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2025-03-31-accounts

Company number: 03180659 Charity Number: 1054495

Prisoners’ Advice Service

Trustees’ annual report and financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

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PRISONERS’ ADVICE SERVICE REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Trustees

The trustees who served during the year and since the year-end are as follows:

Dominique Webb Chair
Peter Coll Treasurer
Farah Alblooshi from 10 July 2025
Andrea Barba
Julie Chiu from 10 July 2025
Harry Dodd to 1 November 2024
Kassim Gaffar
Jeremy Harrison to 3 September 2024
Hannah Kay to 5 January 2025
Katie Le-Billon
Joy Lewis
Martine Lignon
Mandeep Mahil to 28 April 2024
Gift Shala Nyoni from 10 July 2025
Registered Office 37 Eyre Street Hill
London
EC1R 5ET
Charity Registration Number: 1054495
Company Registration Number: 3180659
Bookkeeper Anne Craig
Independent Examiner Kate Adderley CA
Third Sector Accountancy
Holyoake House
Hanover Street
Manchester
M60 0AS
Bank CAF Bank
25 Kings Hill Avenue
West Malling
Kent
ME19 4JQ

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PRISONERS’ ADVICE SERVICE CHAIR’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 March 2025

It is again with great pleasure and pride that I introduce the independently examined accounts for Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS) for the financial year 2024-25.

I am pleased to relate that, throughout the year, PAS continued to fill the large gap that exists in access to justice for adult prisoners in England and Wales, through the provision of our telephone Advice Line, Letters Clinic, Outreach Clinics, end-to-end legal casework, Self-Help Toolkits, Guides and Information Sheets, and triannual publication, Prisoners’ Legal Rights Bulletin (PLRB).

The charity continued to provide free advice and information to adult prisoners from trained and experienced lawyers regarding their legal, human and healthcare rights, the Prison Rules and the conditions of their imprisonment. We also advised women prisoners on matters of Family Law, and those prisoners who faced issues relating to being both imprisoned under criminal law and detained under immigration powers, on Immigration Law. PAS provided support and representation not replicated by the state, local authorities or any other third sector organisation, and to prisoners who did not qualify for Legal Aid.

Given our small team of staff and limited resources, I am continually impressed with the volume and quality of services that PAS manages to provide. As a trustee board, we have continued to take a cautious approach to expanding our team – balancing the need to increase capacity with the additional financial obligations that that brings. We have a fantastic fundraising team, who have continued to buck the current trend of cutbacks, which has enabled us to continue to operate consistently, increasing resources where needed.

I gratefully acknowledge the sustained and highly professional engagement of all eight trustees who served throughout the year, and who committed their experience in governance, finance, fundraising, voluntary sector management and understanding of the Criminal Justice System to the development and sustainability of the charity. All our trustees are busy people, and their continued commitment to serving PAS is a continuing inspiration and motivation for me.

I also want to take this opportunity to recognise Jeremy Harrison, whom we sadly lost in September 2024. A long-term, steadfast, enthusiastic and above all kind trustee, he was and remains sorely missed by us all.

Finally, on behalf of the Management Committee, I would like to express my gratitude to, and admiration for, all those who helped PAS to achieve its charitable aims in 2024-25. I particularly thank all of the committed and hard-working staff and express my deep appreciation of the loyal donors (trusts and foundations, corporations and individuals) whose sustained confidence in, and generous contributions to, PAS were vital in enabling its ongoing work with prisoners throughout the year. It is a privilege to work alongside you, protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Dominique Webb Chair of the Board of Trustees / Management Committee

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PRISONERS’ ADVICE SERVICE TRUSTEES’ REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 March 2025

The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025. Included within the Trustees’ Report is the Directors’ Report (above) as required by company law.

Reference and administrative information set out on page one form part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The charitable objects of Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS), as set out in its Articles of Association, are:

Our main activity is to ensure that legal advice and representation are accessible to all adult serving prisoners in England and Wales, regardless of their ability to pay, and, particularly, concerning the application of the Prison Rules and the conditions of their imprisonment. The charity strives to fill the large gap that exists in access to justice for serving prisoners and our work safeguards the social welfare of prisoners when prison authorities overlook, or ignore, their legal and human rights.

PAS pursues prisoners’ calls for help about their treatment in prison by providing advice and information and, where appropriate, taking legal action.

Examples of issues PAS can advise upon include adjudications, categorisation, contact with children, discrimination, foreign national prisoners, healthcare, human rights, indeterminate sentences, LGBT+ prisoners, life sentences, parole, probation, property, recall, resettlement.

The achievement of our aims will ensure that we are delivering relief to, and contributing to the potential rehabilitation of, serving prisoners. Often, the first obstacle that prisoners face in asserting their legal rights is that they do not know them. Our services inform, educate and support prisoners, thereby stimulating engagement and better mental health, and supporting rehabilitation.

Strategies

PAS runs a number of free services: the telephone Advice Line, Letters Clinic, Outreach Clinics, legal casework, legal information resources and a subscription-based rights bulletin (free to prisoners). Through these services, prisoners are provided with legal information, advice, assistance and representation.

Significant activities and how they contribute to achieving our objectives

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we deliver advice via a Freephone service specifically for women prisoners on a Tuesday morning. This number is cleared within all women’s prisons.

Measuring success

The work of PAS’ Caseworkers is monitored via: bi-monthly casework meetings with all PAS' Caseworkers and its Director; individual meetings with the Director; regular Management Committee meetings. All prison visits and cases are logged on our databases and filed as required by PAS’ contract with the Legal Aid Agency. Success is measured regularly, based on the number of prisoners advised by phone and letter, the number of Outreach Clinics delivered and prisoners seen one-to-one, and by the number of legal cases taken on and the results of those cases.

Evaluation is recorded through the feedback of service-users. For a selection of prisoners, telephone monitoring feedback sheets are completed by the Caseworker while speaking with the service-user. At Outreach Clinics, prisoners give feedback via questionnaires, which are designed to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Similar questionnaires, along with a Freepost return envelope, are sent out to prisoners with all letters. Quantitative data is also collected from our Access databases, and our telephone and letters records. Qualitative comments are particularly useful in determining whether our actions are resulting in improved conditions and awareness, and any changes we can make to further improve our services.

Volunteers

Volunteers from local (London-based) corporate law firms play a vital role in the day-to-day running of PAS services, with some 40 attending our London office over a typical year. Their main purpose is to assist Caseworkers by responding to the large volume of general enquiries – by phone and post – as well as helping with casework and preparing information such as toolkits and the triannual bulletin.

Charity Commission guidance

In 2024-25, PAS’ trustees paid due regard to the guidance published by the Charities Commission on public benefit when exercising their powers and duties, where relevant.

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE Charitable Activities

Director

In 2024-25, Lubia Begum-Rob continued in her role as Director of PAS. She was responsible for the day-today running of the charity on behalf of the Management Committee, and her duties involved a mix of advice, advocacy, litigation, staff and volunteer management and fundraising.

