Paying for all school trips annually, in advance, for gift aid

[Milliways]

Our primary introduced this last year. They wanted £15 for year, or £5 a term. School benefited from gift aid rebate + interest.

I dutifully paid up, and seemed to be one of a few. Whenever they did a small outing letters came out for "voluntary contributions" with those who had paid the £15 not having to pay. I still wonder if we ever got our £15 worth!

So, this year thought I would revert to paying for each trip when asked (& if they go for a walk we have to pay 20p insurance!). Keep getting reminders to pay - and so far this school year he has been on NO trips.

Am I mean? School says if everyone pays they can plan activities according to budget, but I ALWAYS pay for his trips.

On another note, his new secondary school is demanding £90 per pupil per annum for the school fund

No, I don't think you are being mean. There's nothing wrong with being prudent with your own finances and considering whether you are getting value for money, however much schools may like to make us feel that we should stump up for all they ask for if we can afford it.

As for the secondary school's £90 pa, that's actually fairly low. We've been asked for a "voluntary contribution that the vast majority of parents pay" considerably in excess of that.

I'm not a lawyer, though my work with charities tells me that the "gift aid" scam is quite illegal.

A "gift" or donation has no benefits for the donor. Technically when you get a poppy or sticker for putting money in a collecting tin, you are not "buying" it.

One day the taxman may get very shirty with schools over this.

We send our kids to private school, and still we get at least one begging letter per month. I don't give them a penny, since although technically our school is a charity, I don't really quite see it as the best destination for my money.

A school can only claim gift aid on donations, and not on charges. techniaclly if they are chargingyou for school trips then it is not a gift on your part, so they can not claim gift aid.