Clause 28
Charities Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 133, in clause 28, page 29, line 41, leave out ‘£10,000’ and insert ‘£20,000’.
This is another measure to reduce the amount of bureaucracy that small or medium sized voluntary sector organisations have to deal with. The Minister said on Second Reading that the number of charities that will no longer have to have a full audit will be reduced by 3,000 by this section of the Bill. Since an audit costs about £5,000 on average, that will in effect inject £15 million into the sector. That is a number that we should be trumpeting from the roof tops.
The clause goes on to suggest that those charities with an income of between £100,000 and £10,000 will not need a full audit but an independent examination. The purpose of the amendment is to raise that limit of £10,000 to £20,000, which will mean that more organisations will not require even an independent examination and will manage without any independent check on their bookkeeping. It is another simple measure to reduce the amount of bureaucracy faced by small voluntary sector organisations.