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  1. Home
  2. Know Your Stuff

Know Your Stuff

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Here is where you will find the weekly update of changes in legal and good practice, from our Senior Advisor, Steve Place. Previous updates can be found under each of the five themes at the bottom of this page.

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Please contact Steve for more detailed advice via [email protected] if you are based in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole. If you are in the Dorset Council area, please contact [email protected] . Remember that there is also a lot of advice and links in the Membership Zone.

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Edition: Thursday 1st June 2023

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People

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Looking After Your People - Free Human Resources Advice Session

Join experienced HR professional, Sonia Wilson, for the next free monthly Human Resources Q&A for small charities and social enterprises on 28 June 10-11am on Zoom. Sonia will update on changes in best practice as well as answer your questions on people related issues.

Manager who requested home working to shield vulnerable son unfairly dismissed in 'sham redundancy'

Judge says employer would ‘not tolerate’ employee working from home full time even if only for a short period (for six weeks, until able to be vaccinated). But the tribunal found the employer had an “entrenched, but mistaken” belief that the manager wanted to work from home “indefinitely”, which was the main reason for their dismissal and prompted a “sham” redundancy.

The tribunal determined that the employer “had not established a fair reason for dismissal”, because it was unable to give any specific justifications for why the manager could not carry out their duties from home, “which he had already been doing once a week for more than three years in any case”. This case provided a reminder to employers that the reason for dismissal must be both “genuine” and “legally fair”. Should a claim be issued it is likely that the tribunal will see through any sham situation created to cover up the reason for termination.

Manager who was not paid due to a rent dispute with his wife’s employer was victim of constructive dismissal

Judge says that despite the employee eventually receiving his full wage, the actions were a ‘fundamental breach’ of their contract. Only rarely is it lawful to withhold an employee’s pay, and in this case, “where pay was withheld in response to a rent dispute with a charity which the claimant’s wife was involved in, was clearly neither fair nor lawful”.

How should employers respond to complaints of bullying in the workplace?

Outlines the difficulties organisations may face when investigating claims and provides practical tips on the best way to manage them

How to effectively manage mental health concerns in the workplace

Outlines ways employers can best support those experiencing symptoms of mental ill-health.

Managing stress in your charity or not-for-profit organisation

This helpful new article by Zurich takes a closer look at stress in the workplace and how to best manage it. It also offers lots of really useful resources, including the Samaritans' Wellbeing in the Workplace learning programme.

Four family friendly policies every organisation should have

Sets out the rights that employers should have in place in relation to employees’ family situations under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Updating employee handbooks to keep pace with staff expectations

By including less traditional policies on areas such as gender identity and menopause, businesses can show they are progressive and focused on inclusivity.

How to fairly recruit returning retirees

A generation of people are ‘unretiring’, but employers must ensure they avoid discrimination when hiring them.

Whistleblowing

Six in ten CIPD Update readers lack confidence in their organisation’s whistleblowing policy to effectively tackle fraud, misconduct or unethical behaviour. Explore their guidance on producing a clearly defined whistleblowing policy.

Government wants employers to provide salary information in job ads

Cabinet Office’s Equality Hub says greater pay transparency will help people understand what their skills are worth and be able to negotiate fairer rewards and so is encouraging employers to be transparent about salary and to stop asking about previous salary during the recruitment process. “The government’s ambition is that, by giving everyone the information to understand what their skills are worth, and preventing them from being held back by their previous earnings, this will empower them to negotiate on a level playing field,”

Free ACAS Webinars

  • Sickness absence: Supporting your staff
    Supporting your staff and effectively managing sickness and the return-to-work process, could help to reduce sickness absences in your workplace. Join Acas on this free webinar about managing sickness absence successfully.
    13 June 2pm - 3pm - view details and register onto this session
  • Investigations and disciplinaries: How to manage and disclose information
    Join us for our latest webinar where we answer some of the most asked questions about disclosing information during the disciplinary process.
    15 June 10.30am - 11am - view details and register onto this session
  • Disciplinary procedures: Dealing with the unexpected
    This webinar is designed to help employers improve their processes and avoid making costly mistakes which could lead to workplace conflicts and potential tribunal claims at a later stage.
    20 June 2pm - 3pm - view details and register onto this session
  • Business support: Managing in difficult times
    With the impacts of the increase in cost of living being felt by everyone, in this webinar Acas look at what steps an employer can take to support their staff.
    22 June 10.30am - 11.30am - view details and register onto this session

Charity Job salary report 2023

In their latest report CharityJob highlights how charity salaries have changed since the pandemic. The data is based on over 60,000 paid roles that were posted on their website last year. The report analyses average salaries by job type, experience level and charity size and compares this to data from 2019.

