Research and analysis

Research with trustees: 2026

Published 8 July 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Prepared for the Charity Commission for England and Wales by BMG Research

Note: Where tables show year on year data, (+) indicates a significant increase in 2026 and (-) shows a significant decrease in 2026. Where tables show 2026 data amongst different subgroups, (+) indicates significantly higher than Total and (-) indicates significantly lower than the total.

Executive summary:

The trustee base is confident but experience-dependent:

Confidence remains very high, with almost all trustees reporting confidence in their role. Unsurprisingly, newer trustees are significantly less likely to feel ‘very confident’ compared to more experienced peers. While confidence in most areas of trustee responsibility has remained stable, confidence in managing finances has declined after a peak in 2025. Confidence in other measures including safeguarding and protecting beneficiaries has remained high and stable over time.

There is a strong foundational knowledge, but some gaps in applied governance:

Trustees demonstrate a strong understanding of decision-making behaviours, such as ensuring they are well-informed and basing decisions on evidence, but this is not always fully translated into knowledge of real-world situations. For example, there is more limited knowledge around identifying and managing certain conflicts of interest, and there are gaps in the knowledge of financial regulations, such as knowing that the most basic financial control is having more than one person involved in all transactions.

Perceptions of the Commission are positive and stable:

Trustees’ confidence that the Commission can uncover and appropriately deal with wrongdoing is high, which is vital as identifying and dealing with wrongdoing is the area they feel it should prioritise. Perceptions of the Commission’s fairness have risen in the last year and is high amongst both those who have and have not directly interacted with them. Gaps between perceptions of what the Commission is doing and what it ought to be doing have narrowed, suggesting improved understanding of the Commission’s role. However, trustees also think there should be less influence from the media and politicians.

The positive impact of using Charity Commission guidance is consistently evident: 

Trustees who use Commission resources at least once a year are more knowledgeable about legal responsibilities, more confident in areas such as making decisions, challenging behaviour and identifying conflicts of interest, and stronger in their knowledge of financial requirements.

Support is valued, but not always accessed:

Despite the benefits of engagement with it, Charity Commission guidance (accessed directly or via search engines) is used by fewer than half of trustees at least annually. The principal barrier to usage is a lack of perceived need of regular support, alongside awareness gaps amongst newer trustees.  The Commission’s guidance is widely seen as helpful. Similarly, fewer than half of trustees use the Commission’s digital services, but those that do are very satisfied. This points to an access and engagement challenge rather than a quality issue. Trustees continue to rely most heavily on internal sources, such as colleagues or their own charity’s guidance, with external support acting as a secondary but valuable resource.

Charities face a range of external pressures:

While a minority of trustees say their charities have faced challenges such as operational changes or changing support, certain types of charities are more exposed, including those with larger incomes. There has been a significant increase since 2025 of those saying their charity found new sources of funding, and adopted new technology, alongside a decrease in the number saying they used more financial reserves than planned. In addition to this, there are reduced expectations of using more financial reserves or adapting activities in the future and an expected uptake in new tech.

Banking issues continue to be present for a significant minority:

More than a third of trustees report experiencing banking-related issues in the past year, ranging from administrative difficulties to account access problems. Most issues are slow to resolve, often taking a few months, and a significant minority remain unresolved, representing a significant source of friction that can affect charities’ ability to operate effectively.

Trustee Role

Nearly all trustees say they are confident in their role as a trustee, but fewer trustees with less than five years experience are very confident.

Overall confidence as a trustee

	Total confidence	Very confident	Somewhat confident
2025	99%	63%	35%
2026	99%	61%	37%

Total confidence amongst trustees of different levels

Trustee experience level	Total confidence	Very confident	Somewhat confident
Total	99%	61%	37%
Less than one year	98%	37% (-)	62% (+)
One to five years	98% (-)	53% (-)	45% (+)
Five to ten years	99%	63%	36%
More than ten years	99% (+)	72% (+)	28% (-)

In the past year, trustees’ confidence in managing finances has dropped in line with 2024, whilst the rest of the trustee confidence areas remain stable.

