Income at the disability charity Scope rose by £10m last year after a “surge of support” from people using its charity shops.
The charity raised £44.2m in total in the year to the end of March 2022, up from £34.1m in 2020/21.
This includes £21.3m from Scope’s network of 200 charity shops, compared with £8.8m when stores were closed for months under pandemic restrictions.
The charity’s income is slightly higher now than before the pandemic and has risen for the first time since it sold off its regulated and day services in 2018.
Scope’s spending rose by about a quarter to £45.1m in 2021/22 and it recorded a small deficit for the second year in a row.
The charity directly helped 2,058 families through its services last year, up from 1,687 in the preceding 12 months.
The value of legacy gifts fell from £4.9m to £3.5m, the accounts show, while government grants were down slightly from £1m to £800,000.
Scope spent £1m more on staff wages during the year but employee numbers were largely unchanged at 718.
Writing in the introduction to the accounts, chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said that in the weeks after pandemic restrictions were first lifted “there was a surge of support on our high streets, with record-breaking sales [at our charity shops].
“We have remained open for business since and although sales did settle, we ended the year with better results than planned.”
Scope ended the year with free reserves worth £30.6m, down from £32.1m in 2020/21.
Hodgkinson said: “Despite the Covid-19 crisis having an impact throughout last year, Scope remains financially secure.
“Recovering our growth in income and building in our recent cost efficiencies has kept us in a good operational position.”