The regulator has rejected an application to register as a charity an organisation supporting people “injured and bereaved by the Covid-19 vaccinations”.
John Bowe, a British actor known for his role in Emmerdale, tried to register the Charity Organisation for the Vaccine InjureD (C.O.V.I.D.) with the regulator after opening a support line for people who say they have been adversely impacted by the Covid-19 vaccine last October.
The helpline was used to “signpost callers to organisations, websites and protocols that can help them”, Bowe said in a tweet.
Bowe raised approximately £13,000 out of a £1m target through a JustGiving campaign in which he said the money would be used to finance the charity.
In an update on the fundraiser page dated five months ago, he said: “Some days [the helpline] had hundreds of calls, other days just a few.”
But his charity registration application was rejected by the Charity Commission.
The regulator found that Bowe failed to demonstrate the organisation meets the necessary legal requirements.
Bowe said on Twitter on Tuesday that the helpline would cease to operate at the end of this week because he was “not prepared to appeal the Charity Commission’s decision to refuse” his application.
He said in Twitter thread: “I understand the adjudicator’s difficulty in appreciating what we are trying to do but as much as we want to help the injured and bereaved at least three more months of tweaking grammar and adding explanatory paragraphs is not how I wish to use my time,
“I have the energy and desire to help people, to stop the shots and to lobby for the creation of proper help for people who have suffered as a result of following this government’s advice.
“That is where I will put my efforts now.”
Bowe said all surplus money from the JustGiving fundraiser would be divided between vaccine injury support groups.
To become a registered charity, an organisation must be able to demonstrate it meets the legal requirements set out by charity law.
This means it must meet one of the 13 charitable purposes in law, be for the public benefit and not established solely to secure or oppose any change in the law, policy or decisions of central government.