Charity umbrella bodies have been left surprised and disappointed by the government's sudden closure of the Gift Aid Forum.
Forum members were given no warning that government intended to shut down the Gift Aid Forum when they convened in London for a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, 30 November. When all gathered together, government representatives told the members this would be their last meeting.
Louise Richards, director of policy and campaigns for the Institute of Fundraising, which was a key member of the Gift Aid Forum and staunch advocate of gift aid reform, told Civil Society: “It would be wrong to say we’re not disappointed.”
In a blog post this week after the forum meeting, Acevo chief executive Stephen Bubb - while staying mum on the plans to close the forum permanently - gave this review of the proceedings: "Let's be honest and say we are disappointed. There are some good things in the proposals for Gift Aid reform which we support. We will help make it happen. But clearly the sector was hoping for more."
New 'Customer Forum' to be set up
Replacing the Gift Aid Forum, which was set up under Labour to increase take-up of gift aid and bring more resources into the sector, will be a possibly more donor-focused ‘Customer Forum’ which will look at a wider range of issues to do with the structures around giving including payroll giving and VAT. No meeting dates, objectives or timetables have yet been set for this Customer Forum.
While there had been a lack of consensus on what shape gift aid reform should take from the sector bodies which made up the forum, which included NCVO, the Charities Aid Foundation, and Charity Tax Group, Richards said that this was not the reason the government gave for shutting down the group.
“What the government is now doing is extending [on previous work] and reaching out to the donor element,” said Richards.
“In spite of the government not being able to go with the reforms on the table, we do have optimism,” she added. “Just because we haven’t got bread today doesn’t mean we’ll not have jam tomorrow.”
Richards said that in response to the new focus of the Customer Forum away from gift aid reform per se, the Institute will be lobbying the government to take measures to simplify the gift aid process for both charities and donors. “We’re hoping for some really substantial changes by the end of next year,” she said. “We’d be disappointed if that didn’t happen.”
James Allen, senior policy officer at NCVO, said the Forum had been a useful platform to engage with government, but it "has probably gone as far as it can in the current format and we're looking forward to working with colleagues from across the sector and government once details of the new consultation arrangements become clear".
"Our long term aim has been to secure simplification of gift aid. It is our strong view that gift aid remains a success and an important source of funding for the sector and we are optimistic that government is taking the views of the sector on board."
Meanwhile, Hannah Terrey, head of policy and public affairs at CAF, said that her organisation took heart in the fact that the government said it is interested in improving the technology around gift aid.
"CAF figures show that a third of the population have never heard of gift aid so we particularly welcome the focus on raising awareness and understanding among donors and charities," she added.
"We will discuss our ideas of how this could work in more detail with government in the coming weeks. It is now up to the sector and the government to move things forward in order to encourage growth and innovation."
Gift aid use remains flat
The news coincides today with the revelation in the annual UK Giving report that gift aid take up has remained flat over the last financial year, stuck at around 40 per cent, prompting fellow Forum member, CAF chief executive John Low, to reiterate his organisation’s claim that this means an additional £750m is being lost by charities every year.
