On 1 August 2011, the Secretary of State for Education became the principal regulator for foundation and voluntary schools, academies and sixth form colleges, as they are exempt charities.
This new responsibility for the Secretary of State results from the Charities Act 2006, which implements a government decision that all charities should be subject to regulation (and put on a level playing field). Although they were expected to comply with charity law, exempt charities were outside the scope of the Charity Commission’s regulatory powers. From April 2009, charities which were previously exempt became excepted charities, that is, directly responsible to the Charity Commission and subject to its accounting and reporting requirements, unless a ‘principal regulator’ could be identified and appointed.
As excepted status would have placed additional burdens on governing bodies, the Cabinet Office and the Charity Commission granted a transition period to 31 August 2011 under which the previous arrangements still applied. From 1 September 2011, this transitional period ended. To ensure no additional burdens were placed on schools, a principal regulator had to be appointed; therefore, on 1 August 2011, the Secretary of State for Education was appointed principal regulator.
The Secretary of State for Education is one of several principal regulators. All principal regulators have the duty, as far as they reasonably can, to promote compliance with charity law by the exempt charities for which they are responsible.
