It has been head down and full focus for the CFG policy team these past few weeks as we’ve been diving into some big consultations which will be vital for the charity sector moving forward.
As you may know, the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) consultation is now open and we have been reading, dissecting, analysing, and talking to experts about all the important changes.
Coming up, are our four free-for-members online consultation meetings. These sessions are a great opportunity to shape the SORP and how charities will have to report and present their accounts. So, if you are able to take part in any of them, do not miss that opportunity. Our first session is taking place on 7 May, and you can book your place here.
In addition to the long-awaited SORP consultation, the consultation on financial thresholds in charity law has also been published, reviewing 21 charity thresholds.
We’ll be sending out short surveys next week to capture your views on both consultations - your input will help shape our official responses so do keep an eye out for that.
While on the consultation topic, another important one was recently published, namely the consultation on the VAT treatment of business donations of goods to charity. We have been calling for this consultation for quite some time and would like to see the introduction of VAT relief on business donations and goods for charities. This would incentivise charitable giving and reduce waste. We’d really encourage you to respond to this consultation to help shape the future VAT relief framework.
Now that we have covered all the consultations, let’s turn our focus to banking. We were very pleased to see that the Treasury recently published a press release on new protections against debanking. These new rules would require banks to give customers 90 days’ notice before closing accounts, an increase from the current two months, and provide clear explanations why accounts will be closed.
We’ve previously identified concerns about charities - particularly those operating in high-risk jurisdictions - being debanked, and have shared the sector’s experiences in this area.
Banks now being required to disclose why they are closing accounts will give charities an opportunity to challenge these decisions. Subject to Parliamentary approval, this legislation is expected to come into effect from April 2026.
Wrapping up, CFG offered members a comprehensive charity sector policy update on Wednesday 30 April, led by CFG’s Head of Policy, Richard Sagar. Richard covered many important topics including the SORP consultation, the recent Spring Statement and accompanying OBR forecast, regulatory and legislative changes, banking updates, tax changes, and pension updates.
If you missed it, don’t worry – we'll share the video soon (members-only) we’ll be running more sessions like this one in the future, so stay tuned!
These developments represent meaningful progress for the sector, with consultations offering real opportunities to shape policy - let’s hope my future updates will prove similarly positive.
Until next time!
Ida