In her role as Caseworker, Lubia answered telephone calls and letters from prisoners and pursued several cases on prisoners’ behalf, undertaking a mixture of parole board cases, and public law challenges.

Throughout 2024-25, Lubia represented PAS as an executive committee member of the Association of Prison Lawyers (APL), while PAS continued its membership of the following professional bodies: CLINKS, the Criminal Justice Alliance, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association, the Discrimination Law Association, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Parole Board Users’ Group, Public Lawyers in Non-Governmental Organisations and The Small Charities Coalition.

In 2024-25, Lubia oversaw the development of PAS’ annual event, which took place on 29 May 2024. The event took as its focus the role that access to the arts plays in prisoner and ex-prisoner rehabilitation. It featured panellists from Koestler Arts and record label, Red Tangent Records, which helps ex-prisoners enter the music industry, as well as freelance artist, Erika Flowers. Music was provided by ex-prisoners, Ryan Kershaw and Barry Toghill.

Director’s Case Study

Prisoner A was serving a life sentence for manslaughter and, when he reached out to PAS, was in excess of his tariff. He had been trying to access specialist treatment for mental illness for several years. As the Parole Board must decide upon a prisoner’s risk to the public before granting a release on life licence into the community, without addressing his illness, he had almost no prospect of progressing through his sentence to open conditions and eventual release.

The prison service is legally obliged to provide access to rehabilitation for prisoners, including, as in this case, access to mental health services. Lubia represented Prisoner A at the latest of his unsuccessful parole hearings, after which she made it clear that PAS was prepared to take legal action to compel the prison service to comply with its own policy and provide the prisoner with one-to-one therapeutic treatment.

The prison then facilitated access to the proper treatment, with Prisoner A being seen by a therapist twice a month. As a result, both his prison and community probation officers felt confident to support a progressive move to open conditions on the basis that he had been satisfactorily addressing core risk issues in the therapy.

Caseworker and Partnerships Manager

In 2024-25, Jane Finnis continued in her joint role as Caseworker and Partnership Manager. As Caseworker, she answered telephone calls and letters from prisoners and pursued cases on their behalf. As Partnership Manager, she was responsible for overseeing the relationships between the charity and the various corporate law firms that assist us with – amongst other things – a supply of legal volunteers. There are two forms of corporate volunteering at PAS: the first entails those who attend PAS’ office to work to a rota for a half-day at a time; the second involves volunteers responding to prisoners’ letters and contributing to various prisoner publications remotely, while working from their own offices.

In 2024-25, Jane oversaw PAS’ continued work with six law firms – Cooley LLP, Dentons, Gibson Dunn, Herbert Smith Freehills, Reed Smith and White & Case – and welcomed three more firms to the programme: Simmons & Simmons, who returned as a partner, Norton Rose Fulbright and Phillip Morris, the latter two of which began working with PAS for the first time. Jane provided the relevant training, updating this regularly as the law changed.

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The volunteers who attended the office assisted PAS by responding to letters and phone calls from prisoners, with research and, for those with greater experience, with case files and assisting at Outreach Clinics.

For the remote Letters Clinic, volunteers from Reed Smith, Herbert Smith Freehills, Norton Rose Fulbright, Cooley LLP, Gibson Dunn and Dentons responded to PAS letters and phone calls from their own offices. In 2024-25, all of PAS’ work was moved to the cloud via Sharepoint and such firms could no longer have direct access to our server. Though this system required added administration on PAS’ part, it saved PAS the considerable cost of printing and secure posting.

Finally, our corporate partners continued to assist with the production of the Prisoners’ Legal Rights Bulletin, both by drafting case summaries and with its printing. A number of the firms involved also funded our work directly with grants or donations (see fundraising report below).

Caseworker and Partnerships Manager Case Study

In 2024-25, Prisoner B, who had been a client of PAS for many years, and whose story is complex and heartrending, was finally granted release. A Vietnamese national, she came to the UK with her family as a young adult. She was convicted of grievous bodily harm (GBH) in 2008 and was given an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence. This is the indeterminate sentence that became so infamous that it was abolished in 2012, although not retrospectively, as it meant that prisoners could be detained well after the expiry of their minimum tariff. The Parole Board will only direct the release of IPP prisoners if it considers the risk posed is low enough to be managed by licence conditions. Prisoner B had been stuck in prison since 2007, first on remand and then serving her sentence, unable to persuade the Parole Board to release her. Her original tariff of imprisonment was two and a half years, but this had expired in 2010.

Prisoner B’s case was difficult on several levels. She had both language and learning difficulties. Despite the time she had spent in the UK, her English was minimal. Although she had been assessed multiple times by both psychologists and psychiatrists, no diagnosis of mental illness had been made, nor was the exact nature of her learning difficulties clear. However, her IQ was low. As a result of these issues, it had proven impossible to enrol her on offending behaviour courses to demonstrate reduced risk, and any work done individually with her was largely forgotten about shortly thereafter.

The main issue, however, was the fact that although the offender managers and psychologists who had worked with Prisoner B in prison had been supportive of her release, her probation officer on the outside had resolutely and, in PAS’ view, unreasonably, disagreed with their recommendations and assessments of her risk.

Prisoner B’s case had been reviewed several times by the Parole Board, which is extremely risk averse. Each panel found in favour of her probation officer’s negative recommendations and declined to direct her release. In 2024, Jane instructed an independent psychologist to reassess Prisoner B and represented her at her last hearing, when the Parole Board finally decided to disregard the probation officer’s unhelpful assessment and direct her release. An Approved Premises was also identified to which Prisoner B could go upon discharge. By the time of her release. Prisoner B had been in jail 15 years over her minimum tariff of two and a half years, effectively serving her sentence seven times over.

Caseworker (specialising in Foreign National Prisoners)

In 2024-25, Nicki Rensten, continued to advise prisoners through telephone, letter and outreach sessions, and maintained a varied and complex caseload of legally aided and pro bono matters, including parole applications, Category A reviews and complaints about release licence conditions.

Much of Nicki’s work continued to focus on assisting Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs), and she delivered regular advice sessions at FNP prisons, HMPs Huntercombe and Maidstone. This work included advising on the application of the early removal scheme and sometimes dealt in depth with cases of repatriation to prisons abroad – both those where a prisoner wanted to be sent there, and when they were fighting against it. It also covered the ways in which an immigration status affects other prison processes such as categorisation and applications for release on temporary licence.

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In 2024-25, 17% of callers to the Advice Line, 8% of letter-writers and 13% of outreach attendees were foreign nationals. 10% of cases were opened on behalf of FNPs.

Caseworker Case Study

On a different note, Nicki assisted ex-prisoner, Vincent Horsfall, who had been wrongfully subjected to two X-ray scans whilst serving his sentence. Mr Horsfall was twice selected for full body scans upon return from family visits at HMP Oakwood – despite no intelligence to suggest that any item was concealed. The prison’s policy was then that 10% of prisoners attending visits be randomly selected for scanning. Though Mr Horsfall questioned his treatment, he was threatened with punishment should he refuse to be scanned.

