Revised public benefit guidance
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has today published revised public benefit guidance for all charities.
The guidance, which the Commission is required to produce under what is now the Charities Act 2011, is split into three short, high level guides available both in online and offline formats. Trustees must have regard to this guidance when administering their charity.
The three guides are:
- Public Benefit: the public benefit requirement
- Public Benefit: running a charity
- Public Benefit: reporting
The three guides explain what is required to show that an organisation is a charity by having purposes that are for the public benefit, what trustees’ duties are in carrying out those purposes for the public benefit, and how trustees should report on the public benefit their charity provides in their Annual Report.
The guides also explain that the trustees of charities which charge fees for services or facilities that the poor cannot afford must make provision for the poor to benefit. It is for trustees, not the Commission or the courts, to decide how to do this, but they must act reasonably and make more than a minimal provision.
The Commission’s guidance is not the law on public benefit but it explains and reflects the law.
The guidance is available on the Charity Commission’s website at www.charitycommission.gov.uk/detailed-guidance/charitable-purposes-and-public-benefit alongside an analysis of the law relating to public benefit and an explanation of the ways in which the regulator has responded to comments made during the consultation.