Blog: Charities and political campaigning – staying on the right side of the law

By Ann Breslin, Policy and Research Manager at the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland

The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has announced that the General Election will take place on Thursday 4 July 2024. With only six weeks to polling day it is vital that charities make sure they do nothing that undermines their independence and neutrality when it comes to party politics. Charities should consult the Commission’s Charities and politics guidance as soon as possible, particularly if they engage politically. Charities in Northern Ireland have strong links to their local communities and beneficiaries and can find themselves uniquely placed to campaign and advocate on behalf of their beneficiaries. They play a valuable role in informing elected representatives while representing their diverse causes.

The guiding principle of charity law in terms of campaigning, political activity and elections is that charities should be, and be seen to be, independent of party politics.

Charities should avoid:

• Supporting or opposing a political party or politician, verbally or financially
• Endorsing a political party based on one policy position
• Participating in or running events to which all candidates or parties have not been invited
• Sharing party political social media posts using official charity social media channels, or too closely echoing the language or slogans employed by political parties
• Hiring out venues to political parties at a non-commercial rate
• Allowing charity trustees, staff or members who may also be elected representatives or party activists access to charity assets for non-charity related business.

To help charities understand how they can fulfil their role in the upcoming election, while staying on the right side of the law, the Commission has produced Charities and politics guidance. We have also published a thematic report: Charities and political campaigning - staying compliant which shares lessons learned for charities from other elections.

Participation in the election is vital for our society but it is also essential that charities stay compliant with the law. The Electoral Commission has also produced guidance on Non-party campaigners UK Parliamentary general elections. Non-party campaigners are organisations or individuals that are not standing for election themselves but are spending money on certain election-related activities or material, seeking to influence the outcome of the election. This could be for or against individual candidates or political parties, or campaigning on particular issues.

If a charity is planning to undertake any campaign activity in the run-up to the election in July 2024, then these rules could affect you and you should read the Electoral Commission guidance to see whether you need to register with them.

Charities must also be aware of new laws on digital imprints. When certain campaign material is published, it must contain specific details to show who is responsible for publishing it.

These details are known as an ‘imprint’. The imprint helps to ensure there is transparency for voters about who is campaigning. The Electoral Commission have published Statutory guidance on digital imprints which must be followed in the election.

This information can be complex, if you have any queries, you can contact the Electoral Commission by using the following details:

• The Electoral Commission, The Boat, 49 Queen's Square, Belfast, BT1 3FG 
• Telephone: 0333 103 1928 
• Email: infonorthernireland@electoralcommission.org.uk