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2025-07-31-accounts

REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER 05502449

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER 1114282

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED (A company limited by guarantee)

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

31 JULY 2025

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

CONTENTS

Pages Pages
Legal and administrative information 1 - 2
Strategic Report (including the Directors’ Report) 3 - 11
Report of the auditors 12 - 15
Statement of financial activities
(including income and expenditure account) 16 - 17
Balance Sheet 18
Statement of cash flows and analysis of changes in net debt 19
Notes to the financial statements 20 - 27

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Trustees

Chair

David Ruddy (Resigned 31 July 2025) Independent

Vice Chair

Anthea Hockly Independent

Other Trustees

Anne Thompson Independent

Alison Davies (Resigned 25 September 2024) Chelmsford College

Paul Whitehead Harlow College

Gail May University of East London

Margaret Joojo-Richards

Independent

Anne Wright

Workpays Ltd

Claire Gill

Independent

Mark Hilton

BusinessLDN

Leon Annett

University of Greenwich

Sammy Shumo London South Bank University

Andrew Horton (Appointed 16 July 2025) British Council

Camilla McCloskey (Appointed 16 July 2025) Morgan Stanley

Richard Brennan (Appointed 16 July 2025) Kidderminster College

Clare Chaffe (Appointed 16 July 2025) Hull College

Simon Willmore (Appointed 16 July 2025) BMT Group Ltd

Paul Huggett (Appointed 24 September 2025) Hellios Information Ltd

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Company Secretary Lorraine Wreford Chief Executive Officer Carol Snape (Resigned 31 October 2024) Fabienne Bailey (Appointed 31 October 2024) Registered Company number 05502449 Registered Charity number 1114282 Address Gateway House 6 Tollgate Business Park Tollgate West Colchester CO3 8AB Auditors Sumer Auditco Limited Statutory Auditor 820 The Crescent Colchester Business Park Colchester CO4 9YQ Bankers Barclays PLC 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf London E14 5HP

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

The Board of Trustees, who are also Directors for the purposes of the Companies Act, present their annual report and the financial statements of Gateway Qualifications Limited for the year ended 31 July 2025. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the FRS 102 Charities SORP and have followed UK generally accepted accounting principles in preparing the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the charity.

Gateway Qualifications Limited was incorporated on 7 July 2005. Open College Network North and East London and Hertfordshire and Open College Network Anglia merged on 1 August 2005 from which date their activities were carried on by Open College Network Eastern Region. The company rebranded to Gateway Qualifications Limited in April 2013 and formally changed the company name to Gateway Qualifications Limited by means of Special Resolution approved by the Members on 5 February 2015.

Legal and Administrative Information

The Board of Trustees set out below have held office during the whole of the period to the date of this report, unless otherwise stated:

Chair

David Ruddy (Resigned 31 July 2025) Independent

Vice Chair

Anthea Hockly Independent

Other Trustees

Anne Thompson Independent

Alison Davies (Resigned 25 September 2024) Chelmsford College

Paul Whitehead Harlow College

Gail May University of East London

Margaret Joojo-Richards London Borough of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Anne Wright

Workpays Ltd

Claire Gill

Independent

Mark Hilton

BusinessLDN

Leon Annett

University of Greenwich

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Other Trustees (continued)

Sammy Shumo London South Bank University

Clare Chaffe (appointed July 2025) Hull College Group

Richard Brennam (appointed July 2025) Kidderminster College

Simon Willmore (appointed July 2025) BMT Engineering

Andrew Horton (appointed July 2025) British Council

Camilla McCloskey (appointed July 2025) Morgan Stanley

The appointment to the Board of Trustees is by election at a Board Meeting.

Senior Leadership Team

Carol Snape (until 14/10/2024) Fabienne Bailey (from 14/10/2024) Lorraine Wreford Paul Saunders Philippa Farrell

The Board of Trustees will establish the salary level of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at appointment and will review on an annual basis.

