policy & news > charity act 2011

On 14 December 2011, the 2011 Charities Act received royal assent and came into effect in March 2012. This Act repeals and replaces the four pre-existing Acts below:

• Recreational Charities Act 1958

• Charities Act 1992

• Charities Act 1993

• Charities Act 2006

The 2011 Charities Act sets out how all charities in England and Wales are to be registered and regulated. It restructures and modernizes existing legislation by bringing most of it into one place to make charity law easier to understand. It does not however replace the sections in the 2006 charities about fundraising which haven’t taken place yet, or change charity law. This is only to be done by the review of the 2006 Charities Act to be led by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbots in summer 2012.

Your charity will most likely not feel a huge impact although you will need to refer to the 2011 Charities act in documents, reports, statements or accounts produced on or after 14 March 2011, even if the documents refer to an earlier financial period. Consequently you do not have to go back and change and documents that were finished or finalised before 14 March. For a more detailed explanation read this ICAEW guidance.

Your documents will still be valid even if you accidentally refer to the 2006 Charities act.

Click on the links below to read more:

Charities Act 2011

Charities Act 2011 in relation to previous Acts