The principle roles of the Third Age Trust are to support and underpin the work of local U3As, to encourage the formation of new U3As, and to raise the level of awareness of the work of U3As and to maintain links with educational institutions and other similar organisations, both nationally and internationally.

The Trust provides U3As with a range of support services to help with their administrative and learning activities. These include legal advice, liability insurance, information packs and the quarterly magazine 'U3A News' which is posted to all our members.
The Trust supports learning programmes by maintaining a network of subject advisors, study days, summer schools and shared learning initiatives. It also runs a Resource Centre which offers U3As a postal loan service of slides, videos and DVDs, tutored and untutored online courses and distributes a journal called 'Sources'.

The Trust is funded by a small levy on each U3A which is included in our membership fee, and occasional grants from benefactors for specific projects.