Key findings from Time Well Spent 2023

Have a look at NCVO’s latest data that reveals how much volunteering has transformed over recent years.

How to celebrate your volunteers this Volunteers' Week

Show your volunteers how much you appreciate them this Volunteers' Week!

Volunteer Recruitment and Management

Check out our free webinars.

 

Legal

 

New ICO video resources

The ICO has announced the launch of a suite of bite-size video resources to help small business and sole traders ensure their marketing is compliant with legislation. Good intros and refreshers!

Removing members

In a recent case relating to a non-charitable unincorporated association, the High Court has held that the rules of natural justice were breached where a decision to terminate the membership of a member was not made by an unbiased or impartial body. Failing to give the member a meaningful opportunity to give an account of themself and the events leading to the termination of their membership, or to highlight any potentially mitigating features, was a substantive defect in process that was more than merely technical.  However, while some remedy was due to the member, their loss was strictly non-pecuniary.

The case did not fall into any of the categories of exception to the general principle that damages cannot be recovered for distress or injury to feelings resulting from a breach of contract. The judge awarded nominal damages of £100. So if you are unincorporated association, charitable or not, make sure you follow the rules of natural justice and perhaps make sure an adequate process is in your constitution or as a rule. If you are unsure how to do this contact CAN.

Help bust the myths on portable appliance testing

Portable appliance testing (PAT) is the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to make sure they are safe to use. There are many common myths about PAT - use HSE’s frequently asked questions to find the facts about inspecting and testing this type of equipment. Their leaflet Maintaining portable electric equipment in low-risk environments is free to download and sets out simple and sensible precautions you should take to prevent danger from portable or movable electrical appliances.

 

Charity

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Charities Act 2022: information about the changes being introduced

Latest update from the Charity Commission about the implementation of phase 2 of the Charities Act 2022. Those coming into effect in June cover charity land, permanent endowment, and charity names.

How can trustees respond to the climate crisis?

A recent seminar hosted by NPC, in partnership with the Clothworkers Company, explored how charity trustees can best respond to the climate crisis. The seminar sought to inspire action by highlighting the success of current initiatives. 

Being a Charity Trustee training

Steve Place is running his next highly regarded course on 21 June 2023 in Dorchester from 7-9pm.

 

Income

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More cash to rescue community assets through expanded government fund

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has announced changes to the £150 million Community Ownership Fund, to make it easier for communities across the UK to take over local assets that are at risk of closure. The amount of funding all projects can bid for will be increasing to £1 million, and the requirement for match-funding is being reduced to as low as 10%, making it easier for communities to acquire assets such as sports clubs, music venues and historic buildings without raising additional private funding. Round 3 of the Fund will open to applications on the 31st May 2023.

Windrush 75: how to strengthen your Black History Month application

Grants up to £10,000 still available from National Lottery Community Fund during Black History Month. Read this blog about how to improve your success and advice workshops in June.

The Screwfix Foundation

Offer grants of up to £5,000 to support UK registered charities and not for profit organisations. Projects that will fix, maintain, improve and repair charitable and community facilities for those in need by reason of financial hardship, sickness, disability, distress or other disadvantage in the UK are eligible to apply. Deadline: Continuous rolling programme. Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis in January, April, July and October.

