Policy paper

Draft Protection of Charities Bill

This draft bill extends the powers of the Charity Commission to protect the sector from abuse and maintain high public trust in charities.

• From: Cabinet Office
• Published: 22 October 2014
• Last updated: 27 October 2014 — See all updates

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Documents

Draft Protection of Charities Bill: web version

Ref: ISBN 9781474111522, Cm. 8954

PDF, 1.15 MB, 92 pages

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Draft Protection of Charities Bill: print version

Ref: Cm. 8954

PDF, 1.16 MB, 96 pages

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Details

The measures in the draft bill include:

• banning people with convictions for certain criminal offences, such as terrorism or money laundering, from being a charity trustee
• a new power to disqualify a person from being a charity trustee where the Charity Commission considers them unfit
• a new power for the Commission to require a charity to shut down following an inquiry into misconduct or mismanagement, where this would help maintain public trust and confidence in charities
• a new power for the Commission to issue official warnings for less serious cases: the Commission can put this on the charity’s official record and if evidence is found that they have not dealt with the problem, the Commission will take further action
• closing loopholes that have prevented the Charity Commission from taking enforcement action in the past, eg where trustees have resigned to avoid removal and disqualification

The draft bill also includes explanatory notes, a summary of consultation responses and the impact assessment.

Read the announcement on new funding and powers to tackle abuse in the charity sector.

Proposed version of the Charities Act 2011

Many of the provisions in the draft Protection of Charities Bill would amend or add to existing provisions in the Charities Act 2011. To help readers understand the draft bill, the proposed version of the Charities Act 2011 shows how it would be amended by the draft bill.

Give feedback on whether you have found the proposed version useful via email: [email protected].

Published 22 October 2014
Last updated 27 October 2014 + show all updates

1. 27 October 2014

   Added a link to the proposed version of the Charities Act 2011.

2. 22 October 2014

   First published.