Articles

In January 2026, the Charity Commission confirmed that it has issued Official Warnings to The Liverpool Diocesan Board of Finance and The Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Finance, having concluded that failures to handle safeguarding allegations in accordance with the Commission's guidance and trustee duties amounted to mismanagement in the administration of these charities.  

An employment tribunal has held that a charity trustee could not rely on the whistleblowing protections because trustees are not workers.

UK charities investing in U.S. private equity or property funds should review their Schedule K-1 forms carefully to identify any allocations of unrelated debt-financed income (UDFI), which could require a Form 990-T filing with the IRS.

The latest Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) was published in October 2025. It applies to charities which prepare their accounts on an accruals basis for accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2026. 

For most charities with a public-facing dimension, the arrival of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, widely known as Martyn’s Law, marks a significant legal shift. Introduced in response to the UK’s experience of terrorist attacks on public venues, including the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, the Act is named in memory of Martyn Hett and aims to close a long-standing gap in UK law. 

In our latest article on the topic, we look at how new ID verification requirements are working in practice and consider some of the queries that have arisen as charitable companies deal with them.