Charities Bill: Lords Second Reading

Clause 30 allows charities to pay trustees for goods provided, to bring the law into line with the ability for trustees to be remunerated for services, without the permission of the Charity Commission. This power will be able to be used even where there is an express provision in the charity’s governing documents that allow such a payment to be made – currently charities would be prevented from using the statutory power, if such an express provision was in their governing documents. This means that charities will be able to use the power without checking whether it could be otherwise authorised by a provision in their governing documents.

Clause 31 will allow the Charity Commission to order a charity to remunerate a trustee for work done. Previously, a trustee would have had to be authorised by the court.

For many charities, there will be occasions when it is more cost effective for a trustee to supply goods to the charity, so it is welcome that the law is being aligned with payment for services.

In some circumstances a trustee will require trust corporation status, for example where land or property is to be held on charitable trust by a sole trustee. However, the current routes to securing trust corporation status are time-consuming, so clause 32 will automatically confer trust corporation status where they meet the criteria in section 334A(1).

This is a helpful measure that will reduce the bureaucracy associated with securing trust corporation status.

Clause 33 will allow for gifts to be transferred from a charity which has since merged to the new merged charity. This will provide clarity over whether a gift can be transferred, and should mean that in such cases shell charities will not need to be preserved for the purpose of ensuring a gift can be received.