The Charity Commission content on the central government website gov.uk will be exempted from having to adopt HM Government branding and will link back to services on the Commission’s own site.

When the government announced last year that the online content of all government departments would be integrated into a central portal at gov.uk, the charities regulator asked for an exemption.  It was worried that moving into gov.uk might impact on its independence from government and affect public perceptions of that independence.

It was also concerned because it had not been given any information about what the move would mean for the Commission’s own website and its functions.

But the government refused to grant an exemption and said the integration would go ahead some time before March 2014.

Now, however, a spokeswoman for the Commission has said that two key developments have made the regulator a lot more comfortable with the proposal.

She said: “We have had numerous meetings with Government Digital Service who have now been able to talk us through how things would work practically, and secondly, and most importantly from the perspective of our independence, we have been given an exemption from having to adopt the standardised HM Government branding.”

This means that the content on gov.uk will carry clear Charity Commission branding and will link back to services on the regulator’s own website, she said.

“On this basis we have continued with our website upgrade ahead of some of our content becoming part of gov.uk sometime in the next year or so,” she added.

The Register of Charities will remain on the Commission's website but some elements may also appear on gov.uk - this is still under consideration. At the moment gov.uk signposts to the Commission's site.

Gov.uk replaces Directgov and BusinessLink and also carries information about benefits, car tax, council tax bands, passports and driving tests, among other things.