charity commission business plan 2022

Charity Commission Business Plan 2021 to 2022

Posted on: August 17th 2021 · read

The Charity Commission have announced their 2021/22 business plan, marking the third year of their five year strategy.

The plan reemphasizes their aim to become a more effective and efficient regulator, while investing in new approaches to data and intelligence to support evidence-based regulatory and operational decisions. The Charity Commission have set out five key objectives including, holding charities to account, dealing with wrongdoing and harm, and informing public choice. In order to move further towards this in year three of the strategy, the four priorities below have been established:

• They will help charity to deliver impact, as the country recovers from the pandemic, by improving its services to trustees and building stronger relationships with them. There is also an aim to improve engagement through more effective communication channels.
• They will continue to deliver a step change in their robust approach to regulation, this will involve making greater use of intelligence gathering and data analysis.
• They will improve how they use data collected through statutory returns. They will also look at ways in which to improve the reporting of impact that charities make to the public.
• They will create the right environment to enable their people to be more efficient and to help make the Commission a great place to work. This will involve a ‘lessons learnt’ exercise from remote working and a review of what the culture and ethos of the Commission should be.

The Charity Commission will report performance against their business plan and annual report in the following financial year. The 2020 to 2021 Charities annual account was published on 15 July 2021.

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Charity Commission publishes Business Plan 2022 to 2023

LNB News 16/05/2022

Document Information

Issue Date: 16 May 2022

Published Date: 16 May 2022

Jurisdiction(s): England and Wales

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has published...

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Blog Charity Commission

https://charitycommission.blog.gov.uk/2022/02/25/charities-bill-the-next-steps/

Charities Bill: the next steps

Earlier this week, the Charities Bill received Royal Assent, and passed into law as the Charities Act 2022.

This is a moment for celebration. We welcome the provisions of the legislation, which originated with recommendations from the Law Commission and are primarily aimed at making life easier for trustees, helping them maximise the benefits their charity delivers. While the changes are largely technical, they are designed to make a positive, practical difference to charities, and the Commission as regulator.

What changes?

In a previous blog, I outlined the key changes and what they mean for charities .

As a quick reminder, and for example, the provisions make it more straightforward for charities to change their governing documents, grant more flexibility in using ‘permanent endowment funds’, allow greater flexibility around the advice needed when selling land, and allow trustees to be paid for goods provided to a charity in certain circumstances.

In summary, the changes aim to be largely enabling and empowering for trustees.

What happens next?

Royal Assent is not the end of the process for us – it marks the beginning of the next stage of hard work, as it now falls on the Commission  to implement many of the legislative changes. Indeed, implementing the Charities Act is one of our business priorities in the year ahead.

We will not be able to make all of the necessary changes in one go - not least because some of the changes require secondary legislation and others changes to our systems and processes. We have developed a plan that will see us aiming to gradually implement the changes between now and the autumn of 2023 (not all the provisions though are dependent on the Commission and may be brought into force earlier).

What’s involved in implementing the Bill

We’re talking here about changes to our guidance for trustees, our desk guidance for case workers within the Commission, and some of our online digital services for charities. We will also need to make sure all relevant staff are trained on the changes.

Some of the changes are quite simple – such as updating some of our guidance; others require ongoing input from a range of technical experts within the Commission to ensure the final product is fit for purpose.

What charities can expect

You can read the implementation plan for the Charities Act 2022 , which sets out an indicative timetable for when provisions in the Act are expected to come into force.

We will let charities know when each of the relevant provisions come into force and we have consequently updated certain pieces of guidance, or amended an online service.

We will also be clear about when the process has concluded – so when all the provisions that require changes from us have been implemented.

Sharing and comments

Share this page, 17 comments.

Comment by Roy Gregg posted on 25 February 2022

If the changes mean that you will stop treating tiny charities as if they were Oxfam that really will be progress!

Comment by Tony Munro posted on 26 February 2022

A good informative piece. It would be useful to also know if the Bill is proposed to cover all of the UK, or if it is to have limited effect.

Comment by Amanda Pashley posted on 03 March 2022

This is a very positive development and much welcomed if it does in fact make it easier for charities.

Comment by Freda Parkes posted on 03 March 2022

Will be very glad to see improved communication with charities. At the moment for us it is non existant.

Comment by Alan Clements posted on 25 March 2022

If seeking to make life easier for the smaller charity and to avoid the complications of SORP for such charities, why cannot the threshold for R & P be increased to 500k ?

Comment by Helen Evans posted on 04 March 2022

Please expedite the ability to borrow from permanent endowment. This will provide vital, immediate funding for charities with minimal implementation requirements.

Comment by Janet Nicks posted on 23 March 2022

Thank you for updating smaller charities and keeping us up to date about these sweeping changes. It is really helpful to have summaries rather than having to wade through all the legislation at such a very busy time.

Comment by Eleanor Baker posted on 07 March 2022

Have the revised regulations come into force regarding the requirement to seek a Charities Act surveyor’s report when selling charity land?

Comment by Alan Grahame posted on 23 March 2022

When is the Charity Commission going to allow small charities to withhold their address from the public record? I am a trustee of a small charity and we define very carefully the sort of causes we will support. Nonetheless we are bombarded with junk mail from organizations, from the UK and abroad who we would never be able to support. We had to set up a PO Box as our address - based on the suggestion from someone at the CC - but that costs us over £350/yr. It is a terrible waste of money all round

Comment by Tim Thirst posted on 23 March 2022

If it means that the Charities Commission will start to have an understanding of what Charities are, and what a volunteer really is, it will be a major improvement,

Comment by Phillip Noyes posted on 24 March 2022

I hope your updated guidance will spell out what’s new - what is being implemented - rather than leave the reader to work it out…. Publishing a simple timeline of what’s planned to be implemented might help.

