Advice Note 3 - Legal structures for voluntary and community groups

When people get together to carry out a particular activity, they do not immediately think about the legal nature of the group they are forming. They act together to carry out a task without realising that they may have obligations and responsibilities in law to each other.

The legal nature of a group becomes an issue when it decides to write down some form of rules for the group (usually in response to a request from a grant-making body) or in the course of seeking charitable status.