SLT salaries are paid on a fixed (spot) point salary taking responsibility and market rates into account for new appointments. Any increases are based on performance and are approved by the Board of Trustees on the recommendation of the CEO. A review of the Director salaries was undertaken in July 2025 and increases to match market rates for 2025/26 were approved.

Professional Indemnity Insurance was in place throughout the year for the Trustees.

Objectives and Organisation Structure

Gateway Qualifications Limited is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. The charity’s governing document is its Articles of Association, originating from its inauguration and updated by Special Resolution on 16 October 2019. The Objects of the charity are reported below under Objectives and Activities.

The charity drew its initial Trustees from the inaugural members of the company as the signatories to the Articles of Association. Subsequent Trustees are recruited through a search process instigated by the Board of Trustees. Any appointments made to the Board of Trustees are required to be ratified at the next Board Meeting. In May 2025, the company appointed a sector recruitment agency to support its search for new Trustees. The process was successful in securing 5 new Trustees who whose nominations were approved at the July 2025 Board meeting.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

The Board of Trustees has established four committees, a Finance and General Purposes Committee, a Quality and Standards Committee, an Access to Higher Education Committee and a Governance Committee. The remit and terms of reference for these committees are clearly set out and included in the charity’s Governance Manual. Any decisions made by these committees are either made with the delegated authority of the Board of Trustees, or are referred to the Board of Trustees for ratification. All four committees have a Chair and Vice Chair who are Trustees, and any members of the committees who are not Trustees need to be approved by the Board of Trustees.

Performance of the Trustees is conducted via a process of individual self-evaluation linked to an annual skills audit and performance review conducted by the Chair of the Board, and an established Governance Committee reviews and updates continuing professional development on an on-going basis. The regulatory requirement for on-going self-evaluation further informs the process.

In setting Gateway Qualifications’ strategic aims and objectives, the Board of Trustees has given careful consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. In doing so, the Board of Trustees has complied with its duties in this area as set out in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006.

Regulators

During the year ended July 2025, Gateway Qualifications was approved to operate as an awarding organisation in England and Wales through Ofqual and Qualifications Wales, and as an Access Validating Agency, licensed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to validate Access to Higher Education programmes and to issue Access to HE certificates to learners. 2024/25 was also the first full year for Gateway Qualifications in its operation as an End Point Assessment Organisation developing apprenticeship standards and awarding apprenticeship qualifications, also regulated by Ofqual.

Membership

In January 2019, based on legal advice, the Board of Trustees approved that the company assume a “foundation structure”. The “foundation structure” was adopted by special resolution by the Members in September 2019. By adoption of the Foundation Structure, Membership of the Charity is automatically held by the Trustees of the Charity. Should a Trustee resign from their position as a Trustee, they will be automatically removed from the Membership of the Charity.

Risks and Reserves

Gateway Qualifications Limited Board of Trustees has three layers of reserves requirements. The Operational Reserve is set to cover the peaks and troughs in the business cycle, the Opportunistic Reserve enabling the company to invest in opportunities without the need to compromise the Operational Reserve, and the longer-term reserve which is intended to reduce the impact upon the company of large changes within the external environment.

Gateway Qualifications Limited Board of Trustees is pleased to report that for the year ended July 2025, the reserve requirements have been fully achieved. The operational reserve, being seven months of budgeted cost was £3,229,762, the opportunistic reserve is £500,000 and the long term reserve has reached £3,644,120 exceeding the target of £1,000,000. The total reserves figure of £7,373,882 at the end of the financial year places the company in a favourable financial position for the forthcoming years.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Risk Management

The Board of Trustees continues to oversee work to mitigate risk to the company by the adoption of a risk-based approach to all of the company’s work, and the tight tracking of the level of risk both at strategic and operational level. Risk identification is proportionately aligned to the strategic and operating plans of Gateway Qualifications Limited and monitored and managed at monthly review meetings. In 2024/25, the Senior Leadership Team worked with the Board of Trustees to carry out a full review of the strategic risk register, which resulted in a more streamlined approach providing greater clarity, focus, and usability, which has improved decisionmaking and board-level oversight.

