UK DRI LTD

Registered charity 1179589 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

UK DRI's hub will be located at UCL, which was chosen after a thorough search process. Six additional UK DRI centres will be established at University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, University of Edinburgh, King's College London and Imperial College London (x2). Grants will be made to all seven centres.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£52.4m
Latest spending
£56.0m
Registered
2018
Accounts read
FY2026

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £3.55m for the year ended 31 March 2026, resulting in unrestricted reserves falling to £5.62m. The trustees confirm that the charity is a going concern, supported by confirmed funding from its founding partners until 2030 and significant liquid resources exceeding current research commitments. The charity operates on a model where research commitments are only made when funds are available, and it holds no borrowings.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: £0.6m (held: £5.6m)
“By the nature of this funding model, there is no need for significant reserves. Therefore, the original policy had been agreed that £0.3m of unrestricted founder funding would be used as reserves. This was subsequently increased to £0.6m over five years ago and this is now the policy.” — page 9
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: MRC
“MRC have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £125m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. Furthermore, this agreement provides for an MRC representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
“ARUK have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £12.5m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. This agreement also provides for an ARUK representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Alzheimer's Research UK
“MRC have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £125m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. Furthermore, this agreement provides for an MRC representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
“ARUK have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £12.5m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. This agreement also provides for an ARUK representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: NIHR
“MRC have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £125m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. Furthermore, this agreement provides for an MRC representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
“ARUK have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £12.5m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. This agreement also provides for an ARUK representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: LifeArc
“MRC have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £125m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. Furthermore, this agreement provides for an MRC representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
“ARUK have an agreement with UK DRI Ltd and they intend to fund £12.5m over the five years starting 1 April 2022. This agreement also provides for an ARUK representative having a seat on the UK DRI Ltd Board.” — page 11
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by RSM UK Audit LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

Leadership, per the charity’s website

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.

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.

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Total income
£52.4m
Total spending
£56.0m
Reserves (reported)
£5.6m
Employees
28

Reported reserves equal ~1.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (96% 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 (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2026£52.4m£56.0m
31/03/2025£47.6m£40.1m
31/03/2024£39.6m£43.3m
31/03/2023£32.7m£31.7m
31/03/2022£34.6m£40.4m

Common questions

Is UK DRI LTD financially healthy?

Per its FY2026 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £3.55m for the year ended 31 March 2026, resulting in unrestricted reserves falling to £5.62m. The trustees confirm that the charity is a going concern, supported by confirmed funding from its founding partners until 2030 and significant liquid resources exceeding current research commitments. The charity operates on a model where research commitments are only made when funds are available, and it holds no borrowings. Its FY2026 accounts were audited by RSM UK Audit LLP.

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.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON HOSPITALS CHARITY.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
UK DRI LTD£52.4m——above—no doubt
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON HOSPITALS CHARITY FY2025£24.7m——unclear—no doubt
CCCU UK FY2025£1.7m£120,001 - £130,0001within—no doubt
DUKE UK TRUST LIMITED FY2025£298k—0unclear—no doubt
PREGNANCY CENTRES NETWORK FY2025£101k—0unclear—no doubt
National Centre For Universities and Business FY2025£2.9m——unclear—no doubt

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