The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
To be a charity an organisation must have purposes all of which are exclusively charitable; a charity cannot have some purposes which are charitable and others which are not. A ‘purpose’ is the overall goal of a charity. It is what a charity aims to achieve from the work that it does. A charity’s purposes are usually set out in its governing document as the ‘objects clause’.
On our website, you can find guidance on the range of purposes that are charitable in our Commentary on the Descriptions of Charitable Purposes in the Charities Bill. You will also find Example Objects which are suitable for inclusion in a charity’s governing document. Please note, we do not provide a definitive list of charitable objects.
A charity must also be set up for the ‘public benefit’.
'Public benefit' is the legal requirement that every organisation set up for one or more charitable aims must be able to demonstrate that its aims are for the public benefit if it is to be recognised, and registered, as a charity in England and Wales.
This is known as 'the public benefit requirement'.
Our publication Charities and Public Benefit is our statutory guidance on public benefit. All charity trustees must:
See the Public Benefit section on our website for more information.
There are a lot of very good reasons why people decide to set up a new charity. However, setting up a charity is not always the best way to proceed and, in some cases, it may not be legally possible.
Depending upon your reason for wanting to set up a new charity and what you want to achieve, there may be other, and better, ways of achieving your aims that we would like you to think about.
We therefore suggest that before setting up a new charity you read Things to think about before setting up a new charity.
Our publication CC21: Registering as a Charity gives general advice and guidance about setting up a charity.
All charities need to have a governing document. A ‘governing document’ is the formal document which sets up a charity. Our publication CC22: Choosing and Preparing a Governing Document gives guidance on this.
If you're setting up a charity, you can use one of our Model Governing Documents.
Some large charities also provide Approved Governing Documents which can be used by organisations associated with those charities.
The Commission's Register of Charities is a computerised database containing key information on all 190,000+ registered charities. Details include the charity's name, its purposes, its annual income, what type of governing document it has, and the name and address of a contact within the charity.
The Register helps the public to find information about charities, for example to check if an organisation which is raising funds is registered, or to see from a charity's accounts how it is spending its money.
An organisation which is entered on the Register of Charities is accepted as a charity. The process of registration does not confer charitable status; it acknowledges it.
The Register database can be viewed on the Commission's website under Register of Charities.
For a small charge you can have paper copies of any public papers we have for a charity. These include its governing document, accounts, or annual reports. We also sell information from the register in bulk. You can find details of Central Register services on our website, or by telephoning Charity Commission Direct on 0845 300 0218. The number for hearing and speech impaired callers using a minicom is: 0845 300 0219.
An organisation has a duty to apply for registration if it is not excepted or exempt charity: AND
We do not usually accept applications for registration from proposed organisations. For further details see our publication about Registering a Charity.
Registration is not an automatic process. There is a legal definition of “charity” in England and Wales. This is backed up by decisions made by the courts and the Charity Commission.
A small charitable organisation with an income that does not exceed £5000 can enjoy the benefits of charitable status without having to meet the regulatory requirements of registered charities.
Such organisations should apply directly to the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for tax relief. An HMRC charity number should be accepted by other organisations such as banks and grant funders as evidence of charitable status.
The essential information that you need will be found in our three publications:
You may be able to obtain and use a suitable Approved Governing Document from an umbrella body. If not you will have to prepare a suitable governing document with charitable objects (see Example Objects for further guidance about this very important topic).
The Charity Commission is only responsible for registering charities in England in Wales. In Scotland, recognition of charitable status is a function of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR):
OSCR
1st Floor
Argyll House
Marketgait
Dundee
DD1 1QP
Telephone 01382 220446
Website www.oscr.org.uk
If your organisation is based in Northern Ireland, you should contact the Department for Social Development, at
Charities Branch
Voluntary and Community Unit
3rd Floor
Lighthouse Building
1 Cromac Place
Gasworks Business Park
Ormeau Road
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 90829 414
Once you have an appropriate governing document you will need to download the Registration application form, Trustee declaration form and the associated Guidance notes.
You must complete the forms in accordance with the Guidance Notes. You will then need to send us the following documents
If you have any further questions or are unable to download the forms please telephone Charity Commission Direct: 0845 300 0218. The number for hearing and speech impaired callers using a minicom is: 0845 300 0219
Charity Commission Direct will either acknowledge that they have received the complete application or let you know what is missing.
