Does my charity have to register with the Fundraising Regulator?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: covered, and different — complaints about a charity registered with OSCR go to a separate body, and the Fundraising Preference Service does not cover Scottish-registered charities; which body applies depends on where the charity is registered, not where it fundraises. Northern Ireland: the same position as England and Wales, with one difference in principle — the Fundraising Regulator covers Northern Ireland by a voluntary sector agreement, not by law.

Registration with the Fundraising Regulator: three common mistakes

Registration is voluntary, the Code applies anyway, and the Regulator cannot fine: all three contradict what the sector commonly believes. What this page covers sits on top of the legal duties that apply when someone fundraises for you commercially. Those are set out when you use a professional fundraiser or commercial participator.

Registration is voluntary, at every size. The Fundraising Regulator is the body that sets the Code of Fundraising Practice and considers complaints about fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. No statute requires a charity to register with it, and the Regulator’s own materials describe the whole scheme as voluntary.

The levy threshold looks like a trigger. It is not. Charities above it are invited to pay.

The Charity Commission’s own guidance, CC20, makes the same point in one word. It lists six things trustees must do in fundraising — comply with the law, raise and use funds only for the charity’s purposes, and so on. Then it says trustees “should” register with the Fundraising Regulator and follow the Code. That word is the answer to this page’s question, and it is the regulator’s.

The Code applies to you anyway. Registering is not what brings you under the Code of Fundraising Practice. The Regulator says, verbatim: “Fundraising activity in the UK by organisations who are not registered with the Fundraising Regulator is still covered by the code. We will consider complaints about fundraising activity whether fundraisers are registered with us or not”.

The Regulator cannot fine. It can do three things:

• publish its findings and name the charity
• take away the Fundraising Badge and the directory listing
• refer the charity to a regulator that does have powers — the Charity Commission or the Information Commissioner’s Office

Anything that says the Fundraising Regulator can impose penalties is wrong.

So the Code is expectation, not law. In the Regulator’s own words, “The code is not legally binding.” It is enforced by reputation, and by referral to bodies that can do more.

Where the pressure to register comes from

Nothing makes charities register, yet many do. Four things push them.

• The Fundraising Badge. Registered charities may put it on their materials. Losing it is one of the Regulator’s sanctions.
• The public directory. Registered charities are listed. Absence is visible.
• Funders. Some ask about it as part of their checks on an applicant.
• The annual report. Some charities must disclose whether they have signed up. This is the only legal duty on the page.

The fundraising statement in the annual report. Section 162A of the Charities Act 2011 applies in England and Wales. Under it, a charity whose accounts must be audited must include a fundraising statement in its trustees’ annual report. It must cover:

1. the approach taken to fundraising activities, and in particular whether a professional fund-raiser or commercial participator carried on any of them
2. whether the charity or anyone acting on its behalf was subject to an undertaking to be bound by a voluntary scheme or standard for regulating fundraising, and if so which
3. any failure to comply with such a scheme or standard
4. whether the charity monitored fundraising activities carried on by others on its behalf, and if so how
5. the number of complaints received about fundraising activities
6. what the charity has done to protect vulnerable people and other members of the public from the s.162A(2) behaviours

Look at the second item. It is how the law makes a voluntary scheme visible without making it compulsory. A charity that has not registered does not break the law. It must say so.

Two more points. First, the duty follows the audit requirement, so when the audit threshold rises, fewer charities are caught — without section 162A changing a word. Second, the annual report belongs to the reporting part of this guide: establish your SORP tier and your report’s contents and file your accounts.

The levy: set by fundraising spend, not income

The Regulator charges by what a charity spends on fundraising each year, not by its income. That is the easy mistake.

Below £100,000 of fundraising spend, a charity can still register, on a flat fee of £60. Above it, the levy is banded. The Regulator describes it as representing 0.1% of overall fundraising expenditure, expressed as fixed banded fees rather than a precise percentage charge. The table shows the lowest bands of the scale:

Annual fundraising spend	Levy
Up to £99,999	£60 (registration fee)
£100,000 - £149,999	£180
£150,000 - £199,999	£365
£200,000 - £349,999	£610

The full scale runs to much larger bands, on the Regulator’s levy page. Check the current figures there before you budget.

Which edition of the Code of Fundraising Practice applies?

A new edition of the Code took effect on 1 November 2025, and it is structurally different. The Regulator says it is, verbatim, “significantly revised from the 2019 version. It no longer contains rules linked to specific legislation and many rules have been combined under wider principles”.

