Schools and charity
registration in Northern
Ireland
__________________________________
A briefing on which schools are required to
apply to register as a charity with the
Commission
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November 2015
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is the regulator of charities
in Northern Ireland, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the
Department for Communities.
Our vision
To deliver in partnership with other key stakeholders in the charitable
sector “a dynamic and well governed charities sector in which the public
has confidence, underpinned by the Commission’s effective delivery of its
regulatory role”.
Further information about our aims and activities is available on our
website www.charitycommissionni.org.uk
Equality
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is committed to equality and
diversity in all that we do.
Accessibility
If you have any accessibility requirements please contact us.
Online or in print
The words in pink italics indicate links to other guidance documents.
Please check our website www.charitycommissionni.org.uk to make sure
you’re using the latest version of forms and guidance.
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Contents
1.0
Background
4
2.0
What is a charity?
5
2.1 How does this impact on whether schools are required to register?
3.0
3.1
4.0
Which schools will be required to apply to register?
6
Chart illustrating what types of school will be required to apply to
register as a charity with the Commission
Legal underpinning
8
4.1 Controlled schools
4.2 Integrated schools
4.3 Voluntary schools
5.0
How will schools know when they are required to apply to
register?
9
Useful links
11
Contact details
12
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Schools and charity registration in Northern
Ireland
1.0 Background
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (the Commission), working with
the Department of Education, has produced this short guidance paper to inform
schools and the general public of the Commission’s approach to the complex
question of how the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (the Charities Act)
affects schools within Northern Ireland.
The education system in Northern Ireland consists of different types of schools
which are overseen by the Department of Education (the Department) and a
range of other education bodies. It is likely that some of these schools will be
required to register as charities with the Commission, while others will not. This
will depend on how the school was established and is explained in this guidance.
The guidance is intended to clarify which schools will be required to apply to
register and which will not. The Commission has sought the advice of counsel
on how the Charities Act applies to schools and reviewed the position with the
Department in order to produce this guidance.
All organisations, including schools, are required to complete the same
registration application process and will be assessed in the same way therefore
this guidance should be read in conjunction with the Commission’s other
guidance on charity registration. Relevant guidance is signposted at the end of
this document.
This is a new and complex area and so the Commission, with the Department, is
providing this guidance to the representative bodies of the various types of
school in Northern Ireland explaining the position. We are also happy to meet
with these representative bodies to discuss the issues if that would be helpful to
them.
Since 1 April 2015 the five Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland
have been replaced by the Education Authority. For ease of reading we have
continued to refer to the Education and Library Board (the Board) as they were
in place when the relevant legislation establishing and governing schools came
into operation.
Note that this guidance does not apply to organisations that are linked to a
school and which, regardless of the status of the school, may be charitable. For
example, a parent teacher association or a trust fund for a school prize, are
likely to be charitable irrespective of the type of the school. These organisations
must apply to register as a charity when called forward to do so and, if you are
aware of such an organisation and the Commission does not have its details,
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then it is important that you make the Commission aware by completing and
submitting an Expression of intent form.
2.0 What is a charity?
It is compulsory for all charities in Northern Ireland to apply for registration. This
is irrespective of their size, annual income or whether they are registered with
HMRC for charitable tax purposes. Some organisations that meet the definition
may not previously have thought of themselves as charities. An organisation
must apply for registration as a charity in Northern Ireland if:



It is an institution, that is, it is an organisation that is an independent
body, the hallmarks of which include having control and direction over its
governance and resources, and
It has exclusively charitable purposes, and
It is governed by the law of Northern Ireland.
There are no exceptions or exemptions to applying for charity registration. This
is important for public trust and confidence and to ensure that all charities are
effectively regulated. For an organisation to have purposes which are
exclusively charitable in law this means that each purpose must:


fall under one or more of the 12 descriptions of purposes set out in section
2(2) of the Charities Act and
be for the public benefit.
Even if all but one of an organisation's purposes are charitable, it would not be
considered to have exclusively charitable purposes and would not be registered
as a charity. Further information can be found in the Commission’s public
benefit requirement statutory guidance.
