# Latest Smee & Ford data shows legacy income rise to £3.9bn for England & Wales

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/12/06/latest-smee-ford-data-shows-legacy-income-rise-to-3-9bn-for-england-wales/
- Published: 2023-12-06T08:55:11+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Annual legacy income for England and Wales has risen by 7.6% to £3.9 billion, 
Smee & Ford has said.**

Its data, up to the end of October 2023, shows that approximately 13.5% of probated
estates with Wills are charitable.

[Smee & Ford](https://smeeandford.com/) is forecasting around 36,500 charitable 
estates by the end of the year, which is slightly less than last year’s 37,038.

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Based on data from the Charity Commission charity accounts (July 2022 – June 2023)
supplemented with S&F data, it says legacy income has increased by 7.6%. Average
estate values have also increased – up from £439k in 2016 to £584k in 2023.

Smee & Ford has also taken receipt of the highest number of issued grants from HMCTS
in October this year with November a close second which it says bodes well for 2024.

Its full year report will be published in the spring.

The figures are close to [those released by Legacy Foresight in November](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/11/20/another-record-breaking-year-for-legacy-income-but-forecast-warns-of-short-term-losses/).
Based on its latest Legacy Monitor, which gathers data from over 80 charities, it
estimated that** **charity legacy income had seen record annual growth of 6.5% in
2022/23, reaching £4 billion.