Comment by Emma posted on 14 April 2022

Hi Phillip, an implementation plan has now been published that sets out an indicative timetable for when provisions are expected to come into force. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charities-act-2022-implementation-plan

Comment by John Edwards posted on 28 March 2022

What sort of changes to the governing document will be allowed?

Comment by Deb posted on 06 April 2022

Hi John, the scope of changes which will be allowed isn’t changing, but the process for making changes and the classes of change which need Commission consent will change.

The full Act is due to be brought in over the course of the next 12-18 months and we will give updates as soon as we’re able. Kind regards, Debbie.

Comment by Karen Dodd posted on 30 March 2022

If it makes life easier for the smaller charity then this is welcomed. I do not like being told how to spend money that is raised and having to tell people where, why, who, what and when I am meeting an official when I am travelling to my charity overseas. I feel that those who interrogate us can be condescending and have no idea of the reality of what we do but probably had an experience with an NGO staying in a 5 star hotel and not actually getting any practical work done. Jumping on the back of a motorcycle to get from A to B does not warrant a receipt in my opinion, especially when the rider is most probably illiterate.

Comment by Richard Stevens posted on 01 April 2022

I applaud any step to diminish the administrative burden on charities ( and on humans everywhere) so that they can get on with their purpose. But I suggest that the purpose of many small charities might be better served if prospective trustees first considered whether to add their efforts to an existing charity rather than starting a new one. And the Commission out to dissuade the proliferation of 'duplicate' charities.

Comment by Jaki Florek posted on 12 April 2022

FILING ACCOUNTS: I am sure that in past years, 2013 when we first registered and up to 2020, a charity could file annual accounts online by just uploading their year end accounts (signed by Trustees & by an independent examiner) and answering a few straightforward non-financial questions. I don't remember having to pick it apart and insert answers into boxes on the financial content already (obviously!) included in the accounts. When did it change? There is a massive difference in keeping accurate records of income & expends (all fully evidenced) as management accounts, and the 20 page document prepared by a professional accountant. Always checked & discussed of course, but there are complexities if for example, a charity owns its building and the renovation grant (it was totally derelict!) is included as restricted reserves with annual depreciation... Wake up at the back there!

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Charity Commission Business Plan 2021 to 2022

Charity Commission Summary Business Plan for 2021 to 2022.

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The Charities Act 2022 – what are the practical implications for you?

Volunteering Community

Author: Kristina Kopic, Head of Charity and Voluntary Sector, ICAEW

Published: 12 May 2022

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The Charity Commission now enters a process of implementing the legislative changes, which it describes as one of its business priorities for 2022. The gradual implementation process is expected to last until autumn 2023 and involves updating Charity Commission guidance, both for trustees and for their own staff. The Commission’s implementation plan is now available and the first provisions of the Act are expected to come into force in autumn 2022.

Here is a summary of the headlines and what they will mean for your charity:

• More flexibility to make ‘ex gratia’ payments: ‘ex gratia’ payments are currently subject to strict rules which will be relaxed so that certain small ‘ex gratia’ payments, where a moral obligation can be demonstrated, will no longer require Charity Commission approval. This is expected to be implemented in autumn 2022.
• Paying their trustees for goods in certain circumstances: trustees will be able to be paid for goods provided to a charity in certain circumstances, even if not expressly stated in the charity’s governing document (currently trustees can only be paid for supply of services). This is expected to be implemented in autumn 2022.
• Access a wider range of professional advisers on the sale of land: charities will have access to a much wider pool of professional advisors on land disposal, and to more straightforward rules on what advice they must receive. This is expected to be implemented in spring 2023.
• Using a permanent endowment more flexibly: most legal restrictions on how charities can use permanent endowments stay in place, but there will be more flexibility in some areas. This is expected to be implemented in spring 2023.
• Amending the charity’s governing document: most charities will be able to amend their governing documents or Royal Charters more easily – remaining subject to the Commission and the Privy Council’s approval in certain circumstances, such as where changes to the charity’s objects are proposed. This is expected to be implemented in autumn 2023.

Elizabeth Jones, Partner at Farrer & Co, recently presented a webinar on the Practical application of the Charities Act 2022 for members of our Volunteering Community, where she explained how the Charities Act 2022 impacts charities and their trustees. You can find the recording of this and other webinars in the Community’s Library of Webinar Recordings .

For more information, please read the Charity Commission’s update Charities Bill: the next steps and click here to access the full Charities Act 2022.

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Charity Commission updates – New Chair & Business Plan for 2022/23

Published : 08/06/22 | Categories: News |

The Charity Commission has recently appointed a new Chair and published its Business Plan for 2022/2023, which includes a commitment to strengthen visibility and engagement in Wales.

The new Chair of the Commission is Orlando Fraser QC .  WCVA’s CEO, Ruth Marks, attended an introductory meeting with Orlando Fraser in May and we look forward to working with him to support charities in Wales during his term at the Commission .

His inaugural speech ‘sets out his intention to lead an to lead an expert regulator that is fair, balanced and independent.’  The speech is positive about the role the sector plays in society and expresses ‘a desire to lead an expert Commission – that is, a regulator full of the brightest and the best, whose judgment can be relied on by you trustees as authoritative.’

CHALLENGE AND ENCOURAGEMENT

He states that he wants the work of the Commission to be informed by three key values – fairness, balance, and independence. There is a reassuring message around supporting trustees to ‘get it right’ when things don’t go exactly to plan’:

‘ So, there will be occasions when the Commission will be very robust, but equally you will see a supportive side to us – it is a question of achieving the right overall balance over time between challenge and encouragement, and it is something to which I want the Commission to pay attention .’

The speech ends with a promise that the Commission will keep increasing its efforts to improve the service it provides to trustees. There are also two asks for trustees. The first ask concerns the legal duty of prudence as trustees, ‘or as you may know it, managing your charity’s resources responsibly’. This is especially important as we enter increasingly challenging times. The second ask concerns trustee recruitment, including a request to ‘make any recruitment drive as inclusive and diverse as possible, thus ensuring the continued excellence of the sector.’

