Learning disability charity Hft has stormed into the Charity 100 Index this year at number 76, propelled largely by its recent merger with the national charity Care Fund, which helped to double Hft’s income in the financial year to 31 March 2014.

The Charity 100 Index ranks the UK’s biggest charities by their average total income over the last three years.  The minimum income requirement for admission to the Index rose by 3 per cent this year to £51.9m.

The top three charities – Nuffield Health, Cancer Research UK and the National Trust, have maintained their positions at the top of the list for the eleventh successive year.  The new Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which reported income of £1.05bn in the year to June 2014, will likely join the Index in top spot next year, after it has filed its third set of accounts.

But this year, all the Index’s top ten charities were the same as last year, though United Church Schools Foundation and Save the Children crept up one place each, displacing the Salvation Army from sixth into eighth spot.

There were six new entrants to the Charity 100 Index this year.  Hft, formerly known as Home Farm Trust, jumped 47 places from 23 in the Charity 250 Index (the constituent review of the Charity 250 Index will be published in next month’s Charity Finance) to 76 in the 100 Index.  Hft’s merger with Care Fund contributed £45m of the £98m income reported last year, and the charity has confirmed it will seek further mergers in future to continue its growth path.

Five more charities were promoted from the 250 Index into the 100 this year: Fusion Lifestyle, Prince’s Trust, Institute of Physics, Royal Collection and Addaction.  Making way for them were Jewish Care, Nacro, Rethink, Victim Support and Harpur Trust. Merlin also vanished from the Charity 100 Index, by virtue of its assimilation into Save the Children.

The biggest risers within the 100 list were the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, which moved up 16 places to 50th, and WaterAid, which jumped 14 places to position 72.

Membership is reviewed every April to account for income fluctuations, new charities and charities for which it has not previously been possible to obtain a three-year run of audited accounts.

• Online subscribers can read the full analysis and see the Charity 100 Index table here. You can also use our Benchmark tool to compare your various income streams with Index members and other charities', here.