Charity Law: Technical Issues in Charity Law

This project originated from our Eleventh Programme of Law Reform. Part of the project is a review of the procedures by which charities governed by Royal Charter and by Act of Parliament amend their governing documents. The remainder of the project comprises certain issues arising out of the review of the Charities Act 2006 conducted by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts regarding:

• the procedures by which charities change their purposes and the administrative provisions of their governing documents;

• the application of property cy-près, including the application cy-près of the proceeds of fundraising appeals;

• the regulation of the acquisition, disposal and mortgage of land by charities;

• the remuneration of a trustee of a charity for the supply of goods to the charity;

• the power to award an equitable allowance to a trustee who has obtained an unauthorised profit;

• the power for trustees to make ex gratia payments out of the funds of the charity;

• the transfer of assets and liabilities on incorporation and merger, and gifts made by will to charities that have merged;

• the availability of property held on charitable trust in the insolvency of a trustee;

• the power of the Charity Commission to require a charity to change its name, and to refuse to register a charity unless it changes its name;

• the power for the Charity Commission to determine the identity of the trustees of a charity; and

• certain powers of the Charity Tribunal.

We are mindful of the need for a proportionate system of legal regulation for charities – a system that provides trustees with flexibility and freedom when carrying out the purposes of the charity without exposing the charity’s assets, its beneficiaries and its trustees to undue levels of risk.

Following our consultation on Technical Issues in Charity Law we published a short supplementary consultation paper. The supplementary consultation examines two issues that arose from our previous consultation. The first relates to changing a charity’s purposes, the second to trust corporation status. The supplementary consultation paper, a summary, and an optional response form can be downloaded below. The consultation period ends on 31 October 2016.

The Consultations and related documents can be found here.

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