The news that the Charities Bill is unlikely to make through parliament before the General Election has been described as “disappointing and frustrating” by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). It is urging both politicians and the sector not to give up pressing for change.

Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said: “While the Charities Bill will almost certainly not make it onto the statute books this year, this should be seen as a delay not defeat. It looks like the voluntary sector will have to wait a bit longer for the much needed reform of its 400 year old law.

“We have been very pleased by the constructive way that the Government, Conservative and Liberal Democrat front benches have worked on the Committee Stage thus far, but the length of time spent by the House of Lords scrutinising a bill that has already been subject to extensive consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny, in combination with the impending General Election, has been the Charities Bill’s undoing”.

The NCVO has said that once a date for the election has been confirmed, it will be lobbying for the re-introduction of the bill by the next government, and will be calling for the thirty members of the Coalition for a Charities Act to write to the three main political parties for their support for the legislation.