Charity gets sweeter

The Home Office recently published its response to the Cabinet Office strategy unit's review of the charitable and not-for-profit sector Private Action, Public Benefit. The Home Office has accepted many of the recommendations and in some cases has gone further than recommended.

Perhaps the most important recommendation was that a new statutory definition of charitable purposes should replace the current "heads of charity" based on the preamble to the Statute of Elizabeth 1601. These heads are:

• Relief of the aged, impotent and poor
  
• Advancement of education
  
• Advancement of religion
  
• Other purposes beneficial to the community (which includes, among many other categories, regeneration charities).

The strategy unit review suggested a 10-point list including many of the types of charity previously accepted as charitable under the fourth "head", together with some extensions. The Home Office has gone further than those extensions and has stated that "provision of social housing" should be listed as a separate charitable purpose.

Under the current law, a registered social landlord can only claim charitable status if its objectives enable it to qualify as a charity for the relief of the aged, infirm and poor – perhaps with regeneration or other complementary activities. Housing provision must be a means of relieving the poverty of an RSL's tenants or relieving particular needs arising from their age or physical or mental health.

A registered social landlord can only claim charitable status if it qualifies as a charity for the relief of the aged, infirm and poor

The inclusion of social housing provision as a separate charitable purpose raises the potential that a broader range of social housing activities may be included within the charitable umbrella. Of course, the vital question is what is meant by "social housing". This has been debated within the housing movement for many years without a consensus emerging – although the Housing Corporation has set out its very broad working definition in Regulating a Diverse Sector. There have also, of course, been proposals to drop the term altogether in favour of "affordable housing" or other similar terms.

Unfortunately, the Home Office publication does not elaborate on what it means by the term "social housing". It also adds to the confusion by stating that it is "already well established as charitable and would be covered by the review's proposed 10th category of other purposes beneficial to the community". Given that broader definitions of social housing have not to date been recognised as charitable, there is significant doubt here as to what the proposed new purpose would or would not include. It is to be hoped that more detail will be issued in due course by the Home Office and/or the Charity Commission.

The Home Office's response incorporates a number of other significant proposals or responses that are relevant to RSL.