BUSINESS PLAN

The Commission has also published its Business Plan for 2022- 2023 , which is structured around three priorities:

• we will improve our ability to regulate efficiently, effectively, and robustly
• we will better engage with trustees, supporting them to run their charities well
• we will strengthen our organisation to ensure we deliver our ambition

We are pleased to note that the new Business Plan includes a commitment to ‘work closely with representative bodies and engage positively with the Welsh Government and Senedd Members on matters of shared importance’ and to ‘strengthen our visibility and engagement in Wales’.

MORE ON THIS

The Charity Commission will be running a FREE event at this years gofod3 with An Introduction to the Revitalising Trusts Programme .

For additional support on governance issues make sure your organisation is a WCVA member . You can also sign up to our governance e-bulletin or any other WCVA mailings you would find useful for regular updates.

Related news

Published: 07/05/24 | Categories: News | Training & events |

gofod3 – event programme now live!

Published: 29/04/24 | Categories: Information & support | News |

An update from the Health and Care Project

Published: 08/04/24 | Categories: News | Volunteering |

Volunteers’ Week 2024 – how to get involved

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• Good Practice Guidance

Business plan good practice guidance

By reading this guidance you'll get help with how to develop a business plan, including basic headings and prompts on how to review your plan as it develops. It also includes a list of further resources and a glossary of terms to do with business planning.

Please note: if you already have a business plan, you don’t need to produce a new one.

Writing your plan

Before producing your business plan, consider:

• if you need expertise in areas such as market analysis, taxation or legal matters
• who will be involved in writing the plan, including staff and trustees
• the timelines for the business plan to be approved

The headings below give a basic framework for developing a business plan, but every organisation is different so you may want to use different headings or additional content that better explains how your organisation works:

• executive summary
• about the organisation   
• governance and management structures
• market appraisal and current approach
• financial appraisal
• risk register
• monitoring and evaluating the organisation
• organisational impact assessment
• contact details for the organisation

Once you have a draft it’s a good idea to review it to assess its strengths and weaknesses, tackle any gaps and ensure it’s as clear, concise and logical as possible.

Your business plan will be a document you refer back to continually and update in the general course of running your organisation, so ask yourself:

• Does your business plan present a strategy for achieving your aims and your mission?
• Does your business plan align with our Heritage 2033 investment principles ?

Executive summary

Your plan should start with a concise overview (no more than two pages) highlighting the most important information in the document, including:

• an overview of your organisation including your mission statement and what you want to achieve
• the organisation’s key aims for the period of the plan (usually 3–5 years)
• key elements of your strategy including how you will assure the longer-term financial future of the organisation
• the main risks facing your organisation and how you plan to manage these in the short, medium and long term
• an explanation of how your organisation is resilient enough to meet challenges: likely including financial information, how you will ensure governance and management structures are fit for purpose, and the monitoring and evaluation processes you have in place
• any additional key information

Review this section by asking:

• Is it a well-structured summary highlighting key points from the plan?
• If someone with no prior knowledge of your organisation read this summary on its own, would it make sense?

About the organisation

This should provide information on the structure, objectives and activities of your organisation, including:

• when and why it was started
• its purpose, aims and key successes
• the key areas of activity, products and/or services that you deliver, how they are distinctive and how will they be developed over the course of the plan
• details of the targets you have set for each area of activity
• Legal status, eg: unincorporated association or trust, or incorporated by Act of Parliament, Royal Charter, as a company limited by shares/guarantee, (Scottish) Charitable Incorporated Organisation or Industrial and Provident Society. Indicate whether it is a Community Interest Company or is registered or recognised as a charity.
• whether it has a membership of individuals, and if so the number of members
• the names of any other entities with which it has a formal association (eg: any bodies with which there are funding agreements or that have the right to nominate multiple board members)
• Whether it is a partnership of different organisations with a shared interest, identifying the other organisations/stakeholders you will be working with, the basis of the arrangement and whether it is formal or informal. Summarise any partnership agreements.
• the number and roles of paid staff (in total and full-time equivalents) and explain the tasks they perform within the organisation
• the role of volunteers (give estimates of the number of regular volunteers, the tasks they do within the organisation and the total number of hours they work on each task every year)
• describe how you fund your organisation’s activities, noting any sources that account for a particularly large proportion of your income and, if these come from a funding body, when this funding will be subject to review
• Have you accurately described your organisation’s purpose and main areas of activity and how you are distinctive?
• Do you highlight key successes?
• Is it clear what services or products you offer and how you intend to develop them?
• Have you set clear targets?
• Is the structure of your organisation clearly set out in a way that is easy to understand?
• Have you included key information about your legal set up and how you staff and fund core activities?

Governance and management structures

This should explain your organisation’s management structure, decision-making processes, lines of communication and reporting. It can include simple organograms/network diagrams to show your governance, management and staffing structures.

Governance summary

This should provide an overview of the governance in place within your organisation to ensure that business plans and strategies are approved and monitored.

Describe the size and composition of the governing body (eg: council, board of trustees, board of directors) and, where appropriate, arrangements in place for succession planning and board development training. List the roles covered by your senior management team.

You should explain the make-up of your board. This includes how the board provides a diversity of perspective and skills. You should also explain their engagement with the organisation, particularly in relation to:

• business planning, pricing policies and marketing strategies
• financial management and administration
• fundraising
• approving potential projects and maintaining oversight
• commissioning advisers and consultants

Summarise the functions of any sub-groups, describing their membership, roles and responsibilities, and specifying any delegated powers they are authorised to use. Indicate how frequently such groups meet.

Management structure

You should include simple organigrams or network diagrams. These should show each job title. There’s no need to include individuals’ names.

