# Two reforms could unlock £74 billion for charity from reasonably well-off

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/01/11/two-reforms-could-unlock-74bn-charity-reasonably-welloff/
- Published: 2010-01-11T08:49:22+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Two tax reforms could generate an additional £74 billion for charity from the 
UK’s middle classes, claims Professor Paul Palmer in ‘A Step Change in UK Philanthropy’,
published today by the Centre for Policy Studies.**

By making charitable donations more attractive to the reasonably well-off among 
Britain’s middle classes (defined as those with net wealth of more than £500,000),
Palmer believes that giving in the UK could be transformed.

The two proposals from the Professor of Voluntary Sector Management at Cass Business
School are based on Canadian and US models of tax-effective giving.

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The first reform would enable individuals to set up ‘Remainder Trusts’ in which 
sums of £50,000 or more could be settled. Donors would retain control over the capital,
and could reclaim it if they wished, during their lifetime.

The second reform would be the creation of a new type of charity, the ‘Personal 
Charitable Trust’. These would enjoy the benefits of “a light touch regulation” 
free of many of the onerous reporting burdens imposed on larger charities. They 
would also offer donors the option of anonymity.

Professor Palmer believes that, if implemented, these reforms could unlock perhaps
10% of the £740 billion held by the 820,000 Britons with a net wealth of more than
£500,000.

Professor Palmer has been a Member of the Charity Commission SORP committee, a research
adviser to the Charity Commission and an independent consultant on charities to 
UBS Wealth Management.

The report can be downloaded at no charge from:

www.cps.org.uk/cps_catalog/a%20step%20change%20in%20uk%20philanthropy%20-%20version5.
pdf

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