The National Audit Office was not entitled to audit the Royal Household. Under the civil list arrangements, the royal family faced criticism for the lack of transparency surrounding Royal finances. In modern times, the Government's profits from the Crown Estate always significantly exceeded the civil list. This arrangement persisted from 1760 until 2012. The civil list was paid from public funds and was intended to support the exercise of the monarch's duties as head of state of Great Britain. Under this arrangement, the Crown Estate remained the property of the sovereign, but the hereditary revenues of the crown were placed at the disposal of the House of Commons. King George III agreed to surrender the hereditary revenues of the Crown in return for payments called the civil list. Until 1760, the monarch met all official expenses from hereditary revenues, which included the profits of the Crown Estate (the royal property portfolio).
As of March 2019, the Sovereign Grant Reserve amounts to £44.4 million, with £36.8 million of it set aside "to meet future commitments for the Reservicing of Buckingham Palace". As a result, the Sovereign Grant amounted to £76.1m for 2017–18, which for the first time included the "dedicated amount £30.4m" to renovate Buckingham Palace. The percentage is set to revert to 15% when the project is finished in 2027. On 18 November 2016, a plan was announced to increase the Sovereign Grant from 15% to 25% to renovate and repair Buckingham Palace. Under the Sovereign Grant the National Audit Office is able to audit the Royal Household. Step 4 of subsection 6(1), and subsection 6(4), of the Act provide a mechanism to prevent the amount of the Sovereign Grant increasing beyond what is necessary because of the growth in Crown Estate revenue.
The amount of the Sovereign Grant is equal to 15% of the income account net surplus of the Crown Estate for the financial year that began two years previously. The Sovereign Grant Annual Report states that the Sovereign Grant was £31 million for 2012–13, £36.1 million for 2013–14 and £37.9 million for 2014–15. The level of funding for the Royal Household is now linked to the Government's revenue from the Crown Estate.
The Sovereign Grant is paid annually to the monarch by the Treasury to fund the monarch's official duties, replacing the system of funding the Royal Household by a mixture of civil list payments and grants-in-aid.
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