Common questions about Saffron Music Trust's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Saffron Music Trust a good charity? +
Saffron Music Trust scores 80 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) 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 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 Saffron Music Trust a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Saffron Music Trust as a registered charity (charity number 1153685). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1153685&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 Saffron Music Trust's charity number? +
Saffron Music Trust's charity number is 1153685. 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 Saffron Music Trust's charity rating? +
Saffron Music Trust scores 80 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 Saffron Music Trust have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Saffron Music Trust. 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 Saffron Music Trust? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 96% of Saffron Music Trust'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 Saffron Music Trust'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 Saffron Music Trust. Saffron Music Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 August 2025 reports 2 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (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 Saffron Music Trust receive? +
Saffron Music Trust reported £2.2m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Saffron Music Trust's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-05-05). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Saffron Music Trust based? +
Saffron Music Trust's register entry is at Essex. It tells the regulator it operates in Essex, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is Saffron Music Trust's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Saffron Music Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 August 2025 reports 2 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (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 Saffron Music Trust's money come from? +
Saffron Music Trust reported £2.2m total income for the year ending 31 August 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £1.3m (59%), donations and legacies £878k (40%), investments £5,364 (0%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £50k.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Saffron Music Trust? +
The register records Saffron Music Trust 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 Saffron Music Trust's trustees paid? +
Saffron Music Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 August 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for providing services). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.
What was Saffron Music Trust previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Saffron Music Trust: Saffron Hall Trust.
When was Saffron Music Trust registered as a charity? +
Saffron Music Trust was entered on the register on 5 September 2013. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 08534643).
How does CharityCompare score Saffron Music Trust? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Saffron Music Trust'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 Saffron Music Trust'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.