• Covid-19

    • Tag: For Organisations

    Scottish Charities Invited to Shape Future Regulations

    placement on 2 July, 2024

    The Scottish Government is running a consultation to understand whether a review of charity regulation is needed, and what the Third Sector would like this review to focus on.

    Midlothian Voluntary Action will be submitting a response to this consultation and would like to have your feedback to ensure our presence is reflective of the opinion of the Third Sector within Midlothian.

    Please email info@mvacvs.org.uk with your comments before Thursday 18th July. 

    We are also encouraging organisations and individuals to respond on their own behalf, the link can be found here:

    Review of Charity Regulation

    What’s the goal?

    The purpose of the consultation is to understand whether a review of charity regulation is needed and, if so, what the purpose and parameters of it should be. Specifically, the consultation focuses on: 

    • understanding whether the sector still want a more general review of charity regulation 
    • identifying what areas of charity regulation the sector want to be reviewed, and why 
    • identifying any areas for review that might fall within a technical workstream 
    • establishing the purpose and parameters of a review to allow for next steps to be determined. 

    The consultation is split into two strands.  

    1. Should there be a review of charity regulation?

    The first strand is focused on whether there should be a review of charity regulation and asks what the focus of any review should be. Two options are offered, as well as space for organisations/individuals should suggest others: 

    • To assess the effectiveness of current charity regulation in meeting the future needs of the sector .
    • To review the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 – exploring if the Act is doing what it set out to do and if any changes are required.

    The consultation then references specific parts of charity regulations that have previously been suggested for review, and asks if you believe any of these should be prioritised at this stage:  

    Charitable purposes 

    There are 16 charitable purposes set out in section 7(2) of the 2005 Act. Each charity must have at least one of these purposes in their written constitution. The purpose(s) make clear what the charity has been set up to achieve, its broad aims.

    Public benefit 

    Public benefit is the way a charity makes a positive difference to the public (either in general or to a specific section) through the activities it carries out when advancing its charitable purposes. This is set out in Section 8 of the 2005 Act. 

    Charity trustee duties

    All charity trustees have legal duties and responsibilities under charity law. A duty is something that you must do, and all the duties must be met. The duties are set out in Section 66 of the 2005 Act. 

    2. What technical areas are being reviewed?

    The second strand focuses on Technical Areas that have also been identified for review, and the consultation asks for your opinion on these:  

    Charity reorganisations for statutory charities 

    Reorganisation allows often older charities to make changes to become more effective in a number of ways. For the small number of charities established under Royal charter or an Act of Parliament or Act of the Scottish Parliament, the process of reorganisation can be complex. 

    Incorporation to a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) 

    Incorporation means that the charity as a legal entity can enter into contracts in its own right and the charity trustees do not have the same liability if something goes wrong. In recent years incorporation is often a requirement for funding, including SG funding. This area can be problematic, particularly for smaller charities.  

    The OSCR processes for establishing new SCIOs, registering other incorporated bodies as charities, or winding up the old charities are not necessarily the issue here. It is often the transfer of all assets and liabilities from the old charity to the new charity which can be time consuming and expensive. Some charities who would benefit from the SCIO form withdraw from the process due to these complexities.  

    Review of audit thresholds 

    We have become aware that charities are finding it increasingly difficult to appoint an auditor. At the moment the evidence is anecdotal. However, we believe that over time there is a risk that charities requiring an audit will struggle to appoint an auditor, meaning that they would be unable to file annual accounts with OSCR to comply with the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (the 2006 Regulations) and the 2005 Act. 

    The audit income threshold for charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland is currently £500k, in England and Wales the threshold is higher, currently £1m. Some stakeholders have publicly called for the threshold to be raised to £1m. The Scottish Charity Sector in broad terms has a lower income than England and Wales, with only around 1,500 Scottish charities currently subject to the audit thresholds.  

    Raising the threshold would have a knock-on effect of creating more demand for independent examinations (required where an audit is not), where there is already a shortage of independent examiners. So, a change of threshold would not in itself reduce the demand on professional accountancy firms and individuals.   

    The audit thresholds are set out in the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Any change to the threshold would need to be made by amendment regulations, as opposed to it being a matter of discretion for OSCR. We understand from OSCR that data on the Scottish Charity Register indicates that an increase in the audit threshold to £1 million would bring around 500 charities out of the current audit requirements and place them under independent examination requirements. 

    Please email info@mvacvs.org.uk with your comments before Thursday 18th July. 

