Special Purpose Fund FAQs

Any contribution to a Special Purpose Fund must be a freely given donation. It must not be given in return for something, such as sponsorship. You can read more about income on p9 of our SPF Governance Guidelines.

You can use a Special Purpose Fund to support projects that relate to any of the following: patient welfare and amenities; staff welfare and amenities; clinical research; medical or non-medical equipment. It’s important to make sure that the Special Purpose Fund you manage is used to provide something that is over and above what the NHS could normally provide. You can read the full list of permitted expenditure on p13 of our SPF Governance Guidelines.

Fund Advisers are usually senior members of staff within a service who authorise expenditure from the fund. Each fund requires a minimum of two Fund Advisers. To update the details we hold for the fund, please email [email protected]

You can find our full list of resources for Fund Advisers here.

Fund statements provide an overview of the income and expenditure on the fund you manage. They also show the available balance. If you’d like to request an up-to-date fund statement, please send the fund number and fund name to [email protected] and we will get back to you.

The Charity incurs a range of costs in order to effectively administer its Special Purpose Funds. This includes costs associated with financial processing, the use of banking facilities and management charges. In addition, the Charity provides practical support to fund advisers through fundraising activities, administration, governance and reporting which are directly related to SPFs.

In 2022 we updated our policy on fund charges by introducing a charge of 2.5% per year on the balance of each fund. This allows us to recoup a proportion of the costs necessary to effectively administer its Special Purpose Funds. The charge is divided by 12 and applied to the fund balance as it stands at the end of each calendar month.

The charge is benchmarked against other NHS charities who administer similar funds on behalf of NHS trusts to ensure the amount we charge is fair and proportionate. The charge is subject to review on an annual basis.

You can read our fund charges policy in full here.

Fund Advisers are responsible for ensuring the funds are used in accordance with the donor’s wishes and our charitable objects. There is also a duty to show a degree of independence, so fund advisers cannot receive any significant personal benefit from the funds.

The trustees reserve the right to:

• prevent the withdrawal of funds which do not meet the purpose of the SPF or objects of the charity
• authorise expenditure from a fund if the charity believes this to be an appropriate use of resource
• cease to delegate authority to a Fund Adviser if the charity believes the regulations are not being met. In this case, the charity may appoint an alternative Fund Adviser or take control of the funds.