THE LEGAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION

Registered charity 271297 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as LEF, THE COLLEGE OF LAW

We are an independent foundation supporting communities across the UK to use the law to create a more just and equal society.

Objects

THE OBJECT FOR WHICH THE FOUNDATION IS CONSTITUTED IS TO PROMOTE THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEGAL EDUCATION AND THE STUDY OF LAW IN ALL ITS BRANCHES, AND THE SOUND DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF LAW

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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

Causes: Education/training · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the foundation holds substantial free reserves of £275.2 million, significantly exceeding its stated policy target to maintain the Capital Fund at £200 million in real terms. The foundation reports adequate liquidity and no borrowings, with the Trustees satisfied that it has sufficient resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by RSM UK Audit LLP. 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
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

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.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Ben Kernighan — Chair of the board (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~164.6 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Investments (85% 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: 16.5% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• ALISON PICKUP
• Barbora Bukovska
• Benjamin Kernighan
• Chrisann Suzanne Jarrett MBE
• Fiona Mactaggart · trustee of 2 other charities
• Maxine Thomas-Asante
• Sajjad Sabur
• Vivek Luthra

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

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 LAW FOR LIFE: THE FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC LEGAL EDUCATION.

• LAW FOR LIFE: THE FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC LEGAL EDUCATION income £581k
• THE LAW SOCIETY EDUCATIONAL TRUST income £126k
• LAW CENTRES FEDERATION income £1.1m
• EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION income £639k
• THE LIBERTARIAN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION TRUST income £323k
• THE LUJENNA EDUCATIONAL TRUST income £29k

Side by side with its peers

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