[Nick Stiven]

Debbie

This is a very interesting and sensible idea.

If I had a new Warden who needed mentoring, and my current (excellent) Warden was not available to give any mentoring, I would approach one of our local almshouse charities, whose attitude and performance I respected, and ask if one of their experienced wardens could help.

Our local almshouses benefit from an active peer support group (the Wessex Almshouse Group) so I don’t think finding someone would be too difficult.

I suspect there should be a formal set of ground rules for the arrangement, and I’m sure we would be able to look up something suitable with Google or the like.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Catherine

Try, courtesy of Mr Google:

https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/charity-whistleblowing-policy-template/

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Lesley

We use CCLA for our accumulating funds and M&G for our income funds.

Our funds are not big or complicated enough to justify the use of a bespoke investment manager.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Andrea

Under the Equality Act 2010, single-sex charities are legally permitted to provide services exclusively to one sex, but this exception must be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Following the Government’s single-sex space guidance updates and the EHRC Code of Practice, you should ensure your justifcation is robustly documented, objective, and evidence-backed.

When drafting a supporting policy rationale, you can justify your criteria by linking the restriction to specific, verifiable benefits, such as:
• Evidence of Disproportionate Need: Highlight data showing that older women encounter distinct socio-economic challenges, such as lower average retirement incomes, greater risks of isolation, or higher rates of relying on social housing.
• Privacy and Dignity: Because you manage a small, intimate community of six almshouses, a single-sex environment can be justified on the grounds of resident privacy, mutual comfort, and a shared communal living experience.

Suggested Steps for Your Trustees:
1. Draft a Defensible Rationale Statement. Do not rely solely on the 1811 historical founding intent. Trustees should record a written, contemporary justification detailing exactly why a female-only restriction is still necessary today – using the notes above.
2. Gather Local and National Data. Collect evidence (e.g., local council housing waiting lists, UK poverty indices for older women) to prove the ongoing local demand for female-specific housing.
3. Align with Sector Guidance. Ensure your Equality and Diversity Policy follows the Almshouse Association’s model, to ensure your application processes match current compliance measures.

Reckon that should do it!

That said, I wonder who you think is going to be ‘going after you’ regarding this topic? Like us, you’re pretty small fry in a very large pool … !

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Richard

We get Utility Aid to do our research for us. It’s worked pretty well for the last 10 years – but war will always raise the price of oil and there is not much you can do about that, but choose the most advantageous 3-4 year fixed price contracts you can, when renewal time comes round.

I certainly wouldn’t try to outguess the energy market on my own. Not my skill set, as they say.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Chris

Yes.

We have had such an agreement in place since 1997. We have an additional ‘lodger contingent of 12 units on our 19 unit site. Our Warden acts as Welfare Officer for all 31 units and as Site Manager for me. We share Warden costs and site-wide property management and utilty costs on a pro-rata basis.

It’s simple and based on common sense.

Send me your email address and I can pass it on to you, for you to adapt.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Richard

It looks like William may have beaten me to it, but I copied and pasted your post into Google and requested an AI answer. This is Google’s answer:

‘The process you’ve embarked on is unnecessarily clunky, and there is a much simpler way.

The fundamental roadblock your team hit with Google for Nonprofits is a common chicken-and-egg problem: Google requires an active domain name (e.g., yourcharity.org.uk) to verify ownership before they grant access to free workspace tools. However, you absolutely do not need to build a complex website with a provider like Krystal first just to unlock this. By altering your order of operations slightly, you can build a secure, private hub for your 6-person team smoothly and affordably.

🗺️ The Simplified Step-by-Step Blueprint

Instead of wrestling with hosting providers or coding a website, use this streamlined sequence:

Step 1: Buy Your Domain Name (The Only Initial Requirement) To pass Google’s verification, you simply need to own your domain name.

Action: Go directly to a domain registrar such as Google Domains / Squarespace or Namecheap.

Cost: Roughly £10 to £15 per year. Buy a professional extension like .org.uk or .charity.

Crucial Note: You only need to purchase the name itself. Do not pay for web hosting, website builders, or email packages yet.

Step 2: Register with Charity Digital (UK validation) Google verifies UK charities using an organization called Charity Digital.

Action: Register your almshouse charity on the Charity Digital Exchange. You will need your Charity Commission registration number.

Outcome: They will provide you with a validation token (a long code) that proves your status to global tech firms.

Step 3: Apply for Google for Nonprofits

Now you are ready to approach Google without the friction.

Action: Go to Google for Nonprofits and sign up using your new domain name and the Charity Digital validation token.

