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Charity Commission launches consultation on public benefit
Howard Lake | 7 March 2007 | News
The Charity Commission has launched a consultation on the principles of public benefit to seek the sector’s views on draft ./guidance that paves the way for a new public benefit requirement for all charities.
The new 2006 Charities Act now requires all charities – including education, religious groups or those relieving poverty – to show they are set up for the public benefit and the Commission has responsibility for raising awareness about this and for conducting public benefit checks on charities.
There are four key principles which are:
*There must be an identifable benefit
*Benefit must be to the public, or a justifiable section of the public
*People on low incomes must be able to benefit
*Any private benefit must be incidental.
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For example, a private hospital caring for patients who would otherwise be treated by the NHS would need to show a greater degree of public benefit. A fee-charging school could show public benefit by opening its sports facilities to the local community.
The 52-page document on the Charity Commission’s website says that charities can charge for their services, but that should charges be high enough to effectively exclude people on low incomes from benefiting, this would be likely to affect their public benefit status.
Chair of the Commission Dame Suzi Leather said: The issue of public benefit is at the heart of the implied covenant between charities and society: in return for having purposes which are charitable and provide public benefit, chariteis may enjoy the benefits of charitable status.
The Commission is also publishing Citizens’ Standards, which are not a legal requirement, but come from the views of members of the public who were asked how they felt charities benefited the public.
The consultation document is downloadable from the Commission’s website and the consultation closes on 6 June. Beyond this date the Commission will carry out further consultations with specific types of charity. It aims to publish a summary of the responses to the consultation on its website within three months of the closing date, and to issue the final ./guidance as a new publication – Charities and Public Benefit – later this year.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.