War Charities Act 1940
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1940 c. 31 |
War Charities Act, 1940
(3 & 4 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 31.
An Act to provide for the registration and control of war charities, and for the extension of the objects of certain war charities; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[27th June 1940]
B E it enacted by the King'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:—
1 Prohibition against appeals for war charities unless registered or exempted.
(1) It shall not be lawful to make any appeal to the public for donations or subscriptions in money or in kind to ally war charity, or to raise or attempt to raise money for any such charity by promoting or assisting to promote any bazaar, sale, entertainment or exhibition, or by any similar means, unless—
(a ) the charity is registered or exempted from registration under this Act; and
(b ) approval in writing has been given by the management committee or person responsible for the administration of the charity, or a duly authorised officer of the charity;
and if any person contravenes the provisions of this subsection, he shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply to any collection at divine service in a place of public worship.
(2) A registration authority may exempt from registration under this Act any war charity if they are satisfied that the charity is established in good faith, and is of so limited a character as respects the area in which the activities of the charity are or will be carried on, or as respects the duration or the objects of the charity, or as respects the value of the money and property likely to be obtained, that it is unnecessary in the interests of the public that the charity should be registered; and the registration authority may exempt the charity for an indefinite or a limited period, and may, if they are no longer satisfied as to the matters aforesaid, withdraw the exemption.
The registration authority, on exempting a charity, shall furnish a certificate of exemption which shall, if the exemption is for a limited period, specify that period.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section, so far as it requires the war charity concerned to be registered or exempted from registration under this Act shall not apply to any war charity until the expiration of two months after the passing of this Act, unless the registration authority within that period refuses to register the charity, nor to any war charity pending the decision of the registration authority on an application for the registration or exemption of the charity made within that period.
2 Registration of war charities.
(1) Applications for registration or exemption from registration under this Act shall be in the prescribed form and shall be sent to the registration authority for the area in which the administrative centre of the charity is situate, and at least one week before sending an application for registration there shall be inserted in not less than two newspapers circulating in the said area a statement in the prescribed form of the intention to make such an application and of the time within which, and the place at which, objections to the application may be made; and, subject to the following provisions of this section, the authority shall, after considering any such objections, grant any such application duly made in accordance with this Act and furnish a certificate of registration.
(2) No charity shall be registered under this Act unless the registration authority are satisfied that a responsible committee or other body (in this Act referred to as a ‘management committee’), consisting of not less than three persons, has been appointed to administer the charity, and a registration authority may refuse to register any charity, or may remove any charity from the register kept by them, if they are satisfied—
(a ) that the charity is not established, or is not being carried on, in good faith;
(b ) that the charity is not being or is not likely to be properly administered or, in the case of removal from the register, that the conditions specified in the next following section of this Act have not been complied with;
(c ) that the total value of the money and property likely to be applied towards the objects of the charity (including any money and property already so applied) is inadequate in proportion to the total value of the money and property likely to be obtained for those objects (including any money and property already so obtained);
(d ) that remuneration or reward which is excessive in relation to the total value of the money and property likely to be applied towards the objects of the charity is likely to be, or has been, retained or received by any person out of the money and property obtained for those objects;
(e ) that the authority have not been furnished with information reasonably required by them for the purpose of informing themselves as to any of the matters specified in the foregoing provisions of this subsection.
(3) An appeal from a refusal by a registration authority to register any charity, or from the decision of a registration authority to remove any charity from the register, shall lie to the Charity Commissioners and, if as a result of the appeal the Charity Commissioners decide that the application for registration ought not to be refused or, as the case may be, that the charity ought not to be removed from the register, the registration authority shall register the charity or, as the case may be, restore the charity to the register.
(4) Where a war charity has been removed by the registration authority from the register, and either an appeal to the Charity Commissioners has been dismissed or no such appeal has been made and the time for making such an appeal has expired, the registration authority shall give notice of the removal of the charity in at least two newspapers circulating in their area.
(5) Every registration authority shall keep a register, containing such particulars as may be prescribed, of all the charities registered by them under this Act, and lists, containing such particulars as may be prescribed, of all charities the registration of which has been refused by them under this Act and of all charities which have been exempted by them from registration.
(6) Where the administrative centre of any registered war charity is transferred from the area of the registration authority by whom the charity is for the time being registered to another area, the authority shall, after giving notice in writing in the prescribed form to the management committee of the charity and to the registration authority for the area to which the administrative centre has been transferred and affording a reasonable opportunity for raising any question as to the situation of the administrative centre, transmit to the last named authority the particulars of registration of that charity, and that authority shall enter the particulars on the register kept by them and the charity shall thereafter be deemed to have been registered by them:
Provided that, if at the time of the transfer the registration authority from whose area the administrative centre of the war charity is transferred is engaged in an investigation of the affairs of the charity, the authority may postpone the transmission of the particulars of registration of the charity until the completion of the investigation.
(7) Every registration authority shall forthwith send to the Charity Commissioners a copy of all particulars entered in the register and lists kept by them under this section, and shall forthwith notify the Charity Commissioners of any changes in the register or lists.
(8) The Charity Commissioners shall keep a combined register of all charities registered under this Act, and a combined list of all charities in respect of which applications for registration under this Act have been refused, and a combined list of all charities which have been exempted from registration under this Act.
(9) Any question as to where the administrative centre of any charity is situate shall be finally determined by the Charity Commissioners.
3 Conditions to be complied with by registered charities.
3. Charities registered under this Act shall comply with the following conditions:—
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