UK BIOBANK LIMITED

Registered charity 1101332 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q7864819 · Wikipedia · also registered in Scotland as SC039230 (OSCR)

To provide a major genetic resource to assist scientists with research into a variety of diseases and illnesses.

Objects

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE COMPANY IS ESTABLISHED ARE TO PROTECT, PRESERVE AND ADVANCE ALL OR ANY ASPECTS OF THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF HUMAN BEINGS AND TO ADVANCE AND PROMOTE KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION BY ENGAGING IN, ENCOURAGING AND SUPPORTING: 1) INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE SEPARATE AND COMBINED EFFECTS OF GENETIC, ENVIRONMENTAL (INCLUDING LIFESTYLE, PHYSIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES) AND OTHER FACTORS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND WELFARE AND ON THE RISK AND CAUSATION OF DISEASES IN THE HUMAN POPULATION; (2) THE ESTABLISHMENT, HOLDING, OPERATION, MANAGEMENT, PROMOTION, SUPPORT, EXPANSION, IMPROVEMENT AND SAFEGUARDING OF A COLLECTION OF BIOMEDICAL, BIOCHEMICAL, EPIDEMIOLOGICAL, GENETIC AND OTHER DATA AND BLOOD AND OTHER BIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL SAMPLES OBTAINED AND DEVELOPED THROUGH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AND/OR IN CONNECTION WITH SOME OR ALL OF THE INVESTIGATIONS REFERRED TO IN PARAGRAPH (1) AND PERTAINING TO A COHORT OF HUMAN PARTICIPANTS ("DATA AND SAMPLES"), FOR USE IN A RESEARCH, KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION RESOURCE PROVISIONALLY KNOWN AS THE UK BIOBANK ("THE RESOURCE");(3) RESEARCH INTO BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL SCIENCES AND OTHER DISCIPLINES WHICH MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN HEALTH AND WELFARE("THE BIOSCIENCES"); (4) THE DISCOVERY, INVENTION, IMPROVEMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF TREATMENTS, CURES, DIAGNOSTICS AND OTHER MEDICINAL AGENTS, METHODS AND PROCESSES THAT MAY IN ANY WAY RELIEVE ILLNESS, DISEASE, DISABILITY OR DISORDERS OF WHATEVER NATURE IN HUMAN BEINGS; AND (5) THE STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING OF ANY OF THE BIOSCIENCES.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Stockport, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£68.9m

Latest spending

£47.3m

Registered

2003

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income decreased by 10% to £68.9m, while charitable expenditure excluding pension releases increased by 25% to £47.3m. Free reserves increased to £7.9m, which the trustees consider to be within their stated policy target range of £5m to £10m. The directors confirm that sufficient funding is available for the charity to continue operating for the foreseeable future.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: Infrastructure Project Funding (36% of income)

“Infrastructure Project Funding 24.9”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: between £5m and £10m, which is broadly equivalent to between 2.5 and 5 months of core running costs (reserves figure: £7.9m)

“The trustees consider an appropriate level of reserves to hold in respect of these risks is between £5m and £10m, which is broadly equivalent to between 2.5 and 5 months of core running costs”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Investment
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2025

Government income: £33,144,337 — grants £33,144,337 (7); 48% of the £68,919,118 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 56 (£60,001–£70,000: 22; £70,001–£80,000: 14; £80,001–£90,000: 7; £90,001–£100,000: 6; £120,001–£130,000: 2; £140,001–£150,000: 1; £150,001–£200,000: 2; £200,001–£250,000: 1; £250,001–£300,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2024

Government income: £44,243,366 — grants £44,243,366 (8); 58% of the £76,327,574 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 43 (£60,001–£70,000: 19; £70,001–£80,000: 8; £80,001–£90,000: 4; £90,001–£100,000: 3; £100,001–£110,000: 2; £110,001–£120,000: 1; £130,001–£140,000: 1; £140,001–£150,000: 1; £150,001–£200,000: 3; £200,001–£250,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2023

