The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Since the 2000s, governance of charities in the United Kingdom has been devolved; operating in other parts of the country are the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (since 2003) and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (since 2008).
The Charities Act 2006 requires the Commission to be operationally independent of ministerial influence or control. Members of the commission, including the chair, are appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Orlando Fraser was appointed as Chair of the Charity Commission by the Secretary of State on a three-year term commencing from 25 April 2022. This appointment was not without controversy, including the refusal of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee to endorse the appointment.
Orlando Fraser succeeded interim chair, Ian Karet, who succeeded Baroness Stowell of Beeston.
The commission has four sites in London, Taunton, Liverpool and Newport. Its website lists the latest accounts submitted by charities in England and Wales.
To March 2019, the Commission regulated £79 billion of charity income.
Exempt, excepted, and other non-registered charities
Some charities are not subject to regulation by or registration with the Charity Commission, because they are already regulated by another body, and are known as exempt charities. Most exempt charities are listed in Schedule 3 to the Charities Act 2011, but some charities are made exempt by other acts. However exempt charities must still comply with charity law and may approach the Charity Commission for advice.
Some charities are 'excepted' from charity registration. This means they do not have to register or submit annual returns, but are in all other respects subject to regulation by the Charity Commission. A charity is excepted if its income is £100,000 or less and it is in one of the following groups: churches and chapels belonging to certain Christian denominations (until 2031); charities that provide premises for some types of schools; Scout and Guide groups; charitable service funds of the armed forces; and students' unions.
In addition, if a charity's income is below the normal threshold for registration (£5,000), then it is not required to be registered with the Charity Commission. Nevertheless, it remains subject to regulation by the Charity Commission in all other respects.
Charities operating across other national borders within the United Kingdom
Registration of a charity in England and Wales does not endow that status elsewhere, thus further registration has to be made before operating in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Charities in Scotland are regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
In Northern Ireland the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland was established in 2009 to replace earlier regulation by the Voluntary and Community Unit of the Department for Social Development, part of the Northern Ireland Executive.
Regulatory action
The commission carries out general monitoring of charities as part of its regular casework. It also has powers set out in the Charities Acts to conduct statutory investigations. However, opening a full statutory inquiry into a charity has a detrimental effect on the relationship with the regulator and can frustrate the intention to achieve a positive outcome. The commission, therefore, began around 2007 to carry out an intermediate form of action described as regulatory compliance investigations. In 2010 it opened over 140 of these cases, compared to just three full statutory investigations. However, the legality of these actions was debatable as they lacked a statutory basis. A high-profile example was the commission's report into The Atlantic Bridge, after which that body was dissolved in September 2011. The commission announced in October 2011, in the context of cost-cutting and a re-focussing of its activities, that it would no longer carry out regulatory compliance investigations.