Income stabilised last year at the charity behind the Which? brand, 12 months on from suffering a major fall.
Total income at the Consumers’ Association was down slightly in the year to June 2021, while spending rose by about £1m, according to accounts filed with Companies House yesterday.
The association had a surplus of £4.2m before investment income.
The charity reported a £10m drop in income in 2019/20, as a result of closing its mortgage advisory service.
The Consumers’ Association, which is one of the 100 biggest charities in the country by annual income, had an income of £88.9m in 2020/21, compared with £91.2m in the previous year.
It spent £84.6m, up from £83.5m in 2019/20.
This left the charity with a surplus of just under £5m, once investment gains were included.
The charity was forced to cut more than 150 jobs in 2019/20, but average monthly staff numbers rose slightly last year to 649. This was driven by a 20 per cent increase in the number of staff working in support roles with consumers.
The charity put another £7.3m into its reserves, which stand at just under £60m.
Chief executive Anabel Hoult was paid between £370,000 and £380,000 in 2020/21, slightly less than the year before.
Most of the charity’s income is derived from the subscriptions paid by members who then gain access to its commercial products.
Writing in the introduction to the accounts, Hoult said: “Despite the challenges of Covid-19, we took the brave and necessary action to overhaul our membership offering.
“This has yielded impressive results already, replacing constant churn with a membership that has stabilised at 613,000 (610,000 in 2019/20), and we aspire to see growth next year.”