Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of proposals to temporarily increase Gift Aid to support charities impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.

The Government recognises the invaluable work of the charity sector for communities across the UK.

There are generous tax reliefs already available for the whole charity sector, including more than £1.3 billion a year in respect of Gift Aid on donations. Increasing the value of Gift Aid would break the link with tax that has been paid; this means it would no longer be a tax relief, but a grant to charities which is based solely on the amount of Gift Aid that they claim. The Government is not convinced this is the most appropriate or practical way to provide support to charities at this time.

We will continue to work with the sector to assess their emerging needs and understand how we can best support them during the current period.