It now works on principles, using words such as “appropriate”, “reasonable” and “proportionate”. So a policy, training pack or funder form may quote a numbered rule from the 2019 Code. That rule may no longer exist in that form. When you assess yourself against the Code, use the current edition.

Scotland: it depends where you are registered, not where you fundraise

Scotland has a different body. Complaints about fundraising by a charity registered with OSCR go to the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel, not the Fundraising Regulator.

The allocation follows the charity’s lead regulator, not the place where the fundraising happens. So a charity registered in London that fundraises in Glasgow answers to the Fundraising Regulator. A charity registered only in Scotland that fundraises in Manchester answers to the Panel. People expect the opposite.

The Code applies in Scotland in practice, and OSCR directs Scottish charities to it. Scotland also has its own statutory rules on professional fundraisers, covered on the professional-fundraiser page.

The Fundraising Preference Service: the notice you might never see

The Fundraising Preference Service lets a member of the public stop direct marketing from a named charity — addressed post, email, text and phone. It covers charities registered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does not cover charities registered only in Scotland, for the same lead-regulator reason.

For a charity it covers, the mechanism is this. The Regulator emails the charity. The charity should set up a profile on the FPS charity portal, identify the person, and stop contacting them on all its marketing lists. The timetable, in the Regulator’s terms:

• 21 days: breach of the FPS terms and conditions. 28 days: may additionally be a breach of the Code of Fundraising Practice.

If the charity does nothing, the Regulator may notify the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Charity Commission for England and Wales or for Northern Ireland. It may also name the charity publicly as non-compliant. It still cannot fine. The Regulator adds, verbatim: “If you do not stop these types of communications, you may breach data protection law”.

Why charities miss it. The notice goes to whatever contact email the Charity Commission for England and Wales or CCNI holds for the charity. If that address is old, or nobody reads it, the charity fails without ever deciding to. Check the address today.

Northern Ireland: covered by agreement, not by law

The Fundraising Regulator covers Northern Ireland because the sector chose it, after a consultation run by NICVA, in 2017–18. No statute puts it there. The Code applies in Northern Ireland on the same voluntary basis. The Fundraising Preference Service covers Northern Ireland charities in the same way as those in England and Wales.

Northern Ireland also has no statutory regime for professional fundraisers in force. The law that would create one has never been switched on; the professional-fundraiser page explains.

Deciding whether to register, and recording it

1. Decide whether to register. Weigh the Badge, the directory and what your funders expect against the fee or levy. Either answer is lawful.
2. Assess your fundraising against the current Code — whether or not you register, because it applies either way. Note where you fall short and what you will change.
3. Check the contact email your charity regulator holds. Make sure someone reads it.
4. If the FPS covers you, set up the portal profile before the first notice arrives. The first set-up is by contacting the Regulator directly. Suppressions go into the lists you keep when you set up consent and preference management for marketing.
5. If your accounts are audited, make sure the annual report’s fundraising statement says whether you are signed up.
6. Make sure you can handle a complaint. How is covered when you adopt a complaints policy.

With the decision recorded, the last step in this hub is to write your gift acceptance and refusal policy.

Common mistake: believing registration is compulsory above the levy threshold

The threshold looks like a trigger. No statute compels registration at any size. Charities above the threshold are invited to pay. What creates the pressure is the Badge, the public directory, funder checks and the section 162A duty to disclose whether you have signed up.

Common mistake: assuming the Code does not apply if you have not registered

It looks like a membership scheme. It is not. Verbatim: “Fundraising activity in the UK by organisations who are not registered with the Fundraising Regulator is still covered by the code. We will consider complaints about fundraising activity whether fundraisers are registered with us or not”.

Common mistake: quoting a numbered rule from the 2019 Code

It was in force until late 2025. A new edition took effect on 1 November 2025 and is structurally different — principles-based, with rules combined and links to legislation removed. The old rule number may not exist.

Common mistake: ignoring an FPS suppression notice

Usually it is not ignored on purpose. The first notice goes to whatever contact email the charity has listed with the Charity Commission for England and Wales or for Northern Ireland. If that address is stale or unmonitored, the notice is missed entirely.

The FPS terms and the Code then set the consequences. The Regulator may notify the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Commission, and name the charity publicly.

Worked example

A charity whose annual fundraising spend is below £100,000 decides not to register.

That is its choice. It is below the levy threshold and under no obligation either way. But the Code still covers its fundraising, and a complaint about it can still be considered. And if its accounts must be audited, its annual report must say that it has not signed up to a voluntary scheme.

So the trustees minute the decision and their reasons. They record a short assessment against the current Code. They check that the email address their regulator holds is monitored. And they make sure the annual report says what it has to.