With the aid of a law book, which he’d bought himself, Mr Horsfall launched his own Judicial Review against the prison. He challenged the prison’s policy as unlawful, arguing that it was not in accordance with the Secretary of State’s policy on the use of X-ray body scans and was in breach of his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to a "private and family life”. Permission was granted to proceed to a full hearing and an interim order made that he should not be scanned again until the conclusion of the case.

Mr Horsfall then attended a third family visit, bringing with him a copy of the court order. He was again singled out and accused of faking the document. He was sent to segregation until the court confirmed that the order was genuine.

Upon his release from prison, Mr Horsfall contacted PAS to explain his progress and request our involvement at his upcoming hearing. PAS agreed to take on his case and instructed Stuart Withers at No5 Barristers’ Chambers in London.

Following the hearing, the High Court ruled that Mr Horsfall had been unlawfully subjected to two X-ray body scans at HMP Oakwood. G4S Care and Justice Services, who manage the prison, were ordered to pay Mr Horsfall £7,500.00 in compensation – an unusually high sum reflecting the peculiarities of the case. Following Mr Horsfall’s success, PAS anticipates that other prisoners subjected to unlawful body scanning may also seek rightful compensation.

Women Prisoners’ Caseworker

Our work with women prisoners over the year was again carried out by Barrister, Kate Lill, PAS’ dedicated Women Prisoners’ Caseworker.

It is widely accepted that women in custody have different, and often complex, needs and challenges to their male counterparts and are highly likely to be victims as well as offenders. Around one in five women have been in local authority care, and 63% of women serving a sentence of less than 12 months say they need support with previous or ongoing trauma, including domestic abuse (PRT Prison Fact File, February 2025). Many women have mental health needs, with rates of self-harm by women in prison hitting a new peak in December 2024; the rate being almost nine times higher in the female estate than in the male estate (Ministry of Justice Safety in custody quarterly bulletin: December 2024).

Women prisoners require specialist attention because of their role as primary carers for young children. Over half of women in prison in 2024 have children under 18, resulting in more than 17,500 children estimated to be separated from their mother by imprisonment in 2020 (PRT Prison Fact File, February 2025). Many women prisoners are subject to short custodial sentences for minor crimes such as Council Tax evasion or shoplifting, with 50% receiving sentences for six months or less (PRT Prison Fact File, February 2025). These can, nevertheless, have a catastrophic impact, causing women to lose their homes and jobs or have children taken into care, or, worse, adopted (some 2,000 children every year) (Vallely & Cassidy, The Independent, 2012).

In 2024-25, women made up 6% of callers to our Advice Line and 7% of letter-writers, despite making up only 4% of the prison population in England and Wales. 3% of Outreach Clinics attendees were women and 40% of cases were opened on behalf of women.

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Women Prisoners’ Caseworker Case Study

Kate acted on behalf of Prisoner D, a Portuguese woman with settled status who had lived in the UK for many years, and whose children were British. Serving a custodial sentence for fraud, she had never been in prison before. Prisoner D had some significant health concerns and was suffering from debilitating symptoms that were being investigated by the hospital. She attended a PAS Outreach Clinic, seeking advice about early release on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) as she wanted to be able to cope with her illness at home.

Though Prisoner D wished to remain in the UK, as a foreign national involved in the Criminal Justice System, she could be liable to deportation and had been told that, as a result, she could not be released on HDC because she was not presumed suitable under the policy framework.

PAS corresponded with the prison and made representations about both Prisoner D’s care whilst still in custody and her release on HDC. Following our involvement, the Home Office confirmed it would not seek to deport Prisoner D, and the prison accepted that she could be released on HDC. Her application was then expedited, and she was able to return to her family home to continue her medical treatment.

Community Care Caseworkers

In 2024-25, PAS’ Community Care Caseworkers continued to provide specialist advice and assistance to older prisoners, prisoners with intellectual and/or physical disabilities, those with chronic health issues, or poor mental-health, and those with learning difficulties, across England and Wales.

The year began with Caseworkers Marte Lund and Laura Orger in a job share, with additional support from former PAS solicitor Anna Fairbank as Community Care Consultant until 30 April 2024. Marte then left to begin maternity leave on 13 November 2024. Laura left to take up a full-time judgeship on 5 September 2024, and was replaced by Michelle Yeo, who started on 1 October 2024.

PAS was extremely pleased when Debobroto Dey joined staff as a new and permanent Legal Caseworker on 21 April 2025, permitting him to share the role with Michelle whilst Marte was on maternity leave. Upon Marte’s return, Debobroto will broaden his focus to work with prisoners more generally.

Throughout 2024-25, the Community Care Caseworkers were frequently asked for assistance when prisons, local authorities, probation services or NHS Trusts had failed to meet their legal responsibilities towards disabled and elderly prisoners with health or social care needs, both during their time in prison and when they were due for release. Outcomes for elderly or ill prisoners, or those with disabilities, included obtaining timely, appropriate medical treatment, adaptations to cells, mobility aids and reasonable adjustments to prevent unfavourable treatment.

In 2024-25, older prisoners made up 20% of callers to our Advice Line, 44% of letter-writers and 29% of Outreach Clinic attendees. 55% of callers to the Advice Line, 72% of letter-writers and 55% of outreach attendees self-identified as suffering from a disability, a chronic health condition, mental health issues or learning difficulties. 40% of cases were opened on behalf of older, disabled and chronically ill prisoners.

Community Care Caseworker Case Study

PAS successfully represented a prisoner with late-stage cancer, Prisoner E, in a Judicial Review against the Secretary of State for Justice (SSJ) for an order for Early Release on Compassionate Grounds (ERCG) to allow him to be released from his sentence so that he could die in a hospice in the community surrounded by his family.

Prisoner E was serving a six-year prison term for a non-violent offence when he was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in April 2023. He underwent surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. By March 2024, he was wheelchair-bound, on a liquid diet, and in severe pain. He could not speak and only had 10% of his sight left in one eye, the other being completely blind. He was predicted to have between three and 12 months left to live.

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It also became clear by this time that the prison establishment was unable to support his increasingly complex healthcare needs: the healthcare notes showed several occasions on which his medications were incorrectly dispensed or marked in error, he had suffered a serious infection, and he was not being provided with appropriate food and nutrition.

Prisoner E then made the application to the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) for Early Release on Compassionate Grounds, but this was refused on 5 March 2024.

Prisoner E’s condition continued to deteriorate. In May 2024, a doctor from the prison’s healthcare department stated that he could not be adequately cared for in jail and should be given palliative treatment in a specialist nursing home. Marte Lund represented Prisoner E in making an application for reconsideration of ERCG on 16 May 2024. No response was ever given.

