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Answer:

1. Any challenge to this Order must be made in the High Court by an interested person within six weeks of it being made. An interested person is someone who lives in, regularly works in, or visits the restricted area. This means that only those who are directly affected by the restrictions have the power to challenge. The right to challenge also exists where an order is varied by the Council.

2. Interested persons can challenge the validity of this Order on two grounds, (1) that the Council does not have the power to make the Order or to include prohibitions or requirements; or (ii) that one of the requirements of the legislation has not been complied with.

3. When an application is made, the High Court can decide to suspend the operation of the order pending the Court’s decision, in part or in totality. The High Court can uphold the Order, quash it, or vary it.

Answer:

1. Within the Restricted Area, a person in charge of a dog must not, at any time, take that dog onto, or permit a dog to enter or to remain on, any Public Place unless:

a. They have a reasonable excuse for doing so; or

b. The owner, occupier or other person or authority having control of the land has consented (generally or specifically) to their failing to do so.

2. This part of the Order applies to land identified as gated children’s play areas and gated sports areas that are within:

a. Parks and open spaces and

b. Housing Estates within the Restricted Area.

Answer:

The planning process is a key step in developing a solid business plan. To make this process more manageable, it would be useful to divide it into two key phases: strategic thinking and planning, and formal business planning.

Strategic thinking and planning

A thorough, inclusive planning process lays the groundwork for a credible and actionable business plan. Taking the time to think strategically and involve others is just as important as drafting the business plan itself. The planning process should be a joint team effort. This requires input from staff, trustees, volunteers and most importantly the community you serve. This is the time to gather information about need and aims. You should think about who your partners are and look at your financial position. You could in the planning process use tools such as SWOT and PESTLE analysis (explained more in depth below) and include your team and community coproduction sessions to cement your aims.

Business planning

Taking the information that you gathered in the thinking stage, start to make sense of it and write it down in a clear and accessible way.

 

Answer:

This section is about mapping out what your organisation wants to achieve over the next few years and how you will get there. If you have not yet agreed on detailed plans, take some time to meet with your team, board and community to shape these plans collaboratively.

The Charity Excellence Framework has some useful guidance.

  • Organise around focus areas: Lay out your plans for each year based on the different areas of work your organisation is focusing on. This helps keep things clear and makes sure activities support your overall vision.
  • Set timelines and milestones: Agree to set realistic timelines and identify key points along the way to track your progress. Identified milestones will act as markers to keep you moving forward and allow you to measure impact.
  • Create clear and achievable targets: Break your plans into manageable goals that feel reachable with a clear sense of direction provided. This helps everyone understand what success looks like and how to work toward it.
  • Share responsibilities across the team: Instead of leaving everything to one person, make sure roles and tasks are shared among your team. Assigning leads for specific activities can keep things moving while sharing the workload.
Answer:

This section sets out the main risks to your organisation achieving your plans, their impact, and how you can mitigate and manage this impact. NCVO has some useful guidance on how to manage risk here.

Zurich has a Guide to Risk Management for public and voluntary sector organisations. It is comprehensive and has risk assessment templates in it.

Answer:

This section should give a summary of your charity’s finances, including your budget and a forecast for the current and future years. This shows that you understand your financial position and can plan ahead. Include the costs of your current projects and any future activities to show how much money you need to raise.

Include a list of your income sources, such as grants, donations or other income, and highlight any gaps where funding is still needed. Outline the main expenses your charity expects to face and how you will make sure there is enough money to cover them. It is also helpful to mention how you keep track of your finances, such as having regular reviews or involving the board in financial decisions, to show funders that your charity manages its money responsibly. Further resources are available at the end of this document.

Answer:

Key areas to address: Not all business plans will have the same structure but there are some key elements which they should all address:

1. Organisational purpose, aims and objectives

This opening part of your business plan should cover your charity’s identity, mission, and measurable goals, ensuring the reader understands:

  • Who you are: A brief history of your charity, its purpose and unique value.
  • What you aim to achieve: Clearly define your mission and vision.
  • What your objectives are: Set measurable short and long-term goals.

Example: Our mission is to support refugee families in Tower Hamlets by providing access to language classes, mental health support and cultural education. Our vision is a thriving community where every family feels empowered and included.

2. Pinpoint need – why your organisation is needed

Understanding client needs: Your business plan should show a deep understanding of the people you serve. It should answer these questions:

  • Who are your beneficiaries? Their demographics, backgrounds, and specific characteristics.
  • What challenges do they face? Economic, social, or health related.
  • How are you meeting these needs? Write both immediate and long term solutions.
  • What is your organisation currently doing, and on what scale? Summary of the activities that the organisation is running, including number of participants.

Example: We support elderly residents in Tower Hamlets, many of whom live alone and face isolation, financial hardship and declining health. Over 60% come from ethnic minority backgrounds and struggle with mobility and accessing services. To address this, we provide weekly social gatherings, exercise classes, and home visits. Long-term we aim to create a buddy system and advocate for accessible community spaces to combat loneliness and improve well-being.

3. Using statistics

Using relevant statistics paints a clearer picture of the community’s needs, identifies service gaps, and demonstrates your organisation’s impact.

  • Opening with key facts: Use striking statistics to highlight the scale of the problem (e.g., “X% of people in [area] are affected by Y issue...”).
  • Relevance to your work: Connect these statistics directly to your services, showing how you address these challenges.
  • Comparative insights: If you can compare the area’s data with regional or national averages to underscore the urgency or uniqueness of the need.

