The Charity Commission has instructed researchers to study perceptions amongst charities of the impact of the public benefit requirement.

The research will be led by Leila Baker and Professor Margaret Harris from the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) and supported by Professor Gareth Morgan at Sheffield Hallam University.

The research will “analyse perceptions, knowledge and experience of the impact on charities of the renewed emphasis on the public benefit requirement in the Charities Act 2006”.

It will inform future policy work by the Charity Commission and will also feed into Lord Hodgson’s statutory review of the Charities Act 2006.

It is the third research project commissioned by the regulator around public benefit, and aims to investigate what impact the requirement has been in practice. The researchers will conduct interviews with individuals from the sector and host workshops with a range of representatives.

The study began this month and will end in April.

Professor Gareth Morgan (pictured) said: “The concept of public benefit has created massive debate and the process of reforming the requirements, which led to the Charities Act 2006, has been one of the central issues affecting charities over the last 20 years.

"This study will offer a key opportunity to link the legal issues with the practical experience of leading people in the sector, including charity trustees and professional advisers.”

In 2011 Sheffield Hallam’s Centre for Voluntary Sector Research carried out a major study for the Commission on public benefit reporting in the trustees’ reports of charities. The full report can be read here.