Webinar: Risk Assessments
Date: Thursday 18 May 2023, 10am
Host: John Lewis – Integral Safety Ltd
Duration: 1 hour

The Almshouse Association is delighted to welcome John Lewis, Managing Director of Integral Safety Ltd and Almshouse Association Panel Consultant to host a webinar on the subject of Risk Assessments.

John set up Integral Safety Ltd three years ago to specialise in auditing, training, policy and document creation and review and has 15 years’ experience working with social housing and almshouse charities.

In this webinar, John will discuss why risk assessments are important, how to complete a risk assessment and provide further information a charity will need to be compliant in this area. There will be an opportunity at the end of the webinar to ask any questions.

To register for this webinar please click below:

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After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The webinar recording and slides will be available here after the event.

posted 27 April 2023

Changes introduced by the Charities Act 2022

The Charity Commission has published the changes being introduced by the Charities Act 2022 (the Act), which amends the Charities Act 2011.

Some of the changes that are due to come into effect spring 2023, others came into force on 31 October 2022. The final set of changes are due to come into effect in autumn 2023. An overview of the full changes can be found via Charities Act 2022: implementation plan.

Below is a short summary of the changes due to come into effect in Spring 2023. The Charity Commission will publish the updated guidance on these topics on the day the provisions are implemented.

Changes due to be introduced in Spring 2023

• Selling, leasing or otherwise disposing of charity land – charities must comply with certain legal requirements before they dispose of charity land. Disposal can include selling, transferring or leasing charity land. The Act will simplify some of these legal requirements. The changes will include:
  • widening the category of designated advisers who can provide charities with advice on certain disposals
  • confirming that a trustee, officer or employee can provide advice on a disposal if they meet the relevant requirements
  • giving trustees discretion to decide how to advertise a proposed disposal of charity land
  • removing the requirement for charities to get Commission authority to grant a residential lease to a charity employee for a short periodic or fixed term tenancy – (For the avoidance of doubt, however, almshouses cannot be ‘leased’ to anyone other than a beneficiary.)
  • clarifying the legal requirements that apply when a charity is selling, leasing or otherwise disposing of land to another charity
  • updating the statements and certificates that must be included in disposal or mortgage documents for charity land

• Using permanent endowment – permanent endowment is property that your charity must keep rather than spend. The Act will introduce new statutory powers to enable:
  • charities to spend, in certain circumstances, from a ‘smaller value’ permanent endowment fund of £25,000 or less without Commission authority
  • certain charities to borrow up to 25% of the value of their permanent endowment fund without Commission authority
    
    Charities that cannot use the statutory powers will require Charity Commission authority. A new statutory power will enable charities that have opted into a total return approach to investment to use permanent endowment to make social investments with a negative or uncertain financial return, provided any losses are offset by other gains.

• Charity names – The Commission can currently direct a charity to change its name if it is too similar to another charity’s name or is offensive or misleading. The Act will enable the Commission to:
  • direct a charity to stop using a working name if it is too similar to another charity’s name or is offensive or misleading. A working name is any name used to identify a charity and under which the activities of the charity are carried out. For example, ‘Comic Relief’ is the working name of the charity ‘Charity Projects’
  • delay registration of a charity with an unsuitable name or delay entry of a new unsuitable name onto the Register of Charities
  • use its powers in relation to exempt charities in consultation with the principal regulator

• Other provisions – The definition of a connected person will be updated to remove outdated

Changes that came into force on 31 October 2022

• Paying trustees for providing services or goods to the charity
  
  Charities now have a statutory power to pay trustees for providing goods alone to the charity in certain circumstances. Using the new statutory power, trustees can be paid for:
  • services only, for example estate agency or computer consultancy
  • services and associated goods, for example plumbing or painting service and any associated materials such as plumbing parts or paint
  • goods only, for example supplying stationery to the charity

See the following guidance:
Payment to charity trustees: what the rules are
Trustee expenses and payments (CC11)

• Fundraising appeals that do not raise enough or raise too much
  
  There are now simpler requirements for trustees to follow if an appeal does not raise the amount needed to deliver its aim, raises too much or circumstances change and the donations cannot be used as intended.