    Read the Review of Charity Regulation
    View the Full Consultation Paper

    Free Unrestricted Funding With Easyfundraising

    placement on 29 May, 2024

    MVA hosted an online event today with Becky Coleman at easyfundraising.org.uk.

    Don’t worry if you missed the session, you can view the recording below:

    You can download the slides from this session here.

    How does easyfundraising work?

    Brands see that easyfundraising has sent you to them, so they pay easyfundraising a commission when you start your shop from the easyfundraising website or app. If you make a purchase, a commission is generated, and they turn that into a donation.

    Becky explained that there are over 8,000 retailers who will donate to your charitable organisation every time one of your supporters makes an online purchase through easyfundraising.

    How do I sign up?

    It is straightforward and free for organisations to register. Easyfundraising will undertake the due diligence and then set up an easyfundraising page on your behalf. They will even provide you with promotional materials and graphics to encourage your supporters to sign up with easyfundraising.

    Your supporters can then go onto the easyfundraising page, select the retailer they wish to use, and shop as normal. The donation will be made at no cost to you or them. Supporters can also download the easyfundraising app or browser extension, which will remind them to use easyfundraising when making a purchase.

    You will receive a quarterly donation from easyfundraising which is stress-free unrestricted funding. No reporting is required.

    Participating retailers include Amazon, John Lewis, Tesco, and Argos. Your supporters can also raise funds when they book holidays, buy insurance, electricity, and office supplies!

    There’s really no downside. You can register now at easyfundraising.org.uk/midlothian

    Don’t want to miss any more MVA training sessions?

    Keep an eye on our website, or our Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages.

    Scottish Government proposes charges for volunteers’ PVGs. 

    placement on 3 May, 2024

    What’s Happening? 

    Disclosure Scotland has opened a proposal to introduce fees for volunteering. They plan to remove the current fee waiver and apply a  fee of £28 for volunteers to join the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme membership (this is a 60% reduction on the proposed standard fee of £70). If implemented, this will have a huge impact on volunteers and volunteer involving organisations. 

    Disclosure Scotland are also making changes to the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020. As part of this, the PVG membership scheme will become a legal requirement for those in ‘Regulated Roles’, this could mean that even more people will need to be signed up to the PVG scheme, thus more people will be affected by the fee proposal. 

    Our Stance 

    • We believe volunteering should be free for everyone. Volunteers give their time and effort to help others and asking them to pay to do so is insulting.  
    • At a time when we are in a volunteer crisis and volunteer numbers are steadily falling, this only puts up more barriers to volunteering. Many organisations rely on volunteers to do important work, and adding fees will make it harder for them to recruit volunteers. 
    • The implementation of this fee goes against core values and meaning of volunteering. The Volunteer Charter from Volunteer Scotland mentions, “No one should be prevented from volunteering due to their income.”. 

    What You Can Do 

    Now is your chance to speak up. We are conducting our own survey to examine the impact  implementing fees for PVGs could have on volunteers and volunteer involving organisations: 

    MTSI PVG Fee Survey

    ALSO, we strongly encourage you to submit your views to the VSDS online consultation. They will use this feedback to decide whether to go forward with these fee structures. Your responses are crucial. 

    Submit your views now before the consultation closes on Tuesday 28 May. 

    Disclosure Scotland Consultation

    You do not need to answer every question, however we urge you to answer the ‘discount for volunteers’ section. The two questions are as follows: 

    Question 6 – Do you agree with the proposal to move to a fee discount structure for volunteers in QVOs? 

    [Yes / no / don’t know] 

    Question 7 – What information do you think we need to consider when proposing moving to a fee discount for volunteers in QVOs? 

    [Free text] 

    We think Question 6 is ambiguous and could be interpreted in different ways. We recommend you do not to answer this question, and instead write your full response under Question 7. 

    Spread the Word 

    Share this information with your colleagues, friends, and anyone else who might be interested. Together, we can make sure volunteering stays accessible for everyone. 

    To learn more about changes to the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, visit www.disclosure.gov.scot/changes. 

    Boogie & Arlene Want You… To Nominate For The Midlothian Volunteer Awards 2024!

    placement on 12 March, 2024

    NOMINATIONS CLOSE NEXT WEEK for the 2024 Midlothian Volunteer Awards! 🎉

    The Midlothian Volunteer Awards take place each year, and are all about celebrating the amazing efforts of volunteers in Midlothian. This celebration is a part of Volunteers’ Week, where we appreciate people’s kindness across the whole of Scotland. It is a great opportunity to promote some of the fabulous volunteering projects that exist in Midlothian.

