Legislation and regulations are constantly changing and, as charities, it can be difficult to keep up to date with everything.
Here are a few things that have either recently changed, or will be changing soon. This is a brief outline – for more details and help on any issue, please get in touch.
Child/Vulnerable Adult Protection Checks
If you have any dealings with children and/or vulnerable adults, I presume that you have a suitable policy in place – and also have a process for taking up references and undertaking police checks. If you don’t, you need to get something sorted quickly – and I’d be happy to help.
In February, the CRB forms changed – and morphed into DBS forms (Disclosure and Barring Service). You can no longer use the old ones. Please ensure that you have obtained the correct new forms from whichever body you use to undertake your checks for you. And don’t forget – the DBS checks should not be what you base your decision on when enrolling a volunteer, your interview with the volunteer and the references provided for them are the most important.
Payroll
Don’t forget the changes to Payroll that are coming in for most of us from April – and for all of us from October.
The main issues are that every employee will need to be put on the payroll for reporting even if earnings are below the NI threshold, more information will need to be collected and input, and information will be sent to HMRC every time you run the payroll rather than one annual return at the end of the year.
If you want more information on the changes, or want to outsource your payroll, please get in touch.
Gift Aid
Firstly, if you are a charity you should be claiming Gift Aid. If you’re not, then you need to get registered and ask any taxpaying donors to sign a declaration to allow you to claim back the tax they have paid – it will increase donations by 25%.
There are two changes coming in from April:
- Small Donations Scheme – allowing charities to claim Gift Aid on small donations of £20 or less up to a maximum of £5,000 without signed declarations, bringing a possible additional income of £1,250 into the charity. There are rules on the time that a charity has been registered for Gift Aid and past claim history before qualifying.
- Gift Aid Online – HMRC are encouraging all organisations to make Gift Aid claims online. This will enable the Gift Aid refunds to be processed more quickly. Paper claims will still be possible, but it will take longer for the monies to be paid over.
If you need help in getting started with Gift Aid, or want help with either of these changes, I would be happy to help.
Trustee Training.
I am considering running a training session for Trustees, outlining the duties and responsibilities that apply to Trustees later in the year. If you would be interested in sending people along – or would like me to come and provide some training for your Trustee team, please let me know.
Independent Examination & Charity Reporting
When is your financial year end? Do you realise that your Trustees Report and Annual Accounts need to be sent to the Charity Commission within 10 months of your year end? If you are looking for someone to undertake the independent examination of your accounts, this is a service I am able to provide at reasonable rates.
You also need to complete an Annual Return to the Charity Commission, and ensure that important information is kept up to date with the Commission e.g. change of Trustees. Again, I can help with this.
AFVS
The cutbacks currently being applied to the Charity Commission are changing the role that they fulfil. They are reducing their ability to answer general queries and are encouraging charities to join an umbrella body. If you would find this useful, I would point you toward the Alliance For the Voluntary Sector (AFVS), of which I am a local representative, and would recommend you consider becoming a member to access specialist advice. You can see what we offer at www.afvs.org.uk and please feel free to have a look around the site. If you wish to discuss membership of AFVS, please contact me to discuss this further.
For help in any of these issues, please contact me by phone on 029 21250580 or 07767 386040 or by email at paul@cmanagementservices.co.uk. I would be pleased to help you in any way I can. You can also follow me on Twitter (@paulyb65) and link with me on Facebook, Linkedin and Google+.