Consultation On Annual Return

The Charity Commission is looking to make better use of the annual return by obtaining more useful, easily accessible information to assist with its regulatory duties in verifying a charity’s information and identifying any issues which require closer examination.

In line with the recommendations made by the Public Administration Select Committee, the Charity Commission proposes to include the following questions in relation to income and expenditure:

• How much of your charity’s total expenditure has been on ‘campaigning’ activities?
• How much of your charity’s income was received from:

1. Public service delivery?
2. Private donations?

The Commission does not define ‘campaigning’ or any other terms in the consultation, but says it will provide clear definitions and guidance to help charities provide this information. In any event, these questions will require charities to work out how to track their expenditure, meaning that serious thought will have to