header-logo header-logo

An education in charity

24 January 2008 / Nicholas Hancox
Issue: 7305 / Categories: Features , Local government , Public , Community care
printer mail-detail

Where’s the public benefit of subsidising the education of wealthy children? Asks Nicholas Hancox

The advancement of education has been recognised in statute as a charitable activity since the Statute of Charitable Uses 1601. The Charities Act 2006 (ChaA 2006) is the current incarnation of the 1601 law and what is new in the Act is the public benefit test (expected to be in force in March 2008) under which the “advancement of education” may fail to retain its charitable status if it produces insufficient public benefit as that term is defined, not in ChaA 2006, but at common law. The Charity Commission is expressly charged with a duty to draw attention to the operation of the new public benefit test (ChaA 2006, s 7, prospectively inserting a new s 1B into the Charities Act 1993) and the commission has started already, issuing a full-scale consultation document, Draft Public Benefit Guidance, last year and the first tranche of official guidance, Charities and Public Benefit, earlier this month. More guidance will

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll