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UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER

Registered charity 525938 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q762243 · Wikipedia · also known as CHESTER COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CHESTER

Provision of higher and further education.

Objects

THE PROVISION MAINTENANCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF A COLLEGE FOR THE HIGHER AND FURTHER EDUCATION OF MEN AND WOMEN, INCLUDING THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS.

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 · Religious Activities · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Amateur Sport · Economic/community Development/employment · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Cheshire West and Chester, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income
£154.2m
Latest spending
£141.7m
Registered
1963
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the University recorded a surplus before other gains and losses of £12.5 million for the year ended 31 July 2025, marking its first operating surplus since 2018–19. Per the trustees' report, the University maintains unrestricted reserves of £90.6 million, which are deemed sufficient against its policy target of 150% of short-term creditors. The University also reported a net cash inflow from operating activities of £4.2 million and reduced its borrowing significantly during the year.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: 150% of short-term creditors (held: £90.6m)
“The Trustees therefore consider the ideal level of reserves at 31 July 2025 to be at least 150% of short-term creditors before taking into consideration the pension liability.” — page 15
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Payments to Chester Students’ Union (Student Trustee)
“Lillian Watson was employed by Chester Students’ Union – payments were made of £568,101” — page 55
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Grant Thornton LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Ofsted (Office For Standards In Education). This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

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 31/07/2025

  • Government income: £19,550,000 — contracts £581,000 (1), grants £18,969,000 (8); 13% of the £154,160,000 total gross income on the same return
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 145 (£60,001–£70,000: 78; £70,001–£80,000: 47; £80,001–£90,000: 6; £90,001–£100,000: 2; £100,001–£110,000: 1; £110,001–£120,000: 1; £120,001–£130,000: 3; £130,001–£140,000: 1; £140,001–£150,000: 3; £150,001–£200,000: 2; £250,001–£300,000: 1)
  • Has a trading subsidiary

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/07/2024

  • Government income: £13,636,000 — contracts £616,000 (1), grants £13,020,000 (9); 9% of the £147,503,000 total gross income on the same return
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 111 (£60,001–£70,000: 51; £70,001–£80,000: 40; £80,001–£90,000: 5; £90,001–£100,000: 4; £110,001–£120,000: 1; £120,001–£130,000: 2; £130,001–£140,000: 2; £140,001–£150,000: 3; £150,001–£200,000: 2; £250,001–£300,000: 1)
  • Has a trading subsidiary

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/07/2023

  • Government income: £13,485,000 — contracts £937,000 (1), grants £12,548,000 (7); 10% of the £138,343,000 total gross income on the same return
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 100 (£60,001–£70,000: 63; £70,001–£80,000: 16; £80,001–£90,000: 7; £90,001–£100,000: 3; £100,001–£110,000: 1; £110,001–£120,000: 2; £130,001–£140,000: 5; £150,001–£200,000: 2; £250,001–£300,000: 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).

Corporate structure

CHESTER CONFERENCES LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts
  • Turnover: £233k
  • Profit before tax: £-35k
THORNTON RESEARCH PROPERTIES LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts
  • Turnover: £2.2m
  • Profit before tax: £181k
  • Intercompany debtors of £356,036 due from parent and creditors of £75,900 owed to parent.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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 (52,889 likes) · instagram (35K followers)

Advertised salaries (public job ads)

Roles this charity has advertised on CharityJob, matched on the exact employer name. A different source from the statutory pay bands above: these are asking salaries for vacancies, not what anyone was paid.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income
£154.2m
Total spending
£141.7m
Reserves (reported)
£90.6m
Employees
1,430

Reported reserves equal ~7.7 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (99% 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 (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Cheshire East · Cheshire West & Chester · Shropshire · Warrington

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/07/2025£154.2m£141.7m
31/07/2024£147.5m£147.4m
31/07/2023£138.3m£146.6m
31/07/2022£135.8m£142.3m
31/07/2021£122.7m£128.4m

Common questions

Is UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the University recorded a surplus before other gains and losses of £12.5 million for the year ended 31 July 2025, marking its first operating surplus since 2018–19. Per the trustees' report, the University maintains unrestricted reserves of £90.6 million, which are deemed sufficient against its policy target of 150% of short-term creditors. The University also reported a net cash inflow from operating activities of £4.2 million and reduced its borrowing significantly during the year. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Grant Thornton LLP.

Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER?

Funders whose own accounts filings name UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER as a grant recipient include NORTH WEST CANCER RESEARCH (INCORPORATING CLATTERBRIDGE CANCER RESEARCH CCR), ARMED FORCES COVENANT FUND, ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (WITH THE INSTITUTE OF BRITISH GEOGRAPHERS), BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITED, THE OGDEN TRUST.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
NORTH WEST CANCER RESEARCH (INCORPORATING CLATTERBRIDGE CANCER RESEARCH CCR)FY2021£105kGrants made in the year— Chester
ARMED FORCES COVENANT FUNDFY2024£60kArmed Forces Families Fund: Research Grants Programme
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (WITH THE INSTITUTE OF BRITISH GEOGRAPHERS)FY2022£17kGrant
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITEDFY2022£7kActive Project Grant
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITEDFY2021£6kActive Project Grant
THE OGDEN TRUSTFY2023£2kGrants to institutions

Government & lottery funding

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

FunderDateAmountPurpose
UK government01/04/2022£579kHyNet (Onshore) - Hydrogen and CCS
UK government01/04/2022£12kSelf-sensing wind turbine composite blades for structural health monitoring (SMARTBLADE)
UK government01/04/2022£17kSmart multifunctional textile with printed electronics to promote healthy ageing in musculoskeletal conditions
UK government01/04/2022£38kMetaNurse - Mixed Reality Simulation for Nursing Training
UK government01/04/2022£51kDevelopment of a robotic maintenance system for wind turbine blades (ROMAIN)
UK government01/04/2022£6kThe Net Zero NW Cluster Plan
UK government01/04/2022£51kNetFLOX-XXL Transforming chicken farming with scalable, automated welfare indexing and environmental footprinting
UK government01/09/2021£77kREcyclable MArine Structure Towards Emission Reduction (REMASTER)
The National Lottery Heritage Fund07/01/2016£40k"Diverse Narratives: Minority Experiences in Cheshire During the First World War"

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
Y COLEG CYMRAEG CENEDLAETHOL2£2.4m
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE ROYAL SOCIETY)2£114k
THE RCN FOUNDATION2£52k
UK DRI LTD1£23.3m
WELLCOME TRUST1£7.1m
THE LEVERHULME TRUST1£6.1m
THE JANE HODGE FOUNDATION1£5.1m
BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION1£1.9m

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER£154.2m——above—no doubt
CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY FY2025£353.8m——unclear—no doubt
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ESTATE MANAGEMENT FY2025£24.0m——within—no doubt
CHESTER STUDENTS' UNION FY2025£595k—0unclear—no doubt
National Centre For Universities and Business FY2026£2.8m£160,000 - £170,000—above—no doubt
PRIFYSGOL ABERYSTWYTH FY2025£127.4m£205,001 - £210,000—unclear—no doubt

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