Grenfell charity site took £25,000 in fees

FUNDRAISING website JustGiving was last night criticised for taking more than £25,000 in fees from donations for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.

After the fire, in which 71 were killed, local resident Karolina Hanusova created a page on JustGiving that raised more than £400,000 – but the website pocketed 5 per cent in fees.

Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on charitable websites, Tory MP Mary Robinson put the figure taken at £25,000.

She said Miss Hanusova was ‘surprised’ to learn that ‘such a significant amount was deducted’, but that her case was not uncommon.

Meg Hillier, chairman of the parliamentary public accounts committee, said: ‘This is a very high percentage fee and the cost of doing this is much less than £25,000.

‘It would be a ... gesture of goodwill if JustGiving took a lesser fee or waived it.’ The fee is taken from gift aid, a tax refund charities can claim based on donors’ tax status, or, sometimes, from the donation.

Mrs Robinson told MPs that, following the Manchester Arena bombing in May, the Manchester Evening News raised £2.5 million via the website – but that the sum was subject to fees of £100,000.

She said many online donors were ‘unaware’ of the fees. She added: ‘There is a strong argument that the beneficiary of the gift aid reclaimed should be the relevant charity, rather than...being used to pay an intermediary cost.’

A spokesman for the website said: ‘JustGiving has always been open and transparent about its fees and what they enable.’