PAS then issued an urgent Pre-Action protocol letter on 16 July 2024. On 9 and 12 August 2024, the SSJ once more refused to grant Prisoner E release on licence to a hospital in the community. On 13 August 2024, PAS instructed Philip Rule KC and Mirren Gidda of No 5 Chambers to issue urgent Judicial Review proceedings, applying for directions and interim relief. Mrs Justice Foster DBE ordered interim relief on 14 August 2024, ordering the SSJ to reconsider the application for ERCG. The SSJ directed ERCG for Prisoner E on 16 August 2024. He was then moved out of the Healthcare unit in prison to the palliative unit in Guys’ Hospital. Sometime later, he was moved to a hospice in Portsmouth so that he could be visited by his children and family in the last weeks of his life.

On 22 October 2024 Prisoner E died a free man, surrounded by his family.

Advice Line Caseworker

In 2024-25, Advice Line Caseworker, Sabrina Boudra, dispensed advice and support to prisoners who reached out to PAS for help using our telephone Advice Line. She was responsible – along with Office and Advice Line Manager – for being first point of contact when prisoners telephone the Advice Line, and for triaging callers before connecting them to Caseworkers. She also maintained a portfolio of service-users of her own.

Advice Line Caseworker Case Study

Prisoner F contacted PAS after being transferred to a prison where staff routinely ask all prisoners to open their legally privileged mail in front of staff. Sabrina advised him to submit a complaint, as this is a clear breach of Prison Rule 39, which prohibits unauthorised opening or reading of legally privileged material by prison staff. Prisoner F went through the two stages of the prison complaints system, and officers at both stages insisted that staff were authorised to ask all prisoners routinely to open their legal mail in front of them. They reminded Prisoner F of a local security policy issued to all prisoners in June 2024 explaining this. Senior officers within the prison believed that, as officers were not reading the mail and just asking prisoners to open it in front of them, it was not a breach of Rule 39 and national policy.

PAS emailed the governor, raising this concerning practice at the prison, which had been in place for almost an entire year. We explained to the prison that any blanket interference with legally privileged mail, including opening the mail in front of officers, is a breach of Rule 39. Decisions to open prisoners’ mail should be made on a case-by-case basis and only where the governor has reasonable cause to believe either that it contains an illicit enclosure or is not from a recognised legal adviser or other body covered by Rule 39. We therefore asked the governor to urgently investigate the matter, ensure that staff were aware of the correct procedures for Rule 39 correspondence, and rescind the local policy authorising staff to routinely ask that prisoners open their legal correspondence in front of staff.

We promptly received a response from the governor explaining that a new member of the senior management team had put out this notice by mistake, and that it had been rescinded. The governor himself also reminded staff of the correct process in handling legally privileged mail, and a notice to staff was issued reiterating the correct process stated both in PSI 49/2011 and in the Authorised Communications Controls and Interception Policy Framework.

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SERVICES

Telephone Advice Line

Our core Advice Line service is especially vital for those in prison with lower literacy levels, or whose first language is not English, ensuring that our service is truly accessible for all. Over the course of 2024-25, PAS successfully responded to 38,170 calls from prisoners.

Letters Clinic

The Letters Clinic provides the opportunity to convey more detailed information on specific aspects of Prison Law and individually tailored legal advice to be imparted to service-users. In 2024-25, PAS received 866 letters from service-users and sent out 5,854 letters or related items in response.

Outreach Clinics

We provide advice on a one-to-one basis at legal advice outreach sessions, which are often held in prison libraries. Any prisoner can sign up to attend these sessions. At the clinics, Caseworkers provide expert advice on a vast range of issues, from missing items of property to complex issues relating to recall procedures and sentence calculation. In 2024-25, PAS delivered 63 face-to-face clinics to 472 prisoners across 18 prisons in England and Wales.

Legal Casework

In the year 2024-25, PAS Caseworkers took on 84 legal cases. Prosecuting cases goes further than the provision of one-off / limited telephone or letter advice, or a single exchange with a prison regarding a client’s issue and instead entails a more thorough assessment of whether the prisoner has a legal case to challenge their treatment. Often, we act for prisoners by writing representations on their behalf and attending hearings to advocate for them.

In 2024-25, we continued to represent prisoners before the Parole Board by acting as agents for a law firm with a Prison Law contract. At the time of writing, this was again GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates.

Our Public Law contract with the Legal Aid Agency remained in place, allowing us to advise and represent prisoners in a wide range of legal issues, and a renewed Prison Law contract was awarded, set to begin in October 2025.

Self-Help Toolkits, Guides and Information Sheets

In 2024-25, our Toolkits, Guides and Information Sheets were downloaded from the website on many thousands of occasions, were available in prison libraries and were sent out to prisoners by PAS Caseworkers. Our literature is designed to assist prisoners by helping them to understand and implement some of the more straightforward legal processes themselves. It includes four guides to Family Law for women, with advice on what do when their children are being adopted, information on making complaints of racism, guides to LGBT+ rights and titles such as: Care for Prisoners Who Are Ill or Disabled; Disability Discrimination; Foreign National Prisoners; Healthcare Complaints.

Prisoners’ Legal Rights Bulletin

We continued to reach a large prisoner readership through our bulletin, which was published three times in 2024-25 and to which 735 prisoners were subscribed. The bulletin was free to prisoners and contained up-to-date and accurate information about new legislation and cases pertaining to Prison Law, new Prison Service Instructions and commentary on cases that had gone before the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner’s Office. Important changes in legislation affecting prisoners were also explained.

As well as prisoners, subscribers to the bulletin throughout the year included solicitors, barristers, academic organisations, journalists, and prison libraries. We were extremely grateful to corporate law firms Herbert Smith Freehills LLP and Gibson Dunn, who printed the two editions of the PLRB for us on a pro bono basis in 2024-25.

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FUNDRAISING

In 2024-25, PAS was again most grateful to receive major, unrestricted grants of £70,000 and £25,000 from loyal, longstanding supporters The Hadley Trust and The AB Charitable Trust respectively.

The National Lottery Community Fund once again supported PAS with the awarding of £200,215 over five years in support of our Advice Line. We received the first tranche of £20,021 in October 2024. The Garfield Weston Foundation also returned as a supporter with an unrestricted award of £30,000.

Another longstanding supporter, The Persula Foundation (formerly Fairness Foundation), awarded a further grant of £20,000, again in support of the dedicated Advice Line Caseworker role at PAS.

We received the second tranche of a generous, three-year, unrestricted award of £20,000 per annum from The Bromley Trust and the third tranche of a three-year award of £15,000 per annum from The Charles Hayward Foundation in support of our work with women. Another consistent funder, The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust, also awarded a new, three-year grant of £10,000 per annum in support of core costs.

The London Legal Support Trust, whose Centre of Excellence designation PAS retains, again awarded a much appreciated £10,000 in support of core costs. We also received £10,000 from returning funder, The Evan Cornish Foundation, for our work with older and disabled prisoners.

Further notable income from Trusts and Foundations included: £9,000 (the fourth year of five) from The City Bridge Foundation in support of resettlement work with prisoners in and from London and £7,141 from The Essex Community Fund in support of our work in that county.

