Charities have seen an increase in legacy donations as government officials are estimated to have halved the number of cases stuck in a probate backlog over the past year.
Legacy Futures reported this week that its 81 charity consortium members had received 7% more bequests over the past year, totalling 62,100 in the year to June.
It said this had been driven by HM Courts and Tribunals Service processing more grants than applications, with Legacy Futures estimating that almost 33,000 wills are now stuck in a backlog, which accounts for £440m in potential income for charities.
This cut of backlog cases is a reduction from around 70,000 cases, or £900m in legacy income, estimated last year.
Legacy Futures’ 81 members recorded a legacy income of £1.83bn in the year to June, which was a 1% increase from the previous year.
Average values for residual gifts fell 2.5% to £64,400 due to the cooling housing market, it said, while financial gift values remained static like the past year.
£10bn annual income by 2050 expected
Legacy Futures estimated total legacy income for UK charities to be over £4bn in 2023-24, a similar amount to the year before, but has predicted it to increase to £10bn by 2050 due to a rising death rate and wealthier, more charitably minded donors.
Ashley Rowthorn, Legacy Futures’ CEO, said: “Looking ahead, the increase in bequests from probate and a more optimistic outlook on house prices lead us to expect the legacy market to remain resilient, with modest growth through the rest of 2024.
“This is encouraging news for the charity sector, which has faced significant challenges in recent years due to the cost-of-living crisis and delays in probate.
“The stability we’re seeing in the legacy giving forecast enables charities to plan more confidently for the future, making decisions and laying out strategies with a degree of insight into how legacies are predicted to perform.”
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