Increase in gifts to charity

The Co-op legal services have reported that they have seen an increase in bequests to charity in their Wills. This could be due to the reduced rate of inheritance tax from 40% to 36% if a person leaves 10% of their estate to charity, or possibly the Will Aid campaign. 

It has also been reported that smaller charities are benefiting rather than larger well-established charities. This could be due to the scandals involving some large charities, or maybe people are just benefiting their local community. 

It is always worth thinking about gifting to charity in your Will. This could be to take advantage of the reduced rate of 36%, or simply to leave a long stop provision should there be no one to benefit.

Gifts left to charities in wills have increased for another year, according to Co-op figures, with the number of bequests growing by more than 50 per cent.

Based on wills written though the Co-op’s legal services from July 2018 to June 2019, charitable giving through estate bequests grew 53 per cent on the previous year, and the gifts range from the financial to the donation of collectible items.

The figures come as it emerges that smaller charities are benefiting more from estates than larger, well-established ones. In the wake of scandals involving Kids Company and Oxfam, donors are increasingly turning to smaller charitable organisations.

While 2018 saw GBP3 billion donated to charity in wills – an increase of 50 per cent since 2008 – nine of the top-earning 25 charities reported a year-on-year decrease in earnings since 2017.