ABSTRACT
Charitable status provides many real benefits to a school (see 7.1.5.). Although education is regarded as a charitable object, schools are not regarded as charities. The Education Act 1944 defines schools as ‘institutions, comprising a body of persons, including pupils currently on roll’. The Education Reform Act 1988 specifically classifies GM schools as charitable. Sixth Form and Tertiary Colleges were also deemed charitable as a result of further legislation in 1992. Many independent and voluntary aided schools, owing to the nature by which they were established, are ‘schools with charitable status’. LEA schools are not regarded as charitable as they are regarded as administrative units in a statutory authority, possessing no voluntary assets. As such, they lack the independence of a charity and preclude themselves from the right to its tax benefits.
