Charity Commission revamps its website

The Charity Commission is encouraging charities and their professional advisers to take advantage of the wide range of the regulator’s services that can be accessed quickly and conveniently through its recently redesigned website.

The plans are explained in the latest copy of CC News, the Commission’s newsletter.

CC News will in future only be sent out by email and published on the Commission’s website.

Charities and trustees are being encouraged to provide the Commission with their email addresses in order to continue receiving it.

The Commission has been developing its online services over the past few years and the number of charities taking advantage of these continues to grow, with over 70% of charity registration applications now submitted online.

As well as registration, a number of other Commission services can be easily accessed online. Trustees can view and update their charity’s information, complete annual returns or update forms and upload annual accounts.

Last year there was a 24% increase in take-up of the Commission’s online services, with over 75% of annual return or update submissions by charities made via the website.

Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Charity Commission, said: “By providing more services online we can respond more efficiently and do more within a shorter period of time.

"We respond to emails within half the time it takes us to answer letters, so it makes sense for charities, advisers and members of the public to contact us in this way. It really is by far the most efficient way of working for many charities.

“Our aim is to have all services online by 2012. Clearly this is a big step and we want to give charities time to plan around it. We will also be keen to hear what they think about our plans when we publish more details about our approach in the next few months.”

Like all public bodies, the Charity Commission has faced reductions in its budget in recent years.

The Commission has worked hard to make efficiency savings and continues to do so. Increased online working can help the Commission to maintain good levels of customer service within a constrained budget.