The long-awaited new Charities Act has been passed and will come into force in March. It is a 'consolidating' Act, which is probably of more interest to lawyers than to their charity clients. The basic law has not changed at all, but the language has been updated or simplified and we have to get used to new section numbers.

The idea is to make charity law more accessible and straightforward. So it brings together in a logical order the Recreational Charities Act 1958, the Charities Act 1993 and many parts of the Charities Act 2006. But nothing is ever simple. Parts of the Charities Act 1992 and of the 2006 Act, dealing with street and door-to-door collections, still stand alone. Those have yet to be implemented, partly because of resourcing issues at the Charity Commission and partly because they affect non-charitable fundraising too.

Of rather more interest is that, as we have already reported, the OCS has appointed Lord Hodgson to review the success and impact of the Charities Act 2006. He will take a close look at the sections on public benefit, the interpretation of which has brought the Charity Commission to grief in the court case brought by the Independent Schools Council. The review is likely to lead to changes in the law, but that process will take probably two years so don't get too excited!

May we take the opportunity to wish all our charity clients and contacts a very Happy Christmas and a successful and relatively trouble-free New Year.