Research which claimed payroll giving has fallen is 'deceptive', says Peter O'Hara. The truth is it's increased by £2m.

Equiniti ICS have published research saying  that charities have suffered a steep fall in the amount of money people donate to them via their salaries in the last two years.

The national picture about the amount people are giving through the workplace is totally different however. Nationally, giving in this way has risen. In 2009 - 2010 monies raised through Workplace Giving increased by £2m on the previous year to £106m plus an additional £12.5m from employer matching. The average monthly donation rose from £11.49 to £12.20. 

Equiniti ICS's research was based on only the 220 companies whose payroll services they deal with out of 8,500 companies which are set up to give to charity direct from the workplace.

The Geared for Giving Campaign, championed by Duncan Bannatyne, to raise awareness of the huge benefits to charity of payroll giving, reached its target of making the  scheme available to more than a million more employees this year and now aims to crack the 2 million target.

It could be that one or two of the companies Equiniti ICS is talking about suffered from a very small number of large donors pulled back causing the reduction in average sums given, but the really good news from their survey is that the number of people donating is broadly the same as last year and this is borne out by national statistics for 2009 to 2010.

This is a good indicator of the generosity of the British workforce and an acknowledgement that those who are lucky enough to be in work carry on supporting their favourite charities in the harsh economic climate.

Charities claim they miss out on over £900m through inefficient giving so it is vital to their fundraising efforts that people spread the word about giving through the workplace.