The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 gained
Royal Assent in March this year, bringing with it significant
changes to charity law and regulation which affects all charities
in England and Wales.
In response to years of damaging headlines and parliamentary
scrutiny into governance standards in the charity sector, the Act
has strengthened the role of the Charity Commission by granting it
more power to enforce standards across the sector and closing
several significant legal loopholes. The Act also imposes more
controls and safeguards around fundraising and introduces a new
statutory power to make social investments.
The grounds upon which people could be disqualified from acting
as charity trustees, as well as the circumstances in which existing
trustees can be disqualified, have been significantly expanded.
This means, for example, that people who have been convicted of
serious crimes, such as money laundering, are now not allowed to
act as
