OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE

EXEMPT CHARITIES

PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION OF GUIDANCE (SEE SECTION 5.2 OF OG 57 C1): CHARITIES ADMINISTERED IN CONNECTION WITH GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL

OG 57 E1 - 01 March 2000

Divisional responsibility

For action:

Charity Support Division
Registration Division

For information:

Investigation Division
Charity Database Division

Contents

1. Constitution of the governing body
2. The Memorial Fund
3. The Prize Fund

Index to further related information

1. Constitution of the governing body

Girls' High School is a voluntary aided High School for Girls. Its governing body therefore comes within s.23(1)(a) or (b) of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1988. (We are concerned here with the governing body which is an exempt charity, not a related property trust).

Paragraph 14(1) of Schedule 9 of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1988 provides that the composition of the governing body a for voluntary aided school shall include:

• the head teacher unless he or she chooses not to be a governor;

• governors of each of the following categories:

• parent governors;

• LEA governors;

• teacher governors;

• staff governors;

• co-opted governors ;

• foundation governors who should be greater in number than the above three categories.

2. The Memorial Fund

1.1

document

The governing document of the Fund is a Scheme of 20 December 1977

1.2

Objects

Its objects are:

(i)

making interest free loans for such terms as the trustees think fit to pupils or former pupils of the High School for Girls who are aged 16 years or over and who are in need of financial assistance, to advance them in life;

(ii)

if and in so far as the clear income of the charity is not required as above, making grants to such pupils or former pupils to advance them in life.

1.3

Trustees

The Scheme provides that the Fund's trustees shall be:

(a)

ex-officio, the head teacher of the school;

(b)

three nominative trustees appointed by the Committee of the High School for Girls' Old Girls' Union;

(c)

two nominative trustees appointed by the Committee of the High School for Girls' Parents' Guild;

(d)

two nominative trustees appointed by the staff of the School; and

(e)

one nominative trustee appointed by the Board of Governors of the school.

1.4

Accountability

The Fund is not provided for in the constitution of the primary charity. It is not funded by the primary charity. It is not accountable to the primary charity.

1.5

Application of criteria

Administrative connection

Of the nine trustees, only one , the head teacher is representative of the administrative body of the primary charity. The two nominative trustees appointed by the staff of the school and the nominative trustee appointed by the Board of Governors of the school need not necessarily be the same as the teacher or staff governors who form part of the governing body of the school.

The Fund is not provided for in the constitution of the primary charity and there is no provision in the Scheme governing the Fund for accountability to the primary charity.

Therefore, the necessary administrative connection is not present.

Compatibility of purpose

The objects of the Fund are substantially wider than those of a voluntary aided school.

Therefore, the purposes of the two charities are not sufficiently compatible.

1.6

Conclusion

The Memorial Fund cannot be regarded as a subsidiary charity within the meaning of paragraph (w) of Schedule 2, so is not exempt.

Neither could it have been regarded as a subsidiary charity within the meaning of paragraph (w) if just one of the conditions were satisfied.

3. The Prize Fund

3.1

Governing document

The governing document of the Fund is a trust deed dated 9 September 1957.

3.2

Objects

Its objects are:

• to award two prizes. One prize to be awarded to a pupil in any division of the most senior form for a proficiency in Mathematics and the other to a pupil in her third year at the school who has in the past year in the opinion of the headmistress shown the greatest effort and progress in Mathematics without necessarily being the most proficient pupil of the year.

3.3

Trustee

The trust deed provides that the headmistress shall apply the income of the Fund in perpetuity for the promotion and encouragement of education at the school in the manner set out in the deed.

3.4

Application of criteria

Administrative connection

The headmistress is both sole trustee of the Fund and ex-officio a member of the governing body of the primary charity.

Therefore, there is a sufficient administrative connection.

Compatibility of purpose

The objects of the Fund are compatible with and no wider than those of a voluntary aided school.

Therefore, the purposes of the two charities are sufficiently compatible.

3.5

Conclusion

The Prize Fund can be regarded as a subsidiary charity within the meaning of paragraph (w) of Schedule 2, and so it is exempt.

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