A Charitable Incorporated Organisation is a corporate form of business designed for charitable organisations in the United Kingdom. CIO status is conferred by the Charity Commission on application by a charity, whether new or existing. The main benefits of the form are that the charity has legal personality, and its members have limited liability. Historically these benefits were only available to limited companies, and many charities chose to incorporate as charitable companies limited by guarantee. However, this requires registration and filings with both Companies House and the Charity Commission, each of which has its own regulations and requirements. In contrast a CIO only needs to register and file accounts and returns with the Charity Commission. This aims to reduce bureaucracy for the charity. Uniquely among limited liability corporations in the UK, smaller CIOs can opt to file receipts and payments accounts, rather than the accruals accounts usually required. But one disadvantage of the form for larger charities is that, unlike for charitable companies, there is no public register of lenders' charges over the corporation's assets, and this can make it harder to arrange finance. Almost any existing charity, including charitable companies, can convert to a CIO. Once a CIO there is currently no means of converting to any other legal form.
History
The CIO status became available to charities in England and Wales on 4 March 2013. In Scotland, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator began registering Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations in April 2011. The idea originated with the Chief Executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Judy Weleminsky, in 1992 and was taken forward by Lindsay Driscoll who was the Head of Legal and Governance at NCVO. A Charity Commission advisory group was set up in 2000 to look at incorporation of charities, and recommended a new form of legal entity. In 2001 the Department of Trade and Industry's company law review steering group likewise recommended a charitable incorporated organisation with a separate legal regime, as company law is aimed at the commercial sector, with corporate governance structured around the assumption that members of a company have a financial interest in it. Primary legislation to introduce the CIO as a new legal form of incorporation was included in the Charities Bill in 2004, and this aspect of the Bill was particularly welcomed by charities. It was finally enacted in the Charities Act 2006. The Charity Commission opened a consultation on draft documentation and regulations in 2008, raising a large number of difficulties and suggested improvements. The Scottish regulator began registering SCIOs in April 2011, and a fifth of new Scottish charities registered by December of that year were SCIOs. To spread the workload for the regulator, existing charitable companies and industrial and provident societies were unable to convert to SCIOs until 2012; other forms of charity in Scotland were able to apply from April 2011. Implementation in England and Wales has likewise been phased, starting in 2013 with brand new charities, followed by conversions of existing unincorporated charities according to income, and then followed by charitable companies. The Charity Commission in England and Wales began publishing guidance in May 2011. On 4 March 2013, for the first time, the Commission enabled an existing charity, Challenge to Change, to convert from a charitable trust to a CIO. It later reported some difficulties in transferring assets and long-term grant agreements to the new legal entity and subsequently closed due to reduced levels of funding. Another charity converted but then reverted to its old status because of the cost and inconvenience of changing its registration number., there were over 17,000 CIOs registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