The Risk and Issue Management Policy ensures that risk identification happens at operational as well as strategic levels, with each team and project operating their own risk register linking into an identified escalation process. Team meetings continue to act as a means of identifying potential risk areas. In addition:

The major risks to which the charity is exposed are reviewed and set out in the Business Continuity Plan, together with the systems established to mitigate those risks.

The strategic risks facing the charity throughout the year were identified as follows:

Controls used to mitigate these risks include:

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Objectives and Activities

Charitable Objects and Public Benefit

The objects (“the Objects”) for which the Charity is established are the advancement of learning and education of the public by in particular, but not exclusively, one or more of the following ways:-

by promoting and widening participation in education and training, particularly by those who have benefited least from existing provision;

by improving the quality and flexibility of education and training provision for the public benefit, particularly for those learners who have previously been excluded from educational opportunities;

by improving the educational welfare and access to learning opportunities and facilitating progression to further learning, employment and higher education particularly through regulated qualifications; by complying with the various regulators or the appropriate agency acting on behalf of the Department for Education or relevant government departments or bodies; improving access to higher education by establishing, operating as an Access Validating Agency under licence from The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education according to the principles of the diploma specification; and by encouraging and assisting organisations to provide a wider range of quality assured accredited learning opportunities.

In order to achieve these objectives Gateway Qualifications Limited develops and awards regulated qualifications including Access to HE Diplomas. This offer ranges primarily from Entry Level to Level Six for which Gateway Qualifications Limited undertakes quality assurance and awarding activities to certificate learners who achieve qualifications, and where applicable, units.

In 2025, as part of its strategic implementation programme, the Charity launched a pilot to develop 2 new products to support its charitable objectives i.e. Tailored Qualifications from Entry Level to Level 7 and the Quality Mark (non-assessed and non-levelled). Both new products are non-regulated and aim to meet the learning needs of individuals supported by organisations not requiring regulated qualifications.

Gateway Qualifications Limited has had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The principles, and the relevance of the activities of Gateway Qualifications Limited to these principles, are set out below:

Principle 1: there must be an identifiable benefit or benefits

Gateway Qualifications Limited works to achieve widening participation and educational opportunities in further and higher education and in other education providers by improving the quality and flexibility of education and training provision.

Principle 2: Benefit must be to the public or section of the public

Gateway Qualifications Limited focuses on the public in England and Wales, especially those learners who have previously not had the full benefit of educational opportunities.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Charitable Objects and Public Benefit – (continued)

Gateway Qualifications’ Strategic Aims for 2025/26 are:

  1. Innovation in Product

  2. Digital Transformation

  3. Quality Management System and a Customer Focussed Culture

Gateway Qualifications’ goals and milestones for achieving these objectives are detailed in its 2025 to 2030 Strategic Plan and its 2025/26 Operating Plan.

Achievement and Performance

The change of government in June 2024, created further policy change to the education and skills sector. The most significant changes in the year were the introduction of Skills England and the changes to apprenticeships policy. Gateway Qualifications will need to wait further into 2025/26 to understand the outcomes of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, any further changes to Post 16 technical education and changes resulting from Apprenticeship Reform. The high level of uncertainty in the sector has made it challenging to develop across the year but despite these challenges, Gateway Qualifications Limited achieved a year end income figure of £6.2m

Achievements 2024/25

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Achievements 2024/25 - continued

Review of Financial Position

The company achieved income of £6.2 million which is a 16.8% increase compared with the previous year. The increase was derived from new business with new customers as well as growing business with existing customers.

Total expenditure for the year was £5.3 million, which was £2.0 million more than 2023/24. However, the primary reason for additional costs related to the prior year full release of the £1.4 million Pension Provision. Underlying costs were £0.6 million higher than the previous year primarily as a result of higher staff costs, moderation costs and certification costs to service additional business. Temporary and freelance people costs went down as these costs were transferred to permanent staffing. Legal costs were reduced in the year due to less requirements for reviews of contracts or other advice.

