Consultation on changes to Charity Law

06/09/2016

Last year the Charity Commission performed a consultation on Technical Issues in Charity Law.  From analysis of the responses to the consultation, two additional areas of charity law are now being considered under a supplementary consultation:

• Changing a charity’s purpose
  The Commission is asking whether the powers of amendment of the governing documents should be aligned for corporate and unincorporated charities, thereby simplifying the procedure for unincorporated charities;
• Trust corporation status
  The 2015 consultation proposed removing certain legal barriers to charities wishing to incorporate.  The responses showed the particular difficulties for charities that need to have the legal status of a ‘trust corporation’ following incorporation which is complicated, lengthy and costly to obtain.  Corporate charities that hold land on charitable trust must be made trust corporations if they are to be able to sell the land.  The supplementary consultation proposes that trust corporation status should be more widely available to corporate charities.

The consultation period ends on 31 October 2016. Responses can be sent to propertyandtrust@lawcommission.gsi.gov.uk.

For more information on the consultation please contact Elizabeth Irvine.