Show how many post-holders are employed in each position and whether they are full-time, part-time or volunteers. 

An accompanying schedule should list each role, summarising its purpose and function, and the name of the post-holder (so we can see if there are vacancies in key roles).

You should provide information on your recruitment policies for core staff. If you use external advisors regularly, you should give details of their company and role and how they relate to the positions on the organogram.

If volunteers are a key part of your organisation, you should explain:

• the roles volunteers play in the organisation, including the types of responsibilities they have
• how many volunteers the organisation works with
• the number of volunteer hours
• the role within your organisation responsible for managing volunteering and how this is monitored
• Have you covered how your organisation is managed and governed in a clear way? Is there any information missing?
• Have you included the main challenges you face in running your business?
• Is it clear what skills and experience are needed going forward? Have you included information on how you develop skills within the organisation?
• Have you included plans for developing your structure and processes in the future?

This should include a more detailed overview of the aims of your organisation for the period of the plan and how they relate to your overall mission, setting out the key activities you will undertake to achieve them.

Include any projects you plan to take on, demonstrating how they will work together to achieve your organisation’s aims. You should include information on the impact additional projects will have on your organisation and how you plan to deal with those impacts.

Include dates and a timetable for reviewing and updating your strategy.

Market appraisal and current approach

A market appraisal looks at your offer within the context of the marketplace. You should assess your market, your competition and your marketing strategy. Market analysis should be proportionate to the scope and size of your organisation.

Describe your current market:

• Is the profile of your heritage attraction or place of local or national interest? Is it well known?
• Is it valued by a wide cross-section of the public or a more limited special-interest group?
• How many customers have you had each year over the past 10 years?
• What are the demographics of your current customers and visitors – their age, gender, income, education, and occupation? What proportion are family groups/schools?
• Where do they live – very locally, from the surrounding region, from the UK or overseas?
• What proportion of customer contacts are repeats?

Show you know your market:

• On a national or regional basis, is your market growing, falling or stable?
• How does this relate to your organisation’s experience?
• Are there any national socio-economic trends or policies that will have an impact on your market?
• How might foreseeable political, economic, social and/or technological changes affect your market?

Consider your potential/target audience:

• Who are the people most likely to access your service?
• Are they single or repeat customers?
• What are their needs, behaviours, tastes and preferences?
• What has research shown you so far?

Review the competition

All organisations have competition of some sort. Find out what organisations are in competition with yours. Look at how they price their activities, their business strategy, strengths and weaknesses.

Develop a competitive strategy for your organisation

Do a ‘SWOT’ analysis looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your organisation.

Use evidence-based information and remember to include internal and external factors. Describe what is unique and special to your organisation and include the disadvantages you have.

Outline your marketing strategy

A marketing strategy is how you will reach new audiences. It will likely be based on evidence from:

• data you have collected, over as long a period of time as is achievable
• national data, for example, the Taking Part survey (in England), national tourism surveys, national and local authority statistics
• existing market research
• market research commissioned to estimate potential markets and the potential popularity of the business with your target market
• reviewing operations that are similar to those you propose in your own area and further afield, using annual accounts available online from the Charity Commission (England) or Companies House

Your marketing strategy should clearly set out:

• people:  who your target audiences are, including the size of these audiences
• product:  what you’re offering people
• price:  your pricing strategy and the rationale behind it
• promotion:  the communication channels and messages you will use to reach your target audiences

Financial appraisal

This should include a general financial assessment of your organisation, an overview of your total financial need to support your day-to-day operations and details of your financial model, including your main sources of funding.

Provide supporting documents in an appendix at the end of your business plan, detailing:

• a forecast income and expenditure account
• a cashflow forecast showing the expected monthly cashflow
• statements of assumptions underlying the forecasts

Detail the assumptions made in your calculations. An assumption is anything you are relying on to make forecasts. For example, the average number of visitors you are expecting based on the previous year, or any unknown costs of materials. Make sure you also include details of any reserves.

You may want to undertake a sensitivity analysis to show what your finances would look like if your projections fall short by various amounts, for example between 5% and 20%. What would the risk to your operation be if either of these scenarios were to occur and what action might you need to take?

• Have you described how your organisation operates financially in a way that is easy to understand?
• Have you included an overview of your total financial needs, what your main sources of funding are and how your main activities contribute to achieving this?
• Have you included an expected cashflow forecast and income and expenditure forecast?

Risk register

A risk assessment identifies your organisation’s internal weaknesses and external threats. A risk register, usually set out as a table, lists all the identified risks prioritised in order of importance.

For each risk, outline:

• the nature of the risk, eg: technical, market, financial, economic, management, legal
• a description of the risk
• the probability of the risk happening: low, medium, high or as a percentage
• the effect the risk could have, eg: on cost, time, performance
• the level of effect: low, medium, high, or as a percentage
• how you would prepare for and lessen the risk’s effect
• Have you listed the key potential problems that your organisation faces?
• On reflection, are they your main risks or can the list be reduced?
• Have the risks been properly calculated?
• Do you need to do any further thinking about how risks will be mitigated?
• Are there any alternative courses of action that have not been considered?

Monitoring and evaluating your organisation

In this section you should set out your plans for monitoring and evaluating your organisation's performance and impact to ensure you are meeting your aims and achieving your mission.

You will need to gather different kinds of information at various stages, starting at the earliest opportunity by benchmarking where you are to start with. You should set a series of milestones, financial targets and performance targets to track these.

Evaluation should be carried out regularly using the monitoring information. You should summarise your planned approach and include details of milestones. Your approach should show when you anticipate evaluating your achievements and specify the scope of the evaluation and whether your organisation plans to bring in any expertise to help you assess the extent to which you are meeting your aims.

