Most people know someone that has had a rescue dog from an animal charity and know how important their work is in caring for and rehoming pets. More and more people pay for their child to sponsor a dog or other more exotic animal. We used to sponsor a lovely old donkey from the local horse rescue centre and our granddaughter would have a 45 minute time to brush the animal and lead her short walk to a nearby patch of grass. She absolutely loved it and it helped her to learn a great deal about animal care.

All this giving to animal charities would benefit them a great deal more if folks donated through their payroll services. The arrangement is called Payroll Giving and lets people make either one-off or regular donations to charities and these are made before tax is deducted. This is really good for the donor because it means they get tax relief on the donation at their highest rate of tax.

This Payroll Giving scheme is managed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs approved agencies – the PGA (Payroll Giving Agencies). Charities themselves they run the scheme on behalf of employers and pension providers. An employee asks the payroll services to take regular charitable donations from their gross pay (after deduction of the national insurance contributions) which then forwards the donation to the charity after deducting a small admin. Fee often paid for by the employer.