See the following guidance:
Charity fundraising appeals for specific purposes
plus a blog produced by the Fundraising Regulator about these changes.

• Power to amend Royal Charters – These charities have a new statutory power to change sections in their Royal Charter with approval from the Privy Council.

See the following guidance:
Royal Charter charities

In addition, the following changes are now in effect:

• the Charity Tribunal has the power to make “authorised costs orders” following an application by a charity.
  see guidance about decision reviews and the Charity Tribunal
• the Commission’s scheme-making powers include making schemes for charitable companies
• trust corporation status is automatically conferred on existing and future corporate charities in respect of any charitable trust of which the corporation is (or, in the future, becomes) a trustee
• updated provisions relating to giving public notice to written consents and orders of the Charity Commission under various sections of the Charities Act 2011
• when a charity amends its governing document by parliamentary scheme under section 73 of the Charities Act 2011, the scheme will by default always be under a lighter touch parliamentary process (known as the negative parliamentary procedure)

posted 5 April 2023

Webinar: Role of the Clerk
Date: Thursday 27^th April, 11am – 12 noon
Host: Jennifer Millard from Millard Consultants

The Almshouse Association is delighted to welcome Jennifer Millard from Millard Consultants to host a webinar on The Role of the Clerk.

Millard Consultants was founded in 2020 by Jennifer Millard to offer a professional, experienced, and qualified service to almshouse charities. Millard Consultants now manages, on a retained basis, a significant worth of estates for local charities.

In this webinar, Jennifer will explore a range of areas significant to a clerks role including, but not limited to:

• Administrative Duties
• Charity Governance
• Estate Management
• Communication with residents
• Agendas & Minutes
• Trustee Recruitment & Appointment
• Charity Commission
• Policies
• …and more

There will be an opportunity at the end of the webinar to ask any questions.

To register for this webinar please click below:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. The webinar recording and slides will be available to members on our website after the event.

Posted 29 March 2023

Latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact and/or may require action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

• DLUHC consultation seeking views on revised Directions from the Secretary of State to the Regulator of Social Housing in relation to Tenant Involvement and Mutual Exchange is now closed. Full details of consultation can be found here.
  
  Thank you to all our members for their comments; the Association has now submitted our response, a copy of which can be downloaded here.
  
  To summarise, we have put forward the following:
  • Tenant involvement and consultation is good practice but being a trustee of a charity carries responsibilities and liabilities beyond today’s housing needs. Often a charity will have many objectives including the long term sustainability of the charity. It is not good practice to ask a resident to take on the responsibility and liability of running an almshouse charity. They will very quickly find there is a conflict of interest. Methods of proper engagement and consultation with residents are good and common practice. Almshouses cannot effectively take on the model of Mutual Exchange programme as trustees must appoint residents based on their fit with the Governing documents of the charity and not on any other basis. Some charities, however, would benefit from offering vacancies on such a scheme to those who match the criteria of the Governing Documents.

• The next consultation underway is the Community Infrastructure Levy Technical Consultation. Although there is no direct opportunity to comment on affordable housing definition, we will work with DLUC to to ensure that almshouse charities are recognised as ‘affordable housing’ and beneficiaries of the CIL. Please do let us know if you have any thoughts on the CIL consultation – Link. – Technical consultation on the Infrastructure Levy – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Standards of Almshouse Management

The new edition of Standards of Almshouse Management has now been live on our website for almost 3 months.

We would be interested to receive your feedback on this latest edition. Is there anything you feel is missing that you would like to see included? Please email admin@almshouses.org with your comments.

STANDARDS OF ALMSHOUSE MANAGEMENT 2023 | (almshouses.org)

posted 27 March 2023