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Commencement Orders 

Fifth Commencement Order

The fifth order commencing provisions of the Charities Act 2006 has been made, bringing several provisions into force on 31 January 2009. The provisions commenced by this order are:

• The requirement for charities which are currently excepted from the requirement to register with the Charity Commission to be registered if their gross income exceeds £100,000.
• Removal of exempt charity status from formerly specified educational institutions (i.e. foundation and voluntary aided schools) but preserving the benefits of exempt status until 1 October 2009.
• The requirement for an evaluation and report on operation of the Charities Act 2006 to begin before 5 April 2011.

A fuller explanation of the provisions brought into force by this commencement order is available here.

• The Charities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 5, Transitional and Transitory Provisions and Savings) Order 2008 [external website]
• The Charities Act 1993 (Exception from Registration) Regulations 2008 [external website]
• Explanatory Memorandum to the Charities Act 1993 (Exception from Registration) Regulations [external website]

Fourth Commencement Order

The fourth order commencing provisions of the Charities Act 2006 has been made, bringing several provisions into force on 1 April 2008.  The provisions commenced by this order are:

• The statutory definition of charity, including the list of headings of charitable purposes and the public benefit requirement;
• The removal of the presumption of public benefit for charities established for the advancement of education, the relief of poverty or the advancement of religion;
• The requirement for charity trustees to have regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, when exercising powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant;
• Provisions of the Charities Act 2006 that relate to the preparation and scrutiny of charity group accounts, and provisions clarifying the whistle-blowing duties of auditors or independent examiners.
• Provisions relating to Miners’ Welfare Trusts and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (section 5(3) to (5) of the Act) will not come into force until 1 April 2009.

Charities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 4, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2008 [external website]

Third Commencement Order

The third order commencing provisions of the Charities Act 2006 was made in March 2008, bringing a number of provisions into force on 18 March 2008. The provisions commenced by this order are:

• The Charity Tribunal
• A new power enabling the remuneration of trustees for providing (non-trustee) services to their charity
• Several updated powers for charities
• Three new powers for the Charity Commission
• Changes to the law of cy pres

A fuller explanation of the provisions brought into force by this commencement order is available here.

• Third Commenecement Order – Explanation of Provisions [PDF, 31KB, 5 pages]
• The Charities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2008  [external website]

Second Commencement Order

The second order commencing provisions of the Charities Act 2006 was made in November 2007. The main provisions commenced by this order are:

• Provisions to facilitate charity mergers (section 44 of the 2006 Act). These provisions come into force on 28 November 2007.
• Changes to the requirements in the Charities Act 1992 relating to solicitation statements of professional fundraisers and commercial participators, and a new requirement for those involved in running a charity – its trustees and employees, to make a simple statement when being paid to collect in public (sections 67 and 68 of the 2006 Act). These provisions will come into force on 1 April 2008.

The decision to put implementation of the provisions relating to solicitation statements back to April 2008 was made following representations from the sector that more time was needed to properly prepare for the changes. Guidance on the changes to the requirements relating to solicitation statements has been published and is available here.

• The Charities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2007  [external website]
  

First Commencement Order

The first order commencing provisions of the Charities Act was made in February 2007. The main provisions that were commenced are:

• changes to the governance arrangements of the Charity Commission
• increases to the financial thresholds above which charities are required to have a professional audit
• measures to address concerns about trustee personal liability, giving the Charity Commission a power to relieve trustees of liability where they have acted honestly and reasonably, and enabling trustees to purchase indemnity insurance with the charity's money

These provisions came into force on 27 February 2007. A number of other provisions were brought into force at the same time, most of which will also took effect from 27 February. We have prepared a note explaining in more detail the provisions that will be commenced by this Order.

• First commencement order: explanation of provisions  [PDF 28KB, 5 pages]
• The Charities Act 2006 (Commencement No 1, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2007 [external website]

General Registration Threshold

An Order has been made under section 10 of the Charities Act 2006 to raise the general registration threshold for charities from £1,000 to £5,000, and to remove the current requirement for charities to register regardless of income if they hold permanent endowment or occupy land. These changes to the general registration threshold took effect from 23 April 2007.

For further details please see:

• The Charities Act 2006 (Interim changes in the threshold for registration of small charities) Order 2007 [external website]
• Explanatory note to the Order [external website, PDF]