A quick post to let you know that charitable companies are now [Jan 2018] finally able to simply covert to a CIO.

For those who are new to this a CIO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which essentially means it’s a charity and a limited liability structure all in one and is regulated by the Charity Commission.

Until the CIO structure was introduced (about 5 years ago) charities that needed to limit liabilities needed to register a limited company (by guarantee) in addition to the charity registration. This means essentially they report to two regulatory bodies (Charity Commission) and (Companies House).

Since the introduction of the CIO structure there have been a number of new charities opting for the CIO structure with over 13,000 CIO’s registered at the time of writing, so it would seem to be a popular choice.

Indeed many older charities (with the dual structure noted above) have been considering converting to a CIO and have been eagerly awaiting the simple conversion which is now possible.

Don’t get too excited all at once though if you are reading this and have an income of over £12,500. The simple process is to be staged in a similar way to the introduction of the CIO. The staging announced is:

Date Annual income £
1 Jan 2018  less than 12,500
1 Mar 2018 12,500 – 25,000
1 May 2018 25,000 – 100,000
1 Jun 2018 100,000 – 250,000
1 Jul 2018 250,000 – 500,000
1 Aug 2018 More than 500,000

 

Further info https://www.gov.uk/guidance/change-your-charity-structure#convert-a-charitable-company-to-a-cio