The Charity Commission has restructured its legal function in a bid to boost its expertise and provide more consistent advice and guidance, the watchdog revealed in its annual report last week.

The move saw its 24-lawyer strong department re-organised into three functions of policy advice, legal framework - which covers charity regulation and enablement - and legal compliance and governance to match the commission's own divisional structure.


The groups now work across its offices in London, Liverpool and Taunton, whereas previously the lawyers in each site provided advice and guidance on all three areas.



Alice Holt, deputy head of the legal function, told the Gazette that the workload of both the commission and its legal team, which is headed by director of legal services Kenneth Dibble, had grown significantly in recent years.



On the legal team's new risk and proportionality-based approach, she said: 'We now deal with demand in a different way - we look at the risks of harm to charities and we act accordingly. Instead of being demand-led, we have become more focused.'


The legal framework activities account for the largest proportion of the team's work - according to the annual report, the commission received 8,277 registration applications, with 6,234 newly registered charities being created by the end of March 2004.


This is followed by its compliance work, although Ms Holt added that the number of investigations undertaken - 423 in 2003/04 - were relatively small given the total number of charities in existence.


The restructuring of the legal team coincided with other initiatives such as the development of an enhanced Web site providing more legal information on issues such as governance, as the commission looks to provide a more effective service.


The annual report added that one of the key aims for the legal services team in 2004/05 would be to provide support for the delivery of a Charities Bill.