Common questions about National Oceanography Centre's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is National Oceanography Centre a good charity? +
National Oceanography Centre scores 78 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 95% 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.
Is National Oceanography Centre a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists National Oceanography Centre as a registered charity (charity number 1185265). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1185265&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 National Oceanography Centre's charity number? +
National Oceanography Centre's charity number is 1185265. 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 National Oceanography Centre's charity rating? +
National Oceanography Centre scores 78 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.
Does National Oceanography Centre have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for National Oceanography Centre. 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.
How much of my donation reaches National Oceanography Centre? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 95% of National Oceanography Centre'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 National Oceanography Centre's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 5% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 6% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at National Oceanography Centre. National Oceanography Centre's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports 135 employees paid more than £60,000, including 7 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £140,001–£150,000 (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 National Oceanography Centre receive? +
National Oceanography Centre reported £88m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are National Oceanography Centre's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-07-14). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is National Oceanography Centre based? +
National Oceanography Centre's registered contact address is in Southampton (SO14 3ZH). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Belize, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is National Oceanography Centre's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. National Oceanography Centre's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports 135 employees paid more than £60,000, including 7 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £140,001–£150,000 (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 National Oceanography Centre's money come from? +
National Oceanography Centre reported £88m total income for the year ending 30 September 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £71m (81%), trading and fundraising events £15m (17%), investments £1.4m (2%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to National Oceanography Centre? +
The register records National Oceanography Centre 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 National Oceanography Centre's trustees paid? +
National Oceanography Centre's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for acting as a trustee). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.
When was National Oceanography Centre registered as a charity? +
National Oceanography Centre was entered on the register on 11 September 2019. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 11444362).
How does CharityCompare score National Oceanography Centre? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in National Oceanography Centre'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 National Oceanography Centre'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.