The House of Lords has recently considered a proposal to make Michael Gove, the current Education Secretary, together with the Department for Education, regulator of Academy schools and other charitable educational establishments such as sixth-form colleges.

Unease has been expressed by some charity lawyers that the proposal may cause a threat to charities' independence and create a conflict of interests. Lord Phillips of Sudbury, a charity lawyer himself, raised the issue in a House of Lords committee hearing regarding the plan.

The fundamental issue appears to be that whoever may be in Government at the time will have their own view on how education should be managed and inevitably that may cause the DfE problems in trying to remain impartial through its regulation. Other members of the committee raised their own concerns as to whether the DfE were knowledgeable enough in matters of charity law to be effective as regulator.

The danger seems to be that, in an attempt to reduce the responsibilities of the Charity Commission as part of their cost-cutting measures, in fact their workload will be increased by assisting in the management of conflict of interests and giving advice on technical issues such as public benefit which have historically been part of their remit.

For more advice on this or any other issue surrounding conversion to Academy status please contact Amy Laver or Richard King on 01392 207020 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it