The webinar, hosted by Francesca Quint, Joshua Winfield and Natalie Pratt, consists of three sections and covers charitable status: PINF – the public interest news foundation, when form affects function, and challenging Commission decisions.

Cover charitable status: PINF – the public interest news foundation – hosted by Francesca Quint
This talk examines the background to and justification for the recognition that the promotion of journalism which is carried out in the public interest is beneficial to the public and capable of being charitable in law. The immediate context is the Cairncross Report (February 2019), which was commissioned by the DDCMS, the recommendation of the Independent Publishers’ Taskforce and the House of Lords report ‘Breaking News? The Future of UK Journalism’ (November 2020).

PINF was established as a charitable company and registered as a charity (no. 1171397) in November 2019 and is supported by IMPRESS and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

This development in charitable status can be seen as following on from the controversies over the News of the World and attempts to regulate the Press following the Leveson Report, including the registration decision concerning the Independent Press Regulation Trust.

When form affects function – hosted by Joshua Winfield
Joshua discusses some of the unintended consequences of the particular structures that may be adopted by a charity. These include (1) the duties of members, following the CIFF (UK) decision in the Supreme Court, (2) standing to conduct litigation, (3) members’ rights to information, and (4) alteration of the governing document.

Challenging Commission decisions – hosted by Natalie Pratt
Natalie discusses how decisions of the Charity Commission can be scrutinised and challenged outside of the Tribunal, with a specific focus on judicial review. In particular, Natalie discusses which decisions of the Commission may be judicially reviewed, the mechanics of a judicial review claim and the grounds upon which such a challenge can be made.

Please email events@radcliffechambers.com if you have any questions or would like some further information.

This webinar was recorded on Thursday, 4 February 2021.