The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales

Charities and Elections

Guidance Update - May 2009

 

This guidance is for use by charities during the period between the announcement of an election, and the date on which an election is held. It applies to both national and local elections. Its purpose is to aid charities in deciding what actions are and are not appropriate in the run-up to an election, including during the campaign itself. This brief guidance should be read in conjunction with our more detailed guidance on the wider subject of Speaking Out: Guidance on campaigning and political activities by charities (CC9), published in March 2008. Supplementary guidance on Charities and Political Donations is also available. A full PDF version of Charities and Elections is available on our website. The principles continue to apply during an election period.

This guidance is consistent with electoral law, which applies to charities and non-charities alike. The key Acts of Parliament are listed below under Further Reference.

The independent nature of the charitable sector is of fundamental importance to society, and is greatly valued by the public. The guiding principle of charity law in terms of elections is that charities should be, and be seen to be, independent from party politics. This guidance contains legal and good practice advice to charities to help ensure that they are able both to:

  • retain the essential quality of independence; and
  • use their voice effectively at election times to act as advocates for their beneficiaries and service users.

There are a number of ways in which a charity may be at risk of becoming embroiled in party politics, albeit unintentionally. These are set out under five headings:

Policies

  • One or more political parties may adopt a policy position on a particular issue that is more or less similar to a charity’s position. In this case it is entirely acceptable for the charity to continue to campaign on that issue and to advocate its policy as long as its independence from any political party advocating the same policy is made clear, and as long as the policy the charity is advocating is in furtherance of its objects.
  • Alternatively, a charity may adopt a policy position similar to one already held by a political party. At any time, but especially in the run-up to an election, the charity may need to take rigorous steps to demonstrate that its adoption of such a policy position is independent from that of the political party.

Publicity

  • In any publicity material (including printed material, media interviews, and websites) produced in the run-up to and during the election, a charity may promote its views on issues which relate to its objects and activities. A charity may compare its views (favourably or otherwise) with those of political parties or candidates taking part in the election. For example, if a housing charity supports the building of 100,000 new homes, it can compare the policy of each party and how many new homes each party is committed to building, but it must not explicitly call on people to vote for one party or the other. The key point is that whilst charities can attempt to influence public opinion on a particular issue if it furthers their objects, they must leave it to the electorate to make their own decisions about how to vote.
  • Local authorities must not, under the Local Government Act 1986, give publicity to any political party or publish any material that appears to be designed to influence public support for or against a political party. These restrictions extend to any organisations, including charities, which receive local authority funding. Charities may put at risk that funding if they transgress this legal requirement. As above, the definition of published material includes all or part of any text in any printed or electronic media, and TV and radio broadcasts (including interviews).

Candidates

  • Charities are free to approach individual candidates, setting out the charity’s concerns and asking for the candidate’s opinions on them.
  • Charities are free to invite candidates and political party representatives to public meetings about issues on which the charity is campaigning, for example by inviting a politician to speak at a reception to launch a campaign. As best practice, trustees should strive to achieve balance by inviting representatives from as wide a political spectrum as possible. However, we realise that this is often difficult or impossible to achieve in practice, and it is not a legal requirement for charities to do so.
  • It is open to charities to decline to invite to a public meeting a representative from a political party which advocates policies which are in contravention of the charity’s objects, or whose presence or views are likely to increase the chance of public disorder or of alienating the charity’s supporters.
  • Charities must not assist candidates with their election campaigns, financially or otherwise. Individual members of a charity may of course choose to assist any candidate in a personal capacity, but officers and employees of a charity should not use their position in any campaigning activities in such a way as to suggest that the charity endorses any candidate.
  • If an employee is directly engaged in a charity’s campaigning activity, and also has personal involvement with one particular political party, for example they are standing as a candidate, they should declare this to their employer. The trustees should then consider this potential conflict of interest and assess the risk to the charity in terms of both reputation and legal liability of the person taking on both roles simultaneously.
  • Charities should be particularly wary of associating, or becoming associated in the minds of the public, with a particular candidate or political party. Where the charity supports a popular cause, candidates may wish to gain kudos by being seen to support the charity, but there is a potential risk to the charity’s reputation if that candidate or their party also advocate policies which the charity would not wish to support or are in contravention of its objects. Similarly if public opinion of the candidate or his or her political party is unfavourable (either generally or amongst the charity’s supporters) that is likely to affect the charity’s reputation and ultimately its work.
  • On the other hand, there may be cases where the trustees can reasonably feel that association with a particular candidate may even enhance a charity’s reputation, in which case they may consider that it is, on balance, in the charity’s interests. They will, however, have to take into account the legal restrictions about third parties promoting one or more candidates above others, as outlined above, in order to avoid a charity’s independence being, or being perceived to be, in any way threatened.

Facilities

  • Some charities (eg some schools) may be required by electoral law to make their premises available to candidates to hold public meetings free of charge.
  • Where this is not the case, but a candidate wishes to use facilities within a charity’s premises (eg a village hall or community centre) for a public meeting, then it should be treated as a normal commercial hire, and charged for at a rate decided by the trustees. There are no restrictions on what this rate may be, but we would advise that it should be both reasonable and applied equally to all bookings by candidates.
  • It is open to a charity to refuse to hire facilities to a candidate, party or other group if the charity trustees feel that to do so would either increase the risk of alienating the charity’s beneficiaries, users or supporters, or increase the risk of public disorder.

Funding

  • Charities must not donate funds to political parties.
  • Charities should be careful that any campaign material produced is not so close to the policy position of any candidate or political party that it could be seen as an augmentation of their campaign funding, and thus potentially in breach of electoral law. The rules on campaign expenditure by third parties are complex, but any published material falling under these provisions would also be likely to contravene our guidelines as being inappropriate for a charity.

Further Reference

Acts of Parliament (www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk)

  • Representation of the People Acts, 1983, 1985 and 2000.
  • Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, 2000
  • Local Government Act, 1986

Useful websites

The Electoral Commission www.electoralcommission.gov.uk

The Advertising Standards Authority www.asa.org.uk

The Local Government Association www.lga.gov.uk

National Council for Voluntary Organisations www.ncvo-vol.org.uk. (NCVO has published guidance on Voluntary Organisations and Electoral Law which provides specific information on Section 75 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. This deals with the law relating to party political candidate’s expenses. It also includes information on the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 which introduced new rules governing national campaigns by third parties, including pressure groups.)