--- title: "Sadler's Wells Trust Limited charity rating | CharityCompare" description: "Is Sadler" source: https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/sadler-s-wells-trust-limited retrieved: 2026-08-18T05:41:59.855Z license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0" --- Quick answer ## Is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited a good charity? Sadler's Wells Trust Limited scores 72/100 (3 stars, Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£43m total income, 90% 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. London · EC1R 4TN | Reg [279884](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/sadler-s-wells-trust-limited) | Registered charity | [Official website](https://www.sadlerswells.com/) | [Charity Commission register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/279884) Donate ## How can you give to SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED? You leave CharityCompare to complete a donation on the official SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED form. We do not process payments or take commission. Opens their official online donation form. [Donate](https://www.sadlerswells.com/?utm_source=charitycompare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate&utm_content=279884) ## What does Sadler's Wells Trust Limited do? Sadler's Wells Trust Limited is a registered charity (no. 279884) working in arts & culture in London · EC1R 4TN. Its latest Charity Commission filing directs 90% of spending to charitable activities, holding roughly 1 month of reserves, and files its annual accounts on time. Reported income has been growing (≈29% 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. Summarised from public filings — Sadler's Wells Trust Limited hasn't added its own description yet. [Work here? Add it free →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/claim?charity=sadler-s-wells-trust-limited) **In short:** SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED scores 72 out of 100 (3 stars). 90% average program spend (3-year average). Review the pillar breakdown below. ## What is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited? Sadler's Wells Trust Limited has a Clarity Score of 72 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars, Needs improvement). Charity Commission registration number 279884. Status: Registered. Primary cause area: Arts & culture. Latest accounts year 2025: total income £43m, with 90% of expenditure on charitable activities. Accounts filing: up to date. Reserves: approximately 1 month of operating costs. No major red flags from our filing review. Scores are independent and based on official filings — not a donation recommendation. Data from [Charity Commission register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/), last updated 17 July 2026. Overall score 72/100 3★ · Needs improvement Cause spend 90% 3-yr avg · charitable activities Accountability 93/100 Finance beacon Income £43m Latest year 2025 Reserves 1 mo 1 month of running costs Accounts filing On time Charity Commission £10.2 raised per £1 fundraising (3-yr avg) · 11% overhead · Website on register · Confidence: high ## How does SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED compare? Clarity Score percentile against similar UK charities — the share of peers SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED scores higher than. Income band (£10m+)31stpercentile **Scores higher than 31% of 943 charities in its income band** · 72/100 vs 77 peer average (marker). Arts & culture charities39thpercentile **Scores higher than 39% of 624 charities in this cause** · 72/100 vs 76 peer average (marker). ## How reliable is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's data? Source Charity Commission (England & Wales) Accounts year 2025 Filing date 24 June 2026 Profile reviewed 17 July 2026 High confidence — complete filing data 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](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/), [Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator](https://www.oscr.org.uk/) and [Charity Commission for Northern Ireland](https://www.charitycommissionni.org.uk/). [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/). ## What is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited'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. 93/100 | 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. | 100% | 15/15 pts | | Trustee oversight Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three). | 100% | 16 trustees · 15/15 pts | | Declared policies Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return. | 70% | 7/10 pts | ### Financial Health Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts. 50/100 | Metric | Score | Value | | --- | --- | --- | | Reserves (months of cash) 3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years (hoarding) = 0 pts. | 33% | 1 month · 5/15 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. | 0% | 59% · 0/5 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% | 90% · 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% | 10p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average) | ### Community Support Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff. 0/100 | Metric | Score | Value | | --- | --- | --- | | Volunteer-to-staff ratio Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between. | 0% | Not reported · 0/10 pts | [How we calculate beacon scores →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology) ## What is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's Clarity Score? 72/100 total · Needs improvement · 3 of 5 stars Four pillars (40 + 30 + 20 + 10 points) from Charity Commission filings — see methodology for full weightings. 93/100 Accountability & Transparency 50/100 Financial Health 100/100 Financial Efficiency 0/100 Community Support ### Accountability & Transparency Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies. 93/100 Filing history (5 years)15/15 pts Trustee oversight16 trustees · 15/15 pts Declared policies7/10 pts ### Financial Health Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts. 50/100 Reserves (months of cash)1 month · 5/15 pts Income stability / growth10/10 pts · 3-year average Liabilities to assets59% · 0/5 pts ### Financial Efficiency How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios. 100/100 Program expense ratio90% · 10/10 pts (3-year average) Fundraising efficiency10p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average) ### Community Support Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff. 0/100 Volunteer-to-staff ratioNot reported · 0/10 pts ## How much does Sadler's Wells Trust Limited raise and spend? Latest filed year 2025 · Source: Charity Commission filings | Category | Amount | % of spend | | --- | --- | --- | | Total income | £43m | — | | Total expenditure | £38m | — | | Charitable activities | £33m | 88% | | Fundraising | £4.6m | 12% | | Governance & admin | £66k | 0% | 88%On charitable activities ## Where does the money go? Latest accounts (2025) · £38m spent - Charitable activities88% · £33m - Fundraising12% · £4.6m - Governance0% · £66k ## What trust indicators does Sadler's Wells Trust Limited have? Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported. - ✓ Accounts filed on time up to date · last filing 24 June 2026 - — Trustee board size (3–12) 16 trustees on the Charity Commission register Fundraising Regulator Status not yet checked Separate from our financial scores — shows whether the charity follows the Code of Fundraising Practice. [Check Fundraising Regulator →](https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/members/) Official register Reg 279884 Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission. [View on Charity Commission →](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/279884) ### Trustees & officers - NIGEL HIGGINS Chair · since 2017 - HUMPHREY BATTCOCK since 2017 - Melanie Jane Smith since 2020 - Maria Albonico since 2020 - Matthew Jake Slotover since 2020 - Nicholas Bernard Basden since 2021 - Brenda Leff since 2022 - PAUL EDWARD MULHOLLAND since 2022 - Clare Jane Connor since 2022 - Nina Patel since 2022 - Suhair Fariha Khan since 2022 - Yana Peel since 2023 100 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. [Full methodology →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology) 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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited'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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited? Overall score 72/100 (3★) Income £43m Cause spend 90% of expenditure Reg number 279884 Scope Local (london) Reserves 1 month Trustees 16 Accounts year 2025 Filing up to date ## How does SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED compare, and where else can you look? [Compare SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED with others](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare-charities?ids=sadler-s-wells-trust-limited) [More arts & culture charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/arts) [How we score charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology) ### Where SADLER'S WELLS TRUST LIMITED sits The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby. - [arts charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/arts) - [education charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/education) - [children charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/children) - [elderly charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/elderly) - [Charities in London](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/cities/london) - [arts charities in London](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/arts/london) ### Similar arts & culture charities Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score - [HACKNEY QUEST](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/hackney-quest) 100/100 · £827k - [COMMON WEALTH THEATRE LIMITED](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/common-wealth-theatre-limited) 100/100 · £760k - [PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/pallant-house-gallery) 99/100 · £3.0m - [CREATE (ARTS) LIMITED](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/create-arts-limited) 99/100 · £1.6m ## How can you share Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's rating? Share: [X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Sadler)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.charitycompare.org.uk%2Fcharity%2Fsadler-s-wells-trust-limited)[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.charitycompare.org.uk%2Fcharity%2Fsadler-s-wells-trust-limited)[Bluesky](https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=Sadler) Copy link Print / save as PDFOpens a printer-friendly view of this profile for Sadler's Wells Trust Limited. For this charity ## How do you add Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's rating to your site? Free to use — a lightweight HTML badge or an embeddable score widget, each linking back to this independent profile and our [methodology](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology). BadgeScore widget [♥ CharityCompare Clarity Score 72/100 ★★★★★](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/sadler-s-wells-trust-limited) Lightweight HTML badge (no iframe) — paste anywhere ♥ CharityCompare Clarity Score 72/100 ★★★★★ Copy code ## Frequently asked questions Common questions about Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status. Is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited a good charity? + Sadler's Wells Trust Limited scores 72 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 90% of its spending goes to charitable activities 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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited a legitimate charity? + Yes — Sadler's Wells Trust Limited is a legitimate registered charity (charity number 279884). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/279884. Registration proves status; Clarity Score then summarises filing transparency on paper, not programme impact. What is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's charity number? + Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's charity number is 279884. 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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's charity rating? + Sadler's Wells Trust Limited scores 72 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). 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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited have reviews and complaints? + CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Sadler's Wells Trust Limited. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts. For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate. How much of my donation reaches Sadler's Wells Trust Limited? + According to its 2025 regulator filing, 90% of Sadler's Wells Trust Limited'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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's overheads? + According to its 2025 regulator filing, fundraising costs were about 10% of total expenditure and combined overheads (fundraising plus governance) were about 11% of total expenditure at Sadler's Wells Trust Limited. The filings CharityCompare uses do not publish CEO or senior-staff pay, so we cannot say what Sadler's Wells Trust Limited'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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited receive? + Sadler's Wells Trust Limited reported £43m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing. Are Sadler's Wells Trust Limited's accounts up to date? + Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-06-24). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score. Where is Sadler's Wells Trust Limited based? + Sadler's Wells Trust Limited is listed at London · EC1R 4TN, focused on arts & culture. How does CharityCompare score Sadler's Wells Trust Limited? + We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Sadler's Wells Trust Limited'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 Sadler's Wells Trust Limited'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.