More than £1bn donated to charity through payroll giving, says CAF

03 Apr 2017 News

Over £1.3bn has been donated to charity through payroll giving, according to the Charities Aid Foundation celebrating the scheme’s 30th anniversary this today.

According to a statement from CAF, its payroll giving scheme has now raised over £1.3bn for over 20,000 different UK charities since it was  launched in April 1987. More than 220,000 people in the UK now make a regular donation to charity through CAF’s Give As You Earn payroll giving.

Analysis showed that last year £74.3m was donated to charity through the Give As You Earn scheme, which pushed the total amount raised in total to £1.309bn.

Cancer Research UK ‘most popular’ payroll giving charity

Cancer Research UK has been named as one of the currently five “most popular” payroll giving charities.

Cancer Research UK is named as being the most popular payroll giving charity, alongside “NSPCC, Macmillan Cancer Support, BEN – the Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund and Friends at Work”.

Since payroll giving was launched in 1987, the scheme has seen money donated to more than 22,000 different charities in the UK.

2,700 companies offer staff opportunity to donate through payroll giving

There are more than 2,700 companies in the UK which, according to CAF, offer staff the opportunity to donate through a payroll giving scheme. Some of these companies include Asos, Burberry, HSBC, Jaguar Land Rover, Marks & Spencers, Tesco, Thompson Reuters, Virgin Media and Volkswagen.

Last week the House of Lords report on charities criticised the fact that not all government departments offer the scheme to their employees. 

CAF said that there are currently 222,762 people currently signed up to donate a pre-tax portion of their salary to charity through the scheme. The average donation in terms of amount made through payroll giving last year was £20.57.

As all donations through the scheme are made pre-tax, part of the donation “comes from money that would have gone to HMRC”.

John Low, chief executive of CAF, said: “We are an incredibly generous nation and it is fantastic that so many choose to donate some of their earnings to a good cause every month.

“CAF helped pioneer payroll giving in the UK and we are very proud that, 30 years on, it has now helped people to give well over £1bn to charity.

“For people who regularly give, this can be a really convenient way to support a favourite cause which helps them to give more than they thought possible.

“CAF works with tens of thousands of charities and we get to see first-hand what a critical difference these donations make. They can provide a lifeline to the vital work of charities which has a real and lasting impact on people’s lives.”

 

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