Bailiwick Charity Law 2022

The Bailiwick’s new Charity Law was brought in to force on 26^th April 2022.

 

The Law comprises an Ordinance (The Charities etc. (Guernsey and Alderney) Ordinance, 2021) and the Regulations (The Charities etc. (Amendments, Exemptions, Governance and Specified Amount)(Guernsey and Alderney) Regulations, 2022.  There are also some Transitional Regulations for existing charities.

 

The Ordinance requires any Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) with income or assets above certain thresholds, to be registered and gives powers for their regulation to the Guernsey Registry.  An NPO that wishes to be treated as a charity must conform to one of the prescribed charitable purposes listed in Schedule 4 to the Ordinance, and must also provide a benefit to the public (“the public” does not include members of the charity).

 

Registration Thresholds

 

The Regulations brought the Ordinance into force on 29^th April 2022 and set the registration thresholds as follows:

 

-           for International Charities (those whose mission is to send funds outside the Bailiwick), there are no thresholds, each one must be registered

-           for all other charities, the thresholds are income of £20,000 or above, or assets of £100,000 or above

-           for charities falling below this threshold, it is possible to register voluntarily

 

The Ordinance gives the Registry powers to administer the Register and supervise compliance with the Ordinance and the Regulations.  There are both civil and criminal penalties available to the Registry.

Charity financial statements

The new law provides that financial statements for accounting periods beginning after 1st March 2023 must be made available to members of the public on request.  For most charities these will be their accounts for the year ended 31st December 2023, which will need to be filed at the Registry by 31st December 2024.

Guidance for Treasurers on the form and content of charity accounts can be found on the "Charity Financial Statements" page of this website.

Charity Law - generally

 

A helpful summary of what AGC members must do, and by when, which has been provided by the Registry, can be found here.  The Registry has also issued Guidance on the Regulations.

 

Every charity is likely to have to revise its Governing Document by 30th June 2023 but International Charities must do this by 31st December 2022 and also have an Anti-Financial Crime Policy by 30^th November 2022.  

Pro-formas for these documents are available under "New Charity Law - toolkit".