Mr. Seamus Mulconry:

The provision makes perfect sense for most charities who are dependent on funding being supplied through a direct debit, which is the most efficient fund raising mechanism for any charitable organisation. If an organisation has enough direct debits it will have a steady stream of income that will last, in general, for seven years and the cost of acquiring one is much cheaper than any other method. For all of those charities it makes perfect sense.

For larger amounts of money or highly specialised donations, we proposed our measure at roughly the same time the change in taxation was made. We fully support the idea that the taxable benefit associated with direct benefits goes to the charity rather than an individual.