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Our 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts

Taking

At Action for Children we’re driven by love. We take action so children don’t miss out on a safe and happy childhood. And we have done for more than 150 years. Childhood is precious. We don’t have long to get it right.

Every child should have a safe and loving home, food, warmth, the chance to grow and learn – the support to cope with life’s challenges. But too many children don’t. That’s why we have thousands of dedicated people on the ground giving children and young people the protection and practical help they urgently need. And we campaign tirelessly for lasting change.

Every day, all over the UK, we take

How to navigate this report

Click the headings listed in this contents page. At the bottom of each page you can use the navigation bar or click the home button to return to this page.

Introduction			04	Fundraising and awareness	Fundraising and awareness	28
Welcome from our Chair			04	Enabling our	work	33
Hello from our CEO			05	People		33
Highlights of	our year		06	Improving efficiencies		36
Financial performance			08	Sustainability		36
Our strategy Our services Trustees’ report			09 10 09	Future focus Financial review Managing risk		38 39 43
Growing our services and increasing our impact			11	Governance Legal structure and		47
Family support The criminal exploitation of children			11 14	governance Trustees’ duty Statement of trustee		47 48
Childcare			15	responsibility		51
Children in	care		16	Independent auditor’s report		52
Mental health and		wellbeing	20	Financial statements		55
Disabled children			22
				Extra information		80
Safeguarding Participation			23 24	Legal and admin details		80
				Board of Trustees		81
Influencing policy decisions			25	Thanks to you		83

Welcome from our Chair of Trustees, Sarika

Last year we supported 551,400 children, young people and families across the UK with our loving care.

I feel so proud of what we’ve achieved – but, as ever, we have more to do. The challenges faced by children and families are significant with the cost of living continuing to add pressure to their lives. With local authority budgets under pressure, some of the services we provide for them have been reduced in scope and taken back in-house. These challenges are why we’re always adapting, so we can meet the needs of families in this tough economic climate.

Over the last year, the Board and leadership team have been revisiting the strategy we developed in 2022, and in the next few months we will launch our refreshed strategy, building on the solid advances made over the past few years. Our current strategy set out to increase our impact through growth in our services and our influencing work; and to strengthen our future sustainability through growing the contribution from fundraising and childcare, improving the efficiency of our central functions, and focusing on our staff and volunteers. We have structured our annual report around these goals to show the progress we have made. Central to our growth remains our ambitious residential programme. As a result of this investment, by the end of the next financial year (2026/27) we plan to be operating 15 new safe and loving homes for the children and young people who desperately need them. We will also continue to prioritise loving foster carers and research-based early intervention. The need is huge, and we are focused on growing provision, using our own financial resources as well as building partnerships with organisations that share our ambitions.

This strategic shift into more intensive services aimed at the most vulnerable children and young people is likely to affect the number of those we reach. However, it does not affect the long-lasting impact we continue to have on the lives of those we support. We also continue to engage with

policymakers – advocating for change whether in combatting child poverty or the criminal exploitation of children. We recognise that a positive change to government policy is far-reaching and impacts all children in the country.

In 2024/25, we have delivered a stable financial performance, which is challenging given the pressure on the social care system. We have once again grown our total income, supported by growth in our services and from fundraising. While our reserves remain slightly below our target level, this reflects our planned investment in residential homes (see page 16).

A highlight this year was when our patron, HRH the Princess of Wales, visited our Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution. As part of her commitment to early years support, the Princess joined staff in discussing and maintaining the vital bond between mums and their babies during their time in custody.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion remains central. We have shared our refreshed diversity and inclusion strategy and will soon launch mandatory anti-racism training for new starters and leaders.

Finally, I am hugely grateful to trustee Markus Ruetimann for his commitment and dedication to Action for Children. He stood down this year having served two terms on the Board, the second as Deputy Chair. As ever, thanks to the Board of Trustees, co-opted colleagues, all our staff and volunteers and each of our amazing supporters for taking action for children in so many incredible ways. Sarika Patel, Chair, Board of Trustees.

Sarika Patel, Chair, Board of Trustees

Introduction

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How we take action

Trustees’ report

Hello from our Chief Executive, Paul

I continue to be amazed by everything Action for Children achieves.

Against the backdrop of yet more difficult times in the social care and charity sectors, our incredible staff, volunteers and supporters have shown that they really are driven by love to take action for children.

As you'll read on the following pages, in line with our current strategy, we've continued to win new contracts and create impact right across the UK. In 2024/25 this has included securing a £7.6 million four-year contract to support 600 families across Glasgow each year. We’re thrilled to be able to make even more of a difference to the families facing poverty, trauma and intergenerational disadvantage in this community.

Based on our mission to support the most vulnerable children and young people, we’re also doing extraordinary work fighting for change in the criminal exploitation of children, especially since the publication of the Jay Review last year. We launched “I don’t want to go down that road” , follow-up research that explored the real- life harms caused by the criminal exploitation of children. That’s alongside our life-changing support services helping young people and families facing this nightmare every day. I’m personally so proud of our expansion into this area and optimistic about what we’ll achieve next.

A big part of my job is helping us to constantly adapt and ensure the organisation remains sustainable for the future. This year, that’s included implementing our Optimal Organisation programme - making sure we have the right people in the right places and making our cost base affordable. Change is always hard, and I’ve been impressed by how we’ve handled this as an organisation (see page 36).

Looking ahead, we continue to plan for growth and welcome the government’s recent announcement of its Best Start in Life plans and the accompanying increased funding for early help services. However, the external environment remains challenging with funding for children’s services stretched and financial

pressures on charities increasing; most notably through the changes to National Insurance (NI) contributions for employers. While we wholeheartedly welcome any move to lessen the financial pressure on individuals already working hard and still struggling, the reality is that for charities, this change has presented a significant challenge and unforeseen costs. We’ll continue to adapt, improving our ways of working and making sure money is being spent in the most efficient way possible.

I want to end by celebrating two huge successes from this past year. Firstly, we welcomed Nationwide Building Society as a new corporate partner. The multi-million-pound, multi-year partnership, aims to support over 100,000 children, young people and families living in poverty or experiencing financial hardship, through the Family Fund and Family Clubs (see page 13). We also worked in partnership to produce the “Paying the Price” report – a roadmap to influence the government's Child Poverty strategy, lift millions of children out of poverty to transform their life chances, and boost the economy. You can read more about this on page 27.

Nationwide joined us as the sponsor of our Secret Santa campaign, raising awareness of how our incredible supporters can help vulnerable children feel the magic of Christmas. I am delighted that Secret Santa raised over £2 million in 2024 – a record-breaking figure for us. An unbelievable total that gives us so much opportunity to be there for the vulnerable children who need us.

To everyone who supported us this year, in whatever way – thank you for the action you took. You really do make a difference. You help create more safe and happy childhoods. We simply couldn’t do our work without you.

Paul Carberry, Chief Executive

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How we take action

Trustees’ report

In 2024/25, we took action for

551,400

children, young people and families across the UK.

We won new contracts including a Glasgow family support contact worth £7.6 million over the next four years, meaning we can support around 600 families across Glasgow each year.

Our Place to Call Home campaign called on UK governments to take immediate action, so children in care get the high-quality homes, love and support they need to thrive.

A Place to Call Home Understanding placement quality in the children’s social care system in England

Through our partnership with Foster Wales, The Big Welcome – our app designed to help children and young people move into their foster home – now has the potential to support the almost 5,000 children and young people in foster care in Wales a year.

We celebrated two years of our Young Ambassadors Board. Look out for examples of how they've shaped our work, plus other participation highlights, through this report.

Look for this message

We were thrilled to be chosen as The i Paper’s Christmas Appeal charity for 2024. The Happy Childhoods Appeal ran for four weeks and raised over £136,000 with Gift Aid. An incredible total.

Introduction

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Trustees’ report

We helped 50,869

Alongside other members of the Children’s Re-imagine Collective, we’ve been working to support recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Services for Northern Ireland, to improve social care for children.

children and young people

(and their families) with their mental health and wellbeing.

Our Secret Santa campaign had a record-breaking year, raising over £2 million in total.

We helped 5,141

children, young people, their families and carers through our services supporting children in or at risk of going into care.

We opened our fifth new loving children’s home as part of our residential growth programme and plan to open another 10 in the next two years.

We helped

10,740

disabled children, young people and their families.

Our patron, HRH the Princess of Wales, visited our Mother and Baby Unit at Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution. Staff, new mums and people who’d used our service told her about the positive difference it makes to their lives.

We helped

484,650

children, young people and families through our family support services.

How we measure reach and impact

We record the outcomes of children and young people (or their parents or carers) who use our services. We monitor and record at regular intervals or when they don’t need our support anymore, and we collect evidence of improvements in their lives. Using all the available data for each outcome we arrive at the percentages in this report. We also record the number of children, young people, parents and carers who use or benefit from our services to measure reach.

Introduction

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Trustees’ report

Financial performance

Here’s a summary of our finances for the year 2024/25.

Where your money goes

In 2024/25 84p in every £1 was used to create safe and happy childhoods. The remainder was invested in fundraising and admin costs to run the charity.

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For every £1 we spend:
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Income
£163.4m
2023/24
2024/25
Expenditure
£163.0m
2023/24
2024/25
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84p helps children, young people and families. Income 2024/25 2023/24 Charitable activities £143.9m £136.3m £1 4p on fundraising. Donation and legacies £17.9m £17.2m Investment income £1.1m £1.6m 12p on admin. Other £0.6m £0.2m Total £163.4m £155.3m Expenditure 2024/25 2023/24 Charitable activities £155.6m £154.3m Fundraising £7.4m £6.7m Other £0.0m £0.0m Total £163.0m £161.0m

How we created more safe and happy childhoods

Expenditure on activities to help children

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£61.1m £38.5m
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£41.0m

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£14.3m £0.7m
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Family support

Children in care

Disabled children and young people

Mental health Policy and and wellbeing campaigning

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Trustees’ report

Here’s what we’ll do for children, young people and families:

1 Grow our services to help more children and young people.
2 Increase the impact of our work with children and young people.
3 Influence policy decisions to improve the lives of children and young people.

Here’s how we’ll achieve it:

4 Attract, develop and retain brilliant staff and volunteers.
5 Inspire greater support for our vision and mission.
6 Increase our financial contribution from fundraising, nurseries and childcare.
7 Deliver best value for children and young people and improve efficiency.

Over the last few months, we've been reviewing our current strategy with our Board of Trustees. We'll be launching a new strategic framework during 2025/26. Read more about our priorities for the year ahead on page 38.

Trustees’ report

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Thanks to you Take action

Our front line services

We provide 342 services in local communities

Children in care

Family support

15 youth housing support services.

1 children's rights and independent

Northern Ireland

95 Scotland

164 England

1 online service (Big Welcome).

Disabled children and young people

Mental health and wellbeing

25 mental health support services.

*Our 16 children’s homes include five homes for young people at Headlands school. Previously we counted these homes as one service at Headlands, but as they are regulated as individual homes that offer the same loving care as our other long-term homes, we’re now counting them as individual services.

3 online services

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65 Wales
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Growing our services and increasing our impact

Family support

A loving family and secure home life builds lifelong wellbeing for children. Sometimes, families need extra help to create that. That’s why Action for Children provides support for families in services across the UK.

Providing the right help at the right time is essential. So, we’ve worked hard to grow our programmes and reach even more families at different stages of their parenting journey.

Last year, we secured new contracts to support families. We also expanded some services, rolling out our Family Clubs right across the UK, thanks to funding from our partner, Nationwide Building Society. And we launched Parent Talk, our information, advice and guidance service for parents, on WhatsApp.

Despite these wins, funding for family support and early intervention services has continued to fall, following a long-term trend. This means some local authorities have taken services inhouse and we have lost contracts in Devon, Bath and South Lakes. But we’re fighting hard against these cuts through our influencing work and are encouraged by recent Government announcements around the Best Start in Life agenda.

Winning new chances to support more families

Both families and commissioners recognise we run high-quality services. Last year, despite the challenging funding environment, this reputation helped us win new contracts and extend the successful services we already provide.

This includes Glasgow Family Support – a £7.6 million contract to support families in the city over the next four years. Each year the service will help 600 families facing poverty, trauma and intergenerational disadvantage to live safely together. We’ve already changed lives in the Scottish city, successfully helping reduce the number of children being removed from their homes.

One of the ideas which most impressed commissioners was an innovative partnership with local charity 3D Drumchapel to bring together our expertise with their deep local knowledge. By working with the city’s community organisations we want to build sustainable support helping local families for generations to come.

“Some of the goals families want us to help with might seem small, like ‘I want my teenager to speak to me again’ but the outcomes can be life-changing.” – Glasgow Family Support Service Worker

Extending successful services

During the year we were successful in the retender of several services including our Newcastle Early Help services, providing family hubs and parenting support to children and families. That means we can continue our 30-year history of caring support we provide families in the city.

Plus, we’re really pleased our Early Childhood and Family Service (ECFS) in Norfolk won a threeyear contract extension from Norfolk County Council. Local families will continue to benefit from expert one-to-one information, dedicated play sessions, parenting courses and more.

Following the success of our Building Babies’ Brains programme in Devon, it’s now being delivered in Plymouth, Torbay and a Spring nursery in Newcastle (read more on page 15). The evidence-based programme, designed with Exeter University, helps parents understand babies’ brain development and bonding in the vital 0-2 year period.

88%

of parents and carers have improved parenting skills and confidence after receiving our support.

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How we take action

Helping to keep babies and parents together

In the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, we’ve been helping to prevent babies being removed from their parents at birth and being taken into care.

Sadly, some babies face a high risk of removal because of the challenges faced by their parents – like drug abuse, domestic abuse or teenage pregnancy. So, we worked with expert agencies to provide coordinated early support, helping tackle problems before birth and giving parents a real chance of success.

This involves intensive one-to-one sessions in the family home, focusing on emotional support and practical parenting skills.

That’s followed by group work using evidencebased programmes to build parents’ understanding of brain development and how their environment shapes children’s development.

After the birth, parents come back together at a Family Club, funded by Nationwide, to support them and help make connections with other families.

Evolving Parent Talk

Parent Talk is our free digital advice service for parents and carers across the UK. Now families in Leicester can benefit from tailored support.

Last year we won a contract to offer Leicester Parent Chat in collaboration with Leicester City Council. This means families can benefit from Parent Talk but with signposting to local services, relevant local

information and advice from a Parenting Coach with experience of the local community. We hope this will be the first of many opportunities to work with local authorities to support families in a more tailored way.

Supporting parents on WhatsApp

Last summer we also made Parent Talk available through WhatsApp for the first time, thanks to funding from the Prudence Trust.

Demand for Parent Talk has always been high. Since it launched in 2020, we’ve helped over 2 million parents with free, down-to-earth support through informative online content and advice from specialist parenting coaches.

Our research found busy parents wanted to get advice through WhatsApp. So, we worked to make it happen. The launch proved its popularity, with 66% of users choosing WhatsApp over webchat on day one. We want to say a big thank you to the Prudence Trust for help funding this vital work.

A search for more funding

Research conducted by the University of Birmingham showed that Parent Talk significantly benefits parents, children and families. The evaluation highlighted a strong link between reduced stress levels for parents and carers, enhanced perceptions of their parenting abilities, and improved family dynamics.

Despite these positive outcomes, Parent Talk faces challenges. Due to a lack of funding for our one-toone coaching service, we’ve had to limit the marketing of Parent Talk to avoid having greater demand for our coaching service than we’re able to keep up with. We’ve done this to ensure we can maintain the quality of the service for the parents who need us,

however this has an impact on the overall number of people we’re able to reach with our support. We are actively looking for additional funding for Parent Talk so that we can reverse this trend and reach as many parents as we can with this vital lifeline of support.

Offering support for mums in prison

We’re here for families wherever they are – and that includes parents in prison.

In February 2025 our patron, HRH the Princess of Wales, visited Action for Children’s Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution

in Wimslow, Cheshire. There she met staff, new mums, and women who’d used our service, to hear about the huge difference we made to their lives.

Our specialist staff help women create and maintain a bond with their babies. We also help them break the cycle of reoffending and develop new skills, offering one-to-one support on everything from budgeting to cooking healthy meals.

Amanda Taylor, Operational Director of Children’s Services, said: “The Princess took time to talk to our staff about how our service works to ensure these babies don’t miss out and to give them the best chance of a positive future. She also spent time with some of the mums and babies to understand the importance of the service, which is very much aligned with our patron’s work on early years development.”

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How we take action

Helping young carers shape social work

What’s life really like for our young carers?

Our Young Carers worked in partnership with the Department of Education to create an educational poster that's now displayed in every school across Northern Ireland. Motivated by that experience and their success, they have now developed a partnership with Queen’s University Belfast to help students understand what it is like to have a caring role as a young person. With our support, they worked closely with social work students from Queen’s in Belfast to shape their learning.

This meant getting involved in roleplays to show students the real-life situations they’d face in the job, helping judge their performance and giving vital feedback.

Young carers created this poster – shown in every school in Northern Ireland.

Our new Family Clubs

Every family deserves a safe space. Somewhere children and adults can get expert support, meet other families with shared experiences and enjoy a hot meal.

And that’s exactly what they find at Action for Children’s new Family Clubs, funded by Nationwide.

We saw how effective our first-ever Family Clubs were in Newcastle. So last year, thanks to Nationwide, we launched them across the UK.

Our target was to launch 10 Family Clubs by March 2024, but we exceeded that, delivering 28 in total. In response, Nationwide provided further funding so that we can deliver 156 clubs over three years.

Through the Family Clubs we can meet different families’ needs, like offering clubs dedicated to helping disabled children move into independent living. We can also find out first hand what families need and connect them to the right services.

Caroline, Children’s Services Manager, said: “We were able to use the Family Fund to give children in one family new beds, because we found out through the club that they were sleeping on the floor. Being able to help them with whatever they’re going through is such a benefit of the way this model works.”

The impact of the Family Clubs

What children told us:

“[I] liked having the food all together and being able to play games and cards spending time as a family all together.”

“I really enjoyed coming along, it helped me build my relationship with my mother .”

What parents told us:

“It was lovely to spend quality time with the girls. It allowed me to just focus on them for a change.”

“I’ve learned that people are available for help if I reach out. I’m less inclined to panic and will relax and enjoy my family. The staff really supported me at a difficult time.”

89% of families were managing better financially with our support.

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How we take action

The criminal exploitation of children

Kidnapping. Having acid thrown at you. Being assaulted by criminals with knives, dog chains and baseball bats.

These are just some of the terrifying experiences of children we support through our Criminal Exploitation Intervention Service.

Criminal exploitation is when children are forced to break the law, like smuggling drugs, stealing, or begging for the benefit of criminals. It can destroy young lives.

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Harms experienced by criminally exploited children
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In October 2024 we shared some of these young people’s experiences in our “I don't want to go down that road” report.

I don’t want to go down that road

Many of them were vulnerable: experiencing homelessness, using illegal drugs, or were neurodiverse.

The harms inflicted on criminally exploited children

Our report shared how 179 serious incidents affected 140 children and young people. The youngest was just 12 years old. It highlighted how 50 children were stabbed, some suffering life-changing injuries. Two young people were murdered. 107 incidents involved serious assaults on children. 23% of incidents involved children causing harm to other children as a result of exploitation. And 90% of young people refused to give any details about their exploiters for fear of repercussions – all were known to police.

In response, we’ve been pushing for urgent policy change to protect children while expanding our services across the UK to shield them from exploitation.

We made many urgent recommendations in the report, from more investment in early help and intervention to exploitation being recognised as a distinct form of child abuse.

Meanwhile, our groundbreaking Criminal Exploitation Intervention Service helps ‘divert’ young people away from crime – with the help of peer mentors who’ve been in their shoes.

We’re working hard to make sure this vital service stays sustainable, including making a bid through the National Lottery’s UK Fund to support and expand what we do.

Working together to end exploitation in Scotland

In Scotland we won government funding, alongside the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, to create a national policy and strategy to tackle the criminal exploitation of children. It’s part of keeping the Scottish government’s promise that care-experienced children grow up loved, safe and respected. This work supports those with care experience who've also experienced criminal exploitation.

To achieve this, we created a comprehensive framework highlighting how organisations can work together to prevent children facing exploitation being treated as criminals. We used real-life stories showing a child’s journey into exploitation to demonstrate how agencies and services can optimise current policies, legislation and practices. We’ve developed training to support the launch, including online access.

Our framework is being piloted in a number of Scottish local authorities before wider roll-out after evaluation.

Our work in Wales

Last year we continued to intensively support children and families affected by criminal exploitation through our Criminal Exploitation Intervention Service in Flintshire, Wales. We’ve worked with North Wales Police and other partners to help many children and young people at risk or actively being exploited to reduce their risk of harm.

We also contributed to the Welsh Parliament’s Children, Young People and Education Committee’s inquiry and its report Children on the Margins , which explored criminally exploited children who go missing. For this report, our services in Cardiff and Flintshire harnessed lived experience from mentors and the young people we support.

