2025-03-31-accounts

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Thomas Pocklington Trust

Report and Accounts for year ended 31 March 2025

Registered with the Charity Commission as Thomas Pocklington Trust Charity No. 1113729 Company No. 05359336

Trustees, Patrons, Key Management Personnel and Advisers	3
Trustees’Annual Report incorporating the Strategic Report	5
Independent Auditor’s Report	24
Statement of Financial Activities	29
Statement of Financial Position	30
Statement of Cash Flows	31
Notes to the Accounts	32

Trustees, Patrons, Key Management Personnel and Advisers

Board of Trustees

Mervyn Williamson Chair Simon Curtis (resigned June 2024) Graham Findlay Robert Holl Raj Mehta Helen Mitchell Peter Richardson Louise Robertshaw Matt Wadsworth Adam Youatt

Patrons

Hon. Jessica White

Key Management Personnel

Charles Colquhoun Chief Executive Cathy Low Director of Partnerships Emma Hughes Director of Services Louise Fairhurst Director of Resources

Registered Office

3 Queen Square London WC1N 3AR

Registered Numbers

Registered as a charity, number: 1113729 Registered as a company, number: 05359336

Website

www.pocklington.org.uk

Principal Professional Advisers

Bankers	The Co-operative Bank Plc 9 Prescot Street, London E1 8BE NatWest 21 King Street, London, W6 0PZ
Registered Auditor	Forvis Mazars LLP 6 Sutton Plaza, Sutton Court Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 4FS
Solicitors	Russell-Cooke 2 Putney Hill, London, SW15 6AB Synchrony Law 168 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6RA
Investment Managers	Sarasins Juxon House, 100 St Pauls Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BU
Property Managers and Advisers	Tandem 2ndFloor, 11-15 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 1PF
Insurance Brokers	Lockton The St Botolph Building, 138 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7AG

Trustees’ Annual Report incorporating the Strategic Report

The Trustees, who are also Directors for the purposes of company Iaw, present their report and the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31 March 2025.

This Trustees' Report required by the Charities Act 2011 is also the Directors' Report and incorporates the Strategic Report, both prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.

Our Vision - We want to improve “Key Life Chances” so that blind and partially sighted people have the same life chances as everyone else. Namely, a good education with choices in transitioning to secondary school, college or university; positive employment with equal opportunity to progress; to keep fit and healthy and to feel fully included in the fabric of society.

Structure, Governance and Management

Thomas Pocklington Trust is a company limited by guarantee, company number 05359336, registered with the Charity Commission, registration number 1113729.

The Charity’s constitution is its Articles of Association. The objects of the Charity are set out below:

To relieve those in need through sight loss and other related conditions, in particular by the provision of support services and information for their care and welfare; and
To undertake research into the advancement of knowledge of the prevention, alleviation and cure of visual impairment and other related problems.

Thomas Pocklington Trust is authorised by the Charity Commission to be the sole Corporate Trustee of The Gift of Thomas Pocklington (The Gift). As Corporate Trustee, Thomas Pocklington Trust receives the income generated by the Permanent Endowment (held by The Gift) to carry out the charitable activities in line with the objectives set out in its Articles of Association.

The Board may comprise up to twelve Trustees, who have legal responsibility for the effective use of resources in accordance with the Charity’s objectives, and for providing effective leadership and direction. Trustees have been appointed to the Board in accordance with the Trustees’ selection policy and taking account of the range of skills required

to govern the Charity’s business. The recruitment and selection policy provides for various methods of recruitment such as advertising and nomination. A skills audit is conducted periodically to ensure that the Board has the requisite range of skills to carry out its responsibilities.

All Trustees give their time freely and no Trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Details of Trustee expenses are disclosed in note 15 to the accounts. Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and register them with the Chief Executive and, in accordance with the Charity’s policy, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest may arise.

Each new Trustee is given an appropriate induction programme and training relevant to their responsibility. Trustees are also encouraged to involve themselves in areas of particular interest through close involvement with the management, staff and users of the Charity’s services.

The terms of reference and composition of the Board were reviewed during the year to ensure they continue to meet the evolving needs of the charity and its governance requirements and will continue to be reviewed regularly.

The Trustees have adopted a policy of applying a total return rate of 3.5% (2024: 3.5%) of the opening value of the permanent endowment to income; in accordance with the policy £5.4m (2024: £5.7m) was transferred from the permanent endowment to unrestricted funds in the year.

The day-to-day management of the Charity is delegated by the Trustees to the Chief Executive, who is supported by the senior executive team. The Chief Executive works within a schedule of delegated authorities with any decisions outside of the schedule being reserved to the Trustees. Matters reserved to the Trustees include Chief Executive remuneration, spend over £75k (2024: £75k), major investment decisions, property disposals, approving strategy, budgets and accounts and appointment of auditors.

The Chief Executive's remuneration is set by the Trustees and is subject to an annual review. In undertaking this review the Trustees consider the outcome of the annual appraisal of the Chief Executive and the remuneration of comparative positions.

Trustee indemnity insurance is provided by Hiscox.

Aims and Activities for the Public Benefit

Thomas Pocklington Trust is a national charity committed to achieving equality and inclusion for blind and partially sighted (BPS) people. With over half of our staff and more than 300 volunteers having lived experience of sight loss, we ensure that our work is informed, representative and impactful.

We work across a range of priority areas, influencing policy, delivering services, supporting communities, and funding initiatives that drive systemic change. Through partnerships, advocacy and practical support, we aim to remove the barriers that limit opportunity and participation for BPS people.

Our strategic aims represent the larger, longer-term goals that we want to achieve, and these will be delivered through the strategies set out in our thematic and departmental business plans. Our strategic aims are:

To attain better education and transition outcomes for young BPS people and students.
To reduce unemployment amongst BPS people of working age and to increase numbers of employers making their workplace accessible.
To have full access to all health services for BPS people and remove barriers limiting the overall health, fitness and wellbeing of BPS people
To advocate and campaign for more inclusive, accessible and equitable communities and society at large.

We also award grants to various organisations in the sector which share our goals and can better serve beneficiaries’ interests.

Our people are key to delivering our strategic aims. We firmly believe in the value of lived experience with over half of our employees being blind or partially sighted. TPT is also a living wage employer and is one of the few organisations in the UK to pay the living pension.

2024/25 was the first full year of our “Key Life Chances” strategy 20242027. The strategic objectives are as follows:

Influence, raise awareness and change attitudes.
Deliver specialist services that meet our priority areas of need.
Work in partnership with others who share our aims.
Lead by example and utilise our resources to bring about the change we want to see.

Our strategy provided the framework for business planning and budgetsetting and we began implementation of our quarterly monitoring and reporting system via Salesforce during Q1.

During 2024/5, we continued our involvement with the Vision Partnership (formerly the VI Charity Sector Partnership), which is the strategic partnership for the sight loss sector. Membership includes RNIB, Guide Dogs, Blind Veterans, Visionary, Macular Society, Retina UK, Glaucoma UK and Thomas Pocklington Trust. We played an active role in several cross-sector workstreams including Lived Experience, Leadership/Talent Development, Joint Campaigning and Influencing, Access to Technology,

Employment and Mental Health and Wellbeing. We continued our stewardship and management of the VI Insight Hub despite major restructuring and transformation processes undertaken by several of our partners during the year.

We play a leading role in the Lived Experience (LEX) Leadership and Talent Development workstream, including supporting the launch of the New Horizons Leadership programme in partnership with Hult Ashridge.

We continued to champion the needs and aspirations of BPS people through our Public Affairs and Campaigns work. Working closely with our Sight Loss Councils and with sector partners, we campaigned on national priorities including transport, health and the built environment, including our #CutItBack campaign aimed at the removal of overhanging vegetation and foliage, which had the greatest traction of any of our campaigns.

We also worked with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eye Health and Vision Impairment on an inquiry into the barriers faced by BPS people in accessing employment, which revealed significant challenges posed by employers’ attitudes. This resulted in the production of the “Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives” report and significant engagement with the Ministers for Employment and Disabled People/Social Security.

