Incorporated Societies Support

Background

New legislation requires existing societies to reregister under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022, from 5 October 2023 to 5 April 2026, if they want to remain as an incorporated society.

We understand that this may be a cause of concern or confusion for committee members of societies in our District and we want to help.

Where to Start

We recommend you take your time - there is no benefit in rushing the process. You may find, if you are affiliated to a national or regional body, the changes to their rules could impact your rules. Also, some of the new inclusions need to align with any existing policies and/or require adopting new processes.

You should understand what it means to reregister and what happens if your society doesn’t reregister. This is a good opportunity to consider whether an Incorporated Society is the best fit and to help with that decision we recommend attending a Community Waikato Governance workshop.

Sport NZ recommend considering legal advice/support to ensure your updated constitution is thorough enough to meet the requirements and clear enough to withstand challenges from members or affected persons.

Support

In February 2024 we will be offering free sessions in Paeroa and Waihi with local lawyers – Matthew Peploe (Harkness Henry Lawyers, Paeroa) and Isaac Whatnall (iClaw Lawyers, Waihi) and welcome you all to attend and get further insight into the changes.

In the meantime, we suggest you register for updates on this page and spend some time reviewing your current constitution to check if any further changes are needed and some research into the new requirements - Getting ready for reregistering | Incorporated Societies

Questions

Use the Questions section to list the questions you would like answered at the February sessions and use the Forum to ask and discuss issues with other community members.