, please visit:

www.raffingers.co.uk/community

Raffingers Foundation Charity Ball On 16 September 2017, the team at Raffingers held its first ever Charity Ball at the Marriott Hotel The event was hosted by Lee Manning, Partner at Raffingers and featured live entertainment from Frog on a Rocket, a silent auction and raffle.

Raffingers Foundation is run by volunteers, which means every single penny raised goes directly to the causes they support. These are: • Research projects conducted by Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and Ovarian Cancer Action.

• To financially help those directly affected by pancreatic and ovarian cancer. This money can be used for counselling, support and days away for the families. (For further details and applications for the fund, contact lauren.aston@raffingers.co.uk.)

Launched in 2016, Raffingers Foundation has already raised nearly £20,000.

The charity already made their first donation to Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and Ovarian Cancer Action in December 2017 and look forward to giving more money in 2018.

Lee Manning, Partner at Raffingers and Chairman of Raffingers Foundation said, “The Raffingers Foundation Charity Ball was a great success and we cannot believe how much we managed to raise. We would just like to thank everyone that came out to support us as well as all of those who donated a raffle or auction prize. This is a charity very close to our hearts and we really appreciate everyone who donated and contributed to making the night a success. We are now planning for 2018!”

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Cake Sale and Christmas Jumper Day On 15 December 2017, the team at Raffingers opened their doors to local businesses at Bourne Court, Woodford Green, with the team donning their favourite Christmas Jumper.

We are pleased to announce that we managed to raise over £140 for Raffingers Foundation. A massive thank you to all those that donated or baked cakes for the sale.

Cheque Giving Raffingers Foundation was able to donate £15,000 this year to Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF) and Ovarian Cancer Action (OCA).

Throughout the year we were able to raise money through our Charity Ball, quiz nights and cake sales. We’re also fortunate enough to have partners and family who ran marathons and did extreme challenges to be able to raise money for both charities.

Upcoming Events in 2018 Annual Charity Golf Day

Annual Charity Ball

You are invited to our Charity Golf Day which is being held on Thursday 28 June 2018.

Join us at our annual Charity Ball and help us raise awareness and funds for cancer.

Venue: Toot Hill Golf Club

Venue: Prince Regent Hotel, Chigwell

Time: 10am arrival, 11:00am first tee off

Time: 7pm

Tickets: £75 for individuals, or, £300 for a team of four.

Tickets: £75 per person, or, tables of 10 are available for £700.

To purchase tickets, sponsor our events, donate items or advertise, contact:

Lauren Aston, Marketing Manager 020 8418 2678 | lauren.aston@raffingers.co.uk

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The Impact of Brexit on Charities Over a year has passed since the UK voted to leave the EU and already the UK is raising some very interesting proposals to help UK organisations.

Although, hard Brexit or not there are going to be some winners and some losers.

Employment will be one of the biggest issues charities will face as we are sure there will be restrictions on the movement of EU nationals. Let’s be honest, putting the lid on movement of EU citizens was the single biggest election vote winner for the Brexiteers. If your charity is dependent on EU nationals being part of your work force then you may have to review this policy. Recently, a charity we dealt with recruited EU nationals. Will these workers be allowed to stay after 29 March 2019? Only time will tell.

Next on the agenda is funding. Funding will be the key concern for EU-funded projects. Many charities rely on EU funding for their projects. For one reason or another the “in” campaigners deemed this as not a vote winner, and ignored this major source of

income for charities. The chancellor has promised to fund any EU-funded project should the EU funding cease. However, this is just a verbal promise and we all know that politicians, in most cases, do not always deliver what they say. In addition, there is talk of not funding any projects deemed “not value for money”.

This leaves plenty of room for “fixability” to retract what was promised. Charites in receipt of EU funding need to carefully consider their plans for the future, once the current funding comes to an end.

There are other challenges facing the charity sector.

Not least, Brexit will impact on, tax, VAT, Human Rights, the environment and even reporting. Charities should both individually and collectively find ways to influence the Brexit process to ensure that the sector gets positive rather than negative outcomes.

