In this week's Briefing: The International Development Secretary has published an update on DFID’s work on safeguarding. The Children's Commissioner for England has published a report on home schooling. Two trading subsidiaries of a Scottish charity have been unsuccessful in their appeals against OSCR’s refusal to register them as charities.

Abbie Rumbold, partner in Bates Wells’ Charity & Social Enterprise team, has contributed to a Charity Finance roundtable focusing on how Brexit is likely to impact on the UK’s civil society.

In this week's Briefing: The Charity Commission has published “Dealing with wrongdoing and harm”, a report setting out lessons for trustees from the Commission’s compliance work. A new system alerting charities to when they have been left money in wills is to be established by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

In this week's Briefing: HMRC has published an updated Sponsorship VAT Notice with new content on crowdfunding. NCVO has launched “Time Well Spent” a report detailing the findings from its national survey on the volunteer experience.

In this week's Briefing: NCVO has published a final version of the Charity Ethical Principles (previously described at the consultation stage as a Code of Ethics). The Church of England has published guidance on reporting a safeguarding serious incident to the Charity Commission.

In this week's Briefing: New legislation introduced by the government from 9 January makes cold calls about pensions illegal in some circumstances. More than 6,000 “uniformed” group places are being created for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds across England. 

In this week's Briefing: The Charity Commission has published a report setting out the results of its post-implementation review of The Charities (Total Return) Regulations 2013. The Department of Health and Social Care has published EU exit operational readiness guidance for the health and social care sector.

In this week's Briefing:  The Information Commissioner’s Office has published an update on data protection and Brexit. The Department of Health and Social Care has announced £1 billion of funding to upgrade NHS services in England.

A modern slavery statement is a legal requirement for larger charities and social enterprises - and good practice for others. Despite this, many have yet to respond.

In this week's Briefing:  The Charity Commission has issued a regulatory alert to charitable think tanks. The government has published its response to the House of Commons International Development Committee’s report on Sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector.

In this week's Briefing: The Government has published a “Code of Conduct for Recipients of Government General Grants”. The Fundraising Regulator has announced it will name all organisations it investigates, whether the complaint is upheld or not. A new report released by CAF shows the continued rise of donor advised funds in the UK.

In this week's Briefing: From 17 December, new regulations will give the Information Commissioner's Office power to fine officers of a body corporate up to £500,000 for breach of the rules on the use of automated calling systems and unsolicited direct marketing. The Department for Education has published updated statutory guidance on opening and closing local authority-maintained schools.

You can find bespoke Elections & Campaigning guidance on the newly-designed Get Legal website.

In this week's Briefing: The Charity Commission has updated and reformatted its Operational Guidance on students’ unions. A new Charity Digital Code has been published. The Information Commissioner’s Office is consulting on an updated direct marketing code of practice.

Charities involved in challenge events need to be aware of the changes to the Package Travel and ATOL Regulations.

Following the resignation of Tracey Crouch as Minister for Civil Society, Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) have issued a call to action asking the Prime Minister to create a dedicated Minister for Social Enterprise and Inclusive Economy in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

BWB partner Lawrence Simanowitz reflects on the work of BWB client Samaritans.

In this week's Briefing: The Budget included several welcome tax announcements for charities. Over 80 sector organisations have joined together to form the Brexit Civil Society Alliance. The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued the maximum possible fine of £500,000 to Facebook for failing to protect users’ personal information. Over 120 organisations have co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister about a crisis in children’s services. The Care Quality Commission has published a consultation on the fees that it proposes to charge providers in 2019/20.

At last night's WISE100 2018 event, attendees celebrated the 100 leading women in the fields of social enterprise and impact investment. Abbie Rumbold, partner in our Charities & Social Enterprise team, chaired this year's judging panel.

In this week's Briefing: The Charity Commission has published the final report of its safeguarding taskforce. The government has issued notices explaining the impact of a “no deal” Brexit on ownership, accounting and reporting of UK companies with an EU presence and EU companies with a presence in the UK. This week is charity fraud awareness week.