Editorial: The Gift Aid machine is being oiled and tweaked, but not rebuilt

By Stephen Cook, Third Sector, 19 March 2008

The high point for the charity sector in last week's Budget was without doubt the announcement of £300m of transitional relief: for the next three years, they will be able to claim Gift Aid at the present rate of 28p for every pound donated instead of dropping to 25p as a result of the reduction in the basic rate of income tax that was announced last year and will take effect next month.

This offers a welcome breathing space for charities to make progress with other aspects of Gift Aid in order to compensate for the drop when it does come in three years' time. The only quibble, expressed opposite on our letters page, is that an earlier announcement would have spared the...