ActionAid UK has seen its income fall by more than 10 per cent after a spike in funds raised due to the war in Ukraine.

The charity’s latest accounts, for 2023, show the charity had an income of £53.3m, down from £59.6m in the previous year but higher than the £49.6m recorded in 2021. 

The charity cites a decrease in funds from the Disasters Emergency Committee as the main reason for its income falling. 

In 2022, the DEC raised more than £200m through its Ukraine appeal and donated £11.5m to ActionAid UK for its Ukraine relief work.

A further £1.1m was allocated for ActionAid UK’s work in Afghanistan.

These funds meant the charity’s income increased by 20.3 per cent between 2021 and 2022.

But funding from the DEC dropped by £6m in 2023, with the charity allocating £4.5m for ActionAid UK’s Turkey and Syria appeal and £2.1m for Ukraine relief.

ActionAid UK’s expenditure fell to £54.7m from £58.1m after fundraising costs went down by £1.6m and a decrease in grants allocated of £2m to £36.3m.

“As a result of the decrease in grants being remitted, expenditure on charitable activities fell from £46m in 2022 to £44.2m in 2023,” the charity said.

“This represented over 81 per cent of our total expenditure (2022: 79 per cent).”

Total fundraising expenditure “fell significantly” to £10.4m from £12.1m in 2022 due to an investment reduction in Direct Response Television donor acquisitions, the charity said.

ActionAid UK said the cost-of-living crisis had created a “difficult environment” to acquire new donors, but more than 5,500 new UK supporters signed up to give a regular monthly gift to the charity last year. 

Earlier this year, the charity appointed three interim leaders to run the organisation after the departure of Halima Begum to Oxfam GB. 

Taahra Ghazi, Shade Odupelu and Hannah Bond, all of whom were working as directors at the charity, would be given time to “build ActionAid UK into a more feminist, anti-racist organisation that delivers on our mission for women and girls’ rights and social justice”, the charity said at the time.