PAS gratefully received three unrestricted, anonymous donations: two of £60,000 and one of £25,000, as well as the second tranche of three of £12,500 (plus Gift Aid) in support of our work with women from Lady Edwina Grosvenor.

During the year, PAS received financial support from corporate law firms and their associated trusts and foundations, including £5,000 from Reed Smith and £3,500 from Herbert Smith Freehills LLP in support of core costs. We received a second award of £5,000 from Herbert Smith Freehills LLP for the purchase of computers to assist the work of volunteers, as well as £3,000 from Dentons and £2,500 from Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, both in support of core costs.

Thank you

PAS is most indebted to all of our supporters in 2024-25, many of whom are listed below in Notes 4, 24 and 25 to the Accounts. We thank all of the trusts and individuals who donated to our work – both large amounts and small, as well as all of the corporates who supported us, financially and otherwise, throughout the year.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

It should be noted that PAS does not seek or accept Home Office or Prison Service funding and is completely independent of the Prison Service.

Financial Position

The Statement of Financial Activities shows a total surplus of £60,568 (2024: surplus of £10,128), which equates to a surplus in unrestricted funds of £53,548 (2024: surplus of £60,594) and a surplus of £7,020 on restricted funds (2024: a negative £50,466).

Unrestricted income for the year was £425,139 (2024: £319,689), and unrestricted expenditure was £376,591 (2024: £261,963). Restricted income for the year was £166,788 (2024: £178,665), and restricted expenditure was £154,768 (2024: £226,263).

The funds of the charity at the end of the year were £503,379 (2024: £442,811), consisting of unrestricted funds of 455,609 (2024: £402,061) and restricted funds of £47,770 (2024: £40,750).

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Further details of the charity’s performance can be found in the financial statements on Pages 18 to 20 and in the notes to the accounts on pages 21 to 39.

Funding sources for the period 2024-25 included casework legal income of £51,762 (2024: £47,029) from the Legal Aid Agency and other legal fees, providing a net contribution of £37,152 (2024: £38,123) before salaries and overheads.

There was also income arising from restricted and unrestricted grants, as well as donations from individuals.

Reserves Policy

Free reserves (general funds less net book value of fixed assets) held on 31 March 2025 were £440,701 (2024: £389,454), representing nearly nine months’ operating costs. As a guideline, the Management Committee aims to hold six to nine months of reserves, which would allow PAS time to recover from any temporary shortfall of income.

PAS holds an investment account with Flagstone deposit platform. This enables investment of funds (in excess of two to three months' running costs) in a series of separate bank accounts to ensure they are protected by the FSCS and to facilitate better interest income. The balance at 31/3/25 was £392,152 (2024: £318,836).

Risk review

The management committee continually monitors and regularly discusses any possible financial risk to the charity. This is discussed in conjunction with operational risks and their possible effect on the charity’s finances. For fuller details please refer to “Risk Review” in the “Structure, Governance and Management” section on page 14.

FUTURE PLANS

The Management Committee has set the following ongoing objectives for PAS:

The organisation has developed and evolved its activities to ensure sustainable delivery of its objectives for since 1991, and continues to review and monitor these objectives against its strategies as the legal and political fields of prisoners’ rights proceed through different landscapes. The plans for the future are to continue delivery of the existing services.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing Document

Prisoners’ Advice Service was founded by third sector organisations, the Prison Reform Trust, Liberty, Justice, NACRO, Inquest and The Howard League for Penal Reform, and formally launched as an independent charity in May 1991, registering with the Charity Commission in April 1996. It became a company limited by guarantee on 1st April 1996 under a Memorandum of Association that established the objects and powers of the charitable company, and it is governed by its Articles of Association as amended by resolution on 16 October 2015.

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31 March 2025 was seven (2024: nine). The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

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All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 11 to the accounts.

Organisational Structure

The Management Committee comprised of the trustees, who were also directors of the company under Company Law. All Management Committee members were expected to have an interest in Prison Law and new members had an induction, whereby they spent a day shadowing PAS staff members to gain experience of the day-to-day running of the organisation. The basic management structure of PAS was as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
Management Committee
¦
Director
¦
----- End of picture text -----

Partnerships Manager, Caseworkers, Head of Fundraising and Communications (Fundraising and Communications Officer), Office and Advice Line Manager

The Management Committee had general control of, and managed, the charity’s administration. It delegated certain powers and functions to the Director, Lubia Begum-Rob, including the day-to-day running of PAS. This included the power to recruit staff to run the Company. Among other duties, the Management Committee was also responsible for ensuring that actions taken were in the best interest of PAS. This included matters of finance. In this capacity, in 2024-25, it continued to liaise with the Director, the Head of Fundraising and Communications and other staff members at Management Committee meetings throughout the year in order to discuss finances, among other matters.

The Management Committee met four times in 2024-25. The Committee can vary the frequency as it feels appropriate. Its activities included:

The officers as at 31 March 2025 were:

Chair Dominique Webb Treasurer Kassim Gaffar Secretary Lubia Begum-Rob (Director)

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

PAS’ recruitment of new trustees results either from the need to replace a standing-down trustee or from the identification of specific skills or experience that the Board/Management Committee (MC) requires or would benefit from.

The role advertisement is designed by the Chair after consultation with PAS Director, on the basis of a skills and competencies analysis. It is placed on PAS website under Vacancies and publicised by Clinks (in the Light Lunch ), the Criminal Justice Alliance Bulletin, the Small Charities Coalition, Charity Job, Getting OnBoards and other platforms.

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Applications are received by PAS’ Office Manager who forwards them to the Chair. Having read them carefully, the latter anonymises them and forwards them to the Director and all trustees, without any comments, asking them to respond with a “Yes” or “No” to candidates being shortlisted, and any comments they would care to make. A majority decision results in a list of shortlisted candidates that the Chair disseminates to trustees and Director for ultimate agreement.

Shortlisted applicants are invited for interview. The interviewing panel systematically comprises of two trustees (not necessarily including the Chair, if, for instance, she happens to know one or more of the applicants) and the Director.

Post interview, the panel’s selection is communicated to the whole Board for approval. The successful applicants are invited to attend the next Board/Management Committee meeting at which they will introduce themselves to those trustees who did not sit on the interviewing panel – and will be formally established as trustees.

Policies and procedures for the induction and training of trustees Once the interviewing panel’s selection has been approved by the Board/MC, the recruited applicants receive PAS’ Trustees Induction Pack and associated resources, with which they must familiarise themselves before attending their first PAS Board/MC meeting.

At this stage, the Chair encourages them to read the Charity Trustee Welcome Pack, from the Charity Commission, and to join the Charity Commission’s mailing list for training purposes and governance updates.

On the more interactive side, newly appointed trustees attend an induction session that takes place at PAS’ office, when they meet with the Chair, the Director and as many members of the PAS team as can be arranged. They are deliberately left to raise any question they wish to ask from staff members outside the Director’s and the Chair’s presence.

Trustees are, obviously, kept informed, either by the Director or the Chair, of any important development or legislation that would affect their role and actions as trustees, e.g. GDPR; workplace pension scheme/auto-enrolment, etc.

The bi-annual review of PAS’ Business Plan, which culminates in the yearly June review meeting, offers a constantly effective opportunity for training and re-training in matters of governance and strategy setting.

Risk review

The Director and Management Committee members were responsible for implementing and ensuring compliance with the risk management strategy. The risk management strategy aims to ensure that appropriate action be taken were a case to fall outside of acceptable risk levels. Other risks to PAS were considered at the annual review of the business plan when organisational strengths and weaknesses were reviewed.

As part of our annual business planning cycle, PAS has a comprehensive risk register that is used to identify:

Risks are then grouped based on the likelihood of a risk becoming an issue and the severity of its impact on the organisation, should it materialise. This helps to inform the time and attention given to managing individual risks, ensuring we take a proportionate approach.

We carry out a fulsome review of the risk register as part of our business planning process, as well as regularly reviewing risks to make sure they are still relevant.

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By way of example, one key risk facing PAS at the time of going to print is summarised below:

Long-standing donors ending their support.

  1. Probability: Medium

  2. Impact: High – would cause a significant shortfall in PAS funding that would be difficult to fill either from another single donor or from multiple funding sources.

  3. Severity of the risk to PAS: High

  4. Mitigation: Diversification of funding streams, strengthening funder relationship management capacity, identifying and engaging with alternative funders who could help close any gap, and identify non-critical services that can be reduced if needed to help manage costs.

STAFF MEMBERS

Staff who served during the year and since the year-end are as follows:

Lubia Begum-Rob Director
Jane Finnis Caseworker and Partnerships Manager
Nicki Rensten Caseworker (specialising in Foreign National Prisoners)
Kate Lill Women Prisoners’ Caseworker
Michelle Yeo Community Care Caseworker from 1 October 2024
Marte Lund Community Care Caseworker maternity leave from
13 November 2024
Laura Orger Community Care Caseworker to 5 September 2024
Anna Fairbank Community Care Consultant to 30 April 2024
Debobroto Dey Legal Caseworker from 21 April 2025
Sabrina Boudra Advice Line Caseworker
Ben Blackwell Office and Advice Line Manager
Geof Jarvis Head of Fundraising and Communications
Amelie Taylor Fundraising and Communications Officer

STATEMENT OF THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES

The trustees (who are also directors of Prisoners’ Advice Service for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy, at any time, the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the

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charitable company and, hence, for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees’ annual report was approved by the trustees on 28 / 09 / 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

………………………………….……… Dominique Webb Chair of the Trustees

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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Prisoners’ Advice Service For the year ended 31 March 2025

I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025 set out on pages 18 to 39.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Charities Act”) and that an independent examination is needed. The charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of ICAS.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:

  2. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and

  3. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act

have not been met; or

  1. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Kate Adderley CA Third Sector Accountancy Limited Holyoake House Hanover Street Manchester M60 0AS

30 / 09 / 2025 Date: ……………………………….

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Statement of Financial Activities (including Income and Expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Unrestricted
funds
Note
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
356,220
Charitable activities
4
51,837
Investments
5
17,082
Total income
425,139
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
6
101,093
Charitable activities
8
275,498
Total expenditure
376,591
48,548
8
48,548
Transfer between funds
5,000
Net movement in funds for the year
53,548
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
402,061
Total funds carried forward
455,609
Net income/(expenditure) before net
gains/(losses) on investments
Net income/(expenditure) for the year		 Restricted
funds
£
107,766
59,022
-
166,788
-
154,768
154,768
12,020
12,020
(5,000)
7,020
40,750
47,770		 Total funds
2025
£
463,986
110,859
17,082
591,927
101,093
430,266
531,359
60,568
60,568
-
60,568
442,811
503,379		 Unrestricted
funds
£
255,894
48,026
15,769
319,689
81,657
180,306
261,963
57,726
57,726
2,868
60,594
341,467
402,061		 Restricted
funds
£
129,125
49,540
-
178,665
-
226,263
226,263
(47,598)
(47,598)
(2,868)
(50,466)
91,216
40,750		 Total funds
2024
£
385,019
97,566
15,769
498,354
81,657
406,569
488,226
10,128
10,128
-
10,128
432,683
442,811

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

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Prisoners' Advice Service Company number 03180659

Balance sheet as at 31 March 2025

Note 2025 2024
£ £ £ £
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 14 10,000 12,000
Tangible assets 15 4,908 607
Total fixed assets 14,908 12,607
Current assets
Debtors 16 61,899 60,281
Cash at bank and in hand 17 468,051 404,468
Total current assets 529,950 464,749
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling
due in less than one year 18 (41,479) (34,545)
Net current assets 488,471 430,204
Total assets less current liabilities 503,379 442,811
Net assets 503,379 442,811
The funds of the charity:
Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted income funds 20 455,609 402,061
Total unrestricted funds 455,609 402,061
Restricted funds 19 47,770 40,750
Total charity funds 503,379 442,811

For the year in question, the company was entitled to exemption from an audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Directors' responsibilities:

These accounts are prepared in accordance with the special provisions of part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies and constitute the annual accounts required by the Companies Act 2006 and are for circulation to members of the company.

The notes on pages 21 to 39 form part of these accounts.

Approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf by: 27 / 09 / 2025

Dominique Webb (Chair)

Peter Coll (Treasurer)

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Statement of Cash Flows for the year ending 31 March 2025

Note
2025
£
Cash provided by/(used in) operating activities
23
68,833
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of fixed assets
(5,250)
Cash provided by/(used in) investing activities
(5,250)
63,583
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
404,468
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
468,051
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash
equivalents in the year		 2024
£
568
(12,000)
(12,000)
(11,432)
415,900
404,468

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

1 Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgments and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

a Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 - (Charities SORP (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Prisoners' Advice Service meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.

The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £ sterling.

b Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern.

c Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

Income received in advance of a provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

d Donated services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), general volunteer time is not recognised; refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

e Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the Bank.

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of charity.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose.

Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

g Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charity's programmes and activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 7.

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

i Operating leases

Operating leases are leases in which the title to the assets, and the risks and rewards of ownership, remain with the lessor. Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

j Intangible fixed assets

The charitable company developed a database platform which went live in October 2024. Costs are amortised over its estimated useful economic life.

Database platform 33%

Tangible fixed assets

Individual fixed assets costing £200 or more are capitalised at cost and are depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives on a straight line basis as follows:

Office fixtures and equipment 33%

k Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

l Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three to twelve months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

m Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

n Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

o Pensions

Employees of the charity are entitled to join a defined contribution scheme. The charity’s contribution is restricted to the contributions disclosed in note 10. Outstanding contributions at the year end were £2,687 which were paid in April 2025. The costs of the defined contribution scheme are included within support and governance costs and allocated to the funds of the charity using the methodology set out in note 7.

