NI Charity Commission still waiting on regulatory powers
Howard Lake | 25 November 2011 | Uncategorised
In its latest annual report the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland states that it has spent £755,922 in the last financial year, but has still not indicated when it will have the proper legal authority to regulate charities.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland was set up in March 2009 as the new independent regulator of charities in Northern Ireland but due to a problem with the enabling legislation it does not yet have the authority to require charities to register.
“Unfortunately, we have been unable to begin registration as planned this year, ” Tom McGrath, chairman of the Commission says in the annual report for 2010/11.
Advertisement
“Having identified a problem with the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, the Commission referred the legislation back to the Department for Social Development. We are still awaiting the end of a process of legislative amendment going through the NI Executive and Assembly,” he said.
In the interim, the Commission deems charities to be organisations which have registered with HM Revenue and Customs for charitable tax purposes. This list of 6,675 is on the Commission’s website.
Meanwhile, the Commission has now moved from Belfast to Lurgan. The new address is:
Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
257 Lough Road
Lurgan
Craigavon
BT66 6NQ
The new contact telephone numbers for the Commission are also:
Tel: 028 3832 0220Fax: 028 3834 5943Text Phone: 028 3834 7639
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.