BT awarded Gold Standard for Payroll Giving scheme

21 November 2016

For the 12th consecutive year BT has been awarded the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Gold Payroll Giving Quality Mark Award.

Working with CAF and Payroll Giving in Action, the BT scheme is one of the UK’s largest and most successful. In 2015/16, some £2.5 million was donated directly by BT UK people this way.

Payroll Giving - working for a good cause

Payroll Giving is a flexible scheme which allows anyone who pays UK income tax to give regularly and on a tax free basis to the charities and good causes of their choice.

Payroll Giving donations are deducted before tax so each £1.00 you give will only cost you 80p, and if you're a higher rate tax payer it will only cost you 60p.

Payroll Giving (also known as Give As You Earn or workplace giving) is a valuable, long term source of revenue, providing regular income to help charities budget and plan ahead more effectively. Employees can choose to support any charity of their choice with a regular donation direct from their pay.

It is cheaper because it is tax free - for example, a donation of £5 per month costs the basic rate tax payer £4 (the taxman pays the rest!)

Higher rate taxpayers- the only way to pass on your 40% or 45% tax to charities. Only 28% can be recouped via other ways of giving.

Geared for Giving Campaign

Last month BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake launched a new phase of the national Geared for Giving Campaign that is calling for every employer in the UK with over 250 employees to offer Payroll Giving to their staff. The campaign aims to double the amount raised by Payroll Giving for charities to £260m annually, by increasing the number of employees giving through pay from one million, to two million within the next five years.