Charities Act 2011

Indexes and reviews etc. E+W

293 Meaning of “local charity” E+W

In this Act, except in so far as the context otherwise requires, “local charity” means, in relation to any area, a charity established for purposes which are—

(a) by their nature, or

(b) by the trusts of the charity,

directed wholly or mainly to the benefit of that area or of part of it.

294 Local authority's index of local charities E+W

(1) A council may maintain an index of local charities or of any class of local charities in the council's area, and may publish information contained in the index, or summaries or extracts taken from it.

(2) A council proposing to establish or maintaining under this section an index of local charities or of any class of local charities must, on request, be supplied by the Commission free of charge—

(a) with copies of such entries in the register of charities as are relevant to the index, or

(b) with particulars of any changes in the entries of which copies have been supplied before;

and the Commission may arrange that it will without further request supply a council with particulars of any such changes.

(3) An index maintained under this section must be open to public inspection at all reasonable times.

295 Reviews of local charities by local authority E+W

(1) A council may—

(a) subject to the following provisions of this section, initiate, and carry out in co-operation with the charity trustees, a review of the working of any group of local charities with the same or similar purposes in the council's area, and

(b) make to the Commission such report on the review and such recommendations arising from it as the council, after consultation with the trustees, think fit.

(2) A council having power to initiate reviews under this section may—

(a) co-operate with other persons in any review by them of the working of local charities in the council's area (with or without other charities), or

(b) join with other persons in initiating and carrying out such a review.

(3) No review initiated by a council under this section is to extend—

(a) to any charity without the consent of the charity trustees, or

(b) to any ecclesiastical charity.

(4) No review initiated under this section by a district council is to extend to the working in any county of a local charity established for purposes similar or complementary to any services provided by county councils unless the review so extends with the consent of the council of that county.

(5) Subsection (4) does not apply in relation to Wales.

296 S.294 and s.295: supplementary E+W

(1) In sections 294 and 295 and this section “council” means—

(a) a district council,

(b) a county council,

(c) a county borough council,

(d) a London borough council, or

(e) the Common Council of the City of London.

(2) A council may employ any voluntary organisation as their agent for the purposes of sections 294 and 295, on such terms and within such limits (if any) or in such cases as they may agree.

(3) In subsection (2), “voluntary organisation” means any body—

(a) whose activities are carried on otherwise than for profit, and

(b) which is not a public or local authority.

(4) A joint board discharging any of a council's functions has the same powers under sections 294 and 295 and this section as the council as respects local charities in the council's area which are established for purposes similar or complementary to any services provided by the board.

297 Co-operation between charities, and between charities and local authorities E+W

(1) Any local council and any joint board discharging any functions of a local council—

(a) may make, with any charity established for purposes similar or complementary to services provided by the council or board, arrangements for co-ordinating—

(i) the activities of the council or board, and

(ii) those of the charity,

in the interests of persons who may benefit from those services or from the charity, and

(b) is at liberty to disclose to any such charity in the interests of those persons any information obtained in connection with the services provided by the council or board, whether or not arrangements have been made with the charity under this subsection.

(2) In subsection (1), “local council” means—

(a) in relation to England—

(i) a district council,

(ii) a county council,

(iii) a London borough council,

(iv) a parish council,

(v) the Common Council of the City of London, or

(vi) the Council of the Isles of Scilly, and

(b) in relation to Wales—

(i) a county council,

(ii) a county borough council, or

(iii) a community council.

(3) Charity trustees may, regardless of anything in the trusts of the charity, by virtue of this subsection do all or any of the following things, if it appears to them likely to promote or make more effective the work of the charity—

(a) they may co-operate in any review undertaken under section 295 or otherwise of the working of charities or any class of charities;

(b) they may make arrangements with an authority acting under subsection (1) or with another charity for co-ordinating their activities and those of the authority or of the other charity;

(c) they may publish information of other charities with a view to bringing them to the notice of those for whose benefit they are intended.

(4) Charity trustees may defray the expense of acting under subsection (3) out of any income or money applicable as income of the charity.