The Charity Commission released their final decision on 3rd October 2013 to uphold its earlier decision not to register the Human Dignity Trust as a charity.
Although the Commission acknowledges that the Human Dignity Trust carries out significant philanthropic work, it stated that this would not entitle it to be classified as charity in law.
To be registered as a charity a company would need to be established exclusively for charitable purposes for the public benefit.
The Commission stated “It is a longstanding and important rule in charity law that political purposes cannot be charitable purposes, as changes to the law or government decisions, either in this country or abroad, cannot necessarily be seen as beneficial and therefore meeting the public benefit requirement.”
Human Dignity Trust can appeal against the Commission’s decision to the First-tier Tribunal system.
The above is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.
