Small Charitable Donations and Childcare Payments Act 2017 section 1

Meaning of "eligible charity"

Section 1 simplifies the rules for determining which charities are eligible to claim top-up payments under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, by replacing the previous multi-condition eligibility test with a simpler exclusion-based approach.

• The previous eligibility test, which required charities to meet several positive conditions (such as having a certain track record of Gift Aid claims), is replaced by a simpler test: a charity is eligible unless it is specifically an "excluded charity" for the relevant tax year.
• The concept of an "excluded charity" replaces the former "not an eligible charity" wording, making the test clearer — a charity qualifies by default unless it falls into one of the defined exclusion categories.
• Special rules that previously applied when charities merged — which carried across the eligibility history of predecessor charities — are removed entirely from both the primary legislation and the supporting regulations.
• A restriction on the Treasury's power to amend the meaning of "eligible charity" is also removed, reflecting the simplified approach.

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