SOMERSET HOUSE TRUST

Registered charity 1063640 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SOMERSET HOUSE LIMITED

Somerset House Trust was established in 1997 to enhance the education of the public by the provision of a centre for the arts and to maintain the buildings for the benefit of the local and international community as an example of English national heritage. At its heart lies a creative community of innovative businesses and social enterprises which contribute to the vibrancy and energy of the site.

Objects

The objects of the Charity are for the public benefit:a. To advance education particularly (but not exclusively) with reference to the arts and culture and by the provision of a centre for the arts and culture in Somerset House in London;b. To advance the arts and culture particularly (but not exclusively) through the promotion, production and encouragement of all art forms, facilitating and increasing access to and participation in all art forms, both generally and for underrepresented groups; and c. To preserve, restore, maintain, improve and facilitate public access to the historic building known as Somerset House in London WC2 as an example of English national heritage.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Westminster, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the financial year with a surplus before depreciation of £0.6m, supported by strong interest returns on cash balances which offset income pressures. Free unrestricted reserves stood at £2.0m, which the trustees confirmed was within their stated target range of £1m to £2m. The charity maintains a strong cash position of £14.3m, enabling it to endure planned deficits in the coming year while continuing its charitable activities.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• With Jimmy Page, Scarlett Sabet and Somerset House Trust chair and publisher William Sieghart flashbak.com · 27/07/2018

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03388137
• Trading subsidiary: SOMERSET HOUSE ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 03920330

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Somerset House Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• PROTHEROE, Helen — director, appointed 26/02/2026on trustee list
• LEIBOWITZ, Alan Jay — director, appointed 27/02/2025on trustee list
• MATOVU, Harold Nsamba — director, appointed 27/02/2025not on trustee list
• LINGER, Elliott John — director, appointed 24/01/2024on trustee list
• WILLIAMS, Peter Wodehouse — director, appointed 27/09/2023on trustee list
• TAMSEDGE, Jessica Emily — director, appointed 27/09/2023on trustee list
• DUVALIER, Jennifer Susan — director, appointed 07/12/2022on trustee list
• KONOTEY-AHULU, Dawid Konotey-Adadey — director, appointed 07/12/2022on trustee list
• REBUCK, Gail Ruth, Baroness — director, appointed 01/01/2022on trustee list
• TURNER LAING, Sophie Henrietta — director, appointed 01/01/2022not on trustee list
• NEWHOUSE, Jonathan Edward — director, appointed 18/03/2020on trustee list
• BURGE, Alix — director, appointed 18/03/2020on trustee list
• D'ANGLEJAN-CHATILLON, Martine Lesley — director, appointed 12/06/2019on trustee list
• FREEMAN, Dan — secretary, appointed 01/08/2025

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Trustpilot: Somerset House Trust scores 2.9/5 from 2 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (137,864 followers) · instagram (268K followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (72% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Baroness Gail Ruth Rebuckchair
• Alan Leibowitz
• Alix Burge
• Dawid Konotey-Adadey KONOTEY-AHULU
• Elliott John Linger · trustee of 1 other charity
• Harry Matovu
• Helen Protheroe · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jennifer Duvalier
• Jessica Emily Tamsedge
• Jonathan Edward Newhouse · trustee of 1 other charity
• Martine Lesley D'Anglejan-Chatillon
• Peter Wodehouse Williams · trustee of 1 other charity
• Sophie Turner Laing · trustee of 2 other charities

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout London

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with SOMERSET COMMUNITY FOUNDATION.

• SOMERSET COMMUNITY FOUNDATION income £5.6m
• STUART HOUSE TRUST income £36k
• SOMERSET BUILDING PRESERVATION TRUST COMPANY LIMITED income £115k
• THE SOMERSET AND DORSET RAILWAY TRUST LTD. income £319k
• SHERBORNE HOUSE TRUST 2018 income £5.6m
• SUSSEX HOUSE SCHOOL income £5.7m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.