Labour has ditched the former Tory government’s controversial plans to destroy millions of wills to save costs on storage after hundreds of people ‘vehemently opposed’ them
Labour has ditched the former Tory government’s controversial plans to destroy millions of wills to save costs on storage.
In 2023 leading historians branded the proposals “obviously insane” and “sheer vandalism”. The plans would have seen original will documents, in some cases dating back to the 1850s, destroyed and instead transferred to a digital form.
But the new Labour government on Wednesday announced it will scrap the Conservatives’ plans as the historical wills “are an indispensable bridge to the lives of those who came before us”. It comes after a consultation, which received almost 1,600 submissions from the public, historians and legal experts, last year found the “large majority of responses vehemently opposed any destruction of original wills”.
Respondents raised a range of concerns, including whether digital copies would stand the test of time as technology continues to change at a rapid pace. They also expressed fears about wills being damaged through a cyber-attack or whether errors could occur in making digital copies, such as details being missed off or blurred in the process.
The majority of respondents also hit out at plans to keep the wills of famous or notable people, but destroy wills of the public after a 25-year waiting period. Many said this was very subjective and that “fame was a flimsy exercise” to judge people. A large number of respondents also highlighted cases of people such as Crimean War nurse Mary Seacole or computer scientise Alan Turing, who weren’t fully recognised for their achievements until long after their deaths.
Ministers noted the “strong emotional response” to the consultation as many people noted the “unique nature of wills as a record of a living person’s wishes for the distribution of their assets”. People described wills as being a “national historic record” and said they “reflected the rich spectrum of humanity”.
The plan to digitise wills had been to try to curb the steep cost of looking after original documents. Currently some 110 million will documents are being stored at a cost of around £4.5million each year.
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In its conclusions to the consultation, the government hinted that it could look at charging more when people request a copy of a will. This is currently £1.50 – much cheaper than the £12.50 fee for requesting birth or death certificates.
The Ministry of Justice added: “The decision to preserve original wills does not address the concerns about the large and increasing costs of preserving the very extensive original will archive (which dates back to 1858)… The Government will therefore be giving further consideration to the fees charged for copies of wills and grants of probate.”
Justice minister Sarah Sackman said: “Thousands of people expressed their fierce opposition to the previous government’s proposal to destroy millions of historic wills, some dating back to the 1850s. These documents are an indispensable bridge to the lives of those who came before us. I am pleased to confirm that we will not destroy them, they will remain in storage, and – on request – are available for all to access.”
