The information which appears in this page applies only to charities which are not SCIOs. If you are an SCIO please read our publication SCIOs: A Guide for further information on how to amalgamate.
Charities applying for OSCR's consent to amalgamate must
consider the following:
Summary of process for amalgamation under section 16(2)(b)
- you need to give us notice of your proposal to amalgamate by
submitting a complete application to OSCR at least 42
days before you intend to take the action
- we will check whether your constitution gives you as charity
trustees sufficient power to take the proposed action
- we will consider whether the organisation which will be created
as a result of the amalgamation will only be able to apply the
charitable assets of your charity for charitable purposes.
Please read our Meeting the Charity Test
guidance for further information.
Within 28 days of the complete application
being received, we will either:
- notify you that we are giving our consent
- issue you with a direction not to take the action (this will
apply for a period of not more than 6 months)
- refuse consent.
If we give you our consent you can take the action after the
42 day period is complete (from the date when we
received the application). We may attach conditions to the
consent to ensure that the amalgamation is given effect to in
accordance with your charity's constitution and to ensure that you
notify us within 3 months of this taking
place. We may also attach conditions as to how charitable
assets may be used.
If it appears to us that we may not be able to consent to the
proposed amalgamation we will in the first instance alert you to
this and discuss how the difficulty may be overcome, before making
the decision to refuse consent. At the same time as alerting
you to the difficulty we will issue you a direction not to take the
action for a specified period of time, to allow time for the
difficulties to be overcome.
You must notify us within 3 months of
having taken the action for which we gave you our consent.
You must apply to us for prior consent not less than
42 days before you intend to amalgamate, and
specify the date on which you intend to do so. In practice,
this means you must submit a complete application with all of the
the required documentation and information at least 42 days before
the meeting at which you intend to formally agree to the
amalgamation.
Information required for amalgamation
If you wish to get our consent to amalgamate you will need to
apply to us by submitting a completed application form and a copy
of your current constitution.
The application form asks for:
- current name and charity number
- principal contact details for the charity
- contact details of the person making the application (if these
are different from the principal contact)
- proposed effective date of the amalgamation (to ensure we have
been given notice at least 42 days before you intend to give effect
to the change
- Charity Commission number (for Cross-Border charities
only)
- details of any other regulators whose consent you will need to
obtain (if any).
A copy of your charity's current constitution needs to be
included to allow us to establish whether it gives the charity
trustees the power to take the proposed action.
If any of the required information is not included, we will
contact you within 5 days to ask you to provide it. The 28
days within which we need to make a decision on your application
start only when we receive a complete application which will allow
us to make the decision.
Amalgamations can vary considerably from case to case, and the
exact documents that will be required will depend on the detail of
what you propose to do. We will be happy to assist you in
deciding what will be needed. However, this means it is
important to contact us as early as possible if there is a specific
date (for example your charity's AGM) by which consent will be
needed.
Where the amalgamation involves 2 or more charities, we need
to receive the necessary information in respect of all the
charities involved. The application form allows for joint
notification by charities proposing to amalgamate. We will
also need:
- a statement from the receiving body (this is the body which you
intend should receive the assets from the amalgamating
charities). The statement should say that it is prepared
to accept all assets and liabilities from the amalgamating
charities
- the constitution of the receiving body.