Health · Reg 212808
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Charity rating & review
79/100 Clarity Score · 4 stars · Charity Commission filings · How we score
Clarity score
Good
Quick answer
Is Royal College of Surgeons of England a good charity?
Royal College of Surgeons of England scores 79/100 (4 stars, Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£44m total income, 88% of spending on charitable activities). This reflects financial transparency and stewardship on paper — not the real-world impact of its programmes. See the full breakdown.
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How can you give to ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND?
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What does Royal College of Surgeons of England do?
Royal College of Surgeons of England is a registered charity (no. 212808) working in health across the United Kingdom. Its latest Charity Commission filing directs 88% of spending to charitable activities, holding roughly 7 months of reserves, though its recent accounts were filed late. Reported income has been growing (≈13% a year). CharityCompare's Clarity Score rates the organisation only from public Charity Commission accounts — accountability, financial health, efficiency and community support — not the quality or impact of its programmes.
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In short: ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND scores 79 out of 100 (4 stars). 88% average program spend (3-year average). Review the pillar breakdown below.
What is Royal College of Surgeons of England?
Royal College of Surgeons of England has a Clarity Score of 79 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars, Good). Charity Commission registration number 212808. Status: Registered. Primary cause area: Health. Latest accounts year 2025: total income £44m, with 88% of expenditure on charitable activities. Accounts filing: late. Reserves: approximately 7 months of operating costs. 2 filing concern(s) noted on this profile. Scores are independent and based on official filings — not a donation recommendation.
Data from Charity Commission register, last updated .
Overall score
79/100
4★ · Good
Cause spend
88%
3-yr avg · charitable activities
Accountability
53/100
Finance beacon
Income
£44m
Latest year 2025
Reserves
7 mo
Months of running costs
Accounts filing
Late
Check register
£38.9 raised per £1 fundraising (3-yr avg) · 6% overhead · Website on register · Confidence: medium
How does ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND compare?
Clarity Score percentile against similar UK charities — the share of peers ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND scores higher than.
Scores higher than 55% of 943 charities in its income band · 79/100 vs 77 peer average (marker).
Scores higher than 55% of 528 charities in this cause · 79/100 vs 76 peer average (marker).
How reliable is Royal College of Surgeons of England's data?
- Source
- Charity Commission (England & Wales)
- Accounts year
- 2025
- Filing date
- Profile reviewed
Medium confidence — some data missing or late
Scores reflect the latest annual accounts on the register. Clarity Score measures how clearly the charity accounts for money in those filings — not programme impact.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Charity Commission for England and Wales, Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Open Government Licence v3.0 .
What is Royal College of Surgeons of England's Beacon report?
Detailed accountability and finance metrics from UK regulator filings — structured for transparency in our four-beacon report.
Accountability & Transparency
Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.
53/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Filing history (5 years) 100% on-time over five years = 15 pts · one late filing = 5 pts · two or more = 0 pts. | 0% | 0/15 pts |
| Trustee oversight Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three). | 100% | 12 trustees · 15/15 pts |
| Declared policies Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return. | 60% | 6/10 pts |
Financial Health
Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.
93/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Reserves (months of cash) 3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years (hoarding) = 0 pts. | 100% | 7 months · 15/15 pts |
| Income stability / growth +20% or more over the window = 10 pts · flat = 5 pts · −20% or worse = 0 pts, scaled between. | 100% | 10/10 pts · 3-year average |
| Liabilities to assets 0% liabilities-to-assets = 5 pts, scaling down to 0 pts at 60%+ debt. | 60% | 29% · 3/5 pts |
Financial Efficiency
How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.
100/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Program expense ratio 90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below. | 100% | 88% · 10/10 pts (3-year average) |
| Fundraising efficiency ≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income). | 100% | 3p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average) |
Community Support
Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.
100/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteer-to-staff ratio Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between. | 100% | 1,292 volunteers / 291 staff · 10/10 pts |
What is Royal College of Surgeons of England's Clarity Score?
79/100 total · Good · 4 of 5 stars
Four pillars (40 + 30 + 20 + 10 points) from Charity Commission filings — see methodology for full weightings.
Accountability & Transparency
Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.
53/100
Financial Health
Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.
93/100
Financial Efficiency
How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.
100/100
Community Support
Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.
100/100
How much does Royal College of Surgeons of England raise and spend?
