Charity Commission for England and Wales

Charity Commission: Changes of Charity Classifications

As you all know at BSSEC we aim to keep you in touch with National Policy and changes pertinent to the social economy and we have been informed that last week the Charity Commission launched user testing of its revised charity classification with charities – and they need your help in spreading the word! 

The charity classification includes the categories that charities have to choose from when explaining their work on the charities register. Specifically, ‘what’ a charity does, ‘how’ it delivers its services and ‘who’ its beneficiaries are. Scoping for ‘where’ charities deliver their services is a phase two activity.

While getting to this point has been significant (more on how and why below), having as many charities as possible user test the classification to ensure it accurately reflects their work is what really matters. 

?  Our ask of you ?  

     > Please help us raise awareness of the classification user testing this month by sharing this blog with charities and networks to contribute. Information on how to participate is included.

     > We are keen to reach as broad and diverse a range of charities as possible. We know that opportunities like this do not come around every day and this could have a significant impact on our understanding of part of our sector! 

What is this all about? Why does it matter?

As part of our efforts to improve the data and evidence base on civil society, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport have been supporting the Charity Commission with its broader data revisions. 

A large part of this has been reviewing the questions the regulator asks charities. Answers to these questions provide us in government, charities themselves and the general public with the majority of the data we currently hold on the sector.

By revising the way in which questions are asked and presented, they hope to address gaps in everyones knowledge and gain a more accurate and detailed understanding of the charity sector going forward. 

Progress to date from DCMS – Charity Classification

The data and evidence improvement team amalgamated and shared X-Government views as part of the Charity Commission’s technical consultation in late January/early February. 

We received so many valuable insights from our directorate and teams across government and really value your willingness to collaborate and review – a huge thanks for your contributions!

The Commission considered this feedback with that of other external stakeholders they had reached out to and updated their draft classification with their Board’s approval. 

     > This public report outlines how and why revisions were made.

     > For those of you looking for more specific reasoning for including/not including recommendations, do reach out and I can share an internal version with you too. 

Ongoing data revisions and next steps

As previously mentioned, this is one of multiple strands of work that the Commission is undertaking to improve the data it holds on charities. We are keen to support this in the coming months and are continuing to provide suggestions. 

Timelines for when the classification will go live are currently a work in progress owing to other dependencies at the Commission. When we get further clarity, we will let you know. 

Do reach out to Khyati Modgil (Civil Society and Youth Directorate, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) if you have any questions at all: khyati.modgil@dcms.gov.uk

Please do give feedback, its important that we are able to comment on changes that are taking place at the moment!  

Sarah Beaumont I Director, BSSEC CIC

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