The Charles Lane Trust
Charity 216080
Overview
Summary
The Charles Lane Trust appears to be a place-based almshouse charity whose role is to provide sheltered accommodation and related benefit to older people in financial need. Its model is unusually specific: support is tied both to residence in its almshouses and, ordinarily, to a historic Yardley parish connection. This suggests a long-term, asset-based form of local support rather than a general housing or care service, with trustees exercising discretion over how income benefits residents.
Operational geography
No operational geography is currently available for this organisation.
Areas of work
- Accommodation/housing
Who they help
- Elderly/old People
How they help
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A tightly place-rooted housing charity
The Trust appears designed to retain a specific local benefit for older residents connected to the ancient parish of Yardley, rather than serving an unrestricted geographic population.
Why it matters
This local eligibility rule is central to understanding whom the organisation can support and suggests that its value may lie in preserving long-standing community provision.
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“Residents must ordinarily be inhabitants of the area of the ancient parish of Yardley.”
Source:Charity Commission“The charity provides sheltered accommodation for needy elderly people.”
Source:Charity Commission
Support is built around an almshouse asset
The Trust appears to use accommodation as the primary platform for support, with trustees able to apply charity income for residents' benefit in addition to providing housing itself.
Why it matters
This indicates a potentially broader resident-support role than housing alone, while remaining focused on people already living within the charity's provision.
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“The trustees shall apply the income for the benefit of the residents in the almshouses of the charity.”
Source:Charity Commission“How the charity helps: Provides buildings, facilities or open space.”
Source:Charity Commission
Access is deliberately narrow, but not entirely fixed
Eligibility appears to prioritise people aged 60 or over who are needy, while allowing exceptional cases outside the usual local connection subject to Commissioners' approval.
Why it matters
This reveals a tension between protecting a defined local charitable purpose and retaining limited flexibility when an individual case warrants it.
Show evidence
“Residents shall be needy persons who are not less than sixty years of age.”
Source:Charity Commission“Special cases may be approved by the Commissioners.”
Source:Charity Commission
- The number, condition and location of almshouse homes are unknown.
- It is unclear what support residents receive beyond accommodation.
- No evidence describes referral routes, demand or relationships with local care and housing organisations.
Remaining uncertainties
- Information on properties, capacity, occupancy and waiting lists.
- Annual reports or trustee reports describing resident support, finances and local partnerships.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
PROVISION OF SHELTERED ACCOMMODATION FOR THE NEEDY ELDERLEY
Charity objects
SUBJECT TO THE PAYMENTS AFORESAID THE TRUSTEES SHALL APPLY THE INCOME FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE RESIDENTS IN THE ALMSHOUSES OF THE CHARITY OR ANY OF THEM IN SUCH MANNER AS THE TRUSTEES THINK FIT FROM TIME TO TIME. THE RESIDENTS SHALL BE NEEDY PERSONS WHO (EXCEPT IN SPECIAL CASES TO BE APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONERS) ARE INHABITANTS OF THE AREA OF THE ANCIENT PARISH OF YARDLEY AND WHO ARE NOT LESS THAN SIXTY YEARS OF AGE.