New Odstock charity accepted for registration

June 2008

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator and registrar of charities in England and Wales, has accepted Odstock Charitable Trust (OCT) for registration as a charity with purposes directed to relieving sickness and protecting the health of patients at an NHS hospital.

OCT is a separate organisation to Odstock Private Care Limited (OPCL), to which the Commission previously refused registration (see Andrew Hind and Philip Kirkpatrick Viewpoint article).

OPCL does have a relationship with OCT in that it will look to Gift Aid profits over to the charity, but the two organisations will remain separate. The Commission is satisfied that OCT has been established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit, and should be registered as such. However, the position with regard to OPCL remains unchanged.

Andrew Hind, CEO of the Charity Commission, told Caritas: ‘Charity law is clear that any organisation looking to register as a charity has to exist for the public benefit. Towards the end of last year we made the decision not to register Odstock Private Care Limited, and that decision has not changed. OPCL did not qualify for charitable status because its services were not shown to be available generally to the public, but only to those with the ability to pay its fees.

‘However, the Commission is satisfied that Odstock Charitable Trust is a separate entity from OPCL having purposes directed to relieving sickness and to preserving and protecting the health of patients at Salisbury District Hospital. Accordingly, it is able to demonstrate public benefit to a sufficiently wide group of beneficiaries. On that basis, it has now been registered.’

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New Odstock charity accepted for registration