Stated Total Confidence in Trustee Areas (2024–2026)

Trustee Area	2024	2025	2026
Making decisions	99%	99%	99%
Delivering your charity’s purpose	99%	99%	99%
Reporting information	96%	97%	97%
Identifying and dealing with conflicts of interest	93%	95%	94%
Safeguarding	92%	91%	92%
Managing finances	87%	89%	87% (-)

Total Confidence by Trustee Experience Level

Trustee Area	Less than 1 year	1–5 years	5–10 years	More than 10 years
Making decisions	98%	98% (-)	99%	99%
Delivering charity’s purpose	99%	98%	99%	99%
Reporting information	94%	95% (-)	98% (+)	98% (+)
Identifying & managing conflicts of interest	92%	93% (-)	95%	96% (+)
Safeguarding	93%	92%	93%	91%
Managing finances	81% (-)	84% (-)	86%	91% (+)

Most trustees are confident in their ability to protect their charity and beneficiaries from wrongdoing and harm, with confidence levels remaining in line with previous years.

Confidence in ability to protect charity and beneficiaries from wrongdoing and harm, by trustee experience:

	Very confident	Somewhat confident
Total	59%	39%
Less than one year	47% (-)	51% (+)
One to five years	53% (-)	42% (+)
Five to ten years	59%	39%
More than ten years	65% (+)	34% (-)

Confidence over time:

	Confident total	Very confident	Somewhat confident
2021	98%	62%	36%
2022	98%	63%	34%
2023	98%	63%	35%
2024	97%	56%	41%
2025	98%	60%	38%
2026	97%	59%	39%

Trustee Knowledge

Nearly all trustees know what they should always do when making decisions, but they are less sure about basing decisions on personal views or recognising conflicts of interest.

Trustee awareness of things trustees should do:

	Trustees should always do this	It depends	Trustees should never do this
Listen to different views and perspectives	99%	1%	0%
Make sure they have all the information they need	99%	1%	0%
Understand potential costs and what the charity can afford	97%	3%	0%
Follow what it says in the charity’s governing document	95%	5%	0%
Ask questions even if they are challenging or awkward	95%	5%	0%
Decide what is relevant to that decision	93%	7%	0%
Keep a record of decisions and any objections	94%	6%	0%
Speak up if they disagree with the majority	91%	8%	0%

Trustee awareness of things trustees should not do:

	Trustees should always do this	It depends	Trustees should never do this
Support a decision that benefits another organisation they are involved in	11%	46%	42%
Make decisions based on trustees’ personal views	10%	48%	42%

Trustees’ understanding of their responsibilities has remained mostly stable this year, though this understanding ranges across types of responsibility.

Answered ‘the board of trustees are jointly responsible’:

	2024	2025	2026
Making the important decisions in the charity	90%	92%	92%
Ensuring that all of the charity’s activities help to achieve the purposes for which it was set up	90%	91%	92%
Ensuring the charity protects its reputation and relationships with supporters and service users*	*	89%	91% (+)
Checking and approving the charity’s annual accounts and trustees’ report	83%	83%	83%
Ensuring the charity’s governing document, policies and procedures are fit for purpose and are being followed	79%	81%	81%
Making sure the charity’s resources are kept safe, properly used and accounted for	77%	79%	78%
Managing conflicts of interest so that they don’t wrongly influence trustee decisions	69%	71%	71%
Keeping up to date with relevant Charity Commission guidance	69%	70%	70%
Making sure the charity sends the right information to the Commission at the right time	55%	57%	55%

Those who use the Commission’s resources are consistently better informed about their legal responsibilities than those who don’t.

Answered (correctly) ‘the board of trustees are jointly responsible’

	All trustees	Uses CCEW resources less than once a year/Never	Uses CCEW resources at least once a year
Making the important decisions in the charity	92%	91% (-)	93% (+)
Ensuring that all of the charity’s activities help to achieve the purposes for which it was set up	92%	90% (-)	94% (+)
Ensuring the charity protects its reputation and relationships with supporters and service users	91%	90% (-)	92% (+)
Checking and approving the charity’s annual accounts and trustees’ report	83%	79% (-)	87% (+)
Ensuring the charity’s governing document, policies and procedures are fit for purpose and are being followed	81%	78% (-)	84% (+)
Making sure the charity’s resources are kept safe, properly used and accounted for	78%	74% (-)	82% (+)
Managing conflicts of interest so that they don’t wrongly influence trustee decisions	71%	68% (-)	75% (+)
Keeping up to date with relevant Charity Commission guidance	70%	63% (-)	77% (+)
Making sure the charity sends the right information to the Commission at the right time	55%	49% (-)	62% (+)

High levels of trustees agree that they are confident to challenge bad behaviour or disagree with fellow trustees.

