For The Public Benefit?

In July last year, the Charity Commission published its public benefit assessment reports on 12 charities. It failed 4 of the charities, 3 of them on public benefit grounds. This sparked further controversy in the ongoing public benefit debate.

Some of the press coverage continues to imply that the Charities Act 2006 (the Act) made radical changes in charity law, introducing a new legal definition of charity and 'tough' requirements for charities to 'prove' that they 'provide' public benefit. This seems to be based on the commission's public benefit guidance.

The Act required the Charity Commission to issue guidance to promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the public benefit requirement. This is a statutorily defined term referring to the requirement that, to be a charitable purpose, a purpose must be 'for the public benefit'. In other words, a simple restatement of the law.

The only change that the Act made to the law of public benefit is that it is 'not to be presumed' that a particular purpose is 'for the public benefit'. This, arguably, affects charities established for the...