The rules about when charities must register with the Commission have changed. From 23 April 2007, charities with an annual income of £5,000 or less no longer have to register with us.
Other registration changes came into force at the same time. Previously, any charity which had permanent endowment or occupied land was required to register whatever the level of their annual income. This no longer applies.
All charities currently on the register will remain registered, regardless of whether their annual income exceeds £5,000 or not, unless they ask us to remove them from the register.
We do not usually register any charity which is below the threshold for compulsory registration. Eventually, under changes in the Charities Act 2006,
these small charities will have a right to register voluntarily but this right has not yet come into force. However, we recognise that some charities have a particular need to be registered and in the interim we will consider requests from these charities on a case by case basis.
The right to voluntary registration is delayed so that other work which has resulted from the Act can be dealt with. It is not expected to come into force until changes to registration affecting excepted and exempt charities have been dealt with and is unlikely to happen before 2009.
More details can be found on our website under ‘Registering a charity’:
www.charitycommission.gov.uk
