Circus Leeds
Charity number 1055291
A company limited by guarantee number 02943849
Annual Report and Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 March 2025
Circus Leeds
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Trustees' report | 2 to 5 |
| Examiner's report | 6 |
| Statement of financial activities | 7 |
| Balance sheet | 8 |
| Notes to the accounts | 9 to 11 |
Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
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Circus Leeds
Trustees' report for the year ended 31 March 2025
Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors
The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: Name Position Dates
Hayley Lloyd-Henry Emma Sanderson Deborah Jaffer Kelly Hamilton Sara Horrocks Catherine Cooper O'Neill Ruth Faragher
Resigned 25 November 2024 Resigned 22 July 2024 Appointed 25 November 2024 Appointed 25 November 2024
Charity number Company number
1055291 02943849
Registered in England and Wales Registered in England and Wales
Registered and principal address
Bankers
Harehills Baptist Church Lloyds Bank plc Hilton Place 25 Gresham Street Leeds London LS8 4HE EC2V 7HN
Independent examiner
Katy Sargeant ACA
West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
Structure, governance and management
The charity is a company limited by guarantee and was formed on 29 June 1994. It is governed by a memorandum and articles of association, as amended 24 September 2021. The liability of the members in the event of the company being wound up is limited to a sum not exceeding £1.
Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees
The trustees of the charity are also the directors for the purposes of company law and are appointed by the members at the AGM.
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Circus Leeds
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025
Objectives and activities
The charity's objects
The advancement of education of the public, and in particular, but not so as to limit the generality of the foregoing, promoting the education and training of young people under the age of 16, in the arts, crafts and skills of circus in an accessible, safe and supportive environment.
The charity's main activities
Providing fun and inspirational activities for young people in a safe and positive environment via the teaching of circus skills, performance and creative crafts.
Public benefit statement
In setting our objectives and planning our activities our Trustees have given serious consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and in particular the advancement of education.
Achievements and performance
Circus Leeds has continued to run regular and special classes and events, bringing circus activity to communities across Leeds and Yorkshire. In 2024 – 2025, we ran circus workshops at over 60 events across the region as well as running 7 weekly circus classes from our base at Harehills Lane Baptist Church. In addition to this, we were involved in two major funded projects exploring the benefits of circus practice for young people’s mental health and well-being, and enabled four young people to travel to London to meet with young people from across the UK at a weekend of circus events at the National Centre for Circus Arts.
Regular Classes
The Aerial classes were consistently full, with good retention rates and a steady stream of new students. The adult and older teens class was more successful this year. We also introduced a third Friday class, bringing the total aerial classes to 6 and enabling better organisation of classes by age and ability.
The Circus Club has continued to meet on Fridays, with steady numbers of up to 12, ranging from 8 years to 14.
Additional events for regular members
We organised a big show at the end of the Summer term in July 2024, bringing the aerial and Circus Club students together for a joint celebration and sharing of their skills. This was a major event for us, organised by Rosie our Programme Manager and involving all of the regular teachers. It was a very positive and celebratory end of term and a brilliant way to bring everyone together.
In addition to this, we were awarded 4 places for young people at London’s National Centre for Circus Arts’ Youth Circus Event in April 2025. This is a weekend event in London, with young people from youth circus organisation across the UK. We planned this during the 2024-25 financial year, with significant input from trustees and Rosie to organise which young people could attend, and to complete the necessary risk assessments etc.
Other Events
We continued to run free circus activity at weekend and holiday events, including Otley Show, Breeze, Leeds Pride, Leeds Kirkgate Market and Chapel Allerton Festival, as well as smaller sessions for children’s groups and disability groups. A major new partnership with Piglets’ Adventure Farm provided to be a good source of income, with three full weeks of activity during this financial year and more planned for Summer 2025.
Funded Projects
Our Trauma Informed Work in Communities project continued, with regular sessions at Bracken Edge Primary school and the Co-Op Academy, Harehills. This has continued to be a very positive project for us and has enabled us to focus on the benefits of circus practice for young people’s health and well-being. At the end of the project, we will create a toolkit for best practice in this specialist area.
