The Charity Commission, backed by Welsh Government, has launched the Revitalising Trusts Programme in Wales to unlock up to £12 million of dormant charitable funds in Wales. The programme is urging trustees of inactive charities to come forward for support to put their charitable funds to good use.

The Charity Commission and Community Foundation Wales will support trustees to release inactive funds, redistributing these to good causes across the country through Community Foundation Wales. Alternatively, the Commission will support trustees to breathe new life into the charity, for example by changing their charitable purpose.

Charity trustees who find it hard to recruit new trustees, spend the charity’s income or assets, identify beneficiaries, or find time to run the charity should contact Revitalising Trusts for support. This includes charities who have not spent any money in the last five years, or who have spent less than 30% of its income in the last five years.

Trustees may have already received a letter from the Commission encouraging them to seek support to spend dormant funds. The programme is urging all trustees to consider if the Revitalising Trusts programme could help their charity fulfil its potential.

Tracy Howarth, Assistant Director of Casework at the Charity Commission, said:

In the current economic climate, following the pandemic and during a cost-of-living crisis, it’s more important than ever that charitable funds are being used to their full potential, to help improve lives and strengthen communities.

We know trustees have the best intentions, but it’s sometimes harder to transform this momentum into long-term action, or charities find they have run their course. Through Revitalising Trust Wales, we want to help trustees put the hard-fundraised money to good use, to make a real and positive difference to those who need it most.

If you think your charity could benefit from support to spend its funds, please do get in touch with us and we’ll help you work out the best next steps for your charity.

We realise that receiving a letter from the charity regulator may cause concern to trustees, but this is where Community Foundation Wales can help and support. There is no reason for this to be stressful, it can actually be a very positive experience for the trustees involved and their community. We can help the Trustees to change the charitable purpose of the trust or by releasing inactive funds and redistributing them to communities across Wales. We know Trustees worry about inactive funds. We can help them through this programme to ensure they are within Charity law and that their communities benefit as was originally intended from their funds.

As part of the Revitalising Trusts programme, Community Foundation Wales and the Charity Commission supported the Trustees of the T D Jones (Llanfair Clydogau) charity, who manage an education fund near Lampeter.

The Trustees were supported to widen the scope of the fund and transfer it across to Community Foundation Wales. This money is now being put to charitable use.

Paula Barker, Trustee of T D Jones (Llanfair Clydogau) said:

Like many small village churches, the congregation of ours has dwindled. As the secretary and church warden I found that among the many problems arising from this was what to do about a sum of money left for the charitable purpose of providing books for the Sunday school children. The objects had been altered to allow for help to the local school children, but the trustees of the charity were no longer in a position to act and no monies had been distributed.

It was with some relief that we received information about the Revitalising Trusts Programme. It seemed quite daunting to start with and the initial problem was tracking down the right signatories for the paperwork. However, Laura Cameron Long, the Programme Manager at UKCF, guided me through every step of the way. There proved to be no difficulty at all and the whole process of transferring the funds to Community Foundation Wales went without a hitch.

The most gratifying aspect of this is that the funds are now being of real help where needed and we feel sure that the original donor would approve of that.

Revitalising Trust Wales follows the campaign’s success in England, where nearly £80 million has been redistributed to local projects, to ensure it achieved maximum public good.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.
2. Community Foundation Wales inspires people to give, helps Welsh communities to thrive and changes lives together. For over twenty years, Community Foundation Wales has been supporting charities and community groups with funding to strengthen communities across Wales. Working together with our donors and partners, we use our expert knowledge of the needs of communities in Wales to find and fund projects that create positive change.
3. There is more information about the Revitalising Trusts Programme on gov.uk.

The government is today inviting local councils across England to bid for funding from a £7 million pot to find innovative ways to improve the air quality in their areas.

The government’s Air Quality Grant helps councils develop and implement measures to benefit schools, businesses and communities and reduce the impact of air pollution on people’s health.

The grant will encourage and support projects that deal with improving air quality as well as improving knowledge about the health risks.

Local authorities across the country can bid for a portion of the fund for a wide range of projects to improve air quality and create cleaner and healthier environments. The criteria for this year’s grant period will prioritise three areas:

• Projects that reduce air pollution where there are nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceedances;
• Projects focusing on improving public knowledge and information about air quality, including steps individuals can take to reduce their exposure to air pollution; and
• Projects that include measures to deal with particulate matter, which is the pollutant most harmful to human health.

Since it was established, the Air Quality Grant scheme has awarded more than £81 million to a variety of innovative projects. These have included a digital education package to teach children and parents about the health impacts of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, and the development of a community website to share air quality information and raise awareness with local residents and visitors.

