New legislation will lift the burden of large auditing and administration bills from the community and voluntary sector, Labour's Cllr Keith Martin has learned.
The Labour councillor has been told that the Dept of Jobs and Innovation is planning to greatly reduce the paperwork legally required by voluntary groups under the new Companies Bill. The Dept intends to exempt charitable organisations from the stringent audit requirements imposed on private companies.
According to Cllr Martin "This is good news for those people who run our sports clubs, help our youth, care for the vulnerable and generally make our communities better places to live, shouldn't be unnecessarily burdened with high cost legal and financial requirements. They need every cent they have for the valuable work they do."
The new Companies Bill, which is expected later this year, will introduce a new type of default private company to cover the charity and voluntary sector, known as a CLS or private company limited by shares.
Cllr Martin says the changes will provide "a number of tangible benefits aimed at reducing the administrative burden on our voluntary groups. The lengthy and complex legal documents needed to set up other companies will no longer be required. These new CLS companies can be incorporated using a single document possibly a page long,"
"In short it will be a great deal easier and less expensive for the voluntary sector to start, use and run such a company. It is a move that will benefit not just community groups but society as a whole,"
