Untie that red tape!

Do you need to:

• Change your charity’s rules for calling meetings, making decisions, or any other part of your charity’s administration?
• Raise money by mortgaging your charity’s land or use the land as security for a loan or grant?
• Buy trustee indemnity insurance?

Well now you can without needing to come to us for our permission – that's part of what the Charities Act 2006 can mean for you. See our main Charities Act 2006 page for more information about these and other provisions in the Act.

When trustees of merged charities register their merger with us it will be easier to ensure gifts and legacies are directed to the new charity.

There are other changes to make running a charity simpler and cheaper. Trustees of smaller charities don’t need to register with us if their income is below £5000 a year and now fewer charities have to have their accounts professionally audited.

And in the months to come more parts of the Act will come into force. For example:

• it will be easier to pay some trustees for some of the services they provide for their charity;
• there'll be more powers available to transfer property, replace the charity's purposes or to spend capital; and
• if you want to make your charity a company but don’t want the trouble of dealing with Companies House, there'll be a new form of charity called a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

To find out more about the Act and what it means for you and your charity, you should read the plain English guide 'Charities Act 2006 – what trustees need to know'. You can find this on the Office of the Third Sector's website – or order a hard copy by phoning 0845 015 0010 and quoting URN 07/72 and the title.