2 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales and has no share capital. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charity. The registered office address is disclosed on page 1.

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

Donations and grants
Donated services
Total
4
Income from charitable activities
City Bridge Foundation
Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Herbert Smith Freehills
National Lottery Community Fund (The)
Persula Foundation
Other charitable trading
Membership
Other income
Total
Legal services commission fees and
reimbursed costs		 Unrestricted
£
353,820
2,400
356,220
Unrestricted
£
51,762
-
-
-
-
-
75
-
51,837		 Restricted
£
107,766
-
107,766
Restricted
£
-
9,000
5,000
5,000
20,022
20,000
-
-
59,022		 Total 2025
£
461,586
2,400
463,986
Total 2025
£
51,762
9,000
5,000
5,000
20,022
20,000
75
-
110,859		 Unrestricted
£
253,494
2,400
255,894
Unrestricted
£
47,029
-
-
-
-
-
135
862
48,026		 Restricted
£
129,125
-
129,125
Restricted
£
-
9,540
-
-
15,000
25,000
-
-
49,540		 Total 2024
£
382,619
2,400
385,019
Total 2024
£
47,029
9,540
-
-
15,000
25,000
135
862
97,566

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

5
Investment income
Income from bank deposits
6
Cost of raising funds
Staff costs
Fundraising
Office costs
Premises costs
Governance costs (see note 7)
Support costs (see note 7)		 Unrestricted
£
17,082
17,082
Unrestricted
£
70,604
691
4,482
7,852
14,146
3,318
101,093		 Restricted
£
-
-
Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total 2025
£
17,082
17,082
2025
£
70,604
691
4,482
7,852
14,146
3,318
101,093		 Unrestricted
£
15,769
15,769
Unrestricted
£
56,844
232
3,536
6,657
11,755
2,633
81,657		 Restricted
£
-
-
Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total 2024
£
15,769
15,769
2024
£
56,844
232
3,536
6,657
11,755
2,633
81,657

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

7 Analysis of governance and support costs

Basis of
apportionment
Staff costs
Staff costs
Office costs
Staff costs
Finance and professional fees
Direct costs
Premises costs
Staff costs
Independent examination
Direct costs		 Support
£
43,095
2,736
21,394
4,792
-
72,017		 Governance
£
11,997
762
-
1,334
2,800
16,893		 Total 2025
£
55,092
3,498
21,394
6,126
2,800
88,910		 Support
£
41,300
2,569
19,813
4,837
-
68,519		 Governance
£
11,125
692
-
1,303
2,225
15,345		 Total 2024
£
52,425
3,261
19,813
6,140
2,225
83,864

Support and governance costs are allocated between costs of raising funds and charitable activities in proportion to staff time spent on those activities.

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

8 Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities

Staff costs
Volunteer costs, staff expenses and training
Legal and casework costs
Office costs
Premises costs
Support costs (see note 7)
Governance costs (see note 7)
Restricted expenditure
Unrestricted expenditure
9
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
This is stated after charging/(crediting):
Depreciation
Operating lease rentals:
Property
Other
10
Staff costs
Staff costs during the year were as follows:
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
Other benefits
Independent examiner's fee		 2025
£
288,843
4,907
14,610
18,337
32,123
57,871
13,575
430,266
154,768
275,498
430,266
2025
£
2,949
31,350
756
2,800
37,855
2025
£
360,598
37,454
16,487
-
414,539		 2024
£
274,484
4,484
8,905
17,073
32,147
56,764
12,712
406,569
226,263
180,306
406,569
2024
£
1,081
28,597
1,388
2,225
33,291
2024
£
333,137
33,866
15,310
1,440
383,753

continued

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Prisoners' Advice Service

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

Note 10 continued

Allocated as follows:
Cost of raising funds
Charitable activities
Support costs
Governance costs		 70,604
288,843
43,095
11,997
414,539		 56,844
274,484
41,300
11,125
383,753

No employee has employee benefits in excess of £60,000 (2024: Nil).

The average number of staff employed during the period was 10 (2024: 10). The average full time equivalent number of staff employed during the period was 8 (2024: 8).

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the Chief Executive Officer. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £60,798 (2024: £56,146).

11 Trustee remuneration and expenses, and related party transactions

Neither the management committee nor any persons connected with them received any remuneration or reimbursed expenses during the year (2024: Nil).

No member of the management committee received travel and subsistence expenses during the year (2024: Nil).

Aggregate donations from related parties were £660 (2024: £360).

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

No trustee or other person related to the charity had any personal interest in any contract or transaction entered into by the charity, including guarantees, during the year (2024: nil).

12 Government grants

The government grants recognised in the accounts were as follows:

The National Lottery Community Fund
HMRC Employment Allowance
Hammersmith and Fulham Council		 2025
£
20,022
5,000
5,000
30,022		 2024
£
15,000
5,000
-
20,000

There were no unfulfilled conditions and contingencies attaching to the grants.

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

13 Corporation tax

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects. No tax charges have arisen in the charity.

14
Fixed assets: intangible assets
Cost
Depreciation
Charge for the year
Net book value
At 1 April 2024
At 1 April 2024
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024		 Platform
system
£
12,000
12,000
-
2,000
2,000
10,000
12,000

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

15 Fixed assets: tangible assets

Cost
Additions
Disposals
Depreciation
Charge for the year
Disposals
Net book value
16
Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
17
Cash at bank and in hand
Short term deposits
Cash at bank and on hand
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024
At 31 March 2025
At 1 April 2024
At 1 April 2024		 Office furniture
and equipment
£
19,160
5,250
(4,790)
19,620
18,553
949
(4,790)
14,712
4,908
607		 2025
£
42,230
3,688
15,981
61,899
2025
£
392,152
75,899
468,051		 2024
£
36,641
3,688
19,952
60,281
2024
£
318,837
85,631
404,468

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

18 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors
Other creditors and accruals
Taxation and social security costs		 2025
£
2,323
25,618
13,538
41,479		 2024
£
2,931
27,752
3,862
34,545

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

19 Analysis of movements in restricted funds

Fund
Advice Line
Community Care
Human Rights
Regional
Outreach
Women
Other
Total
Comparative period
Fund
Advice Line
Community Care
Human Rights
Regional
Outreach
Women
Total		 Balance at 1
April 2024
£
-
4,500
-
16,500
2,500
17,250
-
40,750
Balance at 1
April 2023
£
16,716
23,750
-
32,000
-
18,750
91,216		 Income from
donations
and grants
£
-
27,000
3,000
36,641
5,000
36,125
-
107,766
Income from
donations
and grants
£
-
12,500
7,000
51,500
5,000
53,125
129,125		 Income from
charitable
activities
£
40,022
-
-
9,000
5,000
-
5,000
59,022
Income from
charitable
activities
£
40,000
-
-
9,540
-
49,540		 Expenditure
£
(40,022)
(24,000)
(3,000)
(41,121)
(8,250)
(38,375)
-
(154,768)
Expenditure
£
(53,848)
(31,750)
(7,000)
(76,540)
(2,500)
(54,625)
(226,263)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
(5,000)
(5,000)
Transfers
£
(2,868)
-
-
-
-
(2,868)		 Balance at 31
March 2025
£
-
7,500
-
21,020
4,250
15,000
-
47,770
Balance at
31 March
2024
£
-
4,500
-
16,500
2,500
17,250
40,750

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

Note 19 continued

Note to transfer of funds

The charity received £5,000 from Herbert Smith Freehills LLP funding the purchase of computer equipment for volunteers. As this became the property of the charity, funds were transfered from restricted to unrestricted funds.

