Action is being called for to improve giving among the self-employed, after latest His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures suggest fewer of this group of workers donated to good causes over the last year.

The fall in their giving has been revealed in latest UK charity tax relief statistics, which show that overall tax reliefs for charities and their donors were around £7.4bn in the financial year to April 2026, up 4% on the previous year.

A total of £1.88bn in Gift Aid was paid to charities at the basic rate of Income Tax, up 10% year on year.

Inheritance Tax reliefs for donations of £1.28bn are also recorded, an increase of 6% on the previous year.

Also up, by 10%, is Higher Rate Relief on people’s Gift Aid donations.

However, the figures show that 1.3m people declared a donation on their self-assessment return for the tax year ending April 2025, which is 2% fewer than the previous year.

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) client relations director Philippa Cornish said action to be taken includes urging financial advisors to raise charitable giving to their clients.

“Concerningly, the number of people declaring donations on their self-assessment return has not increased even though more people are in higher tax brackets,” she said.

“We need to increase awareness of the incentives available for charitable giving in order to increase support for charities from those who are in a financial position to donate.

“We know donors are more likely to give, and give more, when financial advisers raise charitable giving with them.”

Age differences

Young and middle-aged men who are self-employed need to be a particular focus, the HMRC figures suggest.

These show that one in five self-assessment taxpayers who are aged 65 or more declared a donation.

Meanwhile, female self-assessment taxpayers are a more likely to declare a donation, with the proportion recorded at 13% among women compared to 11% among men.

Commenting on wider increases shown in the HMRC figures Cornish added: “In a challenging economic climate, it is positive to see the increase in Gift Aid but we know that charities continue to miss out on millions every year from generous donors who don’t know about or forget to tick the Gift Aid box.”

The HMRC figures also show that just under half the value of Gift Aid payments went to charities that received less than £1m each.

Across all measurements “donors who were aged 65 and up donated the largest proportion of their gross income compared to younger donors, 3.5% of their income on average”, added HMRC.

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