We welcomed the report's findings, which echo recommendations from our most recent research in partnership with Cardiff University. The research aimed to find out if existing legislation and practice guidance is sufficient and appropriate for safeguarding criminally exploited children and young people.

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How we take action

Providing quality childcare

We provide award-winning childcare from birth to 14 years through our Spring Nurseries in England and Scotland. In 2024/25 we gave loving care to 3,549 children through these services.

We’re seeing an increase in the needs of children attending nursery, due to services like early help and health-visiting being streamlined or cut. And a third of the two-year-olds in our nurseries receive free childcare. We’ve responded to that need and provide all-round support for families that we know significantly improves the lives of our most disadvantaged children. We also provide Spring Oscars out of schools clubs. Four in England and 10 in Scotland.

Supporting under-twos

Free government-funded childcare means we’re caring for more under-twos in our nurseries. To provide the best care we’ve launched programmes like Building Babies’ Brains. It’s an initiative to support younger children’s brain development while reducing the impact of stress.

Quality training

Last year we focused on bringing our staff together through face-to-face training days where experts provided tailored training on brain development and loose parts play – where children use materials like sand, stones and leaves to engage in play.

A voice for children and families

Award-winning work

We have a talented team who continue to win recognition for their work. During the year, we were happy to see Brad Gray from Spring Carousel shortlisted for National Day Nurseries Association’s Practitioner of the Year awards.

Last year, we continued to develop relationships with sector magazines like Early Years Educator and Nursery World publishing articles on our Forest School provision and food insecurity.

And we supported the Department for Education (DfE), sharing information on early years funding entitlement and the impact on families and children. We also continued our valuable work as a member of the DfE’s Early Years Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Advisory group.

Meanwhile, Spring Leam Lane was voted one of the Top 20 Nurseries for the Northeast[1] on Daynurseries.co.uk. Plus, in June 2024, our quality manager, Emma Gardner, spoke about supporting children with special educational needs at the National Day Nurseries Association Conference.

1 Daynurseries.co.uk https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/awards/

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Children in care

Every 15 minutes, a child goes into care in the UK. From that moment, their whole world is turned upside down. They’ve often already faced huge challenges in their young lives. And now they’re in care, the world can see them differently. But we don’t.

We’re there whenever a child needs us. Our small, family-style children’s homes offer stability, security and love to children and young people. Our supportive, warm and friendly foster carers help children feel at home. And wherever it’s possible, we work alongside parents, family members, schools and social care providers, too – with the child or young person at the heart of everything we do.

We support almost 35,000 children and young people in, or with experience of, the care system across all of our work. We understand the challenges they face and the love it takes to make things better.

Last year, we continued with our strategic priority of opening more homes for children who need them. We also redesigned our care framework to make sure we provide consistent care, so every child is guaranteed the highest quality. Plus, we started to create a more centralised system to help manage the occupancy in our homes. This will help make sure we provide excellent care that’s properly recognised through inspections while providing good value for money for local authorities. We’re also responding to new commissioning opportunities to develop fresh partnerships with local authorities to provide homes.

Opening more loving homes

As we reported last year, we’re investing in the growth of Action for Children-owned homes for children in care – we call this our residential growth programme. When we started our programme, we committed to opening 14 new homes owned and run by us – rather than running them on behalf of local authorities.

This programme remains at the heart of our growth strategy and we are pleased with the progress we are making. Last year we opened a brand-new home in the north-east of England, bringing the total number of children’s homes opened since the beginning of the programme to five. Plus we have four more ready to go, which are just waiting for registration from the inspectorate: two in Derbyshire, one in Telford and one in Wales. They’ll officially open in 2025, along with two others.

We have experienced challenges through the year - both as a result of cost increases and delays in the construction market, and from the hidden financial costs associated with opening residential homes. These can include the early recruitment and training of staff needed before any children or young people arrive at the home, delays to the number of children placed in the homes at any given time to support successful matching and stable long-term placements, and regulatory registration taking longer than expected. To help mitigate these challenges we are continually adapting as we expand our programme and remain fully committed with a plan to open four more homes in 2026/27 – taking our total for the programme to 15 (one more than originally planned).

As well as the total number of children, young people and families we support every year, we can measure the hours of support we give too. This helps show the impact we have in our services that offer more intensive one-to-one care, as well as bigger services with a broader reach. You can see the hours of support given this year in our children’s homes on page 17.

Creating stable, quality homes for children

Children living safely in a lasting home, without the disruption of moves, is one of the most important indicators of better outcomes for children in care. Research tells us that children who experience a stable home and loving care are more likely to do well in school, continue in education, be in work and feel more positive about themselves.

And the average length of time that children and young people live with us is also increasing as we focus on the quality of our homes and the relationships in them.Alongside our existing research about our homes, we are piloting an approach to assess their quality using creative techniques with children and young people. This includes collaging, story boxes and music. These techniques encourage children and young people to share their views on their physical environment, emotions and relationships and how these have an impact on them. This provides us with another view of the quality of our homes and how we can make them the best they can be for children.

91%

of children and young people in our care had improved stability in their home lives.

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How we take action

Delivering impact through our loving homes

We now run 32 homes in total for children and young people (16 homes for children in care, and 16 long stay homes for disabled children and young people), with a total of 107 rooms. 548 children’s homes staff supported 122 children and young people during the year – providing a total of 841,000 hours of support to make sure children are safe and loved.

These numbers are based on averages across the year. That’s because some young people moved on to supported independent living during the year, and others moved onto homes to meet their specific needs.

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Improving our care model

Last year we reviewed the existing model of care within our homes and developed an updated model which will be used to provide consistent care across all our homes going forward. The model was informed by research with the University of Birmingham which looked at what’s important to the children who live in our homes. A Place Called Home (Home from Home) , is the framework for how we deliver care, from longterm homes, forever homes and homes for disabled children to short breaks homes. It’s how we monitor quality through listening to children and young people’s experiences of living with us. It also considers how we support criminally exploited children.

Lifting children’s voices

To feel truly at home, the young people we care for need a say about the place they live.

So, at Action for Children’s Moray Homes in Scotland we helped them do just that.

We supported our young people to attend commissioners’ focus groups to talk about what was important to them. This included everything from being free to decorate their own space to getting involved in group activities.

Their thoughts were included in the new specification of their homes, making sure young people’s voices directly influence what’s commissioned.

Saying goodbye to our adoption services

Sadly, after long and careful thought, we took the difficult decision to wind down our adoption services in England which we’d run for almost a century.

We’re proud our service has helped provide safe and happy childhoods for thousands of children. However, over the last 10 years there have been huge changes to how adoption works nationally, which have affected voluntary adoption agencies like ours. As a result our model was becoming unsustainable.

We also found fewer children needed adoption, partly because of the emphasis on support coming from extended family through kinship care.

We were absolutely determined to put families first as the service wound down. Up until late 2024, we worked with families case-by-case to help them move to the next stage of their adoption journey. This included exploring their situation, transferring to a trusted and responsible provider or completing the legal adoption process.

We followed all official governance and statutory processes before deregistering the service in September 2024. We want to say a big thank you to all the staff involved. We’d also like to acknowledge the commitment and work of the hundreds of staff through the years who connected new families.

We’ve around 1,500 adoption records dating back to when we first started an adoption service in 1926. Each one tells the story of how we helped a child find a loving home.

However, this isn’t the end of that story. We’ll always support adopted children in our wider work – and help people find their adoption records online.

Helping children find loving foster homes

While we found that fewer children needed adoption, we’ve seen a big increase in the number of children needing loving foster homes. Yet there are fewer people becoming foster carers to meet the increased need. So we’ll continue to provide foster care services, matching children with families in all four nations of the UK. In the coming year we’ll have an even greater focus on recruiting foster carers and do all we can to find safe homes for the increasing number of children who need them.

A Big Welcome for children in Wales

All 22 local authorities in Wales are now using Big Welcome, our app designed to help children and young people move into their foster home.

In just a few swipes, children get to ‘meet’ their foster carers and see the home they’re moving into, which is crucial as children told us they don’t get enough information about their foster home. Big Welcome fills the gaps through a reassuring, child-friendly format at a huge moment in their lives.

The app is already successfully used by our fostering services to help children feel at home. And through our partnership with Foster Wales, it has the potential to support the almost 5,000 children and young people in foster care in Wales a year.

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Christopher’s story

“Action for Children is like family.”

When we first met Christopher he’d already spent five years in care after a challenging home life.

He was 16 when he moved into our ISSC Children's Home in Ayrshire. Residential Manager Carrie Baird remembers his first days very well.

“He was frightened and just didn’t know how to cope with it all. It was yet another upheaval in his life,” she says.

Christopher remembers exactly how lost he felt when he came through our doors.

“The day I arrived I was so scared and really didn't know who to trust,” he says.

“I just felt lost and didn’t know what to do with myself.”

Offering loving care

Our staff get expert training in the effects of trauma and how to support young people who have had many challenges in their lives.

Staff supported Christopher emotionally, allowing him to talk freely about his feelings when he wanted, and giving him ways to manage his anxiety.

We also helped him buy new clothes, underwear, shoes and toiletries and supported Christopher through further education, helping him fill out application forms and apply for a bursary. He went

on to complete a Prince’s Trust Employability qualification in Hospitality and Catering.

Feeling safe and included

“Living here at Action for Children has definitely changed me,” Christopher says today. “It has made me grow as a person.”

“I used to feel alone. Now I feel included. I feel safe. I feel happy. It's just a great place to be.” “ This is like home to me and the Action for Children staff are like family.”

“When I look back at that person I was when I first came here, I was not confident in doing anything. I wouldn’t even walk to Tesco. Now I look back and think ‘Was I really that person?’ My mental health has improved massively since coming here.”

Now 18, Christopher works at a local bakery, which he loves. Next, he’s planning on leaving us to live independently.

“Coming out of care soon I will probably feel quite nervous, although I’m quite open-minded to start new things, learn new things and obviously progress with my life,” he says.

“When I move back to Northern Ireland I would like to go to college again, perhaps get an apprenticeship to become a train driver. I think I’d like that.”

“I used to feel alone. Now I feel included. I feel safe. I feel happy. It’s just a great place to be.”

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Mental health and wellbeing

We know that learning how to face life’s challenges can help build a lifetime of emotional resilience. That’s why we work directly with children and young people, in schools and through programmes across the UK, to help them talk about how they’re feeling, recognise when they need support, and know they’re not alone.

Recognising how widespread mental health issues have become we also ensure that mental health support is an integral part of all our services. For example, our Family Support services use the ‘Solihull Approach’ model to improve parents’ and children’s mental health. Our homes for children provide trauma-informed care for emotional healing. And our Parent Talk service helps families tackle mental health challenges.

Last year was a challenging one for our specific mental health service, with the loss of some key services including in Staffordshire and Glasgow. However, we were successful in retendering for services in both England and Scotland and we continued to deliver our internationally acclaimed Blues programme across all nations of the UK.

Extending our services

Last year we were pleased to win extensions for some of our mental health services, like our Invercylde Schools’ Wellbeing Service which supports children in the Scottish region with mild to moderate mental health problems. Originally

launched in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, it will now run until July 2027 to reach even more children and young people in the area.

In Manchester, our Multi Systemic Therapy Service was recommissioned for another 24 months, working intensively with children and families to prevent relationship breakdown. Meanwhile, in Worcestershire, our Blues Act On It service won funding for another two years until March 2027.

Beating the blues

The Blues Programme is an evidence-based wellbeing programme for young people aged 13-19. Data from the programme consistently shows the positive impact for children and young people. It runs for six weeks and helps them learn emotional resilience and how to reduce low mood and anxious thoughts. It’s been tried and tested all over the world and is proven to make a positive difference, but don’t take our word for it – check out what our young people said:

“It is very fun and helpful and ever since I started Blues I have felt better about myself and I have become more social.”

“It helped me cope with my feelings and it was always a safe space.”

83%

of young people who access The Blues can now talk about their mental health and wellbeing.

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A programme of love

We recently had a young person on the North Wales Blues Programme who was non-speaking and communicated by typing on his phone. We were truly overjoyed when he gave us this poem.

The Feedback Poem

In a world of wonder, where youthful minds roam free, A programme born of love, go help them be, With risks of anxiety,

The programme as a helping hand, a guiding light, With lessons learned and wisdom shared, They’ll face life’s challenges, wisdom shared, Their mental health, a garden well-tended, A future bright, their hearts well defended.

Shan, Service coordinator for our North Wales Blues Programme said:

“I feel it shows how much the programme meant to him. It really moved us, and it was wonderful to see how delighted he was when he shared it. This is why I feel so proud to deliver the Blues Programme.”

Helping children bounce back

4,276

Our Bouncing Back Programme is designed to get children aged seven to 11 talking about how they’re feeling. It gives them an introduction to their mental health and wellbeing, and coping strategies to use when they need them most. It also helps them identify when they need help and who to ask. And last year it helped more than 4,000 children and young people.

young people completed the Bouncing Back Programme this year.

87%

What children said:

of young people who took part in Bouncing Back said they felt more confident.

“I loved Bouncing Back, thank you for making me feel more confident.”

“Bouncing Back helped me because I feel like I can deal with situations better.”

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Disabled children and young people

A disabled child should have the same opportunities as any other. And a disability shouldn’t stop a child achieving their hopes and dreams.

Outside of local authorities, Action for Children is one of England's biggest not-for-profit providers of short breaks services for disabled children and young people. We know how to support children, whatever their needs, disability or neurodivergence. We provide short breaks services, so that children can have independence and the chance to make friends in a fully accessible and supported environment (and their families can have time for their other responsibilities, too).

We also give disabled children needing residential care a loving home from home. And we provide an excellent education in a stimulating, productive and forward-thinking environment with our school for children with additional needs.

88%

of children who use our services are more able to participate in enriching activities that wouldn’t otherwise be accessible.

Growing our services

As well as the homes we own and have opened as part of our residential growth programme (see page 17), we’ve also won contracts to run children’s homes and short breaks services for disabled children in collaboration with local authorities.

Last year, we were awarded two contracts to run long-term homes for children with disabilities in Midlothian, Scotland and in Northamptonshire, England. And we won a contract for a solo placement in Peterborough, where a disabled young person is given intensive one-to-one support in a residential home. We also won three contracts for residential short breaks services, two in Oxfordshire and one in Northamptonshire.

Our services for disabled children are one of Action for Children’s main strengths. The scale and reputation of our work is helping us to grow our services across the UK.

An outstanding report

We were delighted when Maybrook, our first solo home in England (opened last year), was awarded Outstanding in all areas by Ofsted.

The inspection spotlighted the personalised and nurturing care one of our children experienced and how they’re supported to live a happy and fulfilled life. It described their warm and trusting relationships with staff, who know the child exceptionally well, explaining how: “this young person’s world has been unlocked.”

Celebrating milestones

Last year we celebrated 25 years of two key short break services in Renfrewshire and Lisalanna. Staff at Lisalanna held an open day and welcomed the local provost and MSP. They awarded certificates to long-serving staff and heard how the service has supported families for a quarter of a century.

Meanwhile, staff at Renfrewshire celebrated with their local deputy provost inviting staff, partners, children and families to a fun-filled afternoon disco party.

Celebrating achievements at Headlands

We’re also proud that Headlands School has become the first residential school in the UK accredited in Dyadic Development Practice (DPP). DDP is a psychotherapeutic treatment approach designed to help families with children struggling with emotional problems. Our one-of-a-kind Headlands School in Wales is an independent school that supports children and young people with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, challenging behaviour and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

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In July 2024, Year 11 students Hamish and Matthew were honoured for their kind actions helping Peggy, an elderly lady who had fallen, and guiding her to safety. Mayor

Gwenda Roberts presented them with certificates of recognition. Peggy, now in a wheelchair, attended the ceremony to show her gratitude. Peggy's husband, Mike, and their educational assistant, Jen Morrish, praised the boys for their kindness and bravery.

Further afield, Headlands students are also helping push for change for adopted and care-experienced children. In January 2025 Headlands

student Mackenzie represented Action for Children and their school at the Senedd as part of Youth Parliament during the first member meetup. At the event they joined others to talk about social media and safeguarding, before being shown round the building. They’re preparing a short speech on adoption support to win hearts and minds at the next event.

Safeguarding

Every child deserves a safe and happy childhood. That’s why we make safeguarding of children, families and staff a priority across the highquality services we provide.

We have three principal safeguarding managers, an early years specialist, an agency decision maker (ensuring high-quality support for children in foster care) and a dedicated health and safety team.

Our staff use a digital platform to share concerns, learning reviews after critical incidents, reports from unannounced visits, and safeguarding projects – like improving engagement with the Disclosure and Barring Service.

We need to keep children safe. So, every year we carry out a comprehensive annual safeguarding review, visiting our services to ask what’s working well and what isn’t. This feedback shapes our annual safeguarding and quality workplan. Our dedicated data and insight officer makes sure we collect and present data on key safeguarding and quality indicators, allowing us to take a preventative approach to safe practice.

For 2024/25, 95% of case files featured evidence of practice supervision or management oversight of practice. This is an important quality indicator for us. We can see our frontline staff are supported by their line managers, and that our work reaches a consistently high standard. In 94% of those case files we also saw evidence of the views of children and young people.

We’re delighted that 95% of our regulated services achieved the grade of good or outstanding from an inspectorate, which is an external indicator of high quality.

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Empowering children’s voices

Over the past year we‘ve made big strides embedding our Nothing About Me Without Me participation strategy – making sure young people are at the heart of everything we do.

From creating services together to influencing decision-making at every level, young people’s participation has become a defining feature of our work. Look out for examples throughout this report to see how young people are influencing all aspects of our work.

Pushing for change

To help our young people push for change and share their experiences, we helped to equip them with effective advocacy skills. Through public speaking training from Speakers Trust, our Young Ambassadors have gained confidence in sharing their stories at major events. Our campaigns training days have helped them develop the tools to drive change, ensuring they have the knowledge and confidence to have their say.

Their growing skills were showcased at The Stephenson’s Awards – our awards ceremony celebrating those who make a difference to children. Two Young Ambassadors served on the judging panel for our Young Person’s Choice Award, taking centre stage to present it.

We have to make sure how we work is as inclusive as possible. So, when one Young Ambassador with special educational needs shared challenges keeping up with meetings due to accessibility barriers, we introduced a tailored support plan.

This Ambassador is now working with us to improve accessibility for other young people, making sure everyone can be fully involved.

Thank you, Young Ambassadors

We celebrated two years of our Young Ambassadors programme in December and reflected on their incredible impact at a special event attended by our Northern Ireland National Director, Lorna Ballard.

We can’t overstate the impact of our Young Ambassadors – they’ve transformed Action for Children. Their journey over the past year has demonstrated that when young people are truly involved, the results are powerful.

“One skill I have learned is being more confident. This opportunity pushed me to do things I never thought I could, like talking in front of large groups and travelling to events independently .” – Chloe, Young Ambassador

Georgia, a young person supporting our work, speaking at the launch of our Paying the Price campaign.

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Influencing policy to improve children’s lives

Policy change has the potential to improve the lives of millions of children. That’s why it’s a vital part of our work, alongside the support and care we provide through our services.

We focus on where the need is greatest, where there’s an opportunity for change and where our unique expertise helps maximise our impact for families.

That means working together to build evidence which drives the changes we need to see. We draw on data and insights from our services and capture children’s and young people’s voices to shape policies that affect them.

Influencing people in power

After the 2024 General Election announcement we sprang into action to make sure change for children led the next government’s agenda.

We mobilised our supporters to contact local candidates, asking them to champion the needs of children. Candidates visited a service in Staffordshire to see how we’re supporting families. We were pleased to see manifestos from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party reflected many of our policy calls – from helping parents into work, to investing in early intervention to nurture more safe and happy childhoods.

Since then, we’ve been busy building relationships with the new government – meeting MPs, ministers and secretaries of state.

During the year we continued our joint Children at the Table campaign as a member of the Children’s Charities Coalition. We delivered a petition with over 28,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street, just one week after the election. Five young campaigners handed in the petition calling for the new Prime Minister to be a champion for children, and for the Labour government to create a crossgovernment strategy to improve their lives. And we were thrilled when the campaign was shortlisted for Trade Body/Voluntary Sector Campaign of the Year at the PRCA Public Affairs Awards 2025.

We were also pleased the King’s Speech announced a Children’s Wellbeing Bill to reform children’s social care, a new law to tackle the exploitation of children and a cross-government strategy to tackle child poverty. We’ll be working hard to influence them all in 2025/26.

Our Young Ambassadors are at the heart of driving meaningful change, ensuring that young people’s voices are not just heard but are actively shaping policy and campaigns.

One of the most significant highlights was the Children at the Table campaign, where Young Ambassadors fought for young people to have a permanent seat in decision-making spaces. Their advocacy led them to the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences, where they joined representatives from five leading charities to call for young voices to be recognised in policymaking. As part of this campaign, Young Ambassador Miracle attended the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Children, where she represented our charity alongside the Children’s Commissioners Youth Ambassadors, sharing personal experiences and championing the need for change.

