CIO conversion!

[Guest]

Early last year I posted that we would be converting to CIO. We have no jumped through all the hoops, and now awaiting transfer of funds from a savings account, so that we can finally start operating under our new charity number and URN.

The process has been pretty straightforward if not rather drawn out (partly due to Ofsted changing the DBS procedure last year, so everyone had to have DBS checks done again).

Has anyone converted to CIO from Unincorporated Association? One thing that is puzzling me is our policies and procedures. How on earth do we approve them for use under the new charity and URN? Do we need to approve them for use, since they are already being used in the setting. My brain has fried recently and it's things like this, probably very simple things, that are eluding me at the moment!

[suebear]

Hi, can I ask were you committee run beforehand and did you have a PLA constitution? This is something we have looked at several times but never got very far.

 

With regards to policies I would just read through make any changes and have them re-approved at your next meeting. But I've not had any experience of this.

 

Good luck.

[Guest]

Yes, we are committee run right now (not converted just yet, but hopefully will be by the start of next term!), and had a PLA constitution. Our new constitution under CIO is also a PLA one.

 

I have been unable to find many preschools who have gone to CIO, so we've been slowly working through it ourselves. It's been frustrating due to Ofsted but also CC needing most recent approved accounts which we hadn't submitted when we started which took a few months after we got initial member approval.

[angela41]

Hi

We have been through this procedure.

I'm glad it was straightforward for you. We found moving from a Charity to Incorporated Charity (being a limited company as well) was trying in as much as the number of hurdles to be overcome. This was over a year ago now, so maybe the process is better. I hope so.

Edited March 18, 2015 by angela41

[pickles37]

Are you still managed by a committee?

[Fredbear]

Hi have been an incorporated company, with charitable status since 2011. Have to say it was a minefield to start with, but we managed it in the end.

If you are becoming incorporated through the PLA there used to be someone to help you through the process.

You can pm me if I can be of any help.

[pickles37]

Excuse me for my confusion, is this the same as an incorporated charity?

[pickles37]

Sorry,what are the benefits of a CIO and is there still a committee that are involved in the day to day running?

[Fredbear]

Yes when we set up ours there was no CIO, for us, so we became an incorporated company with charitable status.

If a CIO had been in existence I'm sure this would have been the route we would have taken.

Yes we still have a committee.

My understanding is that you are only answerable to the Charity commission, whereas we are answerable to both the CC and Companies house, which is a pain.

Think we may look into becoming a CIO in the future.

[pickles37]

Ahh yes, we are the same as you currently are, I might look into CIO too

How much involvement does your current committee have?

 

[Fredbear]

We are most fortunate to have a very pro-active committee. However they look to me for guidance if they are unsure of something, or we source the answers to information we might require.

The day to day structure of our provision remained the same as before, so most policies were the same.

We also work to a memorandum of articles instead of a constitution now.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Fredbear

[Guest]

Yep, we will only be answerable to the charity commission, while removing liability from trustees and removing the need for holding trustees (we own our own building).