Charity question

[cassa333]

Once again I have been hunting (in this case the charity cimmission site) and can't find what I am looking for soif any of you abers can help I would appreciate it.

Someone once said that to remain a registered charity you have to have income above £5,000. Is this true and if so where can I find this information please.

I know that to register you have to raise £5,000 but do you have to sustain that and what happens if you fail one year?

Thanks

[buildersmate]

I can safely say that whoever told you that is talking nonsense. There are hundreds of registered charities with annual net incomes less than that. Indeed one doesn't have to register the full accounts each year with CC unless the net income is over £10k. So that tells you there are an awful lot with tiny net incomes

[Nibble]

I agree with buildersmate, that's not true at all. I work with a charity with regular income of much less than £5K p.a.

[cassa333]

Thank you both.

A charity does have to prove an income of at least £5,000 to register with the charity commission initially though.

[Nibble]

You're right cassa - this link is useful, but it doesn't explain what happens if you register, then your income drops below the £5K. http://www.charity-co...mall_charities.aspx#e

[cassa333]

Thank you Nibbler,

I saw that but you are right it doesn't say what happens if your income drops bellow £5k.

[buildersmate]

Then you'll have to email to double-check.
I've been associated with a charity that has has an income of less than £5k in the period between 5-10 years ago and it caused no problem. But I don't know when the £5k figure you mention was set. The charity was established in the 1920s.

[EDDIE51]

Nibble's link says that small charities with income under £5000 a year do not have to register, so probably yours is one of the non registered ones.
Small charities still exist there are 1,000s of them but they are not registered.

[cassa333]

It is a registered charity. We used to have an income of over £40k a year b ut times are hard now :(

[buildersmate]

Then if you are on their 'system', why would you not just keep making the annual return? If the annual income is less than £10k, the requirement is merely to provide the total income and the total expenditure - two numbers with no underlying detail.

[cassa333]

We do. We just heard that if your income falls under £5k it puts your charity status in jelpardy but couldn't fine any corroberating evidence for this.

[Skyline D]

Not directly relevant but I don't believe this £5k rule exists for Scottish Charities (which are governed by OSCR, not the Charity Commission). Certainly I act for charities which are registered in Scotland with less than £5k annual income. Several of them.

Anyway, not being a "registered" charity makes no difference to charitable status and the regulatory hoops to be jumped through are much reduced so that would just be a bonus I would have thought.