Annuity Helpline
Published 4 August 2015
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2015
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This case was considered in Decision Review, following our formal rejection of the application in July 2015 on the basis that we were not satisfied that the organisation was charitable.
The organisation’s purposes are:
To educate the public going into retirement what all the various options are for Retirement Income. In addition assisting people to understand their current structures and any valuable benefits they may currently be entitled to such as but not exclusive to Guaranteed Annuity Rates, Protected Tax Free cash, guaranteed minimum pensions etc.
The application for charity registration explained that the organisation aimed to achieve its purpose in particular by setting up a Freephone 24/7 helpline for retirees to call for advice/information. The outcome was said to be “to educate as many members of the public as possible entering retirement what benefits they currently have, what they may lose if they give up those benefits and what options are available to them regarding retirement income”.
To be charitable, a purpose must fall within the descriptions of purposes set out in section 3(1) of the Charities Act 2011 and it must be for the public benefit. The descriptions of purposes in section 3(1) include the advancement of education.
The commission considered whether the purpose of the organisation was to advance education for the public benefit. It was unable to establish that the organisation provided education in the charitable sense which develops the skills and competencies of the recipients. It was also difficult to see how the services provided by the organisation were for public benefit rather than to the personal benefit of individuals by facilitating improvement to their personal financial circumstances.
The commission concluded that purposes of the organisation allow in scope for non-charitable purposes to be furthered and are not exclusively charitable. As such, it refused the application to constitute and register Annuity Helpline as a charity because it was not satisfied that the CIO would be a charity at the time it would be registered.