In the past 12 months, since the first lockdown, over a quarter (26%) of adults have written their will or taken action to update an existing will or get advice on wills.

Over two fifths (44%) of UK adults have now written a will, up from 41% since July 2020, according to research from Canada Life.

The research found:

• In the past 12 months 4.9m UK adults have written a will
• 5.5m have updated their will to change or update recipients of financial assets
• 4.4m have engaged a solicitor to write a will
• 7.8m have started to think about a will

Canada Life says despite the surge in will writing more than 29.5m people (56%) are still without a will. Of those without a will, a third (34%) said the pandemic had resulted in them starting the process of writing a will or considering writing a will.

Of the 32% of UK adults who have updated their will nearly a third wanted to give their loved ones security and 28% wanted to ensure their loved ones benefitted. Other reasons for changing a will included being worried about dying sooner than expected, the impact of the pandemic on mortality, to ensure charities benefited and being ill in the past year.

Neil Jones, tax and estate planning specialist, Canada Life, said: “While no one likes to think about their own mortality, it’s extremely encouraging to see that the global pandemic has prompted people into action.”

• Research was carried out by 2002 adults by Opinium for Canada Life in July 2020 and March 2021