Blog: Ensure your charity is ready for the new Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022
By Martin Ireland
Head of Charities Team, DfC Engaged Communities Voluntary & Community Division
Currently awaiting Royal Assent, the new Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 will bring with it a number of important developments for charity regulation, developments which the trustees of all charities in Northern Ireland, regardless of their size, work or location, should be aware of.
That’s why the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland have recently emailed charities to encourage them to ensure their trustees’ contact details, which are held securely and confidentially on the Commission’s Online services portal, are accurate and up to date.
Using these details, the Commission will be issuing letters to trustees in the coming weeks to provide updates on the Act, such as information on the changes to annual reporting and refreshed appeal rights which will come into play with the new law. These updates will be particularly important for charities registered prior to the end of May 2019, which must begin reporting annually to the Commission once again, beginning with their first full financial year on or after 1 April 2022.
The new Act is a vital step forward for the Commission, as well as for all charities in Northern Ireland.
It will underpin the Commission in its development as a robust, supportive and enabling regulator, working to meet the needs of a modern and diverse charity sector. In addition, charities will benefit from the certainties the new law will bring, confirming registrations made prior to May 2019, reinstating annual reporting for all registered charities and making lawful thousands of decisions made prior to May 2019, such as consents for changes to governing documents.
I look forward to seeing the new law receive Royal Assent soon, and I again urge all charities to take this opportunity to ensure contact details for their charity and its trustees are up to date. The Commission will be working hard to ensure that updates are issued by post and email, as required, to all charities, as well as posting advice and information on their website and social media accounts. It takes only a few minutes to check, and it could be the difference between your charity seeing, or missing, an important update on its legal duties.
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For information on the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, including what it means for charities, refreshed appeal rights for certain decisions and the changes for annual reporting please click here.
To check and, if required, update your charity trustee contact details, please log onto the Commission’s Online services for charities portal here. You can log in using your charity’s Northern Ireland Charity (NIC) number (numbers only) as the user name along with the secure password. You will have received this password upon registration as a charity to the email address supplied for Commission use.
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