Voluntary sector umbrella bodies have signalled they may lobby the government to exclude charitable donations from the cap on tax reliefs announced in yesterday’s Budget.

Chancellor George Osborne announced in his speech yesterday that HMRC would be cracking down on people who “aggressively” use even legal means to avoid paying taxes, and would set a cap of £50,000 of reliefs that can be claimed, or a quarter of a person’s income, whichever is greater.

Sector leaders reacted furiously, concerned wealthy people might be deterred from giving large sums to charity if they could not claim back the tax paid.

Charities Aid Foundation demanded an urgent meeting with the Treasury to discuss the implications of the proposal, and umbrella bodies including NCVO have indicated they may lobby for charitable donations to be exempted from the cap, once they have more detail about what the cap will cover.

In a tweet, NCVO's head of policy Karl Wilding suggested that excluding donations from the cap might encourage more donations rather than fewer.

Researcher Beth Breeze from the University of Kent, tweeted yesterday:"Just heard of a donor who's decided not to put £5m into their foundation after today's Budget. Nice one George."

Meetings are expected to be held with HMRC over the next few weeks.