A step-by-step guide to registering with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
Registering a charity in England and Wales follows a clear sequence: settle what your organisation is for, choose a structure, get your objects and governing document right, appoint trustees, and apply to the Charity Commission. This guide is the practical walk-through of those steps, in the order you take them.
For the details behind any of them – what the Commission is really testing, and why applications fail – our full charity registration guide goes deeper. This article keeps to the doing.
If you would rather prepare the application with someone who does it regularly, our charity setup support does exactly that.
Step 1: Check if you need to register
Two things decide it: your structure and your income. Set your organisation up as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, and registering is what brings it into existence, so it registers whatever its income is. For every other structure – a charitable company, a trust, an unincorporated association – the duty to register begins once gross income passes £5,000 a year. This guide covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own regulators and rules. Our registration guide sets out who has to register in full.
Step 2: Choose your structure
Most new charities use a CIO: it is incorporated, answers only to the Charity Commission, and keeps the paperwork lighter than a company. A charitable company gives the same protection but reports to Companies House as well. A trust or an unincorporated association is simpler to set up, though it leaves trustees personally liable. The choice shapes how you are run and is awkward to change later, so it is worth settling early. Our guide to choosing a structure compares them, and the CIO guide covers that route in full.
Step 3: Write your charitable objects
Your objects are the legal statement of what the organisation exists to do, and they are the part the Commission reads most closely. Each one has to fall within the charitable purposes recognised in law and be certain, clear enough that a court could read it and know what it requires. Vague or overly broad wording is the most common reason an application stalls. Get these right, and much of the rest follows; the registration guide explains what makes objects pass or fail.
Step 4: Prepare your governing document
This is your organisation’s rulebook; its name and objects, how trustees are appointed, how decisions get made, and what happens if it closes. The type depends on your structure: a constitution for a CIO or an association, articles of association for a company, or a trust deed for a trust. The Charity Commission publishes model documents you can adapt, and it is worth tailoring them to how you actually work rather than filing them unchanged. The registration guide covers what a governing document needs to contain.
Step 5: Appoint your trustees
Most boards need at least three trustees, and the Commission looks closely at who they are. A trustee must be at least 16 for a CIO or a company, and 18 for a trust or an association, and certain people are disqualified, including undischarged bankrupts and anyone with an unspent conviction for an offence involving dishonesty or deception. Each signs a declaration confirming they are eligible. A board that brings a mix of skills – finance, legal, the area you work in – helps it govern well from the start.
Step 6: Get your supporting information ready
Before you open the application, gather what it asks for: a clear description of your planned activities and how they deliver public benefit, your trustees’ details, and your financial information; expected income, funding sources, and any forecasts. The public benefit description is where careful applicants come unstuck. The Commission wants to see how the work delivers the purpose – what you will do, who benefits, and how. A statement of intent is not enough.
Step 7: Apply to the Charity Commission
You apply online, through gov.uk, once the groundwork is done. With everything prepared, the form is mostly a matter of entering what you already have. Submit it once, and submit it consistently; mismatches between the form and your documents are a common cause of follow-up questions.
The objects and the public benefit case are where applications most often go wrong, and where a second pair of eyes pays off.
If you would like yours checked before anything goes in, a free call is the quickest way to find the real problem rather than guess at it.
Step 8: After you apply
Plan for the Commission’s decision to take around three to six months, and longer for complex applications. If anything is unclear, it will come back with questions, so a prompt, straight answer keeps things moving. A decision goes one of two ways: approved, and you get a charity number and a place on the register; or refused, with the reasons set out and, often, room to amend and reapply. If you are refused, our article on why applications get refused covers how to read the letter and what to do next.
Step 9: Once you’re registered
Registration is the start of operating. Set up a dedicated charity bank account with more than one authorised signatory, register with HMRC so you can claim Gift Aid and other reliefs; this is separate from registering with the Commission, and hold your first trustee meeting. Our full registration guide covers what comes after registration in more detail.
Getting it right the first time
The applications that go through cleanly are the ones prepared properly before they are submitted – clear objects, a public benefit case that shows delivery, and a governing document that holds up. If you would rather do that with someone who prepares these regularly, our charity setup and registration support prepares your application with you, from the objects clause to approval. A conversation is a practical first step.
