Common questions about The Arts Council of England's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is The Arts Council of England a good charity? +
The Arts Council of England scores 63 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 100% 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 The Arts Council of England a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists The Arts Council of England as a registered charity (charity number 1036733). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1036733&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 The Arts Council of England's charity number? +
The Arts Council of England's charity number is 1036733. 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 The Arts Council of England's charity rating? +
The Arts Council of England scores 63 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 The Arts Council of England have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Arts Council of England. 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 The Arts Council of England? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 100% of The Arts Council 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 The Arts Council of England's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 0% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 49% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The Arts Council of England. The Arts Council of England's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 66 employees paid more than £60,000, including 8 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (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 The Arts Council of England receive? +
The Arts Council of England reported £843m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: declining.
Are The Arts Council of England's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-01-23). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is The Arts Council of England based? +
The Arts Council of England's registered contact address is in Manchester (M1 1FN). It tells the regulator it operates in England, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is The Arts Council of England's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. The Arts Council of England's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 66 employees paid more than £60,000, including 8 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (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 The Arts Council of England's money come from? +
The Arts Council of England reported £843m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £580m (69%), other income £251m (30%), investments £12m (1%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The Arts Council of England? +
The register does not record The Arts Council of England as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid. Ask the charity before assuming a donation can be Gift Aided.
Are The Arts Council of England's trustees paid? +
The Arts Council of England's annual return for the year ending 31 March 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 The Arts Council of England registered as a charity? +
The Arts Council of England was entered on the register on 19 April 1994.
How does CharityCompare score The Arts Council of England? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Arts Council 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 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and The Arts Council 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.