Charity Commission launches Register of Mergers

Howard Lake | 28 November 2007 | News

The Charity Commission has begun a Register of Mergers to list and record charities which have merged with each other, one of the requirements of the Charities Act 2006.

One of the advantages of the new Register is a simpler process for receiving legacies made out to a charity that has merged with another. Previously merged charities often had to maintain a ‘shell’ charity to carry on receiving legacies and gifts given in its old name, or come to the Commission to make a legal scheme to enable gifts to pass to the successor charity.

Now such gifts wiill transfer automatically to the successor charity created by the merger, provided the merger has been registered with the Commission.

The online Register will show:

* The names and registered numbers of the transferor and transferee charities;

* the date the merger was registered with the Commission;

* the date or dates when the transfer or transfers of property involved took place;

* the details of any vesting declaration that was made in connection with the merger.

The Commission’s Chief Executive, Andrew Hind, said: “The Register of Mergers will free charities from the cost and effort of maintaining shell charities and, with time, provide an accessible and valuable record of mergers in the sector.”

The Register and the forms through which merging charities apply for registration are available from the Charity Commission’s website.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.