A review of the Charities Act by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts has led to wide ranging proposals for the future of the charities sector. The Charities Act 2006 was the first to be written with an automatic review procedure built into it, the review has looked at what the Act has achieved set against the objectives of 2006. Among the more controversial proposals is permission for larger charities to pay their trustees, and for trusteeships to be normally limited to three terms of no more than three years’ service each. Under the proposals, the sanctions that would be applied for late filing of accounts and Annual Returns would include the withdrawal of Gift Aid, and Hodgson urges the Government and the Charity Commission to consider introducing late filing fines. He said: “It would be a great pity if some way could not be found to bring forward reasonably quickly the changes needed to give effect to the first part, at least, of my recommendations. Failure to do so would not only undermine the value of the Review, it would also greatly disappoint the sector.”
