Clergy Conduct Measure

In our post of 1 November 2025, we noted that the Church Times had indicated the Measure had been rejected by the Ecclesiastical Committee (Joint Committee) as “not expedient” on the basis of concerns about the default expectation in the CCM that tribunal hearings would be held in private. The publication of a report confirming the parliamentary decision and setting out the reasons behind it is expected to be published next week. 

A detailed Comment by David Lamming outlines that the process thereafter is governed by section 3 of the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919, and SO 67 of the General Synod standing orders. He also notes the case of the Churchwardens Measure 2001 on James Behrens wrote in an article for the Ecclesiastical Law Journal: “The Churchwardens Measure 2001”,  Ecclesiastical Law Journal  [2001] 6(29), 97-110.

Forfeiture of honours

In the October roundup of ecclesiastical law, we noted that Mike Pilavachi had been added to the current List of individuals whose honour has been revoked by the Sovereign, (August 2025). Pilavachi was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List for services to young people; he joins Paula Vennels, whose CBE (2019) was revoked in February 2024. A broader consideration of The removal of titles and honours was published in the recent House of Commons Research Briefing; this is particularly pertinent to more recent events reported in the Gazette (5 November), which are, albeit, outwith the ambit of Law and Religion UK.

Charities SORP 2026

On Friday, the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator published the new CHARITIES SORP 2026, which comes into effect on 1 January. Under its provisions, new accounting rules for charities in the UK will vary depending on their income.

For accounting periods beginning after 1 January 2026, only charities with an annual turnover of more than £15M will be required to produce a detailed statement of cashflows. Following a consultation earlier this year, there will be less stringent requirements for charities with incomes of over £500,000, and lightest-touch rules for smaller voluntary organisations. Further details are in the Commission’s press release. It also produced a very basic summary of the major changes, here.

A crem is a crem is a crem? – a further update

In the roundup on 3 August 2025 we noted that in Wathen-Fayed v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2025] UKSC 32, the Supreme Court had held unanimously that for the purposes of section 5 of the Cremation Act 1902, “crematorium” meant a “building fitted with appliances for the purpose of burning human remains” (i.e. the crematory building itself). Following correspondence between the Ministry of Justice and the representative bodies of the funerals industry, the MoJ revised its guidance on the siting and planning of crematoria following the Supreme Court judgment – see A crem is a crem is a crem? – update, 9 September 2025.

In Re Calderstones Cemetery [2025] ECC Bla 3, (22 October 2025), a private company sought a faculty to carry out works on consecrated land within the former Calderstones Cemetery, Whalley, ancillary to the construction of a crematorium approved under existing planning permission, on adjoining deconsecrated land. Hodge Ch cited the Supreme Court judgment (at [8]) in relation to the statutory restriction on the siting of crematoria contained within the Cremation Act 1902. He concluded:

“[47(c)] Subject to the petitioner and the Friends agreeing a schedule of agreed and assumed facts, there is to be the trial of a preliminary issue, on written representations, as to whether (a) the proposed use of the land, the subject of the present faculty application, for purposes ancillary to the use of the adjoining, de-consecrated land for secular use as a crematorium is inconsistent with its continuing status as consecrated land; and (b) whether or not any human or cremated remains lie under that land, any faculty should be refused on that ground alone”. 

Religious slaughter

The Religion Media Centre reports that a Sikh organisation, the Jhatka Council, is campaigning for legal recognition in the UK of the Sikh Jhatka method of ethical slaughter of meat. The method involves beheading an animal by a single strike, which Sikhs believe is the quickest and most humane and compassionate way to slaughter an animal.

The campaign is backed by Gurinder Singh Josan MP, who argues that whilst halal and kosher slaughter are allowed, there is no equivalent provision for Sikhs, for whom these meats are not permissible. The campaign is running a series of meetings in Parliament this session, giving information and answering questions on animal welfare and the Jhatka method. However, some dispute the practicality of Jhatka, and whilst the meat is said to have an improved flavour, this is at the expense of a shorter shelf-life.

Fundraising Code

The Fundraising Regulator has upheld a complaint against the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), an international evangelical Christian denomination, which alleged a breach of the Fundraising Code. The UCKG was accused of sending direct marketing material to a member of the Church after being asked to stop doing so. During the Regulator’s investigation, the complainer received two further contacts from the charity: a telephone call about Gift Aid, and a text message inviting the complainer to return to the Church.

The Regulator concluded that the charity had accepted its findings and had agreed to comply with its recommendations.

Statutory inquiry into the Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust

The Charity Commission has been engaging with the Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust since May 2025 over concerns about its involvement in publications made and events organised by a non-charitable company which receives funding from the Trust. Complaints were also received in relation to the charity’s funding of an event at which it is alleged that inflammatory statements were made, and the Commission is investigating whether support of the event was in furtherance of the charity’s objects. It had previously issued an Official Warning to the charity on 28 March 2023, in part about how it managed its relationship with the non-charitable company.

The Commission has now decided to launch a statutory inquiry into the trustees’ administration, management and governance of the charity and their compliance with their legal duties and responsibilities. It will also review the Trust’s activities, considering how these further the charity’s purposes and are in the charity’s best interests and the relationship between the charity and the non-charitable company, including:

• how this relationship benefits the charity and helps deliver on its purposes;
• how the trustees are managing this relationship in the charity’s best interests;
• what safeguards are in place to ensure the charity is adequately separate from the non-charitable company; and
• the steps the trustees have taken to separate the charity from the non-charitable company so that it is clear to the public that the two organisations are separate entities.

The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge. It will publish a report at the end of the inquiry.

New publication

A new book has just been published by Taylor & Francis, edited by Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Aviad Hacohen: Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law: The Status of Jewish and Muslim Minorities in Europe and Beyond. It is currently available on open access and covers a wide range of topics, including:

• The ECtHR, the CJEU, and the Protection of Religious Minorities;
• Lethargy in the UK – How not to accommodate religion or belief, by Russell Sandberg; and
• Laïcité, the Legal Framework for the Exercise of Religions in France.

Quick links

• Australian Journal of Law and Religion vol 6, available on open access.
• Chris Merritt, Rule of Law Institute Australia: Balancing freedom of political speech against freedom of religion a delicate legal issue.
• Church of England: Statistics for Mission 2024.
• Femi Owolade, The Conversation: Sharia law isn’t taking over Britain – it’s an inevitable legacy of its colonial legal history.
• Lucy Peacock, Times Higher Education Supplement: Faith, freedom and fairness: a balancing act for universities.
• Russell Sandberg: A Need for Education in the House of Lords about Religious Education: how Baroness Blake, a Government Whip, appeared to have confused “Religious Education”, which is compulsory, with “Religious Studies”, which is a GCSE/A-level subject.
• Anna Sergeant and Julia Hartley, UK Human Rights Blog: The problem of ritual slaughter, which links to a longer version on The Critic. Sikhism is only mentioned peripherally.

And finally…

The Catholic Herald reports that a Vatican tribunal has convicted Nicola Giampaolo, a journalist and historian, of slander under the Vatican’s penal code, which is based largely on Italian law as it stood in 1929. He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.

Which makes strange reading for someone from the UK, where slander is not a criminal offence in any of the three jurisdictions.