The Steel Charitable Trust

Analysis

The Steel Charitable Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Bedfordshire. It was registered in November 1976, 50 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, which this site groups under grant-making and general purposes. Legally it is a charitable trust. It says it makes grants to organisations.

In the financial year ending January 2026, The Steel Charitable Trust reported income of £937k and spending of £1.6m, spending 167% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from January 2022 to January 2026, income fell from £24.9m to £937k (-96%), an average of -56% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to January 2023, when income dropped by 95%. Over the whole period it spent 24% of the income it received.

Among 5,976 England and Wales charities whose main cause is grant-making and general purposes and that reported income, The Steel Charitable Trust sits at the 95th percentile: it is larger than about 95% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 93rd percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include The Blue Thread (£936k), Bexley Voluntary Service Council Limited (£938k) and Peacock Charitable Trust (£935k).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from investments 100%. Charitable activities took 98% of spending and raising funds 0.0%. Grants to other organisations totalled £1.4m. Reserves of £56.9m would cover about 428 months of spending at that rate. It employed 1 people.

Data notes from the register: Spending has exceeded income in each of the last three reported years, so the charity has been drawing on reserves or other funds.