Latest filed year 2025 · Source: Charity Commission filings
| Category | Amount | % of spend |
|---|---|---|
| Total income | £44m | — |
| Total expenditure | £44m | — |
| Charitable activities | £38m | 86% |
| Fundraising | £966k | 2% |
| Governance & admin | £1.5m | 3% |
Where does the money go?
Latest accounts (2025) · £44m spent
- Charitable activities86% · £38m
- Fundraising2% · £966k
- Governance3% · £1.5m
- Other spending8% · £3.5m
What trust indicators does Royal College of Surgeons of England have?
Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported.
-
Accounts filed on time
Filing status: late
-
Trustee board size (3–12)
12 trustees on the Charity Commission register
-
Workforce on register
291 employees · 1,292 volunteers (4:1 volunteer-to-staff)
Fundraising Regulator
Status not yet checked
Separate from our financial scores — shows whether the charity follows the Code of Fundraising Practice.
Check Fundraising Regulator →Official register
Reg 212808
Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission.
View on Charity Commission →Trustees & officers
- TIMOTHY EDWARD MITCHELL since 2020
- ROBERT GREIG since 2020
- Professor Peter J Friend since 2021
- Professor Vivien C Lees since 2021
- Simon Davis since 2021
- Dr Charlotte Eckhardt since 2023
- Professor Andrew Carr since 2024
- Joanna Kirby since 2023
- Frank Smith since 2024
- Professor Farah Bhatti since 2023
- Ginny Bowbrick since 2025
- Vanessa Leung since 2025
How we score charities +
The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.
Accountability & Transparency
Scored from filings
40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).
Financial Health
Scored from filings
30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).
Financial Efficiency
Scored from filings
20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).
Community Support
Scored from filings
10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.
Overall score
Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.
How have Royal College of Surgeons of England's finances changed over five years?
- Income
- Spending
- Cause spend
Values in £ thousands · Cause spend plotted only when the filing discloses a split · Source: Charity Commission accounts
What are the key facts about Royal College of Surgeons of England?
- Overall score
- 79/100 (4★)
- Income
- £44m
- Cause spend
- 88% of expenditure
- Reg number
- 212808
- Scope
- UK-wide
- Reserves
- 7 months
- Trustees
- 12
- Accounts year
- 2025
- Filing
- late
How does ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND compare, and where else can you look?
Where ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND sits
The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby.
Similar health charities
Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score
- THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM (THE ORDER OF ST JOHN) 100/100 · £2.4m
- THE FARMING COMMUNITY NETWORK 100/100 · £1.8m
- KIDS MATTER 100/100 · £795k
- WOMANKIND 100/100 · £731k
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What red flags does Royal College of Surgeons of England have?
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Royal College of Surgeons of England's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Royal College of Surgeons of England a good charity? +
Royal College of Surgeons of England scores 79 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 88% of its spending goes to charitable activities 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 Royal College of Surgeons of England a legitimate charity? +
Yes — Royal College of Surgeons of England is a legitimate registered charity (charity number 212808). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/212808. Registration proves status; Clarity Score then summarises filing transparency on paper, not programme impact.
What is Royal College of Surgeons of England's charity number? +
Royal College of Surgeons of England's charity number is 212808. 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 Royal College of Surgeons of England's charity rating? +
Royal College of Surgeons of England scores 79 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). The Clarity Score V1 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 Royal College of Surgeons of England have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Royal College of Surgeons of England. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (2 filing concern(s) noted 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 Royal College of Surgeons of England? +
According to its 2025 regulator filing, 88% of Royal College of Surgeons of England'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 Royal College of Surgeons of England's overheads? +
According to its 2025 regulator filing, fundraising costs were about 3% of total expenditure and combined overheads (fundraising plus governance) were about 6% of total expenditure at Royal College of Surgeons of England. The filings CharityCompare uses do not publish CEO or senior-staff pay, so we cannot say what Royal College of Surgeons of England's chief executive is paid — where disclosure rules apply, senior pay appears in the trustees' annual report on the Charity Commission register.
How much income does Royal College of Surgeons of England receive? +
Royal College of Surgeons of England reported £44m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Royal College of Surgeons of England's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: late (last filing 2026-06-24). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Royal College of Surgeons of England based? +
Royal College of Surgeons of England is listed at London · UK-wide · WC2A 3PE and operates UK-wide, focused on health.
How does CharityCompare score Royal College of Surgeons of England? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Royal College of Surgeons of England'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 17 July 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Royal College of Surgeons of England'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.