Charity SORP 2026: What Changed and What Trustees Must Do

The Charities SORP (FRS 102) has been updated. The new SORP applies to accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2026. If your charity prepares accruals accounts, the SORP governs the format, disclosure and presentation of those accounts. This article explains the transition timing, what changed at a high level, and the practical steps trustees and treasurers should take before the first set of SORP 2026 accounts is signed off.

For a full introduction to what the SORP is, who must follow it, and how the receipts and payments vs accruals split works, see our complete guide to the Charities SORP.

SORP 2026 at a glance: what it is and when it applies

The Charities SORP (FRS 102) is the Statement of Recommended Practice that governs how UK charities prepare accruals accounts. It sits alongside FRS 102 (the Financial Reporting Standard for smaller entities in the UK and Ireland) and adds charity-specific disclosure and presentation requirements on top of the base standard.

SORP 2026 applies to accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2026. It does not apply retroactively. A charity whose current period began before 1 January 2026 prepares that set of accounts under the previous SORP and moves to SORP 2026 for its next period.

The trigger is the start date of the accounting period, not the end date, not the date the accounts are signed, and not the calendar year 2026.

Which accounting periods are caught first

The table below shows common charity year-ends and the first accounting period to which SORP 2026 applies.

Charity year-end	Period start date	First period under SORP 2026	Accounts due (10 months after year-end)
31 December 2026	1 January 2026	Year ending 31 December 2026	31 October 2027
31 March 2027	1 April 2026	Year ending 31 March 2027	31 January 2028
30 April 2027	1 May 2026	Year ending 30 April 2027	28 February 2028
31 July 2027	1 August 2026	Year ending 31 July 2027	31 May 2028
31 August 2027	1 September 2026	Year ending 31 August 2027	30 June 2028
31 December 2027	1 January 2027	Year ending 31 December 2027	31 October 2028

Accounts deadline note: all registered charities with gross income over £25,000 must submit their annual return, trustee annual report and accounts within 10 months of their financial year-end. The accounts deadline column above reflects that rule.

Charities with a 31 December year-end are the first group to land in SORP 2026 territory. If your year-end is 31 March 2026, your current period started on 1 April 2025, which is before 1 January 2026, so you remain on the previous SORP for the year ending 31 March 2026 and move to SORP 2026 for the year beginning 1 April 2026.

What actually changed vs the previous SORP

The SORP 2026 update was driven by a revision to FRS 102 itself. The main areas of change fall into four themes.

Lease accounting

The FRS 102 revision introduced a new lease accounting model for lessees that brings most leases onto the balance sheet as right-of-use assets and corresponding lease liabilities. Previously, operating leases were recognised only as a straight-line charge through the statement of financial activities. Charities that hold property leases, equipment leases or vehicle leases will see the biggest impact on the balance sheet and the statement of financial position.

Revenue recognition

FRS 102 adopted a five-step revenue recognition model more closely aligned with international standards. For many charities this changes nothing in practice, but grant income with performance conditions and contracts for services warrant a re-assessment to ensure income is recognised in the period to which the entitlement relates. Conditions vs restrictions: the SORP's treatment of conditions that defer income recognition remains central, and the updated SORP refines the guidance on when income is recognised.

Disclosure updates and the trustee annual report

The SORP 2026 includes revised disclosure requirements across several modules. The trustee annual report (TAR) requirements sit inside the SORP, and trustees should review the updated TAR guidance in the SORP document against their current report structure, particularly around going concern, risk, and reserves policy disclosures.

Alignment with revised FRS 102 presentation requirements

FRS 102 itself updated requirements around the presentation of financial statements, including the statement of cash flows and notes. Charities that use the full accruals format (as opposed to the smaller charity accruals format) will need to review their notes structure against the updated requirements in the SORP and FRS 102.

Important: the SORP 2026 document itself, available at charitysorp.org, is the definitive source for the full change log and module-by-module analysis. Worked illustrative accounts published alongside the SORP show the disclosure requirements in practice. Review the SORP document before finalising any accounts for periods starting on or after 1 January 2026.

Who has to follow the SORP at all

The SORP applies to charities preparing accruals accounts. The accounts-format split is straightforward:

• Non-company charities with gross income of £250,000 or less (£500,000 or less for financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026) may prepare receipts and payments accounts instead of accruals accounts. If they do, the SORP does not directly govern the accounts format, though the SORP's guidance remains a useful reference.
• Charitable companies and all charities with gross income above that threshold must prepare accruals accounts and must follow the SORP.

For the full framework on who follows the SORP, when external scrutiny is required, and how the IE and audit thresholds work, see our complete SORP guide and the audit vs independent examination guide.

Scotland: Scottish charities are regulated by OSCR, not the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Scrutiny thresholds and some reporting requirements differ. Scottish charities should check OSCR's accounts guidance directly rather than relying on the England and Wales figures in this article.

