A few weeks ago, the first reading of my Private Member’s Bill took place. After successfully passing the Carer’s Leave Act in the last Parliament, I knew when my name was called in the ballot again that I wanted to use this opportunity to enact a change that would help people too. After much consideration, I decided on a bill to remove the cap on charity lottery fundraising. Of course, it is a new Parliament, with a new Government and I am much further down the list than I was last time, which means there is a chance the bill will not get through all the stages. However, even if it is unsuccessful, I hope the bill will bring attention to this anomaly rule which charities face in terms of the cap.
For some time now, the People’s Postcode Lottery and Britain’s wider charity lottery sector have been calling on Parliament to remove the annual sales limit on charity lotteries and bring in the necessary reforms to accompanying monetary limits. This is because the selling cap places an unnecessary ceiling on the amount of money that can be raised for good causes. Interestingly, charity lotteries are the only gambling product subject to monetary limits – I think this needs to change.
Analysis by People’s Postcode Lottery indicates that over the next five years, the current cap on annual sales will deprive People’s Postcode Lottery player-supported charities of an estimated £175 million in vital funding – funding which would be realised without cost to the Treasury or to taxpayers.
At a time when we are constantly reminded of the ‘black hole left by the previous government’, on top of a cost of living crisis and increasing bills, it seems odd to have a limit on people willingly purchasing tickets with money that could then be used to support important charity work.
Here in North East Fife, the People’s Postcode Lottery has helped change the lives of many winners. It has also helped many local organisations, such as the Lucky Ewe which gives young Fifers with additional support needs hands-on experience of farming and animal husbandry, allowing them to get qualifications and potentially paid work. This is just one example of how lifting the cap will help charities across North East Fife.
The current cap also impacts the flexibility of the funding. Due to the limit, People’s Postcode Lottery have had to set up Trust funds for each of the 20 charity entities they support. This is a regulatory requirement to ensure no single lottery sells more than the currently permitted £50 million worth of tickets per year. As a result, the money cannot be moved between Trusts or re-allocated in response to charitable needs, for example, responding to a natural disaster or urgent humanitarian aid. Again, it seems illogical to prevent money from getting to those who desperately need it because of bureaucracy issues.
For these reasons, it was clear to me that I wanted to use my bill to remove this unnecessary cap on charity lottery fundraising. The second reading of the bill will take place in January, and I hope to see it move through the next stages quickly after that.