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Former civil society minister Tracey Crouch has today launched a national report urging Prime Minister Liz Truss to cut through the lottery red tape that is costing charities millions of pounds.
The report, by People’s Postcode Lottery, comes on the day of new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which is expected to include a package of tax and National Insurance cuts.
Limitless Potential: The Case for Lifting the Cap on Charity Lottery Fundraising calls for the current legal cap of £50m sales per year by any single charity lottery to either be doubled to £100m – or scrapped.
Crouch, who was civil society minister from 2017-18, launched the report during a visit to Maggie’s Centre at St Barts Hospital in London, which has received charity lottery funding.
The Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford was last year given the all-clear after breast cancer treatment. She said: “I know the hugely positive impact of charities like Maggie’s to cancer patients and their families.
“And, as a former civil society minister, I know the difference charity lottery funding makes to Maggie’s, but also to thousands of other charities right across the UK.
“In recent years the government has closely scrutinised the area of charity lottery reform – and found that charity lotteries make a hugely positive difference. They also committed in 2020 to raise the charity lottery annual sales limit to £100m per annum.”
Crouch added: “This new report illustrates the red tape which results from the existing limit and explains why it’s so crucial to either remove these limits entirely, or at the very least raise them to £100m.”
In 2022, three Postcode Trusts, funded by People’s Postcode Lottery players, will each lose £1m of potential income.
This is because ticket prices have been cut from 85p to 80p to avoid breaching the £50m annual sales limit.
Further price cuts are expected to follow as player numbers increase.
Trusts’ income will be likely to stagnate, along with the value of grants to charities.
People’s Postcode Lottery said 31 charities were already affected, with numbers likely to grow.
Clara Govier, managing director of People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “Charity lotteries are the only type of charity fundraising, and the only type of gambling, capped by law.
“The reason for the cap seems to be lost in the mists of time, but while it remains in place, it limits the amount of available funding for charities we support.”