Charities Act 2022: don’t panic, the changes are mostly beneficial

[IN FEBRUARY the Charities Bill received Royal Assent and passed into law as the Charities Act 2022. Recommendations from the Law Commission formed the basis for the provisions of the new legislation and theAct is designed to give trustees more flexibility to manage charities effectively.

In an update, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) pointed out that the changes will not have a big impact on charities’ daily operations but simplify certain areas of regulation.

The ICAEW published a summary of the headlines and what they will mean for charities. • Amending the charity’s governing document: most charities will • be able to amend their governing documents or Royal Charters • more easily – remaining subject to the commission and the Privy • Council’s approval in certain circumstances, such as where • changes to the charity’s objects are proposed • Access a wider range of professional advisers on the sale of land: • charities will have access to a much wider pool of professional • advisers on land disposal, and to more straightforward rules on what • advice they must receive • Using a permanent endowment more flexibly: most legal restrictions • on how charities can use permanent endowments stay in place, but • there will be more flexibility in some areas • Paying their trustees for goods in certain circumstances: trustees • will be able to be paid for goods provided to a charity in certain • circumstances, even if not expressly stated in the charity’s • governing document – currently trustees can only be paid for supply • of services • Spend funds raised by failed fundraising appeals: charities will be • able to take advantage of simpler and more proportionate rules on • failed appeals • More flexibility to make ex gratia payments: ex gratia payments are • currently subject to strict rules which will be relaxed so that certain • small payments will no longer require Charity Commission approval.

The Charity Commission has now entered into a process of implementing the legislative changes, which it describes as one of its business priorities for 2022. The gradual implementation process is expected to last until the autumn next year and involves updating Charity Commission guidance, both for trustees and for their own staff. Importantly, according to the ICAEW, the commission will provide updates when each of the provisions come into force and when revised guidance, or online services, are available to charities.

In a blog, Aarti Thakor of the Charity Commission wrote: “This is a moment for celebration. We welcome the provisions of the legislation, which originated with recommendations from the Law Commission and are primarily aimed at making life easier for trustees, helping them maximise the benefits their charity delivers. While the changes are largely technical, they are designed to make a positive, practical difference to charities, and the commission as regulator.” q

Rescue centre offers a lifeline to injured wildlife

[HESSILHEAD WILDLIFE RESCUE TRUST is situated near Beith, in North Ayrshire. It was set up as a charity in 1986, although its founders Andy and Gay had been caring for injured and orphaned wildlife since 1970, when they rescued a fox cub from a gamekeeper and his dogs. As the number of casualties increased year on year, Andy and Gay needed financial and practical help.

Once the trust was set up, new aviaries and enclosures were built. A membership scheme proved popular and many volunteers were recruited. The centre now occupies a 20-acre site, including woodland, marsh and open water. That gives a variety of release sites for its patients.

Approximately 3,500 wildlife casualties are now treated each year, with the aim of returning them to the wild. Among the many hedgehogs, foxes and familiar garden birds there are deer, otters, badgers and seals. All have been rescued and are rehabilitated. In addition, swans are treated regularly, along with buzzards, peregrines, herons and sea birds.

The centre operates a 24-hour rescue service and there are more than 60 enclosures and aviaries, a hedgehog hospital, a seal/swan unit and intensive care facility. It also offers training courses on the handling, care and treatment of wildlife casualties.

Spring and summer are especially busy, with hundreds of nestling birds being hand reared. Care is taken to rear all youngsters with minimum human contact. That prevents wild birds and mammals becoming too used to people, so giving them a good chance of survival in the wild.

Hessilhead is primarily a voluntary organisation. Its volunteers help in many ways: fundraising, building and maintenance, driving patients to the centre and daily cleaning and feeding. q

Charity campaigns against environmental abuse

[INVESTIGATING AND CAMPAIGNING against environmental crime and abuse is the 35-year struggle of charity Environmental Investigation Agency UK.

Its undercover investigations expose transnational wildlife crime – with a focus on elephants, pangolins and tigers – and forest crimes such as illegal logging and deforestation for cash crops such as palm oil. The charity works to safeguard global marine ecosystems by addressing the threats posed by plastic pollution, by catch and commercial exploitation of whales, dolphins and porpoises.

More generally, they help to reduce the impact of climate change by campaigning to eliminate powerful refrigerant greenhouse gases, exposing related illicit trade and improving energy efficiency in the coolant sector.

The findings of their investigations are used in hard-hitting reports to campaign for improved governance and more effective law enforcement – such as its latest Running Out of Time report, which examines the fast-growing role of Vietnam as a hub for illegal wildlife trade and the country's failure to respond to the crisis.

Their field experience is used to provide guidance to enforcement agencies and they form partnerships with local groups and activists to support their work through hands-on training.

The scale of the problems they face can be disheartening and the truths they uncover can be shocking. Their programmes of work build on decades of campaign successes and nail-biting undercover investigations by a small group of tenacious activists, from documenting the slaughter of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands, to securing a global ivory trade ban at CITES, contributing to the Montreal Protocol on climate change and the adoption of the EU Timber Regulation to protect forests.

A gift to EIA in your will is an investment in wildlife and habitat conservation. They have already achieved so much, with your help they will continue to keep the pressure on for generations to come. q • For further information tel 0207 354 7960 or visit the website at eia-international.org