MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS TRUST

Registered charity 1088353 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q6934908 · Wikipedia · also known as MS RESEARCH TRUST, MS TRUST

The Multiple Sclerosis Trust is a UK charity for people with MS, their friends, families and carers and for the health and social care professionals who work with them. Our activities include the provision of information and professional education, funding for practical research and campaigning for the improvement of MS services.

Objects

The Trust’s objects are to support people with multiple sclerosis, including by:• advancing the education of persons by co-operating with the medical profession to encourage scientific research into the causes of and cure of multiple sclerosis (MS) and to aid and ameliorate the conditions of those suffering from it; and• promoting and funding research that can be expected to further the understanding of MS and lead to more effective clinical treatment to develop or test therapeutic equipment and investigate methods of social management of the disease and to publish the useful results thereof.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED. IN PRACTICE 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 · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: North Hertfordshire, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £322,687 for the year, driven largely by a one-off merger donation, while ordinary operations showed a deficit. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stand at £2,160,515, which is significantly above the policy target of four to six months of expenditure, though the charity plans to spend down these reserves over the next five years to invest in fundraising and services.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Azets Audit Services. Discloses 4 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
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding 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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 04247766

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Multiple Sclerosis Trust (MS 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.

• CLACY, Benjamin Toby — director, appointed 12/12/2024not on trustee list
• LAW, Rebecca Jane — director, appointed 13/06/2022on trustee list
• OWEN, Sally-Anne — director, appointed 13/06/2022on trustee list
• WHITE, Sarah Benita — director, appointed 07/04/2020on trustee list
• HUDSON, Joanne — director, appointed 07/04/2020on trustee list
• HALL, Rachel Clare — director, appointed 06/12/2018on trustee list
• CHARD, Declan Tarn, Dr — director, appointed 06/12/2018on trustee list
• PENNY, Michael William Harrison — director, appointed 06/12/2018on trustee list
• PHILPOT, David John — director, appointed 16/12/2015on trustee list
• SINGLETON, Christine — director, appointed 16/12/2015on trustee list
• SORRELL, Caitlin, Dr — director, appointed 16/12/2015on trustee list
• TAYLOR, Lucy — secretary, appointed 17/03/2024

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~14.0 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 25.8% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (06/11/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Caitlin Sorrellchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Ben Clacy · trustee of 1 other charity
• Christine Singleton
• David Philpot
• Dr Declan Tarn Chard
• Joanne Hudson
• Michael William Harrison Penny
• Rachel Clare Hall
• Rebecca Jane Law
• Sally-anne Owen
• Sarah Benita White

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

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

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 MS COMMUNITY ACTION & SUPPORT.

• MS COMMUNITY ACTION & SUPPORT income £14k
• MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS-UK LIMITED income £1.6m
• MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY income £30.7m
• SUFFOLK MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS THERAPY CENTRE income £252k
• MS TOGETHER income £208k
• MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION income £1.5m

Side by side with its peers

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