Common questions about Welsh National Opera Limited's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Welsh National Opera Limited a good charity? +
Welsh National Opera Limited scores 83 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 85% 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 Welsh National Opera Limited a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Welsh National Opera Limited as a registered charity (charity number 221538). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=221538&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 Welsh National Opera Limited's charity number? +
Welsh National Opera Limited's charity number is 221538. 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 Welsh National Opera Limited's charity rating? +
Welsh National Opera Limited 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 Welsh National Opera Limited have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Welsh National Opera Limited. 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 Welsh National Opera Limited? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 85% of Welsh National Opera 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 Welsh National Opera Limited's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 1% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 1% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Welsh National Opera Limited. Welsh National Opera Limited's annual return for the year ending 31 August 2025 reports 12 employees paid more than £60,000. The highest reported pay band is £90,001–£100,000 (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 Welsh National Opera Limited receive? +
Welsh National Opera Limited reported £18m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Welsh National Opera Limited's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-05-08). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Welsh National Opera Limited based? +
Welsh National Opera Limited's registered contact address is in Cardiff (CF10 5AL). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, with a focus on arts & culture.
How much is Welsh National Opera Limited's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Welsh National Opera Limited's annual return for the year ending 31 August 2025 reports 12 employees paid more than £60,000. The highest reported pay band is £90,001–£100,000 (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 Welsh National Opera Limited's money come from? +
Welsh National Opera Limited reported £18m total income for the year ending 31 August 2025. The largest sources were other income £10m (55%), trading and fundraising events £3m (17%), donations and legacies £2.8m (15%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £734k.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Welsh National Opera Limited? +
The register records Welsh National Opera Limited 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 Welsh National Opera Limited's trustees paid? +
Welsh National Opera Limited's annual return for the year ending 31 August 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was Welsh National Opera Limited previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Welsh National Opera Limited: The Welsh National Opera and Drama Company Limited.
When was Welsh National Opera Limited registered as a charity? +
Welsh National Opera Limited was entered on the register on 6 August 1963. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 00454297).
How does CharityCompare score Welsh National Opera Limited? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Welsh National Opera 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 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Welsh National Opera 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.