Setting up ‘My Charity Commission Account’
What trustees and charities need to know about ‘My Charity Commission Account’, and how to set up and use your own account.
What is ‘My Charity Commission Account’?
‘My Charity Commission Account’ is a new way for trustees and charity contacts to access the Charity Commission’s online services. It can also be used by other people you have authorised, such as your accountant or lawyer.
Our online services include updating charity details, submitting annual returns, and making changes to a governing document, a charity’s name or financial year end. Over time, through ‘My Charity Commission Account’, we will also provide you with tailored support and information to help you to run your charity well.
Each account is individual – you have your own email sign-in and password. You will also be able to view all your charities through one account if you use the same email address for each of your charities, which we recommend.
The level of access to our online services is determined by the type of account you have and the services and information you need. This access will be managed by the charity’s contact.
This means the right people can continue to do what they need to on behalf of your charity, while ensuring the information we hold about you and your charity remains secure.
When ‘My Charity Commission Account’ will be launched
We will be rolling out ‘My Charity Commission Account’ in 2 stages.
Phase 1 (currently planned for November 2022 – March 2023)
This phase is to prepare charity contacts (the person registered with the Charity Commission as the contact for your charity), so their accounts are set up and ready to access our online services when we fully launch ‘My Charity Commission Account’ in phase 2.
To do this, we will start by emailing a small number of charity contacts so we can learn from their experience before we reach out to more charities. We will then email the remaining contacts, in a phased approach, until all contacts have been invited to set up their account.
If you are the contact for your charity, you will receive an email inviting you to set up your Charity Commission Account. The email will contain a unique link so you can do this. It is easy to do and only takes a few minutes.
Charity contacts will have an administration account, which is explained below.
If you are a trustee, or a third party acting on behalf of a charity, but you are not the charity contact, you will not be able to set up an account until phase 2.
During phase 1, whether you are a trustee, contact or third party, you should continue to engage with the Commission and our services as you do now, using your existing log-in details.
Phase 2 (from Spring 2023 onwards)
In Spring 2023, ‘My Charity Commission Account’ will ‘go live’ and will be the new way you access our online services. From this date:
contacts can enable trustees and authorised third parties to set up their accounts – we will provide guidance on this
trustees, contacts and authorised third parties who have set up an account will be able to access a range of our online services
Next steps for charity contacts and trustees
If you are a charity contact and/or a trustee:
continue using your existing details to log in to our online services using the current sign-in page
ensure your charity contact email address is current – if your charity contact does not have an email address, or the email address is incorrect, update this using our update charity details service and ensure all other information we hold about your charity is correct
look out for an email from the Commission (if you are the charity contact) with details of how to set up your account
We recommend that any charities using a shared email address, such as ‘info@charityname.org.uk’ for both the charity contact and trustees, change these to individual email addresses used by that person only. You can do this now by using our update charity details service. This will make setting up your individual accounts in Phase 2 much easier for you (see What email address should I use?) and will help you keep your information secure.
As a charity contact you will be kept fully informed of next steps and any action required. We will continue to update this page and will provide detailed guidance in advance of the launch. Keep your charity’s trustees updated as appropriate.
We have provided some useful information below, including what types of account will be available and the levels of access individuals will have.
Types of account
Your account, and your level of access to our online services, will depend on your role within, or relationship with, the charity. The different accounts, with the corresponding levels of access, are outlined below.
Administrator account
You will have an administrator account if you are registered with the Charity Commission as the contact for your charity. This is usually a trustee but could be an employee or a legal advisor or accountant.
As the charity’s contact, you will be the classed as the ‘primary administrator’ and will have a ‘full access’ account.
If you are an administrator, when your account is activated and you first sign-in, you will be asked to confirm that you are authorised by your trustees to have this access.
