ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH LIMITED

Registered charity 802038 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as ROTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTAL STATION

Scientific research, training and communication to advance knowledge that will enhance the management of cultivated land, nationally and internationally, for environmental and societal benefit

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net loss of £5.3m for the year, resulting in a decrease in total reserves from £85.5m to £80.2m. While unrestricted reserves increased to £17.9m, the trustees report that operational cash reserves of £2.5m fall short of the targeted safe minimum level of £1m. The going concern status is dependent on continued support from UKRI-BBSRC and the achievement of specific performance conditions attached to future funding.

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

What the accounts disclose

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

Year-over-year changes

• Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2024) → material uncertainty (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

In the news

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

• Rothamsted Experimental Station: mechanical cows royalsociety.org · 27/02/2024

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 02393175
• Trading subsidiary: ROTHAMSTED SCIENTIFIC SERVICES LIMITED Companies House 14433339

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Prof. Martin Broadley — Interim CEO (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).

• Ecological Continuity Trust — “Three Rothamsted long term experiments are now supported by the Ecological Continuity Trust” (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.

• KENDALL, Peter Ashley, Sir — director, appointed 10/12/2024on trustee list
• LOBLEY, Matthew, Professor — director, appointed 04/01/2024on trustee list
• THOMAS, Sandra Mary, Professor — director, appointed 06/09/2022on trustee list
• GRAY, Julie Elizabeth, Professor — director, appointed 10/02/2022on trustee list
• HOLTHUIS, Johannes Vincentius Maria — director, appointed 11/05/2021on trustee list
• WARREN, Louise Ann — secretary, appointed 01/02/2015

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

6 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (5 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Reported reserves equal ~6.3 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (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: 1.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Johannes Vincentius Maria Holthuis
• John George Lelliott · trustee of 2 other charities
• Paul Simon O'Leary
• Professor Julie Elizabeth Gray
• Professor Matthew Lobley
• Professor Sandra Mary Thomas
• Sir Peter Ashley Kendall

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

Operates in: Central Bedfordshire · Devon · Hertfordshire · Suffolk

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• John George Lelliott — trustee here and at LAWES AGRICULTURAL TRUST

Known funders

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

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 BRITISH SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE.

• BRITISH SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE income £712k
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL BOTANY TRUST income £2.1m
• RUTLAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY income £417k
• Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust income £804k
• THE SOIL ASSOCIATION LAND TRUST income £639k
• THE BURWARTON AND DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY LIMITED income £352k

Side by side with its peers

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