• Have you included details of the changes you want your organisation to make? How does this link to your mission and aims?
• Have you set out how you intend to monitor progress? Will you need any external advice?
• Have you detailed what success looks like? How will you know if you have achieved your targets?
• Do you have a plan for linking your findings into future decision-making? How do you report back to your board of trustees?

Organisational impact assessment

Within your application we want to see how your proposed project will impact your organisation and its finances and continue to deliver against our investment principles for a period of five years from the end of the project, including:

How will any additional costs created by the project continue to be funded?

These can include additional staffing and housekeeping costs, business rates, maintenance obligations arising from implementing management and maintenance plans (and, if applicable, conservation plans ). Document these additional costs in a table.

Where the project is expected to lead to reduced expenditure (for example, reduced energy expenditure, productivity gains due to improved technology), include the costs of the savings in the table to give the planned net additional cost or saving. 

What additional volunteer input will be required?

Tell us about additional numbers of hours to be worked and the number of additional hours required. Indicate where these volunteers come from and the impact on your volunteer management and training arrangements. 

Are there any changes in governance or management that could affect the project?

Tell us about any relevant changes to board composition or committee structure, or variation in individual duties or responsibilities. If the structure will be different during different phases of your project, provide separate diagrams to explain the arrangements. Outline any other material change in how the organisation will be managed as a consequence of the project.

Provide the following financial projections:

A statement of unrestricted funds, or of income and expenditure where the organisation is a local authority, university or other large organisation and the scale of the project is immaterial to the organisation's total financial circumstances. Where the organisation has a trading subsidiary, its projections should be consolidated with those of its parent. Include:

• the organisation's balance sheet
• the assumptions on which the financial projections are based
• a sensitivity analysis

In carrying out this impact assessment you should:

• Use the market appraisal you have carried out in your overall business planning to give details of your market size and the income generated. The assumptions should clearly show the basis on which the numbers have been calculated.
• demonstrate that the general trend will be for the organisation to generate annual surpluses on its unrestricted funds
• Base your assessment on your latest completed financial year if you have been in existence for that length of time (or the current year budget). Use this as a starting point for your projections so you can clearly assess the net impact on your financial position from the incremental, on-going income and expenditure caused by the project you are proposing.
• Include in the sensitivity analysis the income items that are most critical to the organisation's success, are most uncertain or contain the greatest risk. By adjusting these by percentages between 5% and 20%, depending on their nature and risk, it is possible to see the impact on the reported surplus.

Contact details for your organisation

At the end of your business plan, include:

• head office address
• telephone number
• email address

If you need to include additional information to support your plan, for example, evidence or reports you have commissioned, external advice, financial information or visuals which support the plan, add these as appendices.

When you have completed the plan, review your appendices to make sure you haven’t missed any relevant detail. Check whether you have included information in the main business plan that should be listed in the appendix instead.

Additional resources

• Sample business plans for various industries.
• Business planning guidance for arts and cultural organisations   commissioned by   Arts Council England for the arts and cultural sector.
• The Sustainable Sun tool : 10 steps towards financial sustainability from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
• An introduction to benchmarking , developed by The Audience Agency.
• How to build a measurement and evaluation framework , developed by New Philanthropy Capital.
• Impact and evaluation resources from the Small Charities Coalition
• DIY toolkit on how to invent, adopt or adapt ideas that can deliver better results, created by Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency. It includes a template for  SWOT analysis .
• Various business planning resources from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.
• Various resources to help you run your organisation from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
• Resources and templates relating to business planning , including a template for developing a cashflow, from the Small Charities Programme. 

Glossary of terms to do with business planning

Aims:  a broad statement of intent.

Asset : an item of value owned and controlled by the organisation that has a useful life longer than a single accounting period.

Budget : a plan for future activity expressed in terms of incoming and outgoing resources.

Cashflow : the pattern of an organisation’s income and expenditure. Having surplus cash in hand after being able to meet all debts on the day they are due is a ‘positive’ cashflow, not having cash to meet debts as they fall due is a ‘negative’ cashflow.

Forecast : a   financial projection, based on performance to date, of where the organisation expects to be at the end of the current financial period. Revised forecasts are often prepared throughout the financial year.

Impact: the intended or unintended sustainable changes brought about by an initiative, project, programme or organisation.

Mission : the overall guiding direction of the organisation, which usually states your purpose, refers to what your organisation does, who it does it for and what is unique or different about what you do.

Objectives : achievements set out for a business to aim for, often within a certain timeframe. These should be ‘SMART’, ie: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. They underpin planning and strategic activities and serve as the basis for performance monitoring and evaluation.

Trustee: a person who has independent control over, and legal responsibility for, an organisation’s (especially a charity’s) management and administration.  Find out more about trustees on the Government’s website .

Sensitivity analysis: tests different scenarios to see how they will affect your bottom line, for example by increasing and decreasing your financial projections by between 5% and 20%.

Unrestricted funds: money that can be spent on any activity that furthers the organisation’s purpose.

• Legal commentary

Charities Act 2022: June Update

The second tranche of changes brought in by the Charities Act 2022 (Act) came into effect today (14 June 2023).

These updates are part of a phased introduction of changes brought in by the Act. We updated you on the first stage of changes that came into effect on 31 October 2022  

Here we’ll look at the June 2023 updates brought in by the Act (previously planned for the spring) and summarise the notable changes.

Permanent endowment 

The Charity Commission describes “permanent endowment” as money or property initially meant to be held by a charity forever. The Act replaces the definition of “permanent endowment” with a simplified alternative definition which considers property to be a permanent endowment if it is “subject to a restriction on expenditure which distinguishes between income and capital”. An example of a permanent endowment could include a gift of an investment portfolio subject to a restriction that only the income from the investments may be spent by the charity towards furthering its charitable objectives.