Outcome: Once approved, you gain access to Google Workspace for Nonprofits completely free of charge for basic tiers.

💻 Solving Your Setup: Email, Storage, and the “Website”

Once Google approves your account, you can fulfill your entire technical wishlist directly inside the Google ecosystem—bypassing external software entirely:

Trustee Emails
Create 6 free, professional addresses (e.g., richard@yourcharity.org.uk) in the Google Admin Console.Document

Storage
Use a Google Shared Drive. This belongs to the charity itself, meaning if a trustee leaves, the documents stay securely in the drive.

Trustees-Only Website
Use Google Sites (included free). It features a drag-and-drop builder to make a private “Intranet” portal.

Building a Private “Trustees-Only” Portal
Your desire for a private website is easily achieved via Google Sites: You can build a simple page to host your meeting calendar, policy documents, and announcements.When publishing the site, you simply change the privacy settings from “Public” to “Restricted – Only people in this organization can view.” This creates a secure, private dashboard that only your 5 trustees and secretary can access when logged into their charity emails.

Alternative Path: Microsoft 365

If your fellow trustees are deeply accustomed to using Microsoft Word and Excel rather than Google Docs, consider Microsoft 365 for Nonprofits. The setup process is identical (Buy domain \[\rightarrow \] Validate with Charity Digital \[\rightarrow \] Apply to Microsoft).

Microsoft offers up to 10 free “Business Premium” licenses for charities, which gives your team access to Microsoft Teams, Outlook emails, secure cloud storage via SharePoint, and a private intranet environment.’

__________

Clever Mr Google … !

If you do the same as I did, you will not only get this answer, but links to explanatory articles/YouTube videos etc (which I have left out) Plus pertinent ‘further questions’ that Google might well ask you that you may not have realised were relevant.

Hope this helps!

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Briony

We are an unincorporated trust, with 7 trustees and me. Hitherto, we have been CAF Bank customers and suffered from all the performance-related problems that has meant – from the non-standard clunkiness of CAF Bank’s interface to its 2 week web portal shutdown.

Lloyds Bank refused us as their policy is not to deal with unincorporated charities. They interpret the KYC regulations as requiring them to verify the IDs and provenance of EACH trustee – and this, they think, is too much hassle for them. Barclays think the same, by the look of it, but will accept charities with up to 3 trustees, on the basis, presumably, that verifying up to 3 trustees is manageable. It’s odd that they are not prepared to accept a CIO with more than 3 trustees.

Thankfully, however, we have just been accepted as customers by HSBC for their Charity Business Account. The ‘on-boarding’ process has to be carried out off-line with an HSBC Business Banking consultant, and is reassuringly detailed and not too taxing.

HSBC say that they are not worried at all about trustee numbers – the Charity Commission do vet all trustees after all. They concern themselves with Account Signatories. To HSBC, the appointed Signatories are the charity’s ‘banking powers that-be’, and they limit them to 4. Seems very sensible.

If anyone wants advice on the HSBC on-boarding process, the paperwork required, and the necessary plan to migrate manually from CAF Bank to HSBC (as CAF are not in the automatic transfer system) , I would be happy to help.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Jacqueline

Have you ever had a look at the (free) Charity Intelligence website, and in particular, their section on investments?

Click on:

https://www.charityintelligence.co.uk/investments/

We were dismayed by CCLA’s dreadful 2025 performance and the Charity Intelligence website showed just how poor their figures were, compared to their peers. We worked up a shortlist of better performing/lower cost alternative funds, using Charity Intelligence’s data, confirmed with a friendly ‘wealth manager’ that we were thinking along the right lines, and then transferred our interest accounts over to a better performing (and cheaper) fund manager two months ago.

Hope this helps.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

William

Interestingly, our figures are almost identical to yours!

Our budgeted ‘Voids Cost’ includes the cost of refurbishments as well as lost income.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Dennis

I have no direct experience of such software, but wonder if you have looked at:

Top 15 Fundraising Software Picks for Better Results in 2026

I’d try there first and see if any providers say they deal with charities like you, or have reviews from charities like you.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Lisa

We don’t have (or need) a MPLC Licence, although we do arrange and pay for Concessional TV Licenses (another thing altogether) for eligible residents. Residents who are ineligible for Concessional Licenses pay for their own licences.

You only need to apply for an MPLC Licence to legally show movies and television programs in shared communal spaces.

When Do You Need a Licence, specifically?

• Group Activities: Required if you host planned movie nights, film screenings, or organized entertainment.

• Communal Areas: Needed if TVs or screens play films and shows in shared lounges, dining rooms, or reception spaces.