If you are concerned about how the current economic climate will affect your charity, contact Gary Inglis on gary.inglis@raffingers.co.uk.

Employee Spotlight

In this slot we introduce you to a valued member of our team, allowing you to put a face to a name.

This quarter we speak to our Cloud Accounting Semi Senior, Mira Ejaz.

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Name: Mira Ejaz Email: mira.ejaz@raffingers.co.uk

Interests: Outside of the office, I enjoy being a part time makeup artist, eating good food and partaking in outdoor activities such as hiking, camping and canoeing. I am an avid camper and can never get enough of the beautiful Idaho scenery.

Career: I began my career as an apprentice in 2012.

From knowing nothing about accountancy, I am now MAAT qualified and have been privileged to be able to gain a great understanding of cloud accounting services for SMEs from various sectors. I now look forward to further developing my career and have started my ACCA qualification in the hopes of being a fully qualified Chartered Accountant in the next few

Partners Report: Mira has been a great addition to the cloud department. She has taken on her own portfolio of clients with ease and helped clients improve their internal processes from day one. Mira has great knowledge of cloud accounting and has a great attitude to work. Mira is a great asset to our team and we look forward to seeing her excel in the years to come.

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Microsoft Office 365 for Charities Microsoft is not everyone’s cup of tea, especially within the tech industry. Although, whether we like it or not we have to work with their products in our day-to-day lives. Pretty much any smart gadget we use will have software that is connected to Microsoft.

Bill Gates and his company, Microsoft, have been helping charities for many years. One of their better offerings to charities is the discounted Office 365, which is widely used office software.

According to reports, over 25% of businesses use Microsoft Office 365. Here at Raffingers we have been using Office 365 for over two years now, so I wouldn’t recommend something that we don’t use. Not everyone here is a big fan of the product (yet), but you cannot satisfy everyone!

Microsoft are offering charities discounted prices on their Office 365 range. The best offer is their Office 365 Business Premium. Qualifying charities can have this for £1.50 per month/per user. So if you have, for example, 10 employees you can have this for £180 per year.

Who counts as a qualifying charity? You have to have a recognised charitable status which, translated into plain English, means you have to be registered with the Charity Commission. In addition to this you also need to be registered with HM Revenue & Customs as a charity and not liable to pay corporation tax. It’s that simple!

What are the benefits? With the Office 365 Business Premium package, you will have access to email 24/7, you don’t have to worry about your server “outage”.

Your inbox capacity is a whopping 50gb. You will have 1Tb of file storage and with sharing facility. You can have a fully installed version of Office on up to five devices (PC, Macs, tablet, phone, laptop) with Microsoft security on top!

There are also other ways in which you can use technology to make your charity better. For example, by using contactless to accept donations. Trials have proven that contactless donation boxes raise more money than other fundraising methods so it is definitely worth the investment!

Your charity can also use social media and other webbased applications to improve productivity and help with fundraising campaigns. For example, your charity can use Facebook to set up campaigns that have the potential to reach a vast number of users. What’s more, Facebook currently has a “Donate Now” call-to-action button, which is available on link ads and Pages. This will make it easier for charities and not-for-profits to encourage others to donate.

Technology is powerful and for the most part easily, accessible, so there is no reason for charities not to take advantage.

For more information, please contact: Neill Staff 020 8418 2671 neill.staff@raffingers.co.uk

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Improve Productivity by Taking on an Apprentice Owners of organisations are constantly looking at ways to cut costs, improve productivity, increase profitability and at the same time have a hankering for an easier life. Most of us love what we do however we find it difficult to get that work family life balance. If you are a charity you know that your biggest asset, and biggest cost, is your team (not staff, we call them team). Ensuring that you allocate sufficient time and resources into your team can have a direct impact on your costs, productivity and profitability.

We at Raffingers have always known this and have looked to take new team members on at a junior level, to support and train them through their personal development, and hopefully have a senior position available for them when the time is right. As a result, we have a great team in all our departments. On a personal level it’s also very satisfying being a part of someone’s progress and success.

