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In the spirit of the season and with the New Year in sight, here are our ten key moments in charity law and regulation for 2024:

1. March saw the third tranche of the Charities Act 2022 come into force. Changes were made to the statutory power by which trusts and unincorporated associations can change their governing documents. Statements and certificates which need to be included in legal documentation when charities dispose of or mortgage land also changed. Happily the defects in the charity merger provisions of the 2011 Act were also fixed. We are still awaiting details of when the provisions relating to ex gratia payments will be brought into force, and the previous Government announced that the national museums and galleries were to be exempted from these provisions to prevent the new powers being used to restitute items in their collections.

2. Whilst recognising the principle of free speech, in March, the Commission re-issued its guidance to help trustees manage the risk and protect charities from being used or abused for extremism, terrorism or illegal activity. This included guidance on how to manage concerns about controversial speakers, events and literature and specific help for student unions, schools and other educational charities.

3. March also saw the Commission issue new Guidance on accepting, refusing and returning donations and re-confirmed that the default position (once due diligence checks have been undertaken) is that donations should be accepted and kept. Other key pieces of Guidance for trustees have also been re-issued during the year in a more concise and user-friendly form including: CC12: Improving your charity's finances, CC27: Decision-making for charity trustees and CC48: Charity Meetings.

4. In May, Rishi Sunak stood on the rain-soaked steps of Downing Street and announced that the General Election would be held on 4 July. The Commission re-issued its guidance on political activity and campaigning during an election period and provided lessons learned from previous election periods. It also supported charities to engage safely in the political sphere, where doing so to promote its charitable objects. As a result the Commission noted that the vast majority of charities kept within the rules, resulting in fewer complaints and interventions (just 34 cases in the period of which only 14 were assessed as higher risk).

5. After seven years in post and as the longest serving CEO in the Charity Commission's 170 year history, Dame Helen Stephenson stepped down as Chief Executive in June 2024, handing the baton on to David Holdsworth. In her final speech, she stressed the privileged place that charities holds in our society and the role of the regulator in promoting public trust and confidence in the sector and the balance that it needs to strike between support and enforcement.

6. Overall trust in charities remains quite high, with the Charity Commission's public trust in charities survey showing modest increases in each of the last three years. So, it will be interesting to see whether a number of recent high-profile cases such as Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief and the Captain Tom Foundation have any impact on next year's survey. The Commission Chair noted that "fame, celebrity and connections are no protection against the law or our regulatory oversight."

7. Letters were sent by the Charity Commission in August to the CEOs of local authorities, reminding them of the duties of Councils where they act as charity trustees of local land and buildings. This followed a sharp rise in cases where Councils had failed to comply with their legal duties as they disposed of or re-purposed land and buildings to help balance deficit budgets.

8. The Labour Party in opposition had promised that if elected, private schools in the UK would be subject to VAT on education and boarding services. It was therefore no surprise when this was announced by Rachel Reeves in her budget on 30 October 2024. Commentators are divided on the likely impact on the charitable private school sector, but as the change is implemented on school fees from 1 January 2025, this will soon become apparent. The change has also prompted a number of legal challenges, including from the Independent Schools Council on human rights grounds, which will be heard next year.

9. It is nearly five years since the start of the COVID lockdowns, which encouraged Sir Captain Tom Moore to walk 100 laps of his garden raising close to £39 million for NHS Charities Together. A charity established in his name, The Captain Tom Foundation, was found by the Commission last month to have suffered serious and repeated instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity, resulting in Captain Tom's daughter and son in law being disqualified by the Commission from being charity trustees.

10. In November, Orlando Fraser KC announced that he will be stepping down as the Chair of the Charity Commission at the end of his term in April 2025. It will be no surprise that charity lawyers were relieved to find in Orlando Fraser a Chair "determined to lead an expert Commission led by the law and the law alone in the exercise of our Regulatory functions". He has steered the Commission very well through a difficult and strained period and the sector owes him a debt for his steadfast approach.

Wishing everyone the very best of the season!

This article is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice.