People’s Postcode Lottery respond to DCMS Charity Lottery Review

The DCMS review of charity lottery policy has been ongoing since August 2021 and is part of a longer charity lottery reform process dating back to 2013. The DCMS statement said that the reforms to date  – including increasing the charity lottery annual sales limit from £10 million to £50 million – "have had the intended effect of allowing the society lotteries sector to grow and return more to good causes, whilst also maintaining the unique position of the National Lottery."

People’s Postcode Lottery have consistently called for the annual sales limit to be set at £100 million, which has received wide-spread political support – including from Prime Minister Boris Johnson – as well as huge support from the charity sector, including 97 charities who recently wrote a joint letter to Ministers on the issue. Since the £50 million limit was brought in in 2020, millions of pounds of additional funding has been released for good causes. People’s Postcode Lottery described the further delay as a "missed opportunity" to help local and national charities across Britain.

But the new DCMS report states that "they do not consider further policy changes are necessary at this time", despite the department previously supporting a £100 million annual sales limit, and the review not looking at the case for further change.

Commenting People’s Postcode Lottery managing director, Clara Govier, said: "This statement from DCMS is a missed opportunity for the Government to support the charity and charity lottery sectors at a time when charities have been impacted by two years of the Covid pandemic, which has affected charity fundraising at the same time as increasing charitable need.

"We were pleased to work with the Government on the initial increase to a £50 million annual sales limit and it is clear that these changes have had the intended effect of increasing funding to good causes. For the Government to not consider further changes which they previously supported is concerning and disappointing and a missed opportunity to support charities.

"Increasing charity lottery limits further would provide support to communities at home and abroad as we seek to address the challenges facing society, many of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We urge the Government to urgently review this position and for Ministers to engage with the sector in order to help it to thrive and to support good causes."