England and Wales: Charities Act 2006--receives Royal Assent and becomes law

Abstract

The Charities Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006. A few sections are already in force, but most of the Act will be brought into effect by statutory instruments, to be issued by the newly appointed Minister for the Third Sector, Ed Miliband. The provisions of the Act are expected to be implemented in three tranches, in early 2007, late 2007 and early 2008. The Act draws together historic ideas about what is charitable with categories designed to be flexible enough to accommodate future social and economic developments. To this end, the preamble to the Charitable Uses Act 1601—the Statute of Elizabeth—which is the source of the current four heads of charity (relief of poverty, advancement of religion, advancement of education and any other purpose beneficial to the community), is to be replaced by a new, more detailed list of descriptions of charitable purposes to...