The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has called for the government to foster a stronger giving culture and provide more support as charities continue to be hit by financial pressures.
Specifically the umbrella body called for government to be "more vocal about their own giving to charity, encourage the very wealthy to give more, and persuade businesses to support charities in a more consistent way".
CAF's comments follow the publication of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) UK Civil Society Almanac yesterday, which reveals that charities were hit by £2.3bn in rising costs between 2008 and 2010. It also showed that 70,000 posts were lost in the sector in the last year.
CAF head of policy Hannah Terrey (pictured) said: “Demand for charity services is up, while government funding is down. This means that money from voluntary donations is even more important.
"The government must acknowledge just how hard the situation has become for charities and give them more support – otherwise its ambition for a Big Society may not be realised."
Terrey also called for changes to the gift aid scheme.
"The government could also increase income to the sector by simplifying the gift aid scheme, allowing people to make a one off declaration instead of making them sign up every time they donate," said Terrey.
Gift aid confusion
Gift aid is widely regarded as a complicated process with confusion arising even from the HMRC, which recently had to apologise over a mistake in its online guidance. The guidance stated that records of gift aid declarations only need to be kept for four years, not the required six.
HMRC was forced to reassure charities that they need not fear prosecution if they have already destroyed records after four years, although they must now retain them for the full six year period in line with the corrected guidelines.
The error was spotted by the HMRC as it was undertaking a project to update its guidance and model declarations for charities claiming gift aid. The apology was posted on the HMRC website on 24 February 2011.
The Institute of Fundraising is planning to inform its members of the situation via their website and newsletter, although its director of policy and campaigns, Louise Richards confirmed that the HMRC hadn’t been in direct contact regarding the error.
The updated guidance also includes a checklist of the minimum information that must be included in a declaration if a charity creates and uses its own declaration form.