    Please ensure you read the FAQs here before you submit.

    A big thank you to Boogie & Arlene from Forth One for helping us get the message out!

    DownloadNomination Example and Photo Guidelines

    Submit Your Nomination

    If you have any questions, email info@volunteermidlothian.org.uk

    Applications open for CMHWB Micro Grant

    placement on 30 January, 2024

    Are you a community group looking for funding?

    Year 3 of Midlothian Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults launched in the end of September 2023 distributing over £246 thousand to third organisations and community groups. It has already seen many successful applications for larger projects. There is a small fund of £7800 to support micro grant applications, to be distributed by the end of March 2024. The Fund aims to support people’s good mental health and wellbeing and to provide opportunities to connect with others in local community.

    Local groups are invited to apply for funding from £200 up to £2500.

    Known as “the Sunflower Fund” the funding has a strong emphasis on collaboration, partnerships, capacity building and the development of creative projects that can work at a grassroots level, together with local people. All these to ensure outcomes are inclusive and have maximum impact on a local level. In Midlothian the fund had been overseen by a team of staff and volunteers from the TSI, Midlothian Council, Health in Mind, and Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership. The Lived Experience Working Group from Health in Mind will be assessing the funding applications. 

    Fund enquiries should be directed to Magda Clark magda@volunteermidlothian.org.uk by 26 February 2024.

    Read more about the Midlothian Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund here.

    Midlothian Third Sector Interface

    Good Governance in the Third Sector

    Miriam Leighton on 8 February, 2021

    Moving your Board Meetings Online

    This month we’re publishing a series of blog posts to help organisations update their governing documents if needed, so online meetings can continue. Here’s the first blog written by our Deputy Chief Officer, Rebecca McKinney:

    Wiki Education board meeting June 2020 via Zoom by LiAnna (Wiki Ed) is licensed with CC BY-SA 4.0.

    The process for how your organisation holds board meetings and members’ meetings such as AGMs and EGMs will be set out in your governing document. In normal times, you must follow this process.

    In response to the Covid 19 Pandemic, some rules have been loosened to allow meetings to be held virtually even when this is not stated in your governing document. However, the rules are currently scheduled to revert back at the end of March, 2021. This means that if you want to continue having virtual board or members’ meetings, you may have to change your governing document. Here’s what to do next:

    1. Find your constitution or your articles of association and read the sections pertaining to the conduct of Directors’/Trustees’ meetings and Members’ meetings.
    2. Does the document specify that meetings may take place electronically or virtually?
    3. Or, does it have clauses stating that the meeting will be treated as taking place regardless of where participants actually are?
    4. Remember to check sections pertaining to both DIRECTORS and MEMBERS.
    5. If YES, you don’t have to make any changes to your governing document.
    6. If NO, read on:
    If your organisation is a SCIO or unincorporated charity, see these NEXT STEPS:

    1. Hold an AGM or EGM and pass a resolution to make the change to your constitution. Remember that this meeting must be quorate. At least two thirds of members who participate in the vote must agree to the change.

    2. Inform OSCR within three months that you have made the change, by sending their notification form and a copy of your amended constitution. You can find out more about how to do this here. Suggested text is available via SCVO. You will need to adjust the wording and clause numbering to match your particular constitution.

    Add immediately after clause 40: “40A. The board may make arrangements, in advance of any members’ meeting, to allow members to participate in the members’ meeting by means of a conference telephone, video conferencing facility or similar communications equipment – so long as all those participating in the meeting can hear each other; a member participating in a members’ meeting in this manner shall be deemed to be present in person at the meeting.”

    Amend clause 44: “44 Every member has one vote, which must be given personally; for the avoidance of doubt, a vote given by a member participating in the meeting through any of the methods referred to in clause 40A will be taken to be given personally for the purposes of this clause.”

    Add immediately after clause 86: “86A. A charity trustee may participate in a meeting of the board by means of a conference telephone, video conferencing facility or similar communications equipment – so long as all the charity trustees participating in the meeting can hear each other; a charity trustee participating in a meeting in this manner shall be deemed to be present in person at the meeting.”

    Amend clause 90: “90. Every charity trustee has one vote, which must be given personally; for the avoidance of doubt, a vote given by a charity trustee participating in the meeting through any of the methods referred to in clause 86A will be taken to be given personally for the purposes of this clause.”

