Information for Employers
What is Payroll Giving?
Payroll Giving enables employees to give to any UK charity straight from their gross salary (before tax is deducted), giving immediate tax relief on those donations. This means that £10 donated each month costs only £7.80 for employees paying standard rate tax (£6 for higher rate taxpayers) and will be
worth as much as £20 to the charity (courtesy of the Government matching scheme for the first six months of your donations).
New reasons for giving
Until December 2006, a new Home Office-funded initiative, the Payroll Giving Grants programme is rewarding small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that set up Payroll Giving with a grant of up to £500. What’s more, the first £10 of each
employee’s monthly donations will be matched, pound-for-pound, for a period of six months (up until March 2007). That’s up to £60 extra per employee going to their chosen charity.
Who is eligible for a grant?
If your organisation has less that 500 employees and signs up to Payroll Giving any time before the end of December 2006 your business will be eligible to receive a grant of between £300 and £500. Grants are tiered according to the number of employees, as below:
Organisation size
1 - 199 employees - £300
200 - 249 employees - £400
250 - 499 employees - £500
You can either keep this grant or donate all (or part) of it to charity.
Grants (and the matched donations) will be backdated to those that have signed up since 06 April 2004.
What are the benefits?
Payroll Giving can be an ideal way for organisations with smaller budgets, to generate a vital income stream for charities.
Research shows Payroll Giving benefits business by:
• Boosting your social responsibility profile
• Enhancing community involvement programmes
• Improving staff recruitment and retention
What do Businesses need to do?
All you need to do is to sign up with a Payroll Giving Agency (PGA) who will transmit the donations on your behalf. Your PGA will give you a grant application form which you will need to complete and return to them and your grant will be triggered once your employees' donations have commenced. The grants scheme should cover any set up costs that you may incur or you can choose to donate all or part of this grant.
Professional Fundraising Organisations (PFO) are available to help you promote the scheme to your employees.
Grants and matched donations will be backdated for those organisations that signed up after 06 April 2004. If you signed up after this date and before the launch of the programme, but have yet to receive a grant application form, contact your PGA for details.
How to sign up
All you have to do, is sign a contract with a Payroll Giving Agency (PGA) - that's all there is to it. For a list of PGAs, visit www.payrollgivinggrants.org.uk.
Why not sign up today?
How to add Action Not Disability to an existing scheme:
If your employer already has a payroll giving, ask your professional fundraising organisation (PFO) to Action Not Disability to your scheme. If you don't have a PFO, see www.payrollgivinggrants.org.uk where they have an up to date list.
*Information from www.payrollgivinggrants.org.uk.