The overall outturn is a surplus of £0.9 million, which is £1.1 million less than the previous year, but is £0.3 million more with the exclusion of the pension provision adjustment.

Reserves at year end are £7.4 million and equate to 156% of the total reserve policy having been achieved.

As in the previous year, throughout 2024/25 the charity has worked to raise its profile with the intention of ensuring that as many learning providers and learners as possible are aware of the services and benefits available from Gateway Qualifications. Particular activities which have taken place in this respect are:

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Review of Financial Position - continued

The charity continues to advance education for the general public through the development and provision of regulated qualifications and units, which, provided acceptable quality standards are demonstrated, are offered to all members of the public. Gateway Qualifications Limited continues to demonstrate its objective of widening participation in education by working with groups and communities for which traditional or formal education is not appropriate, for example learners at lower educational levels, learners with few formal qualifications, young learners not in employment, education or training, learners at risk of offending or learners based in offender institutions and adult learners looking for an appropriate route into higher education.

Board of Trustees’ responsibilities for the financial statements

The trustees (who are also directors of Gateway Qualifications Limited for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Annual Report (including 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. Under that law the trustees must prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). 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 incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period.

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STRATEGIC REPORT (INCLUDING THE DIRECTORS’ REPORT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Board of Trustees’ responsibilities for the financial statements – continued

Auditor

The auditor, Sumer Auditco Limited, will be proposed for reappointment in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006.

Approval

Anthea Hockley Chair to the Board at the Board of Trustees meeting dated

Approved by the Board of Trustees on and signed on their behalf by 10-Dec-2025

Anthea Hockly Anthea Hockly (Dec 11, 2025 09:30:37 GMT)

A Hockly

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Gateway Qualifications Limited (the charitable company) for the year ended 31 July 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities (including the Income and Expenditure Account), the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Cash Flows and analysis of changes in net debt 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 (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”.

In our opinion the financial statements:

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 entity'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.

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. 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. 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 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:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the 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 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 :

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on pages 10 and 11 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.

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

We identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our general commercial and sector experience, through discussion with the Director of Finance (as required by auditing standards) and senior management, inspection of the Charity’s regulatory and legal correspondence and discussed with the Director of Finance the policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations. We communicated identified laws and regulations throughout our team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. The potential effect of these laws and regulations on the financial statements varies considerably.

Firstly, the Charity is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting legislation and taxation legislation and we assessed the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items.

Secondly, the Charity is subject to many other laws and regulations where the consequences of non-compliance could have a material effect on amounts or disclosures in the financial statements, for instance through the imposition of fines or litigation. We identified the following areas as those most likely to have such an effect: compliance with the requirements of OFQUAL, The Charity Commission, Qualification Wales, QAA, health and safety, corporate governance including safeguarding and wellbeing, human rights and employment law, anti-bribery and corruption and UK GDPR. Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify noncompliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of those charged with governance and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (continued)

Audit procedures undertaken in response to the potential risks relating to irregularities (which include fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations) comprised of: enquiries of management and those charged with governance as to whether the Charity complies with such regulations, enquiries of management and those charged with governance concerning any actual or potential litigation or claims, inspection of any relevant legal documentation, review of board minutes, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and the performance of analytical review to identify any unexpected movements in account balances which may be indicative of fraud.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Irregularities that result from fraud might be inherently more difficult to detect than irregularities that result from error. As explained above, there is an unavoidable risk that material misstatements may not be detected, even though the audit has been planned and performed in accordance with ISAs (UK).

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

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 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 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.

