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.

Next week is your last chance to submit your response to Bristol City Council's consultation on its budget. The deadline for responses is midnight on Monday 17 of December. We've published our response below in advance of submitting it to give Bristol's VCSE sector the opportunity to comment and contribute.

A group of some of the UK’s most well-known funders and funded organisations launched a new set of principles for grant reporting.

The Guardian has published the results of a poll which gives a picture of racial bias in Britain.

The report shows that people from ethnic minorities are more likely than white people to report a set of negative experiences linked to unconscious bias.

Advocate: Jackie Citron

Board Chair: Sally Lewis

Date of meeting: 14 November 2018

Relevant discussions:

Jackie has offered to become involved in the new Contextual Safeguarding Subgroup given previous experience and current role working with HSB. She has been invited to monthly meetings from Dec 18.