Local Trust closure – FAQs

Local Trust was never meant to be permanent. We are a time-limited organisation created to support the delivery of Big Local, a national 15-year programme of community-led regeneration. After supporting 150 communities across England, Big Local has now ended, which means Local Trust is closing too.

In 2020, Trustees reviewed the outcomes of the Big Local programme and aspirations for the future. In 2021, they concluded that Local Trust should close as planned, in line with the Trust deed.

When Local Trust was created, our financial support to the 150 Big Local areas was designed to be limited to the length of the programme, which ended in March 2026. As each area closed out of the programme, so did the capacity-building support that we commissioned and provided to areas.

Towards the end of Big Local, we designed a post-close out support offer to help ease the transition. This was available to areas that had set up legacy organisations, and that were continuing to deliver work beyond their Big Local funding. Working with NAVCA, legacy organisations could access advice and support from their local infrastructure organisation to help them embed their legacies in the community and become more sustainable.

Although Local Trust is closing, we leave behind a wealth of resources that can continue to support community-led change. If you’re designing community-based funding, neighbourhood regeneration programmes, or working on the ground with communities, start by visiting learningfrombiglocal.org.uk. 

You can also find practical community action plans and guidance on My Community.

And visit C4 (The Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness) for research and evidence on working with communities and enabling connection. 

All 150 Big Local areas received their full £1m allocation of grant funding during the programme, and an additional £150,000 generated from investment income. You can find more details about the costs of administering the programme and how Local Trust managed the £217m Big Local endowment from The National Lottery Community Fund on Learning from Big Local.

The end of one career chapter and the start of another have evoked mixed emotions for the Local Trust team, including excitement, sadness and motivation for the future. Overall, colleagues are proud of the work and impact of the Big Local programme. With a phased approach to departures, some former colleagues have already started new roles, some are away travelling, and others are planning to study.

Through Big Local, Local Trust has invested over £217m into 150 disadvantaged communities across England since 2011. This involved over 4,900 individual residents making decisions about how to spend £1.15m to make their area a better place to live. Twenty-five per cent of people involved were first-time volunteers or had never engaged in community activity before, yet 58 per cent progressed to other community positions, showing the impact of trusting residents with decision-making power and building their capacity.  

In terms of wider programme impacts, Big Local areas saw steeper falls in crime and anti-social behaviour, with total crime falling around 49 per cent more in Big Local areas than comparable areas. Big Local has also improved health and wellbeing outcomes, boosted economic activity and increased levels of civic engagement compared to benchmark areas. 

In 2018, Local Trust created a policy team to share learning from the Big Local programme and use it to inform policy and practice across government, local authorities, trusts and foundations, and those with a wider interest. Over time – through activities such as the Community Wealth Fund campaign, All-Party Parliamentary Group for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods, and creation of the Community Needs Index – this contributed to an increase in political support for putting power, resources, and decision-making into the hands of communities, alongside a greater recognition of the role of community leadership in neighbourhood regeneration.  

You can find more information about the impacts of the programme, including how Big Local areas spent their funding, at www.learningfrombiglocal.org.uk. 

After Local Trust closes, some personal data must be retained to meet contractual or legal obligations. For example, Local Trust’s governance, HR, and financial data will be retained for up to seven years following closure in line with legal requirements. This data will be securely stored and then securely deleted at the end of the seven years. 

Where we have shared data with our partners for ongoing legacy work – the Learning from Big Local website, for example – we have done so following data protection rules. You may have received a notification where this applies to you, including the partner’s details and how to contact them.  

All other personal data that we hold will be securely deleted as we close our systems.

At the time of Local Trust’s closure, there is no programme in England that directly replicates the Big Local model. However, there are funding programmes and schemes that share some of its principles, such as the government’s Pride in Place programme and the Community Wealth Fund.

More broadly, communities can access support from a range of organisations and funders, including The National Lottery Community Fund, for funding, advice and support for community-led projects.