News

Full business rates are due on empty commercial properties that remain unoccupied after three months. However, charities occupying commercial property qualify for a mandatory 80% discount on business rates, provided the property is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes. Local authorities also have the discretion to grant the remaining 20% as a further discount.

Twelve organisations, including NCVO and Acevo, have come together to form the 'inspiring impact' group, which plans to provide collective leadership on impact measurement in the charity sector over the next decade. The group aims to make the next ten years a decade of high impact, and has developed a 12-month plan to set off five goals, which will define the group. The five goals are:

Following her presentation on community organisers at the NAVCA Annual Conference in London on 22 November and the public sector strikes on 30 November, Rachel Quinn, Chief Executive of One East Midlands, has published her latest two blog posts presenting her thoughts on the subjects.

To read both of Rachel's blog posts, entitled Don't blame my dad and Community Organisers - Opportunity or Threat? click here.

You can also now follow Rachel on Twitter at @RachelQ_OneEM.

As part of the Chancellor's autumn statement, the government has confirmed it will introduce a VAT exemption for VCS organisations that wish to share back-office services, removing the additional VAT charge that can arise when some organisations collaborate. The exemption will apply to services shared between VAT exempt bodies, including charities and universities. A requirement that charities who want to share services must set up a separate legal entity to do so was opposed by the sector but has been retained in the government proposal.