HMRC has said it is “working hard” to reduce any gift aid processing delays after some large charities raised concerns.
This week, the Charity Tax Group (CTG) said some of its larger members had reported that the delays had impacted their cash flows.
CTG said it had discussed this issue with HMRC, who advised that “a processing issue had created a backlog of claims requiring approval”.
The membership body said that HMRC had told it processing times were returning to normal and that the backlog was being cleared.
A spokesperson for HMRC said the tax authority was “continuing to modernise the service”.
“We’re aware that a small number of claims have taken longer than usual to be processed, but we’re working hard to reduce any delays between submission and payment,” they said.
Gift aid income for charities in the UK rose by 10% to £1.88bn in the year to April 2026, with 67,650 charities receiving the tax relief in the 12-month period.
In 2024, Charity Finance Group research found that one-fifth of charity leaders had faced difficulties in claiming gift aid with Charities Aid Foundation managing director Mark Greer calling for the system to be automated at the time.
Speaking to Charity Finance earlier this year, CTG chief executive Luke Hall said the gift aid rules had been designed for a paper-based era and that the system should move to digital by default.
