The Charity Commission has published its first Charity Sector Risk Assessment, drawing on 2023 Annual Return data and 2023–24 casework. The report identifies financial resilience as a key concern, noting that 22.5% of charities reported operating deficits in 2023, an increase from 20% in 2022. It outlines multiple pressures affecting charities, including increased service demand and rising staff costs, and highlights research indicating that the proportion of people receiving food, medical, or financial support from charities has tripled over the past five years.

The Charity Commission has issued guidance for trustees in England and Wales on making grants to charities and other organisations. The guidance explains that trustees may use grants to further their charity’s purposes, provided they comply with their trustee duties, governing document and the law. It states that trustees should establish appropriate grant-making processes, conduct proportionate due diligence, manage conflicts of interest, set written grant terms and monitor whether funded work is delivered as agreed. The Commission also clarifies that unrestricted grants may be made only to charities with the same or narrower purposes, while grants to non-charities must be restricted and subject to additional checks. The guidance notes that the Commission may intervene where trustees cannot demonstrate compliance with their legal duties.

The Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, David Holdsworth, has published a letter to local authority Chief Executive Officers asking for action to be taken to ensure each organisation’s compliance with its duties when operating as a charity trustee. Holdsworth writes that it is important that local authorities understand which of the assets they manage or own are charitable and recommends a review of the asset register to identify assets held which are charitable. Holdsworth states that trustees should be familiar with the different legal requirements and restrictions on actions in relation to assets that are charitable. To support local authorities, the Charity Commission recently published new formal guidance for local authorities. Holdsworth draws attention to the new Recreation Ground Charity guidance which examines some of the common problems that trustees of such charities often encounter and what they can do to address these, such as hiring new trustees and exploring avenues for raising additional funds.

The Charity Commission has published the new Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) 2026, which will apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026 (SORP 2019 will continue to apply for periods starting before that date).

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has published new guidance to assist charities in deciding whether to accept, refuse or return a donation. The starting point is for trustees to accept and keep a donation. The guidance explains when there is a legal obligation to return or refuse a donation or when a trustee is also likely to need to refuse or return a donation. Trustees are also asked to check the separate legal rules for ex gratia payments, failed fundraising appeals and to check if there is a legal power to refuse or return a donation. Trustees are further warned not to allow personal views, or any pressures not relating to their charity’s purposes to influence any decision and trustees are reminded that the decision must be in the best interests of the charity.

The Charity Commission has published updated guidance for charity trustees on managing conflicts of interest, responding to evidence that many trustees find it difficult to identify and address these risks. The revised guidance explains how to identify and handle both financial conflicts, where trustees or related individuals may benefit and conflicts of loyalty that can compromise independent judgment. This update comes in response to a 23% annual increase in compliance cases involving alleged private benefit abuse, often linked to unmanaged trustee conflicts, as noted in the Commission’s first Charity Sector Risk Assessment. The Commission indicates that most issues stem from a lack of awareness rather than deliberate wrongdoing. As a result, the new guidance is shorter and clearer, offering practical examples in which a conflict of interest can arise in a charity.

The Charity Commission has published updated guidance on trustee recruitment (CC30), following research by Pro Bono Economics showing that only 6% of trustees were recruited through advertisements, while over half of charities recruited new trustees through personal contacts. The research further revealed that 29% of trustees were asked to join by the chair and 25% by other board members. The updated guidance outlines practical steps for charities to expand their recruitment reach, including using social media and trustee finder services, conducting skills audits, and reviewing and developing role descriptions that distinguish between required and learnable skills. It also highlights a variety of free resources to support trustee recruitment, while noting that charities may also use paid recruitment services if needed. The updated guidance includes an expanded section on trustee induction, offering recommendations for personalised learning discussions with new trustees. The Commission's Head of Trustee Guidance, Mazeda Alam, noted that while personal recommendations are valuable, broader recruitment approaches can strengthen boards and reduce governance risks associated with multiple personal connections.

One of the general functions of the Charity Commission (the Commission), as the statutory regulator for charities, is to identify and investigate apparent misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of charities, and to take remedial or protective action. This function covers: • all charities in England and Wales, whether or not they are registered with the Commission, and • all money that is raised for charitable purposes in England and Wales, even if it is not raised by a charity (eg fund-raising appeals which may be conducted by newspapers, broadcasters or other voluntary organisations in response to, say, a natural disaster or famine) The Commission fulfils this function: • in serious cases, by launching a formal statutory ‘section 46’ inquiry, or • in non-serious cases, by exercising its general regulatory powers The decision as to which approach to adopt is made on the basis of the Commission’s published Risk Framework tool. These powers are referred to as ‘information powers’ in Part 5 of the Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011). The Commission’s

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has released updated guidance, supported by the National Cyber Security Centre, to assist trustees in safeguarding their charities against cyber fraud and cyber crime following the 603 fraud-related cases and 99 cyber crime-related cases that were initiated in the past year. The refreshed guidance has replaced previous versions and provides key recommendations towards fraud prevention and cyber security safety measures which include: developing durable internal financial controls; raising awareness around cyber fraud and crime; and enabling dual authorisation for financial transactions.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has provided short summaries of the changes due to come into force by the Charities Act 2022 (CA 2022). This includes a statutory power to permit changes to governing documents, provisions relating to selling, leasing or disposal of charity land and for certain mergers, new rules permitting most gifts to charities that merge to take effect as gifts to the charity they have merged with. These changes are due to come into force in early 2024.

The Charity Commission has updated its guidance on moral payments following the implementation of charity law changes on 27 November 2025 under the Charities Act 2022. These reforms grant charity trustees new powers when assessing moral obligations to transfer charity property, particularly in cases involving legacies where evidence indicates that a person's will does not accurately reflect their final wishes.

The Charity Commission has updated its guidance in light of the changes introduced by the Charities Act 2022 (CA 2022) that came into force on 7 March 2024. These changes introduce a new power, making it easier for unincorporated charities to change their governing document, and new rules applying to gifts that are left to charities that have merged. Certain additional changes, which had previously been delayed, have come into force, including those that apply to charity-to-charity land disposals. Director of Legal & Accountancy Services at the Charity Commission, Aarti Thakor, said: ‘We encourage trustees to check what, if any, changes apply to them and then use our guidance to support them through the new processes.’