Legacy Officer

We're the UK's specialist blood cancer charity and our vision is clear: we’re here to beat blood cancer. We fund world-class research; provide information and support to patients and their loved ones; and raise awareness of blood cancer.

We are looking for a Legacy Officer to ensure that legacy income is processed in accordance with internal policies.

You will be responsible for the management of a portfolio of legacy cases where the charity is named as a beneficiary; work with external solicitors and lay executors to ensure that gifts are received in a timely fashion and that all internal and external procedures and legislation is adhered to; promote pragmatic solutions and refer appropriate matters to the Senior Legacy Manager to ensure all reputational risks are proactively managed.

Additionally, you will be required to work on projects to improve the Legacy Team’s ways of working and to help support with the development and delivery of the team and organisational strategies.

Expected travel for this role is approximately meeting internal and external stakeholders as required, approximately twice per quarter; this may increase during busy periods. In addition, attendance to two all-staff away days per year and team away days in London on a quarterly basis.

Our culture and benefits package are award winning, and our staff survey tells us that we’re a great place to work.

We are committed to actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity. In line with our strategy we welcome approaches from individuals from underrepresented groups, including minority communities, and applicants with a disability, to better reflect the community we serve and help broaden our perspectives.

Application DeadlineMay 06, 2025DepartmentEngagementEmployment TypePermanentLocationLondon/HybridWorkplace typeHybridCompensation£35,000 - £38,000 / yearReporting To

Key Responsibilities

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Legacy Administration

• Proactive management of legacy cases – including pecuniary, specific, residuary, and life interest matters – in a sensitive, accurate and timely manner.
• Ensuring effective and efficient communication with external solicitors and co-ordinating an approach where necessary with charitable co-beneficiaries, whilst always representing and fully upholding Blood Cancer UK’s values.
• Communicate to bereaved relatives and lay executors in a sensitive manner and effectively explain Blood Cancer UK’s obligations as a registered charity.
• Ensure that the charity receives its full entitlement from all legacies, maximising their value wherever possible, by applying specialist knowledge and best practice and working closely with colleagues and legacy officers at other charities as appropriate.
• Ensure income and accruals are recorded accurately including timely estimates and restricted gifts so that reporting can be used for high level planning.
• Scrutinise estate accounts and ensuring that an estate has been correctly administered according to the Will, including allocation of CGT, IHT and appropriate level of professional fees.
• Ensure that the charity receives and processes R185E certificates efficiently.
• Accurately recording all relevant information regarding a legacy on the FirstClass 4 database.
• Work in accordance with The Charities Act 2011 (as amended by The Charities Act 2022), Charity and Data Protection Regulation Legislation, including and not limited to, ICO, GDPR, FRSA and Charity Commission guidelines.
• Proactively identifying potential claims including (but not limited to) Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependents) Act 1975, Capacity, Validity, Undue Influence, Proprietary Estoppel and Fraud and referring the same to the Senior Legacy Manager.
• Identify potential financial, reputational and operational risks for each case and ensure that these are appropriately mitigated and referred to the Senior Legacy Manager.

General

• Work collaboratively across the organisation to ensure the deceased’s wishes are carried out fully and ensure family and friends of the deceased have a positive experience when engaging with us.
• Support the legacy management function, ensuring that income is secured in line with monthly and annual forecasts, information is obtained and updated to enable accurate forecasting and that KPIs are delivered.
• Demonstrate and maintain thorough understanding of Wills, Probate, Trusts and Tax laws as well as developments within the legacy sector.
• Ensure specialist knowledge is kept updated and promote and deliver proactive sharing of knowledge.
• Evaluate and improve legacy processes and ways of working.
• Support with the development and delivery of team strategies.

THINGS WE ALL DO

• Promote Blood Cancer UK’s vision, mission and core values
• Support Blood Cancer UK’s commitment to actively promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity
• We’re all fundraisers. This is slightly different for all roles, and your team will have fundraising KPIs and objectives we all work to
• Attend and assist at Blood Cancer UK events and activities as required (NB this involves evening and weekend work)
• Be an effective ambassador for Blood Cancer UK at any activity you attend
• All staff are expected to adhere to Blood Cancer UK’s policies and procedures
• Do any other reasonable things your manager needs you to do
• We work in partnership with our community by actively involving people affected by blood cancer in the decisions we make about our work – what we do and how we do it

