Charity AGMs and the "rule of 6"

The Charity Commission has recently updated its Covid-19 Guidance to reflect the extension to the legislation allowing qualifying charities flexibility in how they conduct AGMs and other meetings during Covid-19. Qualifying charities now have a further three months to take advantage of these rules (until 30 December 2020). 

However the provisions that previously allowed qualifying charities to postpone AGMs and other members’ meetings have not been extended and therefore came to an end on 30 September 2020.  Charities should therefore check their governing document to see if they can hold meetings online or by telephone. 

For charity trustees considering holding their AGM but confused about the "rule of 6", it is worth highlighting that the guidance clarifies that an exception applies to charities whose trustee or members’ meetings are of more than six people provided the meeting is necessary for providing charitable services.