Example: In Tower Hamlets, 48% of children live in poverty after housing costs, significantly higher than the London average of 32%. The borough also experiences severe income deprivation, with a score of 2.03 compared to the London benchmark of 1, highlighting widespread financial hardship among residents. These statistics highlight the need for initiatives that address poverty, improve living standards and support families (Census 2021, London Borough of Tower Hamlets).

4. Understanding internal and external strengths and weaknesses

Your business plan should set out:

  • Your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses and how these were agreed.
  • The external context in which you operate and how this context affects you.

Methods and tools you can use to assess your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses and external context

SWOT analysis

Is a strategic tool used to evaluate an organisation’s internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. It is often used to help you to understand your current position and make informed decisions. By identifying strengths, you can take advantage of them; by recognizing weaknesses you can improve. Opportunities show potential for growth, and threats show risks to prevent.

Example:

  • Strengths: Strong community partnerships, skilled volunteers.
  • Weaknesses: Limited core funding, reliance on short-term grants.
  • Opportunities: Expansion into nearby regions
  • Threats: Economic downturn reducing donor contributions.

Thinking about and discussing these areas can benefit your organisation in many ways, from strengthening your existing resources to overcoming challenges. It also helps you take opportunities and manage potential risks. This analysis serves as a foundation for guiding your priorities, shaping decisions, and developing strategies that support your mission and goals.

PESTLE analysis

A PESTLE analysis is a strategic tool used to understand the outside factors that influence an organisation. ‘PESTLE’ represents six key areas: political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. Each area looks at specific external forces to understand how they affect an organisation. This analysis is particularly useful for strategic planning and decision-making and helps to identify risks and adapt to external changes. It might not be necessary for smaller voluntary and community groups to use this tool.

Every organisation’s analysis will be different, and will depend on the work you do, the time and place you are operating in and the views and ideas of the people you work with.

Using a PESTLE analysis, we can identify key drivers, for example:

pestile analysis

Answer:

Your business plan is not just a document; it is your story of change. Treat it as a living document. Start with what you have and update it as your organisation grows.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a tool to help organisations and charities stay focused, achieve their goals and plan for the future. It explains your mission, objectives and strategies and helps you to focus your effort and resources.

Why have a business plan?

View the business plan as a strong sign of your ability to make strategic, intentional decisions and a place to show you have thoughtfully considered how your actions support your mission. Keep in mind that a business plan is not static; it should grow with your organisation, serving as a tool for both guidance and accountability. Many funders now ask for a business plan to see how your organisation thinks strategically, plans financially and stays committed to making an impact.

How you can use a business plan

Plan how to deliver your strategy: A strong strategy outlines your organisation’s goals and priorities, providing the foundation for your business plan. If you do not have a strategy or have not gone through a strategic planning process, it would be ideal to tackle this first. The business plan should then act as a practical guide, making sure all your activities and decisions work towards your strategic aims. For guidance on developing a strategy visit What is strategy? | NCVO.

Measure progress: Refer to the business plan to assess performance against set goals. It helps to track progress and adjust strategies if needed to stay on course.

Support trustees: Your trustees have a legal duty to oversee how your organisation’s resources are used. You can read more about the legal duties of trustees here and a concise summary of the 6 main duties here.

A business plan will help trustees to:

  • Understand how your plans will be implemented.
  • Assess the risks that might come up.
  • Give input to make sure legal duties are met.

Support you to respond to change: How you manage your direction by responding to the changes that are happening around you. This could be changes in legislation, issues that affect your beneficiaries or how new digital ways of working can help you respond more effectively to running your organisation.

Reviewing: You can plan the review points in your business plan. This might be part of your organisation’s annual cycle of reporting, evaluating or planning, and can be included in staff and trustee away days, planning events with beneficiaries or other types of review.

Answer:
Your group will need a bank account if you handle money. UK Finance has put together some questions to help you decide what your banking needs are, and provides a list of bank accounts that might be suitable for voluntary and community groups. There should be two signatories to authorise payments on the bank account, and they must not be related or living in the same household. The Charity Finance Group gives much more information about charity banking here: Charity Finance Group | Banking for Small Charities.
Answer:

If you are given money for something specific, you must spend it on that thing. This is known as ‘restricted’ income. Examples of restricted income might be a grant from a trust or foundation, or a donation from someone specifically to spend on a particularly project. Some income (e.g. money earned from ticket sales, or public donations from a sponsored event) can be classed as ‘unrestricted’ income, meaning it can be spent on anything that comes under your charitable objectives. Where the restriction has been defined by the donor, you must be able to prove that any restricted income has been spent on what it was donated for.

You cannot fundraise for something in particular and then spend the money you raise on something else. If your fundraising campaign raises more money than it needs for a specific cause then you must follow Charity Commission rules to identify a new purpose: Charity fundraising appeals: using donations when you’ve raised more than you need. Likewise, if your appeal doesn’t raise enough money you must either return the donations or follow the Charity Commission rules to identify a new purpose: Charity fundraising appeals: using donations when you have not raised enough money or you cannot achieve your appeal purpose.

NCVO gives a simple overview of fund accounting here: What’s different about charity finance | NCVO

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