How quickly must I tell the regulator about a change of trustees or address?

England and Wales: researched — there is no statutory deadline at all; see below. Scotland: researched — a timed statutory duty applies instead, considerably stricter than England and Wales. Northern Ireland: not researched for this step; do not read the England and Wales position across.

England and Wales: the absence of a deadline is the finding

Section 35(3) of the Charities Act 2011 requires a registered charity to notify the Commission of changes to the information in its register entry. It attaches no time limit to that duty. None.

Most trustees assume something company-law-shaped — fourteen days, twenty-eight days, something short and countable. There is nothing. And because there is nothing to miss, the natural conclusion is that it can wait until the annual return, when you are updating things anyway.

That conclusion is wrong, and open-ended is not the same as unenforceable. The duty is continuous. The Commission’s double-defaulter work treats an out-of-date entry as part of the same misconduct finding as a failure to file — not a separate, lesser thing. An entry that is wrong for seven months is wrong for seven months, whether or not a clock was running.

Scotland: 3 months, and 1 month for the serious ones

Scotland does attach deadlines, and they are statutory rather than guidance. Under s.17 of the 2005 Act, notice of a change to the principal office, to any other detail in the register entry, to the constitution, or of one of the notifiable actions must reach OSCR within 3 months of the change.

Two events get a shorter clock: a court administration or winding-up order, and the appointment of a receiver over any of the charity’s property. Those must be notified within 1 month. A third of the ordinary period, for the events where the regulator most needs to know quickly.

What to notify

• Trustees appointed, resigned or removed
• The charity’s principal office or correspondence address
• The charity’s name
• Changes to the governing document
• Contact details for the charity
• In Scotland, also administration or winding-up orders and receiver appointments

Changing a name: the order is fixed

If you are a charitable company changing its name, the sequence matters and nothing on any of the three websites tells you so. Companies House first, then the Charity Commission, then HMRC.

Do it in a different order and you will be asking one regulator to record a name that another has not yet recognised, which at best generates correspondence and at worst leaves your Gift Aid claims pointing at a body that no longer exists under that name.

Make it a process, not a task

The deliverable here is not a one-off update. It is a standing habit: whoever minutes a trustee change also updates the register entry, in the same sitting, before the minutes are filed. Tie it to the event rather than to the calendar, because the event is the only reliable trigger.

Common mistake: batching all register updates into the annual return

It feels like the natural moment, and there is no deadline forcing otherwise in England and Wales. But it is a continuous duty, not an annual one — the double-defaulter inquiry treats an out-of-date entry as part of the same misconduct finding as failing to file.

Common mistake: changing a charitable company’s name in the wrong order

Nothing signals that order matters. The order is fixed: Companies House first, then the Charity Commission, then HMRC.

Worked example

Two trustees resign in June; the charity’s year end is 31 March. In England and Wales, waiting until the following January’s annual return breaches no deadline, because there is none — but the register is wrong for seven months, and the duty was continuing throughout. In Scotland the same delay breaches s.17(3) outright.