VolResource Newsletter 350

11. Transitional Gift Aid payments start
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Following Royal Assent for the legislation, Gift Aid Transitional Relief is now being processed by HM Revenue and Customs on all repayment claims (made from 1st August) for donations received on or after 6th April 2008. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/transitional-relief.htm. This compensates for the reduction in income tax rates. Claims made between 6th April and 1st August 2008 will receive backdated transitional relief payments in due course.

12. Transitional provisions on challenge events
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The revised guidance on the VAT Charity Fundraising Exemption in connection with charity challenge events was mentioned in the last newsletter. This came into effect from 31st July, but HM Revenue and Customs has now said that it accepts that where contracts were signed or negotiated before then, or the event has been publicised prior to the publication of the new guidance, charities can account for VAT using their previous procedures. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief3608.htm.

13. New payroll stationery
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HM Revenue and Customs will be introducing new A4 versions of form P45 in October which can be printed on plain paper. They contain two extra fields for Date of Birth and Gender. The current versions are to be withdrawn on 5th April 2009. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers-bulletin/bulletin30/paye.htm

14. Increase in VAT on agency staff costs
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Voluntary organisations which can't recover VAT (in full or part) need to ensure their budgets from April 2009 take into account VAT charged on the whole costs of employing staff via an agency (or other third party). Currently the tax is (or should be) only charged on the agency's commission or management fee, not on the salary itself, but this arrangement will cease from 1st April 2009. More details on Sandy Adirondack's Legal Update at http://www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#vat-staff.

15. Support for Portuguese workers in the UK
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A web site specifically for the large number of Portuguese workers in the UK has been launched by the TUC. With input from Citizens Advice, it explains the rights workers can expect at work and also contains information about social issues such as housing and health. The Portuguese language site is at http://www.trabalharnoreinounido.org, news story at http://www.tuc.org.uk/newsroom/tuc-15186-f0.cfm.

16. Using YouTube for recruitment?
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A summer break from the admin slog: personnel professional's body CIPD has produced a podcast looking at the impact of the internet on human resources, in particular recruitment, and how three organisations have used YouTube, social networking etc.

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21. Debating the future of the Compact
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The Compact, a voluntary partnership agreement between the government and the voluntary and community sector setting out principles for how the two sectors will work together, was originally agreed in 1998. Following a request from Minister for the Third Sector Phil Hope, the Commission for the Compact has started a debate on its future. A discussion document (pdf, 47kb) is at http://www.thecompact.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID=101783 - respond by 10th November. Umbrella body NCVO has its own consultation questionnaire and briefing on the issues at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/policy/index.asp?id=9958.

22. Surveying innovation in public service delivery
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Building on a recent report on achieving world class public services, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are surveying third sector providers on their innovation in public service delivery. They want to reach organisations that are currently delivering public services or have been involved in their delivery in the last 12 months, with responses due by 8th September. See http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/080811_survey.aspx.

23. Use of dormant accounts fund in Wales
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The Big Lottery Fund is consulting on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government on priorities for the use of the funds expected to be available from dormant bank accounts after the relevant legislation gets through the UK Parliament. The suggested two areas of investment in Wales are supporting young people and tackling climate change through community-based activity. Consultation document (pdf, 2.7MB) from http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/dormant_accounts_wales.pdf - runs to 14th November. Note: see last newsletter for Scotland's consultation.

24. Shaping regeneration in England
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The consultation 'Transforming places, changing lives' sets out proposals that aim to shape the way that regeneration is carried out in future in England. The focus is on three priority outcomes: improved economic performance in deprived areas; improved rates of work and enterprise in deprived areas; and creating sustainable places where people want to live and can work, and businesses want to invest. Closing date 31st October, http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/citiesandregions/transformingplaces.

31. Impact of climate change on charitable purposes
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The Baring Foundation is building on previous work around environmental audits for voluntary organisations to explore the wider impacts of climate change on voluntary organisations and their beneficiaries. They have published a report from a roundtable meeting on the links between climate change and the charitable purposes of non-environmental organisations and are also inviting tenders for a project on this. It will connect up experts in climate change with experts in non-environmental areas of the voluntary sector to generate new perspectives on the urgency for action. News item with tender link at http://www.baringfoundation.org.uk/News.htm, meeting report (pdf, 23KB) with some examples of action, at http://www.baringfoundation.org.uk/Primarypurposemeeting.pdf.