Historically we have run a graduate programme and taken on two account juniors every couple of years, and would use recruitment agencies to fill any junior roles in our other departments. We changed things up a few years ago, as we thought it would be a great idea to bring new team members on at an earlier stage and get involved in the apprenticeship programme. We are so happy that we did. We haven’t always got it right, but four out of five is not bad going. There are many recruitment agencies that will tell you all about the wonderful benefits of an apprenticeship programme that sounds too good to be true (the average Apprenticeship will improve productivity by £214 a week. Really?!)

however, I can tell you first hand that it is well worth the effort.

You get to offer a whippersnapper their first experience of working in an office environment. They are young and eager to learn so they can be tailored to specific job roles, making them flexible to the needs of your organisation. Apprentices are eager and loyal to the company that invested in them. This in turn can help reduce your staff turnover by increasing your employee satisfaction and loyalty, and help motivate the rest of your team. In a survey by a leading recruitment agency specialising in the placements of apprentices, employers identified a number of long term benefits arising from Apprenticeship training, which included: • A supply of people with the skills and qualities that organisations require; • A supply of skilled recruits to help businesses grow; • Apprentices tend to stay and progress within the organisation; and • Teaching Apprentices enables senior staff to pass on their own knowledge.

Apprentices deliver real returns to your bottom line. In a recent Apprenticeship survey, 76% of employers said that Apprentices helped them to improve productivity and to be more competitive. They also said that training Apprentices is more cost effective than hiring skilled staff, leading to lower overall training and recruitment costs.

Personally, the apprenticeship programme has been a great success for our firm and I would recommend it to any organisation of any size.

For more information, contact: Andrew Coney 020 8418 2710 andrew.coney@raffingers.co.uk

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Six Types of Charity Fraud to be Aware Of If you currently own a charity or work within one, then you may be aware that there is now more pressure than ever to be more transparent towards the public. There have also been numerous examples in the news of severe negligence when it comes to records management, and even more cases of fraud.

We’ve created a checklist of different activities you need to look out for and how steps you should take to stop fraud taking place.

Charity fraud, whether internal or external, can lead to severe consequences for the charity involved. It can result in loss of credibility, large fines, investigations and

in some cases, closure of the charity.

Transparency is key, not only to show donors and the public that the charity is operating fairly and legally, but to ensure all staff can be alert to any significant changes, which may raise red flags.

Protect your charity and make sure you hire credible accountants to carry out audits frequently. As a charity and not-for-profit specialist, Raffingers is capable of carrying out this activity and our Partners will also keep you informed of the latest changes affecting your organisation.

Contact us to schedule a free no-obligation meeting and let us help with your charity’s needs.

1. Misuse of Charity Funds

4. Unauthorised Funding

Unfortunately, it is becoming more common that staff members or volunteers may be committing fraud. From taking cash to misusing credit cards. Make sure regular audits take place.

Individuals will use the charity’s name and maybe an unfortunate event to try profit from people’s kindness and goodwill. They may ask for card payments or fundraise in public. Verify whether proceeds go to your charity.

CHARITY

5. False Invoicing

2. False Expenses This is another example of internal fraud where a member of staff may claim a large amount of expenses, which do not reflect what was actually spent. Ensure receipts are submitted with claim forms.

INVOICE

£

3. Donation Scams

£££

This is when charities are told they will receive a large donation, but are given the condition that they must transfer a large portion of that donation to another charity abroad. The money goes to the scammer’s account.

This is when staff submit false invoices from non-existing companies to the charity and pay them without question. The money then goes to the staff member’s personal account.

6. Strange Bank Account CARD 0000 0000 0000 0000 Company

Exp 20/20

A company you usually make payments to may send a letter or email asking you to transfer money to a different bank account instead. Contact another individual to double-check if the bank details are correct.