When all the documents have been received they will send the application to the Registration Unit for assessment. The Registration Unit aim to provide an initial response to the application within 15 working days.
If you have used an Approved governing document without changing it, and there is no significant private benefit to any trustee or related party, we will normally be able to approve your application and give you the registration number within this time frame.
However, quite often we will need to ask further questions, before we can tell whether the organisation is charitable in law. If this happens we will give you the name and contact number for the person dealing with your application. You will also be provided with a reference number to quote in future correspondence.
If we need to contact you for further information or clarification, we will try to be clear about whether our questions directly relate to charitable status or to issues of governance and good practice. Sometimes as we are building up a picture of an organisation it may not be possible for us to differentiate clearly between the two until we have the necessary information.
If your governing document meets the requirements and we agree your organisation is charitable in law we will enter the details into the register of charities and give you the registered charity number.
We aim to decide an application for registration in an average of 40 days.
However, we are normally able to reach a decision much more quickly if you have used an Approved governing document and have completed the application form and trustee declaration accurately and completely.
Occasionally we receive an application from an organisation with novel purposes and/or where there is significant private benefit. In such cases it may take us longer to consider all the legal issues and reach a conclusion as to whether the organisation is charitable or not.
If we consider the name of your organisation to be misleading or too like that of an existing charity, we may ask you to change the name before we allocate a registered number.
Sometimes, although the organisation seems charitable, what it has been set up to do, or what it will do, may not be quite right. If so we will contact you to ask you to change whatever is wrong. When we receive confirmation or evidence that these changes have been made, your organisation’s details will be added to the Central Register of Charities .We will send you a letter confirming registration and registered number.
Example Objects
It can be difficult to word the objects clause correctly. We have set out some examples to help you get it right. An incorrectly worded objects clause is by far the most significant cause of delay to, or rejection of, an application.
Even if we think what you are doing may be capable of being charitable, if the objects clause is not worded in the right way you will have to amend the governing document before we can consider registering the organisation. This may mean calling a meeting of the trustees and/or the members to agree the change. It is far better for all concerned if you get this right first time round.
Before trying to register as a charitable company you must first contact Companies House who will register your organisation as a company limited by guarantee. When you receive your certificate of incorporation from Companies House, you can then complete the Registration Application Form and Trustee Declaration. We will consider your application when we receive from you all the documents we need.
Companies House website address is: www.companies-house.gov.uk
Companies House will not incorporate any organisation that wishes to use the sensitive words "charity" or "charitable" in its title (e.g. Charityhelp as well as Charity Help) until its organisers confirm they have received written approval for such use from the Charity Commission.
A proposed charitable company wishing to use either word in its title should therefore formally apply to us for registration (enclosing an executed Memorandum and Articles of Association) before approaching Companies House. Our Head of Registration will decide whether we have any objection to the name, and will consider the registration application at the same time. Although we can determine the charitable status of a company without a certificate of incorporation, we can only place a charitable company on our Register of Charities when we have received a copy of the certificate.
For further guidance on the naming of charities, please see Operational Guidance, Names of Charities.
Once your charity is registered it will have continuing involvement with us. Our publication InfB: What Happens after Registration explains this continuing relationship in detail.
If you are planning to set up a charitable company to “take over” your charity’s current and future operations then the new company will be a separate entity. You will have to apply to register it if it has an income over £5000.
There are some circumstances in which it may not be possible to transfer the assets of an unincorporated charity to a company. The two most common problems are:
If either of the above apply please make sure you have taken appropriate professional advice or discussed the matter with the Charity Commission before you set up the company.
You should also consider whether any covenants or future bequests to the existing charity can pass to the new company.
No, organisations do not have to be registered charities to be accepted for a lottery grant. There are many different lottery grants distributors and each have their own grant eligibility requirements. For more information visit www.community-fund.org.uk for lottery grants specifically for charities, voluntary and community groups - or try www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk for information on all lottery distributors, or phone: 0845 2750000.
See Registering a charity: evidence of CRB disclosures.
Trustees cannot benefit from their position as trustees and one of the key principles of trusteeship is that it is voluntary. You cannot be paid unless this power is stated in the charity’s governing document or unless we give you permission.
