The EAPN as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
It is with great pleasure that we can announce that, following much dedicated work led by Jane Polden and colleagues, The East Anglian Psychotherapy Network has, since March 2023, been registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) (registration number 5194387).
As outlined in our February Newsletter, our initial application for charitable status as a CIO, was not immediately approved – the Charity Commission seeking clearer evidence of a public benefit in our aims, over and above any benefits that the Network provides for its professional membership. With their help, a revised application - supported by a clearer articulation of the way that the EAPN could enhance the provision of, and access to, high quality psychotherapy in a region where such access has often been sparse - was accepted by the Commission. Integral to our successful application was a written constitution meticulously framed to reflect our core values and our objectives in respect of meeting public needs through the strengthening of a responsive, highly trained and ethically and socially responsible psychotherapeutic community.
The process of seeking recognition as a CIO has occupied the Planning Group for many months. Why did this become an important step ?
Jane Polden writes “As our membership has grown, it has seemed increasingly important to formalise our existence and regulate our relationships with each other and the outside world within a written constitution which could then be registered as a charity with the Charity Commission. Legal advice identified the format of ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’ (CIO ) as the one that most met the structure and activities of the EAPN – that is, a non-profit making organisation with its own legal personality, run for the public benefit and overseen by a Board of Trustees in conformity with the terms of the constitution..”
Among the benefits of this new status as a CIO, is that - through its constitution – it establishes the principles of governance of the Network for succeeding generations - hopefully a once and for all exercise - and makes our management structures transparent and accessible. It specifies the role and responsibilities of Trustees - initially members of the current Planning Group - and the pathway by which an individual member may become a Trustee. Hopefully, this level of structural and procedural clarity will favour longevity for the organisation – the Network we have established - and will smooth the way for generational succession.
Other potential benefits for the EAPN might include eligibility for
various funding provisions (eg charitable grants) and more favourable tax provisions. And importantly, the CIO status limits any risk of liability for individuals if, for example, some misadventure arises from an event they have personally contracted for on behalf of the EAPN, since as an incorporated body, the EAPN could enter into the relevant contracts itself.
Our registration as a CIO was accepted by the Charity Commission and completed on the 16th March, and you can find us by following this link