The Government has published a factsheet for the Charities Bill. The Bill implements the majority of recommendations made by the Law Commission in its report Technical Issues in Charity Law.

It addresses a variety of technical issues in the law governing charities. The provisions extend and apply to England and Wales only, subject to a couple of minor provisions.The following is reproduced from the factsheet.

OVERVIEW OF THE BILL

The Charities Bill will:

• give charities wider or additional powers and flexibility to amend their governing documents, to decide on how they procure goods and services, and to make “ex gratia” payments (which charities have a moral obligation, but no legal power, to make)
• clarify when property can be applied cy-près (Cy-près means “as near as possible”. When a charitable purpose cannot be carried out, the Charity Commission can direct under a scheme that the funds should be used for other similar charitable purposes), including the proceeds of failed fundraising appeals
• produce a clearer and less administratively burdensome legal framework for buying, selling, leasing and mortgaging charity land
• clarify and expand the statutory regime that applies to permanent endowment
• introduce a power – with appropriate safeguards – for charities to borrow from their permanent endowment and to make certain social investments using permanent endowment
• facilitate, where appropriate, charity mergers and incorporations
• confer additional powers on the Charity Commission to authorise charities to pay an equitable allowance, to require charities to change or stop using inappropriate names, and to ratify the appointment or election of charity trustees where there is uncertainty concerning the validity of their appointment or election
• improve and clarify certain powers of the Charity Tribunal.

MAIN MEASURES IN THE BILL

• Amending governing documents: reduce inconsistency by more closely aligning the amendment mechanisms for incorporated and unincorporated charities a new, clearer statutory power for all unincorporated charities to amend their governing documents by resolution consistent criteria for the Charity Commission to consider before consenting to a change of purpose, regardless of whether the charity is a company, CIO, or unincorporated charity.
• Improving land transactions: greater flexibility to obtain advice on disposals of land from a greater range of professional advisers removing certain overly prescriptive and burdensome statutory requirements creating certainty for purchasers when they buy land from charities, with a reliable, straightforward and practically workable process for certifying compliance with the Charities Act requirements.
• Making use of permanent endowment: a new definition of permanent endowment which is clear, consistent and aligns with the sector’s understanding of the term a new power to borrow from permanent endowment as a useful alternative to the existing rules for trustees who have opted in to total return investment, the ability to use permanent endowments for loss-making social investments when they expect those losses to be offset elsewhere, which will promote long-term investments for social good.
• Helping incorporations and mergers: allowing legacies in wills to be transferred to a merged charity, which will remove a need for “shell charities” to be maintained, which results in wasted money through admin costs giving corporate charities “trust corporation status” automatically if they administer charitable trusts providing trustees with certainty about costs before the Charity Tribunal new “authorised costs orders” which would provide advanced assurance that the costs incurred by trustees can properly be paid from the charity’s funds.
• Other measures in the Bill: fundraising appeals: expanding and rationalising the circumstances in which funds from a failed fundraising appeal can be applied to other purposes of the charity, with appropriate oversight by the Charity Commission remuneration for supply of goods from trustees: enabling trustees to be paid for goods provided to a charity, subject to appropriate safeguards – this aligns with the current law which allows trustees to be paid for services, creating consistency and enabling charities to access goods which may be offered at more favourable terms by a trustee than elsewhere.
• Equitable allowances: enable the Charity Commission to authorise trustees to be paid for exceptional skill and effort with which they have carried out work for their charity in circumstances where it would be unjust not to do so ex gratia payments: enabling charities to make relatively small ex gratia payments without seeking Charity Commission permission, and to delegate the power to make those payments to an appropriate person within the charity names: expansion of the Charity Commission’s powers in respect of misleading, offensive or duplicative charity names to remove anomalies and to prevent the registration of a charity with an inappropriate name (or prevent the registration of a change of name) identifying charity trustees: creation of a new power for the Charity Commission to ratify a trustee’s appointment or election which is, or is potentially, invalid.

