NI charity legislation moves forward
Howard Lake | 30 July 2012 | News
The long awaited charity legislation for Northern Ireland has taken a step forward with the introduction of the Charities Bill into the local Assembly which will amend the provisions of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.
The introduction of the Bill is the first step in rectifying the legislative issue that has prevented the new Charity Commission putting together a public register of charities, a key part of the new of legislation.
Following the summer recess, the legislative process will continue and the Bill should be passed by the Assembly in the autumn of 2012. Once this happens the Charity Commission must consult on our public benefit ./guidance. This should happen late in 2013.
The Charity Commission plan to commence registration in the autumn of 2013 if the legislative timetable goes to plan. However the registration process will take a considerable time given that there are up to an estimated 12,000 charities in Northern Ireland.
It was originally planned that charity registration would begin at the end of June 2010. Howeve,r as a result of the public consultation and legal advice on the robustness of the definition of a charity, the Charity Commission referred the legislation back to the Department for Social Development in June 2010.
www.charitycommissionni.org.uk
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.