# Best UK Payroll Giving Agencies 2026 — Compared

> An independent 2026 comparison of the four HMRC-approved UK Payroll Giving Agencies — fees, onboarding, reporting, employee experience, and which to pick.

Author: Workplace Giving Editorial
Published: 2026-05-10
Pillar: payroll-giving
Canonical: https://workplacegiving.co.uk/payroll-giving/best-payroll-giving-agencies-uk/

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If you're setting up Payroll Giving at a UK employer, you'll need to pick one of four HMRC-approved Payroll Giving Agencies to administer the scheme. They all do roughly the same job, but they differ meaningfully on fees, employer reporting depth, donor experience, and the small operational details that make the difference between a scheme that quietly grows for a decade and one that withers.

This is a 2026 comparison of the four agencies UK employers actually use, based on each agency's published fee schedules, public documentation, employer-facing material, and the editorial team's reading of the market. **No agency paid for placement and none reviewed this article before publication.** All pricing figures are indicative — confirm directly with each agency for a quote based on your specific scheme size.

## The four UK Payroll Giving Agencies in 2026

There are technically more than four agencies on HMRC's list, but for practical purposes the UK market is:

- **Charities Trust** — the largest, runs schemes for ~3,500 UK employers
- **CAF Give As You Earn (CAF GAYE)** — administered by Charitable Giving, white-labelled as CAF; the most recognised brand
- **Charitable Giving** — same operator as CAF GAYE, also runs its own non-CAF-branded scheme
- **StC Payroll Giving** — smaller but with the deepest employer reporting suite

A handful of regional or specialist agencies exist (South West Charitable Giving, for example) but they serve niche markets and aren't a realistic shortlist option for a typical UK employer in 2026.

## How they compare at a glance

| | Charities Trust | CAF GAYE | Charitable Giving | StC Payroll Giving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Per-donor monthly fee (typical)** | 25p–50p | 50p–£1 | 50p–£1 | £1–£1.20 |
| **Employer setup fee** | None | None | None | None |
| **Minimum scheme size** | 1 employee | 1 employee | 1 employee | 5 employees |
| **Donor-facing portal/app** | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| **Employer dashboard / reporting** | Standard | Standard | Standard | Advanced (best in class) |
| **HMRC compliance handled?** | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| **Quality Mark support?** | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| **Charity choice** | Any UK reg charity | Any UK reg charity | Any UK reg charity | Any UK reg charity |
| **Onboarding lead time** | 1–2 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 2–3 weeks |
| **Best for** | Cost-sensitive, any size | Brand-conscious mid-market | Cost-sensitive small/medium | Reporting-heavy, large CSR |

## Charities Trust

**Strengths:** Lowest published fee structure (25p/month per donor at scale), broad market presence, very smooth donor portal, strong support for the Payroll Giving Quality Mark application process. Has the largest market share in the UK SMB segment for a reason — they've been doing this since 1987 and the operational kinks are long gone.

**Weaknesses:** Employer reporting is functional but not best-in-class. If you want granular reports on uptake-by-team or trend analysis, you'll be exporting CSVs and pivoting in Excel. The donor portal is fine but has a slightly dated feel.

**Net annual cost example (50 staff, 30% participation):** ~£45/year in admin fees if absorbed by the employer. Compare to ~£90/year on StC.

**My recommendation:** This is the default pick for **any UK SMB under 100 staff**, especially if you're on a tight CSR budget. The fee saving is not enormous in absolute terms, but the operational simplicity and proven smooth onboarding compound over time.

[Visit Charities Trust →](https://www.charitiestrust.org/)

## CAF Give As You Earn (CAF GAYE)

**Strengths:** The most recognised brand in UK employee giving — the Charities Aid Foundation is widely associated with corporate philanthropy in the UK. The brand recognition can lift launch-period opt-in rates compared with lesser-known agencies. Larger employers typically get a named account manager.

**Weaknesses:** Administered by Charitable Giving rather than CAF directly, which can create confusion when donors call CAF directly with questions and get redirected. Per-donor fees are middle-of-the-road. Employer dashboard is decent but not better than Charities Trust.

**Net annual cost example (50 staff, 30% participation):** ~£90/year if absorbed.

**My recommendation:** The right pick when **brand recognition matters** — large mid-market employers, brands targeting recruitment-savvy candidates, B-Corp applicants, or any firm whose CSR comms regularly reference recognised names. The fee premium over Charities Trust is small in absolute terms, and the launch-uptake bump usually pays for it.

[Visit CAF GAYE →](https://www.cafonline.org/giveasyouearn)

## Charitable Giving

**Strengths:** Same underlying operator as CAF GAYE, but offered without the CAF brand markup — meaning the same operational quality at a typically lower fee. Strong on the agency-fee transparency front. Has a workplace fundraising integration (sponsorship matching alongside straight donations) that the other three don't really do natively.

**Weaknesses:** Lower brand recognition with donors than CAF — likely lower opt-in rates at launch. The interface for donors is similar to CAF GAYE in look-and-feel, but the unfamiliar name is a launch friction.

**Net annual cost example (50 staff, 30% participation):** ~£75/year if absorbed.

**My recommendation:** Worth considering for **cost-sensitive small employers** who don't think their staff will react to the brand difference. If your team sees "Charitable Giving" on a payslip and thinks nothing of it, you've saved £15-30/year over CAF GAYE for the same operational engine.

