‘State cash nullifies status as charities’

Charities including NCH, Barnardo’s and Turning Point should lose their charitable status because of their level of state funding, a book published by a right of centre think-tank said this week.

Who Cares? by Civitas says all charities receiving 70 per cent or more of their income from the state should be reclassified as statutory agencies and lose their tax concessions.

Author Nick Seddon said: “These charities come to resemble more the statutory departments on which they depend for money, while also competing with genuinely independent charities for donations.”

Charities receiving from 30 to 70 per cent of their income from government should be renamed “statefunded charities” and receive more modest tax concessions, he said.

A spokesperson for Turning Point said the report “ignores the third way provided by organisations such as Turning Point – neither state, nor private, but providing innovative and distinctive services”.

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