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JOHN INNES CENTRE

Registered charity 223852 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q365105 · Wikipedia · also known as AFRC INSTITUTE OF PLANT SCIENCE RESEARCH, PLANT SCIENCE RESEARCH LIMITED, THE PLANT BREEDING INSTITUTE

An independent, international Centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology. The Centre's mission is:- To generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research- To apply it's knowledge of nature's diversity to benefit agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being- To train scientists for the future- To engage with policy makers and the public

Objects

THE CHARITY'S OBJECT IS THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY WORLD-WIDE BY UNDERTAKING RESEARCH AND DISSEMINATING THE RESULTS OF SUCH RESEARCH, AND TRAINING RESEARCH SCIENTISTS.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: South Norfolk, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income
£78.8m
Latest spending
£54.0m
Registered
1976
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves increased to £25.0m, with general unrestricted reserves of £6.3m sitting above the Governing Council's minimum target of £6.0m. The trustees confirm the charity is a going concern, citing significant cash headroom and confirmed strategic funding from BBSRC through March 2028.

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

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: BBSRC (77% of income)
“JIC’s principal sponsor is the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which contributed 77% of total income (2024: 79%).”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: minimum general reserves target of £6.0m (reserves figure: £25.0m)
“General unrestricted reserves at March 2025 were £6.3m, above the minimum general reserves target of £6.0m set by the Governing Council.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: NBI Partnership Limited
“JIC was charged £5,684,053 (2024: £5,360,238) for services by NBIP under a cost sharing agreement. As at 31 March 2025, JIC owed NBIP £693,525 (2024: £509,631).” — page 40
“During the year UEA provided student services of £584,514 (2024: £215,960) and other services amounting to £465,591 (2024: £547,339) to JIC. At 31 March 2025, JIC owed UEA £142,312, for student fees and other costs (2024: £223,457) and £18,298 for other services (2024: £22,438).”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: University of East Anglia
“JIC was charged £5,684,053 (2024: £5,360,238) for services by NBIP under a cost sharing agreement. As at 31 March 2025, JIC owed NBIP £693,525 (2024: £509,631).” — page 40
“During the year UEA provided student services of £584,514 (2024: £215,960) and other services amounting to £465,591 (2024: £547,339) to JIC. At 31 March 2025, JIC owed UEA £142,312, for student fees and other costs (2024: £223,457) and £18,298 for other services (2024: £22,438).”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Plant Bioscience Limited
“JIC was charged £5,684,053 (2024: £5,360,238) for services by NBIP under a cost sharing agreement. As at 31 March 2025, JIC owed NBIP £693,525 (2024: £509,631).” — page 40
“During the year UEA provided student services of £584,514 (2024: £215,960) and other services amounting to £465,591 (2024: £547,339) to JIC. At 31 March 2025, JIC owed UEA £142,312, for student fees and other costs (2024: £223,457) and £18,298 for other services (2024: £22,438).”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Larking Gowen 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.

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 31/03/2025

  • Government income: £43,536,120 — grants £43,536,120 (207); 55% of the £78,782,050 total gross income on the same return
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 53 (£60,001–£70,000: 8; £70,001–£80,000: 15; £80,001–£90,000: 6; £90,001–£100,000: 11; £100,001–£110,000: 4; £110,001–£120,000: 1; £120,001–£130,000: 3; £130,001–£140,000: 2; £150,001–£200,000: 2; £200,001–£250,000: 1)
  • Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity
  • Has a trading subsidiary

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/03/2024

  • Government income: £33,732,003 — grants £33,732,003 (248); 45% of the £74,414,677 total gross income on the same return
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 55 (£60,001–£70,000: 16; £70,001–£80,000: 12; £80,001–£90,000: 6; £90,001–£100,000: 5; £100,001–£110,000: 6; £110,001–£120,000: 3; £120,001–£130,000: 2; £130,001–£140,000: 2; £150,001–£200,000: 2; £200,001–£250,000: 1)
  • Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity
  • Has a trading subsidiary

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/03/2023

  • Government income: £27,499,773 — grants £27,499,773 (441); 47% of the £58,426,337 total gross income on the same return
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 55 (£60,001–£70,000: 20; £70,001–£80,000: 11; £80,001–£90,000: 4; £90,001–£100,000: 7; £100,001–£110,000: 5; £110,001–£120,000: 2; £130,001–£140,000: 1; £140,001–£150,000: 1; £150,001–£200,000: 3; £200,001–£250,000: 1)
  • Has a trading subsidiary

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).

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.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 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 (6,952 likes) · instagram (4,329 followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income
£78.8m
Total spending
£54.0m
Cost of raising funds
£99k
Reserves (reported)
£19.8m
Employees
344

Reported reserves equal ~4.4 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% 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: 0.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Norfolk

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2025£78.8m£54.0m
31/03/2024£74.4m£52.8m
31/03/2023£58.4m£53.5m
31/03/2022£52.9m£47.0m
31/03/2021£50.3m£46.1m

Common questions

Is JOHN INNES CENTRE financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves increased to £25.0m, with general unrestricted reserves of £6.3m sitting above the Governing Council's minimum target of £6.0m. The trustees confirm the charity is a going concern, citing significant cash headroom and confirmed strategic funding from BBSRC through March 2028. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Larking Gowen LLP.

Who funds JOHN INNES CENTRE?

Funders whose own accounts filings name JOHN INNES CENTRE as a grant recipient include JOHN INNES FOUNDATION, THE LISTER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, THE JOHN AND PAMELA SALTER CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£600kStudentships (JIC Studentships - John Innes Foundation PhD Programme in Plant and Microbial Sciences)
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022£430kStudentships (John Innes Foundation PhD Programme in Plant and Microbial Sciences)
THE LISTER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINEFY2022£250kLister Prize Fellowship
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022£89kAir conditioning for Rare Books Collection
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£77kSir Ben Gill Fellowship
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022£44kSir Ben Gill Fellowship
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£30kJIC Education Manager
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022Unverified read£22kAdministration of the JIC Historical Collection
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£21kJIC Undergraduate Summer School
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022£20kJIC Undergraduate Summer School
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£19kJIC recreation and sporting facilities for staff and student welfare
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022£17kRecreation Centre Manager
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£14kJIC Outreach Curator
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£12kJIC Student Voice
THE JOHN AND PAMELA SALTER CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£10k
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£8kJIC Rare Books Collection - administration
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2025£6kJIC Find My Future
JOHN INNES FOUNDATIONFY2022£3kJIC Women of the Future events
THE LISTER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINEFY2023£3kSummer Studentship to Dr Tung Le
THE LISTER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINEFY2022£2kSummer Studentship
THE JOHN AND PAMELA SALTER CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£700

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.

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.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
PROJECT GIVING BACK1£324k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUST1£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE JEAN SHANKS FOUNDATION.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
JOHN INNES CENTRE£78.8m——above—no doubt
THE JEAN SHANKS FOUNDATION FY2026£639k£25,0000above—no doubt
MEDICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH FUND FY2025£65k—0unclear—no doubt
ROYAL ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FY2026£1.6m——below—no doubt
PEN GREEN CENTRE FY2025£1.5m—0unclear—no doubt
MICROBIOLOGY SOCIETY FY2025£4.2m——above—no doubt

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