The government is set to benefit from a gift of more than £600m after a charity set up nearly 100 years ago to pay off the national debt was made to transfer its assets and now plans to close.
This week, the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) announced that a £607m gilt would be cancelled due a donation received from the National Fund, a charity set up in 1928 to pay off the national debt.
The DMO received a “significant transfer” to its donations and bequests account from the National Fund in 2024-25, its accounts show, including £585m of cash, the vast majority of the charity’s assets.
This transfer followed a Court of Appeal ruling in 2023, which…