This section contains information and reports on the Commission's previous public consultations, which have now closed.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland public consultation on a new three-year strategic plan is now closed.
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute to our consultation and share their views on the proposals. Work has now begun to collate and analyse the feedback received. A consultation report, including an analysis of the responses and an outline of our next steps, will be available soon.
The Commission's joint public consultation on a new strategic plan 2023-26 and a new engagement strategy, both of which are being undertaken following the Independent Review of Charity Regulation commissioned by the Minister for Communities in January 2021, is now closed.
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute to our consultation and share their views on these proposed changes. We have listened to your views, which are reflected in the feedback report, which also explains what the Commission will do in response to this feedback.
The Commission's public consultation on new and amended questions to be included in the Annual Return Regulations 2019 and the charity registration application form is now closed.
This eight week consultation opened on Tuesday 27 August 2019 and closed at 5pm on Tuesday 22 October 2019. We would like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute to our consultation and share their views on these proposed changes.
The responses received were analysed and collated and a consultation report, providing an overview of the public consultation process and outlining how we considered the responses received, is available here: Consultation report.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland sought the views of stakeholders on its draft Strategic Plan 2019-2022.
This eight-week consultation opened on Wednesday 19 September 2018 and closed at 5pm on Monday 12 November 2018. Your views are important to the Commission and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to share their views on the proposals in the draft plan.
All responses received during the consultation have now been analysed and collated. Our feedback report, including an analysis of the responses received and an outline our next steps, is available here: Feedback report.
The UK-wide consultation on new matters of material significance, to be reported to the charity regulators by auditors and independent examiners, has now closed.
Under the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, auditors and examiners who become aware of a matter which they believe would be of material significance are under a duty to make a written report on the matter to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (“the Commission”). What constitutes matters of material significance are not set out in the legislation and it is instead for the Commission to advise what we expect to be reported to us.
The Charity Commission for England and Wales (CCEW) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) previously published a single list of matters which applied to England, Wales and Scotland. With the introduction of full annual reporting for registered charities in Northern Ireland, CCEW and OSCR are keen to work with the Commission to develop a revised policy which would apply throughout the UK.
This approach would help ease regulatory burdens on cross-border charities and ensure auditors’ and examiners’ guidance on these matters is common across charity law jurisdictions in the UK.
A public consultation on the revised UK-wide matters of material significance policy opened on Thursday 19 May 2016. This consultation ran for 16 weeks, closing on Sunday 11 September 2016.
The proposed policy drops one of the existing eight reportable matters and adds three new matters. The new matters are areas where charity regulators have an interest and where it has been found that reports are not always made. It is hoped that, by including these extra matters, auditors and independent examiners will be clearer in the areas they should be reporting.
The resulting 10 matters of material significance would be common to all the UK charity regulators.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland's public consultation on its draft accounting and reporting guidance for registered charities is now closed. The consultation opened on Friday 18 December 2015 and closed on Friday 11 March 2016.
All feedback received by the Commission is valued and we thank everyone who took the time to contribute to the consultation and share their views on the draft guidance.
All responses received during the consultation have now been analysed and collated. Our consultation report, including information about the consultation, is available here: Consultation report.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland ran a 12-week public consultation on its draft Equality guidance for charities in Northern Ireland from Tuesday 3 February 2015 to Tuesday 28 April 2015.
All responses received during the consultation have now been analysed and collated. Our consultation report, including information about the consultation, and the draft guidance, is available here: Consultation report.
The following consultation reports have been archived. If you need a copy, please email admin@charitycommissionni.org.uk to request it.