Special reports
March 2007
Public access to information or documents on the Charities Register: a Charities Commission position paper
Executive summary
The Charities Act requires information on individual charities to be publicly available on the Charities Register. However, it also provides the opportunity to restrict the public’s access to information where this is “in the public interest”.
There is no required form or process to follow when a charity wishes to apply to restrict public access to their details. Simply, a letter to the Charities Commission making a request will be sufficient. This letter will need to identify what public interest justifies restrictions on public access to information on the Register, and explain how the restriction sought will promote that public interest.
Each decision will be made on a case-by-case basis taking account of the facts the Commission is presented with. The decision will balance the public interest presented by the applicant against the public interest in accountability through disclosure.
Where information is already in the public arena, there is little justification for restricting public access to information on the Charities Register. Feedback provided to the Commission showed consistent support for full public disclosure of information where a charity is actively seeking funds from the public.
The following are accepted as relevant public interests that may justify restrictions on access to information:
- Maintaining the law, including preventing, investigating, and detecting offences, and the right to a fair trial;
- Ensuring the safety of any person;
- Protecting the health or safety of members of the public;
- Reducing the risk that the information could be used for improper gain or improper advantage;
- Reducing the opportunity for disclosure of information that may unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the entity or the person who supplied / is the subject of the information; and
- Responding to any other interest that, on having regard to all the circumstances of the case, would be considered by the Commission to be in the public interest.
The promotion of philanthropic giving is in the public interest and this intent can be achieved by recognising the privacy interests of trustees, volunteers and settlors of private philanthropic charitable trusts.