Houses of Parliament

CRA government budget submission

The Government is planning a budget on 6 March. As usual, we have sent a pre-budget submission with a number of asks specific to charity retail, as well as contributing to the Civil Society Group’s more general submission. Amongst the policies we would like to see the Government adopt are:


Business rates

  • Making the Retail Discount in England permanent and removing the current cash cap per business of £110,000
  • Funding for greater discretionary rate relief for charity shops
  • Addressing the anomaly whereby some charity shops do not qualify for Charitable Rate Relief because of running their shops through a trading subsidiary

Gift Aid

  • A Government funded campaign to raise awareness of Gift Aid to promote giving
  • Transitional relief for charities if the basic rate of income tax is cut, so that charities do not immediately lose Gift Aid income
  • Continued support for the Future of Gift Aid project to modernise and simplify the administration of Gift Aid

Retail crime

  • Providing additional funding to the police to tackle growing rates of retail crime

Circular economy

  • Faster progress on Extended Producer Responsibility for textiles and furniture
  • Based on the principles of the Social Value Act 2012, funding to support the growth of the circular economy should be prioritised in a way that maximises social wellbeing
  • Utilising the Charity Shop Gift Card as one method to distribute emergency support

The submission was put together by our Head of Public Affairs, Jonathan Mail and you can see the full detail here.

We will provide a summary of those budget items that have an effect on charity retail as soon as possible after 6 March.


25/01/2024 19:09