Statement	Strongly agree	Partly agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Partly disagree	Strongly disagree	Total agree
I would feel confident about challenging aggressive, disrespectful or arrogant behaviour by other members of our trustee board	79%	17%	2%	1%	0%	96%
I feel comfortable about disagreeing with my fellow trustees	73%	21%	4%	1%	0%	95%

Those who have used CCEW resources are both more likely to strongly agree that they feel confident in challenging behaviour (82%) and comfortable disagreeing with trustees (78%)

Some conflicts of interest are less obvious to trustees than others, including the employment of a trustee in a paid role.

Trustees’ identification of conflicts of interest

Scenario	Correct answer	Percentage identifying as conflict
Making a grant to another charity where one of the trustees is a trustee of both charities.	Conflict of interest	91%
Paying a trustee’s business to do some repair work for the charity – at a substantial discount.	Conflict of interest	83%
Employing a trustee in a paid role in the charity because they were the best candidate at interview. They will resign from trusteeship if appointed.	Conflict of interest	33%
A trustee reclaiming expenses for travelling to meetings on the charity’s business.	Not a conflict of interest	13%

Those with more than five years’ experience are more likely to correctly identify ‘employing a trustee in a paid role’ as a conflict of interest (35%)

Those who have used CCEW resources at least once a year are more likely to correctly identify most conflicts of interest:

• 94% identified making a grant to another charity
• 87% identified paying a trustee’s business at a discount
• Only 9% misidentified a trustee claiming expenses as a conflict of interest.

Trustees know conflicts must be recorded and that those involved must declare and sit out of discussions, but there is lower awareness of other obligations.

What trustees believe should be done in the case of a conflict of interest

Statement	Correct answer	Percentage identifying correctly
The conflict should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting when the matter is discussed	True	91%
The trustee(s) with the conflict of interest must declare it and take no part in the discussion or decision	True	88%
Any financial benefit to a trustee must be authorised by law or the charity’s governing document; or with permission from the Charity Commission	True	68%
Some conflicts of interest are so serious that the trustees would have to remove or avoid them completely	True	68%
A trustee who is related to the trustee with the conflict can take part in the decision	False	17%
If an individual has a conflict of interest, they must always resign from the board	False	5%
None of these are true		1%
Don’t know		4%

Trustees know the correct rules relating to most financial issues, but there are some large gaps around financial controls.

Blank (pre-signed) cheques…

Statement	Percentage selecting this answer
Should only be used when the payee is unknown	0% (False)
Should always be signed by 2 authorised signatories	16% (False)
Should not be used	85% (True)

Charities should have…

Statement	Percentage selecting this answer
No more than 3 months’ reserves	2% (False)
At least 6 months’ reserves	14% (False)
At least 12 months’ reserves	17% (False)
A policy setting out the level of reserves they need	79% (True)

The most basic financial control is…

Statement	Percentage selecting this answer
Having more than one person involved in all financial transactions	68% (True)
Appointing a person you trust as a treasurer	48% (False)
Getting your annual accounts audited or independently examined	71% (False)

Incoming cash should be..

Statement	Percentage selecting this answer
Recorded as quickly as possible	87% (True)
Stored in a safe place, then banked as quickly as possible	69% (True)
Used to keep petty cash topped up to an agreed level	12% (False)

Online banking…

Statement	Percentage selecting this answer
Is more secure than traditional banking	38% (False)
Must be subject to a dual authorisation system	71% (True)
Is not permitted for charities	3% (False)

Under UK law, a charity must keep its accounting records for…

Statement	Percentage selecting this answer
Minimum of 3 years	6% (False)
Minimum of 6 years	66% (True)
Minimum of 10 years	27% (False)

Nearly three quarters of trustees could identify at least five out of the seven correct statements about financial controls, with those using CCEW resources more likely to identify all correct statements.