For advice on any of the items highlighted, contact:

Lee Manning 020 8418 2662 | lee.manning@raffingers.co.uk

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Is your Charity Missing Out on “Touch and Go”?

There are many ways donors can give money to charities. The traditional way of using cash collection boxes is still very common at events, at your local chippy, news agents and butchers just to list a few. You also see “charity muggers”, holding a cash collection bucket when you do your daily or weekly supermarket runs.

Contactless was introduced to the UK ten years ago. It has been reported that more than half the transactions, up to the £30 spending limit, are made using some form of contactless pay. Also, there is Apple and Android pay available for smart phone users.

In 2016, Barclaycard started testing their lightweight portable box that looks similar to a cash donation box, but with a touch and go payment point built into it. According to Barclaycard, this was the first in the market to accept both Chip and PIN and contactless donations, including those made by wearable and mobile devices.

How does this work? The card company or the bank will supply the charity with a box that will have the contactless technology embedded in the collection box. The charity will then need to decide the level of donation that will be collected each time a donor touches the contactless point. Ideally this amount should be set at a level that donors are willing to

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give. Charites should also factor in where these boxes are going to be placed. For example, if a volunteer is holding a collection box outside the local Tesco then it is advisable to set the level at £1 for each “touch”.

A few charities have trialled contactless donation boxes with great success, with reports from the bank claiming donations tend to be higher on average with contactless as opposed to cash donations. There are even cathedrals in England that want to adopt “tapto-donate” as visitors rarely carry cash.

This is the ideal time for charities, regardless of the size, to contact their bank and enquire into contactless collection boxes. Also, I am sure the regulators at Charity Commission will love the fact that your charity is reducing the risk of cash fraud substantially by using contactless payments. Every retail outlet is offering this service so it is time charities embraced this “new tech” payment method too.

For more information, contact: Adam Moody 020 8418 2683 adam.moody@raffingers.co.uk

GDPR – Should charities be Afraid?

GDPR – Your Questions Answered

We have had many warnings stating “GDPR is coming in 2018”. You should have heard of new GDPR changes within the last year.

If you have not heard of it (which would be worrying!) then there is no need to worry too much, as you have enough time to prepare, but you need to start now! The actual regulation is coming into effect from 25 May 2018. Why 25 May and not 1 May or June? One for EU commissioners to answer!

1. What is the difference between GDPR and PECR, or do they overlap?

GDPR will supersede the outdated Data Protection Act (DPA) and will bring in tighter rules concerning processing and who organisations can contact.

GDPR will also address a number of issues including electronic data storage.

What problems are charities going to face with GDPR? It will change the way charities contact their current and potential donors. If you are sending emails to individual donors, both potential and current, then you will need consent from the individuals. However, how you receive and record that consent itself is tricky. The ICO published draft guidance on this in March and promised to produce detailed guidance in 2017.

Data Subject rights, which allow individuals to have the right to have their data erased and access to any data held on them for free, which will also be expected as part of the new regulations. This was not possible under the old DPA, except under certain circumstances.

The GDPR does however retain the requirement that data should not be kept longer than necessary. There is no set limit and charities will have to decide how long is necessary for them to keep the data.

If you have not already done so, we recommend carrying out an audit, and work out where you are storing/recording data. Where do you keep records of individual donors? Develop a strategy and document it.

For more information, contact: Barry Soraff 020 8418 2663 barry.soraff@raffingers.co.uk

GDPR lays down the rules relating to the processing of personal data, which includes use of emails etc.

However, the Privacy Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) specifically looks at electronic marketing.

There is some overlap between the two; however, regarding sending marketing emails to individuals on their personal email addresses. PECR will cover all forms of electronic (both personal and nonpersonal).

2. With existing data, do you have to get consent to continue using it?

Yes, you will need to get consent for using existing data if you have not already. However, note, you may already have this by way of a signed contract.

3. If personal information is coded rather than directly identifiable to individuals, does this still fall under GDPR rules?

Yes, this does as it is still personal data, but it has been pseudonymised/anonymised, which does not remove it from the scope of GDPR, but instead it reduces the risk associated with the personal data.

