Save the Children UK’s income increased by £27m in the year to December 2014, according to its annual report and accounts, published today.

Total income was £370m, an 8 per cent rise on the previous year, the accounts showed.

The charity saw increases in income from individual givers, corporate supporters and community fundraising. However by far the largest increase was in institutional grants, mostly from governments, which rose from £187m to £228m.

The largest contributor was the UK government, which increased its contribution from £80m the previous year to £120m in 2014.

The charity spent £308m on charitable activities, including just under £100m responding to “rapid-onset emergencies” – a £27m increase on the year before.

The charity’s highest paid individual, believed to be chief executive Justin Forsyth, earned between £130,000 and £140,000, the same as the previous year.

Sir Alan Parker, chair of trustees, said in his introduction that 2014 had been one of the toughest years the charity had ever experienced.

“In total we have responded to 97 emergencies from Somalia and South Sudan to Guinea and Guatemala,” he wrote. “And while all these brought terrible suffering to children, few made the headlines. One that did, and again stretched us to the limit, was responding to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone.”