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United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

The Charities Act 2006 is a piece of UK legislation intended to alter the regulatory framework in which charities operate, partly by amending the Charities Act 1993.

Contents 1 Provisions 2 Charitable status 3 Charity Tribunal 4 Registration 5 External links

The Act contains three main provisions: definition of the requirements to qualify as a charity, the establishment of a Charity Tribunal to hear appeals from decisions of the Charity Commission, and alterations to the requirements for registering charities.

The Act imposes a dual condition on bodies wishing to attain charitable status. For the purpose of the law, a charitable organisation is:

• for the public benefit, and

can be describe its purpose as promoting at least one of the following:

• the advancement of education;
• the advancement of religion;
• the advancement of health or the saving of lives;
• the advancement of citizenship or community development;
• the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science;
• the advancement of amateur sport;
• the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity;
• the advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
• the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage;
• the advancement of animal welfare;
• the promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown, or of the efficiency of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services;

The Act establishes a "Charity Tribunal" to hear appeals from decisions of the Charity commission, which previously lay only to the High Court (although appeal from the decisions of the tribunal lies there). The Lord Chancellor is granted the power to make rules by statutory instrument governing the procedures and rules of evidence of the tribunal.

The Act raises the threshold above which registration is required with the Charity Commission from £1,000 to £5,000. This is intended to reduce administration costs for small charities. In addition, charities which fall under certain exempted categories under the 1993 Act (such as certain Christian denominations) are now only exempted if their gross annual income is less than £100,000.

• Full text of the Act
• Charity commission briefing on the Act