Common questions about The National Literacy Trust's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is The National Literacy Trust a good charity? +
The National Literacy Trust scores 83 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 91% 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 National Literacy Trust a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists The National Literacy Trust as a registered charity (charity number 1116260). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1116260&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 National Literacy Trust's charity number? +
The National Literacy Trust's charity number is 1116260. 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 National Literacy Trust's charity rating? +
The National Literacy Trust scores 83 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 The National Literacy Trust have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The National Literacy 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 The National Literacy Trust? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 91% of The National Literacy 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 The National Literacy Trust's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 9% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 9% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The National Literacy Trust. The National Literacy Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 13 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £120,001–£130,000 (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 National Literacy Trust receive? +
The National Literacy Trust reported £14m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are The National Literacy Trust's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-01-27). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is The National Literacy Trust based? +
The National Literacy Trust's registered contact address is in London (SW8 1RL). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, Scotland, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is The National Literacy Trust's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. The National Literacy Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 13 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £120,001–£130,000 (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 National Literacy Trust's money come from? +
The National Literacy Trust reported £14m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £9.4m (66%), donations and legacies £4.2m (29%), trading and fundraising events £619k (4%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £300k.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The National Literacy Trust? +
The register records The National Literacy 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 The National Literacy Trust's trustees paid? +
The National Literacy Trust's annual return for the year ending 31 March 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.
When was The National Literacy Trust registered as a charity? +
The National Literacy Trust was entered on the register on 3 October 2006. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 05836486).
How does CharityCompare score The National Literacy Trust? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The National Literacy 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 The National Literacy 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.