Sector Flying Blind: Flagship NCVO Almanack Delayed to 2026, Leaving Charities without Crisis Data

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has confirmed it is delaying its flagship Civil Society Almanack, the sector’s definitive statistical guide, until 2026. The announcement creates a significant data vacuum at a time of unprecedented turmoil. Just months ago, NCVO’s own ‘The Road Ahead 2025’ report described a “perfect storm” of falling income, rising costs, and soaring demand battering the UK’s charities. The Almanack has long been the primary tool for sector leaders, policymakers, and funders to understand these trends and make informed decisions. Now, at a moment of acute crisis, when clear, current data is more critical than ever, the UK charity sector has been left to navigate the storm with an outdated map.

The decision to withdraw this crucial navigational tool, confirmed by NCVO on 13 November 2025, was framed as a necessary step to ensure methodological rigour. The umbrella body cited the need “to strengthen and validate some of the innovative new methodologies used in our research” as the reason for the delay. The original plan was to publish an ambitious, expanded edition covering two financial years—2022-23 and 2023-24—to make the comprehensive data more current. NCVO has stated that this remains the intention for the rescheduled 2026 release. While the move is presented as a step to ensure quality, the absence of this keystone publication leaves a critical gap in the sector’s ability to evidence its challenges and advocate for its needs amid intense pressure.

This gap is felt so keenly because of the Almanack’s unique and vital role. Published since 1996, it is widely regarded as the “definitive publication on the state of the voluntary sector.” Its rich dataset, drawing on charity accounts, government surveys, and NCVO’s own research, is used extensively by sector leaders, policymakers, journalists, and academics to influence policy, inform strategy, and understand long-term trends. As Nayyara Tabassum, one of the Almanack’s authors, has described it, the report is more than just data; it serves as a “roadmap for action” that NCVO itself uses to prioritise its work and support charities. The loss of this roadmap, even temporarily, makes navigating the current hostile environment significantly more challenging.

That environment has been defined by NCVO’s ‘The Road Ahead 2025’ report as the “year of the ‘big squeeze'”. Charities are caught in a vice, with relentless pressure on both their income and their expenditure. Public donations are strained, with the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) reporting that the number of people donating has fallen from 58% in 2019 to just 50%. Simultaneously, costs are spiralling. The increase in employer National Insurance Contributions, which came into effect in April 2025, placed an estimated £1.4 billion of additional financial strain on the sector. Faced with this reality, leaders are being forced to consider drastic measures, including reducing staff, cutting services, and, in some cases, closing their organisations entirely. Without the comprehensive, sector-wide data provided by the Almanack, making these critical strategic decisions becomes an exercise in guesswork rather than evidence-based planning.

The delay of the Almanack, however, is not an isolated incident but an acute symptom of a chronic, systemic problem. An October 2021 report from the Law Family Commission on Civil Society, Better data, bigger impact, highlighted the “serious paucity of data” that has long hampered the sector. It presented a striking example: in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the most comprehensive data available from the Almanack was from a year before the crisis even began. This stood in stark contrast to the “recognised, reliable, and timely data” available to the private sector, which enabled swift, responsive support. The report noted that crucial sector data is often 24-30 months out of date, reinforcing that the struggle for timely, actionable intelligence is a long-standing and damaging condition for UK civil society.

This methodological pause is not happening in a vacuum. It follows the recent appointment of new chief executive Kate Lee in September 2025 and a subsequent reshuffle of the executive leadership team confirmed on 10 November 2025. This comes as the organisation prepares to launch a new strategy in spring 2026, suggesting the delay may be part of a wider strategic reset to ensure the Almanack’s foundations are aligned with NCVO’s future direction. Announcing her new team, Lee stated: “Our refreshed executive team combines continuity and fresh perspective, giving us the talent we need to strengthen our services, deepen our relationships and prepare for the next stage of this vital charity’s history.” The postponement thus occurs within a broader context of organisational transformation, as NCVO recalibrates its leadership and strategy for the years ahead.

While NCVO’s stated intention to strengthen its research methodologies is a valid goal, the resulting data vacuum could not have come at a worse time. For a sector already battling immense financial and operational pressures, the absence of its most crucial evidence base is a severe blow. This episode powerfully underscores the long-held concerns, articulated so clearly by the Law Family Commission, about the urgent need for a more modern, resilient, and timely data infrastructure for the whole of UK civil society. The sector’s wait for the 2026 Almanack is now freighted with new significance; it must arrive not just with updated data, but with a clear commitment from NCVO and sector leaders to build a data infrastructure resilient enough to ensure charities never again have to face a crisis in the dark.