Hywel Francis

Labour Party | Aberavon

Aberavon MP Calls on Government to Give Children a Sporting Chance

Aberavon MP, Dr Hywel Francis is today calling on the Government to provide more tax relief for sports clubs that provide sporting activities for children.

Dr Francis is responding to a to a Government consultation on Gift Aid to ask for this important tax relief to be extended to help increase children’s sport in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. He is supporting a campaign by the Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR) to boost the number of sports clubs that qualify for charitable tax relief.

At present, sports clubs that register under the under the Community Amateur Sports Club scheme are entitled to tax relief similar to that provided to charities. However, Dr Francis and CCPR believe that there are opportunities to extend the relief to more clubs.

Dr Francis is asking the Government to help support clubs for children by conducting a strong take up campaign so that more clubs register under the CASC scheme and to extend Gift Aid support to sports club subscriptions paid by children.

Dr Francis said,

“There are dozens of sports clubs in Aberavon that do a fantastic job providing sports facilities for children. Many of them are run by volunteers who put in a lot of time and effort to give our kids the chance to take part in sports. They deserve some support, and these two simple measures will help significantly. Expanding the Gift Aid scheme can make all the difference in boosting sports participation by children in the run-up to the 2012 Games. The introduction of Gift Aid on junior subscriptions would be of massive benefit to all sports clubs.”