Key Decisions made at the most recent Almshouse Association Board Meeting are posted on ‘Latest News’ on our website for all registered member charities to access.
At the Board Meeting held on 19th September 19 at the NCVO in London, the following Key Decisions were made:
- The Board supports the recruitment of a part-time campaign manager on a fixed term contract.
- The Board supports an office move to suitable new accommodation.
- The Board endorsed loans and grants paper as recommended by F&GP.
- The Board supports a budget towards almshouse research.
A record of all Key Decisions made at Board Meetings (from June 18 onwards) can be found in ‘Current Issues’.
Published: 9 Oct 19
NAACIF – upcoming fund changes
M&G are proposing changes for the future management of assets. Key among these are to broaden the investment mandate across a wider range of global assets, reducing annual fees from 0.60% to 0.50%, and opening access to all UK charities under the new fund name “M&G Charity Multi Asset Fund”. Shareholders have been invited to vote ahead of the EGM scheduled for Friday 4th October. If members have any questions, please contact Richard Macey at M&G directly on 020 3977 3623 or charities@mandg.co.uk
The Charity Commission has recently notified the Association about a number guidance pages that have been updated on the Charity Commission website.
Please click on the links below to access..
Online services for charities – Log in to the Charity Commission’s online services, get a new password for your charity, and other services for charities.
How to update your charity’s details – If you last submitted your annual return before 12 November 2018, you’ll likely need to confirm your charity’s details are correct before you can use the annual return service.
Prepare a charity annual return – You are required to send an annual return or tell the Charity Commission your income and expenditure every year if your charity is registered in England or Wales.
List of Charity Commission guidance publications – A collection of the Charity Commission’s ‘CC’ detailed guidance publications, from CC3 to CC49.
Posted 17 Sept 19
Our News item of 23 March 2019 advised almshouse charities that the Association had been in discussions with the BBC regarding their interpretation of legislation on concessionary licences (ARC licences) . Click here for news item.
The Association was pleased to be able to report to our members that we had received a letter from the BBC accepting the Association’s interpretation of the law. We can now confirm that the TV Licensing website has been updated to make it clear that almshouse charities established before 1 November 1949 qualify for a concessionary licence.
Click here for further details on concessionary licences
Posted 16 Sept 19
The Government has introduced a Good Work Plan setting out a number of employment reforms. To assist our members, Almshouse Association Panel Member, Ros Hammond of Employment Law in Action has summarised the main proposals in the article below:
Are you up to date with the Good Work Plan?
The Government´s Good Work Plan sets out a number of employment reforms as a result of the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices. The heart of the Taylor Review focuses on an overriding ambition that all work should be fair and decent. Four consultation documents have been published alongside the Government’s response to the Review and these focused on: employment status; increasing transparency in the labour market; agency workers; and enforcement of employment rights.
In summary the main proposals are:
- The right to request a fixed working pattern –
Workers who work variable hours
will be able to request a fixed working pattern after 26 weeks’ continuous service
with a Company. At this stage it is
thought that the Regulations will not be dissimilar to employee rights
regarding requesting flexible working.
- Extending the statutory break in service – The
’qualifying break in service’ will be extended from one week to four
weeks. However, be aware that in
accordance with existing case law, additional tests are applied when
considering continuous service and it is not always as straightforward as
applying the qualifying break.
- Information
and consultation – The current
threshold for employees to request to set up collective Information and
Consultation arrangements will reduce from 10% to 2% of the relevant grouping
of employees.
- Employers banned from making deductions from
staff tips – In some sectors tips,
gratuities and service charges can be a significant part of staff income. Through
current practices, employers may only pay a proportion of the tips received to
its employees. Through the proposed changes, this will no longer be allowed.
- All
employees and workers will be entitled to a written statement of terms from day
one of the working relationship (including agency workers) – Currently the legislation applies only to
employees and they must be provided with a written statement of terms within
two months of starting work. This will
be extended to workers, and both workers and employees must be provided with
the statement of rights on appointment.
- Employment
status to be clearer – Proposals are being put forward for an online
employment status tool to be developed, which will hopefully streamline the
tests in respect of employment status, making status clearer.
- Statutory
Holiday Pay – The reference period will be increased to 52 weeks from 12
weeks.
- Agency
Workers – The ‘Swedish Derogation’ in the Agency Workers Regulations 2010
will be repealed, the current situation allows Temporary Work Agencies to avoid
matching the amount paid to a temporary agency work in comparison to a directly
recruited worker.
- Naming
and Shaming – For those employers who fail to pay employees or workers in
respect of Employment Tribunal awards, they will face being named through a
naming scheme.
The Taylor Review proposed over 50 different reforms, most of which the Government are consulting about or proposing changes. Whilst the Government claims this is the biggest reform of employment legislation in 20 years, we believe that it is more about clarity of some areas where case law has caused confusion. As the Government provides further details in respect of its recommendations, we will share these with you. For further information the Good Work Plan can be found in full by following this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-plan
Written by Ros Hammond, Employment Law in Action Ltd E: info@eliaction.com www.eliaction.com
Posted 5 Sept 19
In these rapidly changing times, uncertainty is the new norm and new risks are emerging all the time. Increasingly, charities need to spend more time thinking about not only the potential rewards, but also the risks they are facing, and ensuring that they are doing enough to respond to internal and external change.
Ecclesiastical has partnered with Third Sector Insight to produce a helpful document highlighting the needs for risk management, identifying the top risks and concerns and signposting possible solutions.
The Association has made the publication available here.
Posted 5 Sept 19
The Regulator of Social Housing changed its accounting rules in a new direction, published 20th February 2019. The new rules are part of the English regulator’s plan to align its requirements with the Value for Money Standard introduced in April 2018.
Under the rules, all almshouses charities that are Registered Providers of Social Housing are required to comply. To assist those members that are Registered Providers, a briefing note has been produced that can be found here.
Posted 5 Sept 19
Welsh Government confirms that the almshouse charities are exempt from the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
In July 2019, Nick Phillips, the Chief Executive of the Almshouse Association, wrote to the Welsh Government asking them to confirm that any legal issues relating to the appointment of beneficiaries of Welsh almshouses are dealt with under existing charity law rather than the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
The Welsh Government has responded to confirm that this will be the case and a copy of the letter can be found here and supporting information here.
The
resolving of this issue is vital not only to Welsh almshouses but to the wider
almshouse movement as it reaffirms the position that almshouse residents are
appointed as beneficiaries of the charity.
The Almshouse Association has called on the Government to make it clear in planning policy that almshouse charities are a recognised form of affordable housing.
In a written submission to the Committee’s inquiry into long-term delivery of social and affordable rented housing, the Association stated that:
In order to encourage more almshouse charities to build more affordable homes and encourage investment in housing from non-government funds, all almshouse charities should be regarded as affordable housing for planning purposes.
The Almshouse Association, July 2019
The full report can be found here
Click here for further information on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee’s enquiry.
Posted: 15 July 19
The recent changes to eligibility for free TV licences brought the subject of a means-tested Pension Credit to the fore.
It is thought that many pensioners are unaware of the credit and it has been estimated that 650,000 over 75s could get Pension Credit if they applied.
A recent article written by Paul Lewis, featured in the Radio Times explains the eligibility criteria and gives details on how to claim. To view the article in full, please click here
Disclaimer:
The details and opinions expressed in the attached article are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Almshouse Association.
Posted: 8 July 19