Energy Outreach Project

EOP aims to deliver outreach energy advice. For grants in increments of £3,500, Citizens Advice ask their partners to deliver energy advice (via group or one-to-one sessions) to 100 consumers, targeted at vulnerable people who are not currently engaging with advice services on this topic. Small organisations with the capacity to deliver outreach advice can apply for this funding up to 23:59 on 9 June 2023. There are two application forms, one for each part of the project. You can see the links to these below:

  • Champion Application Form
  • Champion Application Guidance
  • Champion FAQ

If you have any questions related to this application please contact [email protected]

Unrestricted funding

Over £1.2million in free, unrestricted funding has just been paid to third-sector organisations via funding platform easyfundraising. Because easyfundraising is committed to helping communities access essential funding, they partner with over 7,500 online retailers that want to give back. It’s simple: when anyone shops online, a proportion of what they’ve spent is shared with your organisation for free. It’s a really simple and effective way for your organisation to fundraise for essentials, cover day-to-day running costs, or whatever you see fit. Sign up to easyfundraising to be a part of the next round of payments in August.

Charities can now apply for 2023 Big Give Christmas Challenge

The Big Give Christmas Challenge runs from 28 November – 5 December this year, and charities have until 7 July to apply. The Christmas Challenge doubles the public’s donations by matching them with Big Give ‘Champions’, which are philanthropists, foundations and companies. Last year it raised a record £28.6mn for 1,021 charities with 79,000 members of the public donating.

BCP Thriving Communities Fund

This programme will distribute some of the funds received by BCP Council via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The Fund is looking to award grants that will support community-led initiatives and community buildings that support local people and utilise their skills to work together to address local issues. Grants will aim to support volunteer led activities (involving a majority of volunteers or active participants over paid staff) and community buildings that help develop positive connections between people living in the same area or with shared experiences. Initiatives delivering low cost or free food should be aware that a specific Fund related to food provision is expected to launch later this month - please await further info.

There are two Fund Priorities - groups can apply for one grant only, choosing which priority is most appropriate:

  • Priority 1: Volunteering & Social Action - activity/service delivery costs (up to £5000)
  • Priority 2: Community Buildings - capital grants (up to £2000)

Apply by 23rd June.

Be contract ready with the Public Services Hub

As part of the Government ‘s VCSE Contract Readiness Programme, Social Enterprise UK have put together the Public Services Hub. This provides social enterprises charities and commissioners with resources to enable social enterprises and charities to compete alongside other organisations for public sector contracts. From resources from government to support on how to find contracts – the Public Services Hub is a great first port of call for social enterprises and charities interested in working with government and the broader public sector. It also contains resources for commissioners to help highlight the benefits that come through partnering with social enterprises and charities.

Free fundraising webinars

Louise Stewart, CAN’s Funding Adviser, is hosting webinars on different aspects of fundraising. See our training page for more details and to book a place.

  

Other

 

BCP Council Census stats per ward

You can now look at census results for each of the wards and compare them. Really helpful when looking at needs, planning services and for funding applications.

Where to start with web accessibility

Charity Digital explores the core elements of web accessibility and why charities need to embrace it now

Core principles for accessible design in print

Keeping accessibility top of mind from the start of a design process can ensure that as many people can engage successfully with your work as possible. Scope shares four core principles that can be applied to many print design projects such as reports, leaflets, and mail packs.

Risk Management Toolkit

Lloyds Bank Foundation have developed a toolkit designed to help charities establish a risk management framework to identify, rate, control and monitor risk.

 

Know Your Stuff - People Archive

Know Your Stuff - People Archive

You can find all the people, staff and human resources related content from previous Know Your Stuff newsletters here. Read more

Published: 4th October, 2022

Updated: 31st May, 2023

Author: Chris Small

Know Your Stuff - Legal Archive

Know Your Stuff - Legal Archive

You can find all the legal content from previous Know Your Stuff newsletters here. Read more

Published: 3rd October, 2022

Updated: 31st May, 2023

Author: Chris Small

Know Your Stuff - Charity Archive

Know Your Stuff - Charity Archive

You can find all the charity related content from previous Know Your Stuff newsletters here. Read more

Published: 2nd October, 2022

Updated: 31st May, 2023

Author: Chris Small

Know Your Stuff - Income Archive

Know Your Stuff - Income Archive

You can find all the income related content from previous Know Your Stuff newsletters here. Read more

Published: 1st October, 2022

Updated: 31st May, 2023

Author: Chris Small

Know Your Stuff - Other Archive

Know Your Stuff - Other Archive

Any additional updates from previous Know Your Stuff newsletters can be found here. Read more

Published: 30th September, 2022

Updated: 31st May, 2023

Author: Chris Small

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