Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK scores 83 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 64% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are up to date. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate.

The register data used for this profile lists Cancer Research UK as a registered charity (charity number 1089464). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1089464&subId=0. Check the current entry and the identity of anyone requesting money. Registration does not verify a particular appeal; Clarity Score summarises filing transparency, not programme impact.

Cancer Research UK's charity number is 1089464. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals.

Cancer Research UK scores 83 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). The Clarity Score (method v1.1) sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking.

CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Cancer Research UK. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (none flagged on this profile). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 64% of Cancer Research UK's total spending went to charitable activities (3-yr avg across disclosed years). That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift.

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 18% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 19% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 380 employees paid more than £60,000, including 48 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £250,001–£300,000 (3 employees). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.

Cancer Research UK reported £735m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.

Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-01-27). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.

Cancer Research UK's registered contact address is in London (E20 1JQ). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, with a focus on cancer.

The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Cancer Research UK's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 380 employees paid more than £60,000, including 48 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £250,001–£300,000 (3 employees). Charities normally disclose the chief executive's pay, or the pay of their highest-paid staff, in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report and accounts.

Cancer Research UK reported £735m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £530m (72%), trading and fundraising events £135m (18%), charitable activities £59m (8%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £288m.

The register records Cancer Research UK as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration.

Cancer Research UK's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits. Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

Cancer Research UK was entered on the register on 23 November 2001. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 04325234).

We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Cancer Research UK's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought.

This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Cancer Research UK's most recent accounts cover 2025. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.