A charity trustee should not be in a position where any personal interest may conflict with their role as a trustee.
It is important that all trustees know that they should not benefit directly or indirectly from their position whether through payment in money or benefits in kind.
Our publication CC11: Payment of Charity Trustees describes the restrictions on trustee remuneration and the circumstances where trustees might receive payment.
You will need to send us -
(a) evidence that the procedures for dissolving the charity have been properly completed. There may be a dissolution clause in your governing document that sets out the procedures to be followed. If your organisation’s governing document does not have such a clause you may wish to contact Charity Commission Direct on 0845 300 0218 for further information. For details on how to dissolve a Charitable Company, look in the charity’s Governing Document (usually called the Memorandum & Articles of Association); and
(b) a copy of the charity’s final accounts and of the minutes of the meeting where the resolution to terminate the charity is passed.
We are an excepted church charity but we want to be a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Does this make any difference to the registration requirement?
The Charity Commission is planning to launch a public consultation about CIO’s during September 2008. We will be seeking and considering responses to this before the new CIO is available and before the model governing documents for CIO’s are finalised. We currently hope that CIO’s will become an option during the spring/summer of 2009.
Where a previously excepted church charity has a duty to apply for registration AND it is not currently governed by an Act of Parliament or Church Measure, we will permit it to delay making the application until towards the end of the allotted time-frame. However, we need to complete the programme of church registration requirements by 1 October 2009. Therefore if there is any delay in the launch of the CIO we may have to revise our position.
Charities choosing to become CIO’s will be required to register and submit annual information to us whatever their income. Neither the £100,000 nor the £5000 income threshold will apply to any church charity that chooses to become a CIO.
Unless a church charity will be entering into substantial contracts, eg because it is engaged in a major building programme, we think there will be little advantage in being a CIO.
When the CIO becomes available there will be a mechanism to enable charities to change their legal form.
We do not want to use the approved governing document for our denomination/umbrella body can we apply to the Charity Commission independently and/or use a different governing document?
This depends on your church affiliation. For some churches eg the Church of England, the Methodists, the URC and the Church in Wales the governing document is defined by statute law. So you cannot have a different one.
In other cases the Charity Commission has devoted a great deal of time to working with the umbrella body or denomination to agree an approved governing document that both:
Those who use the approved governing document, and our on-line method of applying for registration, should find that we handle their application swiftly. We will rarely need to engage in rounds of correspondence because:
If you think the approved governing document does not meet your requirements then, in the first instance, you should discuss this with the national body. They are best placed to advise you whether you can make changes or use a different document.
Our church is an excepted charity and its income is less than £100,000. However, we are frequently asked for our registered charity number and cannot give one. How should we explain why we do not have one, and yet still ensure we can benefit from tax relief?
If your church is affiliated to, or part of a group of churches, that have been excepted from the requirement to register, excepted status will continue until 2012. This is because Statutory Instrument No 2655 of 1 October 2007 extended the exception until 1 October 2012. It is possible that the income threshold of £100,000 may be lowered. This would be as a consequence of the review of the Charities Act 2006 due to take place in 2011.
The effect of this legislation is that your church is not entitled to have a registered charity number. You probably have a number provided to you by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in connection with Gift Aid recoveries. This number is equivalent to a registered charity number in terms of evidence of charitable status.
Our church is currently excepted from the requirement to register. Normally our income is nowhere near £100,000 a year but exceptionally we have recently received a legacy that brings our income over the threshold. Do we have to register and then possibly come off the register?
In special circumstances like this, and provided the gift states that the legacy is to be used for capital purposes, ie not simply as general income, the church can apply to the Commission for a written determination that a different year is used as the baseline for assessing whether registration is required. The Charity Commission will not normally give this dispensation when the general income level is steadily increasing and is approaching the £100,000 threshold.
For further advice on registering a charity call Charity Commission Direct on 0845 300 0218. The number for hearing and speech impaired callers using a minicom is 0845 300 0219.
Our guidance on the legal requirements and recommended good practice for charities whose work is either wholly or partly international or overseas based.
Our guidance for charities working with children.
Our guidance for Charitable Registered Social Landlords (including the acquisition of Tenanted Housing and Tenants as members of Governing Bodies).
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