Macmillan Cancer Support’s income reached a record £268m last year as it received a single legacy gift of £22.4m.
George Gerald Kingsland Smith left the gift, the largest in the charity’s history, in honour of the care given to his mother in the 1990s.
Macmillan’s chief executive Gemma Peters and chair David Bennett praised the “truly exceptional and generous gift” in their introduction to the charity’s 2025 annual report, published this week.
“Achieving this level of income in a challenging economic climate is humbling,” they added.
Legacy income remained the charity’s largest source of income, reaching £129m in 2025 after it topped £100m for the first time in 2024.
Some 3,076 gifts were left to Macmillan in wills in 2025 – the year when King Charles III confirmed his patronage to the charity.
Macmillan’s total income in 2025 was £268m, up from £240m the year prior, while its expenditure dropped by over £50m year-on-year to £175m.
The charity said the expenditure decline reflected a delay in accelerating spend in its new strategic areas.
“Despite the reduction in charitable expenditure, charitable cash paid out in 2025 remained high at £145m as we continued to make payments on commitments from previous years,” the accounts read.
Surplus and reserves growth
After consultations in 2024, Macmillan reduced its headcount by more than a quarter and predicted it would save the charity £27m annually.
Following this, the average number of full-time equivalent staff dropped to 1,364 in 2025 from 1,697.
Wages fell to £59.7m last year from £71.9m in 2024, while the charity paid out £374,000 in redundancy and termination costs in 2025, compared to £7.59m to year before.
As a result of its increased income and reduced expenditure, Macmillan reported a surplus of £94.7m after investment gains, more than quadruple the £21.1m figure in 2024.
“The end result was far larger than we had forecast, due to a strong year for income, along with some slower than anticipated spend as we worked through the first year of our new strategy,” Macmillan stated in its accounts.
Prior to 2024, Macmillan recorded operating deficits for three straight financial years.
Its general reserves hit £117.2m in 2025, an increase of £96.2m from 2024.
Leaders target £1bn investment
Peters paid tribute to the charity’s record fundraising total, which she said was a “powerful reminder of the generosity of Macmillan supporters across the UK”.
“As costs rise and demand for support remains high, this income helps us invest in new ways to reach the people who need us most,” she said.
Peters and chair David Bennett added that it was a year of transition for the charity’s governance.
“We extend our deepest thanks to Richard Murley, our outgoing chair, and trustees Iain Cornish, Mohammed Mehmet and Jag Ahluwalia,” they wrote in the 2025 report.
The charity leaders said the organisation aimed to invest almost £1bn in cancer care over the next five years, seeking £245m in fundraised income in 2026.
