(Immediate release 21 December 2011)

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has provided an update on its guidance on public benefit for charity trustees.

As required by the Upper Tribunal, the Commission has withdrawn those aspects of its public benefit guidance that require rewriting to ensure that the guidance is consistent with the Upper Tribunal's decision.

Most of the Commission's public benefit guidance still stands and most charities are not directly affected by the sections withdrawn. However, all trustees are required to have regard to the Commission's guidance¹ and so need to be aware of these changes.

Parts of the guidance that are affected are:

a. The whole of the Commission's guidance Public Benefit and Fee Charging.

b. On page 19 of the Commission's guidance The Advancement of Education for the Public Benefit, the cross-reference to Public Benefit and Fee Charging.

c. Sections F10 and F11 of the Commission's guidance Charities and Public Benefit.

d. In section H4 of Charities and Public Benefit, the 8th and 9th bullet points.

e. In sections C3 and F1 of Charities and Public Benefit, the second bullet point in principle 2 (b) (including the reference to section F10), and the reference to section F11 in principle 2 (c).

f. In section F3 on page 19 of Charities and Public Benefit, the reference to section F10 and the fourth bullet point in the second box.

All the guidance is on the Charity Commission's website with the withdrawn sections clearly marked. The withdrawn guidance no longer forms part of the Commission's statutory guidance on public benefit to which charities must have regard when carrying out any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.

The Commission had already confirmed that it would review its public benefit guidance, both generally and following the outcome of the case, and established a working party to do this. We aim to produce draft guidance by the end of March 2012, which will be publicly consulted on for three months, before being published in Summer 2012.

In the meantime, trustees can look at interim advice in Question and Answer form on public benefit which is now available on the Commission's website.

Charity trustees of educational charities which charge high fees, in consequence of their duty to administer their charity for the public benefit, are required to take into account the whole of the class of beneficiaries their charity is set up to provide for. Accordingly, they have a duty to make provision for the poor. That provision must be more than minimal or tokenistic and must be related to their charity's aims.

All trustees continue to have a duty to have regard to the Commission's guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant, and must continue to report on the public benefit that their charity provides.

The Q and A for trustees and public benefit guidance can be found on the Commission's website.

For further information on this story please contact the press office

PR 56/11

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. See www.charitycommission.gov.uk for further information.

2. Our mission is: to ensure charities' legal compliance, enhance charities' accountability, encourage charities' effectiveness and impact and to promote the public interest in charity.

3. The Charity Commission Media Information Centre, available on the Commission's website, provides useful and relevant background information specifically for journalists, particularly in relation to issues that regularly attract press interest.

4. There are over 180,000 registered charities, some of which have similar names or working names. To avoid confusion, each registered charity can be identified by its individual registration number, which can be checked on the Register of Charities.

Footnotes