Common questions about Read - the Reading Agency's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Read - the Reading Agency a good charity? +
Read - the Reading Agency scores 72 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 98% 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 Read - the Reading Agency a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Read - the Reading Agency as a registered charity (charity number 1085443). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1085443&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 Read - the Reading Agency's charity number? +
Read - the Reading Agency's charity number is 1085443. 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 Read - the Reading Agency's charity rating? +
Read - the Reading Agency scores 72 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 Read - the Reading Agency have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Read - the Reading Agency. 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 Read - the Reading Agency? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 98% of Read - the Reading Agency'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 Read - the Reading Agency's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 2% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 3% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Read - the Reading Agency. Read - the Reading Agency's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 3 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £110,001–£120,000 (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 Read - the Reading Agency receive? +
Read - the Reading Agency reported £2.8m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: declining.
Are Read - the Reading Agency's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-11-07). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Read - the Reading Agency based? +
Read - the Reading Agency's registered contact address is in London (WC1R 4EH). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is Read - the Reading Agency's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Read - the Reading Agency's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 3 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £110,001–£120,000 (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 Read - the Reading Agency's money come from? +
Read - the Reading Agency reported £2.8m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £2.2m (78%), donations and legacies £594k (21%), investments £15k (1%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Read - the Reading Agency? +
The register records Read - the Reading Agency 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 Read - the Reading Agency's trustees paid? +
Read - the Reading Agency's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was Read - the Reading Agency previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Read - the Reading Agency: The Reading Agency for Libraries.
When was Read - the Reading Agency registered as a charity? +
Read - the Reading Agency was entered on the register on 8 March 2001. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 03904882).
How does CharityCompare score Read - the Reading Agency? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Read - the Reading Agency'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 Read - the Reading Agency'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.