The Almshouse Association will continue to monitor the Bill’s progress and welcomes the input of our members if they are concerned about any parts of the new legislation.

Posted 7 July 2021

House of Lords Committee Launches Inquiry on Housing Demand

The House of Lords Built Environment Committee has launched an inquiry looking into the UK’s housing demand.

The Almshouse Association intends to submit responses to relevant questions as part of the inquiry and would welcome our members input in this process. You can find full details on the inquiry here: Meeting the UK’s housing demand – Committees – UK Parliament.

If you would like to take part then please send your response to Jack Baldan via jackbaldan@almshouses.org. In your response please make sure you identify which question you are responding to. You are not required to answer all questions, only those which are relevant.

Please submit answers by July 23rd 2021.

Posted 6 July 2021

Each month, the Association posts a news summary of the latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact / requires action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable. Please find below our July 21 Summary:

Affordable Homes Update

The Government continues its drive for home ownership under new “affordable” homes scheme as First Homes. Purchasers of the new scheme must prove to have less than £80,000 pa income or in London £90,000 to qualify. This is relevant as the reality is it reduced the affordable housing aspect of section 106 to a maximum of 75% available for affordable for social rented.

Minister of State for Housing, Christopher Pincher, submitted a Written Statement on affordable homes. The statement issues changes to planning policy, which will come into effect on 28 June 2021. The issues covered in the statement include:

• The definition of a First Home
  • Eligibility criteria for First Homes
  • Setting developer contributions for First Homes
  • The remaining 75% of affordable housing secured through developer contributions
  • Plans, development management and transitional arrangements
  • Level of discount
  • Exception sites
  • Delivering Shared Ownership homes

Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government

• Meeting the UK’s housing demand – The Built Environment Committee has launched a call for evidence – closing 10 September – on the demand for new housing in the UK and how barriers to meeting this demand can be overcome. It will consider the key factors shaping the type, tenure and quality of housing needed in the UK. The inquiry will also examine a range of challenges to meeting that demand including skills shortages in the construction industry and some specific aspects of the planning system. The Committee will report by the end of the year and make recommendations to the Government.
• Regulator of Social Housing Corporate Plan 2021-2024 – Members who are RPs may be interested in the Regulator of Social Housing’s Corporate Plan 2021-2024, which outlines how the regulator plans to deliver its purpose over the next three years.
• Housing Ombudsman’s Insight report shows significant increase in complaints – The Housing Ombudsman has published its latest insight report covering January to March 2021. It shows a significant increase in the number of enquiries and complaints received compared to the same quarter in 2020, going up by 73%.
  
  “The learning highlights an important lesson that communication is key. Our Complaint Handling Code states that landlords should keep residents regularly updated and informed even where there is no new information to provide. In one case featured about a repairs issue relating to damp and mould, the landlord failed to keep the resident informed so he contacted other agencies including the Ombudsman service and then also failed to keep those agencies informed. We made a finding of service failure.”
  
  The top three areas of complaint over the three-month period were:
  – Repairs 45%
  – Tenant behaviour 13%
  – Complaint handling   11%

Planning

• Historic England – Listed Building Consent – Historic England has published guidance on listed building consent. The note gives both general advice for owners of listed buildings about listed building consent as an application process and on how to judge whether proposals need consent, how to achieve certainty on the need for consent and how to make informed applications. It also gives advice on works which may or may not need listed building consent, depending on how the works are proposed to be carried out.
  The Association is still seeking to work with Historic England on producing a specific guide focused on almshouses.
• London Mayor declares a “retrofit revolution” to tackle the climate emergency – The Mayor of London has declared a “retrofit revolution” in London, announcing a new package of measures to make buildings more energy efficient. A new £3.5m “centre of excellence” will help social housing providers access funding to make their homes fit for the future and protect the most vulnerable from cold, damp homes.
  
  The Almshouse Association is in discussions with the Mayor’s Office to ensure that London almshouse charities can access this fund if needed.

