Please note this article covers legislation changes relevant only to England and Wales. This does not affect marriage registration in either Scotland or Northern Ireland, where a schedule system is already in place for marriages and civil partnerships. Marriage registration moves online The way that marriages are registered in England and Wales has changed. Until … Read more …
Please note the flexibilities on how members’ meetings are held came to an end on 30th March 2021. While the flexibilities have now expired, you will still find useful information in our article below and our adjoining advice note if you are thinking about holding a virtual members meeting. Download advice note ‘Remote members’ meetings … Read more …
Many smaller churches which are affiliated to the FIEC or another umbrella body are currently excepted from the requirement to register with the Charity Commission. This excepted status for churches is due to come to an end in March 2031 and it is possible that the Commission will enable or invite registrations from excepted churches … Read more …
In December the government made public their intention to extend the Excepting Regulations for smaller charities by 10 years. The relevant legislation has now come into effect, so the deadline for registration is now 31 March 2031. The Excepting Regulations mean that many smaller churches which are affiliated to the FIEC or another umbrella body … Read more …
Many Christian charities (whether churches or other organisations) operate as either a charitable trust or a charitable unincorporated association (CUA). Historically, the only realistic alternative to these structures (other than incorporating the body of trustees, which is relatively uncommon) was for a charity to incorporate as a company limited by guarantee, but this brought with … Read more …
If you are a registered charity, details of your charity appear on the Charity Commission’s public register, available online. On 3 September 2020, the Commission launched the latest version of the online register, which now contains more information than ever about each charity. In particular, the register now includes details taken from your charity’s annual … Read more …
New rules came into force on 1 August 2018, expanding the circumstances in which a person can be automatically disqualified from acting as a trustee of a charity. These include unspent convictions for bribery, terrorism, money laundering, contempt of court, misconduct in public office, and being on the sex offenders register (see s.178 and s.178A … Read more …
One of the issues we are most often asked about is about the relationship between the “trustees” of the church and the people responsible for its spiritual oversight – i.e. its pastor, minister, elders or other spiritual leadership team. This is a tricky question, and there is no perfect answer to it. The article below helps you navigate the legal issues, as a … Read more …
