The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has launched a public consultation about the information the Commission collects from charities, most of which is published on its online Register of Charities.

The information on the Register is collected at the point of registration and later through the Annual Update and Annual Return process. This information forms the basis of a charity's entry on the Commission's online Register, which is used by the public, funders and donors, charities and researchers. From April 2011 to March 2012, people searched and found charities' details on the Register over 6 million times.
In addition to the responses on the consultation questions, the Commission is keen to receive comments or suggestions about the information that charities submit on an annual basis. This will help the Commission to develop its future agenda for information as well as informing more immediate changes to the Annual Return. The Annual Return for 2012 is not affected: any changes to future Annual Returns will be carried forward at the next available opportunity.

The online Register allows visitors to see which charities have filed promptly and which are overdue. The Charity Commission encourages anyone who is interested in or wishing to support charities to use this publicly available resource to find out more.

Views are welcome from everyone who has an interest in the Commission's approach to collecting information from charities and from anyone who uses the online Register of Charities. This is an opportunity for the general public, funders, charities and researchers to have input into what information is provided on the Register.

The consultation period ends on 20th July, 2012. Go to Charity Commission