Coronavirus

• Everyone working in care homes to be fully vaccinated under new law to protect residents – The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that people working in CQC-registered care homes will need to be fully COVID-19 vaccinated with both doses. The new legislation means from October – subject to Parliamentary approval and a subsequent 16-week grace period – anyone working in a CQC-registered care home in England for residents requiring nursing or personal care must have two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine unless they have a medical exemption. It will apply to all workers employed directly by the care home or care home provider (on a full-time or part-time basis), those employed by an agency and deployed by the care home, and volunteers deployed in the care home. Those coming into care homes to do other work, for example healthcare workers, tradespeople, hairdressers and beauticians, and CQC inspectors will also have to follow the new regulations, unless they have a medical exemption.
  
  Each almshouse charity will need to assess the risk and vulnerability of their residents and may make its own policy with this regard. The Almshouse Association team will be happy to discuss if you have any queries.  

Wales

• Heritage partnership agreements – The Welsh Government has published a summary of responses to its consultation on agreements for the management of the historic environment. A heritage partnership agreement (HPA) is a voluntary arrangement for the long-term management of one or more designated historic assets.
• Social Housing in Wales – Julie James MS, Minister for Climate Change, announced a commitment to deliver 20,000 new low carbon homes for rent within the social sector during this term. Social housing will be defined as within the recognised TAN2 affordable housing definition. It will only include social homes for rent, intermediate homes for rent and shared ownership schemes. The Almshouse Association is seeking to work with the Welsh government to make them more aware of almshouses and their position in the affordable housing sector.
• Welsh Government extends measures to protect businesses from eviction until end of September 2021 – The Welsh Government has announced that the moratorium against forfeiture for the non-payment of rent will now be extended until September 30, 2021. It was originally due to end on June 30, 2021.

Previous Policy and Governance updates:

Policy and Governance update – June 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – May 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – April 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – March 2021 Summary
Policy & Governance update – February 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – January 2021 Summary
Policy & Governance update – December 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – October 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – September 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – July/August 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – June 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – May 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – Apr 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – Mar 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – Feb 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance –Jan 2020 Summary

Posted 5 July 21

On Wednesday 16^th June members joined a webinar on diversifying your charity board.

The webinar looked at the current make-up of charity trustees boards across the UK and gave tips for opening up the trustee recruitment process to make it more accessible for a wider range of people. The webinar was delivered by Sophia Moreau from ‘Getting on Board’.

A recording of the webinar, as well as a copy of the slides and Getting on Board’s guide to recruiting trustees can be found below.

• webinar recording
• Powerpoint slides
• Recruitment Guide  

If your charity is struggling to recruit trustees, please do contact us at admin@almshouses.org.

DID YOU KNOW? – Only one third of trustees are women, 8% are people of colour and one third are under the age of 50. 59% of charities report that their board does not reflect the communities they serve. And 74% of charities struggle to find the trustees they need. Why is this? What could improved board diversity do for charities? What are the tried and tested practical actions you can take to recruit and retain diverse trustees?

About the Speaker
Sophia Moreau is a multi-award winning policy reformist. She currently runs the Public Affairs and Policy department of the Small Charities Coalition, representing 91% of charities in the UK.

Sophia freelances as an opinions writer and investigative journalist, with clients including the BBC, iNews and Huffington Post. She is Head of Student Rights at the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, a charity working to end the motherhood penalty in work, education and training. She is also a volunteer at SOS!SEN, a charity fighting for the  of disabled children. For the past 3 years, Sophia has formed part of the 0.5% of charity directors in the UK under 25.

Posted 23 June 21

On 14th June 2021 we will be making some updates to the back end of our website.

Although you won’t see any changes to the front end of the website at this stage, the changes will eventually allow us to offer online event booking, accept membership and event payments online, and any changes members make to their web profile will be carried over to our database. This, we hope, will enable members to update their details and manage their membership at a time that is most convenient to them.

For members who are already registered on the website:

You will notice that when you login for the first time from 14th June, you will not be able to login using all your existing credentials.

