The view from… ACO

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ACO is the membership body for charities that provide financial and wellbeing support to individuals. Here, ACO Chief Executive Donal Watkin gives his insights about what this year’s UKGrantmaking can tell us about grantmaking to individuals.

Through shared learning, peer support and sector insights, our members are constantly improving how they assess need, make decisions and support the people who turn to them. The latest data from 2024–25 offers a snapshot of how this work is evolving in response to ongoing pressure across the sector. Across more than 100 ACO charities, around £155 million was distributed directly to individuals and families during this period. While this represents a slight fall from the previous year, it remains above 2022–23 levels, suggesting that the heightened demand seen during the cost of living crisis has not gone away. 

Behind the overall numbers lies a more nuanced picture. Around half of ACO members increased their grant spending, while others scaled back to balance rising demand against limited resources. For many charities, the focus is shifting. It’s less about responding to short-term emergencies and more about offering longer-term, holistic support.

The sector continues to provide targeted, flexible help to people who might otherwise struggle to get support through statutory systems. The exceptional pressures of the pandemic and cost of living crisis have eased, but demand hasn’t. For many charities, the challenge now is sustaining support through ongoing financial pressure, ill health and insecurity, rather than responding to a single crisis.

What ACO members continue to report is that financial hardship remains widespread. People are seeking help not only with immediate essentials, but with costs that enable them to maintain employment, health and independence. At the same time, many members are navigating pressures on their own income and reserves.

Over the past year, our members have continued to explore how digital tools and AI can strengthen their work. From improving application processes and communications, to making better use of data and reducing administration, charities are experimenting with new ways of working that can help them reach more people and respond more effectively. Yet members are equally clear that technology should complement, not replace, the empathy, trust and professional judgement that underpin effective grantmaking. Human relationships remain at the heart of supporting individuals in times of need.

Occupational and benevolent funds remain a vital part of the UK’s wider social safety net, perhaps more so now than ever. Many ACO members support people who have exhausted statutory options, or who fall between the gaps of existing systems of support. They occupy what’s sometimes known as a vital “missing middle”, providing flexible, person-centred assistance that is often not available anywhere else. Through long-standing connections with professions, employers and communities, these charities can respond quickly and with a deep understanding of the circumstances applicants face.

What emerges from the latest data is a sector adapting to changing needs while staying true to a long tradition of mutual support. ACO charities continue to provide targeted help where it is needed most, complementing statutory services and ensuring that people are not left without support when other routes are unavailable.