Updated on 6 April 2024

The Robin Williamson Grant

The Robin Williamson Grant Fund was set up thanks to a generous donation to the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) in recognition of the late Robin Williamson’s long service in supporting those on low incomes, who could not afford to pay for advice, with tax and related welfare problems. 

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Purpose of the grant

The purpose of the grant is to further shine a light on a particular area of taxation (or benefits where there is a tax linkage) which particularly affects those on low incomes, and which needs the attention of policy makers within Government or administrators within HMRC (or DWP). The grant is administered by the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group team and the work undertaken through the grant contributes towards LITRG’s mission.

2023 Grant

In 2023, a grant of £2,000 was offered to fund research in relation to tax and the gig economy.
The application deadline was Friday 11th August 2023.

Further grants

Applications are currently closed. We will publicise further opportunities as and when they arise. 

About Robin Williamson

Robin Williamson MBE, CTA (Fellow) was an early LITRG volunteer and LITRG’s Technical Director from 2003 to 2018. After retiring as Technical Director, Robin, along with his wife Jane, continued as an active LITRG volunteer. Robin sadly died in September 2022.

Before working for LITRG, Robin trained as a solicitor and worked as Senior Technical Editor for tax publishers CCH. He wrote and lectured extensively on personal tax matters and took a keen interest in the interaction of tax with the welfare benefits system. Robin enjoyed his retirement from full-time work after stepping down as LITRG Technical Director, but he did not retire from tax and subsequently he worked as a senior policy adviser for the Office of Tax Simplification as well as writing a book about taxpayer safeguards for Claritax Books.

Robin was awarded an MBE in 2015 in recognition of his work for low-income taxpayers. In 2020 he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award as the Tolley’s Taxation Awards.

Robin took great pride in his work for LITRG and the success of the group as a whole and was passionate about making the tax system work better for those on the lowest incomes. Robin himself successfully secured many such changes in his time at LITRG.

You can read more about Robin, his life and his work in this tax adviser magazine article. 

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