In the Budget, the Chancellor announced that the maximum annual donation that can be claimed through the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) will increase from £5,000 to £8,000 from April 2016. This will allow charities and CASCs to claim Gift Aid style top-up payments of up to £2,000 a year (£10,000 x 20%).

The GASDS was introduced on 6 April 2013. The scheme allows qualifying charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) to claim a top-up equivalent to Gift Aid on small donations of money made without a Gift Aid declaration. A small donation is defined as a donation of £20 or less in cash. Donations made by cheque, credit card, text or bank transfer do not count.

The aim of the GASDS is to allow charities to claim a Gift Aid style payment on donations received in circumstances where it is difficult to collect donors' details (such as a bucket collection) or where donors may be reluctant to give them.

A GASDS claim can’t be more than 10 times a Gift Aid claim, eg a charity can claim on £1,000 worth of donations through GASDS if they have received £100 of Gift Aid donations in the same tax year.