Although your username (i.e. your email address) has been carried over into the new system and therefore remains the same, you will need to reset your password.

To do this, simply click on the ‘forgot your password’ button at the bottom of the screen. You will then be sent a link by email to reset it.

.

Anyone registering on the website for the first time (after 16th June)

You can do this as per normal . You should simply fill in the required fields, including your membership number.

Note: There is no restriction to the number of individuals per membership charity that can register on our website, however, each registration must use a different email address.

If you experience any issues when resetting your password or are not sure what you need to do, please do not hesitate to contact us on Tel: 01344 452922 or at almshousesupport@almshouses.org and we will be more than happy to help.

Posted 7 June 21

Each month, the Association posts a news summary of the latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact / requires action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable. Please find below our June 21 Summary:

Housing

• First Homes – The Government has announced its planned introduction of First Homes, homes which are discounted for purchase by a minimum of 30% for first time buyers. The Almshouse Association is concerned that priority will be given to the new model ahead of homes for social rent. This is the result of local authorities being told to prioritise securing 25% of their affordable homes allocation as First Homes from developer contributions before proceeding to consider alternative models of affordable housing. The Association believes that local authorities should be able to choose the most appropriate model of affordable housing for their local community whether this be social rent, or even supporting new almshouse developments.
  
  Although the levels of new council/social housing has increased slightly in recent years, it would benefit the sector if the Government provided greater support for genuinely affordable homes for rent, rather than continuing to focus on home ownership which even with First Homes will be out of reach for many.

• Support for renters continues with longer notice periods – The Government has announced that from 1 June, tenant notice periods that are currently 6 months will reduce to at least 4 months. Fourteen-days notice is required before an eviction can take place. Therefore, no evictions are expected to take place before mid-June except in the most serious circumstances, and bailiffs have been asked not to carry out an eviction if they have been made aware that anyone living in the property has COVID-19 symptoms or is self-isolating. Notice periods for the most serious cases that present the most strain on landlords will remain lower:
  
  • anti-social behaviour (immediate to 4 weeks’ notice)
  • domestic abuse in the social sector (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
  • false statement (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
  • over 4 months’ accumulated rent arrears (4 weeks’ notice)
  • breach of immigration rules ‘Right to Rent’ (2 weeks’ notice)
  • death of a tenant (2 months’ notice)
  • notice periods for cases where there is four or more months’ of unpaid rent, will reduce to 2 months’ notice from 1 August. This is to support both landlords and tenants and responds to the greater difference between COVID and pre COVID notice periods for rent arrears.

As with previous guidance, there is not a legal requirement for almshouses to follow this guidance. It is, however, recommended that almshouses follow the guidance as good practice as we continue to deal with the pandemic

Charity Commission

• Cyber security training package launched for charities and small businesses – The National Cyber Security Centre has published a free e-learning package to support small organisations, including charities. The training, Cyber Security for Small Organisations and Charities, guides businesses through the actions they should take in order to dramatically reduce the risk of the most common cyber-attacks, such as ransomware and phishing.

• Trustee recruitment – Reach Volunteering has launched a website to help charities improve how they recruit trustees and increase their board’s diversity. The Trustee Recruitment Cycle includes guidance, templates, and insight from other charities, with an aim to make it easier to recruit more openly and inclusively. It was created by Reach Volunteering, alongside the Association of Chairs, Small Charities Coalition and Getting on Board. The Trustee Recruitment Cycle takes charities through the recruitment process in six stages and is designed so charities can dip into relevant sections, or work through the whole recruitment process from start to finish.

Adult Social Care

Department of Health and Social Care Consultation on making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes –
The Government is proposing to amend regulations to require older adult care home providers to deploy only those workers who have received their COVID-19 vaccination in line with government guidance. This will not include those who can provide evidence of a medical exemption from COVID-19 vaccination. The Government also intends to amend the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections to explain the requirement. They are consulting on this policy and whether it should be extended to include other professionals who visit the care home, for example NHS workers providing close personal care to people living in the care home. There are many other settings across adult social care and health, where people most at risk from COVID-19 are being cared for in high risk, closed settings.