Our Corporate Partnerships engagement grew during 2024/5 with significant work on bus driver training with the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transport, which will ultimately be rolled out to over 80% of bus drivers. Other notable successes in this arena included Skillshare (in partnership with around 12 organisations) and a partnership with the ORS to support and analyse our Reflect and Engage survey.

We paused our regular grants programme while we undertook a strategic review of the impact of previous grants rounds. We analysed previous grants programmes and individual grants which informed a new approach for 2025/26.

We continued our grant funding relationship with Visionary, Metro Blind Sport and Sight Support West of England, including agreeing a new twoyear grant to Visionary. We are on a pathway for these organisations to be less reliant on TPT over time.

The grants process followed the same process as in previous years. Organisations submit an application via the digital portal which is considered by the Grant Management Committee (comprising the executive leadership team and Head of Finance) following due diligence checks undertaken by the Partnerships team. Decisions are subject to approval by the trustees, where required, within the limits set by the trustees as part of the budgeting process.

Our grant funding is used in support of applications for “Get Set Progress”, TPT’s internship programme delivered in partnership with RNIB.

We supported 42 (2024: 51) organisations during the year with grants and donations totalling £0.7m. (2024 £1.1m)

Organisations supported during 2024/25 Grants:

Visionary Wales Council of the Blind Sight Support West of England Metro Blind Sports Sight Scotland Sense Northern Ireland My sight Nottinghamshire Esme’s Umbrella Sight Concern Worcestershire

Get Set Progress grants to organisations hosting interns:

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust Beacon Centre for the Blind Channel 4 Metro Blind Sports General Optical Council Nystagmus Network Nicholson & Co Accountancy Sight Concern Worcestershire Retina UK RealSAM My Vision Oxfordshire Leeds Playhouse Seable Bury Society for Blind and Partially Sighted People Senclude Limited Herts Vision Loss Kingston Upon Thames association for the blind Sight Scotland Transport for All Redway HR Royal Holloway University of London Royal National College for the Blind UCAN Productions Visibilty Scotland Royal Society for Blind Children

Donations:

RNIB Lived Experienced Leadership Conference England and Wales Blind Golf Cure Usher Fen Tigers Goalball Club North East Sensory Services Visually Impaired Sailing Association VI Talk Step Change Studios The Braillists Foundation British Baseball Federation Extant Kingston upon Thames Association for the Blind Esme’s Umbrella

Thomas Pocklington Trust provides administration support to a number of charities. The value of this support in 2025 was £48k (2024: £53k). The Charity also offers its meeting rooms free of charge to other sector organisations.

The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity's aims and objectives and in planning future activities.

Risk management

The Trustees have a formal risk management process to assess business risks and view the strategic management of risk as an integral part of their decision-making processes, supporting effective planning and evaluation of its activities. The key risks faced by the Charity are as follows:

Risk	How the risk is managed
Liquidity, including pension liability risk.	Ongoing monitoring of our cash holding position against our policy, which stipulates that sufficient cash is held to fund ongoing operations. Percentage of total return budget determined annually by Trustees. Regular monitoring of financial performance. Current pension liability deficit recognised on balance sheet and funding plan in place. Ongoing monitoring to avoid potential debt / penalty triggers.
Major fall in capital values across investment and property portfolios.	Holdings are across London real estate (89%), equities and cash, providing some diversification. Also, some diversification within the property portfolio, which includes commercial (mainly retail) and residential properties. Fall in property value does not necessarily mean fall in rental income. Only circa 11% of investment assets held in stock market. In assessing the total rate of return, a trigger point is reached if property values fall by 10% - the total return rate would then be reviewed by the Trustees. The total return rate is reviewed annually by Trustees.
Global and national events and economic threats leading to loss of income from equities portfolio and residential and commercial property portfolios.	The Trustees have considered the possible risks and have put in place measures to maintain income and reduce future expenditure if required. The position is kept under constant review and the Trustees will, as required, take necessary steps to ensure the charity continues as a going concern.

Risk	How the risk is managed
Unexpected health and safety incident in residential or commercial properties leading to damage to property and endangering safety of tenants and other members of the public.	Compliance procedures including reporting are in place to ensure that we adhere to the current legislation. The charity will keep abreast of changes and potential changes in legislation so that they can be planned for and ensure ongoing compliance is maintained. Independent experts review the estate.
Damage to reputation.	Extensive external stakeholder management and engagement. Regular monitoring of relevant internal policies and staff training in place, in particular those regarding safeguarding vulnerable people and GDPR.

The Trustees confirm that they have reviewed the major risks and processes for addressing them have been implemented.

Activities during year ending 31 March 2025

Education

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to thrive and achieve in education so that they are prepared and ready for employment. We want to ensure barriers that make it difficult for blind and partially sighted students to achieve successful outcomes are removed.

Our education work supports blind and partially sighted students, their parents and carers and the professionals that support them to get the most out of primary, secondary, college and university education. We do this in several ways:

Education Service: Our information, advice and guidance service supports students, their parents/carers and the professionals that support them to navigate primary, secondary, further and higher education. As part of our offer, we attend events and information sessions to talk through key areas of support on navigating education. We have an extensive range of online resources, which we have developed and refined to support the education journey. This has included a focus on socialising in schools and accessing physical education.
Participation: Our Young Voices have been working hard on their retail and sports campaign and have been learning skills around influencing key decision makers. Our Student Voices have been involved in a range of activities, including presenting at Parliamentary receptions and providing evidence at an Education Select Committee. We launched our 'STEP into Education' our transitions offer, which is for students moving onto college or university; our events provide a safe space for students to talk about their experiences, ask questions and to hear from other students.
Technology: We launched new resources for students to get the most out of technology in education. We have also built relationships with tech companies to review and understand the technology used by pupils and students in education.
Education Policy: We launched Vision for VI Education: Building Blocks for Change report, which sets out what we believe government needs to do to ensure that blind and partially sighted students can access education. We have submitted evidence to the Education Select Committee and other government consultations. The Assistance and Access for All campaign has enabled us to meet with several colleges regarding their accessibility and support for disabled students. Our work on Disabled Students’ Allowance has continued and we gave evidence at the Education Select Committee

on the reforms. We have continued to work with the Student Loans Company to regularly review the reforms and their impact on blind and partially sighted students.

Engagement

Sight Loss Councils (SLCs) are volunteer-led groups, advocating for change and inclusion for blind and partially sighted people.

There have been several expansions of existing SLC areas in the past year, as well as the establishment of two new Sight Loss Councils, - increasing the number of SLCs to 25 across the UK - Meet the Councils (sightlosscouncils.org.uk).

Each Sight Loss Council is made up of around 8-12 blind or partially sighted members who meet monthly to discuss accessibility issues and plan projects in their regions to support TPT’s national priority areas of the Built Environment, Transport and Health and Fitness, as well as local project areas of Arts and Culture, and Retail.

 Built Environment

We launched the Cut it Back campaign, creating a series of videos to raise awareness of the barriers blind and partially sighted people face when navigating the streets. These videos encourage people to cut back their own foliage and report other overgrown vegetation.

The London SLCs launched their E-Bike charter, which has now gained three signatories from e-bike companies - Lime, Forest and Voi so far.

 Transport

In our continuing work to make buses accessible, SLCs created and launched approved bus and coach driver training materials, designed to inform bus and coach drivers of how best to support blind or partially sighted passengers. The ‘Vision Impairment Awareness for Bus Drivers’ training materials are available to all bus operators and trainers.

The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has approved the materials for their members, who make up 95 per cent of local bus services. They also make up 60 per cent of coach operators across the UK.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has confirmed the content is suitable and has met its conditions for approval for Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC). This is the training bus and coach drivers do every five years to carry out their job.

In our work to make trains accessible, SLCs across the Southeast, London and East of England were successful in receiving a grant from Govia Thameslink Railway’s Your Station, Your Community fund to make six of their stations accessible. The project saw SLCs creating audio guides,

station maps, train maps and delivering ‘Coffee and Chat’ events to build people’s confidence with using the train.

