Umbrella bodies have released a joint briefing on the Small Donations Bill in a bid to influence Parliamentarians ahead of the Bill's third reading.

In the briefing NCVO, CFG, IoF and CAF provide their stance on matching, qualification requirements and the community buildings rules.

Although today’s briefing accepts that the Bill was “widely welcomed by charities at the time”, particularly for its expected benefits to smaller organisations, it laments the proposed legislation as being “highly complex” and “not accessible enough for those that need it most”.

There are three main recommendations. The first is that the ‘matching requirement’, which caps the amount a charity can claim from the gift aid small donations scheme at £2 for every £1 of gift aid claimed, be dropped.

Under the current proposal, a charity needs to have been claiming gift aid for three years in order to qualify for this Scheme. The sector bodies want this to be lowered.

Finally, the organisations are seeking a simplification of the ‘community buildings’ rules, so that donations do not have to be made during the course of a charity’s activities taking place within the building.

Over the last month, the Small Charitable Donations Bill Committee heard and discussed the testimonies of representatives from across the not-for-profit sector, including religious groups, umbrella bodies and legal societies.

Earlier, in September, Ministers from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had all called for the Treasury to simplify measures in the Small Donations Gift Aid Scheme Bill, fearing it was heading towards being excessively bureaucratic.