- Alcester Office +44 (0)1789 765522
- Bedford Office +44 (0)1234 400000
- Birmingham, New St. Office +44 (0)121 270 5666
- Birmingham, Newhall St. Office +44 (0)121 703 2606
- Bristol Office +44 (0)1454 275 190
- Cardiff Office +44 (0)29 2240 8700
- Evesham Office +44 (0)1386 425300
- Gatwick Office +44 (0)1293 602890
- Harrow Office +44 (0)20 8907 4366
- Leicester Office +44 (0)116 255 9911
- Leigh Office +44 (0)1942 673311
- Lichfield Office +44 (0)1543 414426
- Luton Office +44 (0)1582 720175
- Northampton Office +44 (0)1604 233 200
- Redditch Office +44 (0)1527 406363
- Solihull Office +44 (0)121 705 2255
- Stopsley Office +44 (0)1582 453 366
- Sutton Coldfield Office +44 (0)121 355 6118
- Tunbridge Wells Office +44 (0)1892 553090
- Walkden Office +44 (0)161 790 1411
- Walsall Office +44 (0)1922 720000
- Warrington Office +44 (0)1925 632267
- Westhoughton Office +44 (0)1942 816515
- Whitefield Office +44 (0)161 796 7920
- Wigan Office +44 (0)1942 244294
Need to Change your Charitable Purposes
If you are the trustee of a smaller unincorporated charity, with a gross income in your last financial year of no more than £10,000, the Charity Act 2006 makes it easier for you to update your charitable purposes. Provided that the new purposes are similar to the original purposes, you do not need to ask the Charity Commission to make a ‘Scheme’ to change them.
The rules: Where the trustees of a charity consider that their existing charitable purposes are no longer relevant in modern society, they may bring them up to date more simply. The updated purposes must serve the charity’s interests well and must besimilar to the old ones. So, for example, a charity set up to relieve sickness could update its purposes to take part in a health promotion scheme to promote healthy living.
Voting: The trustees must satisfy themselves that the change is in the charity’s interests and that (so far as is reasonably practicable) the new purposes consist of or include purposes similar to those being replaced. The trustees must pass a resolution by at least two-thirds of those who vote, and send a copy to the Charity Commission with the reasons for passing the resolution.
Timescale: The resolution automatically takes effect 60 days after receipt by the Charity Commission, unless they object. However, this period can be extended if the Commission requires the resolution to be publicly announced, or requests more information. In practice, the Commission is only likely to object where the new purposes very clearly do not serve the charity’s interests well, or are dissimilar to the old ones.