The Lobbying Act is stifling charity campaigns. It doesn't have to

Much has been made of the “chilling effect” of the Lobbying Act on charities and the attacks on campaigners’ freedom of speech by the government.

There is evidence the act has already made the sector increasingly reluctant to campaign. According to research undertaken by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, one fifth of charities are campaigning less than they used to and more than half said senior leaders and trustees are now more cautious about campaigning.

While these attacks on freedom of speech must be resisted, campaigners also need to get smart. Despite the act being introduced by the Coalition government in 2014, there is a lot of confusion about the regulations. The most common misconception is that charities believe they can’t campaign at all in the run up to a general election, or that they must always first register as a third party campaigner. Neither is the case.

The Lobbying Act introduced restrictions as to what companies and non-governmental organisations can say in the 12 months leading up to a general election. This can be applied retrospectively, meaning campaigners can technically be impacted by a “regulated period” at any time. The speed at which the 2017 general election was called shows how easily this can be done. And calls for a new election are never far away.

Charities have called for the act to be amended, arguing it will leave them unable to speak for vulnerable and marginalised people. But the government comprehensively rejected amending the law last year, despite its flaws – including the length of the regulated period, not allowing for inflation in spending limits and the uncertainty caused by poor guidance by the Electoral Commission.

Making it work

Campaigning is vital for the charitable sector and organisations should not be wary of doing so, even if they face greater scrutiny. The Charity Commission for England and Wales supports this, acknowledging that while charities must be independent from party politics, they must still be able to use their voices effectively at election times.

It’s often at election times that charities’ voices matter most – they are well placed to spot the unintended consequences of proposed changes to legislation and able to highlight the gaps that risk leaving sections of our society behind.

But how does the voluntary sector avoid falling foul of the rules? There are two questions charities campaigning during a regulated period should ask themselves. First, the purpose test: does the campaign activity intend to influence how people will vote, or would a reasonable person think this was your intention? And secondly, the public test: will the public see or hear about the campaign activity?

If charity campaigning meets both tests, it falls under “campaign activity”. This is only regulated if a charity spends over £20,000 in England (and £10,000 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Once this limit is breached, the organisation must register as a third party campaigner and report on its campaign spending – although there are still activities not covered by the act, such as most media relations, petitions and meetings (as long as most parties are invited).

Those that refuse to register as a third party campaigner, risk the wrath of the Electoral Commission. Greenpeace and Friend’s of the Earth were recently fined £30,000 and £1,000 respectively because of their failure to do so during the 2015 general election.

Getting it wrong can be costly, but that’s no reason to not campaign at all. My social enterprise Campaign Collective has released a free Freedom To Campaign Guide to provide practical advice to charities about staying within the guidelines, and still campaigning effectively. Our advice includes:

• Stay focused: if you have a campaign underway, it is unlikely to be covered by the act
  

• Stay neutral: don’t be party political, don’t reciprocate support and don’t publicly shame politicians or political parties that don’t support you
  

• Stay within the law: check out the public and purpose tests
  

• Stay clever: There are plenty of campaign tactics not covered by the act
  

• Stay on top of time: keep records of time and expenses spent on regulated work, in case the spending limits are reached.

Campaigning can change the world. Let’s make sure charities feel able to do so.

• Simon Francis is a founder member of Campaign Collective and chair of the Public Relations & Communication Association’s charity & not for profit group.
  

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