This distinction between income and capital is a key feature of a permanent endowment. It is, however, possible for charity trustees to release the restriction on spending capital either with Charity Commission consent or subject to specific circumstances. Under the previous provisions, the requirement to seek Commission consent was not applicable if:

• The value of the permanent endowment was below £10,000
• The total income of the charity was below £1,000

From 14 June 2023 onwards, the value threshold has been increased so that Commission consent is not required to spend a permanent endowment below the value of £25,000, and the income of the charity is no longer a relevant factor.  

The Act also grants charity trustees two new powers in relation to permanent endowments. The first is the statutory power for trustees to borrow up to 25% of the value of the permanent endowment without the Charity Commission's consent. This must be repaid within 20 years of being borrowed. The second power is for trustees to use permanent endowments to make social investments even when there is a projected negative financial return on the investment. Before the introduction of the Act, this was prohibited.

Charity land 

The 14 June 2023 changes brought in by the Act introduce differences in how charity land can be disposed of, including:

• The restrictions on disposals of charity land will only apply where all land being disposed of is held solely for one charity’s benefit.
• There is no longer a legal requirement to advertise a proposed disposition of charity land.
• The advice a charity must seek in relation to the disposal of land is no longer required to come just from an RICS-qualified surveyor but can also be given by an expanded category of “designated advisors”, including certain estate agents and agricultural valuers.  Charity trustees, officers, and employees will now be able to provide such reports and advice where qualified to do so.
• Charities can grant a  tenancy for a period of one year or less to an employee of a charity to use as their home without seeking Charity Commission consent.

Changes that were due to amend the exceptions to the restrictions, including helpful clarity for insolvency practitioners and changes to the information that must be included in statements and certificates, have been delayed until the end of the year to allow further time for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to work with HM Land Registry on consequential amendments required.

Other changes now in force 

The other changes effective from 14 June 2023 include:

• Change of name - the Act extends the Charity Commission’s existing powers to require a charity to change its name. The Commission can now require (1) a charity to stop using a working name, (2) an unregistered charity to change its name and (3) a charity to change its formal name if it considers it too similar to another charity’s working name. The Commission can also delay the registration of an unsuitably named charity.
• Connected persons – the definition of “connected person” no longer refers to an illegitimate child.
• Minor and consequential amendments – detailed in section 40 and Schedule 2 of the Act.

If you have any questions or need legal advice in relation to the Charities Act 2022, please contact Samantha Pritchard on 0191 211 7905 or email [email protected]

The Charities Act 2022 updates the Charities Act 2011. It aims to simplify and modernise charity law to aid trustees in better managing their charities.

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Charity Commission Business Plan reveals priorities for 2023-24

Melanie May | 23 June 2023 | News

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The Charity Commission has released its Business Plan for 2023-2024, shaped around four key priorities.

According to the Commission, the plan is a ‘transition plan’, and aims to deliver against the commitments made in the last year of its current strategy, while setting it up to deliver a new strategy from 2024.

The four priorities are:

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• Regulating effectively, being clear about its role and decision-making
• Strengthening its support and interventions to ensure charities are run well
• In challenging times, improving how the Commission uses its voice, data and intelligence to help charity deliver impact
• Investing in its people and systems

Under priority 1, the Commission’s work will include a review of its risk assessment model, further work on making its charity registration processes more digital, efficient, and effective, and the implementation of a new writing style to improve communications with those involved in its casework. It will also do more work to ensure its role is understood by trustees, the public and other stakeholders.

Work under priority 2 will include the delivery of the next phase of its awareness campaigns and online improvements and further steps in its programme of guidance redesign. New guidance will underpin the delivery of the second and third phases of the Charities Act 2022, which will also require updates to internal processes and digital systems. And, with the launch of its ‘My Charity Commission Account’ this year, it will start work to help its relationships with trustees.

Under priority 3, the Commission states that while it reports to Parliament, it ‘will be beholden to no-one in applying the law, continuing to put the public interest front and centre of our regulatory approach.’

As such, it says, it will speak out on issues that matter, and work to reinforce its independence to the public and trustees. It also aims to be more proactive in anticipating wrongdoing and faster in dealing with it. This will include improving how the Commission uses data and intelligence to inform its work.

This, it says, will be supported by the introduction of its improved Annual Return 2023 question following consultation last year, as well as by making the changes to its current system for the classification of what charities do so that it is better able to understand the charity sector through segmentation.

It will also continue to progress the redevelopment of the SORP accounting framework, and its long-term work ambitions for the digitisation of charity accounts.

Under priority 4, the Commission will focus on developing its offering for staff and how it communicates with them. It will also be working on improving casework processes.

This year will also see the Commission develop its five-year strategy, which will be published in 2024.

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About Melanie May Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com .

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Business plan 2022/23

Introduction, strategic objectives, priorities for this year.

This is the first business plan that falls within the scope of our new Strategic Plan 2022-2027 . The strategy sets out our view of how we will deliver the effective regulation of charitable fundraising over the next five years. 

Our regulation is risk, evidence and outcomes based. There are cross-cutting themes running through our objectives, which together will guide us to regulate charitable fundraising effectively. These are:

• Innovative: We will keep abreast of digital and wider social developments and how these may shape fundraising into the future. Our regulation will evolve accordingly.
• Proactive: We will continue to develop our proactive approach, strengthening the work we do to ensure compliance with the code, in addition to complaints handling. We will prioritise proactive regulation where we identify issues that may cause harm to the public or damage to the reputation of charitable fundraising even if those issues have not attracted complaints.
• Intelligent: We will use our data more intelligently to support the development of the code and our compliance work. We will collect and share fundraising data from others to inform our regulatory priorities and to share knowledge and learning. 
• Collaborative: We will bring in views from across the fundraising sector and the wider public so that we remain a thought leader in fundraising. We will create new information sharing opportunities to ensure that fundraisers and the public have a greater voice in developing our policies. As part of this, we will strengthen relationships with other regulators and government.