When deciding whether an organisation meets the legal definition of a charity
the Commission examines the governing documents by which the organisation
was established. Governing documents take many forms, for example,
constitutions, trust deeds, memorandum and articles of association or a Royal
charter.
Deciding whether or not an organisation or institution is a charity may be more
complicated when that organisation or institution has connections to the
government. In those cases, additional documents, such as legislative
provisions or memoranda of understanding, must be considered.
2.1 How does this impact on whether schools are required to register?
The 12 descriptions of charitable purposes within the Charities Act include “the
advancement of education.” It is likely that schools will have purposes which fall
within this description.
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However, grant aided schools have clear connections to the government. They
receive funding from, and must operate within the rules laid down by,
government departments, for example, by following the national curriculum.
In the case of grant aided schools it will be necessary for the Commission to
study both the governing documents and the legal rules under which the schools
were established.
The key question is whether the arrangements within the governing documents
allow for government control of the school purposes or merely control of the
activities which the school carries out to achieve its purposes. If the government
has the ability to control the purposes of the school, with a view to implementing
the broader policies and objectives of government, the school is unlikely to be
established for charitable purposes only.
3.0 What schools will be required to apply to register?
This section of the guidance explains which types of schools will be required to
apply to register with the Commission. This is also illustrated, for ease of
reference, in a chart on page 7.
Schools in Northern Ireland are either independent or grant aided. Independent
schools, if they are established for exclusively charitable purposes, will be
required to apply to register as a charity with the Commission. There are
different types of grant aided schools and different requirements for each type.
The three types of grant aided schools in Northern Ireland are controlled
(excluding controlled integrated), integrated and voluntary.
The differences between the various types of school are found in a combination
of the following pieces of legislation:



Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986 (“the 1986 Order”)
Education Reform (NI) Order 1989 (“the 1989 Order”)
Education (NI) Order 1996 (“the 1996 Order”)
The Commission has reviewed the constitution and governance of the various
types of grant aided schools in Northern Ireland and has reached a conclusion in
relation to the likely charitable status of each type of school. The Commission’s
view is that:
Controlled (excluding controlled integrated) schools: are not charities and
will not be required to apply to register with the Commission
Integrated schools: may be charities and will be required to apply to register
with the Commission
Voluntary (including maintained) schools: may be charities and will be
required to apply to register with the Commission.
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Further information on the legal underpinning informing how the Commission
reached its view on each of the types of school is set out in section 4 of this
guidance.
Those schools that are required to apply to register will have their applications
considered, like all applications, on a case by case basis. The Commission will do
this by assessing:



The school’s application, setting out its purposes and the public benefit
flowing from those purposes
Any governing document which established the school
The extent to which the government controls the purposes of the school,
rather than just the activities it carries out to achieve its purposes.
3.1 Chart illustrating what types of school will be required to apply to
register as a charity with the Commission
Schools in Northern
Ireland
Independent
Grant aided
Required to apply to
register as a charity with
the Commission
May be required to apply
to register as a charity
with the Commission
Controlled (excluding
controlled integrated)
Integrated
Not required to apply to
register as a charity with
the Commission
Required to apply to
register as a charity with
the Commission
Voluntary (includes
maintained and
voluntary grammar)
Required to apply to
register as a charity with
the Commission
Colour code
Green: required to apply to register
Amber: may be required to apply to register
Red: not required to apply to register
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4.0 Legal underpinning
4.1 Controlled schools (excluding controlled integrated)
These are schools which have either been established by a former Education and
Library Board (‘the Board’) or the control of which has been transferred to the
Board. Controlled schools are under the management of a Board of Governors
which is appointed by the Education and Library Board in accordance with Article
10(1) of the 1986 Order.
Staff within controlled schools are employed by the Board and the school’s
funding derives from the Board’s Common Funding Scheme. The Board of
Governors may be delegated to exercise certain functions of the Board, on its
behalf. Where it does so, it is regarded as acting as a Committee of the Board,
as per Articles 10(3)(b) and (5) of the 1986 Order. For example, a Board of
Governors may interview and recruit teachers, but they do this on behalf of the
Board.
