Mencap Trust Company governance
Our volunteer Board of Directors support and scrutinse the work of Mencap Trust Company to ensure that we are a well run, legally compliant organisation that delivers an excellent service to those we support.
The Board aim to look after the interests of each person with a trust as effectively, professionally and economically as possible. We want to ensure that people that set up a trust have peace of mind and make a future that’s right for their family.
Our Board is made up of a wide range of individuals with a wealth of experience and expertise which they contribute to our work. Some members either have a learning disability themselves or are the parent or sibling of someone that does. Others bring professional expertise in trust administration, accounting and investments, social care, and the law. Collectively they are all passionate about supporting people to make use of their trusts to live a happy and healthy life.
Committees
The work of the Board is supported by committees which regularly meet to provide additional support and scrutinise specific aspects of our work.
The Welfare Committee use their expertise in the needs of people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
, social work, housing and the
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
sector to identify ways in which trusts can best be used to support individuals. This can often be during a period of
transition
Transition means changing from one thing to another. Transition sometimes means things like when you change from having children's social care to adult social care.
or crisis where we look for positive ways forward that are in the person with the trust’s best interest.
The Finance and Investments Committee review the financial performance of the money held in trusts and regularly meet with our Investment
Manager
A manager is a boss at work. They tell you what you need to do and give you support if you need it.
partners to scrutinise their performance and strategies. The Committee play an active role in our planning and budgeting to ensure that we remain financially secure and sustainable so families can rely on us to be there throughout their loved one’s life.
Julia Abrey (Chair)
Julia is a solicitor specialising in trusts, capacity and wider Court of Protection work. Julia is a former partner of Withers LLP and is the former Chair of the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners’ (STEP) cross-border Mental Capacity Special Interest Group. Julia is the Chair of the Executive Committee of Withers Trust Corporation Ltd and brings to Mencap Trust Company decades of experience in the effective administration of trusts.
Yogi Amin (Deputy Chair)
Yogi is a senior partner at Irwin Mitchell and a legal specialist in human rights, community care, and mental capacity law. He was a Trustee of the Independent Living Fund for over eight years and has been a Trustee of Royal Mencap Society since 2018.
Margaret Ade-Onojobi
Margaret is a qualified social worker, trained psychodynamic therapist and has a background in psychology. She specialises in learning disability, autism, personality disorder, mental health and behaviour that concerns. She is a founder of a not for profit organisation, a school governor and leads Prison Fellowship group. Margaret has lived experience with a family member who has special needs.
Margaret is a member of the Welfare Committee.
Paul Grigg
Paul is the Customer and Operational Risk Director for a Global Insurance company. He has over 20 years’ experience working in Financial Services in risk management, regulatory compliance, business transformation, programme and change management and operational excellence. Paul has a son with a severe learning disability and is passionate about using his experience to help other people with learning disabilities, their families and carers lead happy lives.
Paul is a member of the Welfare Committee.
David Harvey
David has led in non-profit leadership roles, both as CEO and Chair of charity trustees. Currently, he operates as an interim leader and consultant to shape change and transformation in charities and the third sector. As former CEO at the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), he is particularly focussed on seeing trusts working effectively to support those with disabilities. He is a chartered accountant and also a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. As a local councillor he also focuses on work in the
community
A community is the people and places in an area.
to help those most in need.
Mark Pearce
Mark brings over 20 years of financial services experience to the Board. As well as roles at international investment management firms and he previously headed up the charity investment team at a leading UK private bank. Having grown up with a sister who has a learning disability, Mark is driven to ensure that Trust beneficiaries are properly supported and helped to achieve the quality of life and happiness they deserve.
Mark is a member of the Finance and Investments Committee.
David Smith
David joined the Mencap Trust Company Board in January 2020 having retired after working for over 30 years for the railways. David is a poet and a member of a local dramatic society, and he participates on Mencap Radio. David has Asperger’s Syndrome and is passionate about making a difference to the lives of people with a learning disability and having their best interests at heart.
David is a member of the Welfare Committee.
Julian Spurling
Julian has held leadership positions within the health and social care sector in the UK and was formerly managing director for one of the UK’s largest providers of care and support to children and adults with learning disabilities,
Autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
and Mental health illness. Julian is currently a Trustee of Leonard Cheshire, a national charity supporting people with disabilities to live, learn and work as independently as they choose. Julian is passionate about ensuring that vulnerable people are able to receive person-centred support and that they are able to choose how they wish to live.
Julian is a member of the Welfare Committee and Finance and Investments Committee.
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