The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
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A: If your income in the previous financial period ending in 2005 was £100,000 or below your forms would have been mailed to you automatically within 3 months of the end of the financial year shown on our records for your Charity. Charities with a January, February or March financial year end received their forms in July 2006. Charities whose income in the previous year exceeded £100,000 would have received an invitation to complete their Annual Return 2006 online, with an option to request a paper version of the form if preferred.
A: The Annual Return (including Trustees’ Annual Report and accounts) must be returned to the Commission within 10 months of the charity's financial year end. We recommend that you return them to us at least three weeks before this deadline. There is no statutory deadline for the Annual Information Update form, but we ask you to return this as soon as possible
A: The number of the form relates to the financial year-end of the charity. The AR2005 for example, should be completed by charities in respect of financial years ending in 2005. The AR2006 should be completed in respect of financial periods ending in 2006, and so on. A non-company charity's financial "year" will usually cover a 12 month period but can be as little as 6 months or as long as 18 months in exceptional circumstances such as a change of financial year-end. A non-company charity can only change its financial year-end if it has not previously done so within the last 3 years. If you are affected by a change in financial year-end and are not sure how to proceed please contact Charity Commission Direct for advice. Advisors are available to answer your queries between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday and 9pm to 1pm on Saturdays (excluding national holidays). We also have a Textphone/Minicom service on 0845 3000 219 for hearing or speech impaired callers.
The rules governing Accounting Reference Dates for charitable companies may be found on the Companies House website.
A: If, for example, your financial year-end has changed from 30 September 2005 (AR2005) to 31 January 2006 (AR2006) you should inform Charity Commission Direct on 0845 300 0218. They will arrange for your charity's financial year-end to be amended on our database and we will request the appropriate submission from you in due course
A: The trustees are those who, under the charity’s governing document, have overall responsibility for running the charity. They may be referred to as trustees or by a different title such as a council, management committee or, if the charity is a company, directors. They should not be confused with holding or custodian trustees who sometimes hold property for the charity but do not have management responsibilities.
A: We ask charities to classify themselves using three ’elements’. These describe WHAT the charity does, WHO it helps, and HOW it operates. This makes it easier for potential donors, beneficiaries and others to find the charities they want on the Register of Charities. We have shown the classifications you have previously chosen with a tick under ‘Current details’ to the left of the page. Please check these, and if the details are incorrect or incomplete you can amend them using the Online Services. The classifications are broad categories that we cannot tailor to suit individual charities, so we will not update our records from any manual amendments you make to the text. There is provision elsewhere on your form, however, to explain more fully what you do, under the section headed ‘Charity activities’. Every charity should select at least one category in each of the three classification elements to describe their activities. These classifications will be displayed to the public.
A: The Annual Return 2006 questions cover areas which commonly give rise to difficulties for trustees, and helps us to identify possible problems or areas in which we can offer advice. Sometimes, these problems may not be immediately evident from an examination of the accounts.
A: We require the DOB of the trustees so that we can ensure that they are eligible to act as trustees in the eyes of the law. We also use this information for identification and intelligence purposes. DOB’s enable us to distinguish between similarly named individuals and identify those involved with a number of different charities. The way in which the Commission now holds personal information means that we may not be able to add (or update) trustees unless we have a full set of details for them, including date of birth. We will not make trustees’ dates of birth, addresses or telephone numbers available to the public.
A: Upon receipt of the paper forms by our Charity Information Division, they are checked and logged as being received. This updates the charity’s submission record on our website and prevents future reminder letters from being sent. The forms are then sent to our external mailing bureau for electronic data capture. After verification, the information from the forms will then be displayed on the Register of Charities. Initial vetting of paper forms and accounts may give rise to queries about the information provided. and Commission staff may need to contact you to clarify any areas of uncertainty or if they consider that the charity would benefit from further, more detailed advice and support.
A: The Commission's automated mailing system will generate at least two reminders which will be sent to the charity either by post or by email. The first reminder informs trustees that their deadline is approaching and it will be sent approximately two months before the charity's deadline. The second reminder informs the trustees that they have missed their 10-month deadline for submission and that the Commission may consider enforcement action if the relevant documents are not provided. The charity’s details will also be displayed on the Public Register as being in default. If there are extenuating circumstances which prevent the charity from submitting the forms on time (e.g. illness) we may be able to extend the deadline. A statement of our policy on granting extensions can be found on our website. If you think that you are not going to be able to complete and return the forms within the deadline please call Charity Commission Direct (0845 300 0218) for further guidance.
A: Our current lead-time on issuing reminder letters is around two weeks and this may be extended by postal delays. In addition, recording receipt of documents is slower at times when many returns are due (February and November in particular). We make every effort to ensure that forms are recorded on the day of receipt but occasionally there may be an overlap between the generation of reminders and the recording of receipt of submissions. As more charities submit their documents online with quicker results this should become less of a problem. You can check to see if your forms have been recorded as received by viewing your charity’s entry on our website Register.
A: Yes. Even if there is no change to the trustees or income levels etc then we need to receive all the relevant forms so that the register is kept up to date with accurate information. The public Register of Charities (accessible from our Website) now shows the dates on which the charity submitted its documentation. If we do not receive any forms from a charity whose income is expected to be above £10,000, the charity's record will show "overdue", which may have a negative effect on its public image.
A: If you have received a form or a letter inviting you to complete your Annual Return 2006 online, you should send it back to us with a covering letter explaining the circumstances surrounding the wind up of the charity. These will then be forwarded to staff who may ask for further information, including the final accounts, before confirming that the charity has been removed from the register.
A: Duplicate forms can be issued. They can be obtained by calling Charity Commission Direct on 0845 300 0218. One of our operators will take your details and arrange for a duplicate form to be mailed to you. You will need to quote the charity's registration number when calling. A duplicate form will be pre-printed with the charity’s details and could take up to 4 weeks from the date of your request to reach you. It is important, therefore, not to leave the completion of the form until the last minute.
A: Further help can be obtained by contacting Charity Commission Direct on 0845 300 0218. Advisors are available to answer your queries between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday and 9pm to 1pm on Saturdays (excluding national holidays). We also have a Textphone/Minicom service on 0845 300 0219 for hearing or speech impaired callers.