Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service – there are some items that may be of interest:

CHARITIES & CHARITY LAW

Charity Commission refreshes meetings guidance for the Zoom era
For information and possibly for action
The Charity Commission is calling on charities that hold online meetings to review their governing document to ensure that it is up to date.
The refreshed guidance emphasises the importance of complying with a charity’s governing document when holding meetings. The guidance stresses that trustees should make sure any rules around holding meetings are up to date and practical. This has become particularly important now that many charity meetings are held online. This includes updating a charity’s governing document to set out details such as how votes will be held at virtual meetings and whether all meetings will be virtual or hybrid.
It also recommends that charities that wish to hold virtual meetings have a policy that says how people can ask questions, join in the debate, and what would happen to the meeting if there were technical problems.
[Source: The Charity Commission, 19 July 2024]

Charity banking
For information and possibly for action
The Charity Commission has released guidance on charity banking and the support available to charities trying to access adequate banking services, as follows
“Your charity should have a bank or building society account. This helps you protect your charity’s money and enables your charity to operate in a secure way. It can also help with access to funding, and is needed to register with HMRC to get tax back on things like Gift Aid donations. However, many charities, particularly small and medium sized ones, have faced serious issues accessing adequate banking services.
Charities should use their best efforts to set up a bank or building society account as soon as they can. Some providers offer ‘Community’ bank accounts which are open to unregistered charities and those in the process of registering with the Charity Commission.
It is normal for charities’ income and expenditure to vary over the course of a year, for instance if you are making or receiving grants. The Commission has been clear that this is not an automatic indicator of suspicious activity. You should:
• inform your bank of any large or unusual transactions in advance
• allow plenty of time for overseas transactions
• share your due diligence processes with your bank, where proportionate”.
[Source: Charity Commission, 24 July]