Commission publishes summary of public benefit responses

(immediate release 07/10/08)

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has today published on its website the summaries of the responses to its recent public benefit consultations.

The four consultations were on draft supplementary guidance on Public Benefit and the Advancement of Religion, Public Benefit and the Prevention or Relief of Poverty, Public Benefit and the Advancement of Education and Public Benefit and Fee-charging. Each consultation ran for four months; two closed at the end of June and two closed in July. The Commission received a total of 675 responses.

The Commission aims to publish its final revised supplementary guidance by the end of 2008. All the supplementary guidance complements the general public benefit guidance for all charities, which was published in January 2008.

An additional consultation on Public Benefit and the Advancement of Moral or Ethical Belief Systems was launched on 4th September, and closes on 5th January 2009. Further consultations on draft supplementary guidance on the public benefit of charities with other charitable purposes, such as animal welfare and human rights, will follow.

The supplementary guidance due at the end of 2008 will be aimed at those charity sectors for which the presumption of public benefit has been removed under the Charities Act 2006. The Commission is now beginning to assess the public benefit of some charities within these sectors. As well as assessing whether the individual charities meet the public benefit requirement, this work will identify wider themes and points of interest generally for the sector. The charities in the first group to be assessed are:

Charities for the advancement of religion

United Christian Broadcasters Limited	(registered charity no 299128)
London Sri Murugan Temple	(registered charity no 271097)
Tara Mahayana Buddhist Centre	(registered charity no 517949)
Church Mission Society	(registered charity no 220297)

Fee-charging residential care home charities

Cornwall Old People’s Housing Society Ltd	(registered charity no 1071067)
Penylan House, Jewish Retirement and Nursing Home	(registered charity no 243968)
The Rest Bay Convalescent Hotel	(registered charity no 220744)

Fee-charging school charities

The Manchester Grammar School Foundation	(registered charity no 529909)
Manor House School Trust Ltd	(registered charity no 307347)
Pangbourne College Limited	(registered charity no 309096)
St Anselm’s School Trust Limited	(registered charity no 527179)
Highfield Priory School Limited	(registered charity no 532262)

The Commission has already communicated with all of the participating charities and provided them with information on the assessment process. Information about the criteria used in the selection of these charities can be found on our website here. The Commission aims to publish the conclusions of the first assessments in Spring 2009. All charities are required to start reporting on the public benefit they provide from 31st March 2009.

Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of the Charity Commission said,

“The contribution that organisations and individuals make to our consultations is greatly valued. It really does help us produce high quality guidance for the charity sector. In addition, we have chosen a selection of charities to take part in the first assessments. These will help inform the wider sector, both on the public benefit assessment and reporting process.”

Full details of the charities and copies of the summaries of responses are published today at www.charitycommission.gov.uk.

Ends.

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator for charitable activity in England and Wales. See www.charitycommission.gov.uk for further information or call our contact centre on 0845 300 0218.

2. In total there were 675 responses to the four consultations:

• 58 responses to the consultation on Public Benefit and the Prevention or Relief of Poverty
• 165 responses to the consultation on Public Benefit and the Advancement of Education
• 189 responses to the consultation on Public Benefit and Fee-charging
• 263 responses to the consultation on Public Benefit and the Advancement of Religion

3. In addition to the summaries of responses published today, the Commission intends to publish a fuller analysis of the responses together with a commentary of how we have dealt with them in the revised supplementary guidance.

4. Information about the criteria used to select the charities in this initial round of assessments can be found on the Commission’s website

PR 35/08