What do you think of the Charity Commission’s new public benefit guidance?

The Charity Commission has a statutory obligation to issue guidance on public benefit, and charity trustees are required to have regard to that guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.

The Commission published guidance on public benefit back in January 2008, followed by supplementary guidance in December of that year, but they have now reported that many trustees have fed back that the guidance is too long and difficult to navigate.

Developments with the Charity Commission’s website have given them the opportunity to explore new ways to present the public benefit guidance in a way that makes it shorter, easier to navigate and more suited to being read online, so they are now asking for feedback on the revised public benefit guidance by way of a consultation.

The Commission has stated:

"We wish to make our public benefit guidance more accessible and make it easier for charity trustees to understand what is a very complex area of charity law. We hope that our new style guidance will aid trustees when making decisions that affect their charity’s public benefit or when reporting on public benefit.

"Also, since publishing our guidance, new legislation (such as the Equality Act) has been implemented and recent decisions of the Tribunal and Upper Tribunal have clarified certain aspects of charity law. These have implications for our public benefit guidance and we have taken them into account in our revisions."

WCVA will be submitting a response to this consultation, and they would like their response to reflect the views of members and service users. The Charity Commission have requested feedback on any aspect of the guidance, but they would specifically welcome views on:

• ·whether you find the guidance helpful, easy to follow and understand
• ·whether the guidance is sufficient for trustees to make decisions on public benefit
• ·what would you add or omit
• ·where you think we could make improvements
• ·your overall experience of using the guidance.

You can access the revised public benefit guidance here, and the Commission has also provided a list of key features of the guidance which you can find here. There is also a consultation blog to help you participate in the consultation.

If you would like to send WCVA your views so they can include them in their response to the consultation, please email Anna Lewis, Legal Services Officer, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by Friday 7 September 2012 - or email your comments to Sheila Hendrickson-Brown, Chief Officer of Cardiff Third Sector Council (C3SC), by Tuesday 4 September and she'll incorprate them into C3SC's response. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and please put 'Consultation: Charity Commission's new public benefit guidance' in the subject line.