4. How about getting information from a third party?

The same rules under GDPR still apply. But you need to first clarify whether you are a data processor or controller. If you are a data controller, then the GDPR rules will need to be followed. If you are a data processor you need to understand the contract/arrangement you have with the data controller and if this is GDPR complaint.

5. If there is a processor working with the controller, whose responsibility is it to report the breach to the ICO - does the processor tell the controller who can report?

Data controller/owner remains responsible for service providers’ data processing and their breach.

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Partner’s Perspective

Charities and Trading: How to Optimise Revenue Stream Mention the word charity trading, the first thing that comes to mind is a café or souvenir shop. Charity Commission surveys are always highlighting that more and more charities are turning to trading as another source of generating income. Brexit and the uncertainty this brings will certainly have some impact on the UK economy. If you have not set up a trading subsidiary, this may be a good time to start one.

Can charities trade? Yes, they can! Trading is a commercial activity, however charities can trade and charities of all sizes do. You can be charged for courses, entry fees for activities, sell goods, such as Christmas cards and the operation of cafés. There are restrictions on charity trading though.

Setting up a trading subsidiary is not that simple and there are some traps charities must watch out for.

Charity Law in the UK imposes restrictions on the nature and level of trading activity that charities can carry out. Charities need to decide on the purpose of the trade. Is it primary or non-primary purpose trading?

The former is carried out to fulfil the charity’s main objectives and the latter is carried out simply to raise funds. For example, a charity that helps with special needs children’s care during school hours has a café, which will be treated as primary purpose trading. This is because this activity is complementing the charity’s primary purpose.

• Reporting - How your trading subsidiary will be included in the parent charity.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will definitely show an interest in the trading subsidiary. A trading subsidiary needs to watch out when donating all its taxable profits. The trading subsidiary can donate the lower of its accounting profits and distributable profits. Fall foul of this rule and the parent charity may be liable to repay any unlawful distribution by its trading subsidiary. Should the trading subsidiary income exceed £85,000 (2017) then it will have to register for VAT. There are additional reporting requirements should the trading subsidiary register for VAT, i.e. submitting quarterly VAT returns to HMRC. Therefore, before you set up a trading subsidiary we advise you seek expert advice.

Charities can trade, however, Charity Law in the UK imposes restrictions on the nature and level of trading activity that charities can carry out.

The key points to consider when thinking about setting up a trading subsidy: • Governing document – Does your governing document allow you to trade?

• Investment - Do you have any money to invest in the beginning?

• Structure – Who will be the board members?

• Risk – Safeguarding existing assets of the charity.

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For more information, please contact: Roy Butcher 020 8418 2673 roy.butcher@raffingers.co.uk

Charity Commission Crackdown The Charity Commission seems to be taking a hard-line approach on charities failing to file relevant financial documents on time.

In July 2017, we saw the Charity Commission issuing its first official warning to a charity. The warning was given to National Hereditary Breast Helpline after the charity found itself in financial difficulty. The Charity also failed to comply with the Charity Commission’s action plan to put right “lack of financial controls”. According to the Commission, the trustees have taken some action already and will continue to monitor the Charity. This is a “shot across the bow” for other charities who have weak financial controls.

Recently, the Charity Commission opened an enquiry into a charity that had not filed financial statements since it was set up in 2015. The Charity Commission sighted that there were serious regulatory concerns about the management and administration of the charity. The enquiry is also going to look at whether the trustees are “fit” to discharge their legal duties in relation to the charity.

Maybe the above two are signs of things to come if charities step out of line in relation to finance, systems and controls.

We are increasingly seeing cases of charities, both small and well-known, in which huge errors are being made due to negligence, mismanagement of documents and late submissions to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In addition, there have also been more cases of internal fraud within charities. With both happenings, it has never been more important to improve internal governance and systems. It is also very important to be transparent and regain public trust.

For more support, please contact: Paul Dell 020 8418 2688 paul.dell@raffingers.co.uk

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