Prime minister Tony Blair, chancellor Gordon Brown and pensions secretary John Hutton have each welcomed recommendations made in a "radical" review of Britain’s welfare system.

Conducted by David Freud and entitled Reducing Dependency: Increasing Opportunity, the new report suggests that welfare infrastructure should be simplified, with more efficient use of private and voluntary sector resources to help benefit claimants.

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Charity directors have submitted a series of requests to the Treasury, seeking budget amendments that could help the third sector make significant tax savings.

The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (acevo) and the Charity Finance Directors’ Group (CFDG) delivered the document to the Treasury demanding 15 changes on issues from payroll giving, through gift aid, to VAT structure. (more…)

A majority of charities with annual income over £500,000 deliver public services for public authorities, but many are not being paid the full cost of their work, according to a new report.

The Charity Commission has published the first survey which investigates all the charities in the UK delivering public services. The report looked at a wide range of issues, including full-cost recovery to length of funding agreements. (more…)

Leading international development charity Oxfam has pledged to send its workers out across the country, to teach school children about global poverty.

The move comes as part of a nationwide campaign launched by the charity, which aims to educate youngster about global issues and then encourage them to take positive action to remedy these problems. (more…)

The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) has branded the recommendations of a recent report into the third sector as “unworkable”.

Independent think tank Civitas recently released its study into the regulatory system for charities, coming out with a variety of recommendations. (more…)