---
title: "OCF (ongoing charges figure)"
description: "The OCF is the UK label for a fund's ongoing charges: the annual running cost, as a percentage of assets, disclosed in the KIID or KID."
canonical: https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/ocf
published: 2026-09-04
updated: 2026-09-04
publisher: FundFacts API
---

# OCF (ongoing charges figure) (Ongoing charges figure, OCF %)

> The OCF is the UK label for a fund's ongoing charges: the annual running cost, as a percentage of assets, disclosed in the KIID or KID.

The **ongoing charges figure (OCF)** is the name used in the UK for the ongoing charges a fund discloses in its KIID or KID. It expresses the cost of running the fund over the previous year as a percentage of average net assets: the management fee, depositary and custody fees, administration, audit, regulatory fees and, for funds of funds, the ongoing charges of the underlying funds.

The OCF deliberately leaves things out. Entry and exit charges, performance fees and portfolio transaction costs are disclosed separately, so the OCF is a measure of the fund's fixed running cost rather than the total cost of ownership.

## Why it matters

The OCF is the number most investors and platforms use to compare share classes of the same fund, or similar funds from different houses. Because it is charged every year regardless of performance, a difference of a few tenths of a percent compounds noticeably over a long holding period. It is also the figure regulators expect to be shown prominently, which is why factsheets, KIDs and product pages all repeat it.

## In the API

FundFacts API returns the headline ongoing cost the fund house publishes, whether it is labelled OCF, ongoing charges or TER, in `headlineMetrics.ter` as a percentage.

```json
{
  "headlineMetrics": {
    "ter": 0.2,
    "aum": 75000000000
  }
}
```

Example values. See [TER](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/ter) and [ongoing charges](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/ongoing-charges) for how the three labels relate.

## Common pitfalls

- OCF and TER are often used interchangeably in practice; when they differ it is usually because one figure is estimated for a new share class and the other is based on actual expenses.
- The OCF excludes transaction costs. Under [PRIIPs](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/priips) those appear in a separate line of the KID cost table.

## In the FundFacts API payload

- `headlineMetrics.ter`

## About FundFacts API

FundFacts turns any fund or ETF ISIN into one dated factsheet (fees and KID costs, the 1–7 risk indicator, holdings, sector and country exposure, returns) read from the fund house's own documents: as a client-ready PDF under your firm's name for advisers and wealth managers, as JSON through its API for developers, or inside ChatGPT and Claude through its MCP server.

FundFacts works inside ChatGPT and Claude as a connector (a remote MCP server): ask about any fund or ETF by ISIN, ticker or name and the assistant answers from FundFacts' dated figures, fees, risk, holdings, exposure and returns, with fund cards, side-by-side comparisons, holdings overlap and portfolio look-through.

- Free API key, no card: https://fundfactsapi.com/signup
- Documentation: https://fundfactsapi.com/docs (OpenAPI: https://fundfactsapi.com/openapi.json)
- MCP server: https://fundfactsapi.com/api/mcp (set-up for every client: https://fundfactsapi.com/mcp-server)
- Pricing: https://fundfactsapi.com/pricing
- Site index for AI assistants: https://fundfactsapi.com/llms.txt
- Informational data, not investment advice.