JustGiving will remove its 5% fee for donations to disaster and major incident funds.

The fundraising platform was heavily criticised for charging people who donated money after the Grenfell Tower tragedy and terrorist attacks in Manchester and London.

Last year JustGiving was accused of taking £20m from donations while paying staff salaries of up to £200,000. At the time it defended the fees and salaries, saying the charities it worked with “deserve the best”.

But on Monday the company succumbed to the growing pressure. Jerry Needel, JustGiving’s president, said: “Following feedback from our amazing community of fundraisers, we are also announcing that JustGiving will now be free to use following major incidents, including acts of terrorism, catastrophes or natural disasters.

“We know people want to help those affected as quickly as possible after these events and we want to do everything we can to support that. We are excited about the significant changes we are making and look forward to continuing our work supporting thousands of charities and millions of individuals raising funds for the causes that matter to them the most.”

Peter Lewis, the chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising, said: “We welcome today’s announcement from JustGiving. We are pleased to see JustGiving continuing to develop its model and responding proactively to enable donors’ money to go even further, especially at times of major incidents.”

Last month Neil Coyle, the Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said in a letter to Tracey Crouch, the sports and charities minister, that he was “sickened to learn that JustGiving kept £500,000 from public donations to terror attack victims in London and Manchester as well as those affected by Grenfell”.

Coyle welcomed Monday’s announcement and called on JustGiving to return or reinvest the £500,000 to support the victims and families affected.

“The British public’s generosity is meant for the victims and families and everyone affected, not for an American equity firm,” Coyle said. “They’re [JustGiving] still not recognising the damage they’ve done to their own brand for taking half a million from Manchester Arena, London Bridge terror attack and Grenfell last year.”

JustGiving also announced it was consulting with other charities on its approach to Gift Aid.