Strategy & Operations » Leadership & Management » Budget 2011: Charity FDs welcome Gift Aid, travel duty reductions

Budget 2011: Charity FDs welcome Gift Aid, travel duty reductions

Caron Bradshaw lauds the Budget for having listened to the sector, but seeks more on shared service VAT for charities

Charity Finance Directors Group chief executive Caron Bradshaw has welcomed the announcements in this year’s Budget to help charities make more of Gift Aid and manage growing travel costs.

Speaking to Financial Director in the minutes after the Budget announcement concluded, Bradshaw welcomed the fact that the chancellor spoke specifically to the third sector “rather than [us] having to scrutinise the background papers for details of how announcements might impact us.”

The government will move Gift Aid onto online filing and simplify Gift Aid donations of up to £5,000, two moves which Bradshaw says will help finance directors greatly in coming months. “We were pivotal in pulling together representations on the simplification of gift aid and the government has shown that it is open to listening to those calls,” Bradshaw tells Financial Director.

The chief executive was also pleased to see the extension of mileage rates to passengers and the reduction in fuel duty, which she says will be of help to charities in keeping overheads down.

However, Bradshaw says that charities had been hoping to see help from the chancellor with VAT on shared services and it is unclear if this will be found in the small print in some form. “It’s a shame that there was no announcement on addressing VAT on shared services, but we understand that the government will continue to talk to us about this and move towards a solution,” she added.

Read Caron’s thoughts on FDs in the third sector at our blog every month

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