Our work with Govia and trialling the AIRA app, which was later rolled out across the whole of the GTR network, was highly commended in the National Rail Awards 2024.

 Health and Fitness

Sight Loss Councils in the Southwest worked with Hospital Trusts to develop the first NHS audio guides for blind and partially sighted people. The new tools will help improve accessibility across hospitals in Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Bristol.

Merseyside Sight Loss Council worked with Liverpool University healthcare students to increase vision awareness and influence their work with future patients, improving their understanding of the challenges and barriers blind and partially sighted people face when accessing various health settings.

The Birmingham and Black Country SLC worked with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to launch a pioneering initiative to improve the patient experience of blind and partially sighted individuals, in line with the Accessible Information Standard of NHS England. They also trained over 600 healthcare staff in vision awareness training. As part of this, they produced a training documentary on sight loss.

 Retail

SLCs created a range of resources to provide support across the sector on how best to support blind and partially sighted customers. These include:

Top tips for retail staff assisting blind and partially sighted customers in store
Top tips for supermarket staff assisting blind and partially sighted customers in store

 Mindful shopper poster

 Arts and Culture

SLC members in Yorkshire were at the heart of developing a toolkit to support other SLCs in making arts and culture venues more accessible.

Employment

Our employment service supports blind and partially sighted people looking to find employment.

Resources we offer include one-to-one employment advice and free career coaching. We offer group training and peer support events online. Our ‘Let’s Talk Jobs’ monthly webinar has increased its audience fivefold in the past year. Our regular newsletter for job seekers has over a thousand subscribers.

The ‘We Work’ section of our website shows a series of videos which portray BPS people working in a range of roles and sectors.

The year saw an increase of 25% in clients supported by our “Works For Me” programme, amounting to 345 individual job seekers. Growth in the service is strong, due, we believe, to a growing professional reputation in the sector and effective work by our Communications colleagues.

We offer a comprehensive service to clients with high quality assistive tech advice and a Volunteer Mentoring Scheme which launched in 2024/25.

We have continued to provide support to Get Set Progress interns on their journey from internship to further employment.

Throughout the year we contributed to the Vision Partnership Employment Strand. We continue to suggest measures to improve the speed and efficiency of the Access to Work scheme and participate in the DWP Access to Work Forum.

Although the Employment Team is focussed on practical service delivery, we have a growing presence in policy-related areas, working alongside colleagues in Public Affairs and Campaigns. We support work on TPT consultation responses and were invited to submit a response to the “Keep Britain Working” review led by Sir Charlie Mayfield.

Internships

We have continued to grow our internship programme, Get Set Progress (GSP), and through our continued funding partnership with RNIB and People’s Postcode Lottery, we were able to offer 31 new internship roles this year. We welcomed employers from the public, private and voluntary sectors, and excitingly this year were offered roles with Channel 4 and the NHS. We also celebrated our 100[th] intern participating in the programme. We continue to achieve our target of 85% of interns finding employment within six months of ending their internship.

Volunteering

Volunteers play a significant role in delivering our strategy, providing a voice and opportunity to shape change through our SLCs, Young Voices, Student Voices, Sighted Guides and mentors.

We currently have nearly 300 volunteers, who are predominantly blind or partially sighted and who all work actively on projects that will bring about change to improve the lives of blind and partially sighted people.

Safeguarding

We have a designated safeguarding lead in place within the organisation and individuals with safeguarding responsibility at executive team and Board level. All staff receive regular training updates and opportunities to discuss concerns with the designated safeguarding lead.

Housing

Whilst our revised strategy over the past decade has meant the focus of the organisation has moved away from housing, for historical reasons we continue to provide housing for BPS people to live independently at Pocklington Lodge in west London. In November 2024 a consultation was held with the tenants to discuss the future of Pocklington Lodge. After an extensive consultation involving over 40 meetings the Board carefully considered the future of the building and decided it would be better if it was managed by an organisation that focussed on housing. This would be likely to involve a transfer of ownership. The tenants were informed of this decision in June 2025 and we are currently in discussion with interested parties. It has been made very clear to everyone that security of tenancies and their affordability is of paramount importance to the future of Pocklington Lodge.

Financial Performance

Our total funds are made up of our permanent endowment, restricted funds and unrestricted funds.

The net amount spent on our charitable aims in the period, before gains and losses on investments and before the total return transfer from the permanent endowment, was £5.5m (2024: £5.1m).

Overall, including net income from the permanent endowment and after gains and losses on investments in the year, we generated a deficit of £3.7m (2024: £8.0m deficit).

We monitor the level of unrestricted reserves against the risks identified on our risk register and the anticipated need for change. As at 31 March 2025, we held £11.1m (2024: £10.2m) in unrestricted funds, £6k (2024: £12k) in

restricted funds and £154.8m (2024: £159.5m) in the permanent endowment with total funds of £166m (2024: £169.7m).

Investment Policy

The Charity’s investment powers are governed by the Articles of Association, which permit the funds to be invested in stocks and unit trusts, freehold land and long leasehold land.

The investment policy currently sets out that we seek to achieve a longterm overall return of CPI+3%. It recognises that a significant part of the overall return will be in the form of capital appreciation rather than income. Under the Total Return investment approach, we are able to access some of the capital appreciation from the permanent endowment to release additional funds for expenditure on our charitable activities in the future.

The investment policy considers the split of investment, recognising that diversification across asset classes is a key element of building an efficient investment strategy but that investment properties, which have served so well historically, will continue to form the core of our portfolio. The policy therefore looks to further diversify our investments beyond property, but within a limited ultimate target range of 75% to 85% in property holdings. Achievement of this re-balancing will be carried out slowly over time as opportunistic property sales arise within our plans for maintaining a core property portfolio.

The primary purpose of our investment property portfolio, which includes a mix of residential and commercial units, is to generate funds to enable us to meet our objectives in the short and long term. The day-to-day strategy for the portfolio is to maintain and improve properties to an appropriate market standard where a balance is struck between maximising income and minimising voids. Opportunities are taken to refurbish properties, particularly when possession is obtained from statutory tenants, and opportunistic sales may be made where there are favourable market circumstances.

Day to day management of our residential properties is conducted inhouse, with external oversight and management of the commercial portfolio undertaken by a professional property management company, Tandem.

Some of the Charity’s investments are in the form of cash deposits and equities; as such the Charity is exposed to credit, price and liquidity risks. The Charity seeks to minimise these risks by depositing cash in several UK FSCS protected banks with higher credit ratings and diversifying our equity

holdings by investing in equities via listed investment funds with a broad global equity exposure that have a high threshold on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues; this also satisfies our responsible investor values.

Reserves Policy

Our unrestricted reserves are maintained to provide funds to offset any unexpected events which may arise, including volatility in the transfers from the permanent endowment due to changes in the London property market, and to provide for major planned events including new developments and research. As at 31 March 2025 free reserves were £11.1m (2024: £10.2m).

The permanent endowment reserves reflect capital growth accumulated prior to the adoption of the total return approach on 1 April 2016.

Plans for the Future and Achieving our Priorities

We will continue to work to improve the accessibility of services across the public, private, and voluntary sectors and raise awareness of the issues faced by blind and partially sighted people in their community, through the delivery of SLCs across the UK. We will continue to work with sector partners to deliver SLCs in Scotland and Wales.

We will be working with Vocal Eyes, a charity seeking to make art and heritage venues and exhibitions inclusive, so that museums across the UK can be made more accessible for blind and partially sighted people. This work has been made possible thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

We will continue to develop and expand our successful intern programme, Get Set Progress, encouraging BPS people into nine-month internships where they will be able to gain valuable skills and experience that can be taken into future employment, working with partner organisations within all sectors to offer high quality internship opportunities. We will place particular emphasis on working with corporate partners to offer a wide range of opportunities.

