Mayor Marvin Rees has unveiled Bristol’s first ever One City Plan.

The plan has brought together public, private and VCSE partners in the city to create a plan for what we want Bristol to be by 2050 and how we will work together to achieve that.

Voscur has been a key contributor, speaking on behalf the city’s VCSE sector and helping to shape the vision set out in the plan.

The NHS Long Term Plan was launched in January to coincide with the 75^th anniversary of the service.

It aims to improve the quality of patient care and health outcomes and sets out how the £20.5 billion budget settlement for the NHS, announced by the Prime Minister in summer 2018, will be spent over the next 5 years.

Sir Stuart Etherington is to step down as chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Sir Stuart will retire later this year after 25 years in the role.

NCVO’s membership has grown from just 400 when Sir Stuart took up his post in 1994 to over 14,000 today. Sir Stuart was knighted in 2010 for services to the voluntary sector.

HM Revenue & Customs has announced that charitable trusts have an extra six months’ “soft-landing period” to comply with its digital tax rules.

From April the new Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme is set to become compulsory for the majority of organisations with a turnover greater than £85,000.

Voscur has received confirmation from Bristol City Council that Discretionary Rates Relief will continue to be applied this year.

A representative of the council’s Revenues Finance team told Voscur:

Voscur is advising VCSE organisations in Bristol that have a turnover greater than £100,000 to prepare for cuts to discretionary rate relief.

Bristol City Council is one of many local authorities across the country that has chosen to cut the business rates relief that it provides to charities in order to help balance its budget.

The Education Secretary Damian Hinds has announced an additional £250 million to councils over the next two years to support children with Special Educational Needs (SEND).

The other £100 million will be used to create more specialist places in mainstream schools, with aim of giving more children and young people access to a good school or college place that meets their individual needs.

The Charity Commission has issued an alert warning charities about the risk of CEO fraud through Christmas gift cards.

Big Lottery is working on a jointly funded programme with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to invest £1.14 million to improve access to training, support and advice.

It is part of a wider government strategy to improve safeguarding practice across the voluntary sector in England.