Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA), a donation is money, goods or services given to a party without charge or on non-commercial terms, with a value of over £500.
Some examples of donations include:
a gift of money or property
sponsorship of an event or publication
subscription or affiliation payments
free or specially discounted use of an office
Donations of £500 or less
Donations of £500 or less are outside the scope of PPERA and you do not need to record or report them.
However, you must be alert to situations where it appears that a donor is attempting to evade PPERA. It is an offence to attempt to evade the controls on donations. For example, if a number of donations of £400 are made from the same source in similar circumstances in an attempt to evade the permissibility rules.
If you think this may be happening, you should contact us for advice.