The number of charities and other civil society organisations that have ceased operating, been involved in mergers or handed their services over to others increased by 56% between 2015 and 2025, research shows.

Over this period the number involved in closures, service transfers or mergers rose from 8,000 to around 12,500.

The findings have emerged in early analysis from a project looking at what happens when charities and other civil society organisations close.

Called Closing Time, the project is being carried out by think tank PBE, civil society data specialist Braw Data and charity support organisation The Decelerator and aims to publish its first report early in 2027.

It will investigate “how well or badly civil society organisations end and analyse which places, people and communities are affected”.

According to researchers: “Our early analysis shows that endings are becoming more common. For every 100 organisations active at the start of 2015, 3.4 ended during the year. In 2025, the figure was 4.6.

“The overall picture is one of organisational churn with more endings and more beginnings, particularly for community interest companies (CICs), which are starting and ending at much higher rates than other types of civil society organisations.

“Whether that reflects healthy renewal or growing precarity is a question we’ll return to as the analysis deepens in 2027. What is already clear is that endings are a larger part of civil society’s life than they were.”

PBE co-chief executive Jon Franklin added: “Demand for the services and support offered by charities, social enterprises and CICs continues to rise, but more of these organisations are ending. This is a critical issue for the social sector and policymakers to understand and plan for.”

The Decelerator co-founder Iona Lawrence said that charity leaders calling its support service say that “endings feel like failure”.

“Yet looking back, more often than not they tell us that with time, support and discernment, an ending can be strategic, respectful and valuable to communities, even when it is hard,” she said.

“How we handle endings now will help determine whether civil society is diminished or renewed. We hope this work helps the sector face these questions together, with courage, and plan for endings with the same care, ambition and creativity we give to beginnings, knowing that every ending shapes what comes next.”

Charity closures during 2026

Among those to close this year amid financial pressures was suicide prevention charity Papayrus, which ran the Hopeline247 helpline service.

Working Families is another to shut down this year, after almost half a century of helping families.

LGBT+ organisations are among those at risk of further closures, a report published in November by LGBT+ Fund warned.

Local charities have also been hit hard this year. Among those in financial trouble during the year was Kent social inclusion charity Compaid, which ran transport and digital inclusion schemes in the county. It announced in October that it will cease operating by mid-December.

Taunton Theatre Association, which ran the Taunton Brewhouse venue in the Somerset town, also announced its closure in October, as it has been “unable to continue its work sustainably”.

Meanwhile, Loss of NHS funding and rising costs were behind the closure of Wirral nurse-led cancer support charity Holistic Cancer Centre.

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