What the transition means for your trustees' annual report

The trustees' annual report (TAR) is a required part of the charity's annual accounts and is embedded in the SORP framework. SORP 2026 updates the TAR requirements alongside the financial statement requirements. Trustees should pay particular attention to:

• Reserves policy: the SORP has always required charities above a certain size to explain their reserves policy and the level of free reserves held. Review the updated SORP guidance on what the reserves disclosure must cover.
• Risk management: larger charities (those required to have a full audit or where the governing document demands additional reporting) have more extensive risk disclosure requirements. The updated SORP refines what is expected.
• Going concern: the FRS 102 revision placed greater emphasis on going concern assessment and disclosure. The SORP carries that through into the TAR and the notes.
• Activities and impact: the SORP's narrative reporting requirements ask trustees to describe activities undertaken to further the charity's purposes and the outcomes achieved. This section should be reviewed against the updated SORP module on the TAR.

The annual return filed with the Charity Commission attaches the TAR and accounts for charities with gross income over £25,000. A TAR that does not meet the SORP requirements is a reportable matter for the independent examiner or auditor. See also our article on the Charity Commission annual return.

Action checklist for treasurers before the first SORP 2026 year-end

1. Confirm your transition date. Check when your current accounting period started. If it started on or after 1 January 2026, your next accounts are under SORP 2026. If not, your next period will be the first affected one.
2. Download the SORP 2026 document. The full SORP and the illustrative accounts are available at charitysorp.org. Read the modules relevant to your charity's activities and fund structure.
3. Assess the lease accounting change. List any operating leases the charity holds (property, equipment, vehicles). These will need to be recognised on the balance sheet as right-of-use assets under the updated FRS 102 model. The amounts need to be calculated and comparative figures restated.
4. Review grant and contract income. Go through each income stream and confirm whether the recognition basis changes under the updated revenue recognition guidance. Conditions vs restrictions analysis is the key step.
5. Update your accounts template. If you use a standard accounts template or a previous year's accounts as the starting point, update it to reflect the SORP 2026 disclosure requirements before year-end, not after.
6. Revisit the trustees' annual report structure. Review the TAR requirements in SORP 2026 against your current TAR draft or template. Update reserves policy, risk and going concern sections.
7. Brief your independent examiner or auditor early. Let the examiner or auditor know this is the first SORP 2026 period. They will need to confirm the transition has been handled correctly as part of their work.
8. Check your accounting software. Confirm whether your bookkeeping or accounts preparation software has been updated for the new lease and revenue recognition requirements. Some cloud providers update automatically; others require a manual template change.

Common transition mistakes

Treating the transition as applying to the calendar year, not the accounting period

The most common mistake is assuming SORP 2026 applies to "2026 accounts" regardless of when the period started. The trigger is the period start date. A charity with a 31 March year-end whose year started on 1 April 2025 prepares accounts for the year ending 31 March 2026 under the previous SORP, not SORP 2026.

Forgetting comparative figures

Accounting changes often require prior-year comparatives to be restated on the new basis. Check the SORP 2026 transition provisions on whether and how comparatives should be presented for the lease accounting and revenue recognition changes.

Applying SORP 2026 to receipts and payments accounts

Smaller charities preparing receipts and payments accounts are not required to follow the SORP's accruals framework. If your charity is eligible to prepare receipts and payments accounts and chooses to do so, the SORP 2026 accruals changes do not apply, though the Charity Commission's receipts and payments guidance remains the reference point.

Missing the trustees' annual report update

Trustees focused on the financial statement changes sometimes overlook the TAR requirements in the SORP. The independent examiner checks the TAR as well as the accounts; a TAR that does not meet the SORP requirements is a finding the examiner must report.

Confusing the SORP update with a change to scrutiny thresholds

The SORP 2026 update does not change who needs an independent examination or an audit. Those thresholds are set by the Charities Act and CC31 guidance: for financial years ending before 30 September 2026, external scrutiny is required once gross income exceeds £25,000, and a statutory audit is mandatory above £1 million income (or above £250,000 income with gross assets over £3.26 million). A separate change raises those gates for financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026: examination above £40,000, audit above £1.5 million (or £500,000 income with gross assets over £5 million).

Where to get help

Preparing the first set of SORP 2026 accounts takes more time than a repeat-format year, particularly where the lease accounting and revenue recognition changes require new calculations. The transition is a common trigger for charities to review whether they have the right support in place.

Our charity accounts preparation service covers accruals accounts for charities of all sizes, including the first SORP 2026 period. We work through the transition adjustments, prepare draft accounts and the trustees' annual report, and liaise with the independent examiner or auditor. If you would like to discuss the transition for your charity, use the contact form to get in touch.

The SORP-making body's website is the authoritative source for the SORP document, transition resources and illustrative accounts. The Charity Commission's CC15d guidance covers reporting and accounting requirements. The CC31 guidance covers independent examination and audit.