Charity Regulation in Northern Ireland Frances McCandless Chief Executive March 2013

1. Charity Regulation in Northern Ireland Frances McCandless Chief Executive March 2013

2. The story so far • Minimal regulation under 1964 Charities Act lay with Department for Social Development (DSD) • Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 • Charity Commissioners appointed 2009 • Small secretariat drawn from DSD • Chief Executive appointed 2010 • Problem with Public Benefit section of legislation identified and referred back to Minister 2010 • Inquiry powers and other sections commenced February 2011 (over 200 concerns dealt with so far) • Accompanying transitional provision • Creation of ‘Deemed List’ • Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 amended public benefit requirement

3. Step by Step Parts of the legislation currently in force include: • The Commission • The Charity Tribunal • Definition of charity and public benefit • Charity names provision • Information (inquiry) powers • Powers to make schemes and act for protection of charities • Ex-gratia payments • Power to determine membership

4. Step by Step Complexities of doing this: • Legislation designed to have a register at its centre • Complex legal workarounds required • Sequencing of staff recruitment with relevant skills • Constant rewriting of manuals and procedures as new sections commenced • Public confusion?

5. Challenges Resources • Started very small Communications • Large and diverse sector and only deemed list to rely on • Use of umbrella bodies • General public • Media • Politicians • Other parts of government • Website has been crucial Managing expectations is a challenge Backlog of some issues waiting for regulator to assume powers

6. Speed of change • Too fast or too slow? • Some worried/anxious about burden of regulation • Some impatient to be registered immediately • Cultural change in how registration is viewed • Will take years to complete mandatory registration and to get message out

7. The Register • Centrality of register of charities to the legislation • Main focus for public transparency/accountability • Will use online register system from England and Wales • Information will include: - Activities - Charitable objects - Area(s) of operation - Financial information and Trustees’ Annual Report - Trustee names • Will be a requirement for applying for charitable tax exemptions from HMRC

8. Establishing a regulator • A long and slow process • Design of decision-making processes and manuals • Governance structures • Staff planning and recruitment • Establishing IT systems and online registration • Accountability as a public body • Establishing working and formal relationships with other bodies such as tax authorities, police, audit bodies, safeguarding authority, Tribunal, public prosecution service • Establishing credibility • Learning on part of regulator – new legislation, few precedents to follow • Learning on part of charities

9. Next steps • Public benefit consultation underway until 6 May • Plans for registration later in 2013 • Charity accounts and monitoring consultation • Ongoing compliance • Commencement of other powers to include: - cy-près - charity land - mergers and closures - official custodian

10. For more information visit our website www.charitycommissionni.org.uk