Law digests: 23 June 2023

Charity

London Borough of Merton Council v Nuffield Health [2023] UKSC 18, [2023] All ER (D) 12 (Jun)

The Supreme Court dismissed the appellant local authority’s appeal against a finding that a gym run by the respondent charity (Nuffield) qualified as being used for charitable purposes and accordingly, the public benefit requirement, which was an invariable condition of charitable status, was satisfied. The court identified two conditions for entitlement to the mandatory 80% relief from business rates: (i) that the ratepayer was a charity or trustees for a charity; and (ii) that the premises in question were used wholly or mainly for the charitable purposes of the ratepayer, or of the ratepayer and other particular charities. In the circumstances, Nuffield used the gym wholly or mainly for its charitable purposes.

Costs

King v Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund and other cases [2023] EWHC 1408 (Ch), [2023] All ER (D) 34 (Jun)

The Chancery Division allowed the applicants’ application to set aside statutory demands made on them in the course of proceedings