National Trust has £1bn reserves but still pleads for cash to help fix the roof

 The National Trust is sitting on reserves of more than £1billion while it continues to plead for donations and raise rents for tenants, it has emerged.

According to its latest accounts, the charity had an investment pool of £1.008billion in the year to February 2016. In that period, it received an income of £522 million, which included £51million left in wills and £178million in membership fees. The charity spent £540million in the same 12 months, with a dozen staff earning six-figure salaries, the Mail on Sunday reported.

The Trust said: “Around 80 per cent of investments are held in restricted funds, meaning they can only be spent on specific places or purposes. The charity also has to keep a proportion of funds as general reserves … This is good governance.”

The revelations come after the Trust told hundreds of tenants in leasehold properties that they faced ground rent increases of up to 10,000 per cent. One 87-year-old man was reportedly told his payments would increase from £148 to £15,000 per year.

Meanwhile, the National Trust is calling for cash support from the public for a series of “vital” restoration projects, such as the repair of the roof of a Tudor palace in Hamps.