Piers Harrison

Senior Statutory Auditor

For and on behalf of Sumer Auditco Limited Statutory Auditor 820 The Crescent Colchester Business Park Colchester CO4 9YQ

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Unrestricted Unrestricted
funds funds
2025 2024
Total Total
£ £
Donations
Donations received – intangible income 110 1,170
================= =================
Income from charitable activities
Annual centre approval fees 367,268 345,867
Learner registration 5,586,026 4,767,577
Replacement certificate fees 8,752 11,197
Sundry income 148,667 109,380
Bank interest 117,804 97,987
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
6,228,517 5,332,008
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------
Total Income 6,228,627 5,333,178
================= =================
Expenditure on charitable activities
Rent and rates 67,262 65,585
Staff costs 3,283,453 2,677,789
USS pension provision release - (1,418,908)
Temporary staff costs 3,746 33,108
Moderation and quality assurance fees 438,120 366,082
Moderation and quality assurance travel and expenses 14,958 33,851
Certificates 171,629 84,056
Travel and subsistence 80,325 43,457
Printing, postage and stationery 5,782 32,699
Recruitment 52,313 111,799
Staff related costs 82,540 56,983
Payroll and pension administration charges 2,280 2,280
Bad debts (1,742) (2,768)
Depreciation 43,585 41,357
Insurance 12,647 11,010
------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
Expenditure- carried forward 4,256,898 2,138,380

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

Unrestricted Unrestricted
funds funds
2025 2024
Total Total
£ £
Expenditure- brought forward 4,256,898 2,138,380
Expenditure on charitable activities – (continued)
Legal and professional 8,330 62,936
Professional subscriptions 5,999 713
ICT costs 480,433 412,988
Office equipment 26,238 47,393
Marketing and publicity 257,904 266,779
Equipment rental 2,202 954
Bank charges 933 1,012
Interest payable - 31,901
Awarding organisation status costs 21,097 15,367
Qualification and assessment development costs 145,915 139,535
Consultancy 58,400 170,822
QAA 25,099 22,798
Auditors’ remuneration 12,420 11,274
Hospitality 5,921 6,751
Loss on disposals 1,032 -
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Total expenditure 5,308,821 3,329,603
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Net income for the year 919,806 2,003,575
Balance brought forward at 1 August 2024 6,454,076 4,450,501
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Balance carried forward at 31 July 2025 7,373,882 6,454,076
================= =================

The statement above includes all gains and losses recognised in each of the above two years.

There was no other comprehensive income in either of the above two years.

All activities relate to continuing operations.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 JULY 2025

Notes
2025 2024
£ £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 5 52,528 71,420
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Current assets
Debtors 6 803,164 739,453
Cash at bank and in hand 7,430,795 6,357,440
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
8,233,959 7,096,893
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year 7 912,605 714,237
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Net current assets 7,321,354 6,382,656
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Total assets less current liabilities 7,373,882 6,454,076
Provisions 8 - -
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Net assets £7,373,882 £6,454,076
================ ================
Funds
Unrestricted funds £7,373,882 £6,454,076
================ ================

Approved by the Board of Trustees on and signed on its behalf by 10-Dec-2025 Anthea Hockly Anthea Hockly (Dec 11, 2025 09:30:37 GMT)

A Hockly

Company Number: 05502449 Charity Number: 1114282

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

2025 2024
£ £
Net income 919,806 2,003,575
Add Depreciation 43,585 41,357
Loss on disposal of fixed assets 1,032 -
Less interest received (117,804) (97,987)
Add interest paid - 31,901
(Increase) in debtors (63,711) (181,202)
Increase in creditors 198,368 139,482
(Decrease) in provisions - (1,387,006)
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Cash generated from operating activities 981,276 550,120
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest received 117,804 97,987
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (27,739) (30,042)
Proceeds from sale of fixed assets 2,014 -
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Cash generated from investing activities 92,079 67,945
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Cash flows from financing activities
Interest paid - (31,901)
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Cash expended on financing activities - (31,901)
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Increase in cash and cash equivalents 1,073,355 586,164
during the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning
of the year 6,357,440 5,771,276
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year £7,430,795 £6,357,440
=================== ===================
Analysis of changes in net debt
Cash at bank and in hand:
At 1 August 6,357,440 5,771,276
Cashflows 1,073,355 586,164
At 31 July -------------------------------------------------
£7,430,795		 -------------------------------------------------
£6,357,440
================= =================

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

1 GENERAL INFORMATION

Gateway Qualifications Limited is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales, registered company number 05502449 and registered charity number 1114282. The address of the registered office is Gateway House, 6 Tollgate Business Park, Tollgate West, Colchester, CO3 8AB.

