THE Budget is a welcome boost for cash-strapped charities.
Neil Salmon from Marsh-based Joseph Salmon Trust said: “This is a excellent Budget for charities. There are a lot of positives and some of these changes we have been campaigning for a long time.”
The trust was started in 2008 by Rachael and Neil Salmon, whose three-year-old son died as a result of pneumonia in 2005.
The charity provides financial help for parents who have lost children to cover funeral and related costs.
Neil welcomed the announcement that charities no longer need to fill in gift aid applications for donations between £10 and under £5,000. Under the Gift Aid scheme, charities can reclaim an extra 25% in tax on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer.
Neil said the change would mean an additional £1,000 a year for the charity.
“Currently we only capture a third of our donations for gift aid so this will make a huge difference to a small charity like ours.”
Small gifts from collection boxes would particularly benefit from this he said.
The Trust will also be able to claim inheritance tax revenue which Neil said may encourage more people to give money to charity as legacies so their cash was bequeathed to a charity rather than going to the Government.
