Public benefit……..again!
July 8, 2010
No surprise this morning with much media coverage being given over to the reports published today by the Charities Commission on the two preparatory schools which failed the public benefit assessments last year.
Concerns remain due to bursaries seemingly being the only real area the commission is giving any weight to when making the overall pass or fail assessment. Any other activities deemed to be for the benefit of individuals and organisations outside of the independent school, such as shared facilities or public speaking events, seem to have limited impact on the overall decision as to whether the public benefit test is met or not.
BBC Online comments on possible legal action being taken by the Independent School Council (ISC). The ISC is bidding for a judicial review of Charity Commission guidance with Chief Executive David Lyscom advising that they “had no alternative but to challenge the commission in the courts”. He also raises concerns that there is no end to the uncertainty of the rules with the Charities Commission able to change their interpretation of them as it suits.
The ‘public benefit’ test was introduced as part of Labour’s 2006 Charities Act which places the onus on private schools to ‘prove’ that they offer benefits to the wider public in order to retain their charitable status and the tax breaks that brings.
It is believed that the tax breaks are worth around £100m per annum to the independent school sector. However, and I think this is a fact that is oft overlooked, this should be offset with the amount of money the schools are saving the Government by schooling thousands of children thus meaning that are outside of the state school system.
Even prior to his appointment as Education Secretary, Michael Gove has been a critic of the Charity Commission’s approach so it will be interesting to see if he takes action on this before the ISC have to embark on a long-winded and expensive legal battle.
Looks like this will continue to rumble on for some time to come.
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