Former Inland Revenue chair to lead NCVO tax review group

Sir Nicholas Montagu will lead the umbrella group’s Charity Tax Commission, which will include five other commissioners and is set to review the tax system as it affects the sector

A former chairman of the Inland Revenue will lead a group set up by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations to make recommendations to government on how it might reform the charity tax system.

Sir Nicholas Montagu, who chaired the Inland Revenue between 1997 and 2004, shortly before it merged with HM Customs & Excise to become HM Revenue & Customs, will lead the NCVO’s Charity Tax Commission, the umbrella body has announced.

The commission, which was announced earlier this year, will carry out a full review of the charity tax system and the estimated £3.7bn worth of charity tax reliefs, then submit recommendations for reform to the government.

Montagu will be supported by five commissioners who have experience of the charity sector or fiscal policy.

They are: Sarah Atkinson, director of policy, planning and communications at the Charity Commission; Dan Corry, chief executive of the think tank New Philanthropy Capital; Pesh Framjee, head of not-for-profits at Crowe Clark Whitehill and a special adviser to the Charity Finance Group; Clare Pelham, chief executive of the Epilepsy Society; and Lynne Oats, professor of taxation and accounting at the University of Exeter Business School and co-director of the university’s Tax Administration Research Centre.

The Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs will also attend the commissioner as observers, and another commissioner might be announced shortly, the NCVO said.

The commission will meet for the first time later this week and should complete its work in the next 18 months, with the aim of informing the Inquiry Into the Future of Civil Society, which is chaired by Julia Unwin and is expected to report in 2019.

The tax commission is the first comprehensive review of charity tax since 1997, according to Montagu.

“My aspiration is for the commission’s proposals to inform future changes to the tax system such that it can continue to support charities’ work as effectively as possible,” he said.

“I look forward to drawing up pragmatic proposals that will appropriately balance the need for a fair and efficient tax system with the important role that we want charities to continue to play in society.”

In response to the NCVO’s announcement, Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of the CFG, said: “This commission comes at a critical time for our sector and carries a heavy weight of responsibility. We believe the commission should ensure that the proposals it puts forward deliver significant positive change for charities.

“We urge it to be brave and bold; now is not the time for tinkering. We have long argued that the tax bill for our sector is too high, and we look forward to hearing how the commission proposes this burden can be reduced.”

John Hemming, chair of the Charity Tax Group, said the commission “offers a further opportunity to challenge the anomalous tax position charities often find themselves in, particularly in respect of VAT”.

He said: “It is essential that charity tax reliefs keep up with societal and technological developments, or they may become obsolete. We look forward to working with the commission and recommend that future-proofing tax reliefs for charities be one of its major areas of focus.”

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Bond appoints Caroline Nursey as its new chair

Nursey is executive director of BBC Media Action, and replaces Tim Wainwright, executive director of WaterAid

The international development charity body Bond has appointed Caroline Nursey, executive director of BBC Media Action, as its new chair.

Nursey, who has been executive director at BBC Media Action since 2009, has succeeded Tim Wainwright, executive director of WaterAid, who has served as Bond’s chair since April 2015. 

Nursey will serve an initial one-year term in her new role, Bond said in a statement.

Before her role at BBC Media Action, an international development charity that focuses on using the media to reduce poverty, Nursey spent seven years in director-level roles at Oxfam.

She was also one of Bond’s founders and has been involved in the organisation for more than 20 years.

Nursey said: “I have been involved with Bond since its formation and have been proud to watch the organisation go from strength to strength.

“Bond plays a critical role in supporting and strengthening the development and humanitarian sector so that we all work effectively to help those facing insecurity and living in poverty. As the recent flooding in south Asia and Hurricane Irma sadly remind us, the invaluable work our sector does is needed now more than ever.” 

Tamsyn Barton, chief executive of Bond, said: “We are delighted to welcome Caroline as chair of Bond. Caroline was one of the founders of Bond and has been pivotal in supporting the organisation’s growth in strength over the past 20 years.

“Caroline brings a wealth of experience, enthusiasm and commitment to the development sector. We are very much looking forward to welcoming Caroline and continuing the fantastic work Bond does to champion and challenge the development sector.”

Barton also paid tribute to Wainwright, who she said “achieved an enormous amount over a short period of time” and thanked him for his “continued dedication to Bond”.

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Mencap faces £20m back-pay bill for sleep-in staff, says chair

Derek Lewis says that if the government does not pay this bill, the charity could be forced to transfer its care facilities back to local authorities

The learning disability charity Mencap might have to pay £20m in back pay for sleep-in care workers, which could lead to the closure of 200 residential care homes and services run by the charity and up to 4,000 staff being made redundant.

The warning comes after a row with government over back pay for sleep-in workers, who are used widely in the learning disability sector to provide care for vulnerable adults. Until recently workers were paid a flat-rate, “on-call” allowance rather than the national minimum wage.

