A Freedom of Information request to HMRC by Canada Life showed that 211,381 trust registrations have been received since the trustee registration service was set up in June 2017. This is an increase of almost 60,000 registrations in just five months with over 36,000 received in May and June alone, almost double the total number received in 2021.

However, the majority of trusts have not signed up with estimates that around one million trusts still need to be registered.

The sudden surge in registrations is the result of changes to the law which will see all trusts required to register by 1 September.