Number of correct statements selected

All correct	19%
6 correct	28%
5 correct	25%
4 correct	16%
3 correct	8%
2 correct	3%
1 correct	1%

Those choosing all correct statements

Group
Total	19%
Use CCEW resources at least once a year	26%
Use CCEW resources less than once a year	14%

Average number of statements correct = 5.24

The Commission and Charities in Society

Confidence in the Charity Commission’s abilities to uncover and deal with wrongdoing remain at a high level, in line with 2025.

Confidence in the Charity Commission’s abilities over time:

	Confident/Very confident in the Charity Commission’s ability to uncover wrongdoing and harm when they occur in other charities	Confident/Very confident that instances of wrongdoing and harm once uncovered will be dealt with appropriately by the Charity Commission
2020	74%	90%
2021	85%	95%
2022	86%	94%
2023	87%	95%
2024	85%	92%
2025	85%	92%
2026	86%	93%

	Very confident	Somewhat confident	Total confident
Instances of wrongdoing handled appropriately by the Charity Commission	49%	44%	93%
Charity Commission’s ability to uncover wrongdoing in other charities	33%	53%	86%

Analysis:

There is no significant change in confidence this year.

Those more likely to be confident in the Charity Commission’s ability to uncover wrongdoing:

• Those with a charity income of under £10k (88%) or between £10k and £100k (88%)

Those more likely to be confident in the Charity Commission’s ability to deal with wrongdoing appropriately when uncovered include:

• Those with a charity income of £0-£10K (94%)

There has been an increase this year in trustees saying the Commission acts fairly, driven by those who say it acts very fairly.

How fairly the Charity Commission acts by subgroups

	Total: very/ somewhat fairly	Very fairly	Somewhat fairly	Neither fairly nor unfairly	Somewhat unfairly	Very unfairly	Don’t know
2024	46%	22%	24%	9%	1%	0%	44%
2025	46%	22%	24%	9%	2%	1%	42%
2026	51% (+)	26% (+)	25%	8%	1%	0%	39% (-)

Analysis:

Groups more likely to consider the Commission acts fairly when supporting charities or dealing with wrongdoing:

• Those who have had any interaction with the Charity Commission (58%)
• Those who use Commission resources at least once a year (57%)
• Those with a charity income of £100k-£500k (59%)
• Those who have been a trustee for more than ten years (56%)

Of those who had interacted with the Commission, three quarters of trustees felt they were treated fairly – in line with 2025.

How fairly charities have been treated by the Charity Commission

	Total: very/ somewhat fairly	Very fairly	Somewhat fairly	Neither fairly nor unfairly	Somewhat unfairly	Very unfairly	Don’t know
2024	70%	56%	14%	12%	1%	1%	16%
2025	74%	59%	16%	11%	1%	0%	13%
2026	73%	60%	13%	11%	1%	0%	14%

Trustees believe identifying and dealing with wrongdoing should be the Commission’s focus. Most gaps between what trustees think the Commission should do and does do have narrowed this year.

Trustees were asked to allocate 100 points across these five areas to show their perceptions of what the Commission focuses on, and what they think it ought to focus on.  

For example, a trustee thinking the Commission ought to focus on all of these equally would allocate 20 points to each.

Where the Charity Commission ought to, and does, focus its work (1-100 mean)

	Ought to focus on (mean)	Actually does focus on (mean)
Identifying and dealing with wrongdoing	28.91	27.59
Enabling charities to be more effective	20.93	16.67
Giving charities advice and guidance to ensure they comply with the law	22.81	21.4
Informing the public about charities	11.08	11.91
Keeping a public register of charities up to date	16.26	22.43

Analysis:

• The gap in giving charities advice and guidance has broadened this wave
• All other gaps have narrowed

Trustees feel that the main influence on the Commission is (rightly) charity law, but think it ought to be less influenced by the media and politicians than they perceive it to be, with no change since last year.

