Some Questions and Answers about FMA UK’s loss of charity Registration
As a result of our recent email about the charity commission’s change of our status there have been a number of questions about what this will mean for the charity, the groups and the fibromyalgia cause. First of all we would like to thank all the offers of support and help that have been sent in. We really do appreciate this.
We recognise that this is a difficult time and we will face the challenges ahead as best we can and try and resolve this problem as soon as we can. We will try and keep you informed as best we can and will answer as many questions as we can. However as there is a limited amount of people and time we would appreciate if you could bear with us and give us some time to get back to you.
Below are some of the Questions that you may have about this issue:
Q. When did FMA UK learn of our removal from the register?
A. We learned about this on the 11th June and the earliest we could speak to the charity commission was on Monday 13th. Further investigation and communication was received and the situation was discussed at a Trustee and RC meeting on the Wednesday and the message was sent out to Support Groups on the Saturday.
Q. FMA UK’s accounts were already overdue, why did the Charity Commission remove you now?
A. The Charity Commission has recently adopted a new policy that means charities are removed when their currently due accounts are more than 6 months overdue. We did not receive any notification that we were to be removed and had previously been told that our registration would not be removed.
Q. Is FMA UK still a charity
A. Yes
Q. How does this effect FMA UK’s activities?
A. We cannot start any new fundraising applications using our charity number. This will impact on our efforts to raise funds. However FMA UK Trustees, Regional Coordinators and volunteers will continue to carry out activities to further the awareness of fibromyalgia.
Q. How will groups be affected by this?
A. Groups will not be able to make any new funding applications using FMA UK’s charity number. Any existing applications will be ok.
Q. Will groups have to remove FMA UK’s charity number and references from their website or literature?
A. There is no requirement to alter any of this and as mentioned before the only effect on groups is that they cannot make any new fundraising applications using FMA UKs charity number.
Q. Will FMA UK continue to provide support the groups and people with fibromyalgia?
A. The trustees and the regional coordinators will continue to provide help and support as they have in the past. The change in registration status will not change our day to day operations.
Q. What are FMA UK doing to resolve the situation?
A. We have a bookkeeper working on bringing the accounts up to date. This is being delayed by our present accountant reviewing the previous year’s accounts. This is estimated to be completed in 2 weeks and then the next year’s accounts will be sent for review.
Q. Are the groups’ insurance cover through FMA UK still valid?
A. UPDATED: Our Insurance cover for group and volunteer activities IS NOT affected and remains in place.
Q. Why was there nothing on the website earlier?
A. We felt we had to communicate with the support groups first.
Q. Have FMA UK contacted the charity Commission about this?
A. FMA UK has been in contact with the charity commission on several occasions before and after the removal of our status and we are working with them to resolve this issue.
ADDED: 22/06/11
Q. So what exactly is left to do to resolve this issue with the accounts?
A. At present FMA UK has 2 years’ worth of accounts that are presently overdue. These are as follows:
2007 / 2008 – Were due to be submitted on September 2009
2008 / 2009 – Were due to be submitted on September 2010
The accounts 2009 / 2010 are due to be submitted on 30th September 2011 and we hope that we can meet this deadline but as the information on the previous years is required to complete these accounts we cannot say with certainty that we will meet this deadline.
The accounts 2010 / 2011 will be due for submission on the 30th September 2012 and we do not foresee any issues with meeting this deadline and will hope that we have them submitted well before this deadline.
Q. What is the status of the work in progress on the 2007 / 2008 accounts?
A. All materials are with the accountant and have been for some time. We have an estimate of 2 weeks to completion.
Q. What is the status of the work in progress on the 2008 / 2009 accounts?
A. All materials are with the bookkeeper and a portion of information is required from the 2007 / 2008 accounts to allow these accounts to be passed to the accountant for review.
Q. What is the status of the work in progress on the 2009 / 2010 accounts?
A. Preliminary work has started on these accounts but the completion of the previous two years accounts are required to make the 2009 /2010 able to be progressed to the point of being ready for review by our accountants.
Q. When were the 2007 / 2008 accounts given to the Accountant for review?
A. These were given to the current accountant prior to September 2010 but there was a large gap in time where no work was done as the previous accountant used to review the previous year’s accounts had to be contacted by our current accountant. This professional courtesy was required before proceeding but took over two months to complete. We could not influence this in any way unfortunately.
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Written by Des Quinn (A)
Last Updated on Thursday, 30 June 2011 09:52 Created: Monday, 20 June 2011 16:34