Charity Commission releases latest figures

Almost 5000 new charities were registered last year, according to figures from the Charity Commission.

The regulator revealed that a total of 4,863 organisations were added to the register and 4,332 were removed; in an average month, the number of those added is around ten per cent higher than those crossed off.

However, figures from the start of 2015 go against the usual trend, with an increased number of charities (988) taken off the list. In most cases this was because they were inactive or had failed to file their annual returns.

A spokesman for the Charity Commission said: “The reason for the larger number of removals is that we have been doing a ‘register cleanse’ as part of our work on single and double-defaulting charities.

“Charities can be reinstated, but decisions would need to be made on which governance structure they can adopt. If they want to remain as a company, they will first need to re-register with Companies House.”

Overall there are now more than 180,000 charities listed on the UK register.

If you would like advice on new registrations, charity structuring, mergers and commercial terms contact Julian Rampton.