My Charity Commission Account - common issues
Troubleshooting tips for our most frequently asked questions about using My Charity Commission Account.
Applies to England and Wales
Email address
Your email address is your unique identifier. To set up an account, you need to use an email address that is unique to you. If you are a trustee or a charity contact, this email address will also be registered on our database.
If you currently share an email address with other My Charity Commission Account users – who could be fellow trustees or professional advisors – you will experience difficulties setting up your account. Only one person will be able to use that email address to set up an account.
If you are having a problem with your email address, please contact us so we can update our records. You can call us on 0300 066 9197 (our lines are open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm). We will need to send you a new link to set up your account.
Account setup link has expired
If you receive a message that your link has expired, you will need to request a new one.
See how to get started and request an account (this opens a new page) based on your role with your charity.
Resetting your password
You can reset your password by selecting ‘Reset your password’ on the sign in page. If you have an account, we’ll email a reset link. If you have not already set up your own Charity Commission Account, you will need to do that first.
See how to get started and request an account (this opens a new page) based on your role with your charity.
Your access code
Every time you sign in, you need to request an access code. This is to provide an extra layer of security to your account.
Click on the ‘request access code’ button and we will email the 4-character code to you. The code is valid for 30 minutes.
If you don’t receive your email when using an application on your phone or tablet, try checking your emails through a PC browser.
If you experience an issue signing in with your code and request another, please make sure you use the latest one:
- check that your emails from myaccount@charitycommision.gov.uk are not grouped into a conversation ‘thread’ as it might not be clear which is the latest email from us
- delete all emails from myaccount@charitycommision.gov.uk that are no longer valid – check your junk or spam folder and make sure you also delete all these emails from your ‘deleted items’ folder
Adding other users to My Charity Commission Account
Only if you are the charity contact (primary administrator) or have been granted administrator permissions (this link opens a new page) can you:
- invite other users to set up accounts
- give third-party users access to different services through My Charity Commission Account
If you need to invite a trustee to set up an account, but they aren’t showing on your charity in My Charity Commission Account, you first need to add them to the register via the ‘update charity details’ service. See amending trustee details below. Once added, they will automatically get a link to set up an account.
If the trustee is showing on your charity, see our guidance on inviting trustees to set up an account (this link opens a new page).
See our guidance on granting access to third-party users (this link opens a new page).
Amending trustee details
Charity contacts (primary administrators) and super administrators can add new trustees and edit existing trustees’ personal details in the ‘update charity details’ service once they have confirmed they are authorised by the trustees to have this permission.
If you are a charity contact signing in for the first time, or have been granted super administration permissions, you need to enable your administrator permissions (this links opens a new page).
Trustees can block this access once they have set up their account.
Missing charities
If you work with multiple charities but can’t see them listed, this might be because you haven’t registered identical personal information for each.
If you are a trustee, please speak to the contact of your missing charity so they can amend your details.
If you are the charity contact, you will need to contact us.
Open changes to your charity’s governing document
When you sign in, you might get a notice that you have an open or pending action to amend your governing document. You will either need to upload a resolution relating to the amendment or cancel the activity to close the action. If you are unsure, please check with your trustees or you can contact us by emailing CustomerService@charitycommission.gov.uk
You will need to close any open activities before requesting further amendments to your governing document.