In many churches and small charities the Gift Aid work sits with one person who collects the declaration forms, while the treasurer keeps the bank. The claim then waits on whoever has time that month. The Gift Aid secretary has a folder of signed forms. The treasurer has a bank statement that does not match. Nobody is being careless. The job simply has two halves and no clear hand-off between them.
This guide looks at how to split the work between two volunteers so the claim keeps moving, and where charity Gift Aid software can take some of the load. It is written for the person who has just been handed the folder and wants to know what goes where.
One person collects, another banks, and the claim waits
A typical pattern looks like this. The Gift Aid secretary collects declarations at the door, or by post, or from a sheet passed round after the service. The treasurer receives the cash or the transfer, records it in the cash book, and reconciles it against the bank. When a claim is due, someone has to match the gifts to the declarations and work out what can be claimed. That match is where things stall. If the declaration sits in a drawer, or the bank entry has no name against it, the claim is put off until the next meeting.
The fix is not to make one person do both jobs. It is to agree who holds which piece of information, and to make the hand-off a routine thing rather than an emergency.
Three jobs worth naming separately
It helps to name the work as three separate jobs, even if two people share them.
Recording the gift. Every donation goes into the books with a date, an amount, a method and, where you know it, a name. This is the treasurer's job, and it happens when the money arrives, not at year end.
Checking the declaration. For each donor who should be claimed, you need a valid declaration: one that covers the gifts you intend to claim and is kept on file. Check that it has a name, an address, and the donor's confirmation that they are a UK taxpayer. This is usually the Gift Aid secretary's job. Keep it apart from the bank so it does not get lost in the cash book.
Building and sending the claim. This brings the other two together. Only gifts with a valid declaration go into the claim, and each gift must be matched to a donor who has made it. The claim is then sent to HMRC through Charities Online. Someone with authority to send it needs to do this.
Once you see the three jobs separately, it is easier to decide who does what, and what each person has to hand over.
What each volunteer needs to see
The Gift Aid secretary needs a list of donors who have declared, the type of declaration each one has given, and the date it was signed. They also need to know which gifts each declaration covers, so they can say which donations are eligible. They do not need the full bank account or every cash book line.
The treasurer needs the gift records: date, amount, method, and the donor name where it is known. They need to know which gifts are linked to a declaration, so the claim can be built from the books rather than from memory.
You do not need to share one spreadsheet to make this work. Two separate lists, with a shared donor reference number, do the job. The Gift Aid secretary keeps the declarations. The treasurer keeps the gifts. When the claim is built, the reference links them. This keeps personal details in the hands of the person who needs them and stops the cash book filling with addresses.
If you have ever inherited a single spreadsheet that holds everything, you will know how quickly it becomes hard to tell which version is current. Separate lists with a shared reference are easier to hand on.
Where Vasker Plus fits
Vasker Plus is the plan that carries the Gift Aid side of this work. It covers enduring, single and verbal declarations, so the Gift Aid secretary can record the type of declaration each donor has given. It builds the claim from the gifts linked to those declarations, checks it before it is sent, and keeps the request and response XML so you have a record if HMRC asks a question later.
Plus is £119 a year. The Standard plan at £59 a year covers the full cash book, members and reports, but the Gift Aid and GASDS claim tools are on Plus. Check the current plan details before you decide.
It is worth being clear about what the software does not do. It does not decide whether a declaration is valid, and it does not guarantee that a claim will be accepted. Those checks still belong to the people who sign off the claim, using HMRC's guidance.
Who sends the claim
The claim is sent by the treasurer or the chair, using the organisation's own Government Gateway login. That login belongs to the organisation, and the person sending needs the sender ID and password. Vasker does not store Government Gateway passwords. You type the sender ID and password at the point of submission, and they are discarded afterwards.
This matters for the handover. The person who sends the claim should be known to the committee, and the login should be recorded somewhere the next volunteer can find it. Do not store it in a personal email account, and do not let it leave with the person who holds it.
What HMRC says about Vasker
Vasker is listed by HMRC as commercial software for filing Gift Aid and charity repayment claims online through Charities Online. HMRC does not endorse or approve any software supplier.
That listing is only true while Vasker stays on HMRC's list. Check the list at HMRC's website when you are choosing software, and again each time you prepare a claim.
Keep records for at least six years
HMRC expects Gift Aid records to be kept for at least six years. For a church or charity with a Gift Aid secretary, that means keeping the declarations, the gift records, the claim submissions and the responses. Keep them somewhere the next volunteer can reach. A folder that only one person knows about is a risk every time the role changes hands.
If you are not sure which records you need, check the current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid record keeping before you rely on any list.
A quick way to see what is at stake
If you are not sure how much Gift Aid your organisation could be missing, the free Gift Aid gap calculator gives a rough planning estimate. It needs no account. It is an estimate, not a claim.
The arithmetic is simple. If eligible donations from UK taxpayers with valid declarations total £2,000, Gift Aid at 25p in the pound comes to £500. That is the sum, not a promised result for any organisation. The actual amount depends on which gifts are eligible and whether the declarations hold up.
A note on the limits of this guide
This is general information for volunteer treasurers and Gift Aid secretaries. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice. Check current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid declarations and Charities Online before you act, and check guidance from the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI for your own organisation.
Only organisations that HMRC accepts as eligible can claim Gift Aid. Not every church or charity is eligible, and a membership fee does not automatically qualify. Look at the rules for your own situation before you build a claim.