• Staff Areas: Covers entertainment screens in staff break rooms.

What is Exempt?

• Private Rooms: Residents watching television or films inside their own individual flats/cottages do not need a licence (any more than you do at your own home).

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Lisa

You are legally permitted to decline an applicant on the basis that they smoke. Under UK law, smoking is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, meaning you have the right to choose whether or not you want to make accommodation available to individuals who smoke. Your past experience with a costly and traumatic eviction provides a very reasonable background for your caution.

Neither are you obliged to make a full disclosure to a rejected applicant as to precisely why they have been rejected. It’s a bit like dating – in the final analysis, some people just don’t ‘fit’, and no amount of debriefing them is going to help anyone. It could also be counterproductively hurtful to do so.

So, what to do?

Remember that selecting an almhouse resident is not an entirely objective exercise. Yes, there are some objective pre-conditions, usually set out in your Scheme. But there are subjective considerations also.

So, first, make sure you carry out a screening interview for every applicant. Test the validity of their eligibility under your Scheme (poor, good character, live in your area of interest, ex-Services – whatever). Then, crucially, decide, deep within yourself, whether you think they will fit in to your existing community.

You’re not in the business of offering therapy. You’re not going to change people’s anti-social behaviour (be that playing Dire Straits at 3.00 am, or stinking the place out by smoking). So you have to be happy your existing community can live with any proposed new resident. If you aren’t entirely comfortable about someone’s character or behaviour, you simply don’t offer them accommodation.

If you don’t like disapponting any applicant, try gently letting down those who will never fit in to your almshouse community with something like: ‘Thank you for applying for accommodation with us. We will let you know when any suitable accommodation becomes available’.

Whether ‘suitable accommodation’ ever comes up is then up to you … !

This tactic works best, of course, if you encourage people to join an Applicants List, before you have vacancies.

I hope this helps.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Michele,

On my PC, I selected your question, right-clicked and asked Google AI for an opinion. This is what Google came back with:

‘The role of a Clerk or Secretary to an Almshouse Charity can be structured as either employed or self-employed (engaged via a contract for services), depending on how the trustees set up the position and the day-to-day working arrangement.

Employed Status
• How it works: The clerk is a direct employee of the charity. The charity must register as an employer, operate PAYE (Pay As You Earn) for tax and National Insurance, and provide statutory employment rights such as holiday pay and pension auto-enrolment.
• When used: This is typical when the role requires fixed hours, close supervision by the trustees, integration into the charity’s internal staff hierarchy, or regular on-site administration.

Self-Employed (Contractor) Status
• How it works: The individual operates under a contract for services, meaning they act as an independent contractor or freelancer (or through their own limited company). They invoice the charity for their time or agreed deliverables and handle their own tax, National Insurance, and professional indemnity insurance.
• When used: Many smaller almshouse charities or corporate secretaries/management organizations engage clerks this way, especially when the work is part-time, highly independent, and performed with minimal day-to-day supervision.

Important Considerations for Trustees
• HMRC Rules: The actual working practices dictate the status, not just what the contract says. If HMRC investigates and finds a “self-employed” contract is actually disguised employment, the charity can be held liable for back taxes and National Insurance.
• Governing Documents: Trustees must check the charity’s specific trust deed or governing scheme to ensure there are no restrictions regarding how administrative support or officer roles are paid or appointed.
• Guidance: You can consult resources through The Almshouse Association or seek professional advice from a charity employment specialist to determine the safest approach for your specific setup.’

Why don’t you have a go and do the same, and see how you get on? Google will often identify areas of uncertainty where, depending on your particular circumstances, there might be further information you would need to consider.

For what it’s worth, I’m an employee on the payroll (so the Charity sorts out my tax for me), while my predecessor was self-employed … .

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

[Nick Stiven]

Sue

It all depends … !

The Wessex Almshouse Group (almshouse clerks within a 40-50 miles radius of Salisbury) carried out a benchmarking survey in 2025 (the next will be in 2028).

Clerk’s pay/hr was reported, on average, as:

40+ units £34.26 (31 hrs pw)
25-39 units £23.72 (34 hrs pw)
11-24 units £20.36 (17 hrs pw)
2-10 units £12.10 (6 hrs pw)

What you end up paying depends on so many factors. The main one, of course, is the job spec.

However (and probably unfairly) employers often factor in whether the applicant is already in receipt of a pension (ie. ‘Do they need the job, or is it really just pin-money for someone staving off boredom?’).

I hope this helps.

Nick Stiven
clerk@stjohnswilton.org.uk

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