The Charity Commission will start accepting applications from new organisations wishing to register as a charitable incorporated organisation from next Monday.
Last night Parliament approved the secondary legislation, which was tabled by Nick Hurd last month. And this morning the Charity Commission announced that online applications for the new legal structure will be accepted for new charities with an income of more than £5,000 from 12 noon on 10 December.
New charities with an income of less than £5,000 will be able to register as a CIO from January 2014.
No CIOs will be able to join the Register of Charities until 3 January 2013, as the relevant regulations will not come into force until then, but the Commission will begin considering applications before then.
Application windows for existing unincorporated charities will be staggered throughout 2013 to enable the Charity Commission to manage demand. The timetable is set out below:
- Late March 2013: income of more than £250,000
- May 2013: income between £100,000 and £250,000
- July 2013: income between £25,000 and £100,000
- October 2013: income between £5,000 and £25,000
- January 2014: income less than £5,000
The CIO structure is intended to be less burdensome for small to medium-sized charities by removing the need to register with Companies House as well as the Charity Commission. The concept has been in development for 15 years and was introduced in the Charities Act 2006. Scotland introduced the structure in 2011 and by December of that year one-fifth of new charities were registered as CIOs.