All our work is delivered in line with the following strategic objectives:

• To deliver intelligent fundraising regulation that protects the public.
• To inform members of the public about principled fundraising.
• To support fundraising organisations to thrive.
• To be a highly effective organisation.

This year’s budget allows us to deliver our core business as usual activity, alongside key 2022/23 projects. This effectively means:

• Operating the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) at present or at increased levels of activity.
• Continuing to offer advice on high standards of fundraising through our code advice service, available either online or over the phone.
• Managing complaints casework at up to 100 complaints per month (1,200 per year).
• Maintaining Fundraising Levy and registration activity at present levels, with the additional capacity to process up to 70 new applications per month for registration and increasing numbers of annual renewals. 

The priorities for this year are as follows:

To deliver intelligent fundraising regulation that protects the public

We want to increase our knowledge and understanding of how the fundraising sector is changing so that we can target our regulation in the most effective ways. 

To do this, we need to further develop our use of data, from our own sources, the sector and from wider stakeholders. We also want to ensure that we fully understand developments in digital fundraising, the use of new technologies, and how fundraising is changing more broadly. 

Key deliverables

• Launch a review of the Code of Fundraising Practice (the code) to ensure that it remains up to date, accessible, and reflects best practice in fundraising. As part of that review, we will engage with the sector on changes in fundraising, including the increasing use of digital and the changing role of fundraisers.
• Complete our compliance work with fundraising platforms to ensure that they are compliant with the code and with our Terms and Conditions .
• Increase internal capacity to support a proactive regulatory approach by scoping out any additional resourcing required and recruiting into those post(s).
• If staff resources permit, begin to investigate what data is held by other relevant sources, with a view for this to continue throughout 2023/24.
• Investigate how artificial intelligence can support intelligent regulation by providing insights from data sources held internally and externally.

To inform members of the public about principled fundraising

The last few years have shown us that people continue to give generously, despite the financial pressures that many of them will have been under. This generosity exists in support of high-profile fundraising ventures, as well as support for more local causes. 

It is our role to make sure that whatever fundraising is taking place, standards remain high, and the public continues to be protected. 

We will continue to operate an open and accessible complaints service that offers the public independent investigation of their complaints and assistance in getting them resolved. We will also continue to provide a way for the public to manage their communications with charities through the FPS.

• Review the effectiveness of our public marketing activity, in particular the marketing of the Fundraising Badge .
• Develop a new communications strategy to engage and protect the public.
• Develop additional public facing materials to help them understand fundraising and to make decisions about whether to support personal cause fundraising.
• Update our public Fundraising Directory following user feedback.

To support fundraising organisations to thrive 

To ensure that organisations involved in charitable fundraising are able to do so in a way that is legal, open, honest, and respectful we will continue to maintain and develop the code. 

We know that the code remains a vital tool for all fundraisers, so we will ensure that as we develop it, we do so by listening to views not only from the fundraising sector but also from the public.

The code alone is not enough to ensure fundraising excellence, so we will continue to share learning through our Annual Complaints Report and the summaries of our casework . 

In addition, we will carry out targeted policy interventions looking at two key areas of fundraising practice where we see lots of enquiries from the public and fundraisers. These are volunteer fundraising and commercial participation. 

• Create a panel of fundraisers and/or fundraising compliance staff to share insights on fundraising practice.
• Deliver targeted policy interventions in relation to two key areas of fundraising practice: volunteer fundraising and commercial participation. 
• Begin a review of the Annual Complaints Report, focusing on part two (complaints reported by a sample of large charities), and engaging with the sector on proposals to make improvements to that part of the report.
• Publish the Annual Complaints Report.
• Review the self-reporting pathway and produce additional guidance on reporting thresholds.

To be a highly effective organisation

We will continue to carefully monitor our expenditure to ensure we are offering value for money and make efficiencies where possible. We are keenly aware of how we are funded and take our budgeting responsibilities seriously.

The levy and registration levels that are currently in operation have been in place since our launch. In this strategic plan period (2022-27) we anticipate reviewing the current levels to ascertain whether they remain appropriate. Any changes will depend on a range of factors such as whether the number of charities within the levy and registration scheme increases and the rate of general inflation.

We are aware of the wider societal and political contexts in which we operate and our position as a regulator. This position means that we take matters such as sustainability, and equality, diversity, and inclusion, seriously and work to make continuous improvements.

• Agree a framework through which to review the levy.
• Further develop our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy to look at the impact we can make through our regulation, as well as internally with our own staff and suppliers. 
• Review what similar organisations are doing to develop sustainability goals.

Charity and non-charity registration scheme

The Fundraising Regulator’s scheme of voluntary fundraising regulation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is mainly funded by the Fundraising Levy . The levy is paid by the charitable organisations that conduct the most fundraising activity. Around 2,000 charities are currently within the scope of the levy, which is based on a sliding scale of payments for all charities spending £100,000 or more on fundraising per year.

The rest of our income comes primarily from a registration scheme for smaller fundraising charities and non-charities (such as commercial businesses, Community Interest Companies and public interest bodies) that engage in charitable fundraising. Smaller charities spending less than £100,000 a year on fundraising pay £50 a year to register with us. Non-charities pay registration fees on a sliding scale according to their fundraising turnover.

All organisations that commit publicly to meeting the Code of Fundraising Practice, and pay the relevant registration fee (currently around 5,500 bodies), can display the Fundraising Badge on their fundraising materials, and are encouraged to do so.

Budget for 2022/23 

Our budget for 2022/23 is £2.668 million, which represents an increase to our planned expenditure in previous years. This will enable us to carry out more regulatory activities as we come out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period.

In terms of income, we expect to raise £2.4 million in 2022/23. Around 92%, or £2.2 million, is forecast from the levy, while an additional £100,000 will come from smaller charity registrations and another £100,000 from non-charity registrations.

