The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales

Initial Impact Assessment


As part of this consultation we will consider the compliance costs of changes designed to streamline the Annual Return and improve the value of the information collected.

This impacts on the sections currently known as Part A and Part B. No substantive changes are proposed in the content of the present Part C which is known as the Summary Information Return (SIR).

By eliminating less effective elements of the Return and changing thresholds we have sought to improve the accountability of charities whilst bringing a small overall reduction in the regulatory burden.

The table below indicates the potential compliance cost to charities based on our initial estimates of paper copy form completion.


Income Threshold Number of charities AR06 completion estimate (minutes) AR07 completion estimate (minutes)1 % Change Part A
Register details update
Part B
Monitoring questions
Part B
Financial activity data
Serious
Incident Reporting
£0 - £10k 95,558 10 10 0% Minor changes2 N/A N/A N/A
£10k - £25k 23,494 30 30 0% Minor changes N/A N/A N/A
£25k - £250k 35,819 30 30 0% Minor changes N/A N/A Added
£250k - £500k 5,062 45 30 -33% Minor changes Removed N/A Added
£500k - £1m 3,353 45 45 0% Minor changes Removed Added Added
£1m + 5,122 45 + SIR3 45 + SIR 0% Minor changes Removed Added Added

1. We expect further gains against these times for charities choosing to file returns online.

2. Minor Changes include confirmation of area of operation and improvement to form layout and design.

3. SIR consideration and completion estimated at 2 days in February 2005.