Under the Charities Act 2006, all charities have to justify their legal status by proving they are for the public benefit.
The Charity Commission, as arbiters of the new requirement, has produced guidance for charities on how to meet the public benefit test. This 19,744-word document published in January 2008 tries to describe what public benefit is and outlines what charity trustees should consider in order to show that their charity’s aims are for the public benefit.
This guidance identifies and explains the two key principles of public benefit:
Independent schools must provide public benefit too
In its summary of the most controversial part of the document, the section relating to independent schools and hospitals, the Commission states that schools charging high fees might have to “think about other ways that people who can’t afford those fees, can benefit”. The Commission suggests that “working in partnership with a local state school” might be one such way.
The new public benefit provisions came into force in April 2008, and from April 2009 charities will have to start declaring in their annual reports how they meet the public benefit test. The level of detail required will depend on whether the charity is above or below the audit threshold.
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Moving British Waterways out of the public sector and into the voluntary sector would create the 13th-largest charity by income and the fifth-largest fundraising charity, according to a new report outlining the pros and cons of the idea.
The Royal Opera House Covent Garden has volunteered to have its public benefit assessed by the Charity Commission.
The four Scottish independent schools which failed the public benefit test last year have been told by OSCR that their proposals for change will be sufficient to meet the requirement.
St Anselm School, one of three charities that has failed the Charity Commission’s initial public benefit assessments, expects “a game of ping pong” with the Commission over the next nine months. Today, Highfield Priory School, St Anselm’s School Trust and Penylan House Jewish Retirement and Nursing Home will be responding to the Charity Commission’s public benefit report from July which said the charities did not provide enough opportunity for those who couldn’t afford their fees and gave them 12 months to come up with an action plan.
Charities could have a five-year period to adequately meet new public benefit requirements without penalty from the Charity Commission, according to its chair Dame Suzi Leather. Speaking at the Headmasters and Headmistresses conference today, Leather (pictured) said: “While we are looking for a demonstrable commitment, year on year, to satisfying the public benefit requirement, where we judge that a charity needs an extended period of time to make the necessary changes, we will be prepared to give that charity time.
Three out of 12 charities have failed the Charity Commission's initial public benefit assessments - two independent schools and one fee-charging care home. Highfield Priory School, St Anselm's School Trust and Penylan House Jewish Retirement and Nursing Home have been told their trustees have 12 months to come up with an action plan as they do not provide enough opportunity for those who cannot afford the fees to benefit.
Nearly 40 per cent of all New Years’ honours were given out to individuals for service to voluntary and community services. Knighthoods went to Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust chief executive Nick Partridge and interfaith movement leader Dr Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations.
The Charity Commission launched further draft supplementary public benefit guidance for charities, with the publication of Public Benefit and the Advancement of Education and Public Benefit and Fee-charging. This follows the launch of draft guidance for religious and poverty-relieving charities, all of which are inviting responses.
Stuart Etherington's hopes for a regalvanised civil society
The far-reaching implications of the Charity Commission's public benefit guidance
Recent developments in Scottish charity law
The results of a recent survey into what charities worry about most
A look at new consultation on implementing changes to the accounting and reporting framework
A summary of the current debate around the charitable status of independent schools
"Liberate reason from its blind spots": Pope Benedict's robust contribution to the debate on the meaning of charity
A call for the Charity Commission to invite views about a public benefit test for human rights charities
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