[Visit Charitable Giving →](https://www.charitablegiving.co.uk/)

## StC Payroll Giving

**Strengths:** Best-in-class employer dashboard. Real-time reporting, segment-by-team participation views, automated alerts for hitting Quality Mark tiers, and the only agency that natively exports to all the major HRIS platforms (BambooHR, Charlie HR, HiBob, Personio). Strong on the hand-holding for the Payroll Giving Quality Mark application — they walk employers through it rather than just sending the form.

**Weaknesses:** Highest per-donor fees of the four. Minimum scheme size of five donors makes it impractical for very small employers. Slightly longer onboarding time because they do more upfront on configuration.

**Net annual cost example (50 staff, 30% participation):** ~£108/year if absorbed.

**My recommendation:** The right pick when **CSR reporting actually matters to the business** — B-Corp applicants, ISO 26000-aligned firms, employers tendering for public sector contracts where social value scoring is part of the bid evaluation, or large mid-market firms that have a dedicated CSR / sustainability headcount. The fee premium pays back in time saved manually building reports.

[Visit StC Payroll Giving →](https://www.stcpayrollgiving.co.uk/)

## A simple decision framework

If you don't want to read four detailed write-ups, this is the rough decision tree we use when advising employers:

import SponsorCallout from '@/components/SponsorCallout.astro';

- **Under 50 staff, low budget, just want it set up cleanly** → Charities Trust
- **Under 50 staff, want recognised brand on payslips** → CAF GAYE
- **Cost-sensitive but want CAF-quality engine** → Charitable Giving
- **50+ staff, CSR / ESG / B-Corp matters, want serious reporting** → StC

The fee differences look big as percentages but small in absolute pounds for any employer under ~200 staff. A 50-person firm at 30% uptake will pay £45–£108/year across the four agencies — a £63 swing. That's less than a single board lunch. **Pick on operational fit, not on price.**

## What about switching agencies?

It happens — typically driven by:

1. **Reporting frustration** (employer outgrows Charities Trust's standard dashboard) → switch to StC
2. **Cost optimisation at scale** (large employer realises CAF premium isn't pulling its weight) → switch to Charitable Giving
3. **Account-management dissatisfaction** (no named contact, slow response times) → switch to whichever responded best in the sales process

The mechanics are simple: donors re-authorise via the new agency's form, the new PGA handles HMRC notification, and there's typically a 4–6 week overlap during which both agencies are processing donations. Allow for that in comms.

## Where this fits with the rest of your giving programme

Picking a Payroll Giving Agency is the single biggest operational decision in setting up payroll giving, but it's not the most consequential decision in your overall workplace-giving programme. The bigger levers are:

1. **Whether you match donations** (matched giving roughly doubles employee participation rates within 12 months — see [matched giving](/matched-giving/))
2. **Whether you offer paid volunteer leave** ([the time half of giving](/employee-volunteering/paid-volunteer-leave-uk/))
3. **How you communicate the scheme** (a one-line internal email gets ~1% uptake; a thoughtful launch campaign gets 15–25%)
4. **Whether you absorb the agency fee** (employees notice the line item if you don't)

The agency choice mostly affects the back-office mechanics. Get any of the four right and the scheme will run; the rest is on your internal comms and management buy-in.

## How to think about the choice

The four agencies are bunched closely on overall fitness because the underlying scheme — Payroll Giving — is highly regulated by HMRC, so the operational mechanics are broadly identical. The real differences sit in **fees, reporting depth, donor experience, and onboarding speed**, in that approximate order of weight.

A reasonable shortlist process for a UK employer:

1. **Get an indicative quote from all four** — onboarding teams turn quotes around in 1–3 days
2. **Look at each agency's donor portal** — most have public demos. The best UX can lift participation versus a clunky one
3. **Ask for two reference customers at your scale** — this is the most reliable way to surface operational reality
4. **Decide which of fee / reporting / brand / support matters most** for your context, and weight accordingly

For most UK SMBs the natural answer is **Charities Trust** on cost-plus-simplicity. For larger firms with ESG / B-Corp reporting requirements, **StC** is worth the fee premium for the reporting depth.

## How we wrote this

This comparison is based on each agency's public fee schedule, employer-facing material, donor-portal demos, and the editorial team's read of the market. Pricing figures are indicative — every employer should get a direct quote before deciding. We update the article when published agency information changes; it was last reviewed against agency websites in May 2026.

## Disclosure

Workplace Giving is sponsored by [Leavely](/sponsor/), which is a leave-management product unrelated to Payroll Giving Agencies. Leavely doesn't pay for placement and doesn't see this article before publication. None of the four agencies covered here paid for inclusion, were given a preview, or sponsor this site.

If you decide to set up Payroll Giving and want to track the volunteer-leave half of giving alongside it, [Leavely](/sponsor/) tracks it as a distinct leave type — but that's a separate decision from picking your PGA.

## Related reading

- [How Payroll Giving works in the UK (step by step)](/payroll-giving/how-payroll-giving-works/)
- [Payroll Giving tax relief in the UK](/payroll-giving/payroll-giving-tax-relief-uk/)
- [Payroll Giving vs Direct Debit](/payroll-giving/) (forthcoming in this pillar)
- [Setting up Payroll Giving in a small business](/payroll-giving/) (forthcoming)
- Pair it with [matched giving](/matched-giving/what-is-matched-giving/) and [paid volunteer leave](/employee-volunteering/paid-volunteer-leave-uk/) for a complete programme