[William Clemmey]

Jennifer
When Residents join us they sign a set of regulations which includes the following
These fact sheets request that the names and addresses of the next of kin should be supplied to the Trustees, together with information as to whether a Will has been made and, if so, where it is deposited and the name of the executor(s). If a Will does not exist, residents must agree to rectify this within three months of occupancy.

We currently have one resident who has not done this and who has no next of kin and so is worried about what will happen when he dies and wants to appoint the charity as executors – we are not sure that this would work

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Chris
As a Registered Provider we have to send out a Resident’s Survey each year The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in England requires social landlords to collect 12 specific tenant perception measures (TP01–TP12) using exact, verbatim question wording and standardized response scales.
We add our own questions to this about how residents feel about our maintenance programme etc
If you send me an email I would be happy to send this across to you
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Many thanks to all those who have replied.
The National Lottery is great for up to £20,000 for things like free wifi for our residents; cctv, Tai Chi classes and warm hub costs

With regard to new Almshouses we are going to have to be realistic. As a Registered Provider we can probably get 35-40% of the funding from Homes England via the Almshouse Consortium. Its the rest of the money I am having difficulty with – potentially a few million.
All other ideas welcomed
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Annette
We would be happy to share our Disaster Recovery Plan
Do let me have your email on this forum or email me directly
all the best
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Sarah
As part of our conversion process we are aiming to remove permanent endowments from the underlying charities and move the assets to the CIO. This worked fine for the majority of the charities since we relied on the Charity Commission not responding within the 60 days objection period.
However, since one charity did not have a dissolution clause we needed a Section 105 of the Charities Act 2011 to allow the Trustees to transfer the entire permanent endowment of John Roberts to the CIO free from restriction.
We are awaiting a response after 23 months and so will be putting in a formal complaint
As for solicitors fees – I do think we could have done a lot more ourselves and saved money

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

[William Clemmey]

Miranda
I have sent an email with attachments to the charity contact- rwcharities@gmail.com including CIO constitution, GANTT chart for conversion process, a copy of our application to the Charity Commission including the new objects and reasons for them, TUPE documentation for those with staff, a vesting declaration, minutes for the transfer of assets between the existing charity and the CIO, a letter to Homes England- for Registered providers who have had previous loans from Homes England or its predecessors
All the best and happy to help further
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

We use
Access Personal Checking Services Ltd
46 Seaview Road
Wallasey
CH45 4LA
Tel: 0343 611 2727
Email: enquiries@accesspcs.co.uk

Cost is circa £9 admin plus DBS cost per volunteer
Quick and easy online
No up front charges

Then get the volunteer to sign up to the free DBS Update service for volunteers
DBS Update Service
William Clemmey
Chiefofficer@municipal_charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Dear Sally
Yes we reviewed this last year and put some to 3 or 4 years
I shall email you our list – happy to share any of the policies
MUNICIPAL CHARITIES INDEX OF CORE POLICIES

A1. Risk Management Every 2 years
A2. Investment Annual
A3. Safeguarding Annual
A4. Conflict of Interest
Every 4 years
A5. Financial Procedures Annual
A6. Complaints Policy and Procedure Every 4 years
A7. Anti-Social Behaviour Every 5 years
A8. Health & Safety Annual
A9. Equality and Diversity
Every 2 years
A10. Data Protection Every 3 years
A11. Reserves Annual
A12. Legionella Management Every 4 years
A13. Managing Volunteers Every 5 years
A14 Disciplinary Policy Every 4 years
A15 Grievance Policy Every 4 years
A16 Equal Opportunity Recruitment Policy Every 4 years
A17 Whistleblowing Policy Every 4 years
A18 Bullying and Harassment Policy Every 4 years
A19 Policy and Procedure for the Safe Recruitment of Ex Offenders Every 6 years
A20 Work Life Balance Policy Every two years
A21 Social Media Policy Every three years
A22 Independent Living Policy Every three years
A23 Pet Policy Every three years
A24 Family Friendly Policy Every two years
A25 Serious Incidence Reporting Policy Every three years
A26 Disaster Recovery Policy and Procedure Every three years
A27 Trustee Recruitment and Induction Policy Every two years
A28 Management of Change Policy Every two years
A29 Investment Policy Every Year
A30 Information and Data Security Policy Every three years
A31 Campaigns and Political Activity Policy Every three years
A32 Menopause Policy Every three years
A33 Carers Leave Policy Every three years
A34 CCTV policy Every four years
A35 Lone Working Policy Every three years
People and Governance September 2026 and then Board September 2026
A37 Death in Residency Policy Every three years
A38 Weekly Maintenance and Support Costs Contribution arrears Policy Every three years

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

[William Clemmey]

Why not try Charity Excellence
They have AI fundraising bunnies that can help look for funding for free and even write the bids for you apparently
Ian McLintock
Founder https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/
ian@charityexcellence.co.uk

They will send regular email updates on funding and other helpful tools for charities

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Pam
I have sent our version over to you
We have renamed it Death in Residency Policy
Hope its useful
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Virginia
I would be very happy to share our Presentation but its very specific to our 5 Almshouses and their history
There are 3 mentions of current residents
One of them Anna is the only person I know who can sing “Lloyd George knew my father, father knew Lloyd George” as her grandfather was a liberal MP who knew Lloyd George as so her father met him

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Tony
We use Juttons
davidj@juttonassociates.com
David Jutton
Consultant
t: 01789 268132
m: 07749 375200
http://www.juttonassociates.com
they have been great at reducing our bills
William Clemmey
Chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

As Nick says it depends on your past experience
Happy to be contacted at chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org..uk

Meanwhile here are some thoughts
On Almshouses website
Introduction to Almshouses Training 60 minutes CPD accredited training (you need to be logged into the Almshouse Association website) – the picture used to illustrate this training is of one of our almshouses Guild Cottages
GDPR UK essentials Online training 38 minutes CPD accredited training (you need to be logged into the Almshouse Association website)
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults online training 54 minutes (you need to be logged into the Almshouse Association website)
Have a look at Standards of Almshouses Management

Buzzacotts:
Trustees’ Responsibilities – 34 minutes
The Charity Governance Code – 27 minutes
Financial Governance – 35 minutes
Risk and Reserves – 31 minutes
Public Benefit -10 minutes
Charity Commission
Read the Charity Commission Operational Guidance 65 on Almshouses https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m1COcXmEVUVKlptXouPC6Qs5OC0OQlzA/edit?tab=t.0
Other Trustee Training including the 5 minutes Charity Commission guidances

William Clemmey

[William Clemmey]

Nicola
The Charity Commission strongly encourages charities to conduct Basic DBS checks on all trustees to ensure they are fit and proper persons.
We carry out enhanced checks on all of our staff and trustees renewing them every 3 years – the trustees can enroll for the volunteers update service so subsequent checks become free
We are dealing with a hoarder in hopefully as sensitive a way as possible recognising its a mental health condition and working with the family and social services
All the best
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Debbie
We have been installing air conditioning units as a way of helping our residents reduce their electricity heating bills since they act as heaters in the winter
We had overnight storage heaters in 12 of our flats at Shakespeare Court
We have now installed 7 air conditioning units which heat the flats much better and have reduced the residents electricity bills
Equipment Specification
For each installation, the following Daikin hardware will be utilised:
• Indoor Unit: Daikin FTXF35 (Wall Mounted)
• Outdoor Unit: Daikin RXF35 (Condenser)

William Clemmey chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

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