Trustees were asked to allocate 100 points across these five areas to show their perceptions of who the Commission is influenced by, and who it ought to be influenced by.

For example, a trustee thinking the Commission ought to by influenced by all of these equally would allocate 20 points to each.

How the Charity Commission is /should be influenced by other factors (1-5 mean):

	Is influenced by (mean)	Should be influenced by (mean)
The media	3.15	1.81
Politicians	3.2	1.99
Charities	3.35	3.81
The public	3.08	3.27
Charity Law	4.65	4.77

Charity Commission Support

Findings remain in line with last year, with Commission guidance remaining a strong source of guidance, following only trustees’ use of colleagues or internal guidance.

What sources of information trustees have used at least once a year:

Source
A colleague or another trustee	55%
Reading my own charity’s guidance	54%
Charity Commission guidance direct from its website	41%
Charity Commission Guidance found through a search engine	33%
Other guidance or information found through a search engine	29%
Another charity or advisory body A friend or family member (expert)	16%
Another charity or advisory body	14%
Phoning or emailing the Charity Commission	8%
A friend or family member (non-expert)	7%
Other	6%
Net: Any Charity Commission	46%

Analysis:

More likely to have used the Charity Commission (direct from its website or through a search engine) at least once a year:

• Those with a charity income of £100k - £500k (62%) or over £500k (58%)
• Those whose charity operates in the UK and overseas (52%)

Less likely to have used the Charity Commission (direct from its website or through a search engine) at least once a year:

• Those whose charity operates in Wales (40%)
• Those with a charity income of under £10k (37%)

All information sources are deemed helpful by at least three quarters of those that use them, with over nine in ten finding Charity Commission’s guidance helpful.

How helpful trustees have found each source of information (versus 2025):

	Total helpful	Very helpful	Fairly helpful
A colleague or another trustee	96%	49% (-)	48%
Charity Commission guidance direct from its website	97%	49% (+)	48%
Reading my own charity’s guidance	96%	50%	46%
Another charity or advisory body	94%	57% (-)	37%
Charity Commission Guidance found through a search engine	93%	33%	60%
A friend or family member (expert)	91%	34%	57%
Phoning or emailing the Charity Commission	91%	50%	41%
Other guidance or information found through a search engine	83%	14%	69%
A friend or family member (non-expert)	74%	19%	54%

The most common reasoning for not using the Commission as a source of information is the lack of perceived need for regular guidance.

Why the Charity Commission has not been used more as a source of information:

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
I don’t think I need guidance that regularly	51%	50%	57%	58%	70%	65% (-)
I didn’t know that the Charity Commission provided guidance	20%	19%	14%	16%	12%	12%
I don’t know how to find what I need	11%	14%	8%	12%	8%	9%
I don’t use the internet very much	6%	8%	4%	5%	6%	8%
I don’t think the guidance provided by the Charity Commission is clear enough	5%	6%	5%	7%	5%	5%
I don’t think there is enough guidance provided by the Charity Commission	4%	4%	3%	5%	4%	3%
Other	14%	11%	11%	8%	9%	6%

Trustees who have been in place for less than one year or 1-5 years are more likely to be unaware of the Commission’s guidance.

Why the Charity Commission has not been used as a source of information, by trustee experience:

	Total	Trustee for less than one year	Trustee from 1 to 5 years	Trustee for 5 to 10 years	Trustee for more than 10 years
I don’t think I need guidance that regularly	65%	42% (-)	61% (-)	66%	72% (+)
I didn’t know the Charity Commission provided guidance	12%	17%	17% (+)	10%	7% (-)
I don’t know how to find what I need	9%	10%	12% (+)	8%	7% (-)
I don’t use the internet very much	8%	3%	9%	6%	10%
Other	6%	13% (+)	7%	4%	6%
I don’t think the help and guidance provided by the Charity Commission is clear enough	5%	11% (+)	6%	4%	6%
I don’t think there is enough help and guidance provided by the Charity Commission	3%	2%	4%	2%	3%

Nearly three quarters of trustees feel they are supported in accessing learning and development.

