Charity Commission: Rejected Charitable Status Case Files

CHAR 17

1960-2001

This series contains case files relating to organisations whose application for charitable status was challenged. Some were rejected, and some were reinstated after amendments to their governing document, or on appeal to the High Court. The files generally contain the original application to the Charity Commission, internal minutes and correspondence, a 'reasoned statement' from the legal advisers in support of the organisations application, newsletters and other evidence in support of the organisations' activities, records on the consultation with the Inland Revenue, and in some cases, papers relating to the Treasury Solicitor's preparation of the case before it went to Court.

In the case of charities that were reinstated, the files often contain records of the subsequent activities of the charity, unconnected with the question of its status.

The records are arranged in chronological order.

Public Record(s)

English

38 file(s)

Open unless otherwise stated

From 2002 Charity Commission

Topics

Charities

Taxation

File series ran from 1961 to 1995

Series is accruing.

This series relates to section 2.2.2.1 of the PRO's Acquisition Policy (the economic, social and demographic condition of the UK). Selected cases of unusual interest, mostly registered later following a redraft of objects or an appeal to the High Court. These cases effectively define the boundary of charitable status at the time of creation.

With the implementation of the Charities Act 1960 and the creation of the first public register of charities, the Charity Commission effectively became responsible for determining the charitable status of organisations when it decided which should be entered on the register. This had previously been determined by the Inland Revenue in deciding whether to grant tax concessions.