Meanwhile, Charity Finance Directors' Group has made public commitments to sustainability with a web page detailing their approach, declaring that "the threat of climate change is a real and present concern to every individual and every organisation". This could well give some practical inspiration to other organisations, and CFDG is also working on sustainability reporting guidance for charity finance directors, hopefully to be available spring 2009, http://www.cfdg.org.uk/cfdg/influencing_sustainability.asp. And don't forget the green office guide from Every Action Counts (actual title 'Changing the Way We Work') downloadable at http://www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=230&n2=281 (reminder courtesy of bassac).

32. Public benefit reporting "more about a shift in thinking"
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The Charity Commission's policy director uses a Society Guardian article to "reassure charities that the public benefit reporting requirement (from next March) will, for many, be more about a shift in thinking than the diversion of valuable resources to meeting the goal." It will largely mean trustees (of registered charities in England and Wales) presenting information already needed for their annual report a little differently. She goes on to give an idea of what other help will be available - worth a quick read at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/12/voluntarysector.

33. Sector participation in Local Strategic Partnerships
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'Principles of Representation: A framework for effective third sector participation in Local Strategic Partnerships' has been published by the Communities and Local Government Department, with input from local sector support body NAVCA and the Office of the Third Sector. It "provides advice to the third sector on how best to organise themselves to maximise their input on Local Strategic Partnership boards" and NAVCA hopes it will help the local third sector strengthen its voice on LSPs. http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/principleofrepresentation.

34. Scottish charity perspectives
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The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has published 'Public and Charity Perspectives: Summary of the 2008 OSCR Surveys'. Two surveys carried out earlier this year tracked levels of public trust in Scottish charities and sought feedback from charities on OSCR's priorities, communications and operational functions. News item with link to report (a large pdf, 5.3MB).

35. Third sector funding gateway out to tender
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The Office of the Third Sector is looking for a comprehensive and innovative approach to providing information about funding for the sector. It is now tendering for a partner(s) to develop a web-based funding gateway to link third sector organisations with new funding opportunities efficiently. More information.

Meanwhile, those looking for funding news on the web might want to visit the site being trialled by South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau at http://fundingnews.wordpress.com.

36. Community food initiatives
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A demonstration programme on Community Food Initiatives across the island of Ireland is looking for funding applications for projects that improve the availability and accessibility of healthy food for low-income groups at a local level, using a community development approach. See Healthy Food for All, http://www.healthyfoodforall.com/content/view/58/42/. (Source: CommunityNI)

PDF note: to be able to read pdf files, download Adobe Reader from http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, for accessibility matters see http://access.adobe.com. Or for an alternative, try Foxit Reader.

51. Arts and community radio
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'The Arts and Community Radio - a research report', commissioned by Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has been published by the Community Media Association. Download (pdf 2.87MB).

52. Increasing diversity of volunteers
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The InVolved project at the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations has launched an online toolkit and case studies on involving LGBT volunteers (sorry, due to email filters we aren't expanding that abbreviation). It covers the why and how of reaching out to LGBT volunteers and aims to be a practical resource in increasing diversity. http://www.lgbtconsortium.org.uk/lgbtvolunteering.

53. Resources for child's play and more
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Fairplay for Children has added a PDF Library to its web site, and is building a large resource of publications about children, play, rights, environment, etc. This is in addition to their own publications and they are inviting further material and suggestions (email: fairplay@arunet.co.uk).

54. Cutting through local councils' green tape
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The Local Government Association has published 'Cutting through the green tape: the powers councils have to tackle climate change', which includes case studies and references to further information. Download link (pdf, 1.05MB) from http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/publications/publication-display.do?id=874295.

55. Accountability and Chinese NGOs
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Open Democracy has an interesting article on the development of the NGO sector in the People's Republic of China and a recent conference which looked at issues of accountability, http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/china-ngos-and-accountability.

56. New and updated on VolResource
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-- Specialist software, umbrella bodies: Uniservity is reported as dropping its web-based software for voluntary and community sector infrastructure organisations, focusing on the education sector instead. Support will continue for the duration of existing customer contracts.

-- 9th and 10th September, University of Warwick. Researching the Voluntary Sector annual conference from NCVO and VSSN. http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/events/latest/?id=8516.

We accept limited 'paid for' job ads: a guaranteed web site spot and trailing, plus basic details here. See http://www.volresource.org.uk/jobs/1.htm for opportunities/details.

** Newly listed: Administration Assistant, Live & Local (Warwick); Central Service Manager and Outreach Workers for Centre 33 (Cambridge).