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Improving children’s social care

In April 2024 our Chief Executive joined the Department for Education’s (DfE) Children’s Social Care Market Interventions Advisory Group. The group is tackling profiteering in the homes for children sector.

Children urgently need high-quality homes with loving care to thrive. So, in September we launched our ambitious A Place to Call Home campaign calling on UK governments to take immediate action and make it happen.

The launch of A Place to Call Home campaign.

We won media coverage across the UK, including a feature from one of our Young Ambassadors in The House magazine, read by UK parliamentarians.

We’re delighted the government has taken on some of our recommendations to help make sure there are enough homes for children and improve forecasting, planning and commissioning. But we know there’s still lots more to do.

In Scotland, Martin Whitfield MSP tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament welcoming our report. In Northern Ireland, Colm Gildernew MLA brought forward a Private Member’s Bill to ensure agencies must intervene earlier to prevent homelessness, including for young people, in direct response to our campaign.

In Northern Ireland, we’ve been working with partners to support recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Services (Northern Ireland) to improve social care for children. We did this alongside other members of the Children’s Re-imagine Collective.

In February we gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly Health Committee on Fostering Regulations. We’re very pleased the regulations have passed committee stage and grateful for the detailed consideration by the Health Committee. We’re now looking forward to the release of Fostering Standards accompanying the regulations. This will improve duties and oversight for children in foster care, bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK.

As part of our A Place to Call Home campaign, young people shared their experiences of the care system. They shared their powerful stories with MPs, including Darren Paffey. He met our Young Ambassadors to discuss the barriers faced by care-experienced young people and the urgent need for government action.

Fighting for better family support

In England, our Above and Beyond report revealed nine children in every class in England might be facing problems outside of school, like poverty and mental health challenges, that affect their education.

In response, we’re working to support children and young people to reach their full potential, including mental health support.

Over the year we analysed data from our parenting platform Parent Talk and published a report taking a closer look at what parents are struggling with. It highlighted how lack of help is leaving them to struggle alone with conflict and abuse when co-parenting after separation.

We also published a report with four other leading children’s charities – Barnardo’s, NSPCC, the National Children’s Bureau and the Children’s Society. Struggling Against the Tide revealed that local authorities in England are spending more than ever on children’s social care, after years of decline. But shockingly, spending on early intervention services like children’s centres, family hubs, family support services and services for young people has nearly halved since 2011. The report was welcomed by UK government departments and mentioned in a House of Lords debate.

Pushing for justice

Our work pushing for youth justice has inspired significant change in Scotland. We campaigned hard for the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill, which became law in 2024, protecting age-appropriate care and justice for vulnerable young people across the country.

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Also in Scotland, we worked to influence the government on what age children should be legally responsible for crime. We produced a final report, providing recommendations on how to raise public awareness and community confidence around the youth justice system, including the Age of Criminal Responsibility (ACR).

In Wales, we contributed to the Welsh government’s Children on the Margins report through roundtable events, providing written evidence and sharing children’s experiences from our services. We worked to raise awareness of the impact of children living in poverty and shared our evidence on criminally exploited children.

In March 2024, we published the findings of the Jay Review of Criminally Exploited Children . Following this, we published new research from England, which examined the harms caused to exploited children and made recommendations to make sure these children can be safeguarded effectively (see page 14).

We welcomed the Crime and Policing Bill, introduced to UK Parliament in February 2025. The Bill contained a new offence of criminally exploiting children and new prevention orders, both of which we called for in the Jay Review.

Tackling child poverty

Nearly eight in ten of our staff (79%) support a child, young person, or family experiencing poverty or extreme financial hardship. That’s why we campaign on child poverty – because families tell us it limits their children’s opportunities and freedoms.

Last year, we shared 10 immediate policy options with the government to tackle child poverty and support families into decent, secure work. We also published a new report, Sick and Tired, investigating the hardships and work prospects of sick and disabled parents relying on incapacity benefits.

In Scotland, our child poverty campaigning helped persuade the Scottish government to provide funding from 2026 to mitigate the two-child limit for Scottish families. It also announced a new duty to increase all Social Security Scotland benefit payments by inflation each year.

We campaigned to establish the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) and continue to call for this payment to reach £40 a week if Scotland is to meet its child poverty targets. The SCP was originally worth £10 a week per child – it’s now £27.15.

We followed this up in March with our Paying the Price report. It provided a clear roadmap for how the UK government can lift 1.2 million children out of poverty by 2030, halve child poverty in 20 years and all but eliminate deep child poverty in the same time frame. At the packed Westminster launch young campaigners Louise, Freya, Aaron and Georgia spoke powerfully about their own experiences of poverty. Our campaign will continue until the UK government publishes its Child Poverty Strategy in 2025.

Young campaigners at our Paying the Price launch.

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Fundraising and awareness

Thanks to our amazing supporters, we continue to inspire the public and raise vital funds that make sure more children have safe and happy childhoods.

Every day, vulnerable children across the UK need our support. And every day, the Action for Children family steps up. Dedicated supporters run thousands of miles and bake hundreds of cakes. They get their workplaces behind our cause, join our events and use their platforms to shout about our campaigns. They include us in their worship, in their wills and in their hearts.

All this hard work, dedication and love meant that in 2024/25 we raised an incredible £17.9 million. We’re so grateful to our volunteers and supporters for taking action for children so they don’t miss out on a safe and happy childhood.

In 2024/25 we raised an incredible £17.9 million

Running amazing events

In 2024/25 we ran 26 events across the UK.

In November we returned for a second year with our fabulous Starry Night Gala, raising over £225,000 for vulnerable children and young people. On the night, we

were lucky enough to showcase performances from some of the people we support. This included our headline act, a 13-year-old foster child, who sang alongside X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson MBE.

Our 27th Boycott your Bed sleepout inspired over 600 sleepers to brave the elements across five UK cities: London, Leeds, Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff. They raised over

Never Mind the Business celebrated its 20th anniversary in Glasgow back in September, with over 700 guests treated to a surprise performance from pop band Hue and Cry. In total we raised an incredible £209,000.

Our annual Ultimate News Quiz returned in March. It was hosted by Gary Lineker alongside a star-studded guest list. In March we also held our inspiring and long-standing Women of Influence event in Scotland, plus our 35th annual Spring Lunch in London. Both were hugely successful with our March events raising over £500,000.

£295,000 to help provide vital support to vulnerable families with nowhere else to turn.

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Honouring legacies

To honour the incredible people who’ve given us a gift in their will we created Sky of Stars, our tribute website. When we receive a gift from someone’s will, we add a star in their name to our Sky of Stars – to remember the difference they made to vulnerable children and young people.

We’re so thankful and inspired by every supporter who gave a gift in their will this past year. Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of 180 supporters, over a quarter of our donated income was raised this way.

We were also delighted to be nominated for three legacy awards this year, including Digital Innovation in Legacy Giving for our Sky of Stars and digital campaigns.

Celebrating our community

We’re so thankful for the support of people in the community raising money individually, in groups and with small businesses. Hundreds of dedicated supporters took on sporting challenges for children last year.

Our supporters raised over £285,000 across our runs, walks and cycling events. Our team of 53 London Marathon runners raised an incredible £101,000 and we had our largest ever team for the Great North Run.

We support 29 active fundraising groups with several raising more than £5,000 a year. Over the last year we’ve expanded our activity to engage groups and associations, as well as universities, to support unrestricted income growth and get people recognising our name across communities.

Next year we’re looking forward to expanding all our activities including holding our first Action for Children trek: Yr Wyddfa Snowdon Summit at Sunrise.

Niaill Whatmore, who works in our frontline services, ran the Great North Run 2024. He works with young people who helped him with his training. Niaill is signed up to run in 2025 and has recruited a team to join him.

Super supporter Claudie Roberts has run the London Marathon for us five times raising £13,500 so far.

Celebrating our Methodist roots

We’ve had incredible support from the Methodist community ever since we were founded by Reverend Thomas Bowman Stephenson over 150 years ago. And we’re so grateful for this support.

We also benefit from local partnerships with other denominations like the United Reformed Church. Together, they passionately fundraised and campaigned this year, raising over £760,000 from church-related activities.

We worked hard to nurture our close connection. The Methodist Communications team helped us stay visible by sharing inspiring news about our impact and campaigns.

Our Influencing and Participation teams ran workshops at the Methodist Youth Conference in October 2024. They inspired young Methodists to write to the minister for children and families about the change they want to see.

Our Fostering team and the Methodist Church’s Children, Youth and Family team are working together to equip churches with the skills to support fostering or adoptive families’ needs and help them feel included in church life. This has given carers access to wider information and networks and supports our fostering recruitment drive.

Compliance and complaints

We're registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adhere to its Code of Practice and Promise. We uphold high standards for fundraising, ensuring clarity, openness, and honesty with our supporters, while respecting their privacy and communication preferences.

In 2024/25, we received 267 complaints about our fundraising processes. A significant portion of these complaints (195) came through social media comments. These were primarily individual opinions prompted by posts, rather than direct issues with the fundraising message. Of the remaining complaints, the majority (41) were from supporters wishing to change their marketing preferences.

This year, we have increased our use of legitimate interest as our basis for direct mailings, allowing us to contact individuals that have supported our work and have provided us with a mailing address. This initiative enabled us to reach over 45,000 additional supporters, with the 41 complaints representing approximately 0.11% of this group. The next highest number of complaints were about the content of our marketing (12) and how we fulfil campaign requests (8).

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Our powerful partnerships

Corporate partners raise vital funds to support our work and give their time and expertise to support our services. We couldn’t take action for children without them.

We’re delighted to have launched new partnerships last year with Nationwide Building Society, JoJo Maman Bébé, Wills & Legal Services, The Cosy Club, Virgin Media O2, BGC Charity Day, B&Q Foundation, Equinix, Flight Centre, WeConnect Energy and DYW LED .

Plus, we're very grateful for continued support from companies across the UK including Herbalife, Junior Adventures Group, Sarnia Housing Association, The Childcare Company, Hope for a Child, Anglo Doorstep Collections and Atlas Security.

After three fantastic years, our partnership with Arcadis came to an end in March 2025. From epic cycle rides to UK-wide raffles, Arcadis colleagues have gone the extra mile and raised over £200,000 to support vulnerable children and families.

Now in its 15th year, our partnership with Dell Technologies continues to connect children, young people and their families to the digital world through our Inspire IT programme. One mother shared, “Dell is giving my child a chance for a better future.”

Our partnership with Ella’s Kitchen continues to support vulnerable families and their little ones across the UK. This year saw the relaunch of their limitededition Melty Sticks product, raising £75,000 and platforming our brand across all major retailers during the festive season.

This year, we celebrated the second anniversary of the John Lewis Partnership’s Building Happier Futures programme. The programme funded our Wrap Therapeutic Practitioners and our Transition Workers, who have given intense one-to-one support to over 475 children and young people in care, foster carers and family members.

We welcomed childrenswear brand JoJo Maman Bébé to the Action for Children family this year. From launching checkout donations across all their UK stores, to providing generous gift-in-kind support to our services, our partnership is helping children thrive.

Lenovo continued their support through sponsorship, partnering with five fundraising events across the year and in all four nations of the UK, including being national supporting partner for our famous corporate sleepout, Boycott your Bed.

Our Scottish Friendly Wellbeing programme, first launched in May 2023, has continued to deliver mental health and wellbeing sessions to high school pupils in some of the most deprived parts of Glasgow. Since its launch we have supported 608 children and young people.

Now in our third year of partnership, Starling Bank continues to help families manage their finances and have conversations about money through our digital service, Parent Talk. Last year, Starling Bank’s money management articles were read over 50,000 times and our Starling Bank parenting coach supported 433 families through one-to-one support.

Turner & Townsend’s dedicated support for our Education Fund continues to break down barriers to education by supporting families to cover the costs of school essentials like uniforms, shoes and winter coats. Our partnership, now running for a decade, has raised raised over £1 million since 2015.

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Spotlight on partnerships

In June 2024, we were delighted to launch a new multi-million pound, multi-year partnership with Nationwide Building Society to tackle child poverty. Together through Nationwide's social impact strategy, Fairer Futures, we will provide a vital lifeline to tens of thousands of vulnerable children, young people and families.

Right now, 4.5 million children in the UK are living in poverty. Poverty touches every part of a child’s life. From living in a damp and mouldy house, to clutching their broken toy, knowing they might not get another. Struggling to fit in when they don’t have the right school uniform, and worrying about getting in trouble for not doing their homework, when they don’t have the physical or mental space for it. It’s relentless. And it doesn’t just affect their childhood.

Family But with Nationwide’s Club. support, we’re helping to change that. When a family is at breaking point, we step in to make sure they have the practical and emotional support they

need. The Family Fund gives families immediate, flexible support with essentials like food, bills, clothing and equipment for their homes. And Family Clubs provide welcoming, safe spaces in local communities where families can come to eat, get warm, feel comfortable and get support with whatever they’re facing (read more on page 13).

Nationwide employees volunteering their time.

Molly* told us:

“We’ve gone from having a house to a home. We’re now a family again, which for a long time we weren’t. We were cohabiters who existed within a house. Our future starts with a happy home and that’s what we now have, thanks to Action for Children and Nationwide.”

Last year, our partnership supported 36,833 children, young people and families living in poverty or experiencing financial hardship.

*We’ve changed Molly’s name to protect her identity.

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Club
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A partnership launch session with Nationwide colleagues.

Nationwide Fairer Futures also supported us in the following ways:

As headline partner for our flagship fundraising campaign Secret Santa, Nationwide raised over £260,000 through employee and customer fundraising.
Funding research for our Paying the Price report, which aims to influence the UK government and drive long-lasting change for children in poverty.
Sponsoring our annual Starry Night Gala and Women of Influence Awards, helping us to raise vital funds.
124 Nationwide colleagues volunteered their time in our services and at our events.

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Action for Children in the media

iNews

We were delighted to be chosen as The i Paper’s Christmas Appeal charity for 2024. The Happy Childhoods Appeal ran for four weeks over the festive period raising an impressive £135,600 with Gift Aid.

We want to engage more people with our work and cause so we can help even more vulnerable children across the UK. We’re proud to have given the public over 3 billion opportunities to see our work in the media last year.

Secret Santa

These featured the experiences of children, young people and their families, as well as dedicated staff, fundraisers, volunteers and celebrity supporters.

Our flagship fundraising campaign had a recordbreaking year, raising over £2 million including Gift Aid. It was our first year with Nationwide as headline partner and we were once again back on televisions with our advert voiced by actor Larry Lamb.

The appeal spotlighted 12 services across all four nations and six areas of our work – poverty, disability, parental support, children in care, young carers and mental health.

We also launched the UK’s first of its kind Secret Santa’s Giving Grotto, an experience which turned tradition on its head by urging children to give a gift rather than get one. The two-day event resulted in strong press coverage and a broadcast feature on ITV London, contributing towards over 320 million opportunities to see the campaign.

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Giving Grotto.
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Welcoming our Royal patron

Our patron, HRH the Princess of Wales, visited our Mother and Baby Unit at HMP Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution in Cheshire in February 2025 (read more on page 12). Her visit won high-profile media attention including coverage on the BBC News at Six and Ten, BBC News website, Sky News, the front page of The Telegraph and The Times and over 300 other pieces of coverage.

HRH The Princess of Wales visiting our Mother and Baby Unit at HMP Styal in Cheshire.

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Enabling our work

Our people

Taking action for children starts with attracting, developing and keeping brilliant staff and volunteers.

At the end of March 2025, we have 4,103 passionate people employed by Action for Children and 475 dedicated volunteers.

And we’re delighted Action for Children was ranked 154th overall – and 16th in the healthcare and social sector – in the Financial Times’ UK’s Best Employer 2025 list.

Attracting and keeping amazing staff

To attract and keep the most talented people we carried out research to understand the best things about working at Action for Children. We found it’s the impact we have, the connections we build and being solutions focused. We’re now prioritising these parts of our culture in our recruitment marketing and communications.

We also simplified the staff structure in our residential services, creating a new frontline role offering career and pay progression through three levels, as staff develop their competence, skills and confidence. We’ve clearly set out the learning pathway and career development options and support available.

Planning for promotions

We’re committed to developing our leaders, making sure we have diverse, high-quality people ready to move into middle and senior roles across Action for Children. To support them we’ve developed new succession planning resources following recommendations from our Talent Management Working Group and Executive Leadership team. We’re testing these resources in our children’s services in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Keeping our accreditations

We’ve retained Investors in Volunteers (IIV), Investors in People (IIP), Real Living Wage Employer, Trusted Charity Level 1 accreditation and our Disability Confident Employers status.

In Northern Ireland we’ve also been awarded a Silver Diversity Mark accreditation, upgraded from Bronze, to recognise our commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion.

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Diversity and inclusion

Last year we refreshed our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, continuing our commitment to becoming the most inclusive charity we can be. We’ve continued to deliver Inclusive Recruitment Training and provide regular informal and formal learning opportunities for all our staff.

We’re launching new mandatory anti-racism training for all our new starters and leaders in 2025. Last year we held focus groups of Staff Network members, people with lived experience, senior leaders and managers to help develop the training.

During 2024/25 we ran question and answer sessions on positive action and neurodiversity in the workplace. We also had Lunch and Learn events promoting new guidance and practice, plus Staff Network lead webinars covering subjects from LGBTQ+ History Month, Experience of Black Children in Care and International Women’s Day.

Our Developing Potential programme is a fantastic leadership development opportunity for staff from all areas of our charity who have the aspiration and potential to move into a grade 4 role in the next two years. We harnessed positive action by ringfencing 50% of the spaces for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and Disabled staff. We recognise these groups are disproportionately under-represented in management and senior roles at Action for Children.

After successful feedback we launched our new Reciprocal Mentoring pilot programme in January 2025. The programme pairs Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues with senior leaders to develop

Sharing experiences, changing minds

Our Reciprocal Mentoring pilot programme paired Natalie, a Regional Manager in Fundraising, with Richard, Director of Strategy and Implementation.

“It was giving back and trying to learn about myself. I thought ‘a mentoring partner is what

I need right now’. But also, it was a call to action – Action for Children wanted to make a difference through this programme,” says Natalie.

Richard’s motivation came from realising there were gaps in his understanding of diversity and inclusion.

The pair met regularly over six months, taking it in turns to mentor and be mentored by each other. Their discussions were wide-ranging, covering diversity and inclusion as well as career development.

co-mentoring relationships promoting mutual learning and self-development. The programme helps us build a more inclusive anti-racist workplace, by breaking down barriers for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff while building senior leaders’ confidence and knowledge to create change.

Richard found an increasing awareness of how policies and processes can be experienced very differently by people with different life experiences.

“For me it reinforced that if you don’t have a diverse range of individuals with differing views and backgrounds in the room when you’re developing policy or designing something you will miss important implications,” he says.

“You can make assumptions about how something will land that will just be completely wrong and be unaware that there will be completely unintended consequences for a whole group of people. That was quite a revelatory moment for me.”

Natalie said, “It’s prompted me to do things out of my box.”

“I’ve joined the Breakthrough Network, attended a couple of sessions already and shared the insights from them with my colleagues. But with some help from Richard, I’ve also identified that I want to progress at Action for Children. It has given me a fire in my belly and my manager has recognised that too and put me in to lead on managing a project.”

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Our volunteers

We have 475 active volunteers in our children’s services across the UK. Many more donate their time through short-term volunteering opportunities like our fundraising Action Squads, helping at events and through corporate partnership opportunities.

Our volunteers are all part of our family and we’re incredibly grateful for their hard work. They help us in many ways, from admin to gardening and being mentors for our young people to working in our peer support groups.

We support our volunteers with over 200 volunteer co-ordinators. We also offer induction, training and support their wellbeing and professional and personal development.

“Volunteering is so rewarding.”

Margaret has volunteered with us at Newcastle’s Galafield Community Centre since 2021. As well as working one-to-one with families, she supports the Community Café and runs the Parent and Toddler Group.

“The children [who attend the group] have really come out of their shells, developed new skills and improved their speech and language,” she said.

“[Volunteering] is so rewarding. It’s a chance to share your skills and interests with other people, learn new skills and make new friends.”

Our pay and gender pay gap 2024

We want to pay affordable and competitive rates in the not-for-profit sector that reflect the nature and complexity of each role’s responsibilities. We keep on top of sector pay by partnering with pay data specialists and collaborating with sector reward colleagues to benchmark, and share ideas and information.

We’re pleased our gender pay gap has dropped by 1.4% – from 5.9% in 2023 to 4.4% this year. This sits within our target of 5% either side of 0%. And it is below the average 2023 UK Gender Pay Gap of 7.7%, measured by The Office for National Statistics.

We’re also delighted to report a 0% gender pay gap for Action for Children Developments Ltd, down from 2.1% in 2023.