2 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

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

The following principal accounting policies have been applied:

Going concern

Having considered the charitable company’s forecasts and projections the Trustees are satisfied that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, and for a period of at least 12 months from the date of approving these financial statements. The Trustees also consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Income and expenditure

Turnover is recognised to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the charitable company and the turnover can be reliably measured. Turnover is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, excluding discounts and rebates.

Income and expenditure are accounted for on an accruals basis.

Income and expenditure are allocated in the Statement of Financial Activities on a basis which is considered to best reflect the day to day operations of the charitable company.

Leasing

Rentals paid under operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged to expenses on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

2 ACCOUNTING POLICIES – (continued)

Taxation

The company is a charitable company within the meaning of Part 11, Corporation Tax Act 2010. Accordingly it is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3, Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that such income or gains are applied to exclusively charitable purposes.

Tangible fixed assets

Gateway Qualifications Limited has adopted a policy of capitalisation of fixed assets costing over £1,000. Tangible Fixed Assets are recorded in the financial statements at cost.

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life:

Fixtures and fittings - 4 years straight line
Equipment - 3 years straight line
Leasehold improvements - 10 years straight line

Pensions

The charitable company participates in Universities Superannuation Scheme. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trustee-administered fund. Because of the mutual nature of the scheme, the assets are not attributed to individual institutions and a scheme-wide contribution rate is set. The charitable company is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other institutions’ employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. As required by Section 28 of FRS 102 “Employee benefits”, the charitable company therefore accounts for the scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the profit and loss account represents the contributions payable to the scheme.

Where a scheme valuation determines that the scheme is in deficit on a technical provisions basis (as was the case following the 2020 valuation), the trustee of the scheme must agree a Recovery Plan that determines how each employer within the scheme will fund an overall deficit. The charitable company recognises a liability for the contributions payable that arise from such an agreement (to the extent that they relate to a deficit) with related expenses being recognised through the income statement.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

2 ACCOUNTING POLICIES – (continued)

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash equivalents are recognised as such and included with other cash balances where they represent short term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash without being subject to a significant change in value.

Financial instruments

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

Significant judgements and estimates

FRS 102 makes the distinction between a group plan and a multi-employer scheme. A group plan consists of a collection of entities under common control typically with a sponsoring employer. A multi-employer scheme is a scheme for entities not under common control and represents (typically) an industry-wide scheme such as Universities Superannuation Scheme. The accounting for a multi-employer scheme where the employer has entered into an agreement with the scheme that determines how the employer will fund a deficit results in the recognition of a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement (to the extent that they relate to the deficit) with the resulting expense charged through the profit or loss account in accordance with section 28 of FRS 102. The directors are satisfied that Universities Superannuation Scheme meets the definition of a multi-employer scheme and had therefore previously recognised the discounted fair value of the contractual contributions under the recovery plan in existence at the date of approving the 31 July 2023 financial statements. In the year ended 31 July 2024, the recognition of the liability was not required as the scheme was no longer in a deficit and the provision was fully released.

Estimates were made over the discount rate, staff changes and wage inflation in relation to the USS pension provision.

3 NET EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR

The net expenditure is stated after charging:

The net expenditure is stated after charging:
2025 2024
£ £
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 43,585 41,357
Auditors’ remuneration in respect of audit services 12,420 11,274
Operating lease payments 55,313 53,983
================ ================

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

4 STAFF COSTS

----- Start of picture text -----
|||| |---|---|---| |2025 2024| |£|£| |Wages and salaries|2,650,676|2,177,050| |Social security costs|322,259|228,687| |Pension costs (note 10)|310,518|(1,146,856)| |----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------| |3,283,453|1,258,881| |==================|==================| |The monthly number of employees, calculated on a full time| |basis, during the year was made up as follows :| |Management, administration and service provision|60|51| |=================|=================| |The monthly number of employees, calculated on an actual| |basis, during the year was made up as follows :| |Management, administration and service provision|61|53| |=================|=================| |Higher paid employees| |£60,000 to £69,999|2|2| |£70,000 to £79,999|1|2| |£80,000 to £89,999|3|-| |£90,000 to £99,999|-|1| |£100,000 to £109,999|-|1| |£110,000 to £119,999|1|1| |----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------| |7|7| |==================|==================|

----- End of picture text -----

The total employer pension contribution for the higher paid employees above totalled £72,757 (2024 : £66,704).