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Knowledge and experience of using the FirstClass4 database
• Experience of legacy administration, ideally within a charity context
• Completed CiCLA qualification or equivalent legal qualification
• Knowledge and understanding of the different types of contentious cases with the ability to manage a variable workload of non-contentious legacy cases
• Excellent analytical and numeracy skills; understanding of and ability to carry out income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax calculations
• Ability to read and analyse estate/trust accounts
• Attention to detail to identify ways to optimise legacy income
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with people at all levels.
• Ability to make and influence decisions based on legal requirements and duties, needs and resources of the charity, and duties to individuals and other relevant matters.
• Understanding of the legal frameworks relating to the law of Wills and Succession (to including Contentious Probate claims) in England and Wales, Scotland, the EU and other jurisdictions.
• Ability to deal with queries in a diplomatic, professional and confidential manner both verbally and in writing.
• Actively seeks out and contributes to the development of new methods, tools, processes or ways of working.

About Blood Cancer UK

FLEXIBLE WORKING & OUR BENEFITS

We welcome conversations about part time working, job shares, and all forms of flexible working right from application stage. You can get in touch with us at [email protected] if you want to ask us anything about flexible working.

Benefits: We think our benefits are brilliant, and the majority start from day 1. These are just a few of them:

• 30 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays
• Generous pension scheme and Life Assurance
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave, as well as study leave and a day off to move house
• Wellbeing is a priority for us, we offer a wide range of individual and team support in our Wellbeing Hub
• Our Academy is our in-house Continued Professional Development (CPD) learning and development programme, including an internal mentoring scheme. We have organisation-wide focus days, which are days set aside for you to focus on your own development, without being interrupted by emails and meetings.
• Cycle to work and season ticket loans
• Opportunity to take sabbaticals

You can find full details about our benefits on our website.

Location: Working agile means we changed from having a culture where people are expected to be in the office from 9am to 5pm to one where we’re much more focused on what they deliver. We've built a positive culture where autonomy, trust, wellbeing and flexibility allow us to recruit and retain the very best people.   We recognise that teams still need to come together regularly to develop relationships and strengthen collaborative working.   Therefore, for the majority of roles, your contractual place of work will be one of our offices. The expectation for how often you will be required to attend the office is outlined in the job profile and will be discussed with you.   Details about our hybrid and agile working approach (including how travel expenses work) can be found on our website.

HOW TO APPLY

We ask you to send us a CV and cover letter. In your cover letter, we'd like to know why you're interested in working with us at Blood Cancer UK. It's also helpful if you tell us why you think you are a great candidate for this role based on the skills, knowledge and expertise section above. Your cover letter doesn't have to be too long, 1-2 pages is ideal. Please don't add photos or graphics to your CV, as we use blind shortlisting at this stage of the process.

Full details about our recruitment processes, including how we use blind shortlisting and what to expect at each stage of the process can be found on our website. Sometimes we close our vacancies early, usually because we have had a lot of great applicants, so we’d always encourage you to apply early rather than wait until the deadline.

WHY WORK AT BLOOD CANCER UK?

We're the 9th best charity in the UK to work for according to Best Companies 2021!

We started because of Susan, we’ll get there because of you.

Blood Cancer UK was started by one family who lost their daughter, Susan, to blood cancer, and that history and sense of family continues to shape who we are today. When you join Blood Cancer UK, you don’t just become an organisational employee – you become part of a collaborative community dedicated to funding research into beating blood cancer that includes some of the most inspiring people you’ll ever meet.

And we’re not that far away from beating blood cancer. We’re confident we can do it within the next generation, and this makes us hugely ambitious and gives us a sense of real urgency. It also means we’re changing quickly as an organisation as we constantly challenge ourselves and strive to become more and more effective. This pace of change means working here isn’t for everyone. But if you’re excited by the chance to work in a fast-paced, agile and supportive environment with the focus and ambition to beat blood cancer this could be the place for you! We focus on results rather than time spent at a desk, so we deliver more for people affected by blood cancer.

Blood Cancer UK offers the chance to work for and with people affected by blood cancer, and the opportunity to advance your career and develop your skillset whilst taking on exciting new challenges and making your mark.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

We are committed to actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity. Read our statement which reflects our strong drive to change in this area.

To this end we would welcome approaches from individuals from underrepresented groups, including minoritised communities, and applicants with a disability, to better reflect the community we serve and help broaden our perspectives.

You can read some examples of how we can support you through the application and interview process here.

Documents

Legacy officer job pack

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Legacy officer jd person spec april 2025 (1)

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