Recent changes to the online application for charity registration

Blog by Conor Creaney, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland Casework Manager

As some of you may already be aware, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland recently made some changes to the online application for charity registration.

Registration is an assessment of whether an organisation is a charity in accordance with the law, namely that the organisation meets the legal definition of charity as stated within section 1 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.

As such, the application asks for information which enables a robust assessment to be undertaken, with the Commission providing a range of online support tools to guide applicants in areas such as drafting their public benefit statement. This is to assist applicants in having a strong understanding of what is required and what information they should have to hand before they begin.

However, it is also worth highlighting that registration is only one part of the overall regulatory picture. The Commission also provides a wider oversight function involving enquiries and annual reporting, which together has an overall aim of building public trust and confidence in charities. And that is where the changes which have been made to the online registration application have a role to play.

Since the introduction of charity registration in December 2013, some risks have become more prominent, including safeguarding, cybercrime and fraud. Research has highlighted the potential for these issues to have a negative impact on the public’s trust and confidence in the charity sector.

In response to these issues, and in consideration of our role as regulator, the Commission has introduced additional questions in both the online application for registration and the Annual Return Regulations 2019.  The changes include:

• new questions on safeguarding, related parties and classifications
• mandatory questions on charity trustees’ details
• new questions on protection of personal data, fundraising and governance
• new questions on the use of charitable purposes.

The answers you provide for your charity, at the registration point and when reporting annually, will support the Commission in gathering vital information which will, in turn, increase transparency around these areas of risk, contributing to public confidence in the charity sector.

For example, the information we gather is designed to help us, as the regulator, get a better picture of risk across the charity sector, enabling us to focus our resources where there are risks and problems, leaving the majority of charities to get on with their work without hearing from us.

The form has also been redesigned to make it much easier and more intuitive to use for the person filling it in. It will only show you some of the questions if you have answered yes to other questions, the questions which are not relevant to your charity won’t appear.

The Commission has published revised Registering as a charity in Northern Ireland guidance to assist applicants with the new questions, including screenshots of the updated online application. The guidance, alongside additional support for applicants, is available here. 

ENDS