Government tells payroll giving agencies to up their game7

Fundraising | Tania Mason | 22 May 2012

The government is deliberately delaying the launch of its promised promotional campaign to boost payroll giving until the payroll giving agencies devise a way to get the system working better.

The government has long been an advocate of payroll giving and promised in the Giving White Paper to fund a campaign to encourage employers to embrace the donation method.

But since then ministers have been persuaded that the existing payroll giving system is not fit for purpose, and should be overhauled before any such campaign is launched.

In the Office for Civil Society’s one-year-on progress report in response to Lord Hodgson’s red tape-busting report Unshackling Good Neighbours, it laid out its update on recommendation 6: “Changes to encourage payroll giving by smaller companies should be implemented”.

The OCS report said: “Work is continuing in this area. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are currently working with the payroll giving agencies to improve their individual and collective performance.

“Before embarking on any promotional campaign, the government is keen to get the system working more effectively and efficiently.

“In early March a letter was sent to the payroll giving agencies from the minister for civil society and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. It called upon then to come back with plans for improving their individual and collective performance. Their responses are expected towards the middle of 2012.”

Who's Who: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts

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Jay Kennedy
Head of Policy
Directory of Social Change
23 May 2012

I suspect we could be waiting quite awhile for anything to happen with this...is it game on or game over for payroll giving reform?

[Reply]

Carl Allen
23 May 2012

Payroll giving is not meant to be stretched into moral pressure applied at source for that is not charity. Leave that to philanthrophy.

[Reply]

Heather Vasco
Deputy CEO
Charities Trust
23 May 2012

As one of the PGA who received the "challenge" letter from Government on 19th March I would like to clarify that the deadline for responses from the PGAs to Government was 30 April. While I cannot speak for all PGAs I know through our membership of the APGO (Association of Payroll Giving Organisations) that the 3 largest PGAs submitted their responses by 30 April. Hopefully therefore the responses expected "towards the middle of 2012" are from rather than to Government.

[Reply]

Mike Wade
Director of Fundraising and Communications
NDCS
22 May 2012

Payroll Giving has been fundraising’s poor relation ever since it was established in 1987. Even its fans would not claim that the scheme has fulfilled its potential, with a tax benefit of only a few tens of millions. We’ve tinkered around the edges for far too long – payroll giving needs transformational reform.

The Institute of Fundraising has developed three principles which could achieve this transformation: make payroll giving available to all workers, improve connectivity between the charity and donor, and enable portability between employers and into retirement. Together, these three principles could give us a fundraising product we can be proud of.

Fantastic if the Government has recognised this need!

[Reply]

Elena Joseph
Head of New Projects
Workplace Giving UK
23 May 2012
Response to [Mike Wade]

Perhaps you would like to lead the way in encouraging the charity sector themselves - some who are very large employers - to ensure they offer the scheme themselves, very few do and those that do don't always tell their workforce.

I am not really sure how the IOF could "make payroll giving available to all workers" the majority of companies in the UK are SMEs and I cannot see any Government legislating to make it compulsory to offer the scheme.

I still meet with charities who ask me what communications they should send to those donors giving via pay......the same as those giving to you via direct debit? I am not sure what you mean about improving connectivity between charity and donor - in our experience charities know who their payroll givers are?

There are huge administrative issues - the main one being to do with the donor journey itself - how does an employee even know whether their company operates a scheme or not and which Payroll Giving Agency it is with? There is no one central point to go to which lists every company with a scheme - we recently asked for this information under the Freedom of Information Act and were turned down - TWICE!

[Reply]

Elena Joseph
Head of New Projects
Workplace Giving UK
22 May 2012

As one of the organisations who urged the Government to hold back, we are really pleased that the proposed promotional campaign was put on hold as this would have been more money wasted without first getting the Payroll Giving administration etc. in order. However, we are really disappointed that so little has been achieved in a year - having just read the document referred to above - Unshackling Good Neighbours One Year On, the sum total of what has been actioned is to write to the Payroll Giving Agencies asking them to submit their plans for improving their individual and collective performance.

Much of this work was done in the last review of the scheme in 2008 but unfortunately most of the recommendations were not acted upon - we sincerely hope this will not be the case - yet again!

[Reply]

Karen England
Director of Fundraising
Make-A-Wish
22 May 2012

From someone who has been involved with payroll giving for at least 20 years and thinks it is a vital way for individuals at work to make a charitable donation, please please please bear in mind what charities actually need from the agencies - speedy, accurate and consistent data!

[Reply]

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