Charity legacy income grew by 4.4 per cent in the 12 months to March 2016 due to "a sharp increase in deaths", according to a review published today. 

Legacy Foresight’s second quarterly overview of 2016 said that its 78 consortium members received legacy income of £1.33bn and 51,400 notifications in 2015/16, an increase of 4.4 per cent in terms of total income and 3.4 per cent in notifications compared to the same period the previous year.

The report also said that growth rates have improved since the last bulletin was released, helped “by a resilient property market and a modest recovery in share prices”.

Another reason given for the upsurge was “a sharp increase in deaths in winter 2014/15” which continues “driving a rise in legacy incomes this year, as the residual bequests notified last autumn start to pay out”.

The average residual legacy value - when someone leaves the remainder of their estate to charity - currently stand at £57,800; up by 0.5 per cent compared to the same time last year. The average cash gift in a legacy has reached a record £3,900.

Legacy Foresight said that while cash gifts account for 53 per cent of all legacies, they represent just 8 per cent of overall legacy income.

The consortium warned that, should Britain leave the European Union, “it would have a significant impact on residual legacy values, at least in the short term”.