ARTHRITIS UK

Registered charity 207711 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q4797635 · Wikipedia · also known as ARC, ARTHRITIS RESEARCH CAMPAIGN, ARTHRITIS RESEARCH UK, THE ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH (FORMERLY THE EMPIRE RHEUMATISM COUNCIL), VERSUS ARTHRITIS · also registered in Scotland as SC041156 (OSCR)

The charity funds scientific and medical research into all types of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. It is working to take the pain away from sufferers with all forms of arthritis and helping people to remain active. This will be achieved through funding high-quality research, providing services, information and campaigning.The charity's vision is a future free of arthritis.

Objects

(1) TO ADVANCE THE STUDY OF AND RESEARCH INTO THE CAUSES, TREATMENT AND CURE OF ARTHRITIS AND RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AND DISSEMINATE THE USEFUL RESULTS OF THAT RESEARCH,(2) TO RELIEVE THE NEEDS OF THOSE SUFFERING FROM ARTHRITIS AND RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS, INCLUDING BY(I) PROMOTING THE TEACHING OF MATTERS RELATING TO, AND THE FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF, ARTHRITIS AND RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS AND OTHER PERSONS INVOLVED IN THE TREATMENT OF SUCH DISORDERS,(II) IMPROVING THE TREATMENT AND CARE OF PERSONS SUFFERING FROM ARTHRITIS AND RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS,(3) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN ALL MATTERS RELATING TO ARTHRITIS AND RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS INCLUDING THOSE PERSONS SUFFERING FROM SUCH DISORDERS

Area of benefit: NATIONAL AND BRITHISH COMMONWEALTH

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 · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Islington, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £13.9m for the year ended 31 March 2026, resulting in an overall loss of £12.3m after investment and actuarial gains. Total income decreased by 17% to £24.9m, while total expenditure fell by 5.1% to £38.8m. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted free reserves stood at £41.9m, which is above the stated policy target of £25.2m, and the trustees confirm adequate resources to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

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
• Campaigns and political activity 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
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

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.

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

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Versus Arthritis changes its name after seven years thirdsector.co.uk · 14/10/2025
• The mechanisms of physical activity and exercise with chronic musculoskeletal pain - Pain Centre Versus Arthritis Themed Meeting - The University of Nottingham nottingham.ac.uk · 14/03/2022
• Versus Arthritis launches UK’s first condition-specific coronavirus chatbot civilsociety.co.uk · 17/04/2020

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00490500

What the charity says about itself (2024/2025)

From its own voluntary annual review / impact report — the charity’s account of its work, distinct from the statutory accounts analysed above.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Arthritis UK (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Dr Benjamin Ellis — Senior Clinical Policy Advisor (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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• The Knitting Network — “The Knitting Network generously agreed to match fund all donations. We’re extremely grateful to the Knitting Network for their continued sup…” (source page)

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.

• COLBERT, Graham — director, appointed 30/11/2023on trustee list
• TAYLOR, Jane Marion Davina, Dr — director, appointed 14/12/2022on trustee list
• TOMPKINS, Catherine Janet — director, appointed 14/12/2022on trustee list
• ROSE, Lilian Elizabeth Milton — director, appointed 14/12/2022on trustee list
• WILLIAMS, Joanne — director, appointed 14/12/2022on trustee list
• ROBERTS, Caitriona Dieudonnee — director, appointed 14/12/2022on trustee list
• VANDENBERGHE, Paul Albert — director, appointed 14/12/2022on trustee list
• RODGERS, Jonathan — director, appointed 09/06/2021on trustee list
• ISAACS, John — director, appointed 09/06/2021on trustee list
• MCINNES, Iain Blair, Professor — director, appointed 09/06/2021on trustee list
• NOINVILLE, Vincent Jean-Marc — director, appointed 03/12/2019on trustee list
• HALL, Sue — secretary, appointed 31/03/2026

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

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

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (174,354 followers) · instagram (51K followers)

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

Reported reserves equal ~35.8 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 23.7% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (01/08/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (16/03/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• CAITRIONA ROBERTS
• CATHERINE TOMPKINS · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr JANE DAVINA TAYLOR
• Graham Colbert · trustee of 1 other charity
• Iain McInnes
• JOANNE WILLIAMS
• John Isaacs
• Jonathan Rodgers
• LILIAN ROSE
• Paul Vandenberghe
• Simon Charles Hobbs
• Vincent Jean-Marc Noinville

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

Operates in: Guernsey · Isle Of Man · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

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

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 ARTHROPLASTY FOR ARTHRITIS CHARITY.

• ARTHROPLASTY FOR ARTHRITIS CHARITY income £60k
• ARTHRITIS ACTION income £651k
• Juvenile Arthritis Research income £103k
• MYOSITIS UK income £140k
• BRITISH SOCIETY FOR RHEUMATOLOGY income £5.4m
• ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH UK income £1.4m

Side by side with its peers

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