Gift aid in danger of stalling and research could be self-contradictory

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 10 Dec 2009

The lack of a firm decision on gift aid in yesterday’s pre-budget report by Alistair Darling has prompted concerns that progress on gift aid might be stalled until after the next election and predictions that research on the topic could be self-contradictory.

Yesterday the government pledged to release the results of research into gift aid reform next week, on December 15, but Institute of Fundraising chief executive Lindsay Boswell questioned why this had not been released to the sector prior to the PBR or as part of the report itself.

“Join these things up,” he said. “They must have looked at that research.”

“My understanding, having spoken to the economic secretary yesterday, is that the research shows conflicting evidence.”

“Some might interpret this as stalling because by the time we’ve set up a meeting date to then review what gets done next, you can drag this thing out so that we then get in to pre-election purdah and nothing gets done,” he added.

Boswell cast a further shadow over the research to be released next week, noting that the civil society groups had not been consulted in relation to the questions being asked as part of the research which will inform the progress of debate on gift aid reform.

He said that the PBR represented a missed opportunity for the government offer a fillip to a vital sector.

Boswell expressed overall disappointment at yesterday’s budget, but acknowledged that “on the scale of things, it wasn’t the negative news that it could have possibly been”.

Directory: Institute of Fundraising
Who's Who: Lindsay Boswell

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