§ Sue DoughtyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many employers provided Payroll Giving schemes in(a) July 1998 and (b) July 2003; [153447]
(2) how many FTSE 250 companies offered Payroll Giving schemes in (a) December 1998 and (b) December 2003. [153448]
§ John HealeyPayroll Giving schemes allow employees to make donations to charities directly from their pay packets. The Government introduced improvements to the Payroll Giving scheme in Budget 2000. At that time, a 10 per cent. supplement on all donations made through Payroll Giving schemes was introduced for a three-year period, until April 2003. This was extended until April 2004.
There are no centrally held figures for the number of employers (or FTSE 250 companies) providing Payroll Giving schemes. The Association of Payroll Giving Agencies provides data to the Inland Revenue on the number of new Payroll Giving contracts set up. From these figures, it is estimated that there were 8,947 Payroll Giving schemes at 30 June 1998, which had increased to 12,782 by 30 June 2000. A further 3,299 new schemes had been set up by 30 June 2003. However, this does not give an accurate figure for the number of employers offering schemes as some employers operate more than one scheme and some schemes may be dormant.
The Inland Revenue has measured employee access to Payroll Giving schemes through NOP surveys. In July 1999, this indicated that around one in five employees (5.75 million) had access to a Payroll Giving scheme. In July 2003, the proportion was about the same (one in five), but the growth in employment means that this equates to six million employees.