COMPASSION IN DYING

Registered charity 1120203 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as COMPASSION IN DYING LIMITED

Compassion in Dying is a national charity that supports people at the end of life to have what they consider to be a good death by providing advice and information around their rights and choices. We are the leading provider of free Advance Decisions in the UK and also conduct and review research around rights and choices in end-of-life care.

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

Latest income

£1.0m

Latest spending

£811k

Registered

2007

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity held £1,040k in unrestricted funds at year-end, which is significantly in excess of its stated minimum reserves target of approximately £200,000. The trustees and auditors confirm there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £70,000 - £79,999 — below the median for charities its size (£70k)

“One employee earned more than £70,000 during the year, in the bracket £70,000- £79,999” — page 26

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“One employee earned more than £70,000 during the year, in the bracket £70,000- £79,999 (2024: one).” — page 26

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Donations received from related parties, including trustees.

“There were donations received during the year of £1,500 (2024: £2,200) from related parties, including trustees.” — page 27

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Top pay band moved from £70,001 - £80,000 (FY2024) to £70,000 - £79,999 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Compassion in Dying (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Sarah Wootton — Chief Executive (source)
Davina Hehir — Deputy Chief Executive (source)
Lloyd Riley — Director of Policy and Research (source)
David Pearce — Director of Fundraising and Marketing (source)
Alyson Thomson — Director of Campaigns & Scotland (source)
Tom Davies — Director of Public Affairs (source)
Ellie Ball — Director of Communications (source)
Usha Grieve — Director of Partnerships and Services (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Total income

£1.0m

Total spending

£811k

Cost of raising funds

£29k

Reserves (reported)

£1.0m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~15.4 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Cameron Brown · trustee of 1 other charity
Dame Barbara Monroe
David Spenser
Dr Anushka Aubeelak
Dr Vinod Damodaran Nambisan
Rachael Frances Rosemary Clarke

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2025	£1.0m	£811k
31/12/2024	£971k	£817k
31/12/2023	£610k	£994k
31/12/2022	£745k	£924k
31/12/2021	£1.3m	£798k

Common questions

Is COMPASSION IN DYING financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity held £1,040k in unrestricted funds at year-end, which is significantly in excess of its stated minimum reserves target of approximately £200,000. The trustees and auditors confirm there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Sayer Vincent LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of COMPASSION IN DYING earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £70,000 - £79,999 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds COMPASSION IN DYING?

Funders whose own accounts filings name COMPASSION IN DYING as a grant recipient include BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST, THE DISCWORLD FOUNDATION, THE SAM AND BELLA SEBBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, THE WOODWARD CHARITABLE TRUST, THE G W CADBURY SECTION CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£400k	General funding
THE DISCWORLD FOUNDATION	FY2025	£180k
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2021	£150k	General funding
THE SAM AND BELLA SEBBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	FY2021	£40k	Extend telephone hotline support
THE SAM AND BELLA SEBBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	FY2022	£20k	Cost of Living crisis
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£10k	General funding
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£5k	General funding
THE WOODWARD CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£4k
THE G W CADBURY SECTION CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£1k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
ARCADIA	25/12/2023	£10k	Towards core costs
ARCADIA	01/12/2022	£10k	Towards core costs
ARCADIA	15/12/2021	£10k	Towards core costs
The National Lottery Community Fund	19/06/2019	£390k	Lambeth Advance Care Planning Consortium
The National Lottery Community Fund	24/04/2012	£140k	End-of Life Rights Community Advocacy (ELRA)

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 THOMAS J HORNE MEMORIAL TRUST	2	£48k
THE WILL CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£20k
THE WILLIAM ALLEN YOUNG CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£13k
THE EDGAR E LAWLEY FOUNDATION	2	£8k
SKIPTON BUILDING SOCIETY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	2	£4k
THE KIRBY LAING FOUNDATION	1	£1.8m
IRWIN MITCHELL CHARITIES FOUNDATION	1	£188k
THE ERNEST KLEINWORT CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£130k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with HOSPICE AID UK.

HOSPICE AID UK income £115k
ST CATHERINE'S HOSPICE LIMITED income £13.3m
CICELY SAUNDERS INTERNATIONAL income £424k
PAUL SARTORI FOUNDATION LIMITED income £2.9m
THE ST PETER AND ST JAMES CHARITABLE TRUST income £6.7m
THE END OF LIFE PARTNERSHIP LIMITED income £1.2m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
COMPASSION IN DYING	£1.0m	£70,000 - £79,999	1	above	—	no doubt
HOSPICE AID UK FY2025	£115k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ST CATHERINE'S HOSPICE LIMITED FY2025	£13.3m	—	—	unclear	24.4%	noted
CICELY SAUNDERS INTERNATIONAL FY2024	£424k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
PAUL SARTORI FOUNDATION LIMITED FY2025	£2.9m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE ST PETER AND ST JAMES CHARITABLE TRUST FY2025	£6.7m	£160,001 - £170,000	—	above	—	no doubt

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