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Circus Leeds
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025
Achievements and performance continued
Funded Projects continued
Also in this year, we started a project with the University of Leeds and a multi-disciplinary team from the schools of Education, Psychology and Drama. This team is interested in exploring the types of learning afforded by regular circus practice and the impacts on young people’s health and wellbeing. In April 2024, we held a day of circus and film-making with a team from the university, beginning a pilot project to explore future research in this area. This included the university team observing additional circus sessions in schools and at our regular circus club. The project will continue into 2025 with a report and application for a major research funding project.
Staffing
We continue to have a very small but dedicated team of freelance staff. We recruited a new member of aerial staff, Danni, this year who has been very popular with the students. One aerial teacher left this year to start her own business, and another will take maternity leave in Spring 2025.
Rosie’s time as Programme Co-ordinator was supported to by University and Trauma Informed (TIWC) funding. Having been unsuccessful with other applications, we had to reduce Rosie’s hours from one day per week to one day per month when the TIWC finished in February 2025. We continue to operate without any marketing staff support, with Kate Sanderson taking on this role when possible.
In Autumn 2024, Rosie was awarded Arts Council England Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) funding to build specialist knowledge and skills around accessible, inclusive circus. This is very positive for her development as a specialist circus artist and teacher and will involve a period of training and travel to European circus schools in 2025.
Challenges
We have continued to notice a reduction in bookings for events with many of our regular clients (eg schools, community groups and small charities) facing reduced budgets. This has resulted in shorter gigs and lower fees for us. We have tried to protect our pay to our freelance staff but sometimes this means taking a smaller contribution to our overheads.
Challenges regarding the capacity of trustees and demands of the role on Kate Sanderson in particular have continued. Changes in trustees during this year added to this and reduced our overall capacity for funding applications or to focus on change to the Mem & Arts.
We have continued discussions about updating mem & Arts and involved VAL in the discussion, with advice about changing to a CIO. We will continue this work in 2025.
Financial review
The net expenditure for the year was £3,758, including net income of £6,641 on unrestricted funds and net expenditure of £10,399 on restricted funds.
Reserves policy
The charity's free reserves, excluding fixed assets, at the year end were £10,283.
As the activity and income for Circus Leeds has grown over recent years, the Trustees are mindful of the need to manage reserves responsibly and to acknowledge current challenges in securing new funding. Our aim is to build sufficient reserves to cover at least 3 months of running costs, which is currently the case.
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Circus Leeds
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025
Statement of trustees' responsibilities
The trustees (who are also the directors for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees report and the financial statements in accordance with the applicable law and UK Accounting Standards.
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the accounts on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity 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 Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (Charities SORP (FRS102)), and in accordance with the special provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
Approved by the board of trustees on 9/12/2025
Emma Sanderson (Trustee)
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Circus Leeds
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Circus Leeds
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charitable company for the year ended 31 March 2025, which are set out on pages 7 to 11.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity's trustees of the charitable company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').
Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the charitable company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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3 the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair view' which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
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4 the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities [applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)].
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Katy Sargeant ACA
9/12/2025
West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
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Circus Leeds
Statement of Financial Activities
(including summary income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025
| Notes 2025 Unrestricted funds £ Income from: Grants and donations (2) - Sales and fees 38,927 Contracts 8,680 Total income 47,607 Expenditure on: Equipment, materials and maintenance 528 Insurance 419 Freelance and professional fees 34,795 Independent examination 600 Training 152 Marketing 849 Website 8 Booking system fees 670 Room hire 1,911 Subscriptions 60 Bank fees 974 Total expenditure 40,966 Net income / (expenditure) 6,641 Fund balances brought forward 3,642 Fund balances carried forward (3) 10,283 |
2025 Restricted funds £ 1,611 - - 1,611 12 - 10,140 - - - - - 1,858 - - 12,010 (10,399) 10,399 - |
2025 Total funds £ 1,611 38,927 8,680 49,218 540 419 44,935 600 152 849 8 670 3,769 60 974 52,976 (3,758) 14,041 10,283 |
2024 Total funds £ 14,695 35,376 - 50,071 216 414 35,638 600 - 6,342 80 580 3,930 60 256 48,116 1,955 12,086 14,041 |
|---|---|---|---|
All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.
