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When to appeal to the tribunal

You can appeal to the Charity Tribunal if:

• you disagree with certain decisions made by the Charity Commission, eg your charity registration’s been turned down
• you want a review of a specific decision of the Charity Commission, eg a formal inquiry has been started into mismanaging your charity

The Charity Tribunal is independent of government and makes its decision based on the law.

If you want to complain about the Charity Commission

The tribunal can’t help you if you think the Charity Commission has treated you unfairly, or you’re not happy with how it has handled your case. If you want to complain about them, contact the Charity Commission explaining what you think went wrong and how you would like it to put things right.

When the Charity Tribunal needs to clarify charity law

The Charity Tribunal sometimes rules on questions the Attorney General or the Charity Commission has about charity law. The result could affect your charity. The tribunal will publish information on these cases on its website. You can write to the tribunal and ask to be involved in a case that affects your charity.

• Charity Tribunal decisions Opens new window

• Download Questions and answers on reference cases (PDF, 17K)

• Help with PDF files

How to appeal to the tribunal

You need to check if you can appeal to the tribunal in your specific case. The law says that specific people or organisations can appeal different types of decision. For example, any person affected can appeal some decisions, but others can only be appealed by trustees or charities themselves.

Checking if you can appeal

The paperwork you got from the Charity Commission should tell you which section of the Charities Act it has used to make its decision. You can check if you can appeal against this type of decision by using the Charity Tribunal’s ‘Table of categories’.

If you’re not sure if you can appeal, or the paperwork doesn’t mention the section of the law, you can contact the tribunal for advice.

• Download Charity appeal categories (PDF, 59K)

• Contact the Charity Tribunal Opens new window

Starting an appeal

You’ll need to fill in the ‘notice of appeal’ form (see link) and send it to the Charity Tribunal. You have 42 days from the date on the decision letter to appeal to the Charity Tribunal.

If you’re late, you can explain your reasons on the appeal form and ask the tribunal to accept your appeal anyway. If the tribunal refuses to extend the time for making the application, you can appeal to the Upper Tribunal. See the section ‘If you don’t agree with the decision’.

• Download Notice of appeal to the Charity Tribunal (PDF, 50K)

• Download Guidance on the notice of appeal form (PDF, 72K)

Costs and getting help with your appeal

There’s no fee to appeal to the tribunal, but you’ll have to pay your own costs, eg travel and legal advice. Government funded legal aid isn’t available for appeals to the Charity Tribunal. If you ask any witnesses to come to your hearing, they might expect you to pay their costs, eg travel expenses.

There are some organisations that give free legal advice, eg Citizens Advice (see links below). The tribunal can explain how the process works, but it can’t give you legal advice.

• Find a legal adviser Opens new window

• Find a Citizens Advice Bureau or get online advice Opens new window

• Bar Pro Bono Unit - legal assistance from volunteer barristers Opens new window

• LawWorks Opens new window

How the tribunal makes its decision

1. The tribunal will look at your appeal form and ask for more evidence if it thinks you need it (eg supporting documents).

2. The tribunal will tell the Charity Commission you’ve appealed. The Charity Commission has 28 days to ‘respond’ to your appeal and explain why it made its decision. You’ll get a copy of this response.

3. You have 28 days to reply to the Charity Commission’s response if you want to, eg sending in extra documents. Once all the evidence is together the tribunal panel will look over it to prepare for your hearing. They may ask for more evidence from you. The Charity Commission has to provide you and the tribunal with all their papers too.

4. The tribunal panel may decide to hold a ‘preliminary hearing’ before the full hearing. This is to clear up any issues, eg with paperwork, so they can make a decision at the full hearing.

5. The tribunal may decide there’s no need for a hearing in person and they can make a decision using the documents and evidence which it has been sent. However, you and/or the Charity Commission can ask for a hearing in person.

6. If your case is complicated or unusual, the tribunal may send it straight to the Upper Tribunal (see link).

7. You’ll get the date of your hearing by post 14 days beforehand, along with information about what you need to do and where to go. You can ask to change where your hearing is if you need to.

8. At the hearing you may give evidence, call witnesses, and you or your representative (eg a solicitor) may question witnesses.

9. The tribunal may give you its decision at the end of the hearing, or in writing later.

10. The appeals process can take a long time. Most cases are decided within 30 weeks of the appeal.

If you don’t agree with the decision

If you think the tribunal made a mistake, eg with your paperwork, you can ask it to ‘review its decision’. You’ve got 28 days from the decision date to do this.

If you think the tribunal’s decision was wrong in law, you can appeal to the Upper Tribunal. You’ll first need to apply to the Charity Tribunal to get permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery). If the Charity Tribunal rejects your application, you can appeal directly to the Upper Tribunal.

If you get permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, you have one month to send your appeal in.

• Appealing to the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery) Opens new window

• Download Permission to appeal to the Upper tribunal form (PDF, 22K)

• Download Guidance on permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (PDF, 19K)