A further 230 firms of solicitors have committed to prompt clients to leave charitable legacies, following a campaign in the recent Remember A Charity in Your Will Week, bringing the total number to 1,012.

The awareness drive by Remember A Charity, member charities, government and the legal sector, took place in September 2015.

It saw letters co-signed by Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, Damian Hinds, exchequer secretary to the Tresury, and Paul Wheelhouse MSP, minister for community, safety and legal affairs at The Scottish Government, issued to over 8,700 solicitors in England, Wales and Scotland, urging them to highlight the option to clients of leaving a gift to charity.

Ed Vaizey, minister of state for culture, media and sport wrote to all cultural organisations to encourage them to get involved with the campaign.

Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, said: "Solicitors and professional advisers are hugely important in advising clients about all the options they should consider when it comes to making decisions about what to do with their estate. Their role in highlighting the opportunity and tax benefits of leaving money to charity has been shown to double and – in some circumstances - treble the number of legacy gifts made. That is why we are working hard to get more firms on board each year and are so grateful to Government for its continued support.

 “For the number of solicitor campaign supporters to have grown so much in just a matter of weeks, this is fantastic news and will likely lead to a step change in the proportion of people that choose to leave a legacy in the future.”

Remember A Charity, which involves more than 150 charities, is currently conducting trials through the Behavioural Insight Team about the effectiveness of different ways that solicitors can talk to clients about charitable giving, due to be published next year.