# Charity Commission publishes summaries of Charities Act changes due this autumn

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2022/10/17/charity-commission-publishes-summaries-of-charities-act-changes-due-this-autumn/
- Published: 2022-10-17T09:45:00+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The Charity Commission has published short summaries of the changes to the Charities
Act coming into force this autumn. They include changes to how trustees can be paid
for providing goods to the charity, what charities need to do when appeals raise
too much or too little, and how they can amend Royal Charters.**

The Charities Act 2022 received Royal Assent in February this year.

#### Paying trustees for providing goods to the charity

Charities already have a statutory power that they can use in some circumstances
to pay trustees for providing a service to the charity beyond usual trustee duties,
or goods connected to that service.

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Under the changes to the Charities Act 2022, charities will be able to pay trustees
in certain circumstances for just providing goods to the charity.

This will include:

 * Services only, for example estate agency or computer consultancy
 * Services and associated goods, for example plumbing or painting service and any
   associated materials such as plumbing parts or paint
 * Following implementation of the Act in autumn, goods only, for example supplying
   stationery to the charity

#### Fundraising appeals that do not raise enough or raise too much

Under the changes:

 * The current requirement in some circumstances for charities to wait six months
   for donors to ask for a refund will no longer apply
 * There will be a simpler process for obtaining our authority; this will replace
   the need for the Commission to make a scheme
 * If the donations that can be spent on new purposes (different to the purposes
   you raised them for) are less than £1000, trustees can act without the Commission’s
   involvement if they comply with the new legal requirements

#### Power to amend Royal Charters

Charities with Royal Charters will be able to use a new statutory power to change
sections in it that they cannot currently change – if that change is approved by
the Privy Council.

#### Other changes

The amended Act will also:

 * Confirm that the Commission’s scheme-making powers include making schemes for
   charitable companies
 * Confer trust corporation status automatically to existing and future corporate
   charities in respect of any charitable trust of which the corporation is (or,
   in the future, becomes) a trustee
 * Update provisions relating to giving public notice to written consents and orders
   of the Charity Commission under various sections of the Charities Act 2011
 * Mean that when a charity changes its governing document by parliamentary scheme,
   under section 73 of the Charities Act 2011, the scheme will by default always
   be under a lighter touch parliamentary process (known as the negative parliamentary
   procedure)

#### Delays

One change originally planned for this autumn that is not currently going ahead 
is to the laws allowing charities to return items on moral grounds. Last week in
the House of Lords, Civil Society Minister Lord Kamall said that these laws would
be deferred while the government works to fully understand the implications for 
museums.

#### Further changes

More changes are expected to come into force in spring 2023 and autumn 2023.

These include:

 * Changes to how charities sell, lease or transfer land (due to come into effect
   in spring 2023)
 * Greater flexibility to make use of ‘permanent endowment’ – this is money or property
   originally meant to be held by a charity forever (due to come into effect in 
   spring 2023)
 * Changes to how charities can amend their governing documents (due to come into
   effect in autumn 2023)

The implementation plan is [available here](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charities-act-2022-implementation-plan#provisions-of-the-act-expected-to-come-into-force-autumn-2022).

 * **[Third set of changes to Charities Act 2022 come into force](https://fundraising.co.uk/2024/03/08/third-set-of-changes-to-charities-act-2022-come-into-force/)**(
   8 March 2024)
 * **[Fundraising Regulator reports 97% of increased levy on charities has been paid](https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/02/06/fundraising-regulator-reports-97-of-increased-levy-on-charities-has-been-paid/)**(
   6 February 2025)
 * **[Institute Disappointed By Delay To Fundraising Regulation In The Charities Act](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/12/06/institute-disappointed-delay-fundraising-regulation-charities-act/)**(
   6 December 2006)