Charities Act 1992
| Year | 1992 |
Charities Act 1992
1992 CHAPTER 41
An Act to amend the Charities Act 1960 and make other provision with respect to charities; to regulate fund-raising raising activities carried on in connection with charities and other institutions; to make fresh provision with respect to public charitable collections; and for connected purposes.
[16th March 1992]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Charities
Preliminary
1 Interpretation of Part I, etc.
(1) In this Part—
‘the 1960 Act’ means the Charities Act 1960 ;
‘financial year’—
(a) in relation to a charity which is a company, shall be construed in accordance with section 223 of the Companies Act 1985 ; and
(b) in relation to any other charity, shall be construed in accordance with regulations made by virtue of section 20(2);
‘gross income’, in relation to a charity, means its gross recorded income from all sources, including special trusts;
‘independent examiner’, in relation to a charity, means such a person as is mentioned in section 21(3)(a);
‘the official custodian’ means the official custodian for charities;
‘the register’ unless the context otherwise requires) means the register of charities kept under section 4 of the 1960 Act, and ‘registered’ shall be construed accordingly;
‘special trust’ means property which is held and administered by or on behalf of a charity for any special purposes of the charity, and is so held and administered on separate trusts relating only to that property.
(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, sections 45 and 46 of the 1960 Act (interpretation) shall have effect for the purposes of this Part as they have effect for the purposes of that Act.
(3) A special trust shall not, by itself, constitute a charity for the purposes of sections 19 to 26.
(4) No vesting or transfer of any property in pursuance of any provision of this Part, or of any provision of the 1960 Act as amended by this Part, shall operate as a breach of a covenant or condition against alienation or give rise to a forfeiture.
Registration of charities
2 The register of charities.
(1) Section 4 of the 1960 Act (the register of charities) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For subsection (1) there shall be substituted—
(1) The Commissioners shall continue to keep a register of charities, which shall be kept by them in such manner as they think fit.’
(3) In subsection (2), after ‘so excepted’ there shall be inserted ‘(other than one excepted by paragraph (a) of that subsection)’.
(4) After subsection (2) there shall be inserted—
(2A) The register shall contain—
(a) the name of every registered charity; and
(b) such other particulars of, and such other information relating to, every such charity as the Commissioners think fit.’
(5) In subsection (4), for paragraph (c) there shall be substituted—
‘(c) any charity which has neither—
(i) any permanent endowment, nor
(ii) the use or occupation of any land,
and whose income from all sources does not in aggregate amount to more than 1,000 a year;’.
(6) After subsection (7) there shall be inserted—
(7A) Where any information contained in the register is not in documentary form, subsection (7) above shall be construed as requiring the information to be available for public inspection in legible form at all reasonable times.
(7B) If the Commissioners so determine, that subsection shall not apply to any particular information contained in the register and specified in their determination.’
(7) After subsection (8) there shall be inserted—
(8A) If he thinks it expedient to do so—
(a) in consequence of changes in the value of money, or
(b) with a view to extending the scope of the exception provided for by subsection (4)(c) above,
the Secretary of State may by order amend subsection (4)(c) by substituting a different sum for the sum for the time being specified there.
(8B) Any such order shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.’
(8) Where an exempt charity is on the register immediately before the time when subsection (3) above comes into force, its registration shall cease to have effect at that time.
(9) Section 4 of the 1960 Act, as amended by this section, and with the omission of repealed provisions, is set out in Schedule 1 to this Act.
3 Status of registered charity \(other than smallcharity) to appear on official publications etc.
(1) This section applies to a registered charity if its gross income in its last financial year exceeded 5,000.
(2) Where this section applies to a registered charity, the fact that it is a registered charity shall be stated in English in legible characters—
(a) in all notices, advertisements and other documents issued by or on behalf of the charity and soliciting money or other property for the benefit of the charity;
(b) in all bills of exchange, promissory notes, endorsements, cheques and orders for money or goods purporting to be signed on behalf of the charity; and
(c) in all bills rendered by it and in all its invoices, receipts and letters of credit.
(3) Subsection (2)(a) has effect whether the solicitation is express or implied, and whether the money or other property is to be given for any consideration or not.
(4) If, in the case of a registered charity to which this section applies, any person issues or authorises the issue of any document falling within paragraph (a) or (c) of subsection (2) in which the fact that the charity is a registered charity is not stated as required by that subsection, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the third level on the standard scale.
(5) If, in the case of any such registered charity, any person signs any document falling within paragraph (b) of subsection (2) in which the fact that the charity is a registered charity is not stated as required by that subsection, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the third level on the standard scale.
(6) The Secretary of State may by order amend subsection (1) by substituting a different sum for the sum for the time being specified there.
Charity names
S-4 Power of Commissioners to require charity's name to bechanged. 4 Power of Commissioners to require charity's name to bechanged.
(1) Where this subsection applies to a charity, the Commissioners may give a direction requiring the name of the charity to be changed, within such period as is specified in the direction, to such other name as the charity trustees may determine with the approval of the Commissioners.
(2) Subsection (1) applies to a charity if—
(a) it is a registered charity and its name (‘the registered name’)—
(i) is the same as, or
(ii) is in the opinion of the Commissioners too like,
the name, at the time when the registered name was entered in the register in respect of the charity, of any other charity (whether registered or not);
(b) the name of the charity is in the opinion of the Commissioners likely to mislead the public as to the true nature—
(i) of the purposes of the charity as set out in its trusts, or
(ii) of the activities which the charity carries on under its trusts in pursuit of those purposes;
(c) the name of the charity includes any word or expression for the time being specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State and the inclusion in its name of that word or expression is in the opinion of the Commissioners likely to mislead the public in any respect as to the status of the charity;
(d) the name of the charity is in the opinion of the Commissioners likely to give the impression that the charity is connected in some way with Her Majesty's Government or any local authority, or with any other body of persons or any individual, when it is not so connected; or
(e) the name of the charity is in the opinion of the Commissioners offensive;
and in this subsection any reference to the name of a charity is, in relation to a registered charity, a reference to the name by which it is registered.
(3) Any direction given by virtue of subsection (2)(a) above must be given within 12 months of the time when the registered name was entered in the register in respect of the charity.
(4) Any direction given under this section with respect to a charity shall be given to the charity trustees; and on receiving any such direction the charity trustees shall give effect to it notwithstanding anything in the trusts of the charity.
(5) Where the name of any charity is changed under this section, then (without prejudice to section 4(6)(b) of the 1960 Act (notification of changes in particulars of registered charity)) it shall be the duty of the charity trustees forthwith to notify the Commissioners of the charity's new name and of the date on which the change occurred.
(6) A change of name by a charity under this section does not affect any rights or obligations of the charity; and any legal proceedings that might have been continued or commenced by or against it in its former name may be continued or commenced by or against it in its new name.
(7) Section 26(3) of the Companies Act 1985 (minor variations in names to be disregarded) shall apply for the purposes of this section as if the reference to section 26(1)(c) of that Act...
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