In the news last week...06 November

Take a look at all the charity sector headlines from the last week

Our Senior Researcher Rachel Cain brings you all the latest news from the sector.

Charging charities for regulation

The Charity Commission has said (yet again!) that it will look at charging charities for regulation, and will consult on this sometime in the next year. The chief executive, Helen Stephenson, said that the Commission has asked the Treasury for more funding, but if they are to do more support trustees, will need a debate about charities making ‘a modest contribution’. DSC is opposed to this idea for many reasons – you can read more about why and join us here.

Lack of consultation on Brexit criticised

The shadow civil society minister, Steve Reed, has criticised the government for not consulting the charity sector on Brexit – despite consulting 58 other sectors, ranging from textiles to gambling. The government’s response to the parliamentary question on this issue said that charities were not consulted as a specific sector because they cover a range of different issues.

Digital tax returns

HMRC has said that charities will not be fully exempt from its Making Tax Digital scheme – charities with an income of more than £85,000 will have to file digital tax returns on VAT from 2019, as the exemption only applies to corporation tax.

Social care charities back-pay

The government has given 15 months for charities to pay the total of around £400 million owed in back-pay to care workers for sleep-in shifts. Mencap has warned that this could lead to many care providers collapsing