    If your organisation is a Company Ltd by Guarantee WITH charitable status, follow these NEXT STEPS:

    1. Hold an AGM or EGM and pass a resolution to make the change to your Articles of Association. Remember that this meeting must be quorate. At least two thirds of members who participate in the vote must agree to the change.

    2. Inform Companies House of the change to your Articles within 15 days. You can find out how to do this here.

    3. Inform OSCR within three months that you have made the change, by sending their notification form and a copy of your amended constitution. You can find out more about how to do this here.

    Some sample statements you may insert into your Articles are:

    In determining whether directors are participating in a directors’ meeting, it is irrelevant where any director is or how they communicate with each other.

    or

    If all the directors participating in a meeting are not in the same place, they may decide that the meeting is to be treated as taking place wherever any of them is.

    And

    In determining attendance at a general meeting, it is immaterial whether any two or more members attending it are in the same place as each other.

    If your organisation is a CIC or Company Ltd by Guarantee without charitable status, follow these NEXT STEPS:

    Check your CIC Articles. It is likely that these already contain a clause enabling you to hold meetings in which all participants are not in the same place. In this case, you do not need to make any changes.

    If you do need to amend your articles, follow the same procedure as ‘If your organisation is a Company Ltd by Guarantee WITH charitable status’ above, but because you are not a charity, you will not have to inform OSCR.

    On 24 February we’re holding a free workshop for Midlothian third sector organisations that may need to change their governing document to allow virtual meetings.

    Virtual meeting best practice

    Miriam Leighton on 3 February, 2021

    "Zoom meeting" by chericbaker is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0

    A poor internet connection, a frozen screen and Zoom fatigue are all problems that those of us taking part in video meetings have experienced during the pandemic.

    For all the downsides, video meetings have allowed some organisations to keep working under lockdown, and they can also be easier to attend for those with mobility issues or busy schedules. The technology reduces the costs of holding meetings, and businesses are now less dependent on office space.

    If your organisation wants to keep holding official meetings online or by phone (such as AGMs) after 30 March 2021, you may need to update your governing documents.

    Over the next three weeks we’re going to publish a series of blog posts that outline how to work out if you need to update your governing documents to allow for continued online meetings. We’ll provide some sample lines to use, and share case studies on what other businesses have learnt from holding meetings online. Topics we’ll cover will include how to manage online voting, preparing for those potential technical hitches and avoiding disruptive ‘Zoombombing’.

    Keep an eye on the news page over the coming weeks- follow us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll let you know when the next post is live.

    On 24 February we’re holding a free workshop for Midlothian third sector organisations that may need to change their governing document to allow virtual meetings.

    Brexit’s not long away. Is your organisation prepared?

    Miriam Leighton on 16 November, 2020

    With all the discussions about Covid-19 in recent months, it is easy to forget that we will still be leaving the EU on 31 December 2020. There will be guaranteed changes from January 1st for businesses as we start our new relationship with the EU. There are many actions you can take today to prepare. Third sector organisations are being urged to: 

    It is worth doing one or more of these things now, as Brexit (the real thing) will be upon us very soon!

    Winter driving skills for staff and volunteers

    Miriam Leighton on 10 November, 2020

    Cars and lorries on a snowy motorway.

    Lothian 4×4 Drivers are offering winter driving skills training for staff and volunteers, aimed at helping them to be safer and more confident driving in winter conditions. In the past, participants in the sessions have given them a unanimous thumbs up, being educational and entertaining too – and certainly contributing to the safety and confidence of local drivers during the winter months.

    This opportunity is a great one to include in your winter planning and preparation. It will be an online session, for obvious reasons. If you are interested in this for your staff and/or volunteers but wouldn’t have 10 people available to participate, get in touch and we’ll try to group more than one organisation together. 

    Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme opens

    Miriam Leighton on 10 November, 2020

    The Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme is a £25m Scottish Government funded programme aiming to support charities, community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations that are supporting people and communities through the shift from lockdown to recovery. As well as providing ongoing crisis support, the fund will enable changes that will help organisations to adapt and thrive in a very different social and economic climate. The programme has two main strands: 

    This stream aims to support organisational change. It offers tailored support and funding to develop a plan so that third sector organisations can operate sustainably post-pandemic. 

    This stream supports the delivery of services in communities that were suspended or reduced because of COVID-19, or the creation of services that tackle new challenges presented by the pandemic. 

    You can apply now

    Both strands are now open. The two funds are based around an integrated system so, if required, a request can be made to both programmes using a single application form.