These projects and many others funded by the grant scheme have contributed to the significant improvement in air quality seen in the UK in recent decades. Since 2010, levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – particles or liquid droplets in the air which present the greatest risk to public health – have reduced by 11% while emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen by 32% and are at their lowest level since records began.

Environment Minister Steve Double said:

“Air quality has improved significantly since 2010 but we know that it remains the biggest environmental risk to public health.

“This is why we have today opened applications for millions of pounds worth of additional funding for local authorities so they can take the action needed to cut air pollution and improve air quality awareness in their areas.

“Local authorities know their areas best, and we are excited to receive their ideas for innovative measures which will reduce the impact of air pollution on the health of their communities.”

Applications for the grant open from Tuesday 26 July and close on Friday 23 September.

The Air Quality Grant forms part of the wider UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations, which includes a £3.5 billion investment into air quality and cleaner transport. The plan is supporting the uptake of low emissions vehicles, getting more people to cycle and walk, and encouraging cleaner public transport.

Later this year we will be bringing forward two new ambitious air quality targets under our Environment Act to reduce the level of harmful fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air, the most harmful air pollutant for human health. In addition to this the Act has made it easier for local authorities to use their existing powers to tackle sources of air pollution in their areas, as well as for the Government to mandate recalls of vehicles when they do not meet legal emission standards.

The government has also taken action to cut pollution from household burning – a significant source of the particulate matter. A ban on the sale of coal and wet wood for domestic burning came into force in May last year.

Local Authorities in England are invited to apply via Bravo. Further details on how to apply are available on the Air Quality Grants GOV.UK page.

• Today the Chancellor unveiled the Brunswick Street site in Darlington as the new permanent home of the Darlington Economic Campus.
• Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi told colleagues in Darlington he was ‘eager to see more roles’ in the town during his first working day at the campus.
• There are over 130 Treasury staff currently working in Darlington, which will increase up to 300 by 2025.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi today announced the permanent location for the new Darlington Economic Campus and pledged to ensure more Treasury roles were moved to the town.

During a visit to Darlington, which has housed Treasury staff since 2021, the Chancellor undertook meetings with Treasury ministers, was given a tour of the temporary Feethams House site, met with Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, gave a welcome address to, and took questions from, Treasury colleagues.

There are now more than 130 Treasury staff in Darlington, following a rigorous recruitment campaign, a key part of the government’s drive to tap into talent across the UK, level-up across the country and diversify policy making by moving roles out of London.

While working at the site, the Chancellor announced that subject to contract and lease agreement, the site at Brunswick Street at the heart of the town will be the permanent base for the campus, replacing the car park currently located on the site.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, said:

“It was great to work from the Darlington Economic Campus today and announce the Treasury’s new permanent office at the heart of the town.

“We are levelling up across the UK, tapping into the extraordinary talent in towns across the country and I am eager to see more Treasury roles in Darlington.

“People in all parts of this great country have a right to be at the heart of government decision-making and we are delivering on that promise by moving up to 300 Treasury roles to Darlington by 2025.”

Teams have now begun moving from the interim office at Bishopsgate House into a longer-term temporary office in Feethams House, which will be completed in September, ahead of the permanent site being ready in a few years’ time.

There are over 130 HMT staff now in post in Darlington, the department aims to have up to 300 Treasury roles based in the town by 2025. The majority of staff have been recruited directly to the campus and the remainder have chosen to relocate from London.

Alongside the Treasury, the Campus will house teams from the Department for International Trade, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Office for National Statistics and the Competition and Markets Authority. They will be working alongside the Department for Education who already have a base in Darlington.

More than 6,000 Civil Service jobs have already been moved out of London to support the government’s levelling up agenda.

Whilst in the region, the Chancellor also visited the Greggs factory in Newcastle, which recently announced 125 new local jobs. He was given a tour of the factory and met staff who were making the retailer’s famous doughnuts and sweet treats.

Contact Information

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020 7270 5238

pressoffice@hmtreasury.gov.uk

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Notes to editors

• Pictures will be available on the Treasury’s Flickr account.
• The Darlington Economic Campus supports the wider Places for Growth programme which aims to move 22,000 civil service positions out of London and the South East by 2030.
• As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, more departments have made fresh commitments to move roles out of London including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), who have confirmed they will move hundreds of roles out of London to locations across the UK. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have also announced they will be moving 550 roles out of the capital by 2025 and 1,100 by 2030.
• The Department for International Trade will be moving 774 roles out of London by 2030, with 500+ being located in Darlington.