Agreement among trustees on the following statements:

	Strongly agree	Partly agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Partly disagree	Strongly disagree	Don’t know	Net: Agree
My charity supports me in accessing learning and development opportunities I need as a trustee	52%	19%	23%	1%	1%	4%	71%

Analysis:

This result demonstrates higher access to support than uncovered in previous research by Pro Bono Economics, in which 48% felt they had access to training needed to fulfil their role.

There are wording differences in the questions, with this research focusing more on support from their charity. 

Total agreement is lower amongst:

• Trustees in charities with income of under £10k (63%)
• Trustees who have been in their role less than five years (68%)

Fewer than half of trustees have used the Commission’s digital services, but satisfaction with them is high.

Used Charity Commission digital services in past year

Total	40%
£0–10k	43% (+)
£10k–£100k	44% (+)
£100k–£500k	41%
£500k+	26% (-)
Less than 5 years as trustee	32% (-)
More than 5 years as trustee	45% (+)

Satisfaction with digital services

Very satisfied	Fairly satisfied	Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	Fairly dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied	Don’t know
46%	40%	10%	2%	1%	1%

Analysis:

As well as using digital services least, large charities (Income over £500k) are least likely to be very satisfied with the services (35%)

Banking

Just over one third have had banking issues in the last year, with prevalence of all issues dropping since 2024.

Charity has encountered any of these banking issues in past year. Significance versus 2024.

	2024	2025	2026
Summary: Any	42%	38%	36% (-)
Issues with updating contact details or signatories	32%	30%	28% (-)
Difficulty opening a new account with a bank	18%	13%	13% (-)
Difficulty complying with identity requirements	15%	13%	12% (-)
Difficulty understanding what the bank requires	14%	11%	10% (-)
Information being lost by the bank	7%	7%	5% (-)
Account being frozen/being blocked out	6%	5%	4% (-)
I do not have awareness of this side of the charity	14%	16%	19% (+)
No, none of the above	44%	47%	45%

Analysis:

Banking issues are lower amongst:

• Charities with an income over £500k (30%)

Fewer Barclays customers have had any banking issues this year, bringing the bank in line with others.

Any banking issues (by banking provider used):

	2025	2026
Total*	38%	36%
Barclays	58%	49% (-)
Santander	48%	49%
Metro Bank	46%	47%
HSBC	42%	44%
Co-operative Bank	42%	42%
CAF Bank	34%	42%
Lloyds	40%	41%
NatWest	40%	40%
Other	44%	39%

*Total includes those who said they don’t know who their banking provider is.

The majority of most types of issues are resolved within three months, though some are never resolved. 

	Less than 3 months	More than 3 months	Never resolved	Don’t know
Account being frozen/blocked out	60%	20%	7%	13%
Issues updating contact details or signatories	57%	26%	7%	11%
Difficulty understanding what the bank requires	56%	24%	11%	10%
Difficulty complying with verification requirements	54%	27%	8%	11%
Information being lost by the bank	46%	29%	11%	14%
Difficulty opening a new account with a bank	41%	30%	16%	13%

Analysis:

Significantly fewer issues related to being frozen/blocked out of accounts took longer than three months to resolve in comparison to 2025 (20% cf. 32%)

Adaptations and future expectations

A quarter of charities have experienced impacts of a challenging social environment, but it is clear some types of charity are hit harder than others.

Charity and trustee experiences

Experience
Summary: Any	27%
We have seen support decrease	11%
We have seen support increase	9%
We have had to change or stop some of our activities	5%
Vandalism or damage to property	4%
Someone has spread misinformation about our charity	3%
Our staff, volunteers or trustees have been threatened in person	2%
We have had people protesting at our locations	1%
There have been online threats to volunteers, members of staff or trustees	1%

We have had to change or stop some of our activities (5%)

• Highest amongst human rights, religious and racial harmony, and equality and diversity charities (22%); Education/training (adult) (8%) The advancement of health or saving of lives (8%)

Vandalism or damage to our property (4%)

• Higher amongst human rights, religious and racial harmony, and equality and diversity charities (9%), as well as recreation (10%) and amateur sport organisations (13%).

