Charities and the intermediaries which collect donations on their behalf disagree over how to reform gift aid, delegates at a Charity Tax Group event heard this week.

The Treasury promised in the Budget last week that “the government will legislate to allow non-charity intermediaries a greater role in operating gift aid”, but said that further detail would be announced later.

The government proposals would allow donors to sign a single gift aid declaration for all money collected through a single intermediary such as an online giving platform or a text-to-donate service.

But Richard Bray, regulatory and tax manager at Cancer Research UK, said charities favoured one model to bring this about, while intermediaries favoured another.

In a consultation document last year, the government proposed two models, one of which allowed intermediaries to control and distribute gift aid, and one which allowed intermediaries to collect and pass on gift aid declarations.

'A compromise can likely be reached'

“Broadly, they found the intermediaries are in favour of controlling the process, while charities wanted the opposite,” Bray said. “Larger charities in particular were keen on the second option to ensure they received donor information.

“We’ve had several constructive conversations about this. It seems likely a compromise can be reached.”

Bray said the government had consulted “extremely widely” about potential changes to gift aid, including a reformed gift aid declaration and a declaration database, and had decided for the moment to focus on a declaration which empowered intermediaries.

“The original consultation was very wide-ranging, and it’s clear the government wants to make some tangible progress from it,” he said.