The employment team will continue to increase both the number of clients who access our service and those who are successful in obtaining paid work. Our pilot “Working Well with Sight Loss” residential course will be delivered, and we will continue to offer blind and partially sighted people opportunities to participate in future courses. We will continue to engage directly with more employers, enhancing their awareness of such issues as the Access to Work Scheme and reasonable adjustments in the workplace.

We will be partnering with Guide Dogs to deliver our relaunched Education Information, Advice and Guidance Service (previously the Student Support Service) which will be supporting those in education aged 7 and above.

We will continue to develop our Education Participation work with students. Our current cohort of Young Voices will 'graduate' and we will be recruiting a new group onto the 18-month programme. We will continue to develop opportunities for our Student Voices to engage with improving access to education for blind and partially sighted students. Our 'Step' programme supporting students through key education transitions will be evaluated and adapted ready for the launch of the second round of the programme. We will also be developing resources, support and information on technology in education, enabling students to have the skillsets needed for independent learning.

Our Education Policy work will continue, with a focus on engaging in the government’s review of SEND provision, making a strong case for the needs of pupils and students with low incidence disabilities, including vision impairment to be addressed.

We will continue to play an active role in the sector-wide Vision Partnership, supporting a review which had become necessary following structural changes with some of our partner organisations.

We are also working with partners on two major funding programmes – Children and Young People and Access to Technology, both of which could have a transformational approach on how the sector supports those in education and job seekers.

We are continuing to build our Parliamentary engagement and the connections we have developed via the APPG and our work on Employment.

We will launch our new grants programme with the theme of Educational Transitions in July, with a much stronger focus on understanding impact and how our funding can bring about positive change. We will evaluate the “themed approach” with a view to repeating this for other elements of our strategy in future. We are also piloting an “Experts by Experience” panel as part of our grant making process for the first time. The panel will include participants from Young Voices and Student Voices, a parent, a Qualified Teacher for Vision Impaired (QTVI) and subject area experts from our Education team. We anticipate that this approach will make our grantmaking even more relevant to the needs of BPS people.

We will continue to refine and roll out our business planning and quarterly monitoring system through Salesforce (our CRM system) and build our system further to support strategic and organisational delivery.

We support and commission research, with a particular focus on the VI Insight Hub and finding a sector-wide sustainable solution to sharing and jointly commissioning research, insights and evidence. This will be used to inform all aspects of our work. We will also launch our “International Approaches to Supporting Blind and Partially Sighted People in July.

We will continue to expand our communications activity, refining our tone of voice and considering the performance of our brand.

The New Horizons leadership programme pilot will be evaluated and we will host the second Lived Experience Leadership Conference in March 2026.

Following the production of our first thematic business plans (Education, Employment, Health, Built Environment and Transport), we will also develop stronger linkages with corporates that can support in our key strategy areas.

Internally we promote a positive workplace culture and develop our people through our professional development, mentoring and performance management programmes. We believe this is critical to deliver our aims and objectives and we will continue to ensure that our people understand the value of their contribution to the people we serve.

The Charity does not undertake direct fundraising; no complaints have been made to the Fundraising Regulator during the year in this respect.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report incorporating the Strategic Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year 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 that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable Company and of the income and expenditure of the charitable Company for that period.

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

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable Company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for ensuring adequate accounting records are kept which are sufficient to show and explain the charitable Company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable Company, enabling them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and

dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Disclosure of Information to Auditor

Insofar as the Trustees are aware at the time of approving our Trustees’ Annual Report:

there is no relevant information, being information needed by the auditor in connection with preparing their report, of which the charitable Company’s auditor is unaware, and
the Trustees, having made enquiries of fellow directors and the charitable Company’s auditor that they ought to have individually taken, have each taken all steps that they are obliged to take as a director in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

To read more about our work please refer to our website www.pocklington.org.uk.

Approved by the Directors on 11 September 2025

Signed on behalf of the Directors by:

MJ Williamson

MJ Williamson (Sep 11, 2025 19:25:11 GMT+1)

Mervyn Williamson, Chair Registered Office:

3 Queen Square London WC1N 3AR

Independent auditor’s report to the members of Thomas Pocklington Trust

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Thomas Pocklington Trust (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 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 charity’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of 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 charity 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 charity'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.

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

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. 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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 course of 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 there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

the information given in the Trustees’ Annual report which includes the Strategic Report and the Directors’ 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’ Annual report has 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 charity 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’ Annual 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 and proper accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; 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 pages 21-22, 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 charity’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 charity 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 the financial statements.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.

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.

Based on our understanding of the charity and its industry, we considered that non-compliance with the following laws and regulations might have a material effect on the financial statements: employment regulation, health and safety regulation and anti-money laundering regulation.

To help us identify instances of non-compliance with these laws and regulations, and in identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect to non-compliance, our procedures included, but were not limited to:

Inquiring of management and, where appropriate, those charged with governance, as to whether the charity is in compliance with laws and regulations, and discussing their policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations;
Inspecting correspondence, if any, with relevant licensing or regulatory authorities;
Communicating identified laws and regulations to the engagement team and remaining alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout our audit; and
Considering the risk of acts by the company which were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.

We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the preparation of the financial statements, such as pension legislation and the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice.

In addition, we evaluated the trustees’ and management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements, including the risk of management override of controls, and determined that the principal risks related to posting manual journal entries to manipulate financial performance and income recognition (which we pinpointed to the cut-off assertion), and significant one-off or unusual transactions.

Our audit procedures in relation to fraud included but were not limited to:

Making enquiries of the trustees and management on whether they had knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
Gaining an understanding of the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud;
Discussing amongst the engagement team the risks of fraud; and
Addressing the risks of fraud through management override of controls by performing journal entry testing.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of irregularities including fraud rests with management. As with any audit, there remained a risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations or the override of internal controls.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of the audit report

This report is made solely to the charity’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 charity’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 charity and the charity’s members as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Signed: Nicola Wakefield (Sep 23, 2025 22:14:59 GMT+1)

Nicola Wakefield (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Forvis Mazars LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor 6 Sutton Plaza, Sutton Court Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4FS Date: 23/09/2025

Statement of Financial Activities for year ended 31 March 2025

	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Permanent endowment Total funds Total funds 2025 2025 2025 2025 2024 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 27 - - 27 29 726 168 - 894 768	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Permanent endowment Total funds Total funds 2025 2025 2025 2025 2024 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 27 - - 27 29 726 168 - 894 768	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Permanent endowment Total funds Total funds 2025 2025 2025 2025 2024 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 27 - - 27 29 726 168 - 894 768
	funds	funds	endowment funds
Notes	2025	2025	2025 2025
	£'000	£'000	£'000 £'000
Income and endowments from:
Donations and other
activities 5	27	-	- 27
Charitable activities 6
Investments 7	95	-	5,589 5,684 5,442
Total income 8	848 168 5,589 6,605 6,239 11 - (2,074) (2,063) (1,409)

Expenditure on:
Raisingfunds 10
Charitable activities
Understandingneeds	(1,793)	-
Meetingneeds
Total 11	(5,327) (174) - (5,501) (5,116) - - (112) (112) (119)
Other expenditure
Total expenditure	(5,316)	(174) (2,186) (7,676) (6,644)
	- - (2,655) (2,655) (7,259)
Net(loss)on investments
Net(expenditure)/income	(4,468)

Transfer between funds 25	5,401

Statement of Financial Position as at 31 March 2025

Notes	2025	2024
	£'000	£'000
Fixed assets: Property, plant and equipment 18 Investments 19 Current assets: Debtors 20 Cash at bank and in hand
	5,344	5,188
	162,589	166,161
	167,933	171,349

	513	377
	1,840	2,680
	2,353	3,057
Creditors – amounts falling due within oneyear 21 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Creditors - amounts falling due after more than oneyear 22 Net assets	(1,912) 441 168,374 (2,415) 165,959	(1,776)
		1,281
		172,630 (2,945)
		169,685
Represented by: Unrestricted funds 24 Restricted funds 24 Permanent endowment funds 24

