The name "The Reform Research Trust" was first registered with companies house on 4 March 2004 and as a charity on 13 May 2004.

The Reform Research Trust publishes reports on a variety of issues, adopting what it considers to be an evidence-based approach to public policy.

Previous deputy directors include Liz Truss,[citation needed] who subsequently became Prime Minister, and Nick Seddon, who was appointed as a Senior Policy Advisor for Health and Social Care to Prime Minister David Cameron.

The charity feared that its non-partisan status would be brought into disrepute by the name change, and requested for the party to come up with an alternative.

In January 2021, the Electoral Commission approved of the Brexit Party's name change to Reform UK.