The recently appointed Treasury minister with responsibility for charity taxation has been urged to remove burdens and complexities for the sector as part of his role.
Former deputy mayor of London James Murray was appointed exchequer secretary to the Treasury last week following the Labour Party’s victory in the general election.
He has been given responsibility for charity tax as part of his brief, which also covers business, property and personal taxation.
Meanwhile, a minister for civil society has yet to be confirmed since Keir Starmer became prime minister on 5 July.
Hope for ‘greater continuity’
Richard Bray, chair of the Charity Tax Group, welcomed Murray’s appointment and said his organisation hoped to work with him on modernising the UK tax system.
“We believe the Future of Gift Aid project fits this intention perfectly,” he said.
“We hope to take forward with him initiatives to remove tax burdens and complexities for the charitable sector helping maximise the impact of the work of charities when their services are needed like never before.”
Bray said he hoped Murray might stay in the role longer than some of his predecessors.
“Over recent years the minister responsible for charity taxation has changed many times,” he said.
“We hope a new administration will lead to greater continuity helping us to work together with government to secure a brighter future for charities.”
VAT relief on charitable donations
Richard Sagar, head of policy at Charity Finance Group, congratulated Murray on his appointment as exchequer secretary to the Treasury.
“We hope that this can lead to an improved relationship between the charity sector and Treasury, and greater collaboration on issues which affect charities,” he said.
“We look forward to working with him and Treasury colleagues on two issues of immediate interest, including a consultation on VAT relief on everyday charitable donations, and a consultation so that membership charities can continue to claim gift aid while complying with the provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.”
Civil society brief not assigned
The civil society brief, held by Stuart Andrew before the election, has yet to be assigned to a minister under the new government.
Lilian Greenwood, who was Labour’s shadow charities minister, will not be taking on the role as she has been appointed as a transport minister.
Three ministers have been appointed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) – where the brief sat before the election – including secretary of state Lisa Nandy.
DCMS under-secretary of state Stephanie Peacock posted on social media last Friday that “working in partnership with charities will be vital in delivering the government’s missions to halve knife crime in a decade”.
However, the department today told Civil Society that ministerial responsibilities have not been confirmed.
Last week, Directory of Social Change CEO Debra Allcock Tyler posted on social media: “It is hugely disappointing that after all their warm words earlier in the year about working closely with our sector we still don’t have a charities’ minister.
“We clearly are already well down the priority list. Yet I would remind the government – the whole shebang collapses without our support.”
Prior to the election, Starmer pledged to partner with civil society and “reset” the relationship between charities and government.
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