The Charities Bill proposes an amendment to the Charities Act (NI) 2008 with retrospective effect to make lawful many previous decisions made by Commission staff.
This new Bill also includes fresh appeal rights for those orders made lawful and will also ‘carve out’ other decisions to remain unlawful to allow them to proceed to their natural conclusion. It also provides clarity on the future delegation of decision-making powers to Commission staff.
The Bill also provides the groundwork for the introduction of a charity registration threshold which could be brought in via subordinate legislation in the future. This would be subject to further investigation, consultation and regulation but could mean that charities falling below a certain threshold would be exempt from registering with the Charity Commission and being subject to the reporting requirements for registered charities.
Speaking at the launch of the call to evidence, Committee Chairperson, Paula Bradley MLA has said:
"It is important to stress that the Charities Bill and the Committee scrutiny of the Bill is being taken forward in parallel with the Independent Review of Charity Regulation in Northern Ireland’. This means that many of the wider issues around charity regulation are being considered by the Independent Review and do not form part of this particular Bill."
Have your say
The Assembly’s Committee for Communities wants to hear your views on the Charities Bill by completing its online questionnaire by Friday 3 September 2021. Please click on the following link to access the questionnaire which also gives explanatory information to the purpose of the Bill.
Call for evidence and views on the Charities Bill
NICVA’s response is available at the following link NICVA (draft) response to the Charities Bill | NICVA