Name of

restricted fund

Description, nature and purposes of the fund

Advice Line To support our core, telephone, legal advice service Community Care To meet the salary and other costs of the charity's community care projects. These include advice for older, disabled and chronically ill prisoners prior to, and upon, release Human Rights To support our work defending the rights of prisoners using a human rights based approach Outreach To support the costs of our caseworkers delivering one-to-one legal advice inside prisons in England and Wales Regional To meet costs incurred in delivering one-to-one legal advice in donor specified regions and designated outreach clinics Women To support our caseworkers' work with women prisoners Other includes other donations and grants with restricted purposes

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

20 Analysis of movement in unrestricted funds

Comparative period
General fund
General fund		 Balance at
1 April 2024
£
402,061
402,061
Balance at
1 April 2023
£
341,467
341,467		 Income
£
425,139
425,139
Income
£
319,689
319,689		 Expenditure
£
(376,591)
(376,591)
Expenditure
£
(261,963)
(261,963)		 Transfers
£
5,000
5,000
Transfers
£
2,868
2,868		 As at 31
March 2025
£
455,609
455,609
As at 31
March 2024
£
402,061
402,061

Name of unrestricted fund Description, nature and purposes of the fund General fund The free reserves after allowing for all designated funds

21 Analysis of net assets between funds

Intangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets/(liabilities)
Total
Comparative period
Intangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets/(liabilities)
Total		 General
fund
£
10,000
4,908
440,701
455,609
General
fund
£
12,000
607
389,454
402,061		 Designated
funds
£
-
-
-
-
Designated
funds
£
-
-
-
-		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
47,770
47,770
Restricted
funds
£
-
-
40,750
40,750		 Total 2025
£
10,000
4,908
488,471
503,379
Total 2024
£
12,000
607
430,204
442,811

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

22 Operating lease commitments

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows

Less than one year
One to five years		 2025
2024
£
£
31,350
31,350
7,838
39,188
39,188
70,538
Property		 2025
2024
£
£
716
716
179
895
895
1,611
Equipment

23 Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities

Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charge
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities		 2025
£
60,568
2,949
(1,618)
6,934
68,833		 2024
£
10,128
1,081
(2,952)
(7,689)
568

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

24 Analysis of donations and grants received

Core funding - unrestricted
1772 Fund
29th May 1961 Charitable Trust (The)
AB Charitable Trust (The)
Baker Charitable Trust (The)
Benevity
Bergman Lehane Trust (The)
Bromley Trust (The)
Dentons UKMEA LLP Charitable Trust
Calteq (donation in kind)
Garfield Weston Foundation
Goldcrest Charitable Trust (The)
Hadley Trust (The)
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
K W Charitable Trust (The)
Kel Trust (The)
Leigh Trust (The)
London Legal Support Trust (The)
Marsh Charitable Trust
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Sidney Black Charitable Trust Ltd (The)
Simmons and Simmons Charitable Foundation (The)
Souter Charitable Trust (The)
William Allen Young Charitable Trust (The)
Other grants
Charity Service (The) (for anonymous donor)
Donations
Total unrestricted donations and grants		 2025
£
1,000
10,000
25,000
350
1,860
500
20,000
3,000
2,400
30,000
3,000
70,000
3,500
-
1,000
3,000
10,000
800
2,500
5,000
500
-
5,000
-
6,000
25,000
126,810
356,220		 2024
£
-
-
25,000
250
-
-
20,000
3,000
2,400
-
-
70,000
3,500
500
-
2,000
10,000
700
-
5,000
500
3,500
-
3,000
6,000
12,461
85,683
253,494

Of the unrestricted donations received in 2025 £120,000 relates to two donors who wish to remain anonymous (2024: £70,000 related to one anonymous donor).

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25
Restricted donations and grants
Advice line
National Lottery Community Fund (The)
Community Care
Beatrice Laing Trust (The)
Belpech Charitable Trust
Bergman Lehane Trust (The)
David Family Foundation (The)
Evan Cornish Foundation (The)
Lord Faringdon Charitable Trust (The)
Mulberry Trust (The)
Peter Stebbings Memorial Trust (The)
Rainford Trust (The)
Human Rights
Robert Gavron Charitable Trust (The)
Vandervell Foundation (The)
Outreach
Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Law Society Charity (The)
Sackler Trust (The)
Persula Foundation		 2025
£
20,022
20,000
40,022
-
-
-
5,000
10,000
1,000
5,000
5,000
1,000
27,000
-
3,000
3,000
5,000
-
5,000
10,000		 2024
£
15,000
25,000
40,000
5,000
2,000
500
-
-
1,000
4,000
-
-
12,500
5,000
2,000
7,000
-
5,000
-
5,000

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Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (continued)

Note 25 continued

Regional
C B and H H Taylor 1984 Trust
City Bridge Foundation
Community Foundation for Surrey
David Isaacs Fund (The)
Dischma Charitable Trust (The)
Drapers Charitable Fund
Essex Community Foundation
G J W Turner Trust
Gowling WLG (UK) Charitable Trust
Hadrian Trust (The)
Henry Oldfield Trust (The)
Inner London Magistrates Court Poor Box
J and M Britton Charitable Trust
Kent Community Foundation
Lawson Trust (The)
Shanly Foundation (The)
Sir John and Lady Amory’s Charitable Trust
Susanna Peake Charitable Trust
W E Dunn Trust (The)
Walter Guinness Charitable Trust
Women
Alice Ellen Cooper Dean Charitable Foundation (The)
Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust (The)
Charles Hayward Foundation (The)
Didymus
Eleanor Rathbone Trust (The)
Girdlers' Company Charitable Trust (The)
Lady Edwina Grosvenor
Ten Percent Foundation (The)
Other
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
Total restricted donations and grants
City Of London Solicitors' Company Charitable Fund (The)		 2025
-
9,000
2,000
3,000
-
-
-
7,141
-
500
1,000
5,000
5,000
-
5,000
-
3,000
-
5,000
-
-
45,641
5,000
-
15,000
-
-
-
15,625
500
36,125
5,000
166,788		 2024
2,000
9,540
-
5,000
3,000
10,000
7,500
1,000
500
-
7,500
-
2,000
5,000
5,000
-
500
-
500
2,000
61,040
7,500
2,000
15,000
5,000
3,000
5,000
15,625
-
53,125
-
178,665

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