Charities rank second worst for payment experience, says Access research
Howard Lake | 17 September 2026 | News
Charities and nonprofits have been ranked second worst of 16 UK sectors for payment experience in new research from Access PaySuite, with donors giving them an average score of 1.45 out of five.
The finding comes from the payments company’s Payment Experience Report 2026, which analysed Trustpilot reviews across 160 UK organisations in 16 sectors, isolating those reviews that mentioned payments.
A gap between the cause and the checkout
Charities and nonprofits recorded an average overall Trustpilot rating of 2.75 stars, almost twice their payment score of 1.45. That gap is what the research focuses on: people who are broadly positive about a charity become markedly less positive when they write about paying it or donating to it.
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Payment satisfaction has also fallen by around 4% since the previous year, making charities and nonprofits the second worst performing sector year on year in the study. Entertainment providers and gyms also scored poorly. Legal firms scored best.
Cancelling a direct debit is the recurring complaint
The reviews analysed often cited difficulty cancelling direct debits and recurring donations, with reviewers saying they felt misled about what they had signed up to. This suggests that the process of regular giving, or perhaps the initial stages of it, are weak in the case of those charities that are featured in the research. And this is the income stream that many charities depend on for predictable, long term support.
The research is published as the Government tightens the rules on misleading subscription practices and on straightforward cancellation journeys, requirements that apply to charities as they do to any other organisation taking recurring payments.
Jon Reynolds, Head of Product at Access PaySuite, said:
“Charities work hard to build trust with donors, but that goodwill can be undermined if the payment experience creates friction. Supporters expect the process to be quick, secure and easy to manage, so if recurring donations become difficult to amend or cancel, it can discourage future giving.”
The research
The research is based on a small group – 160 organisations across 16 sectors means roughly ten per sector. Trustpilot reviewers are self-selecting, and you can image that few people would write a review to say that a direct debit had been set up without incident. The research was carried out in May 2026.
Nevertheless the research might inspire some charities to double check their payment processes, particularly that for regular giving sign-up and supporter journey following on from that. Fundraisers who make a monthly donation to the charity they work for could test out cancelling that and analysing the steps it requires.
The full report is available from Access PaySuite.
- Access Group acquires payment platform provider Rapidata Services (23 November 2018)
- Access Group in agreement to acquire fundraising platform Enthuse (12 February 2026)
- A perfect storm in the charity digital payments market (21 October 2015)
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.