[William Clemmey]

Dear Jacqueline
I am happy to recommend my niece Esther Clemmey who would be delighted to help you. She lives in Reading

Her work contact is:

Esther.clemmey@integrity365.co.uk
07353159225

all the best
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Tina
I recall a previous forum post on Legionella and why you probably dont need it
The Almshouse administration might be able to find it – I could not on a search of topics
We no longer carry out the tests having undertaken a risk assessment
Good old Google states
Almshouse providers are legally required to carry out a Legionella risk assessment, but routine laboratory water testing or sampling is generally not legally required unless the risk assessment identifies a specific reason for it.
Legal Obligations for Almshouses
Risk Assessment: Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and COSHH regulations, almshouse charities (as providers of residential accommodation) have a legal duty to assess and manage the risk of exposure to Legionella bacteria.
The Almshouse Association notes that providers must arrange for a competent person to complete a formal risk assessment.
No Certificate Needed: There is no official legal requirement for a generic “Legionella Test Certificate”. Instead, authorities look for a documented risk assessment, a control scheme, and up-to-date monitoring records.
Control Measures vs. Testing
Routine Testing: Actual microbiological water sampling (laboratory testing) is rarely necessary for standard domestic hot and cold water systems. It is usually reserved for complex industrial systems, cooling towers, or specific high-risk setups.
Operational Monitoring: Rather than lab tests, the focus should be on practical controls, such as regular temperature monitoring, flushing little-used outlets, cleaning showerheads, and keeping a detailed logbook.
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municpal.charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Chris
Sadly not – we are paying double community charge on 2 flats which are taking ages to get planning permission for refurbishing them – partly due to an incompetent architect
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Briony
We bank with Lloyds – setting up the new CIO account with them took 7 months and we gained £140 in compensation
But the online banking works well and you can have dual authorisation which is obviously important and not always there for some banks

In a previous life I used to recommend Unity Trust Bank who gave a great service – again offering dual (even triple) authorisation.

On all of these accounts your Finance and Risk committee can have online access – the joy of the Unity account was that you could control levels of authorisation of expenditure which you cannot do with Lloyds – we just do this internally

If you do have staff its worth thinking about the date you choose to transfer all of the assets and liabilities from the old charity to the CIO
We did this at 11.59 pm on 30 September 2023. The result is that since the CIO has to register as a new entity with HMRC we obtained 2 lots of the Employment Allowance that year -so we gained £5000 from becoming a CIO (the figure is now £10,500 which will help pay your legal costs)

Both Lloyds and Unity charge a monthly fee which is probably the same for most others such as CAF bank

A quick Google search on “Charity bank accounts without a fee” brought up some options you could try

all the best with it
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Nick
thanks for the reply
Interesting idea to include the costs of refurbishment in your Void calculation
Do you have an average amount you use or is it the actual figure and if so what is the range
Many thanks
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@muncipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Ruth
All of our staff and trustees have an enhanced level of DBS clearance
This ensures that any of them could be alone with a resident at any time and we dont need to worry from a safeguarding point of view
Our provider has not queried this. We are not able to apply for the adult regulated activity but nobody carries out such a role on a regular basis
Contact
Access Personal Checking Services Ltd (APCS)
46 Seaview Road, Wallasey, CH45 4LA
Tel: 0343 611 2727 enquiries@accesspcs.co.uk
They are also very reasonable priced – £10.80for our trustees and volunteers
Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Tina
I would highly recommend becoming a CIO since its probably going to take you a fair amount of time to come up with a suitable modern template whereas the CIO one is there for the picking
Happy to share our constitution and all the documents that went with it such as GANTT chart for undertaking the change, TUPE letters, transfer deeds and vesting document
Otherwise why not use the Model Trust Deed for a Unincorporated Charity GD3 on the Charity Commission website
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-up-a-charity-model-governing-documents
and add your current objects

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Michelle
I must admit I find the idea of charities employing people to lead them on a self employed basis to be a difficult one. Some of the issues for me include who has overall control of the person and possible loyalty to an organisation (though I am sure self employed people can be equally loyal)
The HMRC website cites 2 other issues
Substitution: A truly self-employed individual should theoretically have the right to send a qualified substitute to do the work or attend a meeting if they are unavailable. If the trustees insist that only that specific person can do the work, HMRC views it closer to employment.

Financial Risk and Integration: As a sole trader, the clerk should use their own equipment (like a personal laptop and phone), issue professional invoices to the charity, and ideally hold their own professional indemnity insurance. They should not receive standard employee benefits like holiday pay, sick pay, or a workplace pension.

Its useful to check the employment or self employment tool on the HMRC website

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

With regard to Sue’s point on salary we pay £31.45 an hour working with 46 units as well as a turnover of over £700,000

Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Clare
We have produced a Climate Policy and Net Zero Strategy which is potential starter towards your resilience policy. Its very much a wish list as well as what we currently seek to achieve. I love the ide of water butts to flush toilets – strange how I had never heard of this before today when it was also mentioned on the radio.
Very happy to share our policy with you if you send me an email
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municpal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

About 10 years ago now the Trustees agreed that no future applicants who smoked would be admitted as residents
That left 2 smokers one of whom was addicted to smoking and the smoke rose up through the corridors of our grade 1 listed building. Sadly he died last year and we had to fumigate the premises and repaint everything in their flat to get rid of the smell
The other person smokes outside
If the applicant states that they smoke then their application is automatically rejected
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municpal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

We are currently looking at the Almshouse Association guidance on this and hope to be able to avoid any of us having to take the qualification and wait until a retirement occurs to appoint somebody with the qualification or somebody willing to take it
I find it ironic that with an MSC in Charity Resource Management I could potentially be asked to undertake this housing qualification when on a day to day basis I dont make many housing decisions. Our Scheme Manager undertakes the day to day organisation of repairs along with the handymen. Our Finance Officer deals with WMC and arrears
None of us really has the overall responsibilities that a larger provider might need
We have 46 almshouse flats
Our MP has written to the Government to query why we might need to undertake this qualification
If there was something shorter – say 30 hours then I would be happy to complete it but the thought of 8 hours a week for a year is too much

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

I would be interested in a written policy as well
At present if a resident has an issue they contact the lifeline who then contact our Scheme manager who decides whether it needs dealing with then in which case one of our handymen will be asked to go out or the local building contractor we use

If a member of staff goes out then the following is our policy on overtime pay
if you act as “on-call” contact for an out of hour’s emergency or to cover the duties of another member of staff. Where you are asked to do the on call you will receive pay at double your normal hourly rate for any such hours worked above your normal contracted hours with a minimum payment of one hour.

Hope that helps and look forward to others policies

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Ronnie
Very happy to share our Fire Risk assessments which we originally commissioned from professionals and now simply update on an annual basis ourselves
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Suzanne
I know we used to do it many years ago. Sadly if you continue with this excellent idea you will have to pay the Council tax in full. Grom Google another point to consider is that letting almshouse units to family and friends rather than fulfilling the charity’s official objects (typically providing low-cost housing for local people in financial need) can breach charity commission rules and jeopardize the charity’s governance status
William Clemmey

[William Clemmey]

Dear Cherry
We have registered woth Neighbourly https://www.neighbourly.com/accounts/login?returnUrl=%252Fmycausevolunteering and have had volunteers from B and Q and Another organisation to help with our gardens
We have also registered team days with Go Vo https://govo.org/ no success si far but early days

Do you have a local horticultural college who might be able to help?
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

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