Fundraising by charity lotteries is the only type of charity fundraising to have limits placed on it by law. Since 2005 the maximum amount that can be raised each year by an individual charity lottery has stood at £10 million. This results in excessive bureaucracy, additional administration costs and has also had the effect of limiting the amount of funds available to small charities – as set out in our Small Change report, published in April 2019.
People’s Postcode Lottery, along with many national charities and parliamentarians from across the political parties, have been arguing for these limits to be raised to remove the bureaucratic problems and get more funds to good causes.
In July 2019, after years of consultation and debate, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced its decision on charity lottery reform.
The announcement by the then Civil Society Minister, Mims Davies MP, included a commitment to raise the charity lottery annual sales limit to £50 million with an aspiration to then move to a £100 million annual sales limit, subject to certain transparency conditions being met by the sector.
Since then, the Government is understood to now want to undertake even more consultation before implementing the changes – delaying the benefits of the changes and meaning the negative impact of the current law – including on local charities – will continue for the time being. It is estimated the cost to local charities across Britain will be about £13 million next year – unless the changes are implemented.
In a move to avoid further delays on the issue People’s Postcode Lottery is calling for the changes to be implemented sooner rather than later.
Charity leaders explain the impact of the limits
MPs can support the motion for implementation of the new charity lottery limits by signing the Early Day Motion on charity lotteries reform.