Merger

A charity (A) may be being wound up or dissolved because it has merged with another charity (C) which has been established for the same or similar objects. 

Charity C may be completely unrelated to charity A, or charity C may have been established as a successor to charity A, for example where charity A is an unincorporated charity or trust and, due to the nature of its operations, the charity trustees consider that they would be best undertaken by a charitable company, and so charity C is incorporated.

Alternatively, the merger of two charities (A and B) results in the creation of a new charity (C).

Part 7 (sections 31 to 35) of the Charities Registration and Regulation Act 2019 provides for the creation of a register of charity mergers.

There is no obligation to inform the Attorney General of a charity merger, but it can be beneficial to do so.

The effect of the entry of a merger on the register is that any future gift or bequest to charity A (or B) is automatically payable to charity C, meaning that there is no need to keep charity A (or B) in existence, and on the register and subject to the continuing filing requirements, merely to receive future gifts or bequests and to pay them over to charity C.

A charity merger is reported by charity C, using the Merger Notification Form which is available on Forms and Templates. This must be done within one month of the date of the transfer of the assets to charity C.