Hospices in the UK rely more on donations, gifts in wills and income from their charity shops, compared to the role of government funding for the hospice sector.
The latest snapshot of hospice finances from the sector body Hospice UK shows that, annually, gifts in wills now account for just under £250 million for the almost 200 hospices whose accounts were analysed in 2023/24. This is an important source of income underpinning critical expenditure, including nursing and care with over 30,000 people employed in the hospice sector.
Good financial management will see hospices setting aside some reserves to support future expenditure. Across the sector, investments valued at £686 million are held, with the income generated by these investments also part of the landscape of financial support for hospices.
There are several scenarios where an investment portfolio can be relevant for a hospice. First, the receipt of significant gifts from wills might lead to money being available to invest for the longer term, as a separate ‘pot’ from day-to-day operating cash. Second, where a hospice is planning ahead for a capital project with construction or refurbishment of a hospice building, a more medium term ‘pot’ might be identified, which has different investment goals and access requirements around it.
Whatever the financial goals of a hospice, an investment policy statement is a sensible first step to documenting the framework within which the investments are to be managed. LGT Wealth Management has worked with Hospice UK to develop a guide on how to develop an investment policy for a hospice, to support trustees with this aspect of the charity’s governance arrangements. The guide can be found here.
Source: figures quoted from Hospice UK, Hospice Accounts publication, March 2024.
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