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Charities Act 2006

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

Please note:

All reference to 'Parts' and 'sections' are from the Charities Act 2006. For other versions of these Explanatory Notes, see More Resources.

  1. Introduction

  2. Summary

  3. Background

  4. The Act

    1. Commentary on Sections

      1. Sections 1 – 3: Meaning of “charity”; Meaning of “charitable purposes”; The “public benefit” test

      2. Section 4: Guidance as to operation of public benefit requirement

      3. Section 5: Special provisions about recreational charities, sports clubs etc.

      4. Sections 6 and 7 and Schedules 1 and 2: The Charity Commission

      5. Section 8: The Charity Tribunal

      6. Section 9: Registration of Charities

      7. Section 10: Interim changes in threshold for registration of small charities

      8. Section 11: Changes in exempt charities

      9. Section 12: Increased regulation of exempt charities under 1993 Act

      10. Section 13: General duty of principal regulator in relation to exempt charity

      11. Section 14: Commission to consult principal regulator before exercising powers in relation to exempt charity

      12. Section 15: Application cy-près by reference to current circumstances

      13. Section 16: Application cy-près of gifts by donors unknown or disclaiming

      14. Section 17: Application cy-près of gifts made in response to certain solicitations

      15. Section 18: Cy-près schemes

      16. Section 19 – Power to suspend or remove trustees etc. from membership of charity

      17. Section 20 – Power to give specific directions for protection of charity

      18. Section 21 – Power to direct application of charity property

      19. Section 22 - Relaxation of publicity requirements relating to schemes etc.

      20. Section 23 - Participation of Scottish and Northern Irish charities in common investment schemes etc.

      21. Section 24 – Power to give advice and guidance

      22. Section 25 – Power to determine membership of charity

      23. Section 26 – Power to enter premises and seize documents etc.

      24. Section 27: Restrictions on mortgaging

      25. Section 28: Annual audit or examination of accounts of charities which are not companies

      26. Section 29: Duty of auditor etc. of charity which is not a company to report matters to Commission.

      27. Section 30: Group Accounts

      28. Section 31: Relaxation of restriction on altering memorandum etc. of charitable company

      29. Section 32: Annual audit or examination of accounts of charitable companies

      30. Section 33: Duty of auditor etc. of charitable company to report matters to Commission

      31. Section 34 and Schedule 7: Charitable incorporated organisations

      32. Section 35: Waiver of trustee’s disqualification

      33. Section 36: Remuneration of trustees etc. providing services to charity

      34. Section 37: Disqualification of trustees receiving remuneration by virtue of section 36

      35. Section 38: Power of Commission to relieve trustees, auditors etc. from liability for breach of trust or duty

      36. Section 39: Trustees’ indemnity insurance

      37. Sections 40, 41, and 42: Power to transfer all property; Power to replace purposes; and Power to modify powers or procedures

      38. Section 43: Power to spend capital

      39. Section 44: Merger of charities

      40. Section 45: Regulation of public charitable collections

      41. Section 46: Charitable appeals that are not public charitable collections

      42. Section 47: Other definitions for the purposes of this Chapter

      43. Section 48: Restrictions on conducting collections in a public place

      44. Section 49: Restrictions on conducting door to door collections

      45. Section 50: Exemption for local short-term collections

      46. Section 51: Applications for certificates

      47. Section 52: Determination of applications and issue of certificates

      48. Section 53: Grounds for refusing to issue a public collections certificate

      49. Section 54: Power to call for information and documents

      50. Section 55: Transfer of certificates between trustees of unincorporated charity

      51. Section 56: Withdrawal of, or addition or variation of conditions in, certificates

      52. Section 57: Appeals against decisions of the Commission

      53. Section 58: Applications for permits to conduct public charitable collections in a public place

      54. Section 59: Determination of applications and issue of permits

      55. Section 60: Refusal of permits

      56. Section 61: Withdrawal or variation etc. of permits

      57. Section 62: Appeals against decisions of local authority

      58. Section 63: Regulations

      59. Section 64: Offences

      60. Section 65: Offences by bodies corporate

      61. Section 66: Service of documents

      62. Section 67: Statements indicating benefits for charitable institutions and fund-raisers

      63. Section 68: Statements indicating benefits for charitable institutions and collectors

      64. Section 69: Reserve power to control fund-raising by charitable institutions

      65. Section 70: Power of relevant Minister to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions

      66. Section 71: Power of the National Assembly for Wales to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions

      67. Section 72: Disclosure of Information to and by Northern Ireland Regulator

      68. Section 73: Report on the operation of this Act

      69. Section 74: Orders and regulations

      70. Section 75: Amendments, repeals and transitional provisions

      71. Section 76: Pre-consolidation amendments

      72. Section 77: Amendments reflecting changes in company law audit provisions

      73. Section 78: Interpretation

      74. Section 79: Commencement

      75. Section 80: Short title and extent

  5. Territorial Extent

  6. Territorial Application: Wales

  7. Commencement

  8. Hansard References

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

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Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.

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