Charity Commission publishes its long-awaited new Public Benefit Guidance

The Commission published its much anticipated revised public benefit guidance on 16 September 2013, as three separate guides which are available to download.

Guide 1 – Public benefit: the public benefit requirement Guide 1 explains the requirement that a charity’s purposes must be for the public benefit. Although it sets out the essential principles of public benefit, the guidance states that it will be most relevant to people thinking of setting up a charity or the trustees of an existing charity who are considering changing their charity’s purposes. This is important as it reflects the Commission’s acceptance, following the decision in Independent Schools Council, that the Charities Act 2011 requires public benefit to be tested against a charity’s objects rather than against the activities it carries out.

Guide 2 – Public benefit: running a charity Guide 2 provides guidance to trustees on carrying out their charity’s purposes for the public benefit, in the context of the day-to-day activities of their charity. This section of the guidance reflects one of the key messages from the decision in Independent Schools Council – it is for a charity’s trustees, rather than the Commission or the courts, to decide how best to carry out their charity’s purposes for the benefit of the public, provided that the decisions which the trustees take fall within the range of decisions that the trustees could reasonably make in the particular circumstances.

Guide 3 – Public benefit: reporting Guide 3 explains the duty of trustees of registered charities to report on how they have carried out their charity’s purposes for the public benefit in their Trustees’ Annual Report. It also provides some guidance on what such a report should include, depending on the size of the charity.

IBB Solicitors’ specialist Charities team has a wealth of experience in delivering practical commercial advice to charities and not for profit organisations and those who work with them. For advice, contact our charity lawyers on 01895 207809 or email charities@ibblaw.co.uk.