Government to cut financial regulatory burdens on Charities
The Government announced that it will be
reducing financial regulatory burdens that will benefit a large
number of smaller
charities. There are currently around 168,000 main charities on the Charity Commission’s
register. It is estimated 20% of these charities will benefit from the reductions.
The Governments consultation involved 58 stakeholders and the implementations were
generally welcomed by the various stakeholders.
The key proposals in the Governments report include:
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An increase in the threshold above which charities must prepare accruals accounts
from £100,000 to £250,000. This will reduce burdens for around 11,700 charities |
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An increase in the threshold above which accounts must undergo external scrutiny
from £10,000 to £25,000. Around 37,000 charities will no longer be required to have
their accounts externally examined.
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An increase in the threshold from £10,000 to £25,000 for charities to submit annual
accounts and the Trustees Annual Report (TAR) to the Charity Commission. This means
that around 23,000 small charities will no longer be required to submit their accounts
and TAR to the Commission. |
Phil Hope, Minister of the Third Sector stated that the changes will enable smaller
charities to spend more time on their core purpose by reducing administrative burdens.
It was recognised that proper accounting standards are important because people
who donate money want to know it is being used properly, but there is a balance
to be struck and they are confident that these changes get that balance right.
As a result of the consultation two of the proposals were not taken forward due
to convincing arguments that they went too far in terms of the regulatory balance,
and could damage the sector’s accountability and transparency.
It is expected that the recommendations will be introduced by secondary legislation
by the end of the 2008/2009 financial year. This will allow the recommendations
to be implemented in time for the 2009/2010 financial year.
The full Government response is available at: http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Library/common/thresholdsresponse.pdf
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For More Information Contact:
Anjli Bhatt
TPP Law Limited
53 Great Suffolk Street
London SE1 ODB
t 020 7620 0888
f 020 7620 0778
e info@tpplaw.co.uk
Email:
Anjli
For the full Government
response please
click here
For a full printable version of this
article please
click here
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