Commission must not charge charities for services or registration, says DSC

20 Jan 2011 News

The Directory of Social Change opposes the suggestion that the Charity Commission should start charging for information, advice or registration, arguing that this would amount to charitable funds being used to subsidise public spending cuts.

Charity Commission website

The Directory of Social Change opposes the suggestion that the Charity Commission should start charging for information, advice or registration, arguing that this would amount to charitable funds being used to subsidise public spending cuts.

The DSC's response to the Commission’s strategy review consultation exposes some clear differences of opinion with other sector bodies, notably NCVO, the Institute of Fundraising, and CFDG.

The Institute of Fundraising has suggested that the regulator should look into charging a fee for registration, adding that some of this fee be passed on to partner infrastructure bodies such as itself, to fund the additional advice services it would provide in lieu of the Commission.

And CFDG has suggested charging a fee for the filing of annual returns.

But the DSC claims that charging fees would act as a brake on the civic activism charities represent.

The DSC said its response reflected the views of nearly 800 of its enewsletter readers, of whom 90 per cent resisted the idea of the Commission charging fees to charities.

The Commission must ensure that its public information, and ‘in-person’ advice services remain freely accessible to small trustee-led charities, the DSC said. Were fees to be charged for advice or registration, this would mean that public spending cuts would be subsidised with charitable funds.

Its submission also states that the Commission’s primary focus should be on helping charities to understand the legal requirements and run themselves effectively – a position that is totally at odds with the Institute and NCVO responses.

“Under current financial restraints, there really is no way that the Commission will be able to supervise and enforce compliance across all charities,” the DSC wrote. “It must enable them to comply in the first place.”

It said that the potential for less help and advice being available from the Commission about complying with legal obligations was a key risk to the effectiveness of the sector over the next five years.

By contrast, the Institute of Fundraising's response states that regulator should focus on regulating charities rather than on giving advice and information.  Its advice role should transfer to sector umbrella bodies - a view shared by CFDG.

The Commission is currently sifting through 400-odd responses to its consultation and hopes to release its new strategy in May.


More on