In Northern Ireland our children’s services achieved a significant and continued improvement to their gender pay gap, reducing from 5.1% to 1.2%. Meanwhile, our children’s services in Scotland continue to maintain an impressive 0% gap.

We want everyone to feel welcome, included, valued and respected. And working towards a more genderequal world is a constant commitment.

We now employ more men at the lower quartile of pay: 11.7% rising to 15.1% (an improvement of 4% from 2023) because we’ve worked to attract more men into frontline children’s service roles. This helps our workforce better represent the children and young people we support.

You can read more in our full report .

Supporting staff wellbeing

We continue to provide our Employee Assistance Programme for staff. We’ve organised monthly wellbeing sessions along with webinars to support them with topics like healthy eating, financial wellbeing, happiness, resilience and grief awareness, alongside many others. We’ve continued to invest in our team of over 100 Mental Health First Aiders by organising refresher training and successfully launching our Mental Health First Aiders Network.

Listening to our staff

We ran our staff survey over February 2025, with an external provider – People Insights. Our teams are now discussing and analysing the results, and looking to action plans across the charity. Highlights include our staff engagement score for the survey at 86%, the strength of staff commitment to the ethos and values of the charity, and key words in survey responses like ‘supportive’, ‘purposeful’, ‘connected’ and ‘inclusive’.

“I look forward every week to my time working with Action for Children and feel that, as well as giving my time and support, I receive lots of support back and have made new friends and interests.”

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Improving efficiency

To maximise the impact we can have for children, young people and families, we continuously work to improve our efficiency.

Using more efficient systems

We moved from our old people and finance systems to a self-serve cloud platform (Oracle). We're now adapting to the new system, which over time should enable us to streamline processes and improve our work.

Creating an Optimal Organisation

Our Optimal Organisation programme was designed to make sure we have the right capabilities to deliver our strategy. We’ve used it to right-size our resources and structures so we can continue to support the children, young people and families who need us while staying financially sustainable.

Last year we restructured our infrastructure support teams, achieved non-staff cost savings and made investments that matched our strategic goals. We also created a new Transformation team to embed continuous improvement as standard practice with reviews every six months.

Digital transformation

We’ve brought our digital teams together to boost innovation and make sure all our digital programmes are efficient, scalable, universal and supportable. We’ll also use artificial intelligence to improve what we do.

supporters, and grow reach and brand awareness. In 2025/26, we’ll focus on loyalty marketing to raise more money for Action for Children.

To diversify and raise more unrestricted income, we’ll also prioritise innovation in our digital products and new business models. Our intellectual property will be at the heart of this approach.

To increase our impact on the lives of children and young people we’ll prioritise an integrated digital offer to help win new contracts from commissioners.

Like all charities we need to keep up with digital marketing trends. Identifying the right tools and platforms will make sure we can attract new

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Boosting sustainability

Over the past year, we’ve used the Climate Essentials platform, to gain deeper insights into our carbon footprint, helping us make more informed decisions.

We’ve expanded our reporting to include Scope 3 emissions, specifically from non-company-owned vehicles, as part of our SECR submission. Moving forward, we're committed to strengthening our approach by incorporating additional Scope 3 categories, enhancing transparency and accelerating our journey towards net zero.

As part of this commitment, we’ve enhanced our Travel Management Tool by adding a pre-booking declaration to support sustainable travel decisions. Our employees must now consider the carbon footprint implications before finalising their arrangements.

We have also strengthened sustainability practices within our goods and services procurement process. We’ve developed a Social Value Criterion for tenders, making sure our supply chain remains accountable. This requires suppliers to confirm their sustainability efforts as part of contract agreements and Request for Information (RFI) submissions.

We’ve also discussed corporate water rates and more effective systems to boost awareness and communicate our sustainability efforts to colleagues and stakeholders. Plus, we’re now reporting as a whole organisation to gain a clearer understanding of our overall impact.

Looking ahead, we’ll build on our progress to shape a holistic sustainability strategy – setting goals to reduce our environmental impact. We’ll continue to embed more environmentally responsible practices into our culture and daily operations. And by working together across the charity, we can accelerate our journey towards a more sustainable future and drive meaningful, lasting change.

Energy type Gas (kWh)	2024/25 Consumption Emission(tCO2e) 5,697,993 1,042.2	2024/25 Consumption Emission(tCO2e) 5,697,993 1,042.2	2023/24 Consumption Emission(tCO2e) 5,401,345 988.1	2023/24 Consumption Emission(tCO2e) 5,401,345 988.1
Electric (kWh)	2,068,932	428.4	2,543,322	526.6
Fleet (litres)	93,837	219.1	80,169	195
Total Scope 1 & 2 emissions		1,689.7		1,709.7
Scope 3 (non-company owned vehicles)		672.7		Not reported
Total emissions		2,362.4		1,709.7
Intensity Metric: tCO2e/£m income		10.5 (14.7 inc. Scope 3).		11.0

The figures in our Climate Essentials report include our operational properties and not managed assets used by outside parties.

Scope 1 covers direct emissions (e.g. gas, owned fleet). Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from electricity. Scope 3 captures all other indirect emissions.

The figures shown here for 2023/24 are different to those we included in last year’s report. This is because of a miscalculation in our electricity and gas consumption and emissions, which we’re correcting in this year’s report. Positively, these corrected figures show we’re having less of an environmental impact, thanks to initiatives like increasing the use of LED lighting and improving energy management practices.

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Our focus

Over the last year, we've been revising our strategy so that we're better able meet the needs of children and families and adapt to the ever-changing environment we're operating in. We'll launch the updated strategy in 2025.

In the meantime, we'll continue to work towards our goals by prioritising the following activities over the next 12 months:

Continuing to grow our impact by aligning our growth and influencing priorities to our new ambitions.
Developing and opening more children’s homes in our residential growth programme.
Scoping options to replace our Children’s Outcome Recording System to better identify and highlight our impact.
Developing our participation plan – including appointing new Young Ambassadors to carry on the successful work of those who’re leaving us.
Embedding our refreshed Diversity and Inclusion strategy and action plan.

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Financial review

Our activity in 2024/25 helped us achieve a total income of £163.4 million (2023/24: £155.3 million), up £8.1 million on the year before. Our total expenditure (spending) was also up at £163.0 million (2023/24: £161.0 million) – an increase of £2.0 million on the previous year.

As a result, our net surplus for the year, before investment and pension valuation movements, was £0.4 million (2023/24: deficit £5.7 million). The net surplus was in line with our budget. It reflects planned investments in our priority projects – particularly growing residential services and new technology so we can work more efficiently. Our underlying operating position excluding these investments showed a small operating surplus for the year. We offset significant cost pressures from pay increases and inflation by growing our income and reducing non-pay spending where required.

Our income and expenditure

In 2024/25 we generated a total income of £163.4 million (2023/24: £155.3 million). We’re particularly pleased to report good performance across all income-generating areas, despite wider funding challenges. Our total charitable expenditure was £155.6 million (2023/24: £154.3 million). Like most organisations price rises increased our expenditure. But we managed these to end the year in a stable position.

Donations and legacies

We’re continually grateful for the generosity and loyalty of our supporters and partners who help us take action for children. In 2024/25 we raised £17.9 million in voluntary income from donations and legacies. Of this, £12.2 million (2023/24: £12.4 million) was unrestricted income and £5.7 million (2023/24: £4.8 million) was restricted to specific programmes like our Family Fund, disability short breaks and children in care.

Overall, 2024/25 was a mixed year for fundraising. Growth in restricted income driven by our new major corporate partnership with Nationwide was balanced with a 28% decrease (£1.18 million) in the value of legacy gifts. This had a significant effect on our unrestricted income (£12.2 million) which ended the year £1.2 million under budget. This was the sixth year of our flagship fundraising campaign, Secret Santa, which raised £2.4 million (2023/24: £1.48 million) and the second year of our Starry Night Gala. We also ran some record-breaking high-value events including the 20th anniversary of Never Mind the Business in Glasgow and the Ultimate News Quiz, which raised £0.4 million.

Our total fundraising expenditure was £7.4 million (2023/24: £6.7 million) with with £0.4 million of this due to reclassifying some activities previously included in support costs.

Our overall income was £0.9 million under budget (-6.1%) with a £1.2 million shortfall against our unrestricted income target. Fundraising achieved a net unrestricted contribution of £7.1 million (2023/24: £7.4 million).

Our charitable activities

This year we generated £143.9 million in income through our core services: family support, children in care, disabled children, and mental health and wellbeing. This is up £7.7 million from last year. We achieved this by our planned strategic shifts into residential care and the hard work of our committed and dedicated workforce.

We continued to increase our number of homes for children to make sure some of the most vulnerable children have a safe, stable and loving home. We opened one new home for children and young people in 2024/25 and saw a significant increase in income across the homes we opened in 2023/24. This drove a £6.2 million increase in income from our homes last year. We anticipate further increases in 2025/26 as we continue our residential growth programme.

Our charitable expenditure this year was £155.6 million – up £1.3 million from the year before, driven largely by two factors. First, inflation in utility costs and the Real Living Wage, and second the costs associated with preparing and staffing our new homes for inspections prior to opening. This means we need to spend significantly before children can move in.

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Income from our nurseries and out of school clubs dropped slightly to £15.7 million in 2024/25 (2023/24: £16.6 million). During the year, we made the decision to exit five nurseries and seven out of school clubs which were no longer financially viable for us to operate. These services have been transferred to other providers. Despite inflationary increases, particularly in wages and for properties, our expenditure has fallen as we’ve reduced our portfolio. Our total expenditure was £14.7 million in 2024/25 (2023/24: £16.6 million) resulting in a total contribution of £1 million in 2024/25 (2023/24: £0 million).

Our balance sheet

Our total funds at the end of the year were up on the previous year at £76.3 million (2023/24: £75.6 million). Our unrestricted funds fell to £68.7 million (2023/24: £70.5 million). Overall, £54.0 million of our unrestricted funds are either designated or tied to assets supporting our activities. This leaves £14.7 million (2023/24: £16.1 million) making up our charity’s free reserves. Our fixed asset additions in the year were £3.5 million. Our total cash balance at the end of the year was £11.1 million with £9.8 million of this placed on notice deposits to maximise the interest we earn on surplus cash.

We involve our Young Ambassadors in all key decisions, including financial choices. Last year our Head of Finance ran an informationpacked session on how we’re funded so young people could understand and influence our financial priorities.

Trading subsidiaries and associated charities

These trading subsidiaries are also consolidated into the financial results of Action for Children Group:

1. Action for Children Services Limited (company number 2332388) provides welfare and educational services. New contracts with local authorities are placed through the company. Turnover increased by 5.35% in 2024/25 to £73.4 million. The company made a profit of £2.2 million (2023/24: £1.7 million). Gift Aid will be paid to Action for Children so that no corporation tax is due.

2. Action for Children Developments Limited (company number 6842765) is a company limited by guarantee. It looks after commercial trading, property transactions and other developments that support Action for Children’s mission. The company also runs children’s nurseries under the trading name ‘Spring’. The company made a profit of £0.8 million (2023/24: loss £0.1 million). Gift Aid will be paid to Action for Children so that no corporation tax is due.

3. Out Of School Scotland Limited (OSCARS) (company number SC264619) is a subsidiary that provides after-school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday camps. The company made a profit of £0.2 million (2023/24: £0.1 million). Gift Aid will be paid to Action for Children so that no corporation tax is due.

Our reserves

Charity Funds Trust and charity law require that we present our funds in the following categories:

Restricted funds, which include donations and other income that can only be used for particular purposes. On 31 March 2025, our specific-purpose funds were £7.5 million (2023/24: £5.1 million).

Unrestricted funds of £68.8 million (2023/24: £70.5 million) make up our general fund. A part has been categorised as designated funds, with the remainder undesignated.

Designated funds of £27.5 million (2023/24: £26.8 million) represent a capital fund equivalent to the net book value of fixed assets used to support operational work. There is also a charged asset fund representing the market value of those investments over which the pension fund has a charge of £20.2 million (2023/24: £20.2 million). The total value of the assets charged to the pension fund is £40.0 million. This is the charged asset fund value of £20.2 million together with operational properties within the capital fund with a market value of £19.8 million. The old endowment fund of £6.4 million has been designated to support our residential growth programme. The general fund of £14.7 million is undesignated and makes up our charity’s free reserves. Our pension reserve represents the difference between the fair values of pension assets and liabilities on the FRS 102 basis. However, this surplus is not recognised in our accounts because it can’t be released back on an unconditional basis. In 2023/24, there was a liability of £551,000 which was recognised in the accounts.

Our Joint Finance, Audit and Risk Committee reviews our reserves policy and the level of free reserves every year. This is shown in the financial statements as the general fund and fair value reserve, excluding designated funds. The review is then approved by the Board of Trustees. We use a risk-appraisal approach – determining the likelihood of future costs, potential liabilities and risks – to work out the general reserves needed. This is based on the latest business and financial plan. Risks include loss of income from partners and voluntary donations and changes to

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costs. The trustees strive to make sure we have sufficient free reserves to protect Action for Children’s financial stability. This gives us a safety net should we need to rebalance income and expenditure.

Taking into consideration our strategic plans, and economic and market conditions, we plan to hold general reserves excluding designated funds above the current level of £14.7 million. The target minimum free reserves in a period of no investments should be £16 million. We recognise we’re currently in an investment phase due to our residential programme and technology investments. We’ve agreed a plan with our trustees to return to our target reserves as we move out of this investment phase. With our charity’s free reserves at £14.7 million, the trustees remain confident we’ll have enough reserves to meet future requirements. As we move out of our investment phase, we also have further mitigation levers available to us if we are falling short of our reserves target. These include further property sales, utilising our remaining endowment funds and deferring or delaying investment expenditure. Our financial plan and reserves policy include pension fund contribution costs. The accounting disclosure required for pension liabilities is included in the balance sheet. You can find it in note 6.

Our investments

Our investments provide the reserves we need to manage future developments, risks and uncertainties. One of our main objectives is to keep an asset allocation model that matches the timing of potential liabilities, within reserves, to appropriate investment assets. Our investment policy and statement of investment principles is based on this model and was

reviewed and updated in 2021/22. All our investments are managed by the Central Finance Board (CFB) of the Methodist Church. These accounts are managed to independent mandates appropriate to their separate financial objectives. They take an ethical investment approach that aligns with our mission and values. The CFB’s approach excludes companies considered inappropriate, such as those involved with alcohol, tobacco, pornography and armaments, or those who use child labour. They work closely with other church-based organisations to maximise the influence they have over the companies they invest in. The CFB is also compliant with the Financial Reporting Council’s UK Stewardship Code. Our investment committee make decisions and measures the performance of the CFB fund against an agreed benchmark.

The Action for Children discretionary funds are managed on an investment platform which is separated into two distinct investment mandates: General Reserve and Contingent Assets.

The long-term target returns, against which the investments are measured, are inflation-based. The target return for the General Reserve account is Consumer Price Index (CPI) +3% and CPI +1% for the Contingent Assets account. These are measured net of fees and are annualised over a rolling five-year basis. The investments also continue to be measured against their respective ARC indices. The General Reserve account underperformed the ARC Steady Growth index by 0.5% and the Contingent Assets account underperformed the ARC Cautious index by 0.4% over the 12-month period.

Our pensions

The Action for Children Pension Fund is a hybrid pension scheme. It has a defined contribution section which has been available for employees to join at any time. This defined contribution section closed for the vast majority of employees on 31 March 2025 and employees have had access to the Standard Life Master Trust from 1 April 2025. The defined benefit section of the existing scheme remains open only for Action for Children employees in Guernsey, as they were unable to join the Standard Life Master Trust. Our charity also has a funding obligation for the historic defined benefit part of the scheme.

The pension fund value shows a surplus position of £1.7m (2023/24: deficit of £0.6 million) on the FRS 102 basis. However, as our charity doesn’t have an unconditional right to the surplus from this valuation it hasn’t been recognised in our financial statements.

The FRS 102 valuation is governed by accounting disclosure requirements and is different from the triennial actuarial valuation which was last completed as at 31 March 2024.

At the 31 March 2024 triennial valuation, the pension surplus was £3.9 million, a funding level of 101%. However, we take a more cautious approach to agreeing contribution requirements. This materially reduces the investment risk to which the pension fund is exposed. It also improves the security of members' benefits and provides better protection for our charity against future funding risks. We call this a ‘sustainable target’ approach.

Under the sustainable target at 31 March 2024 there was a deficit of £23.9 million, representing a funding level of 95%. For the last 15 years we’ve been paying deficit reduction contributions each year, as agreed

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with the pension fund trustees. In 2024/25 the payment was £1.33 million as per note 6. A revised deficit recovery plan was agreed as part of the 2024 triennial valuation. This will see deficit recovery contributions of £0.5 million per year for the two years 2025/26 and 2026/27, increasing to £1 million a year from 1 April 2027.

Going concern

We faced a very challenging operational environment in the financial year which continued to put pressure on our activities and services. In spite of this, we made a net surplus (after investments and pension movement adjustments) for the year of £0.7 million (2023/24: loss of £5.2 million). Our Executive Leadership Team works closely with the Board of Trustees to regularly monitor our financial position, in particular considering our cash position and the impact on reserves. The trustees continue to believe that the group and its entities are going concerns and so the going concern basis is appropriate for the preparation of the Annual Report and Accounts. A paper setting out the approach taken by the trustees and rationale for this assessment has been prepared.

In reaching this assessment the trustees have considered the factors, risks and uncertainties that may impact the group’s operations in the next year. This assessment is supported by detailed financial modelling, including the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial plans, sensitivity analysis, and quantification of potential risks on the group’s reserves and liquidity positions.

Action for Children’s financial projections are reflected in the group’s 2025/26 budget and indicative forecast for 2026/27. The operating budget for 2025/26 is balanced. While acknowledging risks in delivery of the balanced budget outturn, the trustees believe the budget reflects a ‘middle ground’ position. It balances known risks against the group’s ambitions and opportunities for growth.

The Action for Children charity’s group unrestricted reserves and cash balances are healthy, with a 31 March 2025 consolidated cash and cash-equivalent balance of £11.1 million (2023/24: £12.9 million). Group restricted reserves stand at £7.5 million (2023/24: £5.1 million) with group unrestricted reserves of £68.7 million (2023/24: £70.5 million). Actual cashflow declined in line with the reservesfunded project investments and planned capital spend. The indicative forecast prepared for 2026/27 covers the period after March 2026 up to 12 months from expected date of signature of the financial statements. It shows an improved financial outlook with increased contribution across income streams.

There are no material risks identified in 2026/27 that would impact the going concern assessment. The focus of this assessment is therefore on 2025/26. We expect that, should risks emerge in the current financial year, these would be addressed and 2026/27 budgets adjusted to ensure our ongoing financial sustainability. In summary, based on the budgets and cashflow projections prepared, and the group’s healthy reserves and cash balances, the going concern basis for preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

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Managing risk

Protecting children and young people is at the heart of our work. Due to the nature of our services and the complex needs of those we support, a strong safeguarding culture and robust risk management framework is critical.

Our Board of Trustees actively reviews and monitors our risk management framework to make sure our approach allows us to safely deliver our services and achieve our strategic objectives.

Our approach to managing risk

Our approach is informed by our values and Code of Conduct, which sets out what’s expected of everyone who works with Action for Children. We integrate risk into our policies and procedures so we can effectively identify and manage risks and make sure everyone understands their responsibility for risk in their day-to-day roles.

We’re guided by best practice as set out by the Institute of Risk Management and ISO 31000, following the ‘PACED’ principles of risk management as well as relevant regulatory standards. That includes the Charities and Risk Management guidance (CC26).

This past year, we’ve focused on strengthening our risk management framework, which drives consistent identification, assessment, management and reporting of our risks.

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Risk management process
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1. Understand
the context
for our risks
4. Monitor,
2. Identify and
report and
assess risks
review risks
3. Manage risks
!
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Clear accountability

Roles and responsibilities are defined in our Risk Management Policy. The Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for risk management.

The Audit and Risk Committee supports the Board in its responsibilities, providing oversight and recommendations on the effectiveness of the Internal Audit programme and risk-handling in practice.

Raising issues

A key part of managing risk and maintaining high service standards is to make sure everyone is encouraged to raise their concerns. We promote a consistent culture of ethics across our organisation.

Centralised reporting systems provide clear pathways for identifying and managing issues when they arise, and for learning how to improve our practices.

Horizon scanning

Ongoing monitoring of current and emerging trends allows us to maintain a strong understanding of our risk environment. We must remain vigilant about the challenges facing the whole charity sector. This includes financial resilience due to increasing costs, reduced funding and higher demands, together with a fall in volunteering levels.

Continuous monitoring and quarterly risk reviews support trustee and executive decision making, plus effective prioritisation and allocation of resources to manage and mitigate our risks.