Having a full access administrator account means, from Spring 2023, you’ll be able to:
access all our online services for your charity or charities
enable other users to set up accounts linked to your charity, for example, trustees or a professional advisor such as an accountant – you’ll also be responsible for activating all individual user accounts as well as managing user access and new account requests
grant administrative rights to other users (referred to as ‘additional permissions’) so that they can carry out some administrator activities
amend other users’ access permissions based on what they need to do for your charity
view and edit personal information included on third-party user accounts linked to your charity (these are accounts for anyone who is not a contact or a trustee) so long as the third party is not a trustee or main contact of another charity
view and edit trustee information on our other online services, such as the register of charities
Trustee account
If you are a charity trustee, you will:
have access to all our online services for your charity
be able to update and maintain your own personal details, but not those of other trustees, third parties or the charity contact
be able to see the names of the other trustees and their dates of appointment only
The primary administrator (the charity contact) will send you a link to enable you to set up an account once the system goes live in Spring 2023.
The primary administrator can also grant you some administrative rights if it is necessary for you to carry out some administrator activities.
Before you are granted administrative rights, you will be asked to confirm that you are authorised by the other trustees of the charity to have this access.
Third-party account
If you are, for example, an employee of the charity (who is not the charity’s contact) or a professional advisor for the charity such as an accountant or lawyer, you may need access to our online services on the charity’s behalf.
You can request a Charity Commission account from the charity’s contact, who will manage both your account and your access to our online services. You will be able to request this when the system goes live in Spring 2023.
If you are a third-party user, you will:
have access to sections of our online services that are appropriate for the activity you are undertaking for the charity
be able to access, update and maintain your own personal details, but not that of any trustees, third parties or the charity contact
The primary administrator (charity contact) can grant you some administrative rights if it is necessary for you to carry out some administrator activities. Before you are granted administrative rights, you will be asked to confirm that you are authorised by the trustees of the charity to have this access.
Further information
What email address should I use?
If you are a charity contact, you will be set up with the email address that we currently hold for you. This may be your work email address, a personal email address, or a shared or generic email address such as ‘info@charityname.org.uk’.
To prepare for when ‘My Charity Commission Account’ goes live in Spring 2023, we recommend that you change any shared or generic email address to one that is unique to you. This can be a work email address such as ‘yourname@charityname.org.uk’ or a personal email address. You can also change this now, using our update charity details service.
If you are a trustee or a third party, when you set up an account, use an email address that is unique to you. This can be a work email address such as ‘yourname@charityname.org.uk’ or a personal email address.
Consider what email addresses work best for you and your charity before you set up your accounts.
Do not share your account details or password with anyone else. So we can continue to keep your data secure, ‘My Charity Commission Account’ has been set up to ensure accounts are unique to each individual. Consider the risks involved to your charity’s data if individual account details or passwords are shared (see Do you have any advice on data protection and staying secure online?).
Will I be able to link the charities I am involved with into one account?
Yes. You may have more than one role within a charity or charities. For example, you might be:
a trustee of, and the contact for, your charity
a contact for 2 or more charities
the CEO and contact for one charity and a trustee of another charity
a trustee of one charity and a professional advisor to another
Initially, you will only be able to set up an account if you are a contact for a charity – you may be the primary administrator for more than one charity. You will be able to set up a trustee account or apply for a third-party account from Spring 2023.
If you use the same email address (for example, a personal email address) for each of your roles, then you only need to set up your account once and your charities will automatically be linked to that account.
If you use, or need to use, different email addresses, then a separate account is created for each email address.
If you are a professional advisor, for example an accountant, you may work with multiple charities. If the email address you use is the same for each charity, then you will have one account that links all these charities. The detail for each charity remains separate within your account.
If you are involved with more than one charity, consider what the best email address to use is before you set up your account.
Should our charity have more than one administrator?
Yes. We recommend that when ‘My Charity Commission Account’ goes live, other people within the charity, for example, another trustee or employee, are granted additional permissions. This will enable the charity to effectively cover administrative activity, for example in case of absence through holidays or sickness, or if the primary administrator is no longer involved with your charity.
The number of people with administrative permissions should be proportionate to the size of your charity. We recommend a minimum of one additional person having administrative permissions, but no more than 4 additional people (for large charities).
Consider who is most appropriate for your own charity, taking into account your charity’s GDPR policy, the roles of the individuals concerned and their knowledge and understanding of your charity.
What if I need help and advice on ‘My Charity Commission Account’?
If you are a charity contact who needs support or advice during phase 1, then contact us in one of the following ways:
Telephone: 0300 066 9197 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
For all other advice and support, we recommend you wait until our detailed guidance is published.