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Circus Leeds
Balance sheet
| as at 31 March 2025 2025 Unrestricted £ Current assets Debtors and prepayments (4) 246 Cash at bank 10,637 Total current assets 10,883 Current liabilities: amounts falling due within one year Creditors and accruals (5) 600 Total current liabilities 600 Net current assets / (liabilities) 10,283 Net assets 10,283 Funds Unrestricted funds 10,283 Restricted funds - Total funds 10,283 |
2025 Restricted £ - - - - - - - - - - |
2025 Total £ 246 10,637 10,883 600 600 10,283 10,283 10,283 - 10,283 |
2024 Total £ 243 14,398 14,641 600 600 14,041 14,041 3,642 10,399 14,041 |
|---|---|---|---|
For the year ending 31 March 2025 the charitable company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
The members have not required the charitable company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476. The trustees (who are also the directors for the purposes of company law) acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime and with FRS 102 (effective January 2019).
The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 9/12/2025
Emma Sanderson (Trustee)
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Circus Leeds
Notes to the accounts
for the year ended 31 March 2025
1 Accounting policies
Basis of accounting
These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) and with the Charities Act 2011.
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.
There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year. No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.
Going concern
The trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.
Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when the charity becomes entitled to the resources, if it is more likely than not that the trustees will receive the resources and the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability.
Grants and donations
Grants and donations are only included in the SOFA when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the resources.
Where grants are related to performance and specific deliverables, they are accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its performance.
Expenditure and liabilities
Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out the resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty.
Taxation
As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.
Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.
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Circus Leeds
Notes to the accounts continued
for the year ended 31 March 2025
| 2 Grants and donations Leeds Community Foundation (LCF) 3 Restricted funds Balance b/f £ LCF - Flint Family Fund 36 LCF - Trauma Informed Work 10,363 10,399 |
2025 Unrestricted funds £ - - Incoming £ - 1,611 1,611 |
2025 Restricted funds £ 1,611 1,611 Outgoing £ 36 11,974 12,010 |
2025 Total funds £ 1,611 1,611 Transfers £ - - - |
2024 Total funds £ 14,695 14,695 Balance c/f £ - - - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fund name
LCF - Flint Family Fund
LCF - Trauma Informed Work
Purpose of restriction
Towards costs of bringing circus to young people across Leeds through taster sessions, workshops and classes.
To work with local schools in Harehills to develop and test a model for using circus practice as a way to build protective factors in children and young people who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing adversity and trauma.
| 4 Prepayments Prepayments 5 Accruals Accruals |
2025 £ 246 246 2025 £ 600 600 |
2024 £ 243 243 2024 £ 600 600 |
|---|---|---|
6 Related party transactions
Trustee expenses
No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year.
Trustee remuneration and benefits
No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.
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Circus Leeds
Statement of Financial Activities including comparatives for all funds (including summary income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025
| 2025 2024 Unrestricted Unrestricted funds funds £ £ Income Grants and donations - - Sales and fees 38,927 35,376 Contracts 8,680 - Total income 47,607 35,376 Expenditure Equipment, materials and maintenan 528 - Insurance 419 414 Freelance and professional fees 34,795 24,923 Independent examination 600 600 Volunteer expenses - - Training 152 - Marketing 849 6,342 Website 8 80 Booking system fees 670 580 Room hire 1,911 1,370 Subscriptions 60 60 Bank fees 974 256 Total expenditure 40,966 34,625 Net income / (expenditure) 6,641 751 Fund balances brought forward 3,642 2,891 Fund balances carried forward 10,283 3,642 |
2025 Restricted funds £ 1,611 - - 1,611 12 - 10,140 - - - - - - 1,858 - - 12,010 (10,399) 10,399 - |
2024 Restricted funds £ 14,695 - - 14,695 216 - 10,715 - - - - - - 2,560 - - 13,491 1,204 9,195 10,399 |
2025 Total funds £ 1,611 38,927 8,680 49,218 540 419 44,935 600 - 152 849 8 670 3,769 60 974 52,976 (3,758) 14,041 10,283 |
2024 Total funds £ 14,695 35,376 - 50,071 216 414 35,638 600 - - 6,342 80 580 3,930 60 256 48,116 1,955 12,086 14,041 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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