Unincorporated associations

An unincorporated association is not a legal entity, but an organisation of two or more where the membership may change from time to time.

What is an Unincorporated Association?

An unincorporated association is a group of people (usually  two or more), who come together for a shared purpose, like running a parent carer forum. It’s not a legal organisation on its own, and members can come and go. The members agree the aims and purpose of the group and how they will operate – this is usually written down in a document called a constitution.

Many forums begin as unincorporated associations, especially when they don’t have paid staff or a building.

What this means in practice:

• The forum doesn’t have its own legal identity, separate from the people that run it. 
• This means the forum cannot sign contracts or own property in its own name.
• If parent carers running the forum enter into an agreement (like renting a space or buying services)  on behalf of the forum, the individuals who signed the contract are legally responsible.
• If there are debts or the forum misuses funding (like the DfE grant) the people managing the forum may be personally liable – this could include their own money or property. Depending on your constitution, all members would be equally responsible for repaying some grant funding if something goes wrong. Please make sure all steering group members watch the online learning session from small forum and contracts video by Community Matters below.

Can an Unincorporated Association Be a Charity?

Many unincorporated associations only benefit their own members and are therefore not considered to be charitable and not regulated by charity law.

Unincorporated associations can be a charity if:

• Your group has charitable aims, and
• It is run for the public benefit and not just for its own members. 

If your forum meets these conditions  and earns over £5000 a year, you will need to register with the Charity Commission.

Do you have any thoughts about this page? Visit our How to feedback page to share them.

Looking for something else? You can find a full list of pages on our Parent carer forum handbook contents page.

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Aims and objectives

Aims and objectives