With regards to controlled schools, excluding controlled integrated schools, the
constitutional document is a scheme of management and the only relevant
“institution” is the Board of Governors which is established under the scheme.
The Department of Education’s suggested schemes do not specify purposes.
Rather, they state that the school “shall be conducted in accordance with”
certain arrangements, including the Education Orders and the directions of the
Department of Education. While it is not clear that these provisions constitute a
purpose, even if they do, the Commission considers that they are not confined to
the achievement of charitable purposes and therefore controlled schools are not
considered to have been established for charitable purposes only.
The position may be different for controlled integrated schools if they were
established before recognition as a controlled school. These are covered in the
section on integrated schools below.
4.2 Integrated schools
Integrated schools are established in order to achieve religious and cross
community integration within the school setting. Each integrated school is under
the control of a Board of Governors which is required by law to ensure that the
management, control and ethos of the school are likely to attract reasonable
numbers of pupils from both Protestant and Roman Catholic backgrounds. This
type of school is recognised under Part V1 of the Education Reform (Northern
Ireland) Order 1989. Under Article 64 of the 1986 Order, the Department of
Education has a duty to facilitate the development of integrated education.
Integrated schools can be either grant maintained or controlled. If an integrated
school is grant maintained the Department has responsibility for maintaining the
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school. If it is controlled, the Department funds its maintenance but the Board
has responsibility for managing the school.
The Commission understands that all integrated schools are established by
incorporation of a company limited by guarantee prior to being recognised as a
grant-aided school under the 1986 Order. Assuming this is the case, it will be
necessary to call them forward to apply for charity registration with the
Commission. The company’s memorandum and articles of association will be the
relevant governing document when deciding whether or not they qualify for
charitable status.
If the governing document contains purposes which are exclusively charitable in
nature, the Commission will then have to assess whether the process of
becoming either a controlled or a grant maintained school has rendered these
purposes not exclusively charitable and therefore not qualifying for charitable
status.
4.3 Voluntary (including maintained) schools
Voluntary schools are grant-aided schools which are not a controlled or a grant
maintained integrated school in accordance with Article 2(2) of the 1986 Order.
They will normally have been established by a governing document such as a
deed of trust or through the incorporation of a company limited by guarantee.
When deciding whether a voluntary school is a charity, the Commission’s focus
will be on the governing document as the relevant legal instrument establishing
the school. If that document contains purposes which are exclusively charitable
in nature, the Commission will then have to assess whether the process of
becoming a school with voluntary status has rendered these purposes not
exclusively charitable and therefore not qualifying for charitable status.
5.0 How will schools know when they are required to apply to
register?
The Commission proposes to call forward those organisations which it believes
may have been established for charitable purposes – voluntary and integrated
schools. This will be done in a managed way and in consultation with the
Department.
Those schools that are called forward will receive correspondence from the
Commission providing them with unique log in details for the online application
system and links to relevant guidance. Organisations that are called forward to
apply to register as a charity are also invited to a workshop on the process –
attendance at this is strongly recommended.
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Many of the controlled (excluding integrated) schools have been treated as
charities by the Charities Act 2008 (Transitional Provision) Order (Northern
Ireland) 2013. This is the order which ‘deemed’ organisations to be charities
until the Commission had the opportunity to assess them. The Commission will
liaise with the Department regarding arrangements for this group of schools.
Once an organisation is called forward to apply to register as a charity, it is the
responsibility of the organisation’s trustees to ensure that the organisation
meets its requirements. The trustees of a school will usually be known as the
board of governors.
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Useful links
Department of Education: https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/
Registering as a charity in Northern Ireland guidance CCNI EG016
Statutory guidance on the public benefit requirement PBR1
The advancement of education supporting document PBSD02
Public benefit glossary PBG
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Running your charity CCNI EG024
Equality guidance for charities in Northern Ireland CCNI EG043
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Further information on our activities is available from:
Charity Commission for
Northern Ireland
257 Lough Road
Lurgan
Craigavon
BT66 6NQ
www.charitycommissionni.org.uk
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 028 3832 0220
Fax: 028 3834 5943
TextPhone: 028 3834 7639
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This document is available in large print or other formats on
request
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