Oversight Trust reports on dormant assets impact
Howard Lake | 29 September 2026 | News
The Oversight Trust has published its latest annual report on its independent scrutiny of the four organisations that receive dormant assets funding, reporting a combined income of £73.4 million across the group in 2025.
The Trust oversees Better Society Capital, Access, the Foundation for Social Investment, Fair4All Finance and Youth Futures Foundation, all funded through dormant assets. Through quarterly reviews, annual deep dives, formal governance reviews and independent four-yearly reviews, it monitors whether each body remains true to its objects, delivers impact, is well governed and reports transparently.
Figures from the four bodies
By the end of 2025, Better Society Capital had received £434 million of equity capital from the Trust and had signed cumulative impact investments of £1.041 billion. The UK social impact investment market is estimated to have grown to £11.2 billion, from £5.1 billion five years ago.
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Access has unlocked £195 million for more than 3,600 charities and social enterprises over the last ten years. Fair4All Finance achieved 41 per cent year-on-year growth in affordable credit lent to people in financially vulnerable circumstances, and Youth Futures Foundation has been allocated £125 million to improve employment outcomes for marginalised young people.
Across the group, 2025 income of £73.4 million included £42.6 million from grants and £30.4 million from investment returns, while grants totalling £27.3 million and net investments of £9.2 million were made during the year.
‘Patient social capital’
Vaughan Lindsay, Chair of The Oversight Trust, said: “Dormant assets are a powerful resource for the common good when they are governed well, deployed carefully and focused on long-term social impact. The Trust’s role is to provide confidence that the Operating Companies are well governed, remain aligned with their missions and are using this funding to address some of the UK’s most pressing social challenges. This year’s report demonstrates the strength of that model and the combined impact being delivered across the group.”
Lindsay added that the Trust sees particular relevance in Youth Futures Foundation’s work to the findings of the Milburn Review, and that Access is ready to deploy additional funding into what it describes as very high demand.
- Record £370 million distributed to good causes through Dormant Assets Scheme (25 September 2026)
- Dormant Assets Scheme reaches milestone of £1 billion distributed to UK good causes (7 January 2025)
- £100 million of dormant assets funds for improving youth outcomes & NCS to close (13 November 2024)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.