Budget 2012: The hangover

22 Mar 2012 Voices

It’s been described by national commentators as the most leaked Budget in history, but for the charity sector it looks like it has been one of the least helpful Budgets of all time.

It’s been described by national commentators as the most leaked Budget in history, but for the charity sector it looks like it has been one of the least helpful Budgets of all time.

No mention of the Big Society, and only one reference to the charity sector in Chancellor George Osborne’s main speech, foreshadowed a rather lacklustre set of announcements.

Though there was a little movement on gift aid, major charitable donations could be damaged by the cap on tax reliefs.

The Treasury pledged to address barriers to social enterprise and social investment, but the government made little progress on improving tax incentives in this area.

And £40m pledged to the not-for-profit advice sector is pretty low compared to the £100m in funds the advice sector stands to lose as a result of changes brought in by the Legal Aid Bill.

NCVO has given the Budget 2012 an overall average score of B in its innovative Budget 2012 Scorecard - what would you give it?