Derek Lewis, chair of Mencap, said the government should provide funding for as much as £400m in back pay owed by social care charities to sleep-in care workers, and said that if it failed to do so it could force Mencap to transfer the care facilities it runs back to local authorities.

He also warned that, although the charity began paying sleep-in care staff the national living wage from 1 April, 40 per cent of local authority commissioners had not yet agreed to pay the new rate, a situation Lewis said was “not sustainable”.

The flat rate for a sleep-in care worker is typically £35 to £45, with workers receiving either the national minimum wage or the national living wage for the hours they spend providing care, according to the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, which represents charities that provide services to disabled people.

But in the wake of two employment tribunal decisions made last year, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has changed its guidance to ensure that the national minimum wage applies to sleep-in carers.

Earlier this year, HM Revenue & Customs began asking some disability charities to give six years of back pay to affected staff.

But the BEIS later said employers that had underpaid workers for sleep-in shifts before 26 July 2017 would have historical financial penalties waived and HMRC would suspend its enforcement activity about sleep-in care shifts until 2 October.

Lewis said that Mencap’s back-pay liability was approximately £20m, but the charity had only £19.6m in financial reserves.

“Funding back pay would require highly damaging actions to sell assets, cut programmes and cancel investment,” he said. “Our plans to improve the lives of those with learning disabilities could be set back by a decade or more as we struggle to repair the financial damage that would be caused by this liability.

“If government fails to fund or offers only partial funding, Mencap would be forced to take emergency action to hand back care services that do not cover costs to local authorities.

“Initially, this could result in the termination of care in more than 200 residential care homes and services, affecting more than 2,000 people who have serious learning disabilities. Between 3,000 and 4,000 dedicated care workers could face displacement or redundancy.”

Lewis has also criticised a Department of Health sample fact-gathering exercise on the extent of sleep-in care financial liabilities for being carried out “very late in the day”, with HMRC action against the charities due to resume in 25 days’ time.

“No one expected government to sign a blank cheque, but the process was very late in the day and hurried,” said Lewis.

“Scrambling to gather complex data in late August, when many people are away and tensions are running high, creates anxieties about the accuracy of information on which critical decisions will be taken.

“Concerns have been heightened by the government’s surprising refusal to share the results of this exercise with providers.”

The Department of Health is understood to be working with the social care sector on the issue and is expected to make a further announcement in the next few weeks.

A petition calling on the government to pay the £400m back-pay bill had been signed by more than 10,000 people as of this morning.

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Back-pay issue threatens care sector ‘as never before’, says Mencap chair

Derek Lewis says government should foot the bill to give back-pay to overnight sleep-in support workers, which could cost some charities up to £50,000

The learning disability sector is “under threat as never before”, according to Derek Lewis, chair of Mencap.

Lewis spoke out today as part of the sector’s continuing dispute with the government over who should fund £400m of back-pay for care workers that provide overnight sleep-in support.

Mencap has claimed that, besides the threat posed to charities that employ sleep-in carers, the issue could also affect up to 100,000 families who pay for sleep-in support through personal care budgets. Some, it says, might face bills of up to £50,000.

The row has been simmering for several months after the government changed its guidance on sleep-in care workers. Until recently, most overnight care workers received a flat rate of £35 to £45, according to the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, which represents charities that provide services to people with disabilities.

But after two employment tribunal decisions, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy changed the guidance to say staff should be paid the national minimum wage. Sleep-in staff are now eligible to claim for loss of earnings dating back six years.

Mencap began paying the national living wage in April, but Lewis said it would “cause us severe problems” if it had to foot the bill for six years of back pay. He warned that a number of major care providers could collapse unless the government stepped in.

Ministers, said Lewis, had previously issued incorrect guidance and the government should therefore pay. “For a government that spent £780.3bn in the 2017 fiscal year, £400m doesn’t seem like much to ask,” said Lewis.

He said families and care workers were suffering growing uncertainty and anxiety while the issue remained unresolved. Charities also faced uncertainty, he said. Voluntary organisations account for about 60 per cent of the 200 care organisations affected by the ruling.

“The learning disability sector is under threat as never before,” said Lewis. “For Mencap, it is the worst crisis that the charity has faced in its 70-year history.

“About 178,000 people across the UK have serious learning disabilities and depend on the care that charities like Mencap provide.

“At Mencap, we worry about the effect that this is having on our staff, families and the people we care for. Our care workers do a fantastic job and we want to pay them fairly. Since April we have been complying with new government guidance and paying the national living wage, but trying to fund six years of back pay would cause us severe problems”.

Last month BEIS announced “exceptional measures” to “minimise disruption”. These included temporarily suspending HMRC enforcement action over payment of sleep-in shifts until 2 October and waiving historical financial penalties against employers who underpaid workers for sleep-in shifts before 26 July. But organisations still face the prospect of having to find £400m after 2 October.

