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Report heralds red tape bonfire for charities

10 September 2008

The Government today welcomed a new report that will help drive forward its programme to cut red tape for charities – focusing on unnecessary burdens in monitoring and reporting requirements.

The report, Turning the Tables: Putting Charities in Control of Reporting, by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) was funded by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) in the Cabinet Office. The aim is to identify which reporting burdens charities feel most keenly so that unnecessary red tape can be removed or reduced.

OTS will now use this important evidence to inform and drive forward its ongoing burdens reductions work with departments across Whitehall.

Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, commented:

“Monitoring and reporting are clearly crucial to ensuring public funds are being properly spent and having an impact, but we have to be certain that charities do not face unnecessary bureaucracy.

“This report is an important step in our programme of work to tackle needless red tape where it affects the sector. We funded this research in order to know precisely where to focus our efforts on enabling charities to do what they do best, improving lives and communities.”

The report’s key recommendations are:

• Funders should be made aware of the burden on charities resulting from their reporting and monitoring requirements. NPC found many funders were surprised to learn how much time it took to compile the information.
• Funders should be able to justify the information they are asking for, and should be clear about reporting requirements before the funding agreement starts.
• Charities should feel they confident in speaking to funders to identify the key information they need and questioning their requirements, particularly where they are burdensome.
• The Charities should consider the possibility of standard reporting, allowing charities to prepare one report that could be used by several funders, and funders should encourage this. Funders should also consider making the information they compile available to other audiences, so that it can be shared rather than duplicated by the charity.The aim of the OTS’s programme of cutting red tape is to free up time and money spent by third sector organisations so that they can focus on the key services they provide.

The aim of the OTS’s programme of cutting red tape is to free up time and money spent by third sector organisations so that they can focus on the key services they provide. Following the report’s findings the OTS will work on a number of measures to reduce the burden of monitoring and reporting, including work with the National Audit Office and HM Treasury to provide guidance for funders on what “proportionate monitoring and reporting” means in practice.

• NPC website [external website]
• Turning the Tables: Putting Charities in Control of Reporting [PDF, 68 pages, 1334KB]