Charity Law & Compliance - 2024 Virtual Conference

Introduction

Chaired by Joss Saunders of Oxfam, this virtual classroom annual conference with a panel of leading experts will provide you with the latest update on the current key topics in charity law.

Each session will provide a full opportunity for questions and answers.

Conference Agenda

This 5-hour online conference will cover the following:

10:00am-11:00am: Culture Wars & Charities

Chair: Joss Saunders, Oxfam

This session will review recent developments in charity involvement in ‘culture wars’, including a review of recent Charity Commission cases:

• What does charity law say about culture wars?
• National Trust, Barnardos and Runnymede Trust, and other cases
• Equality Act issues
• Strategy for Trustees in handling contentious issues

Morning Break

11:10am-12:10pm: Serious Incident Reporting - Reviewing the Landscape Post-Lockdown

Michele Price, Charity & Philanthropy Partner, Gunnercooke LLP

Serious incident reporting has always been a difficult area for charities to navigate, knowing if to report, when to report and what the report should contain.

The Charity Commission produced new guidance during lockdown to help charities recognise if serious incident reporting needed to be part of their response to Covid-19. As was expected, the number of reports rose but was the quality and quantity of reporting what the Charity Commission wanted to see and has this recent highlighting of the requirement to submit SIRs changed this landscape, if so how?

Find out in this topical session which will cover all you need to know about serious incident reporting.

12:10pm-1:10pm: Who would be a Trustee?!

Paul Martin, Wellers Law Group

The challenges of recruiting new trustees, keeping them “fresh” and removing those who need to move on are a constant challenge for charities.

Managing a crisis facing a charity and the damage to its reputation are another.

This seminar will explore:

• Successful strategies for recruiting new trustees
• Ways to ensure trustees maintain their usefulness to the charity
• How to refresh the trustee board regularly without losing its effectiveness
• Mechanisms to manage a crisis without damaging the charities work, staff, or reputation
• Strategies to avoid reputational damage

Break for lunch

2:00pm-3:00pm: Charity Reserves - Lessons Learned from Lockdown

Michele Price, Charity & Philanthropy Partner, Gunnercooke LLP

The effects of Lockdown together with the current economic challenges have provided a big wakeup call, putting reserves at the top of the agenda. Charities looked to professional advisers for guidance on whether they could access reserves or how to build reserves for the future.

Looking at the issues which arose at the time, the fallout from the cost of living crisis, the response of the Charity Commission and the impact on the sector this session will address the following:

• Lessons learned.
• Latest regulatory guidance and best practice
• Reserves policies
• Reporting on reserves
• The impact on funding and financial resilience

Afternoon break

3:15pm-4:15pm: VAT: Clarity for Charity

Gwen Ryder, VAT and Customs Specialist

Business v non-Business is a constant deliberation for charities and their advisers.

Never a straightforward subject this session will cover:

• Why this matters
  • Impact on output tax, input tax and the VAT Capital Goods Scheme
• Old case law
  • Worth repeating
  • Were some cases correct or wrongly decided?
• HMRCs' latest guidance on consideration, grants, and donations
• Scope for certainty and errors

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.