A bill designed to simplify and consolidate charity legislation will not be passed before the election, but the Charity Law Association will lobby for its reintroduction under the next government.

And when it is reintroduced, the CLA will argue that the omission of 1992 laws on charity fundraising from the bill fails the “common sense test”.

The Draft Charities Consolidation Bill was designed to bring together legislation related to charities from different Acts into one piece of law, but has now been shelved due to a lack of time in the lead-up to the election.

Chris Priestley, chairman of the Charity Law Association and partner at law firm Withers LLP, told Civil Society that the association will be lobbying to have the draft bill pushed through under the next government.

However, he said that the omission of the fundraising legislation from the Charities Act 1992 “is really unhelpful” and defeats the purpose of integrating the Acts.

The Charity Law Association has submitted a response to the draft bill highlighting the “glaring omission” of fundraising.

Priestley predicted that there will be a strong likelihood that the bill, being so uncontentious, will be revived in the next parliament.