Universities UK

Analysis

Universities UK is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in London. It was registered in December 1990, 36 years ago. Its declared purposes cover education/training, which this site groups under education and training. Legally it is a charitable company (Companies House number 02517018). It says it acts as an umbrella or resource body.

In the financial year ending July 2025, Universities UK reported income of £17.9m and spending of £18.6m, spending 104% of its income. Across the 5 years on record, from July 2021 to July 2025, income grew from £13.7m to £17.9m (+31%), an average of +7.0% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to July 2022, when income rose by 31%. Over the whole period it spent 97% of the income it received.

Among 21,402 England and Wales charities whose main cause is education and training and that reported income, Universities UK sits at the 99th percentile: it is larger than about 99% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 99th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include Queen Alexandra College (£17.9m), The Chartered Association of Business Schools (£18.3m) and St Clare's, Oxford (£17.9m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 84%, trading 9.4%, donations and legacies 4.1% and investments 2.4%. Charitable activities took 93% of spending and raising funds 5.4%. Grants to other organisations totalled £1.5m. Reserves of £3.8m would cover about 2 months of spending at that rate. It employed 165 people.