Continual improvement

Key initiatives to help us build our resilience and preparedness include:

Delivering an optimal organisation project to make sure the right resources are in the right places.
Creating a Transformation Directorate and Change Champions network.
Replacing legacy finance and HR systems.

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Principal risks

Below are the principal risks to our strategic objectives. The Board of Trustees has ultimate oversight of the management of all risks, and we’ve shown where Board Sub-Committees have additional oversight responsibilities.

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Risk Mitigations include Accountability
and oversight
Safeguarding - Dedicated Safeguarding team led by Director of - Early Warning Indicator Reports help us to minimise Accountable:
Safeguarding, reporting directly to the Managing serious incidents. Managing Director of
Children and young people
Director of Children’s Services and our designated Children’s Services
we support may come to - Whistleblowing and serious incident procedures
harm as a result of our safeguarding trustee. ensure proper investigation of, and learning from, Overseen by:
actions or inaction. - Comprehensive safeguarding framework including any serious incidents that occur. Children’s Services
clear policies, procedures, reporting mechanisms Committee
- Independent assurance through periodic internal
and guidance.
audit coverage of key safeguarding controls.
- Strict controls and oversight structures around
- Formal mandatory safeguarding training for all
supervision of staff working with children,
employees and trustees, supplemented by monthly
supported by our Safeguarding team and ‘safer
safeguarding Q&A sessions for all staff.
recruitment’ procedures.
- Annual safeguarding review presented to the Board
- Oversight of safeguarding activities by the
to ensure lessons learned are captured.
Safeguarding group, chaired by our Chief
Executive Officer and attended by our designated
safeguarding trustee.
People and capabilities - Robust framework of policies, processes, resources - Regular performance appraisals, comprehensive Accountable:
and staff networks to support staff and their training programme and Management Chief People Officer
Risk of failure to attract,
learning and development. Competency Framework and resources to
recruit and retain sufficient Overseen by:
support staff development.
staff and skillsets resulting - In-house recruitment function with clear KPIs Governance, People
in gaps in capability and reported to the Recruitment Steering Group, and Remuneration
capacity which could Executive Leadership Team and updates to the Committee
prevent the delivery of our Children’s Services Committee, Governance, People
objectives and services. and Remuneration Committee and Board.
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Risk Mitigations include Accountability
and oversight
Financial sustainability - Robust financial control and reporting framework - Long-term strategy to address pension deficit Accountable:
in place to facilitate expenditure control, by 2029 and limit the downside risk to Action for Chief Financial
Risk of failure to achieve
monitoring of liquidity and cash position and Children in relation to our pension liabilities Officer
long-term financial
sustainability and/or adherence to reserves policy, and ongoing and assets. Overseen by:
deliver quality services with monitoring and reporting of business development - Assurance on our financial position, going concern Finance Committee
performance and pipeline, with regular review of
the available funding. and financial controls through annual external
our forecasts and assumptions.
audit and risk-based internal audit coverage.
Safe spaces - Specialist Health and Safety and Property teams - Mandatory annual health and safety training for all Accountable:
overseen by our Health and Safety Committee staff, with additional courses required for roles with Managing Director
Risk of failure to ensure
to support effective risk management and keep a higher risk profile. of Children’s
a safe and compliant
everyone who uses our services and buildings safe. Services and Chief
environment for all our - Health and safety reporting system to capture risk
Operating Officer
people and those who - Review of health and safety KPIs and updates at assessments, incidents and near misses.
use our services. the Children’s Services Committee and quarterly Overseen by:
- Engagement of the Hampshire Fire Service as our
oversight of health and safety reporting at Audit Audit and Risk
Primary Fire Authority and periodic fire drills in all
and Risk Committee. Committee
occupied properties.
Children’s Services
Committee
Information and - Information security and data governance - We hold Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation Accountable:
cyber security structures are established to manage data and our security measures include a Security Chief Operating
protection and security controls and initiatives. Operations Centre, regular penetration testing, Officer
Risk of significant data
Security Events Incident Management System,
protection or information - Mandatory annual training on information security Overseen by:
data backups, software patching, and adopting
security failure, including and data protection. Audit and Risk
secure-by-design principles to actively
cyber-attack, resulting in Committee
- Review of security and data protection KPIs at minimise threats.
data breach, disruption to
Information Governance Board with quarterly
operations, reputational
reporting to the Audit and Risk Committee.
damage and/or financial loss.
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Risk Mitigations include Accountability
and oversight
Delivery of strategy - Strategic goals have been defined and - Priority business plan projects have appropriate Accountable:
communicated to all staff. governance forums, with oversight and issue Director of Strategy
Risk of resource prioritisation
escalation to ELT. and Implementation
and/or operational - Business plans at an organisational level and within
infrastructure not aligning local areas set out priorities for the year ahead - The planning process is oriented around the Overseen by:
with and supporting delivery alongside associated milestones and metrics. strategic goals and includes assessment of Audit and Risk
of Action for Children’s key risks. Committee
- Progress is regularly monitored through Executive
mission and strategic goals.
Leadership Team (ELT) and the Board to ensure
delivery is on track.
Reputation - Communication plans proactively engage and - Our Ethical Framework defines a set of ethical Accountable:
share key messages with main stakeholders, principles which span all activities and policies to Managing Director
Risk of failure to protect the
including Trade Unions, donors, commissioners and ensure alignment with our charity's values. of Income and
charity’s reputation and/
regulators, such as the Charity Commission. Engagement
or manage reputational - Donation Acceptance and Refusal Policy scrutinises
impacts of serious or - Through managing risks and ensuring our policies large donations before acceptance. Overseen by:
high-profile incidents. and procedures are up to date, compliant and Audit and Risk
- The Code of Conduct and due diligence for
adhered to, we seek to minimise the risk of Committee
external partners help ensure alignment with
incidents which could cause reputational damage.
our charity's values.
- Reputation crisis communications procedure
helps navigate and manage serious reputational
risks as they arise.
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Governance

Our Board of Trustees is responsible for governance, overseeing our performance and providing strategic direction.

We’re driven by our charitable objects and regularly report on how we operate to make sure we’re doing our best to support children, young people and families, under the guidance of our Chair, Sarika Patel, our trustees and our Chief Executive Officer, Paul Carberry.

We monitor our ways of working against each of the seven principles of the Charity Governance Code (the ‘Code’). This is how we make sure we use current best practice and the highest standards of governance.

We also regularly review our strategic objectives and progress against our strategy, with trustees holding a strategic planning session twice a year.

Our Board of Trustees

We’ve listed our 10 trustees on page 81. The Board meets six times a year – and additionally when necessary – and visits our services to get a better understanding of the work we’re doing and the difference we make to children, young people and families. Last year, the average attendance figure for trustee meetings was 95%.

Being a trustee is a voluntary position and members receive no rewards or benefits from Action for Children. They get involved because they believe in what we do and want to make a difference. You can find all expenses claimed by the trustees in our financial statements.

Board effectiveness

We appoint every trustee based on their skills and experience and their ability to help us achieve our strategic objectives.

We follow a rigorous appointment process involving the Board’s Governance, People and Remuneration Committee (GPR). This includes interviews by young people from our services and due diligence checks.

We always try to attract diverse candidates and reflect diversity in trustee recruitment – including the nine protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, as well as different backgrounds, life experiences, career paths and diversity of thought. GPR monitors our diversity, and the Board has a dedicated trustee champion for diversity and inclusion. Diversity was an essential part of the trustee recruitment campaign which the Board ran during the autumn of 2024, resulting in a new appointment. We’re working hard to create and maintain a more inclusive culture.

All trustees are appointed for a renewable threeyear term. Trustees and committee members go through an induction programme to make sure they understand their roles under charity and company law.

For the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, our trustees are the company directors of Action for Children.

Our close links with the Methodist Church are reflected in our constitution, which means the Church can nominate a trustee. The knowledge, expertise and passion that our Methodist trustee brings is hugely important.

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Board committees

The Board’s standing committees report on specific issues. Each committee has agreed terms of reference and includes specialist co-opted members, as well as trustees. The Board delegates the day-to-day running of Action for Children to the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Leadership Team (ELT). The Board also delegates some areas of its work to sub-committees:

Finance Committee

Oversees our finances and maintains the short and long-term viability of Action for Children. It advises the Board on appropriate financial strategy and its Investment sub-committee informs oversight of investments.

Audit and Risk Committee

Makes sure we meet our statutory accounting obligations and have effective systems of internal control, audit function and risk management.

Governance, People and Remuneration Committee

Helps us effectively run our organisation, ensuring standards of excellence in people, policy and remuneration.

Children’s Services Committee

Focuses on improving outcomes for children and young people, by overseeing and developing the quality, reach and performance of our children's services.

The National Advisory Committees

Our National committees provide guidance and advice to our National Directors and our Board of Trustees. Although they have no formal decision making powers they help us build deep and lasting connections in each of the nations we work in.

Governance framework

The Board of Trustees

Governance National Advisory Finance England Audit and Risk Scotland Governance, People Wales and Remuneration Northern Ireland Children's Services Committee

How we organise our work

The Chief Executive is supported by our ELT, who work closely with the Board of Trustees to support our vision, mission and values and deliver our strategy.

Trustees get regular commercial, operational, communications, fundraising, media, and policy updates. This helps them understand the impact of our activities and our stakeholders’ views.

Our trustees also review financial and operational performance at their bimonthly board meeting. They’re responsible for establishing and maintaining an effective system of internal controls to detect, prevent and manage risks. They are also responsible for reviewing legal and regulatory compliance. For more on our Risk Management Framework, and how we identify and manage risks in all our activities, head to page 43.

Trustees’ duties in relation to section 172 of the Companies Act

The Board of Trustees has duties under Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006. These include acting in the interests of stakeholders when promoting the success of the charitable company.

The trustees, as company directors of Action for Children, act in accordance with this requirement and, in doing so, have to regard:

The likely consequences of any decision in the long term.
The interests of the company’s employees.
The need to foster the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others.
The impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment.
The need to maintain a reputation for high standards of business conduct.
The need to act fairly between members of the company.

Trustees are briefed on their duties as part of their induction. These duties are fulfilled partly through the governance structure detailed in the governance section.

These include embracing and championing our vision of a safe and happy childhood for every child in the UK. They also include promoting our values: being passionate, ambitious, collaborative and inclusive – the foundation of everything we do. The Board has continued to work closely with our ELT to secure our future financial sustainability.

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Engaging with young people and service users

Trustees are dedicated to building strong relationships with the children, young people and families we support. They know we can only be a vital lifeline when we put their views and experiences at the heart of our services. Last year, our trustees visited services across the four nations. This included services in Glasgow in December 2024 (Springburn Academy and Blues and School Counselling Services) and Birmingham in November 2024 (Community Children’s Centre – providing support to families of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities).

Engaging with our staff and volunteers

It’s vital we engage with our employees regularly. Our Board and Executive Leadership Team keep in touch with staff through regular team meetings, our intranet, emails and all-staff meetings. These are held quarterly and are in addition to webinars, enabling staff to ask questions and provide feedback.

Our trustees are also regularly briefed by the Executive Leadership Team. Updates include:

Workforce activity updates about delivering priority activities and programmes on the business plan.
Attracting candidates and developing talent.
Reward and recognition.
Culture surveys (complemented by data analysis on whistleblowing cases, grievances and complaints).

This information reaches the Board through reports at meetings and gives trustees an overview of our culture and how people engagement affects performance. The Board’s Governance, People and Remuneration Committee (GPR) reviews feedback from staff and volunteer surveys, plus other projects linked to wellbeing at work, equality, and diversity and inclusion. This makes sure any concerns are brought to trustees’ attention. The trustee member of the GPR Committee, Lynne Atkin, is a champion of diversity and inclusion and regularly meets with staff network groups. The Chair of the Board of Trustees also communicates with staff through her regular blog.

Our trustees recognise and celebrate the huge value volunteers add to Action for Children in supporting projects, services and departments.

Trustees also engage with volunteers through our National Advisory Committees and plan to hold an engagement event with volunteers in 2025/26.

Young people on our National Advisory Committees and Young Ambassadors Board help us recruit trustees and senior staff and shape our service design, delivery and campaigns. Our trustees, through the Children's Services Committee, receive updates from the Participation team, highlighting feedback from children and young people on the services they use. Last year, for the first time, two of our Young Ambassadors, Callum and Holly, went to our Board of Trustees meeting to help make some of our biggest decisions. They sparked discussions on making meetings more accessible and including young people’s opinions in strategic decisions. Two of our Young Ambassadors now have permanent seats on the Children’s Services Committee, reinforcing our commitment to putting youth voices at the heart of our governance.

Wellbeing and engagement.
Staff pay.
Our diversity and inclusion strategy.

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Integrity

Our Board’s ethical policy framework embeds the ethical standards and common principles through which we assess investments, procurement, funding and/or other significant activities. It also informs our policies and procedures.

Our ethical policy framework helps us manage any problems with donations, our work with suppliers or partners, or when appointing trustees, staff and ambassadors.

To make sure we meet legal and sector standards, we do not work with any organisations:

That compromise our vision, mission, values and charitable objectives.
That conflict with our principles and policies.
That undermine our services to children.
That undermine our commitment to safeguarding.
That undermine our commitment to diversity.
That operate in markets known to damage children and families.
That treat the environment in an unsustainable way.
That conflict with the ethical principles developed by NCVO and the principles of the Charity Governance Code.
Whose actions breach the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Our trustees highly value, appreciate and understand the importance of external stakeholders. These include our patron, the public, regulators, commercial partners, media, local authorities, government agencies, other charities, children’s societies and suppliers.

All our partners must comply with the requirements of professional standards or trade bodies, as well as all applicable laws, statutes, regulations and codes of practice relating to safeguarding, anti-bribery and anti-corruption. Our Donation Acceptance Policy makes sure we don’t compromise our mission, values and charitable purpose when raising money.

For more on our fundraising compliance, see page 29. We also promote our vision and values to partners and new providers to make sure they understand what our charity stands for.

Modern Slavery Act 2015

Action for Children has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery. We’re committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships. We’ve implemented and enforced effective systems and controls to make sure modern slavery doesn’t take place anywhere in our business, or in any of our supply chains, by including specific prohibitions as part of our contracting process. We have a modern slavery policy including a modern slavery statement which is reviewed on an annual basis.

That compromise our roots in the Methodist Church.

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Statement of trustees’ responsibility

Our trustees (who are also directors of Action for Children in line with company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in line with applicable law and regulations.

The trustees must prepare financial statements for each financial year, according to company law. Under that law, the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law), including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Under company law, the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company, the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

‐ Select suitable accounting policies and consistently apply them.

Make reasonable and prudent judgements and accounting estimates.
State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any differences disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis (unless it is inappropriate to presume that the group will continue in business).

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that can show and explain the charitable company’s and group’s transactions. They must also disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and the group and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the provisions of our governing documents.

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group, and therefore also taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees confirm that:

So far as each trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware.
They have taken the necessary steps to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information, and to establish that the charitable company’s auditor is aware of that information.

The trustees are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. UK legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. The Trustees’ Annual Report (including the strategic report) was approved and signed on behalf of the trustees on 17 September 2025.

Sarika Patel, Chair, Board of Trustees

‐ Observe methods and principles set out in the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

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auditor’s Independent report

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Action for Children (the “charitable company”) and its subsidiaries (the “group”) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Charity Statement of Financial Position, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual Report. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves.

If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

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Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit

the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Adequate accounting records have not been kept; or
The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
Certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 51, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the

Financial Reporting Council’s website at: frc. org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, including financial reporting legislation and the Charity SORP (FRS 102), and [local] tax regulations. We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

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In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be necessary to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Health and Safety legislation and employment legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit, legal counsel and the Audit and Risk Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it.

In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Naziar Hashemi Senior Statutory Auditor

For and on behalf of Crowe UK LLP

Statutory Auditor London

24 October 2025

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example,

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Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

Consolidated statement of financial activities (incorporating the income and expenditure account)

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Restricted funds Restricted funds
Total Total
unrestric- Specific Endow- Total funds unrestric- Specific Endow- Total funds
General Designated ted funds purpose ment 2025 General Designated ted funds purpose ment 2024
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Income and endowments
Income from donations and legacies 3 12,164 – 12,164 5,701 – 17,865 12,411 – 12,411 4,785 17,196
Investment income 1,135 – 1,135 – – 1,135 1,572 – 1,572 – 1,572
Income from charitable activities
Family support 57,349 – 57,349 215 – 57,564 59,667 – 59,667 184 – 59,851
Children in care 38,816 – 38,816 1,938 – 40,754 34,201 – 34,201 – – 34,201
Disabled children and young people 36,391 – 36,391 302 – 36,693 33,416 – 33,416 71 – 33,487
Mental health and wellbeing 8,700 – 8,700 148 – 8,848 8,683 – 8,683 30 – 8,713
141,256 – 141,256 2,603 – 143,859 135,967 – 135,967 285 – 136,252
Other income
Net gain on disposal of fixed assets 586 – 586 – – 586 260 – 260 – – 260
Total income and endowments 155,141 – 155,141 8,304 – 163,445 150,210 – 150,210 5,070 – 155,280
Expenditure 4.5
Expenditure on raising funds 7,441 – 7,441 – 7,441 6,752 – 6,752 – – 6,752
Expenditure on charitable activities
Family support 60,486 – 60,486 619 – 61,105 65,070 – 65,070 3,326 – 68,396
Children in care 35,743 – 35,743 2,777 – 38,520 35,427 – 35,427 1,164 – 36,591
Disabled children and young people 39,024 – 39,024 1,992 – 41,016 36,855 – 36,855 360 – 37,215
Mental health and wellbeing 13,799 – 13,799 460 – 14,259 9,010 – 9,010 2,283 – 11,293
Campaigning and public policy 635 – 635 50 – 685 780 – 780 6 – 786
149,687 – 149,687 5,898 – 155,585 147,142 – 147,142 7,139 – 154,281
Total expenditure 157,128 – 157,128 5,898 – 163,026 153,894 – 153,894 7,139 – 161,033
Net gain/(loss) on investments 9 820 – 820 – – 820 1,362 – 1,362 – – 1,362
Net (loss)/income for the year (1,167) – (1,167) 2,406 – 1,239 (2,322) – (2,322) (2,069) – (4,391)
before transfers
Transfers between funds 14 386 (386) – – – – (636) 11,945 11,309 (286) (11,023) –
Net (loss)/income for the year before
(781) (386) (1,167) 2,406 – 1,239 (2,958) 11,945 8,987 (2,355) (11,023) (4,391)
other recognised gains and losses
Other recognised losses
Actuarial loss on pension liability 6 (570) – (570) – – (570) (807) – (807) – – (807)
Net movement in funds (1,351) (386) (1,737) 2,406 – 669 (3,765) 11,945 8,180 (2,355) (11,023) (5,198)
Funds brought forward 14 16,049 54,433 70,482 5,123 – 75,605 19,814 42,488 62,302 7,478 11,023 80,803
Funds carried forward 14 14,698 54,047 68,745 7,529 – 76,274 16,049 54,433 70,482 5,123 – 75,605
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Action for Children financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

Statement of financial position as at 31 March 2025

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Group Charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 7 24,318 26,800 24,318 26,800
Intangible fixed assets 8 4,661 430 4,661 430
Investments 9 36,791 36,245 36,791 36,245
65,770 63,475 65,770 63,475
Current assets
Debtors 10 24,185 21,411 16,160 14,745
Notice deposits 9,783 10,528 9,783 10,528
Cash 1,320 2,351 993 1,847
35,288 34,290 26,936 27,120
Creditors: amounts falling due within
11 (22,974) (19,207) (14,622) (11,931)
one year
Net current assets 12,314 15,083 12,314 15,189
Total assets less current liabilities 78,084 78,558 78,084 78,664
Provisions for liabilities 12 (1,810) (2,402) (1,810) (2,402)
Net assets excluding pension liability 76,274 76,156 76,274 76,262
Net assets excluding pension reserve 76,274 76,156 76,274 76,262
Pension reserve – (551) – (551)
Net assets including pension reserve 76,274 75,605 76,274 75,711
Funds 14
Restricted funds
Endowments 6,181 5,123 6,181 5,123
Specific purpose 1,348 – 1,348 –
Total restricted funds 7,529 5,123 7,529 5,123
Unrestricted funds excluding pension
68,745 71,033 68,745 71,139
reserve
Pension reserve 6 – (551) – (551)
Total unrestricted funds including
68,745 70,482 68,745 70,588
pension reserve:
Total funds 14,15 76,274 75,605 76,274 75,711
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These accounts were approved by the Board of Trustees on 17 September 2025. and signed on its behalf.

