Which regulator covers a charity in London?
Charities in London are regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Registration generally follows once income exceeds £5,000, receipts-and-payments accounts are available to smaller non-company charities, and accruals accounts under the Charities SORP are required above that — with independent examination or audit depending on income and assets. NCVO is the sector's national infrastructure body here. We prepare accounts and reporting to exactly that framework rather than adapting a set built for a different nation.
Charities and social enterprises in London
London and Greater London are known for tech, fintech, creative and professional services, and the social-sector organisations working alongside those industries need the same things: restricted and unrestricted funds tracked properly, the right level of external scrutiny, every eligible pound of Gift Aid reclaimed, and trustees who can read their own accounts. the British Library's Business & IP Centre and your local London Growth Hub is a sensible first stop for local business support, and we handle the charity-specific reporting that sits on top of it.
Should our charity have a trading subsidiary?
Charities can trade in furtherance of their objects without a tax charge, but substantial non-primary-purpose trading — merchandise, unrelated events, commercial sponsorship — is usually run through a trading subsidiary that Gift Aids its taxable profit up to the parent. Done properly, that removes the corporation tax and keeps the charity's own tax position clean. Done casually, it creates an intra-group balance that trustees have to fund, a payment made after the nine-month window, or a subsidiary quietly funded by charitable money. We set the structure up so the accounts, the payment timing and the trustees' report all agree with each other.
