March’s Budget, delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, contained no additional benefits for the CASC scheme. In fact, the change to income tax means that instead of getting back from HMRC £28 on every £100 donated, in future the Gift Aid rebate will be just £25. This change takes place from April 2008.
However, over 100 Members of Parliament have signed a motion congratulating the success of the CASC scheme. The motion also calls on the Government to provide further backing for children's sports through the extension of the principles of Gift Aid or other financial support to subscription for junior sporting activities provided by community amateur s
ports clubs.
In March the Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR) hosted a parliamentary awareness event in the House of Commons focusing on the needs of grassroots sport. More than 25 MPs attended to share the concerns of their sporting constituents and receive information about how the CASC scheme can benefit their constituency. They also had the opportunity to chat with Mark Ramprakash about the importance of grassroots sport.
The CASC Development Forum, led by the CCPR, is continuing its campaign to ensure CASC registered clubs can receive financial support on junior sporting activities. To help make the case to key decision makers, we would love to hear from you about the impact that this would have on your club.
Also, the CCPR is always keen to hear from clubs that are either considering applying for the scheme or those that have already achieved CASC status. To find out how your club could become a www.cascinfo.co.uk case study please e-mail feedback@cascinfo.co.uk.
As noted in the January update, research conducted by Deloitte found that local authorities are failing to promote the CASC scheme, which can actually save them money as the associated mandatory rate relief benefit of CASC registration is centrally funded by Government. CCPR representatives attended the Local Government Association Cultural Services Conference in Sheffield to counter this lack of knowledge and promote a paper (click here to view) highlighting the business rates benefits to both LAs and clubs, developed by Richard Baldwin, Chair, CASC Development Forum.
There is now a new section on the site focusing on LAs. Please click here for further information.
Another new feature of cascinfo.co.uk is a section highlighting our campaign work to improve the scheme. Over the last few months the campaign team have been to Westminster and Sheffield and back again, ensuring more MPs, councillors and LA officials are aware of the success of the scheme.
Figures provided by Deloitte show there are now 4,306 clubs registered as CASCs with an estimated total cash benefit of at least £19 million in rate relief, corporation tax savings and Gift Aid repayments. However, an estimated £60m per year is being lost by clubs eligible to join the scheme but which have not yet done so. For a more detailed analysis, please click here.
How does £500 of sports equipment for your club sound? Too good to be true? Well, it isn’t. CCPR is currently undertaking a research project which aims to understand the impact of current and future Government legislation on sports clubs. This will enable CCPR to argue more effectively on behalf of sport and recreation. Please could you spare 10 minutes of your time to complete the survey. Upon completion you will be entered into a prize draw to win your club £500 of sports equipment, courtesy of Decathlon. Please click on the link to start the survey: http://www.sportinginsights.com/ccpr/survey.htm
Many thanks to those of you who took part in our last poll – the votes have now been counted! Perhaps surprisingly, 44% of respondents felt that the Olympic Games in 2012 would not have a positive impact on their club; only 33% thought the opposite. A sizable minority, however, felt the case is yet to be made. The new homepage poll asks which political party you think offers the best solutions for grassroots sport. Please visit the home page and take part to ensure the voice of club sport is heard.
According to HM Revenue and Customs, only 10 per cent of CASCs are actually utilising the ability to claim Gift Aid on certain types of donations. According to the latest figures,This means that approximately 430 clubs have saved collectively £2.6 million - an average of over 4,400 a club! Make sure your club is maximising the potential of Gift Aid by clicking here to read Richard Baldwin's latest Gift Aid guidance.