Someone has spread misinformation about our charity (3%)

• Higher amongst animal welfare charities (8%) and human rights, religious and racial harmony, and equality and diversity charities (6%).

Our staff, volunteers or trustees have been threatened in person (2%)

• Higher amongst animal welfare charities (8%) and human rights, religious and racial harmony, and equality and diversity charities (6%).

We have had people protesting at our locations (1%)

• Higher amongst human rights, religious and racial harmony, and equality and diversity charities (4%).

There have been online threats to volunteers, members of staff or trustees (1%)

• Higher amongst human rights, religious and racial harmony, and equality and diversity charities (6%).

Some types of charities are more likely to see multiple combinations of these impacts.

Number of negative experiences (Includes any experience excluding ‘we have seen support increase’) that are higher than the average

Charity characteristic	Number
Purpose: human rights/religious and racial harmony/equality and diversity	6
£500k+	5
£100k-£500k	4
Purpose:education/training (adult)	4
Purpose:animal welfare	3
Purpose: economic/community development/employment	3

Types of issues seen more than average:

Purpose: human rights/religious and racial harmony/equality and diversity: People protesting at our locations; support decreased; online threats to personnel; in person threats to personnel; vandalism to property; changed or stopped some activities

Income over £500k: People protesting at our locations, online threats to personnel; in person threats to personnel; changed or stopped some activities; misinformation spread about our charity

Income £100k-£500k: People protesting at our locations, online threats to personnel; in person threats to personnel; misinformation spread about our charity

Purpose: education/training(adult): People protesting at our locations, online threats to personnel; in person threats to personnel; misinformation spread about our charity

Purpose: animal welfare: Online threats to personnel; in person threats to personnel; misinformation spread about our charity

Purpose: economic/community development/employment: Support decreased; in person threats to personnel; vandalism to property

This year more trustees have said their charity has found new sources of funding and adopted new technology compared to the previous year.

Ways in which charity has adapted in last 12 months in response to cost-of-living crisis:

	2025	2026
Summary: Any	46%	46%
Found new sources of funding	18%	22% (+)
Used more of our financial reserves than we had planned	17%	12% (-)
Stopped some services or activities	11%	10%
Adopted new technology	7%	10% (+)
Adapted staff pay or salaries	8%	7%
Formed new partnerships or joint working arrangements	7%	7%
Changed working patterns or employment arrangements	7%	7%
Changed our activities	10%	6% (-)
Trustees or staff may have to subsidise the charity using their own money	0%	4%

Analysis:

• ‘Any’ adaptations in the past 12 months is highest amongst charities with income £100k-£500k (64%) or over £500k (79%), and those with 8-10 or more than 10 people on the board of trustees (55%; 58%)
• Charities that have found new sources of funding is highest amongst charities with income £100k-£500k (35%) or over £500k (41%)
• Charities that have adopted new technology is highest amongst charities with income over £500k (23%)

Anticipations for the future are in line with last year, though more say they will adopt new technology and fewer think they will need to use more financial reserves.

Expected changes in the next 12 months:

	2025	2026
Summary: Any	55%	53%
Find new sources of funding	34%	33%
Form new partnerships or joint working arrangements	14%	13%
Adopt new technology	10%	12% (+)
Use more of our financial reserves than we had planned	14%	10% (-)
Change our activities	11%	9% (-)
Stop some services or activities	10%	9%
Change working patterns or employment arrangements	7%	6%
Adapt staff pay or salaries	7%	5% (-)
We may have to close	3%	4% (+)
Trustees or staff may have to subsidise the charity using their own money	0%	3%

Analysis:

‘Any’ expected changes in the next 12 months is highest amongst:

• Those with income £100k-£500k (69%) or over £500k (80%)
• Those who mainly operate outside the UK (65%)
• Those who use CCEW resources at least once a year (63%)

Charities that have the expected change of adopting new technology in the next 12 months Is highest amongst:

• Those with income £100k-£500k (20%) or over £500k (32%)

Appendices

Appendix 1: Background and Methodology

Background and Methodology:

Background

For several years the Charity Commission has carried out research to monitor the progress of its impact measures, feeding into overarching strategic objectives. In 2023 BMG Research were commissioned to be the research partner for the Commission for the next three years, and as part of this, conduct their annual survey of trustees. This report represents the third year of BMG’s research.