A statement from BEIS said: “The government will continue to look at this issue extremely carefully alongside industry representatives to see how it might be possible to minimise any impact on provision of social care, and ensure that action taken to protect workers is fair and proportionate.”

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Shelter elects Ros Micklem as chair

A trustee of the charity since 2014, she replaces Sir Derek Myers, who stood down after the Grenfell Tower fire

The housing and homelessness charity Shelter has appointed a new chair to replace Sir Derek Myers, who stood down in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Ros Micklem, who has been a Shelter trustee since 2014 and chairs its Scotland committee, has been elected to replace Myers, who was chief executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea when the decision was taken to refurbish Grenfell Tower.

Another trustee, Tony Rice, who is chair of an investment firm that is the major shareholder in a company involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, stood down at the same time as Myers.

Micklem is a former Scotland director at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and has a background in higher education, Shelter said.

She will step down from her role as chair of the charity’s Scotland committee in August when a new chair in Scotland is elected.

Ruth Hunt, chief executive of the equality charity Stonewall and a Shelter trustee since 2015, has been elected vice chair, the charity announced.

Joanna Simmons, a former chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council and a Shelter trustee for the past five years, has been elected chair of its audit, risk and finance committee.

All three appointments are for a one-year period, which is because the charity is understood to be using the opportunity presented by the changes to carry out a governance review.

The charity’s board has two vacancies after the departures of Myers and Rice, but does not plan to fill these until after the review is completed so it can establish what skills it needs.

Micklem said in a statement: “I feel honoured to have been elected to chair the board for the coming year. I’m really looking forward to working with the incoming chief executive Polly Neate and her team to build on what’s great about Shelter, encourage fresh thinking and develop a clear sense of direction for the years ahead.”

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Government begins advertising for next Charity Commission chair

The successful candidate will replace William Shawcross, whose term comes to an end later this year

The government is advertising for applicants to be the next chair of the Charity Commission.

The successful applicant will replace William Shawcross, who is leaving later in the year having been in post since 2012.

The advertisement for the vacancy, which is published through the Centre for Public Appointments, says the successful applicant will be paid £62,500 a year and will work two-and-a-half days a week.

By comparison, Shawcross works three days a week on a £50,000 annual salary. 

The advert says the successful candidate must be able to support the organisation “through a period of significant change and cultural development in either the private or charity/not-for-profit sector”.

The person will be responsible for leading the regulator’s board in setting the commission’s strategic priorities and policy direction over the next three years, it says.

This is likely to include the subject of the regulator charging charities for its services, something the regulator has been edging towards in recent years and on which it is soon due to launch a consultation.

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate they can be an “accessible and engaging ambassador” for the organisation and “influence high-level stakeholders within government and in parliament, the media, the charity sector and the business world”.

The person must also have an understanding of and interest in the charity sector, “including an awareness of the multifaceted challenges it faces resulting from changing social and economic circumstances”. 

Applicants will be scrutinised by a four-member panel comprising Sue Owen, permanent secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, and chair of the panel; Lord Kakkar, chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission; Julia Unwin, chair of the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society; and Alan Downey, who is described in the job advert as an “other panel member”. 

Whoever is appointed will also have to attend a pre-appointment hearing before the Culture, Media & Sports Select Committee.

Shawcross, a journalist and writer, has been a controversial chair of the Charity Commission because of comments he has made on issues including chief executive pay and charging charities to fund the regulator.

In 2012, three of the seven MPs on the Public Administration Select Committee of the time opposed his appointment because of concerns about his political impartiality, citing previous support of the Iraq war and the Conservative Party.

The closing date for applications is 3pm on 22 September, and the successful applicant will be expected to serve a term of up to three years.

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Lord Grade to stay on as chair of Fundraising Regulator

Appointed on an interim basis in November 2015, he will continue until the end of 2018

Lord Michael Grade will continue as chair of the Fundraising Regulator until the end of 2018, the regulator has confirmed.

Grade was initially appointed to the role in November 2015 on an interim basis, but his term was extended in January until the end of June. It has now been renewed a second time until the end of 2018, a spokesman for the regulator said.

Grade attracted criticism from sector leaders last week when he said too many charities were proving to be “laggards” in terms of improving their fundraising practices.

He then gave out incorrect information about the Fundraising Preference Service, mistakenly saying it would allow people to block contact from all charities at once, rather than specific charities.

A spokesman for the regulator said: “Initially board members were appointed for two-year terms. Their terms are now being staggered so that not all members retire at the same time.

“New board members – including, when the time comes, a new chair – will be recruited openly, as happened recently with the board member for Wales and as will be the case soon with a board member for Northern Ireland.”

Grade works as chair at least four days a month and is paid £500 for each day he works.

Stephen Dunmore, the regulator’s interim chief executive is also expected to remain in post until the end of the year, having previously agreed to stay until the end of September.

The spokesman said the appointment of a new chief executive would also be subject to open competition.

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