Charity Commission of Northern Ireland delays registration process
The registration of charities under the new Charities Act (NI) have been delayed according to an announcement on 23 June 2010 from The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI).
The CCNI, established last year, is currently engaged in recruiting a staff complement and putting in place appropriate organisational structures. A key initial priority was the establishment of a new register of charities in Northern Ireland.
CCNI was obligated to publish Guidance on the Public Benefit Test which the legislation required charities to satisfy. The Guidance will explain the requirements to be fulfilled in order to be registered as a charity in Northern Ireland. It will affect both organisations already registered with HMRC and those wishing to apply for charitable status for the first time.
Considerable preparatory work has been achieved on processes and procedures to begin registrationi, and preliminary briefings have been given to the sector. The draft Public Benefit Guidance was issued for public consultation late last year and, after responses had been considered, it was referred to legal counsel for closer scrutiny earlier this year to ensure its robustness.
As a result of legal advice received, CCNI has now asked the Department for Social Development to examine a technical aspect of the legislation governing the public benefit test. Until this examination is concluded there remains no requirement, or indeed provision, for an institution to register as a charity in Northern Ireland.
In addition, until the public benefit issue is clarified, any institution seeking to register for charitable purposes will have to continue to apply to HMRC for charitable status which, if granted, will entitle the institution to certain tax benefits.
In the meantime CCNI will continue to prepare for the new regulatory regime by putting appropriate staffing resources and organisational structures in place. CCNI has confirmed that it recently received the names and details of over 7,000 organisations that have previously been granted charitable status for tax purposes. These organisations are in the process of being entered into a new and temporary list held by the CCNI under the heading of "Organisations that have previously been known as charities".
