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Legal news May 2011

Spotlight

Charity law – Added or updated on the legal update website for voluntary organisations
Budget result for volunteer drivers

Quicklinks

Events, licensing and campaigning – Sandy Adirondack’s latest legal update
Legal aspects of volunteering added or updated on the legal update website for voluntary organisations
New rates for the National Minimum Wage come into effect in October
One-stop source for UK legislation
Property and the environment
Work with children and vulnerable adults from Sandy Adirondack
Human Resource Management tool from ACAS
New employment practice resources online
Governance update on Sandy Adirondack’s legal update website
Do you use recorded music where you work? Do you pay royalties?

Charity law - Added or updated on the legal update website for voluntary organisations

Charity Commission guidance and model constitutions for charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) were published on 28 March. Still no final draft regulations and no implementation date – these will come from the Office for Civil Society rather than the Commission. www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#cio-constitutions
Weighing up CIOs versus charitable companies, based on what we know so far.www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#cio-yes-or-no
Charity Commission strategic priorities ( = cuts to frontline services) www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#charcomm-cuts
Foundation and voluntary schools to regain exempt charity status www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#charityreg-exempt
Tribunal’s service (including charity tribunal) merged with courts service on 1 April. www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#chartribunal
Serious confusion about the definition of public benefit in NI, following calls for reintroduction of presumption of public benefit for charities for the advancement of religion, advancement of education or relief of poverty. www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#charities-ni

Source: Sandy Adirondack

Budget result for volunteer drivers

Volunteering England has welcomed the announcement that volunteer drivers will be able to claim a higher level of expenses to cover their costs.

The announcement follows sustained calls for better support for volunteer drivers by Volunteering England, the Community Transport Association and other civil society organisations and will be welcomed by thousands of volunteer drivers across the country that provide a vital community service.

All drivers who use their vehicle for work or volunteering will now be able to claim 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, an increase from the current rate of 40p. In addition, an allowance of 5p per passenger per mile that is already available to business drivers will be extended to volunteers.

[Volunteering England press release]

Legal aspects of volunteering added or updated on the legal update website for voluntary organisations

Government abandons earned citizenship (which included volunteering as a route to it).www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#earned-citizenship

New edition of Jobcentre Plus’s Volunteering while getting benefits (DWP1023). www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#vols&benefits for a list of some of the changes or go direct to www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dwp1023.pdf

Volunteering held not to be an occupation. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#vol-occupation

Low Incomes Tax Reform Group report on issues in reimbursing volunteer expenses. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#volexpenses

Volunteer Rights Inquiry to issue ‘call to action’ in the new year. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#volrightsinquiry

TUC/Volunteering England charter on relations between paid staff and volunteers. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#vol-tuc-charter or go direct to www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-17329-f0.cfm

Volunteering England resources now available only to members – I’ve listed some alternative sources. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#volresources

Source: Sandy Adirondack

One-stop source for UK legislation

A new official website provides access to UK legislation from 1267 to the present. Legislation.gov.uk brings together legislative content from Office of Public Sector Information and the Statute Law Database. Managed by the National Archives it aims to provide access to current and historic laws in a "clear and simple" format. Read about it on the Out-law news item at www.out-law.com or go direct to www.legislation.gov.uk [Reproduced from VolResource 443]

Property and the environment

Added or updated on the legal update website for voluntary organisations by Sandy Adirondack.

Regulations from 1989 require local authorities to give at least one year’s notice before reducing or revoking discretionary rate relief, and any change can only take place at the end of a financial year. Keep this in mind if your local authority threatens to reduce or remove discretionary relief.www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#discretionaryraterelief
Water companies will be allowed (but not required) to offer concessionary surface water charges for charities and community groups. Consultation on DEFRA guidance for the water companies opened on 12 July. www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#raintax
‘Meanwhile’ leases and licences for temporary non-commercial use of vacant shops and land by charities, other voluntary organisations, artists, performers etc.www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#meanwhile
Government reconsidering future of community infrastructure levy, which some local authorities are implementing to replace section 106 agreements.www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#cil

Work with children and vulnerable adults from Sandy Adirondack

Added or updated on the legal update website for voluntary organisations

"Despite what you may have read or heard in the media, the vetting and barring (VBS) scheme has not been scrapped – some aspects of it have been put on hold while it is reviewed."

"And despite what it says on the Business Link website and probably in other places as well, compulsory registration with the Independent Safeguarding Authority is not, at least for the moment, going ahead in November. All registrations – both voluntary from 26 July and compulsory from November – are on hold."

"From the morass of contradictory and confusing information I have tried to extract what I think is an accurate summary of which aspects of the VBS are already in place and will remain in place, which are suspended while the scheme is being reviewed and “remodelled” as announced on 15 June, and which are subject to consultations that started before the review was announced."

"I will keep the website up to date and let you know of any changes."

Summary of recent VBS changes, the current review of the scheme, and Home Office guidance on the scheme as a whole and on safeguarding during the review period. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#vbs
Changes to the definition of regulated activity (including charity trustees) following the Singleton review. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#regulatedactivity
Registration of health and adult social care providers with the Care Quality Commission – from 1 October. www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#careregistration

Human Resource Management tool from ACAS

ACAS has published a free online tool entitled "ACAS Model Workplace" It allows employers to assess their performance in a number of key areas including * recruitment, selection and induction, pay and reward, flexible working and work-life balance, equality and diversity, discipline and grievance, key performance indicators in people management.

Before using the tool, it is necessary to download Microsoft Silverlight, but this only takes a few seconds and is free of charge.

After completing each module the user is given a rating indicating how effective the current practices are in this area, along with advice based on the rating and links to resources and assistance. The tool is available at www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2806

New employment practice resources online

Workforce Development have published a collection of new guides on the NCVO website, including a Diversity resource for voluntary and community organisations and several new case studies covering a variety of HR topics. All are available free from the NCVO website.

Governance update on Sandy Adirondack’s legal update website

A raft of new and recent resources on governance and trusteeship:
- new versions of CC3 The essential trustee and CC10 Hallmarks of an effective charity
- guidance for trustees with learning disabilities, and for local authorities as corporate trustees
- guidance for trustees of charities for children and young people, and trustees of faith based charities
- guidance on coping in the economic downturn, risk management, legal compliance, and more.
Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) postponed yet again – this time until late 2010 or even 2011. www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#cio
Updated version of Charity Law Association model articles for charitable company, with changes brought in by the Companies and Charities Acts, now available. www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#modelarticles
Reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission

Do you use recorded music where you work? Do you pay royalties?

Charities and other not-for-profit organisations will soon have to pay a licence to play recorded music in their own premises. NCVO’s ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ aims to draw attention to some legislative changes that come into force very soon.

According to the Government’s own figures, the proposed changes may cost the community and voluntary sector up to £20 million a year.

Sign NCVO’s petition, or visit the website to find out more about this campaign.