	11,118	10,185 12 159,488
	6
	154,835
Total funds	165,959	169,685

These accounts were approved by the Trustees on 11 September 2025 and were signed on their behalf by:

MJ Williamson

MJ Williamson (Sep 11, 2025 19:25:11 GMT+1)

Mervyn Williamson

Director

Company registered number: 05359336

Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 March 2025

2025 £'000 Reconciliation of net (expenditure) to net cash used in operating activities Net (expenditure), including dividends and interest (3,726) Adjustments for: Depreciation 39 Net loss on investments 2,655 Movement in debtors (136) Movement in creditors due within less than one year 115 Movement in creditors falling due after more than one year (375) Net cash used in operating activities Cash flows from investing activities Addition of property, plant and equipment (195) Addition of investment properties (1,009) Acquisition of equity investments (72) Disposal of equity investments 2,054 Net cash provided by investing activities Cash flows from financing activities Repayment of loan Net Cash (Outflow) Cash and cash equivalents At 1 April 2024 At 31 March 2025 Cash and cash equivalents Cash at bank, held by investment managers Other cash at bank and in hand	2025 2024 £'000 £'000 (7,967) 38 7,259 154 (345) (217) (1,428) (127) (973) (3,182) 5,210 778 (134) (784) 2,949 2,165 325 1,840 2,165	2024 £'000
		(1,078)
		928 (122)
		(272) 3,221
		2,949
		269 2,680
		2,949

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Charity information

Thomas Pocklington Trust (“the Trust”) is a private company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England; the registered office address is 3 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR and the registered number is 05359336. The company is also a registered charity number 1113729.

In the event of the Company being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £10 per member. The number of members as at 31 March 2025 was 9 (2024 – 10).

Details of the principal activity of the company are given in the accompanying narrative reporting.

2. Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (“FRS 102”), Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102 (effective 1 January 2019) (the SORP) and the Companies Act 2006.

The Trust is a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention as modified by the revaluation of certain assets in accordance with the Trust’s accounting policies.

Uniting direction

The accounts include the results of both the Thomas Pocklington Trust Charity and the Permanent Endowment Fund of the Gift of Thomas Pocklington, which are combined for reporting purposes under the uniting direction issued by the Charity Commission on 2 May 2006.

Going concern

The accounts have been prepared on the going concern basis as, after making enquiries, the Trustees have reasonable assurance that the Trust has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The Trustees have reviewed detailed cash flow projections to 30 September 2026 and have agreed detailed budgets for the

year ended 31 March 2026. Both sources of income and types of expenditure have been reviewed. The Trustees have also considered the charity’s working capital and capital expenditure requirements. As a result of the foregoing the Trustees are satisfied that it is appropriate to prepare the accounts on a going concern basis.

Income

All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

The following specific policies apply to categories of income:

 Voluntary income

All voluntary income is recognised as soon as it is received. Gifts in kind are stated at Trustees’ valuation.

 Investment income

Dividends, bank interest and rent are recognised on a receivable basis.

 Fees, rent and other income

All income from rents for housing is recognised as soon as it becomes due to the Charity. Any lease incentives are recognised on a straight-line basis over the non-cancellable lease term.

 Grants receivable

Grants are accounted for using the performance model.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs relating to the category.

 Raising funds

Raising funds comprises expenditure incurred in managing, maintaining and repairing investment properties along with investment management fees and staff costs, wholly or mainly attributable support costs and apportionment of general overheads.

 Charitable activities

Costs of charitable activities comprise all costs identified as wholly or mainly attributable to achieving the charitable objectives of the Charity, including the costs of disseminating information in support of charitable

activities and governance costs. These costs include staff costs, wholly or mainly attributable support costs and an apportionment of general overheads.

Research and development costs

Research and development costs are accounted for on an accruals basis and are recognised at the point an obligation has been established.

Grant expenditure

Grants provided by the Trust to other charities and organisations are recognised when a constructive obligation is established, and any performance conditions have been met by the recipient.

Employee benefits

The Trust provides a range of benefits to employees, including paid holiday arrangements and defined contribution pension plan and a historic defined benefit plan. These are recognised as follows;

 Short term benefits

Short term benefits, including termination benefits, holiday pay and other similar non-monetary benefits, are recognised as an expense in the period in which the service is received.

 Defined contribution pension plan

The Trust operates a defined contribution plan, whereby it pays fixed contributions into a separate entity. Once the contributions have been paid the Trust has no further payment obligations. The contributions are recognised as an expense in the period to which they relate. Amounts not paid are shown in accruals in the Statement of Financial Position. The assets of the plan are held separately from the Trust in independently administered funds.

 Historic defined benefit pension plan

The Trust participates in the Social Housing Pension Scheme (SHPS), a multi-employer defined benefit plan. The Scheme is funded and is contracted out of the State scheme. The Trust has recognised its share of the Plan’s assets and liabilities and any change in the liability so recognised is recorded as a cost of charitable activities in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Operating lease payments

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight-line basis over the non-cancellable lease

term. Benefits received and receivable as an incentive to enter into an operating lease are also spread on a straight-line basis over the noncancellable lease term.

Value added tax

Value added tax is not recoverable by the Charity, and as such is included in the relevant costs in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Taxation

No provision has been made for corporation tax or deferred tax as the entity is a registered charity and is therefore exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash in hand and cash at bank, including cash held by the Trust’s investment managers.

Property plant and equipment

Previously freehold functional properties were stated at open market value on an existing use basis and depreciation was provided at 1% per annum. On transition to FRS 102 on 1 April 2014, the Charity decided not to continue its previous policy of revaluation and instead elected to use the previous valuation as at the transition date as the deemed cost.

Other fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation and impairments.

Depreciation is charged on a straight-line basis over the expected economic lives of the assets at the following annual rates:

Freehold buildings 1% per annum Furniture and equipment 25% per annum Motor vehicles 25% per annum Leasehold improvements over the duration of the lease Freehold land is not depreciated

At each balance sheet date, property, plant and equipment is assessed to determine whether there is an indication that the asset may be impaired. If there is such an indication, the recoverable amount of the asset is compared to the carrying amount of the asset. The recoverable amount is the higher of the value in use or the fair value of the property. If the carrying value is greater than the value in use, an impairment provision equal to the excess is recognised as an expense in the Statement of Financial Activities.

When an impairment loss is subsequently reversed, the carrying amount of the asset is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but only to the extent that the revised carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined (net of depreciation) had no impairment loss been recognised in prior periods. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised in expenditure in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Investments

 Listed investments

Investments in listed securities are stated at their fair value, which is derived from quoted market prices. Gains or losses arising on revaluation are credited or charged to the fund to which the investments belong.

 Investment properties

Investment properties are stated at their fair value taking account of existing tenancies.

No depreciation is provided on these properties.

Works to properties are capitalised when the work is expected to increase the value of the property. The cost of other work is treated as a repair cost and is expensed in the Statement of Financial Activity.

Financial instruments

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised in the Statement of Financial Position when the Trust becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. The Trust has chosen to adopt Sections 11 and 12 of FRS 102 in respect of financial instruments.

Financial instruments are classified and accounted for, according to the substance of the contractual arrangement, as either financial assets or financial liabilities.

Trade and other similar debtors and creditors, including rent arrears and rent paid in advance, are classified as basic financial instruments and measured at initial recognition at transaction price. Such debtors and creditors are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest rate method, save that amounts expected to be settled within 12 months are not discounted. An impairment provision is established when there is objective evidence that the Trust will not be able to collect all amounts due.

Cash and cash equivalents are classified as basic financial instruments and are initially recognised at their transaction price and subsequently at amortised cost.

Interest-bearing bank and other loans which meet the criteria to be classified as basic financial instruments are initially recorded at the present value of cash payable to the counterparty, which is ordinarily equal to the proceeds received net of direct issue costs. These liabilities are subsequently measured at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Investments in equity instruments are classified as basic and are stated at their fair value.

3. Key sources of estimation uncertainty and judgements

The preparation of accounts in conformity with generally accepted accounting practice requires management to make judgements and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, as well as the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the statement of financial position date and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.

