Surrey-based maritime charity the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society has seen its legacy income plummet over the past five years, from 82.8 per cent of total income in 2006 to 1.1 per cent in 2010.

The charity has raised concerns that the drastic decrease points to a downward trend in overall legacy giving.

The most recent Legacy Market Monitor also showed a decrease in the legacy results of 51 large charities. It found that the value of legacies to this sample dropped by 1.6 per cent in the year ending September 2011 on the previous year.

In reporting their quarterly findings, Legacy Foresight predicted that the market was unlikely to see a change in fortunes. “The depressed economic outlook suggests that recent trends in legacy income will continue,” the report stated. “We do not foresee any meaningful growth in the overall legacy market for at least two years”.

Commander Brian Boxall-Hunt, chief executive of the Seafarers' Society, is urging UK citizens to remember their favourite charities and make a will in November as part of National Make a Will month.