Sarika Patel Chair

Peter Curran Trustee

Company number 04764232

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Action for Children financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

Consolidated cash flow statement

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Group
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Net cash outflow from operating activities (below) (398) (8,702)
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest received 495 534
Dividends received 174 455
Rental income from investment properties 466 583
Proceeds of sale of tangible fixed assets 643 260
Proceeds of sale of investment properties – 120
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (3,460) (5,379)
Proceeds of sale of investments 1,982 17,721
Purchase of investments (1,678) (13,079)
Net cash provided by investing activities (1,377) 1,215
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year (1,776) (7,487)
Cash and cash equivalents brought forward as at 1 April 12,879 20,366
Cash and cash equivalents carried forward as at 31 March 11,103 12,879
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Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

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2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Cash in hand 1,320 2,351
Notice deposits (less than 3 months) 9,783 10,528
Total cash and cash equivalents 11,103 12,879
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Analysis of changes in net debt

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2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Total cash and cash equivalents b/fwd 12,879 20,366
Cashflows (1,776) (7,487)
Total cash and cash equivalents b/fwd 11,103 12,879
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Reconciliation of net expenditure to net cash outflow from operating activities

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Group
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Net (expenditure)/income for the year
1,239 (4,391)
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation and amortisation charges 1,625 1,003
Net (gains)/loss on investment assets (820) (1,362)
Investment income (1,135) (1,572)
Net (gains)/loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets (586) (260)
Pension current service and administration cost 1,504 1,294
Pension employer contributions (2,625) (1,531)
(Increase) in debtors (2,774) (928)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors 3,767 (1,099)
Increase/(decrease) in provision for liabilities (592) 144
Net cash (outflow) (398) (8,702)
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Notes to the financial statements

1. Basis of preparation

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

The group and charity 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 Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) issued on 2 October 2019 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102). They also comply with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and the Charities Act 2011.

The group and charity financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis (see below), under the historical cost convention, as modified by the revaluation of listed investments and investment properties.

In preparing these financial statements the charity has taken advantage of the exemptions permitted under section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and has not presented its unconsolidated statement of financial activities.

Going concern

The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis. This is deemed an appropriate basis by the trustees based on an assessment of the charity's financial forecasts, reserves and cashflow projections for at least 12 months. The trustees have also considered potential financial risks the charity may face, and actions that would be taken to mitigate these risks should they arise.

The trustees have approved a balanced operating budget for the 2025/26 financial year (before investments in growth plans and infrastructure projects), and reviewed indicative forecasts for the 2026/27 financial year. Scenario modelling has been undertaken to assess risks to the budget and forecasts, including impacts of cash and reserves positions. The group has a strong balance sheet with unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2025 of £68.7 million (2024: £70.5 million) with anticipated substantial cash balances in the period. The trustees are satisfied that the current financial strength of cash balances and reserves will allow timely remedial actions to be taken as necessary to minimise impact.

As such, the trustees remain satisfied that the group and parent charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, being a minimum of 12 months from the date these accounts are signed. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

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2. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of the group and charity financial statements are set out below.

Basis of consolidation

The results of subsidiaries are consolidated on a line by line basis and acquisitions are included at fair value at the date acquired. The statement of financial activities (SOFA) and balance sheet consolidate the financial statements of the charity and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Action for Children Services Limited, Action for Children Developments Limited and Out of School Scotland Limited.

Accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, management is required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities.

The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from those estimates and the estimates, along with their underlying assumptions, are continually reviewed. Key estimates and judgements used in the preparation of these accounts include the use of external valuation reports for:

The carrying value of investment properties, which are determined using external valuation reports.
The recognition of any pension asset or liability under FRS 102.

The following judgements have been made in the process of applying the charity’s accounting policies and that has the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements:

– Income recognition in relation to contracts. – Pension actuarial assumptions (see note 6). – Investment property valuations (see note 9). – Dilapidations provision (see note 12). – Redundancy provision (note 12).

Income

All incoming resources are included in the SOFA when the charity is legally entitled to the income, when receipt of the income is considered probable, and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. Entitlement, for legacies, is the earlier of the Charity being notified of an impending distribution and the legacy being received.

Incoming resources from charitable activities, including capital grants, are included in the SOFA when they are receivable. The full amount of capital grants is taken to the SOFA when receivable. Where cash is received in respect of contractual work to be undertaken in the next financial year, if there is agreement from the funding body, this is treated as deferred income. Where such agreement has not been obtained it is included in other creditors.

Donations and gifts received at offices and projects during the year are recorded gross, or at estimated value, except that the sale proceeds from gifts donated for resale are included, at their sale price, when they are sold. All other incoming resources are reported gross of fees and expenditure whether raised by the charity or its agents, except for small

fundraising events not under the direct control of Action for Children, where funds are remitted and recorded net of direct expenses.

No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers.

Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they are allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

The costs of generating funds include fundraising and publicity costs, trading costs and investment management costs. Fundraising and publicity comprises the salaries of staff and other direct and indirect costs, which include appropriate allocations of central support costs.

Expenditure on charitable activities include the expenses relating to campaigning and advocacy, together with the costs of informing and educating the public about the work, and the costs of other supporting services, management and administration essential to the professional and competent execution of the work. Where arrangements exist for the delivery of work by partner organisations, the cost of this is included within the relevant activity. Where central services support both direct charitable work and fundraising, allocations of their costs are made on a headcount basis, which reflects the use made of those services.

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Governance costs

Governance costs represent the salaries, direct expenditure and overhead costs incurred by the corporate resources department, as well as internal and external audit costs. The corporate resources department is involved in the compliance with the constitutional and statutory requirements of operating a charitable company.

Retirement benefits

Action for Children contributes to a variety of pension arrangements on behalf of staff. Most benefits are provided by the Action for Children Pension Fund, which has a number of sections, including defined benefit and defined contribution elements.

The costs of providing defined benefit pensions are treated in accordance with FRS 102. The following elements are charged to the SOFA: the service cost of pension provision relating to the period, together with the costs of any benefits relating to past service (allocated to staff costs); the pension finance cost, which is a charge equal to the increase in the present value of the pension fund's liabilities at the previous year end, less a credit equivalent to the pension fund's long-term expected return on assets; and the actuarial gain or loss on the pension fund's assets and liabilities (allocated to other recognised gains and losses). The difference between the market value of the assets of the pension fund and the present value of accrued pension liabilities is shown as an asset or liability on the balance sheet, except that an asset is only recognised where the Charity has the sole right to determine the use of surplus of assets over liabilities.

Pension costs for the defined contribution part of the Fund are charged to the accounts on an accruals basis in the period in which they occur.

Action for Children also contributes to the teachers’, local government and NHS pension schemes in respect of a number of its employees. All such costs are included within the SOFA on an accruals basis as incurred.

Leases

Rentals under operating leases are charged to the SOFA over the term of the lease on a straight line basis.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

As part of Action for Children’s activities is classified as exempt or non-business activities for the purposes of VAT, Action for Children is unable to reclaim all the VAT that it suffers on its operating costs. Expenditure in these financial statements is therefore shown inclusive of VAT paid and not reclaimable.

Funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Board in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.

Part of the unrestricted funds have been designated for particular purposes by the Board as described in the Annual Report in the notes to the financial statements. The Board periodically reviews the levels of designated funds to ensure they are adequate to support the purposes for which they were set up, and any surplus or deficit is transferred to or from the general fund.

The fair value reserve is the amount by which the fair value of investments exceeds their historical cost (excluding the endowment funds).

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors, or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The costs of administering such funds are charged against the specific fund.

Endowment funds are now designated to be used for the charity's residential growth programme.

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible assets are recorded at cost or, in cases where tangible assets have been donated to Action for Children or acquired through a merger, at open market valuation at the time of the donation or merger. Assets in the course of construction are transferred to the relevant category of asset and depreciated when practical completion is achieved. The threshold for capitalisation is £1,000.

Depreciation is charged on the following basis: In the case of freehold buildings, the acquisition cost of buildings, together with any adaptation costs that add value to the property, is capitalised and depreciated over the estimated useful life of the property. No depreciation is provided on freehold land.

For the purposes of depreciation, 999-year leasehold buildings are treated as if they were freehold buildings. Capital expenditure on other leasehold buildings will normally be regarded as a depreciating cost and as such is written off over the estimated useful life (see below).

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Other tangible assets are depreciated on a straight line basis over their useful lives, which are estimated to be:

Assets in the course of construction Freehold buildings	No depreciation 50 years
Leasehold land and buildings	10 years or lease period if shorter
Equipment Computer software	4 years 4 years
Computer software (major) Furniture and fttings	5 years 5 years
Motor vehicles	4-6 years

When the currently expected useful life of individual assets is considered to be less than these periods, shorter periods are used.

If there are factors indicating that an impairment to the carrying value of fixed assets is possible, an impairment review is conducted and if fixed assets are found to have a carrying value materially higher than their recoverable amount, they are written down accordingly. The recoverable amount would typically be determined by reference to an external valuation report, and any loss would be recognised in the statement of financial activities for the year.

Intangible fixed assets

Intangible fixed assets are held on the balance sheet at cost less accumulated depreciation and any impairment losses.

The purchase of brands is capitalised as an intangible fixed asset and amortised on a straight line basis over an expected useful life of seven years.

Goodwill arising on the acquisition of a business is capitalised as an intangible fixed asset and amortised on a straight line basis over an expected useful life of seven years.

Impairment reviews are made when events and changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment may have occurred. If any asset is found to have a carrying value materially higher than its benefit to generate future revenues, it is written down accordingly.

Investments

Action for Children holds investments both in order to generate income for the support of charitable activities over a long-term period and to provide assets to meet the needs of reserves, identified in the reserves policy. Investments are stated at current market value on the balance sheet date unless there is evidence of a different fair value.

Investment properties are recorded initially at cost and are revalued at the end of each year on the basis of fair value.

Gains or losses arising during the year are disclosed in the consolidated statement of financial activities within other recognised gains and losses in the year and in note 9.

Cash equivalents

Cash equivalents are represented by cash balances held on a short-term basis.

Debtors

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

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 amounts after allowing for trade discounts due.

Cash flow

The charity meets the definition of a qualifying entity under FRS 102 and has therefore taken advantage of the disclosure exemption in relation to presentation of a cash flow statement in respect of its separate financial statements, which are presented alongside the consolidated financial statements.

Government grants

Government grants are recognised on the accruals basis, when there is reasonable assurance that the charity will comply with the conditions attaching to the grant and the grant will be received. The grant in connection to the job retention scheme, has been recognised in the period to which the underlying furloughed staff costs relate.

Recognition of income and expenditure from nurseries and out of school clubs

Income from these activities is primarily carried out through Action for Children Developments Limited and Out of School Scotland Limited entities. These activities are in line with the charitable objectives of the parent entity and the income and expenditure from these activities is classified under ‘charitable activities’ under the subcategory ‘family support’.

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3. Income and endowments

Incoming resources from charitable activities are analysed across the main activities of Action for Children on the face of the statement of financial activities. This income is mostly derived from work with local authorities, health trusts and central government sources, providing services to children, young people and their families.

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Group
Donations and legacies 2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Donations 14,806 12,957
Legacies 3,059 4,239
17,865 17,196
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Specific purpose receipts included above are £5,701,000 for donations (2024: £4,785,000)

Trustee donations during the year were £550 (2024: £3,900).

Legacies notified but not accrued at 31 March 2025, due to probability or measurable criteria not being met, were estimated at £1.23 million (2023: £0.86 million).

Subsidiaries and associated charities

Action for Children Services Limited and Action for Children Developments are wholly owned trading subsidiaries of Action for Children, the charity. They are engaged in delivering welfare and educational services on behalf of the charity, fundraising, and commercial activities respectively. Out of School Scotland limited is another wholly owned subsidiary of Action for Children and it provides services relating to after-school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday clubs. All profits of the subsidiaries are gift-aided to the charity.

A summary of the results for the year ended 31 March 2025 is given below:

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Trading subsidiaries
Total Total
Services OSCARS Development
2025 2024
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Turnover 73,353 1,899 13,802 89,054 86,256
Cost of sales (71,120) (1,596) (10,756) (83,472) (81,864)
Gross profit 2,232 304 3,046 5,581 4,392
Charitable activities – – – – –
Administration costs (21) (150) (2,208) (2,379) (2,669)
Surplus/(deficit) on ordinary
2,211 154 837 3,202 1,722
activities before tax
Tax on ordinary activities – – – - -
Retained earnings
- - (106) (106) (37)
brought forward
Donations under Gift Aid (2,211) (154) (731) (3,096) (1,791)
Retained earnings – – – –
(1,828)
carried forward
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Charity income

Total incoming resources for the charity were £142,669,000 (2024: £139,004,000). The net surplus for the charity was (£563,000) (2024: deficit £5,130,000).

Gift Aid payments received are included under donations. Management fees received are included under income from charitable activities in the charity statement of financial activities.

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3. Income and endowments (continued)

The net assets of the subsidiaries and associated charities are set out below:

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Trading subsidiaries
Total Total
Services OSCARS Development
2025 2024
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Fixed assets – – – – –
Current assets 11,235 516 1,732 13,483 11,252
Creditors (11,235) (516) (1,732) (13,483) (11,358)
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Investment income

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Group
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
– –
Unlisted equities
CFB funds – UK 174 395
CFB funds – overseas – 60
Interest income 495 534
Income from securities 669 989
Rental income from investment properties 466 583
1,135 1,572
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4. Expenditure

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2025 2024
Direct Support Direct Support
Total Total
costs costs costs costs
Group £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Expenditure on
raising funds
Donations 6,567 413 6,980 5,917 400 6,317
Legacies 342 13 355 334 12 346
6,909 426 7,335 6,251 412 6,663
Investment
106 – 106 89 – 89
management costs
7,015 426 7,441 6,340 412 6,752
Expenditure on
charitable activities
Family support 52,228 8,877 61,105 59,831 8,565 68,396
Children in care 35,520 3,000 38,520 33,696 2,895 36,591
Disabled children
35,373 5,643 41,016 31,771 5,444 37,215
and young people
Mental health
13,063 1,196 14,259 10,139 1,154 11,293
and wellbeing
Campaigning
636 49 685 739 47 786
and public policy
136,820 18,765 155,585 136,176 18,105 154,281
Total expenditure 143,835 19,191 163,026 142,516 18,517 161,033
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The charity's policy is to allocate support costs of various functions to the activities above based on the costs of those activities. Support costs by category include technology £9.0 million (2024: £8.6 million), property £2.5m (2024: £3.2 million), finance £3.2 million (2024: 2.7 million), strategy £0.6 million (2024: £0.7 million), HR £2.0 million (2024: £1.1 million), other £1.8 million (2024: £2.4 million). Details of governance costs are detailed to the right.

Trustee costs

Six trustees were reimbursed travel expenses totalling £2,378 (2024: seven recipients of £1,194).

The charity purchased insurance for trustees and officers during the year to indemnify them against possible liabilities incurred by them in relation to their duties.

Trustees are not entitled to and did not receive any remuneration.

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2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Fees payable to the auditors of Action for Children
In respect of the charity audit 109 116
In respect of subsidiary and associated trust audits 30 29
139 145
– –
In respect of certificates for project partners
– –
In respect of tax and other advice
139 145
Value Added Tax (VAT)
As stated in the accounting policy, Action for Children is unable to reclaim
all the VAT which it suffers on its purchases of goods and services. 2,230 2,222
During the year, the cost of irrecoverable Value Added Tax amounted to:
Rentals under operating leases
Plant and machinery 11 7
Land and buildings 2,238 1,996
2,249 2,003
Depreciation 1,625 1,003
Governance costs
Staff costs 588 553
Internal and external audit fees 236 247
Legal fees 288 151
Other costs 91 35
1,203 986
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Governance costs are included within support costs.

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5. Employees' emoluments

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Staff costs comprise: 2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Wages and salaries 95,602 95,342
Redundancy costs 828 640
Temporary staff costs 5,325 3,992
Social security costs 8,496 8,412
Apprenticeship levy 451 450
Action for Children Pension Fund – defined contribution cost 4,433 4,331
Teachers', local government pension schemes
624 510
and NHS Pension Fund contributions
115,759 113,677
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Included in the redundancy costs is £173,417 (2024: £249,577) of ex gratia redundancy payments made in line with Action for Children's redundancy policy. Such payments are made at the discretion of senior management and are non-contractual.

Other than the Action for Children Pension Fund, the charity participates in a number of defined benefit schemes, where the accounting treatment is as for defined contribution plans.

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the NHS Pension Fund are unfunded schemes. Liabilities in addition to ongoing contributions potentially arise with redundancy or early retirement. But that is a risk controlled by the charity, and provision is made for the full liability if the occurrence arises.

The charity also has admitted body status in various local government pension schemes (LGPS), which may potentially carry a risk to the charity. Action for Children ensures that potential risks outside its control are passed back to the relevant local authority in line with the Department for Communities and Local Government guidance dated December 2009, Admitted body status provisions in the Local Government Pension Scheme when services are transferred from a local authority or other scheme employer , and the local authority retains the actuarial, mortality, inflation, regulatory changes, discount rate and investment return risks.

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The average number of employees during the year was: 2025 2024
No. No.
Fundraising 158 157
Charitable activities 3,996 4,044
Support services 241 231
4,395 4,432
Number of full time equivalents at year end 2,940 3,407
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The number of staff whose emoluments fell 2025 2024
within each of the following bands was:
£60,001 to £70,000 27 35
£70,001 to £80,000 19 24
£80,001 to £90,000 11 8
£90,001 to £100,000 6 5
£100,001 to £110,000 1 2
£110,001 to £120,000 1 3
£120,001 to £130,000 3 1
£160,001 to £170,000 1 1
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Of the staff listed above, 66 were accruing benefits under the Action for Children Pension Fund defined contribution section (in 2024 it was 76). The amount of contribution paid in respect of these staff to the scheme was £330,190 (2024: £351,150).

The total emoluments paid in 2024/25 which include the current annual salaries of existing key management personnel are shown above. In the bandings above, where these staff are also included, the required definition of emoluments is total gross pay plus any benefits in kind. The analysis below also includes employer pension and national insurance contributions and termination payments.

The total cost of key management personnel was £1,019,565 (2024 £1,091,168).

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6. Pensions

Action for Children provides pension benefits mainly through the Action for Children Pension Fund. The assets of the pension fund are held in a separate trustee administered fund.

Current staff are members of the defined contribution section of the pension fund, into which new employees are auto-enrolled.

Until 30 April 2010, benefits were provided to employees through a number of defined benefit sections and a hybrid scheme combining career average revalued earnings and defined contribution arrangements. On 1 May 2010, following a review of benefits and consultation with members of the pension fund, staff of Action for Children and unions, all sections of the pension fund were closed, with one exception, for both new and existing members. Staff who transfer to Action for Children under Fair Deal TUPE arrangements are eligible to join a defined benefit section of the pension fund comparable to the local government pension scheme. A new defined contribution section was created for all other staff.

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Membership of the Pension Fund at 31 March 2025 was: 2025 2024
Active members – defined benefit section – –
Active members – defined contribution section 2,908 3,003
2,908 3,003
Deferred members 10,115 9,781
Pensioner members 3,155 3,080
16,178 15,864
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As at 31 March 2025, there were no active members still accruing benefits under the defined benefit section.

Contributions for the defined contribution section are variable with the following matching rates:

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Employee 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% above 7%
Employer 5% 5% 5% 6% 7% 7%
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Further, Action for Children pays a 2% contribution for all active members into the defined benefit section to cover death in service and to meet the administration costs of the pension fund.

The total employer contribution to the defined benefits section of the Action for Children Pension Fund for the year was £2,625,000 (2024: £1,531,000).

UK legislation requires that pension schemes are funded prudently. The last funding valuation of the Fund was carried out by a qualified actuary as at 31 March 2024 and showed a surplus of £3.9 million on a technical provisions basis which is a statutory funding objective. Action for Children takes a more prudent approach targeting sustainability, which showed a deficit of £23.9 million as at 31 March 2024. The charity paid deficit contributions of £1.33 million a year for the year to 31 March 2025 and is paying £0.5 million a year from 1 April 2025, £0.5 million a year from 1 April 2026, £1.0 million a year from 1 April 2027 and £1.0 million a year from 1 April 2028 which, along with investment returns from return-seeking assets, are expected to make good the shortfall against the sustainability target by 31 March 2029. The next funding valuation is due no later than 31 March 2027, at which progress towards full funding will be reviewed.

The deficit reduction contributions are reflected in the charity's business plans and the assessment of the charity's reserves policy.

In addition, there is a charge in favour of the pension fund over certain assets owned by Action for Children in the event of default.

The Memorandum of Understanding includes agreement that up to 50% of the proceeds from sale of the properties owned by the charity to be paid to the pension fund if the proceeds are not invested by the charity within an agreed period.

While the settlement of pension liabilities is a very long-term process, with costs spread over many years, the funding level is volatile. Valuations are snapshots on one day and are sensitive to changes in financial market factors. The actuary AON provides a regular report on the funding position of the pension fund and this is closely monitored by the pension fund and the charity.

