Brake Calls On Local Businesses To Support Charities In Carshalton And Wallington

12.01.00am GMT Wed 26th Jan 2005

"…and receive a cash payout of up to £500 at the same time."

Tom Brake MP is calling on local businesses across Carshalton and Wallington to support charities in the area and beyond by signing up to Payroll Giving - a tax-effective donations scheme for employees. Launched today, a new UK-wide initiative - the Payroll Giving Grants programme - rewards small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) for setting up Payroll Giving before the end of 2006 with a cash incentive of up to £500.

Tom Brake said,

"The Payroll Giving Grants programme offers even the smallest organisations, with minimal budgets, the opportunity to connect with charities that support the local community and beyond, and to receive a cash payout of up to £500 at the same time. Payroll Giving is good for business and a real benefit to offer employees. I hope to see local businesses embrace the scheme and provide that much needed extra income for good causes. It is quick and easy to set up and run, so, if you haven't already established a scheme, then now is the time."

Payroll Giving enables employees to donate to any UK charity straight from their gross salary, giving immediate tax relief. As an additional incentive, the new grants programme will match the first £10 donated by each employee every month, for a period of six months. This means that £10 donated each month would be worth as much as £20 to the charity and yet it will only cost employees paying standard rate tax £7.80 (or £6 for higher rate taxpayers). Each year, Payroll Giving raises £91 million for charities across the UK.

As an employee donations scheme with minimal administrative requirements or costs, Payroll Giving can be an ideal way for organisations with small budgets to generate a vital income stream for charities. Research shows that the scheme offers real business benefits: enhancing community involvement programmes; boosting your social responsibility profile; and, most notably, improving staff morale, recruitment and retention. All employers need to do is to sign up with a Payroll Giving Agency who will transmit the donations on their behalf and to promote the scheme to employees.

The Payroll Giving Grants programme, a Home-Office funded initiative, is administered and promoted by the Institute of Fundraising and Business in the Community. The aim of this programme is to provide sustainable income sources for charities by increasing the number of employers and employees engaged in Payroll Giving. Grants are payable to organisations with fewer than 500 employees that sign up to Payroll Giving before the end of 2006 and will be backdated to those that have recently signed up (since 06 April 2004).