Legacy donations are expected to increase by around £50 million over the next two years, according to new data from Legacy Foresight.
Meg Abdy, director of Legacy Foresight, said that due to an “unusually high level of deaths” during 2016, as much as £50 million could be released from wills.
The count exceeded the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) original estimation by as many as 30,000, Legacy Foresight said, highlighted by November’s toll. Around 52,000 people died in the penultimate month of 2016, some 6,000 or 13 per cent more than had been predicted.
Tim Yates, analyst at Legacy Foresight, said: “As yet there are no clear explanations for November’s increase in deaths.
“Other recent death ‘spikes’ have been attributed to weather effects, ineffective flu vaccines or just natural month-to-month variation, and some combination of those factors is likely to have been the cause on this occasion.
“The picture is likely to become clearer over the coming months and we will continue to monitor the topic closely.”
Ms Abdy added that some large legacies can take several years to pay, due to the complex legal nature of wills.
In 2015, Legacy Foresight estimated that charities received around £2.56 billion in Legacy income.
