Macmillan Cancer Support’s income rose by more than 2 per cent last year, new accounts show.

The charity recorded a total income of £232.5m in the financial year to the end of December 2023, up from £227.1m in 2022. 

A vast majority of the charity’s income came from fundraising activities, which accounted for 98 per cent of its income. The remaining 2 per cent came from grant income, charitable activities and investments.

The charity’s donation income rose by £2.1m over the year, while its income from legacies increased by £2.9m.

Macmillan announced in March that it was planning to cut 150 jobs after a review of its services, in an attempt to save about £7m in annual costs.

In the accounts, Gemma Peters, chief executive of Macmillan, said the charity had “felt the impact of a difficult financial environment”, which resulted in a “difficult decision” to reduce the size of its organisation and make some colleagues redundant. 

“2024 will see us go through a year of transformation to ensure we are fit to tackle the emerging challenges faced by people with cancer and will also see us return to a balanced budget over the course of 2024 and 2025, which is likely to result in some difficult decisions for the organisation in the coming months,” she said.

Macmillan recorded a total expenditure of £265.2m in 2023 – a 5 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

The higher spending was part of the charity’s push to spend down its reserves so it can hold an appropriate level of liquidity cover, with the charity having spent about £100m more than it has raised since 2018, when this model was adopted.

Most of the charity’s spending went on its charitable activities, which accounted for £184.9m of its expenditure in 2023. This was compared with £178.7m spent on charitable activities the year before. 

Macmillan spent £80.3m on raising income in 2023, compared with nearly £73m the year before.

Staff costs at the charity totalled £104.6m in 2023, up from £89.5m in 2022. It employed an average of 2,019 staff in the 2022/23 financial year, including 398 part-time employees.

Peters said: “I am enormously proud of the work Macmillan does day in, day out for people living with cancer and I’d like to say a personal thank you to every single supporter, volunteer, colleague and professional who helps make that possible. 

“As well as celebrating a year of enormous impact for those who need us most, 2023 was also the beginning of our transformation at Macmillan as we started our open strategy process to help us shape the next chapter of Macmillan’s work, ensuring we are ready to help tackle the challenges in cancer care both now and in the future.”