The commission's director of policy Rosie Chapman argues that the new objective would merely clarify the commission's existing role. "Our take on this is that it's about enabling, rather than assessing, and brings up to date our current objective of maximising the effectiveness of charities," she writes in a letter sent to Charities Times Online.

"I'd like to reassure charities that we don't intend this to be yet another test exercise for them, but a practical and modern objective which enables us to take into account the wider impact of the work they do in the real world.

NCVO has expressed concerns that the regulatory objective in the bill may become a "back-door route" to defining public benefit.

Although most will be able to show a social benefit, it says the economic benefit of most charities is likely to be incidental to their work. The group is trying to persuade the Government to drop the objective from the bill, which is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny, and replace it with the phrase: "maximising public benefit".

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