Charity Giving

Baroness Sater Excerpts

Monday 20th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

It is important that we focus on how we can support an already incredibly generous public, without playing down the reasons why people might be reluctant to give. We are putting in place measures to tackle the cost of living issues affecting people currently. As for some of the ways that my noble friend mentions, HMRC is providing over £2.5 billion of relief through gift aid and higher rate relief, and reviewing current gift aid claiming processes to try to help charities gain as much as they can through that route. I know my noble friend is interested in payroll giving, which 4,000 UK businesses offer. We are actively supporting ways to encourage more people to give. We will continue to work with the sector to ensure that we maximise funding through personal, public and corporate giving.

[Baroness Sater (Con)]

My Lords, according to the Charities Aid Foundation report, nearly one in three non-donors indicated that they were not engaged with or interested in charities, with an even higher figure for young people. Initiatives such as the Family Volunteering Club show how young people can engage in building relationships with charities through volunteering. Does the Minister agree that more needs to be done, particularly in our schools, to encourage and support a culture of engagement with charities among young people?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The first time I was asked to volunteer was through school, so I know that the noble Baroness makes a valuable point. Volunteers are critical to civil society. We are committed to enabling more people to get involved in working with the voluntary sector and to modernising volunteering through the civil society covenant, which will promote flexible working for modern work-life commitments. The noble Baroness focused on children and young people, and I thought the CAF report made an interesting point. Through our youth strategy, which intersects with this and, helpfully, is led by the same Minister, we are looking at ways to get more young people involved.