The National Lottery Heritage Fund received £354m in lottery proceeds in the 2025 financial year, marginally less than the year prior.
The fund’s 2026 accounts showed that income from the lottery declined by a relatively minor (in the grand scheme of things) £4m as of 31 March 2026.
In the 2024 financial year, National Lottery proceeds stood at £358.6m.
When investment income from the National Lottery Distribution Fund and sundry income were factored in, total National Lottery Heritage Fund income for 2025 came in at £368.3m, £7m down from £376m in 2024.
While this is still a hefty figure, it may not look great for National Lottery operator Allwyn UK’s ambitions to double weekly returns to good causes from £30m to £60m by the end of its 10 year contract in 2034.
Nonetheless, the company has been striding ahead to modernise the lottery as per the terms of its licence contract, and likely hopes that the launch of new products like Powerball UK will drive ticket sales and in turn good causes returns.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s 2025 accounts have also shone a light on just how much money the National Lottery has contributed to UK societal projects since its foundation in 1994.
The lottery, which was run by Camelot UK for 20 of its 22 years of operation, has contributed
£9.9bn in total distributed funding since 1994, with 54,000 projects supported.
Fund priorises investment and collaboration
Moving forward, the fund’s Chief Executive, Eilish McGuinness, emphasised the importance of cross-collaboration. The fund has been working closely with Allwyn and the National Lottery promotions unit to “champion the impact” lottery funds have in the UK, she said.
“This included developing case studies to help bring National Lottery projects to life for promotional activity, support for marketing campaigns and active support for a new data strategy,” she continued.
Focus areas for the fund and its self-improvement efforts in 2025 included data collection, cyber security resilience, staff awareness, resilience planning, and investing in organisational learning, including a pilot to explore how AI can be used to boost efficiency.
“This activity is being taken forward within a strong governance framework, grounded in our published commitment to use AI lawfully, ethically and responsibly, with appropriate human oversight,” McGuinness remarked.
“We are also working with other grant funders to learn together what can work in practice, enabling us to innovate in a controlled way and assess where AI can add value in support of Heritage 2033 delivery.”
Community fund revamps leadership
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is, as its name suggests, the fund tasked with channelising lottery funds into heritage projects, such as preserving historic buildings and public parks, among other areas.
The other major National Lottery funding body is the National Lottery Community Fund, while organisations like the Arts Councils of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also contribute.
As well as the Heritage Fund announcing its accounts, this week has also seen the Community Fund unveil two new members of its board.
Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future, and Michelle Mitchell OBE, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, are the two new members.
In Katwala’s case, he oversees an independent think tank which examines issues of identity, immigration and integration – hot button and often controversial talking points in modern British social and political conversations.
Katwala has a background in publishing, journalism and think tanks, and has contributed to print, broadcast and online media, such as writing columns for the British Asian newspaper Eastern Eye.
Mitchell, meanwhile, is head of one of the country’s biggest and most visible charities. Anyone who paid a visit to a UK high street will likely be familiar with Cancer Research UK’s shops for example.
She has also been Chief Executive of the MS Society and worked for NHS England as a non-executive director between 2016-2020.
Both Katwala and Mitchell will be remunerated £7,848 per annum as is standard with Community Fund board members.