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Pension funds are valued in different ways for different purposes. The triennial valuation noted above is carried out by the scheme actuary AON to establish an appropriate funding level, and uses prescribed financial assumptions that are different from the assumptions that must be used under the Financial Reporting Standard (FRS 102 valuation detailed below) which is carried out for accounting disclosure purposes. The FRS valuation uses lower inflation and higher interest/ discount rate assumptions than the triennial valuation, and both of these differences lead to a lower calculation of pension liabilities.

The FRS 102 position shown below is a surplus of £1.7 million a funding level that is slightly over 100%. The ongoing valuation basis is used in agreeing contribution levels and the recovery plan. Although movements in the FRS 102 valuation show in the statement of financial activity and feed through to the balance sheet total, they do not change the general fund.

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Financial assumptions % pa 2025 2024
Inflation - RPI 3.00 3.10
Inflation - CPI 2.40 2.40
Rate of increase in salaries 2.00 2.00
RPI min 0% 3.05 3.15
RPI min 0% max 2.5% 2.00 2.00
CPI min 0% max 3% 1.95 1.95
Discount rate 5.75 4.80
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The duration of the fund is approximately 16 years based on initial results of the 31 March 2021 funding valuation.

It is the general fund that is directly linked to the reserve policy and important in assessing the charity's ability to manage its future operations. The deficit contributions are reflected in the charity's business plans and the assessment of the charity's reserve policy.

FRS 102 valuation

Under FRS 102 the amount of any surplus should be restricted so that it is no more than the economic benefits that could be realised by the charity, either in the form of future refunds or reductions in future contributions. As the charity does not have an unconditional right to the surplus arising on the FRS 102 valuation of the pension fund, any surpluses are not recognised in the financial statements.

These financial statements have been prepared in line with the requirements of FRS 102. The FRS 102 valuation is only in respect of the defined benefit sections of the Action for Children Pension Fund and the following analysis only covers that element of the pension fund. The principal FRS 102 actuarial assumptions determined by financial markets and demographic conditions are shown below. A later table shows the sensitivity of the liability to these assumptions.

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Demographic assumptions Value at 2025 Value at 2024
S3 tables (S3PMA for males, S3PFA_M for females) and scaling factors of
S4 tables (S4PMA for males, S4PFA_M for females) and scaling factors of
Mortality base table adopted 110% for males non-pensioners, 105% for female non-pensioners and
110% for non-pensioners and 100% for pensioners.
100% for pensioners.
Improvements in line with CMI 2023, with a smoothing parameter of 7.0, an Improvements in line with CMI 2022, with a smoothing parameter of 7.0, an
Mortality future improvements adopted initial improvements parameter of 0.5 for males and females, and a long term initial improvements parameter of 0.5 for males and females, and a long-term
rate of improvement of 1.25% a year. rate of improvement of 1.5% a year.
Life expectancy for male currently aged 60 26.3 26.8
Life expectancy for female currently aged 60 28.7 29.0
Life expectancy at 60 for male currently aged 40 27.2 28.0
Life expectancy at 60 for female currently aged 40 29.5 30.4
Transfer take-up Nil Nil
0.8% allowance included in the Defined Benefit Obligation (DBO) reflecting 0.8% allowance included in the Defined Benefit Obligation (DBO) reflecting
GMP equalisation Aon's best estimate in respect of the cost of GMP equalisation (regardless of Aon's best estimate in respect of the cost of GMP equalisation (regardless of
actual method being implemented). actual method being implemented).
Pre-2002/Post-2002 members assumed to exchange 20%/5% of their Pre-2002/Post-2002 members assumed to exchange 20%/5% of their
Cash commutation
pension for a cash lump sum at retirement. pension for a cash lump sum at retirement.
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The mortality assumptions are based on the recent actual mortality experience of fund members and allow for expected future improvements in mortality rates.

Balance sheet position

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2025 2024
Value Asset allocation Value Asset allocation
£’000 % £’000 %
Alternatives 132,420 32.7 135,600 29.7
Loans 266,290 65.9 316,800 69.5
Cash 5,768 1.4 3,406 0.7
Equity securities – – – -
Other – – – -
Total fair value of assets 404,478 100.0 455,806 100.0
Actuarial value of liabilities (402,732) – (456,357) –
(Liability)/Surplus for 1,746 – (551) –
FRS 102 purposes
– – –
Derecognition of surplus (1,746)
Net liability reorganised – – (551) –
in the balance sheet
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Analysis of amounts charged to the statement of financial activities

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2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Service cost – –
Current service cost – –
Past service cost (including curtailments) – –
Settlement cost 1,504 1,275
Administration expenses 28 –
Interest on net defined benefit liability/(assets) – –
Financing cost – –
Pension expense recognised in profit and loss 1,532 1,275
Return on fund assets (in excess of)/below that recognised in net interest 50,907 43,611
Liability (gains)/losses arising during the year (52,083) (3,945)
Change in effect of the asset ceiling 1,746 (38,859)
Total recognised actuarial (loss) 570 807
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None of the fund assets are invested in the charity's financial instruments or in property occupied by, or other assets used by, the charity.

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Reconciliation of the fair value of the pension fund assets and liabilities

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2025 2024
Assets Liabilities Fund Assets Liabilities Fund
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Assets/(liabilities) at the start of the year 455,806 (456,357) (551) 497,487 (460,396) 37,091
Interest income (expense) 21,362 (21,362) – 23,162 (21,394) 1,768
Current service cost – – – – – –
Administration costs – (1,504) (1,504) – (1,275) (1,275)
– – – – – –
Past service cost (including curtailments)
Contributions by fund participants – – – – – –
– –
Contributions by the employer 2,625 2,625 1,531 1,531
Actuarial gain/(loss) (50,907) 52,083 1,176 (43,611) 3,945 (39,666)
– –
Net benefits paid out (24,408) 24,408 (22,763) 22,763
Assets/(liabilities) at the end of the year 404,478 (402,732) 1,746 455,806 (456,357) (551)
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Actual return on fund assets

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2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Interest income on fund assets 21,362 23,162
Remeasurement gain/loss on fund assets (50,907) (43,611)
Actual return on fund assets (29,545) (20,449)
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Sensitivity of the pension fund liabilities

The sensitivity of the liabilities to changes in the key assumptions used to measure the pension fund's liabilities is shown in the table below.

The sensitivity invitation shown is approximate and has been determined by taking into account the duration of the liabilities and the overall profile of the fund membership. This is the same approach used in previous accounting periods.

The surplus/deficit figures shown below are before the application of the restricted asset ceiling.

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Sensitivity of the Pension Fund liabilities Change New value
£’000s £’000s
Following a 0.5% a year decrease in the discount rate
Assets of the fund at 31 Mar 2025 – 404,478
DBO at 31 Mar 2025 (22,540) (425,272)
Surplus/(deficit) at 31 Mar 2025 (22,540) (20,794)
Following a 0.5% a year decrease in the inflation assumption
Assets of the fund at 31 Mar 2025 – 404,478
DBO at 31 Mar 2025 (20,370) (423,102)
Surplus/(deficit) at 31 Mar 2025 (20,370) (18,624)
Following a one-year increase in life expectancy
Assets of the fund at 31 Mar 2025 – 404,478
DBO at 31 Mar 2025 (12,667) (415,399)
Surplus/(deficit) at 31 Mar 2025 (12,667) (10,921)
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7. Tangible fixed assets

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Assets in the course Freehold land Leasehold land Computers and Furniture
Group and charity Motor vehicles Total
of construction and buildings and buildings equipment and fittings
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Cost
At 1 April 2024 6,433 30,012 3,816 14,121 3,841 1,707 59,930
Additions 3,367 86 – 7 – – 3,460
Transfers (6,379) 815 – 5,398 166 – –
– – – – –
Reclassification (5,041) (5,041)
Disposals – (86) – – – – (88)
At 31 March 2025 3,421 30,827 3,816 14,485 4,007 1,707 58,263
Depreciation
At 1 April 2024 – 10,649 3,320 13,977 3,513 1,671 33,130
Charges for year – 254 363 93 92 13 815
Disposals – – – – – – –
At 31 March 2025 – 10,903 3,683 14,070 3,605 1,684 33,945
Net book value
At 31 March 2025 3,421 19,925 133 415 401 23 24,318
At 31 March 2024 6,433 19,363 496 144 328 36 26,800
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Assets in the course of construction comprise incomplete building, major refurbishment and capital project work, and are not depreciated.

The cost of the land, which is not depreciated, was £4,243,338 (2024: £4,317,663). Of the total cost or valuation of leasehold land and buildings £2,415,000 (2024: £2,415,000) relates to leases due to expire within 50 years or less. It is not considered that any assets have suffered permanent impairment to their value.

Capital commitments for contracts placed in respect of capital expenditure less amounts incurred to 31 March 2025 amounted to £nil (2024: £568,645).

Commitments to operating lease payments were:

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2025 2024
Land and buildings Land and buildings
£’000 £’000
Within one year 167 578
Between one and five years 586 628
After five years 1,328 126
2,081 1,332
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8. Intangible fixed assets

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Group and charity 2025 2024
£’000 £’000
At 1 April 430 644
Additions 5,041 –
Amortisation charged for the year (809) (214)
Net book value at 31 March 4,662 430
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9 . Investments

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Group Charity
Value at 31 March 2025 2024 2025 2024
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Securities
Units in funds managed by the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church:
L&G UK Property Feeder Fund I Class Acc 540 547 540 547
Epworth Climate Stewardship Fund for Charities GBP Inc 683 1,145 683 1,145
Epworth Global Equity Fund for Charities GBP Inc 4,592 2,894 4,592 2,894
Epworth UK Equity Fund for Charities GBP Inc 677 1,141 677 1,141
Vanguard UK Government Bond Index Fund GBP Acc 1,260 1,295 1,260 1,295
Epworth Spark Change Physical Carbon 393 – 393 –
Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund Institutional Inc 458 606 458 606
FP Foresight Global Real Infrastructure Fund A Inc 1,530 1,969 1,530 1,969
Threadneedle UK Social Bond Fund Institutional Income GBP 317 438 317 438
Vanguard US Government Bond Index Fund Investor GBP Hedged Inc 867 875 867 875
Royal London Short Term Money Market Y Acc 569 616 569 616
Royal Mint Responsibly Sourced Physical Gold ETC 610 537 610 537
Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainable Bond Fund F Acc 924 919 924 919
Cash – Epworth 75 90 75 90
CFB UK Equity Fund – – – –
CFB Overseas Fund – – – –
CFB Gilt Fund – – – –
CFB Corporate Bond Fund – – – –
CFB Short Fixed Interest Fund – – – –
CFB Managed Fund 7,247 7,482 7,247 7,482
CFB Deposit Fund – – – –
CFB Continuous Asset Fund 4 4 4 4
20,746 20,560 20,746 20,560
Unlisted equities 5 5 5 5
20,751 20,565 20,751 20,565
Investments in subsidiaries – – – –
20,751 20,565 20,751 20,565
Investment properties 16,040 15,680 16,040 15,680
Total investments 36,791 36,245 36,791 36,245
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All investments are held in the UK.

Investments are valued at current market value, but where listed shares have a limited market, their fair value is reviewed. Unlisted investments are valued at cost or, if donated to Action for Children, at valuation at the time of donation.

Investments in subsidiaries are valued at the higher of cost and estimated value at the time of acquisition less any diminution in value.

Investment properties are valued at the end of each year on the basis of open market value by external firms of chartered surveyors.

The historical cost or earliest known valuations of investments held at 31 March 2024 were:

Securities £17,779,962 (2024: £17,981,962)
Investment properties £6,031,017 (2024: £6,031,017)

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Group Charity
Investment gains and losses 2025 2024 2025 2024
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Securities
Market value at 1 April 20,565 23,725 20,565 23,725
Acquisitions during the year 1,593 13,079 1,593 13,079
Sale proceeds of disposals during the year (1,982) (17,601) (1,982) (17,601)
Net investment losses in SOFA – realised 30 – 30 –
Net investment gains/(losses) in SOFA – unrealised 546 1,362 546 1,362
Market value at 31 March 20,751 20,565 20,751 20,565
Investment properties
Market value at 1 April 15,680 15,840 15,680 15,840
– –
Sale proceeds of disposals during the year (120) (120)
Property Expenditure 86 – 86 –
Net investment losses in SOFA – realised – – – –
Net investment gains in SOFA – unrealised 274 (40) 274 (40)
Market value at 31 March 16,040 15,680 16,040 15,680
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Investments in subsidiaries

(i) Action for Children Services Limited is a wholly owned company registered in England and Wales handling the primary purpose trading activities of Action for Children. The investment comprises shares at a cost of £100 (2024: £100). The company registration number is 02332388.
(ii) Action for Children Developments Limited is a wholly owned company registered in England and Wales handling nursery and new developmental activities of Action for Children. It is limited by guarantee. The company registration number is 06842765.
(iii) Out of School Scotland Limited is a wholly owned company registered in Scotland and provides holiday camps and after-school clubs. The investment comprises 100 shares at a nominal value of £100 (2024: £100). The company registration number is SC264619.
(iv) Action for Children (Scotland) Limited is a wholly owned company registered in Scotland. The investment comprises one share at a cost of £1 (2024: £1) and it has not traded. The company registration number is SC526474.
(v) Action for Children (Wales) Limited is a wholly owned company registered in England and Wales. The investment comprises one share at a cost of £1 (2024: £1) and it has not traded. The company registration number is 10011497.
(vi) Action for Children (Northern Ireland) Limited is a wholly owned company registered in Northern Ireland. The investment comprises one share at a cost of £1 (2024: £1) and it has not traded. The company registration number is NI638222.
(vii) St Barts Day Nurseries Limited is a wholly owned company registered in England and Wales. The company registration number is 11010289. The company has not traded since incorporation.
(viii) Cairdretir Company Limited is a wholly owned company limited by Guarantee in the Republic of Ireland. The company registration number is 669758. The company has not traded since incorporation.

The investment property revaluations as at 31 March 2025 are on the basis of independent valuations carried out by Sanderson Weatherall. The valuations were conducted on the basis of fair value in use.

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10. Debtors: amounts falling due within one year

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Group Charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Trade receivables 15,416 12,986 5,253 4,392
Prepayments 1,258 1,040 1,235 933
Accrued income 7,507 6,826 6,359 5,880
Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings – – 3,287 2,983
Other 4 559 25 557
24,185 21,411 16,160 14,745
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11. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

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Group Charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Trade payables 1,636 1,035 1,609 1,029
Tax and social security 5,880 4,127 5,696 3,971
Other creditors 1,969 1,935 1,823 1,582
Accruals 3,597 3,684 2,844 3,347
Deferred income 9,892 8,426 2,650 2,002
Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings – – – –
22,974 19,207 14,621 11,931
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The group deferred income balance has moved as follows during the year 2024/25.

£’000

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Balance at 1 April 2024 8,426
Released during the year (8,426)
Provided at 31 March 2025 9,892
Balance at 31 March 2025 9,892
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12. Provisions for liabilities

Group and charity

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Redundancies Onerous leases Dilapidations Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
At 1 April 2024 – 396 2,006 2,402
Additional provision in the year 124 – – 124
Provision utilised – (396) (320) (716)
At 31 March 2025 124 – 1,686 1,810
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13. Analysis of group net assets between funds

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2025 2024
Restricted Unrestricted Restricted Unrestricted
Group balance Group balance
Specific Designated General sheet total Specific Designated General sheet total
purpose funds funds Fund purpose funds funds Fund
Tangible fixed assets 1,348 22,970 - 24,318 – 26,800 – 26,800
Intangible fixed assets – 4,536 125 4,661 – – 430 430
Investments – 26,541 10,250 36,791 – 27,633 8,612 36,245
Debtors – – 24,185 24,185 – – 21,411 21,411
Cash and short-term deposits 6,181 – 4,922 11,103 5,123 – 7,756 12,879
Other liabilities and provisions – – (24,784) (24,784) – – (21,609) (21,609)
Pension liability – – – – – – (551) (551)
Total funds 7,529 54,047 14,698 76,274 5,123 54,433 16,049 75,605
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Further analysis of the funds and movements during the year are given in note 14. The purpose of the main funds are noted below. Specific purpose funds represent legacies, donations and other income that can only be used for particular purposes.

Designated funds are part of the charity's unrestricted funds that are earmarked by the trustees for a particular purpose and currently comprises the capital fund and old endowments. The capital fund is the amount invested in fixed assets used in the charity's operational work, net of capital grants and associated financing. The transfers out of designated funds reflect the net amounts released to the general fund in the current year. The charity previously held expendable endowments which were held for the benefit of the charity. Following approval by the Charities Commission, the Board has approved the release of the endowments and proceeds from the sale are designated to fund the residential growth programme of the charity.

For the capital fund, this is principally depreciation, offset by new purchases, and the release of the provision for capital grants. The charged asset fund is the value of the charity assets charged to the pension fund less the value of operational properties, which are already part of the capital fund.

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14. Group statement of fund movements

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2025
Brought Gains Carried
Income Expenditure Transfers
forward and losses forward
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Corporate partners
Advent International – support for Emergency Fund, ParentTalk and the Sandwell Family Partners 8 – – (8) – -
CBRE – corporate partnership funding programmes supporting young people in foster care 159 0 (84) (27) – 49
Dell (Inspire IT) – corporate partnership funding a digital inclusion programme 247 266 (282) - – 231
FirstGroup - corporate partnership funding mental health support 32 0 (35) 3 – -
John Lewis Partnership – supporting children and young people in care 553 296 (439) 27 – 436
Nationwide – partnership in support of children and families in poverty – 2,630 (1,304) (8) – 1,318
Royal Mail (The Blues Programme) – funding for ‘The Blues’ mental health programme 29 – (3) – – 26
Turner & Townsend 162 164 (157) – – 169
Trusts and statutory funders
Big Lottery Fund - note 16 – (The National Lottery Community Fund) – TNLCF supports a range of Action for Children programmes 47 114 (136) (9) – 15
CAF Covid Relief Fund – three-yearprogramme to support young carers 353 – (351) 8 – 10
Devon County Council 20 0 (1) – – 19
Garfield Weston Foundation 8 0 (8) – – –
Inspiring Scotland – Youth Action Fund 58 263 (223) – – 98
Newcastle City Council 59 96 (144) – – 11
Moondance Foundations – programme supporting girls and young women in Pembrokeshire – 187 (124) – – 64
Prudence Trust 40 178 (157) – – 61
Robertson Trust – STAY programme 35 176 (103) – – 109
South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner 123 78 (105) – – 96
Scottish Friendly 15 46 (38) – – 23
Shared Care Scotland 14 25 (15) – – 23
Sport England - programme supporting children and families through access to sport 18 – – – – 18
Welsh Government – ‘Bouncing Back’ mental health programme and residential children’s home programme 72 1,994 (403) (1,348) – 315
St Leonard's Convalescent Home (C0 105) – – – - – –
Restricted Capital Fund – – – 1,348 – 1,348
Other funders
Crisis Fund – fund supporting children and families in immediate crisis. Funded in 2024/25 by Nationwide (see above) 84 6 (1) – – 90
Other projects less than £100,000 donation in year 2,987 1,783 (1,785) 14 – 2,998
Specific purpose funds 5,123 8,304 (5,898) - – 7,529
Designated Fund (for residential programme) 7,482 – – (1,092) – 6,390
Capital Fund 26,800 – – 706 – 27,506
Charged Asset Fund 20,151 – – – – 20,151
General 16,600 155,141 (158,249) 386 820 14,698
71,033 155,141 (158,249) – 820 68,745
Pension reserve (551) – 1,121 – (570) –
Total - unrestricted 70,482 155,141 (157,128) – 250 68,745
Total funds 75,605 163,445 (163,026) – 250 76,274
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14. Group statement of fund movements – continued

