Payroll Giving for Employers
Payroll Giving is a tax-efficient scheme that allows your employees to donate to us directly from their salary.
Why Payroll Giving?
Payroll Giving is a scheme which allows employees to donate to charity from their pay tax-free. Employees can opt to donate to any UK charity or good cause from their salary. Contributions are deducted from gross pay before tax is calculated by the employer’s payroll department. Donating to charities tax-free directly through your salary is the most tax-efficient way to give.
Payroll Giving donations are taken from pay after National Insurance but before tax. A donation of £5 a month would actually cost an employee £4 from their take-home pay (if they pay 20% tax) or £3 (if they pay 40% tax).
Payroll Giving is important. Encouraging regular donations is vital for the future of charities. Charities big and small depend on the regular income that Payroll Giving provides as it allows them to plan their work including research, building projects, and giving practical help to those vulnerable and in need.
“Payroll Giving for Warburtons is part of our community investment programme, enabling our people to support the charities that mean the most to them, with tax efficient donations through their pay. As a 5th generation family business with strong values, we recognise that it’s a great way to support charities regularly and are proud to offer the scheme for our people.
“Every month all Payroll Givers automatically enter a draw where they can win a £100 donation to their chosen charity. We also enhance the scheme by paying administration fee associated with its administration so 100% of our employee donations will go their chosen charities.” - Natalie Fitzpatrick, Community Manager, Warburtons
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There are lots of benefits to offering a Payroll Giving scheme for your employees and every employer in the UK can start a scheme regardless of your size.
• Quick, simple and easy to set up, at no cost*.
• Enhances your Corporate Social Responsibility profile.
• Boosts your reputation and public image.
• Demonstrates commitment to causes your employees care about.
• Aids staff recruitment and retention, and improves morale.
• Recognition through quality marks and excellence awards. -
Easy and convenient – straight from employees’ pay, so no need to give bank account details
Tax-effective – it costs less to give more
Supports the causes they care about
Flexible – control over how much they want to donate and to which causes
The only way for higher rate tax-payers to pass their full tax relief to charity
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"Our Partners value making a difference, not only at work, but in their everyday lives. Payroll Giving makes it convenient and easy to help our Partners make ongoing donations to the causes closest to them. Through Payroll Giving, our Partners have created impact and relevance when and where it matters, meaning more donors to more charities and a better understanding of Payroll Giving in general." - Stacey MacDougall – John Lewis & Partners, Health and Wellbeing Development Manager
"Payroll Giving is part and parcel of Cancer Research UK’s payroll offering. It takes very little time to administer but offers our staff a great way to support their favourite causes. We have only recently re-promoted our Payroll Giving scheme because it is important to make all the staff members aware of the scheme and enable them an easy way to start their regular gift." - Kresh Veerasamy, Payroll & Systems Specialist, CRUK
“We love Payroll Giving at Mitchells & Butlers, our team have wholeheartedly embraced giving from their pay as a quick and easy way to support their favourite causes. We’re delighted to offer the scheme and would encourage any other employers to provide it for their teams too, it’s a win win!” - Lauren Collier, Reward & Policy Manager, Mitchells & Butlers
Download our guide to Payroll Giving
Download ‘Harnessing the Social Impact of Payroll Giving: Aguide for businesses on how to adopt the scheme and use it to make a positive difference’.
Payroll Giving Month
Payroll Giving Month takes place each February with the aim to raise awareness of the scheme amongst employees, employers, and charities. It is also a great time to encourage more employees to support a cause they care about via Payroll Giving.
Payroll Giving Month is a great time for employers to start a Payroll Giving scheme, or if you already have a scheme in place to run a promotion to encourage your staff to sign up and give to a cause they care about.
"Transforming the employee experience to build better, stronger and more resilient organisations starts with listening to what matters most to employees. Payroll Giving Month allows us to demonstrate our appreciation and commitment to our employees' passions and values, empowering them to make a tangible difference to causes they care about and compliment the company's broader mission." - Nebel Crowhurst, Chief People Officer & Chief Appreciation Officer at Reward Gateway | Edenred
As well as internal communications, Payroll Giving Month provides a great opportunity for you to tell your clients and customers that you and your employees are helping great causes through donating via their pay.
Everyone loves hearing good stories on social media. Share with your stakeholders how well your Payroll Giving scheme is doing. Share how much your employees donate to UK charities, celebrate or announce your Payroll Giving Quality Mark or simply thank you employees for the difference they are making.
Be sure to use the hashtags #PayrollGiving #PayrollGivingMonth and #LovePayrollGiving.
Perhaps you could even start a friendly competition with a local business or competitor to generate some noise about your businesses and your schemes!
We encourage you get involved in Payroll Giving Month to:
Build awareness of your program
Drive staff engagement and participation
Celebrate the impact your donations are making in the community
Think about what internal communications work best within your workplace and aim to integrate into existing channels and activities.
Do you have an intranet or similar site you could have a post on the homepage of for Payroll Giving Month?
If you have a charity partner or work with a Professional Fundraising Organisation (PFO) could they provide materials, video links, or come to your office for a day and talk to staff to help promote the scheme?
Do have you Charity Champions in your organisation? How could they be involved?
Could you run team/department or regional competitions to make the month a fun morale boosting time for all?
To include staff – include homeworkers – could virtual elements to the months activities be included?
Are you matching donations? Donation matching is also a huge motivator for staff and an extremely powerful way for employers to demonstrate their commitment to the causes their staff care about. There are many approaches beyond the typical matching of dollar-for-dollar – see the promotional idea section for some tips.
Could you incentivise employees to sign up? Could you offer a prize of a free lunch, coffee for a month, a bottle of bubble, a days’ annual leave, or similar idea to one employee – or team/department - picked at random who signs up to give during Payroll Giving Month?