Will Aid is an annual Will making campaign run collaboratively by nine leading charities, ActionAid, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Age UK, NSPCC, Save the Children UK, Sightsavers, SCIAF and Trocaire. It would not be possible without the nationwide support of the legal profession, who generously give their services for free.

The donations and income from legacies, is spent on the work carried out by the nine charities. Since 1988, more than £8 million has been donated through Will Aid and millions more has been promised in legacies. The money from donations has left its mark in improvements to the lives of children, families, older people and whole communities in the UK and around the world. And the income from legacies will help ensure that the vital work of the Will Aid charities can help future generations.

The donation is voluntary and at the discretion of the will-maker. Solicitors participate in the scheme to raise the maximum possible funds for the Will Aid charities. Instead of charging their normal fee for drawing up a basic Will they are asking that you consider donating an equivalent sum to Will Aid. Please respect the value of the service they are providing you with by being prepared to donate at the suggested level of £75 for a single Will, £110 for a pair of matching or mirror Wills or £40 for a codicil. While solicitors fees vary round the country, we are suggesting £75 as an average cost. 

Will Aid is very simple to run – there is no complicated administration and VAT is not applicable as the donation is voluntary. Participating solicitors are free to schedule to work as convenient to them – either solely within the Will Aid month of November or spread over a longer period. They may also limit the number of will-makers to match their time resources. Just contact the Will Aid office when you have reached the limit of your appointments and we will divert prospective will makers to other firms.

In the months leading up to the campiagn, Will Aid runs a massive publicity campiagn to generate enquiries from potential will-makers.  We invite the general public to phone a special Hotline, or log onto the Will Aid website to find a local participating solicitor.  The potential will-maker is given the details of a solicitor in their area and is invited to contact the solicitor directly to make an appointment.  This may be by telephone or email. 

Potential Will makers can ring the Will Aid Hotline (0300 0300 013), or use the  Find a Solicitor facility on the website to find a local participating solicitor. Enquirers will be given the details of their local participating Will Aid solicitors, and asked to contact them directly to make a Will Aid appointment.

The Will Aid scheme is designed to cover the preparation of a basic Will. If the client requires additional services then you are free to negotiate a separate fee for the additional work. All we ask is that you clarify and agree the nature of the additional work and the fees involved with the client, prior to accepting their instructions.

Broadly speaking anyone whose assets are below the inheritance tax threshold  and/or is simply leaving their assets a few family and friends and maybe charitable legacy would be considered a basic Will Aid Will. If a client requires, for example, any trusts set up or financial or estate-planning advice then this would be considered outside the basic Will Aid Will. You are free to agree a separate charge for this additional work.

Legacy income is vital for charities, knowing that funds may become available gives them the security to allow them to plan for the future. But many people do not automatically think of leaving a charitable bequest and so it helps if you could remind your clients of this opportunity.

A legacy gift is an excellent way to support the Will Aid charities. It can be very tax efficient as a gift to a registered charity is free from inheritance tax. And it would mean so much to the many thousands of children and families throughout the world that the Will Aid charities support and help.

Because Will Aid is a partnership of the 9 charities, they have all agreed that the donations will be divided between them. However, your client can leave a legacy to one or more their favourite Will Aid charities (or indeed any other charity) in their Will.

The donation is voluntary and therefore at the discretion of the will-maker. However, we have stressed to potential will-makers that solicitors participate in the scheme to raise funds for the Will Aid charities and that instead of charging their normal fee for drawing up a basic Will they are asking will-makers to donate the sum to Will Aid. While solicitors fees vary round the country, we are suggesting £75 as an average cost.

Gift Aid is wonderful way of increasing the value of donations at no cost to your client because for every £1 donated the government will give the Will Aid charities 28p (as long as your client has paid either income or capital gains tax). Simply ask your client to complete the form when they make their donation (this is also their receipt) and we will do all the rest.

Some firms carry out as many as 150 Will Aid Wills; others do just a few. It is entirely at your discretion. Once you received sufficient enquiries, simply call the Will Aid Campaign office and we will stop advertising your firm as part of the promotion. However you may receive a few more telephone calls from people who were ‘in the pipeline’.

Solicitors are free to schedule their appointments as convenient to them. November is the ‘official’ Will Aid month but if you would prefer to spread out the work you are very welcome to take appointments before or after November.

Please ask your client to show you their payment acknowledgement. Fill in a Will Aid receipt form for the client ,marking it "paid online". Send the white copy of the receipt to the Will Aid office in the normal way. When you send us the receipt, we can ensure that the credit or debit card donation is added to the total of the monies you have raised for the campaign. This total will be printed on your end of campaign certificate.

The donation has to be at the discretion of the client or it ceases to be a donation and would become a fee liable to VAT. However your participation is voluntary and so you are free to decline to accept instructions from any client.