Reach Volunteering saved from closure
A group of funders and an anonymous donor have saved the charity by pledging almost half a million pounds to keep it running.
The 45-year-old charity said the funds would allow it to transform its model and become sustainable for years to come.
Reach Volunteering connects charities with volunteers via its online platform, having helped recruit more than 34,000 volunteers and trustees for the sector.
At the start of this month, the organisation announced it was embarking on a 12-week managed closure plan and that it expected to fully cease operations by 30 November.
But Reach Volunteering said it was reversing its closure after an “unprecedented collaboration” of eight funders and an anonymous donor who came forward with a package of financial support.
A total of £470,000 was pledged to the organisation, which will fund Reach Volunteering through to the end of 2028. This includes covering some of the costs relating to reversing the closure plan, the charity said.
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Appeal to force regulator to investigate complaint against charity rejected
The Upper Tier tribunal has refused an appeal by an academic body looking to press the Charity Commission to investigate a membership charity amid claims of “harmful and discriminatory practices”.
The City Doctoral Researchers Association, which is part of City St George’s, University of London, saw its appeal refused at a hearing last week.
The appeal concerned the regulator’s handling of a complaint about the European Academy of Optometry and Optics charity.
The CDRA initially filed an appeal in January 2025 asking the charity tribunal to review the commission’s decision not to investigate the CDRA’s concerns about the EAOO.
The appeal was refused last July and the commission said in a November 2024 email to the CDRA that “only certain decisions can be challenged through the commission’s decision review process and ultimately the tribunal”.
The CDRA alleged that the regulator’s “failure to act” on the complaint “disregarded evidence of harmful and discriminatory practices” at the charity, the July 2025 judgment said.
But in a judgment published last week, the charity tribunal said the CDRA renewed its applications to the Upper Tribunal and the judge refused to grant appeal permission in decisions released on 22 and 30 July.
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Staff at research charity accept pay offer of up to 52 per cent to end three-month strike
Staff at the Institute of Cancer Research have returned to work after nearly three months of continuous strike action, the union has said.
The lowest-paid workers at the ICR, which is a public research institute, a higher education institution and an exempt charity, will receive a pay increase of up to 52 per cent, the union Unite said.
Staff at the ICR began strike action in June with eight days of walkouts due to a pay dispute, with the industrial action being extended multiple times, lasting a total of 68 days.
The institute, which employs more than 1,200 people, previously estimated that between 100 and 150 of its employees were participating in the strike, but Unite said more than 300 staff across the ICR’s scientific research, laboratory support and site management divisions had participated in the action.
Staff have since returned to work after accepting what Unite described as a “historic pay settlement”.
The changes include restructured pay scales, the introduction of an incremental pay scheme and London Living Wage-related changes, while the lowest-paid workers will receive a salary increase of up to 52 per cent.
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