Open-end fund providers may issue multiple share classes of each fund. For example, they may an Inc (income) share class, which pays out a dividend to shareholders; and an Acc (accumulate) share class, which automatically reinvests dividends on the shareholder's behalf. Or they may issue a share class for institutional investors, perhaps with an initial investment amount over £1 million and a lower annual management fee; and another for retail investors, perhaps with an initial investment amount of just £50 and a higher annual management fee.
In order to make it easier for the end-investor to filter and screen for funds on Morningstar.co.uk, we offer the option to search only by UK Primary Fund share class. The UK Primary Fund share class is the fund share class that we deem to be the most retail version of a fund. Searching for only UK Primary Funds will deliver just one share class of each fund, so your results won't be skewed by multiple versions of the same fund.
An open-end fund is a collective investment scheme, more commonly known in the UK as either an OEIC (open-ended investment company) or unit trust.