Senior management team remuneration totalled £459,868 (2024 : £463,928).

No members of the Board of Trustees received remuneration for their role as trustees. A total of £395 was reimbursed to some trustees during the year (2024: £280) in relation to travel costs.

Indemnity insurance is maintained covering members of the Board in their capacity as trustees and directors.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

5 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Fixtures
Leasehold and
Improvements fittings Equipment Total
£ £ £ £
Cost
At 1 August 2024 7,258 29,914 147,405 184,577
Additions - - 27,739 27,739
Disposals - - (14,398) (14,398)
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
At 31 July 2025 7,258 29,914 160,746 197,918
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Depreciation
At 1 August 2024 1,720 17,205 94,232 113,157
Charge for year 726 6,916 35,943 43,585
Disposals - - (11,352) (11,352)
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
At 31 July 2025 2,446 24,121 118,823 145,390
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Net book value
At 31 July 2025 4,812 5,793 41,923 52,528
================ ================ ================ ================
At 31 July 2024 5,538 12,709 53,173 71,420
================ ================ ================ ================
6 DEBTORS
2025 2024
£ £
Prepayments and other debtors 306,078 205,169
Fees receivable 467,004 521,268
Accrued Income 30,082 13,016
------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------
803,164 739,453
==================== ====================

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

7 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

----- Start of picture text -----
|||| |---|---|---| |2025 2024| |£|£| |Trade creditors|306,110|139,692| |Accruals|172,094|169,996| |Deferred income|361,600|350,400| |Taxation and social security|72,801|53,901| |Other creditors|-|248| |---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------| |912,605|714,237| |=============|==|

----- End of picture text -----

All deferred income relates to amounts deferred in the current year.

8 PROVISIONS

----- Start of picture text -----
|||| |---|---|---| |2025 2024| |£|£| |USS pension scheme funding plan| |Balance brought forward|-|1,387,006| |Movement in year|-|(1,387,006)| |-------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------| |-|-| |================ ==|===================|

----- End of picture text -----

The USS pension scheme was in a deficit in 2023 and a funding plan had been agreed which covered the period to 31 March 2038. In 2024 this scheme was in a surplus on a technical provision basis. The charitable company was no longer required to make deficit recovery contributions from 1 January 2024 and the provision was released to the statement of financial activities.

9 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Due to the nature of the charitable company’s operations and the composition of the Board members (being drawn from member organisations) it is possible that transactions will take place with Colleges in which members of the Board may have interests, by reason only of being employed by such Colleges.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

10 COMMITMENTS

Lease commitments – operating leases

At 31 July 2025 the charitable company had future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases as follows:

2025 2024
£ £
Not later than 1 year 42,840 45,234
Later than 1 year and not later than 5 years 171,360 171,360
Later than 5 years 70,539 113,379
--------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------
284,739 329,973
================ ================

Pension commitments

The charitable company had a principal pension scheme for employees in the year. This was the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).

USS is a defined benefit scheme, made up of a defined benefit pension called the Retirement Income Builder and a defined contribution pension called the Investment Builder, which is externally funded and valued every three years using the projected unit method.

The scheme was contracted out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme.

Universities Superannuation Scheme

The total cost/(credit charged/(released) to the income and expenditure account is £310,518 (2024 : (£1,146,856)) as included in note 4. This is made up of the FRS 102 pension provision adjustment of Nil (2024: (£1,418,908)) and pension contributions of £310,518 (2024: £272,052).

