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Registered charity · London

General Optical Council

  • 12 trustees
  • Income £12m (2025)
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Official record Charity Commission · updated 20th September 2026 · Sources

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The large node is General Optical Council. Red nodes are organisations, white nodes are people. Sign in free to explore further.

Who leads it

Current trustees as listed by the Charity Commission, which does not publish previous trustees.

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About

What it does
Education/training, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
Where
Scotland, Northern Ireland, Throughout England And Wales
Website
www.optical.org (opens in a new tab)
Registered
2012

Income and spending

  • YearIncomeSpending
  • 2025£12m£13m
  • 2024£11m£12m
  • 2023£10m£11m
Earlier years
  • 2022£10m£9.5m
  • 2021£12m£8.6m

Income trend, 2021 to 2025.

Charitable objects

TO PROMOTE AND MAINTAIN THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC BY PROMOTING HIGH STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION, CONDUCT AND PERFORMANCE AMONG OPTOMETRISTS AND DISPENSING OPTICIANS, AND THOSE TRAINING TO BE OPTOMETRISTS AND DISPENSING OPTICIANS, AND IN PARTICULAR: (A) BY THE MAINTENANCE OF REGISTERS OF THE NAMES OF PERSONS WHO ARE FIT TO PRACTISE AS OPTOMETRISTS OR DISPENSING OPTICIANS, OR TO UNDERTAKE TRAINING TO ENABLE THEM TO BECOME OPTOMETRISTS OR OPTICIANS;(B) BY DEFINING, CREATING AND MAINTAINING AN EFFECTIVE STRUCTURE FOR PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING AMONG OPTOMETRISTS AND DISPENSING OPTICIANS AND AMONG PERSONS SEEKING TO QUALIFY AS OPTOMETRISTS OR DISPENSING OPTICIANS, AND SUPERVISING THE PROVISION OF SUCH EDUCATION AND TRAINING;(C) BY ENSURING THAT ONLY THOSE WHO ARE FIT TO PRACTISE AS OPTOMETRISTS OR DISPENSING OPTICIANS, OR TO TRAIN FOR SUCH PRACTICE, IN FACT DO SO;(D) BY THE PROVISION OF APPROPRIATE ADVICE AND GUIDANCE TO THOSE WHO ARE FIT TO PRACTISE AS OPTOMETRISTS OR DISPENSING OPTICIANS, OR TO TRAIN FOR SUCH PRACTICE.

Contracts awarded

2 contracts · £87,801 total

From Contracts Finder and Find a Tender (Open Government Licence v3.0), where this organisation is recorded as the buyer. Suppliers are matched to a Governance Register company or charity page at confidence 0.7 or higher; below that they are shown by name only.

Top suppliers

Most recent

Board analysis for researchers

Board DNA

How this board is put together, from Charity Commission trustee records and Companies House - deterministic, no AI.iBoard compositionCounted from the dated Charity Commission trustee register: the current board only, past trustees excluded.

12 trustees on the board

2.7y median 2y
average tenure
6y
longest tenure

Trustees past 6 years

5y
average years in governance

First-time vs portfolio trustees

First-time (10)

Portfolio (2)

2
company-linked trustees

Sector coverage iSector coverageThe charitable fields this board's trustees govern in elsewhere, by Charity Commission classification. Excludes this charity.

Education/training 12The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives 11Environment/conservation/heritage 1Religious Activities 1The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty 1

Commercial experience iCommercial experienceThe industries this board's members are company directors in, by Companies House SIC code. Excludes this organisation's own company.

Education 2Health and social care 2Other services 2

Succession forecast iSuccession forecastThe number of board seats likely to open in the next twelve months - summed across the board from each dated trustee’s tenure - and the profile worth recruiting next. From the filed record, deterministic.

🔒 Succession forecast is a Pro feature - the board seats likely to open in the next year and the ideal next trustee. Explore Pro →

Health of the organisation facts side by side - the conclusion is yours

Income v spending, filed accountsiIncome v spendingTotal gross income and expenditure from filed annual returns, Charity Commission, last 5 years.
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
incomespending£12.2m latest income · spending exceeded income in 2024 and 2025
ReservesiReserves12 x free reserves / annual expenditure, from the Part B annual return. The sector median is computed across all Part B filers in the same income band.

7.3 months of spending held in free reserves · median for charities its size: 3.7 months · was 12.0 in 2021

112 from 83 in 2021
EmployeesiEmployeesHeadcount as filed in Part B annual returns, per financial year. Shown exactly as filed; year-on-year figures may be filed on different bases, so a comparison is only shown when the filings are plausibly comparable.

Sources

Official record from the Charity Commission register for England and Wales. Governance Register calculates the connections.

Record details
Registered charity number
1150137
Status
Registered
Governing document
OPTICIANS ACT 1989 AS AMENDED BY THE MEDICAL ACT 1983 (AMENDMENT) AND MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS ORDER 2006
Contact on the register
020 7580 3898 · goc@optical.org
Edition
Register edition compiled 20th September 2026
Labels
Official record from the register · Calculated derived by Governance Register. Anything added by an organisation or person is labelled as provided by them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Report an issue · How we handle data