A quarter of donors only sometimes opt to use Gift Aid on their donations, with 11 per cent of those saying that it is too much effort, research has found.

While half of donors said that they always use Gift Aid on donations, 26 per cent said they only sometimes opt for it, new research from Charities Aid Foundation shows.

Of this quarter, 11 per cent said their reason for not opting for Gift Aid was that it was “too much effort”, while nearly a quarter said that they did not always remember. 

Under half of the respondents who only sometimes opt for Gift Aid said it was not always an option and 24 per cent said that using Gift Aid was not possible when they donated with cash.

The data, which was from an online YouGov survey carried out between January and August that consulted more than 5,000 UK adults who donate to charity, also showed that 80 per cent of respondents believed that people should be encouraged to donate with Gift Aid if they were eligible.

The research showed that the public was aware of the importance of this tax relief to charities, with 77 per cent saying that charities rely on Gift Aid.

The findings have been published before Gift Aid Awareness Day on Thursday (3 October), which will see organisations raise awareness of the importance of Gift Aid and encourage donors to #TickTheBox and opt in.

Previous research has found that £560m of Gift Aid relief goes unclaimed every year and CAF said that the process for claiming was complicated for both charities and donors, given the variety of ways people donate.

Mark Greer, managing director of CAF, said: “Gift Aid is extremely valuable to donors and the charities they want to support and it’s clear the public recognise this. But we know it is underused by donors and can be complicated for charities to claim. 

“Charities are under pressure with demand for their services continuing to increase. Modernising the system to automate Gift Aid would be a vital step forward at a time when we need to boost charitable giving across the UK.”