This year we are operating a deficit budget. Our levy income is forecast to drop by c. £200,000 as levy demands are based on accounts for 2020. These reflect the impact of the pandemic when many fundraising charities suspended normal fundraising activity and many staff were furloughed. In addition, we have suffered greater than anticipated inflationary increases to most of our budget items.

Our commitment to offering value for money means we look to regulate in a way that is as efficient and effective as possible. This includes making sure our workforce remains skilled and supported to do their work. 

Our staffing costs constitute a substantial part of our expenditure in 2022/23 at about 60%. We have already taken on two extra staff in our casework team to help support proactive work and have budgeted for another post that would support more data analysis. This will result in 27 members of staff working in four teams – casework; communications and corporate services; finance and procurement; and policy.

Budget summary table information

Total expenditure: £2,668,149

• Levy: £2,106,362
• Registration: £184,400
• Non charity: £152,400
• Other income: £10,000

Total income: £2,453,162

Difference: -£214,987

Reserves: £1,685,013

Budget summary by cost centre table information

Cost centre: 2021/22; 2022/23; Change

• Levy and finance: £205,000 / £224,000 / £19,000
• Fundraising Preference Service: £246,000 / £264,000 / £18,000
• Policy: £282,000 / £313,000 / £31,000
• Casework: £329,000 / £392,000 / £63,000
• Projects: £151,000 / £172,000 / £21,000
• Secretariat and communications: £382,000 / £394,000 / £12,000
• Administration: £138,000 / £177,000 / £39,000
• Board and governance: £158,000 / £169,000 / £11,000
• Premises: £135,000 / £140,000 / £5,000
• Professional fees: £86,000 / £101,000 / £15,000
• Public engagement: £294,000 / £322,000 / £28,000

Total: £2,406,000 / £2,668,000 / £262,000

Budget summary by objective graphic information

Objectives 2022/23

• To deliver intelligent fundraising regulation that protects the public: £908,000
• To inform members of the public about principled fundraising: £631,000
• To support fundraising organisations to thrive: £481,000
• To be a highly effective organisation: £645,000

Total cost: £2,665,000

Staff structure diagram information

Senior Management Team

• Chief Executive
• Head of Communications and Corporate Services
• Head of Casework
• Head of Finance and Procurement
• Head of Policy

Casework team

• Case Officer (x4)
• Administration Assistant

Finance and procurement team

• Finance and Registration Officer
• Business and Registration Assistant

Policy team

• Stakeholder and Policy Manager (x2 – Northern Ireland and Wales)
• Policy Officer (x2)

Communications and corporate services team

• Governance Officer
• FPS Contracts Manager
• HR Officer and Executive Assistant
• Communications Officer
• Internal Communications Officer
• Digital Marketing Officer
• Using the code
• Behaviour when fundraising
• Responsibilities of charitable institutions and those who govern them
• Processing personal data (information)
• Processing donations
• Fundraising involving children
• Professional fundraisers, commercial participators and partners
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• Fundraising communications and advertisements
• Lotteries, prize competitions and free draws
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• Payroll giving and post-tax salary donations
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Charity Commission business plan 2023-24

27 July 2023 | Applicable law: England and Wales | 3 minute read

Last month the Charity Commission published its summary business plan for 2023/24 outlining its proposals for undertaking its new five-year strategy, following the end of the previous period (2018-2023).

The 2023/24 Business Plan is a transition strategy, before the implementation of the Commission's new five-year strategy in 2024.

The Commission has outlined four priorities for the transitional strategy as follows:

• Priority 1: to regulate effectively, be clear about its role and decision-making
• Priority 2: to strengthen its support and interventions to ensure charities are run well
• Priority 3: In challenging times, to improve how it uses its voice, data and intelligence to help charities deliver impact
• Priority 4: to invest in its people and systems so that it can continue to be an expert Commission

The Commission aims under Priority 1 to deliver a clear and transparent regulatory approach focused on fairness. Publicly, the Commission aims to clarify its role, remit and limitations to the public, charity trustees and other stakeholders.

In addition, the Commission aims to continue to invest in its systems to improve the registration process by making it more 'digital, efficient, and effective'. Crucial to the registration process, the Commission aims to implement a new and consistent writing style to clarify to applicants and recipients why the Commission takes the action it does in each situation.

For Priority 2, the Commission aims to focus on increasing effectiveness at discovering and dealing with wrongdoing and proposes to deliver the next phase of its awareness campaigns relating to trustee obligations, as well as to publish further guidance on Charities Act 2022 changes which continue to be implemented in phases.

Specifically, the Commission promises to improve digitalisation and the customer experience through the newly launched ‘My Charity Commission Account' feature (which we covered in a previous e-alert ).

In order to achieve Priority 3, the Commission proposes to speak out on the issues that matter, specifically by explaining its casework to the public to have a meaningful impact. It aims to be proactive in anticipating wrongdoing and by improving 'intelligence gathering' to do so.

Looking forwards, the Commission notes the introduction of new questions for charity annual returns and an updated SORP accounting framework.

Finally, Priority 4 focuses on internal improvements to the Commission for the benefit of staff. The Commission aims to equip employees with internal updates and operational guidance to improve the casework process. In addition, the Commission looks to 'bolster capacity' through a wide programme of continuous improvement.

Click here for the full business plan.

This document (and any information accessed through links in this document) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Professional legal advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from any action as a result of the contents of this document.

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Trainee Solicitor  |  London

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Business Plan for 2022-23

The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has published its Business Plan for 2022-23.

The Plan is based on our Corporate Plan 2020-23 and reflects our overall ambitions and priorities for the year ahead. 

It contains information on:

• our approach
• priorities for the year
• how we will know we are succeeding
• how we will report on progress toward the priorities.

Read the OSCR Business Plan 2022-23 here.