The company’s CEO Ian McCaig explains why he’s making it easier for his employees to give money to charity.

Workplace giving is a very straightforward scheme that allows employees to donate to their favourite charity. The charity receives all the tax payable on the donation as it goes through payroll. It’s that simple.

The scheme is particularly efficient for higher-rate tax payers, where a donation of £60 can be increased to £100 before being passed to the charity. There is no extra cost to the donor – the donation is simply topped up by the taxman.

I was asked to help launch the Geared for Giving Campaign in the House of Commons recently and was amazed at how few people, even senior business figures, had heard of the scheme. It’s a great initiative. I’m positive people would give more money to charity if they were aware how easy it is to donate direct from their wages.

At lastminute.com, 12 per cent of the workforce is involved in workplace giving. Our employees from across the UK are set to raise more than £10,400 this year for 122 different causes.

One of the real benefits of the scheme is that it gives staff the flexibility to support both local charities and those with a broader scope.

For example, the majority of employees from lastminute.com’s business travel arm Travelocity Business, which is based in Stockport, have chosen to donate to local Manchester hospice Christies. This means that they have the satisfaction of being involved with a local charity where the results of their involvement can be seen at first hand.