Government income: £13,384,924 — grants £13,384,924 (10); 39% of the £34,535,326 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 28 (£60,001–£70,000: 13; £70,001–£80,000: 4; £80,001–£90,000: 3; £90,001–£100,000: 2; £110,001–£120,000: 1; £150,001–£200,000: 5)

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

Registered company of the charity Companies House 04978912

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

WOOD, Anthony, Dr — director, appointed 01/12/2025on trustee list
WILLIAMS, Ceri Louise, Dr — director, appointed 26/06/2025on trustee list
MILLS, Melinda Catherine, Professor — director, appointed 01/06/2024on trustee list
TAYLOR, Bernard John — director, appointed 01/01/2024on trustee list
PERRIN, Nicola — director, appointed 01/06/2022on trustee list
FERGUSON, Michael Anthony John, Professor Sir — director, appointed 01/06/2022on trustee list
ROTHWELL, Nancy, Dame — director, appointed 17/09/2021on trustee list
KAKKAR, Ajay Kumar, Professor Lord — director, appointed 01/01/2020on trustee list
MARKHAM, Alexander Fred, Sir — director, appointed 24/03/2017not on trustee list
SELLORS, Jonathan Michael Holmes — secretary, appointed 01/11/2007

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

7 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold); recorded price paid £2.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Trustpilot: UK Biobank scores 2.9/5 from 2 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Total income

£68.9m

Total spending

£47.3m

Reserves (reported)

£70.2m

Employees

319

Reported reserves equal ~17.8 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (78% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Lord Ajay Kumar Kakkarchair · trustee of 4 other charities
Bernard Taylor
Dr Anthony Wood
Dr Ceri Louise Williams
Nicola Perrin
PROFESSOR SIR ALEX MARKHAM · trustee of 1 other charity
Professor Dame Nancy Jane Rothwell
Professor Melinda Catherine Mills · trustee of 1 other charity
Professor Rachel McKendry
Professor Sir Michael Ferguson

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/09/2025	£68.9m	£47.3m
30/09/2024	£76.3m	£30.6m
30/09/2023	£34.5m	£32.1m
30/09/2022	£40.6m	£38.9m
30/09/2021	£62.7m	£63.6m

Common questions

Is UK BIOBANK LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income decreased by 10% to £68.9m, while charitable expenditure excluding pension releases increased by 25% to £47.3m. Free reserves increased to £7.9m, which the trustees consider to be within their stated policy target range of £5m to £10m. The directors confirm that sufficient funding is available for the charity to continue operating for the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by BDO LLP.

Who funds UK BIOBANK LIMITED?

Funders whose own accounts filings name UK BIOBANK LIMITED as a grant recipient include WELLCOME TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
WELLCOME TRUST	FY2024	£30.1m	Discovery Research

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE BARBOUR FOUNDATION	3	£8k
THE JENOUR FOUNDATION	2	£11k
THE CHARLES AND ELSIE SYKES TRUST	2	£10k
THE FRANK LITCHFIELD GENERAL CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£7k
THE WILLIE AND MABEL MORRIS CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£6k
THE OAKDALE TRUST	2	£6k
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£4k
SSP FOUNDATION	2	£3k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with GENOME RESEARCH LIMITED.

GENOME RESEARCH LIMITED income £180.3m
MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION income £3.7m
Blood Cancer UK Research income £21.1m
UKGBC income £3.1m
BREAST CANCER UK LIMITED income £2.1m
EARLHAM INSTITUTE income £14.1m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
UK BIOBANK LIMITED	£68.9m	—	—	within	—	no doubt
GENOME RESEARCH LIMITED FY2025	£180.3m	£290,000 to £299,999	—	unclear	—	no doubt
MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION FY2025	£3.7m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
Blood Cancer UK Research FY2025	£21.1m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
UKGBC FY2025	£3.1m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
BREAST CANCER UK LIMITED FY2025	£2.1m	—	0	above	17.7%	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.