 Investment property valuations

Investment properties are recognised at their fair value, which is estimated based on a combination of expected future net income from the properties and market yield rates, and by reference to recent comparable market transactions.

 Useful lives

Depreciation of assets is calculated based on the cost and the estimated useful lives of the assets.

4. Fund Accounting

Permanent Endowment

The Charity was established by a Charity Commission Scheme incorporating the terms of the bequest from Thomas Pocklington, who died in 1935. He left the majority of his estate to provide for the care, welfare and instruction of people who are blind or partially sighted and directed that the bequest should be used as permanent capital to support these activities. As stipulated in Thomas Pocklington’s will, the assets comprising the bequest were transferred to the Charity in 1958 and formed the basis of

its permanent endowment. The assets are invested in investment property, securities or, with Charity Commission consent, in properties occupied by the Trust’s service users.

As from 31 March 2016 the charity has adopted the Total Return approach to the Endowment, in recognition of the fact that investment return from the Endowment is largely in the form of capital growth. The Trustees have determined that an element of this growth should be applied to charitable activities, to ensure a balance between funds made available for current and future beneficiaries.

Restricted Funds

The Restricted funds include the balance of the amenity funds set up when we had housing centres; the balance is used to benefit blind and partially sighted people living in London.

Income which is restricted as to its use is allocated to a separate fund and only expenditure within the restriction is charged to the fund.

General Funds

The remainder of the Charity’s funds are unrestricted funds, which provides the Charity free reserves and monies available for general purposes and charitable activities.

5. Donations and other activities

5. Donations and other activities	5. Donations and other activities
		2025 2024
		£'000 £'000
Unrestricted Funds
Other income		27 29
Total		27 29

6. Income from charitable activities

6. Income from charitable activities
	2025 £'000	2024 £'000
Unrestricted Funds
Housing	689	618
Other Income	37	-
	726	618
Restricted Funds
Grants	168	150
	168	150

Total	894	768

Income from charitable activities arises from the_Meeting Needs_charitable activity.

7. Investment income

	2025	2024 £'000 5,334 4 5,338 104 104 5,442 2024 £'000
	£'000
Permanent Endowment Funds
Gross rents receivable - UK properties	5,587
Bank interests, and dividends and interest on listed investments	2
	5,589

Unrestricted Funds
Bank interests, and dividends and interest on listed investments	95
	95

Total	5,684
8. Analysis of income by source Provision of services Rentals Grants Legacy Donations Dividends and interest Other income Total	2025 £'000

	689	618
	5,587	5,334
	168	150
	2	1
	25	28
	97	108
	37	-
	6,605	6,239

9. Leases

Commercial properties are let under leases with a typical duration of ten years. The rents are subject to rent reviews every five years, when they are increased to current market rent. In most cases the tenancies are subject to the provisions of the Landlord and Tenants Acts, which give the tenants renewal rights or the right to receive compensation if the tenancy is not renewed.

The residential tenancies are generally assured shorthold tenancies of a fixed rent and duration (typically one year). The tenants have no rights once the tenancies have expired. No tenant has the right to acquire the leased property.

10. Raising Funds

	2025	2024
	£'000	£'000
Permanent endowment fund
Investment property costs	1,881 151 39 3	1,255
Staff costs (including recruitment and training)		124
Office costs		39
Investment costs		(2)
	2,074	1,416
	(11)
Unrestricted funds
Investment management costs		(7)
	(11)	(7)
Total	2,063	1,409

11. Charitable activities

11. Charitable activities
Year ended 31 March 2025 Understanding needs Meeting needs Total Year ended 31 March 2024 Understanding needs Meeting needs Total	Direct costs Grants Support costs Total £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

	1,551 - 242 1,793 2,474 745 489 3,708
	4,025 745 731 5,501

	1,648 (144) 222 1,726 2,091 864 435 3,390
	3,739 720 657 5,116

Of the 2025 expenditure no amounts (2024: £nil) relate to the permanent endowment and £174k (2024: £179k) relate to restricted funds.

12. Grants

12. Grants
	2025	2024
	£’000	£’000
Understanding needs:
Research grants	-	194
Meeting needs:
Regular grants programme:
Visionary	115	240
Wales Council of the Blind	90	-
Sight Support West of England	80	110
Metro Blind Sports	75	79
Sight Scotland	33	125
Sense Northern Ireland	20	35
My sight Nottinghamshire	20	-
Esme’s Umbrella	15	5
Sight Concern Worcestershire	5	-
Other organisations,donations,	47	73
programmes and sponsorship <£10k
Scottish Tech Army	-	20
British Youth Council	-	27
Blind in Business	-	17
VICTA	-	15
Berkshire Vision	-	10
Bravo Victor*	-	(347)
MySight York*	-	(26)
London Vision*	-	(10)
Seescape AKA Fife Society for the	-	(10)
Blind**
Other write backs due to lower project	-	(16)
cost than award**

	2025 £’000 Get Set Progress Internship programme: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust 29 Beacon Centre for the Blind 19 Channel 4 11 Metro Blind Sports 11 General Optical Council 10 Nystagmus Network 10 Nicholson & Co Accountancy 10 Sight Concern Worcestershire 10 Retina UK 10 RealSAM 10 My Vision Oxfordshire 10 Leeds Playhouse 10 Seable 9 Bury Society for Blind and Partially Sighted People 9 Senclude Limited 9 Herts Vision Loss 9 Kingston Upon Thames association for the blind 9 Sight Scotland 9 Transport for All 9 Redway HR 6 Royal Holloway University of London 6 Royal National College for the Blind 6 UCAN Productions 5 Visibilty Scotland 5 Royal Society for Blind Children 4 Macular Society - Zappar - Blatchington Court Trust - Bradbury Fields - Focus Birmingham - Fife Society for the Blind (Seescape) - Sight Scotland Veterans - Sight for Surrey - Southend in Sight - Sight for Wight -	2024
		£’000


		-
		9
		-
		-
		10
		10
		-
		-
		17
		10
		9
		9
		9
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-






		18
		10
		9
		9
		9
		9
		9
		9
		7
		7
	Total 745	720

The grants under Understanding Needs relate to research into how to prevent avoidable sight loss and how to provide the most effective support to alleviate sight loss. At the period end, the research commitments liability in the Statement of Financial Position amounted to £176k (2024: £314k). The grants under Meeting Needs are to support local, regional and national service provisions for vision impaired individuals and excludes the value of donated services.

13. Support costs

Finance Human resources Office services Strategy and communications Exceptional Governance costs (note 14) Total Allocated to: Charitable activities Investment support costs Total	2025 £’000 119 211 246 123 36 46 781 731 50 781	2024 £’000 114 166 256 121 - 50 707 657 50 707

Support costs are allocated to investment costs and charitable activities based on a combination of the cost in each area (excluding direct investment costs) and estimates of the time spent by support staff members on specific charitable activities. Payments made under operating leases included above were £129k (2024 - £133k).

14. Governance costs

	2025 £'000	2024 £'000
Unrestricted funds
External auditor’s fees	42 - 4	44
Other professional and legal fees		2
Trustee costs (note 15)		4
	46	50
Endowment funds
Propertyvaluation fees	8	11
	54
Total		61

15. Expenses paid to Trustees

15. Expenses paid to Trustees
	2025 2024
	£’000 £’000
Travel and accommodation expenses paid to 4 Trustees (2024: 4)	1 4

No Trustee received any remuneration (2024: £nil).

16. Senior Staff

The number of employees receiving emoluments above £60,000 were:

	2025	2024
	Number	Number
£60,000 - £70,000	2	1
£70,001 - £80,000	-	-
£80,001 - £90,000	2	2
£90,001 - £100,000	1	-
£100,001 - £120,000	-	-
£120,001-£130,000	-	1
Total	5	4

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive, the Director of Partnerships, the Director of Services and the Director of Resources. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the Trust were £407k (2024: £385k).

