Cancer Research UK’s income decreased by £35m last year, mainly as a result of a one-off legacy gift of £44m from the previous 12 months coming off the books, the charity’s latest accounts show.

Income at the UK’s largest charity by fundraising income was £684m in the year to the end of March 2024, down from £719m in the previous 12 months.

CRUK raised £463m in fundraising in 2023/24 through its regular givers, corporate partnerships, legacies, giving platforms and social-media challenges.

This is a £27m decrease from the previous year, despite the charity spending £133m on fundraising – £24m more than in 2022/23. 

The charity achieved its highest trading income at £134m, up £7m from the previous year.

But the amount the charity earned from its trading arm was down by £13m year on year to £7m because of “significant increases” in the cost of energy and the National Minimum Wage.

The charity’s overall expenditure went up to £692m from £641m in 2022/23, mainly as a result of increased fundraising costs and the increased costs associated with its trading division. 

Of the £463m of income in fundraising figure, £230m came from legacies, a £30m decrease from the previous year. CRUK had received a “particularly generous” £44m gift in 2022/23.

The charity said the decrease in fundraising income was partly offset by improvements in the speed in which probate applications are being processed.

CRUK saw a £7m increase in its income from events and a further £7m increase from social media and donation platforms such as JustGiving.

“However, this was partly offset by a reduction in the number of regular givers and their average donation value,” the charity said.

“And also by a reduction in income from our corporate partnerships – last year, we received £11m of donations to the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.”

But income from royalties and grants was £76m, £17m less than last year.

CRUK raised £11m from investments and other income.

In terms of spending, the charity committed £400m to cancer research by funding infrastructure and providing grants for investigator-led programmes, projects and training fellowships, up £2m on the previous year. 

It spent £32m on providing people with “trusted and accurate” information about cancer and influencing activity to shape and inform government policy changes.

Wage and salary figures at the charity increased to £112.2m against £96.6m previously.

“We awarded eligible staff a 5 per cent pay increase and also made further increases for some staff following an external benchmarking activity,” the charity said.

“Staff who work in our shops also saw a 9.7 per cent uplift in line with the National Living Wage.”

Employee numbers at the charity grew from 4,052 to 4,283 over the course of the year, the accounts show.