Policy paper

Proposed new and reworded classification codes

Published 5 April 2022

Applies to England and Wales

Background

The Charity Commission currently collects information from charities about what they do, how they do it and who they help. This classification data forms part of the Register of Charities.

To be a proactive and risk led regulator, the Commission needs to be able to segment the charity sector so we can analyse how different charities are affected by risks, tailor our advice and issue targeted messaging.

Effective segmentation also means we can provide more relevant and detailed data to the public and other key stakeholders, such as government policymakers, to help them to understand the charity sector better and inform decision making.

Currently, the classification categories do not provide sufficient detail for these purposes. For example, education and training is a single category selected by 52% of registered charities to explain what they do. We have no way of identifying whether a specific risk is affecting particular types of educational charities such as schools, pre-schools or further education providers, making it difficult to target our response appropriately.

Therefore, improving the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘who’ classifications has been identified as a top priority within our wider programme of work to improve our data about charities.

We have worked with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to revise the classification codes and sought input from a range of sector stakeholders detailed at Annex B.

Proposed new categories and codes

The proposed new codes are set out at Annex A. Codes are grouped in the following categories:

• the ‘what’ level 1 and level 2 categories capture a charity’s purpose(s)
• the ‘how’ level 1 and 2 categories capture the activities undertaken by a charity to deliver its purpose(s)
• the ‘who’ level 1 and 2 categories capture who the charity helps (its beneficiaries)

Charities will be able to select as many options as they need to in each of the categories. All data supplied will be available and published on the Register of Charities for public use.

What categories

The ‘What’ level 1 category contains existing codes used by the Commission to denote a charity’s legal purpose and we do not propose changing these. By keeping ‘What’ level 1 codes on charitable purpose consistent, existing high-level data can be retained and used with the new dataset. This will result in the ability to compare trends over longer periods and less disruption during the changeover period.

The ‘What’ level 2 category contains a new level of codes designed to provide us with greater understanding of the specific purposes a charity has. For example, a charity that identifies its ‘What’ Level 1 purpose as ‘Education/Training’ can use the ‘What’ Level 2 code of ‘Secondary Education’ to provide further detail.

Subject to user testing, if a charity has selected more than one ‘What’ level 1 category, for example Religion and Education/ Training, we intend to ask them to identify one of these as their primary purpose. This will help us to understand a charity’s main purpose.

How categories

The ‘How’ level 1 category contains existing codes currently used by the Commission to denote a charity’s activity and we do not propose changing these. By keeping ‘How’ level 1 codes consistent, we will be able to compare generic activities across charities with different purposes and also undertake comparisons with previous data sets.

The ‘How’ level 2 category contains a new level of codes designed to provide us with greater understanding of the specific activities undertaken. The codes available are linked to the level 1 ‘What’ category a charity has chosen. For example, a charity could select:

• ‘What’ Level 1: The Advancement of Health and Saving of Lives
• ‘What’ Level 2: Diabetes
• ‘How’ Level 1: Makes grants to individuals
• ‘How’ Level 2: Provides comforts, services or facilities for patients

Who categories

The ‘Who’ level 1 category contains existing codes currently used by the Commission to denote who a charity helps but with some newly added codes. In places, we have proposed changing the language of existing codes to reflect more commonly used terminology. Where we are changing the language, we will not be changing the definitions. This will ensure we can compare trends with earlier data sets..

The ‘Who’ level 2 category includes new codes to more accurately reflect beneficiary groups by charitable purpose. By adding an additional layer of ‘who’ codes, we hope to have greater insight.

Feedback received and our response

Throughout the project we have engaged with a wide range of external stakeholders with an interest in our data to seek feedback. The overwhelming response has been positive, with widespread support for the proposed improvements to our data. A list of those organisations which have provided specific feedback on the proposed codes can be found at Annex B.

A number of respondents suggested changes to the ‘What’ and ‘How’ level 1 categories. We reviewed the rationale for this feedback and concluded that on this occasion the benefits would not outweigh the loss of comparable data sets over longer time periods. Indeed, there was significant support from a number of stakeholders to keep existing categories, even whilst recognising their limitations, for this very reason. Where possible, we did identify alternative ways of implementing these suggestions. For example, whilst the ‘How’ level 1 code of ‘Provides education/ advocacy/ advice/ information’ is unchanged, we have added new separate ‘How’ level 2 codes for education, advocacy, campaigning and advice/ information to allow us to gain a more nuanced picture of which of these activities a charity undertakes.

Some of the feedback proposed moving ‘What’ level 2 codes under different ‘What’ level 1 options. This was not changed as the ‘What’ level 1 codes are consistent with an organisation’s legal, charitable purpose. Feedback received informed updates to the list of health conditions and disabilities specified in the ‘What’ level 2 category. The latter incorporates the GSS Harmonised standard for impairment. It was noted that while this standard undergoes continuous review and is subject to change, it provides a clear framework and more extensive set of codes than previously available.

A number of changes were made based on feedback to reflect up-to-date terminology. For example ‘registered social landlord’ has changed to ‘registered provider of social housing’. We were able to make these changes to current codes where the meaning is unchanged, as well as to newly added codes, for example ‘overseas aid / famine’ has changed to ‘international development / humanitarian aid’.

A number of respondents noted that definitions were needed for some codes, including what constitutes ‘children’, ‘young people’ and ‘older people’. They noted that doing so would provide clarity and help charities to choose the codes that most accurately reflect their work. This will be done via in-service guidance (for example, through an ‘i’ button) in order to keep the codes as succinct as possible.

A number of respondents suggested adding more ‘How’ level 2 options to better reflect the activities undertaken by charities of different types. Many of these proposals were adopted but decisions were made to exclude some suggestions to avoid making the lists too lengthy. For example, it was identified that the ‘how’ level 2 options for disability were very focused on institutional care. A number of additions were made to address this gap but not all the options proposed were included to ensure the list was not too long.

Additional options were added to the ‘Who’ level 1 and level 2 categories based on feedback on groups that were missing from the lists. Some suggestions made were not included where they were considered to be too specific, for example referring to people with a specific named health condition.

Given the relatively small number of options included, there was some feedback about whether ‘Who’ level 2 categories were needed. This was reviewed but it was concluded that they added value where they are included and adding all the level 2 options to the level 1 list would make it too long for users.

See Annex A for the proposed new codes, as updated based on the feedback received.

Next steps

User testing will take place throughout April to ensure the codes are fit for purpose and charities are able to classify themselves. We welcome all charities interested in user testing to contact us at UserResearchTeam@charitycommission.gov.uk. The codes will be reviewed as needed based on the feedback from this testing.

Updates are required to a number of Commission systems, including the Update Charity Details service, to collect and store the new classifications data. The timing of these updates is currently being scheduled as part of the annual business planning process. We will communicate with charities when the new codes are available and explain how and when they can provide the new data. The new data will be published on the Register of Charities so it is available to the public in due course.