Consequences for PTA not registered as charity or filing reports

[Lamamama]

Any experienced PTA trustees or treasures here? I desperately need advice. I joined a PTA committee about two years ago. It is all very clique and political, but very successful with fundraising (£20,000-£26,000 per year, possibly more). I always assumed that two Co-Chairs and Treasurer (all involved in PTA for many years) handled the financial reporting. Over time, I noticed multiple issues with record keeping e.g. Constitution missing, meeting minutes not taken or shared, list of committee members not kept or updated as people resigned or joined, projects funded without vote, etc. A former co-chair who resigned was "co-opted" back as committee member without any vote (in spite of objections from four committee members), the Treasurer (her spouse!) was one of those who didn't allow us to vote. I tried to implement some basic good practices but they were usually dismissed as "bureaucracy". I managed to get hold of the Constitution eventually, it says PTA must appoint two independent auditors to sign accounts, We never appointed them, to the best of my knowledge. This year I also established that PTA was never registered as a charity with Charity Commission, so it's unlikely that we filed all due report and accounts. I reviewed the Charity Act 2011 and Charity Commission requirements and shared my concerns with the headteacher. He had a word with the school business manager (who has been on PTA committee for many years) who now promised to register PTA as a charity. I have no reasons to think any funds were misappropriated, I suspect the people were just ignorant of requirements and/or negligent. Obviously, there is no way to be 100% certain unless accounts get audited. My questions are: 1) Is Charity Commission likely to apply any penalties or fines for failure to register and submit reports for years?; 2) As we didn't have formally appointed trustees, are all committee members considered as trustees, or only Co-Chairs, Treasurer and Secretary?; 3) I assume we would need to file accounts for previous years retroactively. How many years back do we have to go?; 4) Constitution requires we run AGM in Autumn term. How do we handle elections? I think it is our duty to tell the truth, on the other side it would be bad for morale and will put people off from helping PTA or joining the committee. I really don't want to hurt the school reputation or morale, but equally I don't want to be complicit in this murky affair. Thank you

I’d second the excellent advice you’ve received here op.

I’d become a member of Parentkind (the old name was PTA UK). They have a ton of templates and advice they can give you, including legal advice once you’re a member. All members also covered by their insurance. I’ve found them to be really really helpful (can’t speak highly enough of them!)

You will tho need to register as a charity.
You don’t need to register for Gift Aid but I would strongly suggest you do and join something like mydonate who can help you findraise and do the reporting online for you.
You should get all trustees to sign a trustee declaration
And get yourself independently audited.
You can’t fix the past necessarily but now you know the situation you do need to regularise it.

Good luck!

I'm not experienced in pta, but our church only had to register once income went over £100k

Most charities have to register when their income exceeds £5k. It is different for churches.

And get yourself independently audited

I don't know what Parentkind requires but all that is required by law is an independent examination by a person with the requisite skills. An independent examination by a professional accountant is not required unless income exceeds £250k. Unless the charity is a company it does not need a full audit until income exceeds £1M (although, if the charity has assets exceeding £3.26M the requirement for a full audit kicks in at £250k income).