Updated on 10 June 2026

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.

2 blocks of wood each with a word printed on it, together they read 'GRANT FUNDING'.

Dmitry Demidovich / Shutterstock.com

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Purpose of the grant

The purpose of the grant is to help 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.

2026 Grant

This year, a grant of £4,000 will be offered to fund research in relation to AI overviews, HMRC’s digital assistant and HMRC’s digital tools. The background and scope of the research project is set out below.

Application deadline is 5pm Monday 6 July 2026.

We would expect the research to be carried out and presented to use by 2 November 2026 at the latest.

We welcome applications from anyone with a strong interest in and technical knowledge of tax (for example someone who is studying tax) or experience of working in tax and a motivation to help those unable to pay for advice. You will need to have sufficient tax technical knowledge to help analyse the technical accuracy of the various outputs obtained through testing.

Please read the full grant document for full details of how to apply and a detailed outline of the research project.

Grant document

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

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.