The claim of Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Foundation Trust (“Derby FT”) alone was worth more than £17 million. To claim the mandatory rate reduction, and subsequent repayment of business rates paid over the previous six years, Derby FT needed to be a charity, whose property is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. Section 67(10) of the 1988 Act defines a charity, for the purposes of business rates, as either:
The primary purpose of all Foundation Trusts is the provision of goods and services for the purposes of the health service in England, under the National Health Service Act 2006. Whilst this is a charitable purpose, falling under ‘the advancement of health and saving lives’, the Foundation Trusts also had two additional purposes. Under section 43(2) of the National Health Service Act 2006, these related to:
As such, Foundation Trusts may pursue other purposes as long as they are connected with the purposes in section 43(2), with no requirement that those purposes had to advance public health. However, the additional purposes could fall outside of the 2011 Act, thus would not necessarily be charitable.
The Court held that the purposes of Foundation Trusts, as prescribed by the National Health Service Act 2006, were not limited to only charitable purposes. Therefore, Foundation Trusts could not be considered charities for the purposes of the 1988 Act or benefit from business rates relief.
We will be exploring the impact this decision has on charities and local authorities in a series of short articles.
Please contact Emma Watt.
International Women’s Day is not just another event in the calendar. Striving for social equality is a daily mission as we work towards building a society of gender equality.
Next in our series of ebriefings on the Government’s Green Paper: Transforming public procurement; looking at the Chapter 4 proposal to change the basis of contract awards.
The Academies Financial Handbook is updated annually by the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency; it contains a number of governance requirements for academy trusts.
Supreme Court publishes key decision for those working in the UK’s gig economy.
The 'Chocolate Snowman Appeal' is an amazing initiative that Anthony Collins Solicitors' (ACS) employees take part in every year.
The Building Safety Bill (the Bill) is said to be the most significant and wide-ranging change to the regulatory environment for higher risk building (HRBs) for over 45 years.
On 4 November 2020, the Restriction of Public Exit Payments Regulations 2020 (the Regulations) came into force; exit payments for the public sector were capped at £95,000.
The case was brought by the Official Receiver who sought disqualification orders under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (CDDA 1986) against the seven trustees of Kids Company and its CEO. It illustrates well the tension between the role of a fulltime paid CEO of a large charity and the role of its board as voluntary trustees/directors.
At the end of 2020, The Charity Governance Code was updated or 'refreshed' as it is termed on its website.
Anthony Collins Solicitors is today (Thursday 11 February) revealing the scale of its social impact during 2020.
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.