New figures published by HMRC this week show that revenue to charities from both gift aid and payroll giving grew during 2010, despite claims and donors falling.

Gift aid on donations increased by 4.2 per cent from £1.019bn to £1.064bn in the year to 5 April 2011, while payroll giving receipts rose from £106m to £114m.

Yet both income sources increased in value despite falls in the number of claims and donors. Just under 64,600 gift aid claims were processed during the year, compared with 68,300 in 2009/10.

The gift aid figure included the final year of transitional relief introduced by the government to help charities withstand the effect on gift aid of the lowering of the basic rate of income tax in 2008.

In payroll giving, the number of donors dropped slightly from 724,000 to 720,000, down for the third year running.  The peak was 758,000 for the year to 5 April 2008.  Records have been kept since 1990/91 when the number of donors was 280,000.

The amount of tax relief attracted through payroll giving was estimated at £30m.

Separately, gift aid and rates relief for charities operating within Northern Ireland amounted to £39.5m in the last tax year, according to figures released by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI).