Politically impartial campaigning

This policy statement has been developed with advice and guidance from people with Parkinson's, the people who love and care for them, health and social care professionals and other experts.

What we believe

Campaigning activities play an important part in the work we do to achieve our goal of improving life for everyone people with Parkinson's and the people in their lives.

It's important that we speak out about policies that can affect the lives of people affected by the condition.

But in doing so we must make sure that we act in a way that doesn't imply Parkinson's UK is for or against any one political party.

Why we believe this

We need to influence policy across the whole of the UK, in the UK Parliament, the devolved nations and regional and local authorities. At each of these levels of government, the balance of political power is different.

In order to be able to influence those in power it's vital that the charity both acts impartially, and is seen to be impartial.

It's illegal for any registered charity in the UK to publicly or otherwise align itself to a political party.

Breach of this law risks damaging our reputation and relationships with our members, supporters, staff and external partners.

What's the evidence?

In England and Wales, the Charity Commission sets out the rules on how charities operate. It states that:

"In the political arena, a charity must stress its independence and ensure that any involvement it has with political parties is balanced. A charity must not give support or funding to a political party, nor to a candidate or politician."

You can read the full guidance on the gov.uk website. 

Similar guidance is set out by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

The Transparency of Lob bying, Non-Party campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act created further possible restrictions on campaigning in the run up to the 2015 general election. Read the Transparency of Lob bying, Non-Party campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act on legislation.gov.uk.