Charities (Amendment) Bill: what it means for Northern Ireland operations

The Northern Ireland Assembly is moving forward with the Charities (Amendment) Bill, which passed its second stage in June 2026. The legislation updates the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 following the 2022 Independent Review of Charity Regulation led by Dr Oonagh Breen.

If your charity operates, raises funds, or has employees in Northern Ireland, these changes will affect your reporting duties, how you interact with the regulator, and cross-border operations.

The four key changes that charities should be aware of are:

New enforcement powers for the Charity Commission 

The Bill grants the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland ('CCNI') stronger and broader enforcement powers. These closely align with powers already exercised by the Charity Commission for England and Wales:

• Official warnings: the CCNI will be able to issue official warnings where it identifies a breach of duty, misconduct or mismanagement. Crucially, the CCNI has the discretion to publish these warnings publicly. While charities must be given prior notice and an opportunity to make representations before a warning is issued, there is no formal appeal process provided in the Bill. If a published warning is later withdrawn, the CCNI must publish the withdrawal within 28 days.
• Preventative directions: following the opening of a formal inquiry, the CCNI will be able to issue orders directing a charity, its trustees or its officers not to take specific actions. These orders must be reviewed by the Commission every six months.
• Removal of resigned personnel: previously, individuals under investigation could avoid formal removal and disqualification by resigning. The Bill closes this loop. The CCNI can proceed with a removal order even if the trustee, officer, agent or employee has already resigned.
• Automatic disqualification: anyone removed from a charity by order of the CCNI or the court following an inquiry will be automatically disqualified from acting as a trustee for any other charity, unless they obtain a specific waiver from the Commission.

Overhaul of accounting and reporting frameworks

• Clauses 7, 8 and 10 restructure the reporting framework to make compliance more proportionate to a charity’s size. Much of the specific detail will be delivered through secondary regulations, but the core direction is set.
• Small charities (£20,000 or less): charities with a gross annual income of £20,000 or less will be exempt from the requirement to have their accounts independently examined or audited. The Department plans to introduce simplified template reporting for these organisations and separate regulations where charities of this size may choose not to register with the Commission.
• Standardised receipts and payments (£20,001 to £250,000): unincorporated charities in this bracket will continue to prepare receipts and payment accounts, but under a standardised, prescribed format. Independent examination remains mandatory for this tier.
• One-off income spikes: charities that exceed the £250,000 accruals accounting threshold due to an exceptional, one-off event (such as a major legacy) will be permitted to continue using receipts and payments accounting for that year rather than converting to full accruals accounts.
• Redefining income: Clause 9 gives the Department power to issue regulations clarifying what does and does not count towards 'gross income', addressing historic confusion around capital receipts and asset sales.
• Note − incorporated charities remain bound by company law duties to prepare accruals accounts regardless of these charity law thresholds.

Cross-border charities and the repeal of section 167

• Clause 11 repeals section 167 of the 2008 Act. Section 167 was designed to create a separate registration and reporting regime for charities established outside Northern Ireland (such as in England, Wales, Scotland or the Republic of Ireland) that operate in the jurisdiction. It was never brought into force and was widely considered unworkable.
• Repealing section 167 means cross-border charities do not need to register separately with the CCNI or submit separate Northern Ireland annual accounts. You can continue to operate in Northern Ireland under the primary regulation of your home jurisdiction.
• The practical trade-off is that non-NI charities will not be issued a Northern Ireland charity number. Organisations operating cross-border should ensure their local operational branding and funding applications clearly explain their primary regulatory status to avoid local administrative hurdles.

Expanded information sharing

• Clause 2 expands the CCNI’s ability to share information with other bodies discharging public or regulatory functions related to charities or fundraising. This explicitly enables greater information sharing between the CCNI and the Fundraising Regulator, as well as lead regulators in other UK and Irish jurisdictions.

Action/steps for trustees and leadership teams

• Given the new official warning and removal powers, leadership teams should review internal reporting and decision-making records to ensure robust, clear documentation of trustee actions.
• If your charity falls near the £20,000 or £250,000 thresholds, you should review how you calculate gross income and prepare for upcoming secondary regulations on standardised accounts formats.
• If you are a cross-border entity operating in Northern Ireland, you should review your funding and banking documentation to ensure your lead regulator status is referenced clearly.

We will continue to monitor the Bill as it progresses through its committee stage and provide further updates once the secondary regulations on accounting formats are published.