Charities and campaigning

Charities' Right to Campaign

Campaigning is a legitimate activity for charities and other voluntary organisations.

Through their campaigning and advocacy work, charities bring a number of benefits to society, including:

better services across the public and private sector;
more engaged communities; and
stronger democracy.

While charities must never engage in any form of party political activity, as a general principle, they may undertake campaigning and political activity as a positive way of furthering or supporting their purposes.

However, as highlighted by a report by the Advisory Group on Campaigning and the Voluntary Sector (PDF) there are a number of laws and regulations that curtail the ability of charities to engage in campaigning.

Charities' right to campaign must be recognised and encouraged by Government, irrespective of any funding relationship. There must be an enabling environment for lawful protest and peaceful assembly, which ensures any legal restrictions on campaigning activity are not unduly prohibitive

The Freedom Bill

The Government has announced a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill in their legislative programme, which, amongst other things, promises to restore the right to campaign.

Further details about the main proposals included in the Freedom Bill are listed on the Number 10 website