A deficit recovery plan was put in place as part of the 2020 valuation, which required payment of 6.2% of salaries over the period 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2024, at which point the rate would increase to 6.3%. As set out in Note 8, no deficit recovery plan was required under the 2023 valuation because the scheme was in surplus on a technical provisions basis. The charitable company was no longer required to make deficit recovery contributions from 1 January 2024 and accordingly released the outstanding provision to the profit and loss account in the prior year.

The latest available complete actuarial valuation of the Retirement Income Builder is as at 31 March 2023 (the valuation date), which was carried out using the projected unit method.

Since the charitable company cannot identify its share of USS Retirement Income Builder (defined benefit) assets and liabilities, the following disclosures reflect those relevant for those assets and liabilities as a whole.

The 2023 valuation was the seventh valuation for the scheme under the scheme-specific funding regime introduced by the Pensions Act 2004, which requires schemes to have sufficient and appropriate assets to cover their technical provisions (the statutory funding objective). At the valuation date, the value of the assets of the scheme was £73.1 billion and the value of the scheme’s technical provisions was £65.7 billion indicating a surplus of £7.4 billion and a funding ratio of 111%.

GATEWAY QUALIFICATIONS LIMITED

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

10 COMMITMENTS – continued

Universities Superannuation Scheme – (continued)

The key financial assumptions used in the 2023 valuation are described below. More detail is set out in the Statement of Funding Principles (uss.co.uk/about-us/valuation-andfunding/statement-of-funding-principles).

Price
inflation
–
Consumer Prices Index
(CPI)
RPI/CPI gap		 3.0% p.a. (based on a long term-average expected level of CPI,
broadly consistent with long-term market expectations)
1.0% p.a. to 2030, reducing linearly by 0.1% p.a. from 2030
Pension
increases
(subject to a floor of 0%)		 Benefits with no cap:
CPI assumption plus 3bps
Benefits subject to a “soft cap” of 5% (providing inflationary increases
up to 5%, and half of any excess inflation over 5% up to a maximum
of 10%):
CPI assumption minus 3bps
Discount rate (forward
rates)		 Fixed interest gilt yield curve plus:
Pre-retirement: 2.5% p.a.
Post retirement: 0.9% p.a.

The main demographic assumptions used relate to the mortality assumptions. These assumptions are based on analysis of the scheme’s experience carried out as part of the 2023 actuarial valuation. The mortality assumptions used in these figures are as follows:

2023 valuation

Mortality base table: 101% of S2PMA “light” for males and 95% of S3PFA for females

to mortality 0.4% p.a., 10% w2020 and w2021 parameters, and a long-term improvement rate of 1.8% pa for males and 1.6% pa for females

The current life expectancies on retirement at age 65 are

2025 2024
Males currently aged 65 (years) 23.8 23.7
Females currently aged 65 (years) 25.5 25.4
Males currently aged 45 (years) 25.7 25.6
Females currently aged 45 (years) 27.2 27.2

Gateway Financial Statements FYE25 for

signing

Final Audit Report

2025-12-11

Created: 2025-12-11 By: Lorraine Wreford (lorraine.wreford@gatewayqualifications.org.uk) Status: Signed Transaction ID: CBJCHBCAABAAUAjJEyz40Qp8khWRcfLamsHN1AS54whC

"Gateway Financial Statements FYE25 for signing" History

Document created by Lorraine Wreford (lorraine.wreford@gatewayqualifications.org.uk) 2025-12-11 - 8:37:35 AM GMT

Document emailed to Anthea (anthea.hockly@btinternet.com) for signature

2025-12-11 - 8:37:42 AM GMT

Email viewed by Anthea (anthea.hockly@btinternet.com)

Signer Anthea (anthea.hockly@btinternet.com) entered name at signing as Anthea Hockly 2025-12-11 - 9:30:35 AM GMT

Document e-signed by Anthea Hockly (anthea.hockly@btinternet.com)

Signature Date: 2025-12-11 - 9:30:37 AM GMT - Time Source: server

Agreement completed.

2025-12-11 - 9:30:37 AM GMT