All charities must prepare a Trustees’ Annual Report. However, Trustees’ Annual Report's covering any period starting on or after 1 April 2008 must now also include:

1. A report of those activities undertaken by a charity to further its charitable purposes for the public benefit;

2. A statement by the charity trustees as to whether they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Commission.

Detailed information on the new duties to report on public benefit and the further guidance for trustees on meeting these requirements can be found at the Charity Commission website pages at http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publicbenefit/pbreport.asp.

Further general information on Charities and Public Benefit can be found at http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publicbenefit/default.asp and the Charities Commission publication Charity reporting and accounting : the essentials April 2008 (cc15a) provides more details about the purpose and content of the Trustees’ Annual Report and is available from http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc15a.asp.