17. Officers and employees

Officers and employees
Average number of persons employed by the Charity was: The costs incurred in respect of employees were as follows: Salaries Redundancy and ex-gratia payments National Insurance Pension contributions - Recurring defined contribution expenses - (Decrease)/Increase in past service cost provision re defined benefit scheme (note 27) Total	2025 Headcount 79 2025 £'000 3,087 36 307 154 (13) 3,571	2024 Headcount 74
		2024 £'000 2,865 12 279 148 290
		3,594

The redundancy and ex-gratia costs were paid from the Charity’s accumulated reserves and related to enhanced statutory redundancy costs. £13k was outstanding at the year end. (2024: £12k)

18. Property, plant and equipment

Subsequent depreciation is based on the deemed cost of each property at the transition date and its remaining useful life.

					Total £'000 5,657 195 - 5,852 469 39 - 508 5,344 5,188
	Freehold land		Furniture, equipment & leasehold

		& buildings	improvements		Total
		£'000		£'000	£'000
Cost					5,657 195 -
At 1 April 2024		5,555		102
Additions		195		-
Disposals		-		-
At31 March 2025		5,750		102	5,852

Depreciation
At 1 April 2024		367		102
Charge		39		-	39 -
Disposals		-		-
At31 March 2025		406		102	508

Net book value at 31 March 2025		5,344		-	5,344
		5,188
Net book value at 31 March 2024				-
		3,381		58	3,439 3,244
Historic cost at 31 March 2025 Historic cost at 31 March 2024
		3,186		58

19. Fixed asset investments

At 1 April 2024 Additions Disposals (Loss)/Gain on revaluation Market value at 31 March 2025 Historic cost at 31 March 2025 Historic cost at 31 March 2024	UK investment properties £'000 146,674 1,009 - (2,891) 144,792 19,103 18,094	Listed investments £'000 19,218 72 (2,054) 236 17,472 9,399 11,381	Cash Total funds £'000 £'000 269 166,161 56 1,137 - (2,054) - (2,655) 325 162,589 325 28,827 269 29,744

All listed investments relate to equities.

The following individual holdings exceed 5% of the listed investment portfolio:

SARASIN RESPONSIBLE GLOBAL EQUITY FUND (£8.2m, 47%) SARASIN RESPONSIBLE GLOBAL EQUITY CLASS I (£8m, 46%) SARASIN INCOME AND RESERVES FUND CLASS A ACC (£1.2m, 7%)

All residential properties were revalued by the Charity with reference to the data provided from the Hometrack valuation model.

A sample of 10 (2024: 10) commercial properties were revalued out of a total of 28 (2024: 28) properties. These properties were valued by independent valuers, all of whom are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and have appropriate and recent experience of undertaking such valuations. The revaluation was extrapolated to the other commercial properties.

20. Debtors

Trade debtors Prepayments Other debtors Total	2025 £'000 408 104 1 513	2024 £'000 264 113 - 377

21. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	2025 £'000	2024 £'000
Bank loan	150	129
Trade creditors	100	85
Deferred income	429	352
Other taxes and social security	62	65
Other creditors	12	9
Research commitments	112	208
Accruals	695	605
Pension liability (note 27)	352	323
Total	1,912	1,776

The bank loan is secured against two properties.

22. Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year

	2025 £'000	2024 £'000
Bank loan	1,623	1,778
Pension liability (note 27)	668 64 60	1,009
Research commitments		106
Accruals		52
Total	2,415	2,945

The bank loan, which is secured against two properties and bears interest at a rate of 1% above the bank base rate, is repayable by monthly instalments as follows:

	2025 £'000	2024 £'000
Within 1 year	150	129
Within 1 to 2 years	158	139
Within 2 to 5 years	528	470
After more than 5 years	937	1,169
Total	1,773	1,907

23. Financial instruments

	2025 £'000	2024 £'000
Financial assets
Cash at bank and in hand	1,840	2,680
Financial assets measured at fair value through profit and loss	17,797 409 20,046	19,487
Financial instruments that are debt instruments measured at amortised cost		264
Total		22,431

Financial liabilities
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost	3,836	4,304

Financial assets measured at fair value through profit and loss comprise listed investments and cash investments.

Financial assets that are debt instruments measured at amortised cost comprise trade debtors, other debtors and accrued income.

Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost comprise trade creditors, other creditors and accruals.

24. Analysis of funds

Permanent endowment £’000 5,334	Restricted funds £’000 -	Un- restricted Funds £’000 10	Total funds £’000 5,344

151,263	-	11,326	162,589
-	-	513	513
- (139)	6 -	1,834 (1,773) (792)	1,840 (1,912) (2,415)

(1,623)	-

154,835	6	11,118	165,959
5,178 156,217 - - (129) (1,778) 159,488	- - - 12 - - 12	10 9,944 377 2,668 (1,647) (1,167) 10,185	5,188 166,161 377 2,680 (1,776) (2,945) 169,685

Reserves arising from revaluations included in the above figures are as follows:

As at 1 April 2024 Revaluations in the year As at 31 March 2025	2025 £’000 150,709 (2,655) 148,054	2024 £’000 157,968 (7,259)
		150,709

24a. Movement in Funds

Restricted Funds RNIB Insight Hub Other Total Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds Permanent Endowment Total Funds	1 April 2024 Income Expenditure Transfer Gains/ (Losses) 31 March 2025 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 6 150 (156) - - - - 18 (18) - - - 6 - - - - 6
	12 168 (174) - - 6 10,185 848 (5,316) 5,401 - 11,118 159,488 5,589 (2,186) (5,401) (2,655) 154,835
	169,685 6,605 (7,676) - (2,655) 165,959

25. Permanent endowment

On 31 March 2016, by way of a resolution and made in accordance with the Charities (Total Return) Regulations 2013, the Trustees adopted the total return approach to investments. At this date, the total fund was analysed between the trust for investment, being the estimated value of the original gift to the Trust, and the unapplied total return, being the balance of the fund as shown below.

The initial value of the trust for investment was established from historical records of the value of the receipts of the original bequest to the Charity as follows:

September 1958 December 1965 Total	£’000 517 400
	917

Inflationary rises were applied to the original values to provide the trust for investment value below.

Subsequently, the investment income is allocated to the permanent endowment and the unapplied total return applied to income in the year is

applied in accordance with the Trustees’ policy. This is explained in more detail in the Trustees’ Annual Report and is permitted in accordance with the regulations.

At 1 April 2024 Gift component of the permanent endowment Unapplied total return Total Movements on 31 March 2024 Investment return: rentals, dividends and interest Investment return: realised and unrealised gains/(losses) Less: Other expenditure Unapplied total return allocated to income in the year Net movements in the year At 31 March 2025 Gift component of the permanent endowment Unapplied total return Total	Trust for Investment £’000 17,888 - 17,888 - - - - - - 17,888 - 17,888	Unapplied Total Return £’000 - 141,600 141,600 5,589 (2,655)	Total Endowment £’000 17,888 141,600
			159,488 5,589 (2,655)
		(2,186)	(2,186)
		748 (5,401) (4,653) - 136,947 136,947	748 (5,401)
			(4,653)
			17,888 136,947
			154,835

26. Other reserves

The permanent endowment fund represents the current value of the original Gift of Thomas Pocklington, less amounts transferred to the unrestricted fund as explained in note 25.

The restricted funds represent the unexpended balance of the funds which have been received for specific purposes.

The unrestricted fund represents the accumulated surpluses and gains of the charity not otherwise reported in other funds.

27. Pension Scheme

Social Housing Pension Scheme

Thomas Pocklington Trust participates in the scheme, a multi-employer scheme which provides benefits to some 500 non-associated employers. The scheme is a defined benefit scheme in the UK.

The scheme is subject to the funding legislation outlined in the Pensions Act 2004 which came into force on 30 December 2005. This, together with documents issued by the Pensions Regulator and Technical Actuarial Standards issued by the Financial Reporting Council, sets out the framework for funding defined benefit occupational pension schemes in the UK.