The Government will keep this policy under review on a continuing basis and consider whether in due course it is necessary to extend the policy to other parts of the adult social care and health sectors. Members may wish to respond to this consultation, full details can be found here.

Coronavirus

Care homes residents allowed more out-of-home visits – DHSC has announced that care home residents will be able to have more named visitors and more opportunities to make visits out with no need to self-isolate when they return. As part of Step 3 of the Roadmap, the number of named family members or friends able to visit their loved ones in care homes will be increased from two to five. A maximum of two visitors will be allowed at any one time or on any given day.

You can find all our Coronavirus updates here

Wales

Notice Periods – Notice periods given to tenants from the 26 March 2020 to 23 July 2020 must be at least 3 months for all kinds of notice.

Notice periods given on or after 24 July 2020 to at least 30 June 2021 must be at least 6 months, other than for grounds relating to anti-social behaviour which remained at 3 months until 28 September 2020 but have subsequently returned to their pre-Coronavirus Act 2020 lengths of one month or less, depending on the type of tenancy and ground used.

Furthermore, subject to a periodic 3 week review, bailiffs are not allowed to enforce evictions until the end of 30 June 2021, except in cases relating to, illegal occupation, anti-social behaviour, eviction of perpetrators of domestic abuse in the social sector where the victim is housed elsewhere and where the property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant.

As with previous guidance, there is not a legal requirement for almshouses to follow this guidance. It is, however, recommended that almshouses follow the guidance as good practice as we continue to deal with the pandemic.

Previous Policy and Governance updates:

Policy and Governance update – May 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – April 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – March 2021 Summary
Policy & Governance update – February 2021 Summary
Policy and Governance update – January 2021 Summary
Policy & Governance update – December 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – October 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – September 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – July/August 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – June 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – May 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – Apr 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – Mar 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance – Feb 2020 Summary
Policy and Governance –Jan 2020 Summary

Government extends requirement for longer notice periods until October 2021

The Government has extended the requirement to provide most tenants in England with four-month notice periods from June 1^st until September 31^st 2021. This comes as part of protections for renters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have announced that notice periods will return to pre-pandemic levels from October 2021. 

The current ban on bailiff-enforced evictions, introduced as an emergency measure during lockdown, will end on 31 May. Bailiffs have been asked not to carry out an eviction if anyone living in the property has COVID-19 symptoms or is self-isolating.

Notice periods for the most serious cases that present the most strain on landlords will remain lower, i.e. in the following cases:

• anti-social behaviour (immediate to 4 weeks’ notice)
• domestic abuse in the social sector (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
• false statement (2 to 4 weeks’ notice)
• over 4 months’ accumulated rent arrears (4 weeks’ notice)
• breach of immigration rules ‘Right to Rent’ (2 weeks’ notice)
• death of a tenant (2 months’ notice)

Notice periods for cases where there is four or more months’ of unpaid rent, will reduce to 2 months’ notice from 1 August.

Wales

Notice periods given to tenants from the 26 March 2020 to 23 July 2020 must be at least 3 months for all kinds of notice.

Notice periods given on or after 24 July 2020 to at least 30 June 2021 must be at least 6 months, other than for grounds relating to anti-social behaviour which remained at 3 months until 28 September 2020 but have subsequently returned to their pre-Coronavirus Act 2020 lengths of one month or less, depending on the type of tenancy and ground used.

Furthermore, subject to a periodic 3 week review, bailiffs are not allowed to enforce evictions until the end of 30 June 2021, except in cases relating to, illegal occupation, anti-social behaviour, eviction of perpetrators of domestic abuse in the social sector where the victim is housed elsewhere and where the property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant.

As with previous guidance, there is not a legal requirement for almshouses to follow this guidance. It is, however, recommended that almshouses follow the guidance as good practice as we continue to deal with the pandemic.

Full government guidance can be found here.

Posted 18 May 21