The Charity Commission hopes to start registering charitable incorporated organisations from January 2013.
It follows years of delays in the launch of the charitable incorporated organisations (CIO) since it was first mooted in the Charities Act 2006.
Parliament is expected to lay the necessary statutory instruments to bring charitable incorporated organisations into effect next week.
Kenneth Dibble, head of legal services at the Charity Commission, told delegates at yesterday’s Charity Law Association conference that if this happened, business could commence for the registration of CIOs.
Dibble said it will adopt a staggered approach to registration to prevent the Commission from being swamped with applications.
The Charity Commission has already developed a timetable which it expects to follow for the registration of CIOs.
Dibble said the Charity Commission would start registering new CIOs with an income of more than £5,000 from January 2013. Then it would start registering existing unincorporated charities which wanted to transfer to CIO status from March 2013.
Dibble said there was no timeline yet for existing companies limited by guarantee to convert but suggested it could be in 18 months.
The expected timeline for the registration of CIOs is -
- From January 2013 new charities with annual income more than £5,000
- From March 2013 existing unincorporated charities with annual income more than £250,000
- From May 2013 existing unincorporated charities with annual income between £100,000- £250,000
- From July 2013 existing unincorporated charities with annual income between £25,000 -£100,000
- From October 2013 existing unincorporated charities with annual income between £5,000-£25,000
- From January 2014 all unincorporated charities.
- No timescale yet for existing companies limited by guarantee to convert.
