The Charities (Northern Ireland) Order 1987

Power for very small charities to spend capital

5.—(1) Where, in the case of a charity having a permanent endowment—

(a) the value of the endowment is £25 or less and the endowment does not consist of or comprise any land or interest in land, and

(b) the charity’s gross income in the preceding accounting period was £5 or less, and

(c) the charity trustees are of the opinion that the property of the charity is too small, in relation to its objects, for any useful purpose to be achieved by the expenditure of income alone, the trustees may pass a resolution that the charity ought to be freed from any restrictions imposed by law with respect to expenditure of capital.

(2) Before passing such a resolution, the trustees must consider whether any reasonable possibility exists of effecting a transfer of the charity’s property to another charity under Article 4 (disregarding any such transfer as would, in the trustees' opinion, impose on their charity an unacceptable burden of costs).

(3) The resolution of the trustees must be unanimous and be in the form set out in Schedule 3.

(4) Having passed the resolution, the trustees shall send a copy of it to the Department and shall then have power by virtue of this Article to expend any property of the charity without regard to any restriction imposed by law and applying to the expenditure of capital but not to the expenditure of income.

(5) The Department may by order subject to affirmative resolution amend paragraph (1)(a) and (b) by substituting for either of the sums there specified such other sum as the Department considers appropriate.