Wellcome’s charitable spending dips to £723m

The Wellcome Trust’s annual spending on charitable activities fell in 2017-18, but the charity said it remained committed to spending £5 billion over the five years to 2022.

The trust’s annual report and financial statements, published on 18 December, show that for the year ended 30 September 2018, Wellcome spent £723 million on charitable activities, down from £1.22bn in the previous 12 months.

The decrease, the trust says, was driven by Wellcome’s decision not to commit to large-scale initiatives in 2017-18, in comparison with the previous year, where a number of large funding commitments were made.