The scheme is classified as a 'last-man standing arrangement'. Therefore, the company is potentially liable for other participating employers' obligations if those employers are unable to meet their share of the scheme deficit following withdrawal from the scheme. Participating employers are legally required to meet their share of the scheme deficit on an annuity purchase basis on withdrawal from the scheme.

The recent actuarial valuation of the scheme showed assets of £5.517m, liabilities of £6.514m and a deficit of £0.977m. The deficit is provided for in the accounts.

We have been notified by the Trustee of the Scheme that it has undertaken a review of the changes made to the Scheme’s benefits over the years and the result is that there is uncertainty surrounding some of these changes. The Trustee has been advised to seek clarification from the Court on these items. The process is ongoing. It is recognised that this could potentially impact the value of the Scheme liabilities, but until Court directions are received, it is not possible to calculate the impact of this issue, particularly on an individual employer basis, with any accuracy at this time. No adjustment has been made in these financial statements in respect of this potential issue.

27. Pension Scheme (continued)

Present values of defined benefit obligation, fair value of assets and defined benefit asset (liability)

Fair value of plan assets Present value of defined benefit obligation Deficit in plan Defined benefit asset (liability) to be recognised	31 March 2025 £’000 5,517 (6,514) (997) (997)	31 March 2024 £’000 5,768 (7,079)
		(1,311) (1,311)

Reconciliation of opening and closing balances of the defined benefit obligation

Defined benefit obligation at start of period Current service cost Expenses Interest expense Actuarial losses due to scheme experience Actuarial (gains) due to changes in financial assumptions Benefits paid and expenses Defined benefit obligation at end of period	31 March 2025 £’000 7,079 14 334 185 (646) (452)
	6,514

27. Pension Scheme (continued)

Reconciliation of opening and closing balances of the fair value of plan assets

Fair value of plan assets at start of period Interest income Experience on plan assets (excluding amounts included in interest income) gain Contributions by the employer Contributions by plan participants Benefits paid and expenses Fair value of plan assets at end of period	31 March 2025 £’000 5,768 277 (390) 314 - (452)
	5,517

Defined benefit costs recognised in statement of financial activities (SOFA)

Expenses Net interest expense Defined benefit costs recognised in SOFA	Year to 31 March 2025 £’000 14 57
	71

27. Pension Scheme (continued)

Defined benefit costs recognised in other comprehensive income

Experience on plan assets (excluding amounts included in
net interest cost) loss
Experience gains and losses arising on the plan liabilities –
loss
Effects of changes in the demographic assumptions
underlying the present value of the defined benefit
obligation – gain
Effects of changes in the financial assumptions underlying
the present value of the defined benefit obligation – gain
Total actuarial gains and losses (before restriction due to
some of the surplus not being recognisable) – gain
Total amount recognised in other comprehensive income
gain

Period ended 31
March 2025
£’000
(390)
(185)
-
646

Assets

Global Equity Absolute Return Distressed Opportunities Credit Relative Value Alternative Risk Premia Liquid Alternatives Emerging Markets Debt Risk Sharing Insurance – Linked Securities Property Infrastructure Private Equity Real Assets Private Debt Opportunistic Illiquid Credit Private Credit Credit Investment Grade Credit High Yield Cash Long Lease Property Secure Income Liability Driven Investment Currency Hedging Net Current Assets Total assets	31 March 2025 £’000 618 - - - - 1,023 - - 17 276 1 5 660 - - 675 211 170 - 75 2 92 1,671 9 12 5,517	31 March 2024 £’000 575 225 203 189 183 - 75 338 30 232 582 5 - 227 225 - - 1 114 37 172 2,347 (2) 10
		5,768

27. Pension Scheme (continued)

Key Assumptions

	31 March 2025	31 March 2024
	% per annum	% per annum
Discount Rate	5.73	4.87
Inflation (RPI)	3.13	3.19
Inflation (CPI)	2.76	2.76
Salary Growth	3.76	3.76
Allowance for commutation of pension for	75% of	75% of
cash at retirement	maximum	maximum
	allowance	allowance

The mortality assumptions adopted at 31 March 2025 imply the following life expectancies:

	Life expectancy at
	age 65 (Years)
Male retiring in 2025	20.5
Female retiring in 2025	23.0
Male retiring in 2045	21.7
Female retiring in 2045	24.5

28. Capital Commitments

At 31 March the company has a commitment of £300k for major works to comply with new fire safety regulations (2024 – £750k).

29. Operating Lease Commitments

At the balance sheet date, the company has future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable leases as follows:

Within one year Within two to five years	2025 Land & buildings £’000 105 66 171	2024 Land & buildings £’000 105 66
		171

30. Related Parties

Raj Mehta, a Trustee of Thomas Pocklington Trust, is also the Chair of the steering committee of UK National Eye Health Survey and the Chair of Middlesex Association for the Blind. The Trust paid grants to UK National Eye Health Survey and Middlesex Association for the Blind during the year. Raj Mehta is also a Non executive director of Evenbreak. The Trust used Evenbreak as a supplier during the year.

Louise Robertshaw, a Trustee of Thomas Pocklington Trust, is also a Director of Sense. The Trust paid a grant to Sense during the year.

31. Comparative Statement of Financial Activities

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Permanent	Total
	funds	funds	endowment	funds
	2024	2024	2024	2024
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Income and endowments
from:
Donations and other
activities	29	-	-	29
Charitable activities	618	150	-	768
Investments	104	-	5,338	5,442
Total income	751	150	5,338	6,239

Expenditure on:
Raisingfunds 10	7	-	(1,416)	(1,409)

Charitable activities
Understandingneeds	(1,726)	-	-	(1,726)
Meetingneeds	(3,221)	(169)	-	(3,390)
Total 11	(4,947)	(169)	-	(5,116)

Other expenditure	-	-	(119)	(119)
Total expenditure	(4,940)	(169)	(1,535)	(6,644)
Net loss on investments	-	-	(7,259)	(7,259)
Net Expenditure	(4,189)	(19)	(3,456)	(7,664)
Transfer between funds	5,725	-	(5,725)	-
Actuarial valuation of defined benefit pension scheme	(303)	- (19)	-	(303)
Net movement in funds	1,233	(19)	(9,181)	(7,967)

Reconciliation of funds:		31
Total funds brought forward	8,952		168,669	177,652
Total funds carried forward	10,185	12	159,488	169,685

Thomas Pocklington Trust

Contents

Trustees, Patrons, Key Management Personnel and Advisers

Board of Trustees

Patrons

Key Management Personnel

Registered Office

Registered Numbers

Website

Principal Professional Advisers

Trustees’ Annual Report incorporating the Strategic Report

Structure, Governance and Management

Aims and Activities for the Public Benefit

Get Set Progress grants to organisations hosting interns:

Donations:

Risk management

Activities during year ending 31 March 2025

Education

Engagement

 Built Environment

 Transport

 Health and Fitness

 Retail

 Arts and Culture

Employment

Internships

Volunteering

Safeguarding

Housing

Financial Performance

Investment Policy

Reserves Policy

Plans for the Future and Achieving our Priorities

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

Disclosure of Information to Auditor

Approved by the Directors on 11 September 2025

MJ Williamson

Independent auditor’s report to the members of Thomas Pocklington Trust

Opinion

Basis for opinion

Conclusions relating to going concern

Other information

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Responsibilities of Trustees

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Use of the audit report

Nicola Wakefield (Senior Statutory Auditor)

Statement of Financial Activities for year ended 31 March 2025

Statement of Financial Position as at 31 March 2025

MJ Williamson

Mervyn Williamson

Director

Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 March 2025

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Charity information

2. Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

Uniting direction

Going concern

Income

 Voluntary income

 Investment income

 Fees, rent and other income

 Grants receivable

Expenditure

 Raising funds

 Charitable activities

Research and development costs

Grant expenditure

Employee benefits

 Short term benefits

 Defined contribution pension plan

 Historic defined benefit pension plan

Operating lease payments

Value added tax

Taxation

Cash and cash equivalents

Property plant and equipment