Ahead of the next general election and in light of recent changes to the law, charities should continue to be confident engaging in political activity.

We have developed a guide to help charities campaign in the run-up to an election, which can be found here.

Key points to be aware of are:

• Ensuring you have relevant policies, such as campaigning and social media policies, in place. These should reflect your charitable objectives and how your organisation will campaign in practice.
• Carrying out a risk assessment for any campaigning or political activity.
• Enabling your trustees to familiarise themselves with basic charity and electoral rules around political campaigning (the Charity Commission’s CC9 guidance) so they can approve your campaigning with authority.
• It is unlikely that charities will need to register with the Electoral Commission. Agree and monitor your campaign expenses (especially when jointly campaigning with any partner organisations) to avoid spending over £10,000 and thus needing to register.
• If you engage with politicians, make sure this is even-handed and does not give the impression that your charity supports or opposes any particular party or candidate.

For more detailed information, refer to our Summary of Charity and Election Law and Campaigning Political Activity and Election Guide for Charities.

The information above refers to England and Wales. Please refer to our separate guidance on Northern Ireland and Scotland.