The legislative framework governing religious charities was amended with the enactment of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Act 2006. A previous exception (in England and Wales, but not Scotland) from the need to formally register as a charity is being progressively removed, and the registration process started in 2008. Faced with this change Britain Yearly Meeting decided that the yearly meeting and individual area meetings should in due course register as charities. The charitable object of each is the “furtherance of the religious and charitable purposes of the Religious Society of Friends”.