I’ve been chasing the government’s Office of the Third Sector for an update on the forthcoming changes to corporate governance for charities. The draft regulations have been prepared, and public consultation closed a long time ago. They say that the review of the responses to the consultation has taken “much longer than anticipated”. The response, to be made jointly with the Charity Commission, is now due in mid September.

In order to make progress, they say that three sets of Regulations will be necessary (two of which will need to be laid before Parliament). Given the pressure on parliamentary time, this is not likely to take place until the new year.

It will also take some time for the Charity Commisson to gear up with its parallel guidance and systems to implement the new rules.

No decision has been made on whether the introduction of the CIO will be on a fixed date, or whether it will be phased in, becoming available depending on the current status of the organisation. Either way “the earliest the provisions are likely to come into force and for the CIO to be available is April 2010 but at this stage this cannot be guaranteed.”