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2024
Brought Gains Carried
Income Expenditure Transfers
forward and losses forward
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Corporate partners
Advent International – support for Emergency Fund, ParentTalk and the Sandwell Family Partners 71 (42) (21) – – 8
CBRE – corporate partnership funding programmes supporting young people in foster care 226 51 (118) – – 159
Dell (Inspire IT) – corporate partnership funding a digital inclusion programme 324 250 (327) – – 247
FirstGroup - corporate partnership funding mental health support 85 86 (139) – – 32
John Lewis Partnership – supporting children and young people in care 519 425 (391) – – 553
Nationwide – partnership in support of children and families in poverty – – – – – –
Royal Mail (The Blues Programme) – funding for ‘The Blues’ mental health programme 33 0 (4) – – 29
Turner & Townsend 118 135 (91) – – 162
Trusts and statutory funders
Big Lottery Fund - note 16 – (The National Lottery Community Fund) – TNLCF supports a range of Action for Children programmes 455 554 (962) – – 47
CAF Covid Relief Fund – three-yearprogramme to support young carers 566 383 (596) – – 353
Devon County Council 137 32 (149) – – 20
Garfield Weston Foundation – 150 (142) – – 8
Inspiring Scotland – Youth Action Fund 121 190 (253) – – 58
Newcastle City Council – 140 (81) – – 59
Moondance Foundations – programme supporting girls and young women in Pembrokeshire 12 – (12) – – 0
Prudence Trust – 178 (138) – – 40
Robertson Trust – STAY programme 17 176 (158) – – 35
South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner 115 126 (118) – – 123
Scottish Friendly – 47 (32) – – 15
Shared Care Scotland – 22 (8) – – 14
Sport England - programme supporting children and families through access to sport 101 – (83) – – 18
Welsh Government – ‘Bouncing Back’ mental health programme and residential children’s home programme 155 285 (368) – – 72
St Leonard's Convalescent Home (C0 105) 285 0 – (285) 0
Restricted Capital Fund
Other funders
Crisis Fund – fund supporting children and families in immediate crisis. Funded in 2024/25 by Nationwide (see above) 322 136 (374) – – 84
Other projects less than £100,000 donation in year 3,815 1,746 (2,574) – – 2,987
Specific purpose funds 7,477 5,070 (7,139) (285) - 5,123
Designated Fund (for residential programme) – – – 7,482 – 7,482
Capital Fund 22,309 – – 4,491 – 26,800
Charged Asset Fund 20,179 – – (28) – 20,151
General 19,815 150,210 (153,894) (637) 1,106 16,600
62,303 150,210 (153,894) 11,308 1,106 71,033
Pension reserve – – – – (551) (551)
Total - unrestricted 62,303 150,210 (153,894) 11,308 555 70,482
Total funds 69,780 155,280 (161,033) 11,023 555 75,605
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Financial statements

Introduction

Thanks to you

Take action

How we take action

Trustees’ report

15. Charity statement of fund movements

----- Start of picture text -----
2025
Brought Gains and Carried
Income Expenditure Transfers
forward losses forward
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Corporate partners
Advent International – support for Emergency Fund, ParentTalk and the Sandwell Family Partners 8 – – (8) – –
CBRE – corporate partnership funding programmes supporting young people in foster care 159 0 (84) (27) – 49
Dell (Inspire IT) – corporate partnership funding a digital inclusion programme 247 266 (282) – – 231
FirstGroup - corporate partnership funding mental health support 32 0 (35) 3 – –
John Lewis Partnership – supporting children and young people in care 553 296 (439) 27 – 436
Nationwide – partnership in support of children and families in poverty – 2,630 (1,304) (8) – 1,318
Royal Mail (The Blues Programme) – funding for ‘The Blues’ mental health programme 29 – (3) – – 26
Turner & Townsend 162 164 (157) – – 169
Trusts and statutory funders
Big Lottery Fund - note 16 – (The National Lottery Community Fund) – TNLCF supports a range of Action for Children programmes 47 114 (136) (9) – 455
CAF Covid Relief Fund – three-yearprogramme to support young carers 353 – (351) 8 – 10
Devon County Council 20 0 (1) – – –
Garfield Weston Foundation 8 0 (8) – – 19
Inspiring Scotland – Youth Action Fund 58 263 (223) – – 11
Newcastle City Council 59 96 (144) – – 98
Moondance Foundations – programme supporting girls and young women in Pembrokeshire – 187 (124) – – 64
Prudence Trust 40 178 (157) – – 61
Robertson Trust – STAY programme 35 176 (103) – – 61
South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner 123 78 (105) – – 109
Scottish Friendly 15 46 (38) – – 23
Shared Care Scotland 14 25 (15) – – 23
Sport England - programme supporting children and families through access to sport 18 – – – – 18
Welsh Government – ‘Bouncing Back’ mental health programme and residential children’s home programme 72 1,994 (403) (1,348) – 315
St Leonard's Convalescent Home (C0 105) – – – – – –
Restricted Capital Fund – – – 1,348 – 1,348
Other funders
Crisis Fund – fund supporting children and families in immediate crisis. Funded in 2024/25 by Nationwide (see above) 84 6 (1) – – 90
Other projects less than £100,000 donation in year 2,987 1,783 (1,785) 14 – 2,998
Specific purpose funds 5,123 8,304 (5,898) 0 – 7,529
Designated Fund (for residential programme) 7,482 (1,092) 6,390
Capital Fund 26,800 – – 706 – 27,506
Charged Asset Fund 20,151 – – – – 20,151
General 16,706 134,365 (137,578) 386 820 14,698
71,139 134,365 (137,578) – 820 68,745
Pension reserve (551) – 1,121 – (570) –
Total - unrestricted 70,588 134,365 (136,457) – 250 68,745
Total funds 75,711 142,668 (142,355) 0 250 76,274
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Financial statements

Introduction

Thanks to you

Take action

How we take action

Trustees’ report

15. Charity statement of fund movements – continued

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
Brought Gains and Carried
Income Expenditure Transfers
forward losses forward
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Corporate partners
Advent International – support for Emergency Fund, ParentTalk and the Sandwell Family Partners 71 (42) (21) – – 8
CBRE – corporate partnership funding programmes supporting young people in foster care 226 51 (118) – – 159
Dell (Inspire IT) – corporate partnership funding a digital inclusion programme 324 250 (327) – – 247
FirstGroup - corporate partnership funding mental health support 85 86 (139) – – 32
John Lewis Partnership – supporting children and young people in care 519 425 (391) – – 553
Nationwide – partnership in support of children and families in poverty – – – – – –
Royal Mail (The Blues Programme) – funding for ‘The Blues’ mental health programme 33 – (4) – – 29
Turner & Townsend 118 135 (91) – – 162
Trusts and statutory funders
Big Lottery Fund - note 16 – (The National Lottery Community Fund) – TNLCF supports a range of Action for Children programmes 455 554 (962) – – 47
CAF Covid Relief Fund – three-yearprogramme to support young carers 566 383 (596) – – 353
Devon County Council 137 32 (149) – – 20
Garfield Weston Foundation – 150 (142) – – 8
Inspiring Scotland – Youth Action Fund 121 190 (253) – – 58
Newcastle City Council – 140 (81) – – 59
Moondance Foundations – programme supporting girls and young women in Pembrokeshire 12 – (12) – – –
Prudence Trust – 178 (138) – – 40
Robertson Trust – STAY programme 17 176 (158) – – 35
South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner 115 126 (118) – – 123
Scottish Friendly – 47 (32) – – 15
Shared Care Scotland – 22 (8) – – 14
Sport England - programme supporting children and families through access to sport 101 – (83) – – 18
Welsh Government – ‘Bouncing Back’ mental health programme and residential children’s home programme 155 285 (368) – – 72
St Leonard's Convalescent Home (C0 105) 285 – – (285) – –
Restricted Capital Fund – – – – – –
Other funders
Crisis Fund – fund supporting children and families in immediate crisis. Funded in 2024/25 by Nationwide (see above) 322 136 (374) – – 84
Other projects less than £100,000 donation in year 3,815 1,746 (2,574) – – 2,987
Specific purpose funds 7,477 5,070 (7,139) (285) – 5,123
Designated Fund (for residential programme) – – – 7,482 – 7,482
Capital Fund 22,309 – – 4,491 – 26,800
Charged Asset Fund 20,179 – – (28) – 20,151
General 19,250 133,934 (137,550) (34) 1,106 16,706
61,738 133,934 (137,550) 11,911 1,106 71,139
Pension reserve – – – – (551) (551)
Total - unrestricted 61,738 133,934 (137,550) 11,911 555 70,588
Total funds 69,215 139,004 (144,689) 11,626 555 75,711
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Financial statements

Introduction

Thanks to you

Take action

How we take action

Trustees’ report

16. Group statement of fund movements, further detail

Funds received from the following trusts and organisations have been granted towards expenditure on the following projects:

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Brought forward Incoming resources Outgoing resources Transfers Carried forward
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Big Lottery Fund
BME Heritage Youth 23 – (23) – –
Side Step National Programme 23 114 (113) (9) 14
Skills for Living 2 – (2) – –
47 114 (138) (9) 14
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Rossorry Grove Supported Accommodation 13 374 (374) – 13
Sperrin and Lakeland Floating Support 13 373 (362) – 24
Waterside Sure Start - 686 (686) – –
26 1,434 (1,423) – 37
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17. Taxation

Action for Children, as a charity, is exempt from taxation of income and gains falling within Section 478 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent they are applied to its charitable objects. No tax charge arises in any of the subsidiary entities included in the group accounts due to their policy of gifting all taxable profits to Action for Children each year.

18 Contingent liabilities

Action for Children has agreed a recovery plan with the Action for Children Pension Fund for clearing the pension fund deficit. To support the recovery plan, on 7 March 2011 a security agreement was signed creating a first legal charge to the Action for Children Pension Fund of £32 million over freehold properties and of £8 million over CFB investment units.

The charge becomes enforceable in the event of default, including Action for Children becoming insolvent, ceasing business or failing to pay contributions in line with the schedule of contributions or Pensions Regulator direction.

19. Related parties

All transactions with subsidiaries, associated charities and trustees are disclosed in the financial statements. No trustees of Action for Children are also trustees of the pension fund.Management fees and Gift Aid payments paid to the parent charity during the year were as follows:

Action for Children Services Limited: £66,756,416 (2024: £69,227,883).
Action for Children Developments Limited: £1,224,301 (2024: £540,307).
Out of School Scotland Limited: £297,480 (2024: £210,454).

Financial statements

Introduction

Thanks to you Take action

How we take action

Trustees’ report

Additional information

Our legal and administration details

Registered office

Action for Children 3 The Boulevard Ascot Road Watford WD18 8AG

Banker

HSBC Bank PLC The Peak 333 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 1EJ

External auditor

Crowe U.K. LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW

Internal auditors

RSM The Pinnacle 170 Midsummer Blvd Milton Keynes MK9 1BP

Investment managers

Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church 9 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PE

Executive Leadership

Name	Title
Paul Carberry	Chief Executive
Brigitte Gater	Managing Director of Children’s Services
Locks Farmer	Managing Director of Income and Engagement
Mike Knight	Chief People Officer
Fiona Adams	Chief Financial Officer
Richard Bryars	Director of Strategy and Implementation
Jo French	Chief Operating Officer

Board of Trustees:

[Chair ] Member

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Governance,
Year of Children's Northern
Finance Audit and Risk People and England Scotland Wales
Name Trustee Services Ireland
Committee Committee Remuneration Committee Committee Committee
appointment Committee Committee
Committee
Sarika Patel (Chair) 2019
Dawn Warwick (Vice Chair) 2020
Revd Dr Michael Long
2020
(Methodist Church appointee)
Enda Johnson 2020
Steve Bell 2020
Peter Curran 2021
Lynne Atkin 2022
Leslie Evans 2022
Charles Geekie 2023
Navin Kaul 2024
Markus Ruetimann (to Jul 24) 2015
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Finance Committee

Susan Bailey Simon Cruickshank (to Nov 24) Phillip Lapping (from Oct 24) Tim Winmill (from Oct 24)

Audit and Risk Committee

Richard Brown David King

England Committee

Amanda Naylor OBE Alison Priestley Jansen Ryder Lauren Seager-Smith Adé Solarin

Scotland Committee

Danielle Cairns Robert Fleming Rupa Mooker Simon Murrison Stephanie Savage Robert Steenson

Wales Committee

Paul Bulpin Necia Lewis Angharad Roberts (young person co-opted member) Iona Wyn Turner

Northern Ireland Committee

Anthony Armstrong (young person co-opted member) Enda Coyle (from Sep 24) Zara Duffy Odhran McGeown (young person co-opted member) Dominic McSherry

Thanks to you

We'd like to say thank you to our patron, and all our ambassadors, celebrities, supporters, boards and committees who give their time to make more childhoods safe and happy.

Our patron

HRH The Princess of Wales

Vice Presidents

Ken Deeks MBE Lynda Myles-Till MBE

Our celebrity ambassadors

Angela Rippon CBE David Tanner Dermot Murnaghan Fatima Whitbread MBE Jenny Agutter OBE Jimmy Akingbola Larry Lamb Martha Kearney CBE Richard Farleigh Ronnie Archer-Morgan Sharon Horgan

Our celebrity supporters

Ainsley Harriott MBE Andrew Jenkins Brian Cox CBE Cat Simms

Celia Imrie Connie Simmonds Dame Joanna Lumley Dame Judi Dench Debbie Bright Dr Ranj Fats Timbo Gary Lineker George Glynn Georgia Jones Harry Redknapp

Hue & Cry Janette Manrara Janey Smith Jay Howard Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Kai Fagan Kat Shoob

Kate Thornton Kelsey Parker Kerry Godliman Laura Hamilton

We also want to say an enormous thank you to our:

Volunteers who generously give up their time to support us.

Children and families who have shared their stories with us.

Celebrity supporters who use their skills and influence to help make a difference.

Supporters who have generously bequeathed a gift in their will to Action for Children, and who will be remembered as part of our forever family.

Thanks to you

Introduction

Trustees’ report Financial statements

Take action

How we take action

Lesley Joseph Louis Theroux Louise Boyce Olivia Cox

Pandora Christie

Rebecca Ferguson MBE Roxie Nafousi Sanam Harinanan Sola Akingbola Sophie Tea ART Sue Holderness Tom Price Vanessa Feltz

Our charity ambassadors

Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top OBE Sir Iain Livingstone Flora Martin MBE Rt Hon Lord Jack McConnell of Glenscorrodale Rt Hon Alun Michael Dame Mary Perkins DBE Baroness Kathleen Richardson of Calow Neville Shulman CBE

Our supporters

Major donors, trusts, foundations and statutory funders:

Alstom UK & Ireland Community Project Fund BBC Children in Need Chapman Charitable Trust

City Bridge Foundation The Eveson Trust

Jakob Hørder Guernsey Community Foundation Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands

LTA Foundation

Michael Cornish Charitable Trust Newcastle City Council - Newcastle Youth Fund

Northumbria Police & Crime Commissioner Shared Care Scotland - Short Breaks Fund

Smurfit Westrock Foundation Souter Charitable Trust Social Investment Fund Suffolk Community Foundation The Alice Ellen Cooper Dean Charitable Foundation

The Charles Jacob Charitable Trust The Distillers' Charity The Gannochy Trust The National Lottery Community Fund

The Northwood Charitable Trust The Prudence Trust

The Robertson Trust

Welsh Government and Carers Trust Wales

William Grant Foundation The William Leech Charity

The Royal Warrant Holders Association Charity Fund

Faith partners:

The Methodist Church of Great Britain

The United Reformed Church

Corporate partners and sponsors: Anglo Doorstep Collections Arcadis UK Ltd Atlas Security B&Q Foundation BGC Charity Day The Childcare Company Cosy Club

Dell Technologies DYW LED Ella's Kitchen Equinix FirstGroup plc Flight Centre Herbalife

Hope for a Child

Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation The i Paper

John Lewis Partnership JoJo Maman Bébé Junior Adventures Group

Lenovo

Nationwide Building Society Sarnia Housing Association

Scottish Friendly

Starling Bank Target Group TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation Turner & Townsend Virgin Media O2 WeConnect Energy Wills & Legal Services

Event sponsors

Autex Acoustics

Dentons Ecapital KubeNet

Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP The Premier League Save & Invest

The Sir Reo Stakis Charitable Foundation Standard Real Estate Unity Trust Bank Wallace Whittle

We'd also like to thank all those supporters who wish to remain anonymous.

Young Ambassadors

Holly Holly B Callum Miracle Mariana

Thanks to you

Introduction

Financial statements

Take action

How we take action

Trustees’ report

Chloe

Rachel Anah Troy Emily Freya Emry Chan Nikita Louise Eden Boycott your Bed 2024/25 Boards Boycott your Bed, London Matt Goodstadt (Chair) Vivienne Hoskins (Chair) Ken Deeks MBE (Founder and Action for Children Vice President) Alison Evershed Adrian Leer Alistair Seargent Caroline Shaw Charlotte Brown Chris Mason Chris Sykes David Jobbins Den Donovan Georgia Wright Harman Sidhu Joanna Moss Juliana Bombonati

Karolina Fidrych Mark Sheldon Martin Corry Mike Lewis Neil Hughes Nicolas Caudron Paul Edwards Paul Fox Peter Goggin Pete Gutteridge-Paye Rob Fern Seamus Quinn Tim Magness Tim Morrison Victoria Fox Zahra Bahrololoumi Boycott your Bed, Leeds Steve Rake (Chair) Howard Hall (Chair) Adrian Berry Gareth Cutts Ian Bedford Jonathan Sheldrake Gareth Powell Liam Cadd Malcolm Seagrave Mark Billingham Natalie Dobson Rachel McElroy

Sally Bogg Suzanne Edmondson Toby Smith-Firth

Boycott your Bed, Glasgow Isobel Brown (Chair) Clare Cavanagh James Kenny Linda Murray Olivia Keary

Boycott your Bed, Belfast Sarah Campbell Gates (Chair) Chloe Adams Brenda Campbell Jasmine Lim Killian O’Rawe Lyle English Ryan Mulligan Sean Delvin

Boycott your Bed, Cardiff Amy-Beth Probert Chelsea Pinches-Burrowes Edward Kinsella Marc Jones Stephanie Kolvin William Jeremy

Spring Lunch Committee

Lynda Myles-Till MBE (Chair and Action for Children Vice President) Barbara Gaion Brigitte Othala von Habsburg Carmen Bouverat de Young Charley Lowe Ciara Hurley-Stewart Denise Parkinson Elena Shchukina Elizabeth Hammond Kate O’Connor Maureen Tadros Naomi Sherry Sarah Gibbon Ugo Arinzeh

The Ultimate News Quiz 2024/25 Committee

Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Chair) Chris Shaw (Chair) Martha Kearney CBE (Chair) Alastair Bennett Bill Rudgard Dan Faulks David Kermode Dianne Stradling James Max Kate McAndrew Karthi Gnanasegaram

Thanks to you

Introduction Trustees’ report Financial statements

Take action

How we take action

Kay Breeze Never Mind The Business Lou Plank Committee Lizzi Watson Coln Taylor Lucy Crystal Pete Lowrie Lucy Tuck Stephen Lewis Luke Jones The Sports Dinner Committee Manveen Rana Alan Stirling Mark Young David Tanner (Action for Michael Salter-Church Children Ambassador) Robin Elias Grant Douglas Sam Ross Julie Inglis Simon Vigar Gleneagles Golf Committee Steve Sidebottom Sandy Martin (Chair) Viv Fowle Alison Donnell Woman of Influence Board Donald Smith Louise Mahon (Chair) Jim Rennie Kerry Keenan (Vice-Chair) Maitland Walker Alana McDowall Mark Taylor Caitlin White Eve Robertson Fiona Scott Meryl Gilbert Patries Macintyre-Hoorn Pauline Mitchell Teri Porter Victoria Fleming-Brown

Thanks to you

Introduction

Financial statements

Take action

How we take action

Trustees’ report

Together we take

Take action

Introduction

Financial statements

Thanks to you

Trustees’ report

2025-03-31-accounts

Contents

How to navigate this report

Welcome from our Chair of Trustees, Sarika

Last year we supported 551,400 children, young people and families across the UK with our loving care.

Hello from our Chief Executive, Paul

I continue to be amazed by everything Action for Children achieves.

In 2024/25, we took action for

551,400

484,650

Financial performance

Where your money goes

How we created more safe and happy childhoods

Here’s what we’ll do for children, young people and families:

Here’s how we’ll achieve it:

Our front line services

Children in care

Family support

Northern Ireland

95 Scotland

164 England

Disabled children and young people

Mental health and wellbeing

Growing our services and increasing our impact

Family support

Winning new chances to support more families

Extending successful services

Helping to keep babies and parents together

Evolving Parent Talk

Supporting parents on WhatsApp

A search for more funding

Offering support for mums in prison

Helping young carers shape social work

Our new Family Clubs

The impact of the Family Clubs

The criminal exploitation of children

Working together to end exploitation in Scotland

Our work in Wales

Providing quality childcare

We provide award-winning childcare from birth to 14 years through our Spring Nurseries in England and Scotland. In 2024/25 we gave loving care to 3,549 children through these services.

Supporting under-twos

Quality training

A voice for children and families

Award-winning work

Children in care

Opening more loving homes

Creating stable, quality homes for children

91%

Delivering impact through our loving homes

Improving our care model

Lifting children’s voices

Saying goodbye to our adoption services

Helping children find loving foster homes

A Big Welcome for children in Wales

Christopher’s story

“Action for Children is like family.”

Offering loving care

Feeling safe and included

Mental health and wellbeing

Extending our services

Beating the blues

83%

A programme of love

The Feedback Poem

Helping children bounce back

4,276

87%

Disabled children and young people

A disabled child should have the same opportunities as any other. And a disability shouldn’t stop a child achieving their hopes and dreams.

88%

Growing our services

An outstanding report

Celebrating milestones

Celebrating achievements at Headlands

Safeguarding

Empowering children’s voices

Over the past year we‘ve made big strides embedding our Nothing About Me Without Me participation strategy – making sure young people are at the heart of everything we do.

Pushing for change

Thank you, Young Ambassadors

Influencing policy to improve children’s lives