Research Objectives

To understand trustees’ knowledge of their own role and duties as well as their attitudes to governance, and to establish how they view and engage with the work of the Commission.

Methodology

The Charity Commission sampled a selection of  24,000 to invite, via email, to take part in the online survey. A boost amongst charities in Wales was also included, and 6,000 Welsh charities invited. This sample was designed to be representative of the spread of registered charities in England and Wales by annual income.

Fieldwork dates

Fieldwork took place between the 9th February and 22nd February 2026.

Completes

The survey achieved 2,947 completes.

Weighting

While the sample was originally chosen to reflect the spread of registered charities in England and Wales. This year also included an additional Welsh boost to achieve a sample of at least 500 trustees whose charities operate in Wales. Data was weighting by income and region to correct for this boost.

Comparability Over Time:

• It is important to note that the survey contents, and its administration underwent a number of changes in the period from 2023-2024-2025.  These changes were necessary to improve the relevance and robustness of the data collected, and to facilitate a new research partner.
• Throughout this report comparisons are made to previous waves where there have been no substantial changes to the question wording or routing.  However, these comparisons should be treated as indicative only as there is likely to be some impact on the data from the changes detailed below. In the transition from 2024-2025-2026, methodology remained broadly the same but some questionnaire changes were made.
• This year a boost was added to increase the sample of those whose charities are based in Wales. This was corrected for with a new weight, alongside the existing weight by charity income.
• Significance testing has taken place where questions are unchanged in terms of base, content and format, though there might be other impacts such as order effects.

The changes include:

• A number of new questions: These have been added to reflect the current needs of the Charity Commission. As new questions have been added at various points throughout the survey there is a risk that responses to existing questions could have been impacted by the presence of the new questions. Some questions from previous waves have also been removed from the survey.
• Some small changes to existing questions: These changes have been made to improve the quality of the data collected and include changes such as adding in ‘don’t know’ options to allow trustees to answer more accurately. Direct comparisons to previous years data for questions have not been made.
• A change in research partner: BMG was commissioned as a new research partner in 2023. Sampling and weighting has been kept as consistent as possible based on Charity Commission’s information.

Appendix 2: Sample breakdown

Annual income of charity (used for weighting):

£0-£10,000	38%
£10,001-£25,000	15%
£25,001-£100,000	18%
£100,001-£500,000	15%
£500,001-£1,000,000	3%
£1,000,001-£5,000,000	4%
£5,000,000+	2%
Don’t know/new charity	6%

Charity’s main area of operation:

London and South East	19%
England	15%
North of England	14%
South and South West of England	12%
The Midlands	12%
UK and overseas	10%
Across all of the UK	9%
Wales	4%
Overseas	4%
England and Wales	4%

Charity sector:

Disability / advancement of health or saving of lives	29%
Education / training (adult) / (research / other)	29%
Education / training (children and young people)	26%
Overseas aid / prevention or relief of poverty/accommodation/housing	21%
Arts / culture / heritage	18%
Religious activities	18%
General charitable purposes	17%
Recreation / amateur sport	16%
Other charitable purposes	10%
Environment / conservation	9%
Economic / community development / employment	7%
Human rights / religious and racial harmony / EDI	4%
Animal welfare	2%

Charity activity:

Provides services	35%
Provides grants or other funding to individuals or organisations	34%
Provides buildings, facilities or open space	28%
Other charitable activities	27%
Provides advocacy/advice/information	17%
Provides human resources	8%
Acts as an umbrella or resource body	6%
Sponsors or undertakes research	4%

Role in charity:

Trustee	86%
Board or Management Member	18%
Chair	17%
Treasurer	15%
Secretary	10%
Other	4%
Vice Chair	3%

Length of time as a trustee:

Less than one year	5%
One to five years	34%
Five to ten years	23%
More than ten years	38%

Number of people on board of trustees:

3 or fewer	19%
4 to 7	55%
8 to 10	17%
11 to 15	7%
16 to 20	1%
Over 20	1%
Don’t know	1%