Common questions about English National Opera's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is English National Opera a good charity? +
English National Opera scores 62 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 96% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are late. 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.
Is English National Opera a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists English National Opera as a registered charity (charity number 257210). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=257210&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.
What is English National Opera's charity number? +
English National Opera's charity number is 257210. 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.
What is English National Opera's charity rating? +
English National Opera scores 62 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). 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.
Does English National Opera have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for English National Opera. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (one red flag on this profile: late accounts filing). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches English National Opera? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 96% of English National Opera'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.
What are English National Opera's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 4% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 5% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at English National Opera. English National Opera's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 23 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (1 employee). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does English National Opera receive? +
English National Opera reported £27m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are English National Opera's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: late (last filing 2026-01-20). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is English National Opera based? +
English National Opera's registered contact address is in London (WC2R 4ES). It tells the regulator it operates in City of Westminster, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is English National Opera's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. English National Opera's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 23 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (1 employee). 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.
Where does English National Opera's money come from? +
English National Opera reported £27m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £17m (65%), charitable activities £9.2m (34%), investments £211k (1%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £490k.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to English National Opera? +
The register records English National Opera 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.
Are English National Opera's trustees paid? +
English National Opera's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was English National Opera previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for English National Opera: Sadler's Wells Trust (Coliseum) LTD.
When was English National Opera registered as a charity? +
English National Opera was entered on the register on 4 November 1968. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 00426792).
How does CharityCompare score English National Opera? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in English National Opera'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.
How often is this page updated? +
This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and English National Opera'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.