Charity Accounts Intelreading the accounts so you don’t have to

BRITISH YOUTH OPERA

Registered charity 327927 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BYO

A year round programme of workshops, masterclasses and an extended rehearsal period leading to fully staged productions at a London theatre. This programme is designed to give emerging singers, musicians and technical trainees at the start of their careers the opportunity to work in a nurturing environment with a fully professional team.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£446k
Latest spending
£351k
Registered
1988
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £357,831, which the Trustees consider to be more than sufficient to meet their stated policy target of retaining at least £50,000. The charity reported a net income of £91,984 for the year, supported by diverse incoming resources including grants, donations, and charitable activities.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure (held: £358k)
“The Charity seeks to retain free liquid reserves of at least £50,000, which represents approximately three months’ normal operating expenditure.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

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.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2022)

Total income
£509k
Total spending
£430k
Cost of raising funds
£105k
Reserves (reported)
£50k
Employees
3

Reported reserves equal ~1.4 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 7.0 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 20.6% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/12/2025£446k£351k
31/12/2024£312k£396k
31/12/2023£262k£388k
31/12/2022£509k£430k
31/12/2021£244k£472k

Common questions

Is BRITISH YOUTH OPERA financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £357,831, which the Trustees consider to be more than sufficient to meet their stated policy target of retaining at least £50,000. The charity reported a net income of £91,984 for the year, supported by diverse incoming resources including grants, donations, and charitable activities. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds BRITISH YOUTH OPERA?

Funders whose own accounts filings name BRITISH YOUTH OPERA as a grant recipient include THE IDLEWILD TRUST, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS FOUNDATION, THE TOBACCO PIPE MAKERS AND TOBACCO TRADE BENEVOLENT FUND, THE FENTON ARTS TRUST, THE ASAMAA CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE IDLEWILD TRUSTFY2024£16k
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS FOUNDATIONFY2023£12kPublic Performance
THE TOBACCO PIPE MAKERS AND TOBACCO TRADE BENEVOLENT FUNDFY2025£5kyouth, arts
THE IDLEWILD TRUSTFY2023£5k
THE IDLEWILD TRUSTFY2022£5k
THE FENTON ARTS TRUSTFY2022£4k
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS FOUNDATIONFY2024£2kPublic Performance
THE ASAMAA CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2026£1kMusic education
THE GOLSONCOTT FOUNDATIONFY2025£1k
THE REED FOUNDATIONFY2021—

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
THE KIRBY LAING FOUNDATION3£439k
THE OFENHEIM CHARITABLE TRUST2£80k
MISSES BARRIE CHARITABLE TRUST2£23k
THE ALICE ELLEN COOPER-DEAN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION2£21k
DR RADCLIFFE'S TRUST2£8k
BLUESPARK FOUNDATION1—
THE GUYLL-LENG CHARITABLE TRUST1£455k
PETER SOWERBY FOUNDATION1£150k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
BRITISH YOUTH OPERA£446k—0unclear—no doubt
NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN FY2025£1.9m£60,001 - £70,000—above—no doubt
THE NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE OF GREAT BRITAIN FY2025£4.0m——within—no doubt
CENTRESTAGE PRODUCTIONS YOUTH THEATRE FY2025£131k—0unclear—no doubt
LEWISHAM YOUTH THEATRE LTD FY2025£397k—0below—no doubt
THE BARN THEATRE TRUST LIMITED FY2025£243k—0unclear—no doubt

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