The first steps towards charity regulation have been taken by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland today as it begins regulatory scrutiny of all charities registered with HMRC for tax purposes.
Until now, all regulation of charities in Northern Ireland has been conducted by central government with no formal registration process.
Today's move brings into effect some of the key provisions of the Charities Act (NI) 2008 and will kick-start the regulation process in advance of the official registration drive, which is currently held-up awaiting the resolution of a legal issue arising from the wording of the Act.
"This is a huge step closer to giving the public of Northern Ireland the same level of protection that is offered by independent regulators in other regions of the UK and Ireland," said Tom McGrath, chief commissioner for the CCNI.
"The new powers do not apply to all organisations, and will only affect those already registered with HMRC. However, this is a welcome move towards full registration and the independent regulation that CCNI will bring," he added.
More than 6,000 charities will now come under the investigatory, compliance, enforcement and regulatory scrutiny of the CCNI.
A spokesman for the CCNI advised that the re-wording of the Act was necessary to resolve a contradiction between the public benefit requirement and the charitable purpose clause arising from a combination of English and Scottish charity law frameworks.
Safeguarding churches' charitable status
The move towards charity regulation in Northern Ireland has awakened political and ecclesiastical unrest with further concerns over the wording of the Act.
In June 2010 church leaders in Northern Ireland warned that the CCNI’s plans could pose a threat to the charitable status of churches because it was not clear in the Charities Act that religious charities, including churches, would be presumed to provide public benefit.
In the last week these concerns have received backing from the Northern Ireland Executive, which has asked civil servants to draft new legislation for the Act, to clarify that this would be the case.
