A Conservative government would focus on increasing giving, rather than gift aid reform, to boost voluntary income to charities, the shadow charities minister said yesterday.

Nick Hurd told a meeting of senior fundraisers that while gift aid was “a priority”, he said “the question is whether taxpayer money is best spent on just maximising yield from existing donations or if taxpayer money is better spent bringing in a whole new [area of] philanthropy”.

Not laying out any specific plans to encourage greater numbers of people to donate, Hurd reiterated Conservative policy on “Broken Britain” and the need to boost social responsibility and civic engagement as potentially leading to more philanthropic activity among the general public.

“Incentives for giving in this country are relatively generous,” said Hurd. 

He told the Institute of Fundraising’s Ready for the Recovery conference in London that in the short-term a Conservative government would prioritise reducing money and time spent by charities in processing gift aid. While the push for the opt-out system is “entirely plausible” he said that opt-out would itself pose problems for donors and charities.

Committing to reviewing gift aid soon after any possible Conservative win in the predicted May poll, Hurd expressed a preference for exploring composite rates, such as those considered in a Treasury report released in December.

Hurd said his Labour counterpart, Angela Smith, often cites a lack of sector consensus on what to do with gift aid and challenged the sector to get its act together on reaching consensus and communicating the scheme better to donors.

Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of the Institute, however challenged Hurd’s assertion, arguing that gift aid reform is the single issue on which there is the most consensus among civil society organisations.