2025-08-31-accounts - Working Chance Ltd

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WORKING CHANCE 2024/25

Report and financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2025

WELCOME

A message from our Chief Executive and Chair	3
Trustees’ annual report	5
Financial review	20
Independent auditor’s report	30
Statement of financial activities	34
Balance sheet	35
Statement of cash flows	36
Notes to the financial statements	37
Reference and administrative information	52

“Belief is what organisations like Working Chance provide for women – a bridge between who they are and who they want to be.”

Claire, Working Chance client

A message from our Chief Executive and Chair

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND CHAIR

Natasha Finlayson OBE, Chief Executive

Lin Hinnigan, Chair of Trustees

This has been an outstanding year for Working Chance.

We helped 341 (2024: 248) women to improve their employability, setting them up for success and giving them the chance to flourish.

This is a remarkable achievement given the size of our small but brilliant team - but also given the changing nature of the cohort we work with. This year more women who accessed our service had spent time in prison than in past years, which means that they had committed more serious offences than women who received community or suspended sentences. Statistics show that women who receive custodial sentences are

THIS IS A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT GIVEN THE SIZE OF OUR SMALL BUT BRILLIANT TEAM.

more likely to have had deeply challenging life experiences such as childhood abuse, poverty, domestic violence, addiction and homelessness, seriously affecting their mental health and confidence. This means that they tend to need a deeper level of support to become work-ready, and often for a longer period of time. We also saw an increase in the number of women coming to us whose offences had involved violence, so our team had to work harder than ever to persuade employers to focus on the suitability of the woman for the role rather than judge them for something which, in most cases, they bitterly regret and feel enduring shame about.

We were delighted that our frontline team received well-deserved recognition when they were highly commended in the Third Sector Awards 2025 in the Frontline Team of the Year category. This year also saw an exciting innovation and extension of our service as we incorporated a new strand of work into our mainstream service. In 2023/24 we

A message from our Chief Executive and Chair

piloted a project supporting women with convictions who are looking for help to access education and training opportunities, either as a stepping stone into employment or as a means to switch career after a conviction has closed doors in their previous profession. Due to the success of this pilot, this year the offer of help to get into education or training became part of the menu of opportunities offered to all clients who access our service, with some women undertaking training to develop their skills while also working part-time to bring in money and build their CV – meaning that we have double the chance to help them onto a new path in life. We were thrilled that this work was highlighted when we were a Finalist in the Best Service Delivery Innovation category at the Third Sector Awards 2025.

We were also a Finalist in the category of Charity of the Year with an income under £1m at the Charity Times Awards 2025. This type of sector recognition is a great boost for our team and our profile, but what matters above all else is whether our interventions change things for the better THIS IS THE CHANGE IN for our clients. That is why we are proud that feedback MINDSET THAT MEANS this year from clients overwhelmingly emphasised the way that their interaction with Working Chance made WOMEN CAN SET OUT them feel hopeful, worthy and respected - in some ON A NEW COURSE IN cases, for the first time in their lives. This is the change in mindset that means that women can set out on a new LIFE; IT IS ALSO WHAT course in life; it is also what drives us and makes our DRIVES US AND MAKES work worthwhile. None of this would be possible without the wonderful support of our funders and donors, and OUR WORK the open-minded employers we partner with who judge WORTHWHILE. candidates on their suitability for a role rather than on a conviction.

Supporting women to become ready for work is only effective if employers are willing to hire them. 12.3 million adults in England and Wales have a conviction. Employers who assume that these people are an inherent risk to their business and have nothing to offer are losing out by failing to tap into this under-utilised talent pool. We will continue to advocate passionately and tirelessly for greater employment of people with convictions because it’s the right thing to do – for the individuals themselves, for business, and for society.

Natasha Finlayson OBE, Chief Executive Lin Hinnigan, Chair of Trustees

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

Working Chance Trustees present their annual report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2025.

Reference and administrative information set out on page 52 forms part of this report.

The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. This Trustees’ annual report includes a directors’ report as required by company law.

OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Working Chance is the UK’s only employment charity exclusively for women who have criminal convictions. Since 2009, we have helped thousands of women to develop their confidence, skills, and self-belief and build a brighter future for themselves and their families. We partner with employers across the UK to match women with the right opportunities. We work with policymakers and employers to break down the stigma, stereotypes and barriers that stop many women with convictions from securing employment and progressing in careers. And crucially, we help keep society safer - because employment has been shown to be one of the main drivers in reducing reoffending.

SINCE 2009, WE HAVE HELPED THOUSANDS OF WOMEN TO DEVELOP THEIR CONFIDENCE, SKILLS, AND SELFBELIEF AND BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES.

As well as an income, a job gives structure to life and a reason to get up in the morning. It offers a shared purpose with colleagues, a common mission, and motivation for change. It means that someone can use their talents, learn new skills and feel useful and appreciated, all of which can help to positively shift selfperception and aspiration. Last year, there were no reports of women we worked with reoffending or being reconvicted. After a year, 86% of the women we supported into jobs were still in that role, and 100% were still in some form of employment (where we were able to elicit this information).

This report looks at what Working Chance achieved in the year 2024/25.

“An amazing experience. The help and support I received went above and beyond. Life changing.”

Naya, Working Chance client

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

OUR SERVICE FOR WOMEN WITH CONVICTIONS

Who comes to Working Chance?

Women with convictions face a daunting set of barriers to employment or education – it could be having to explain a gap in their CV, or more complicated circumstances such as fear of having to disclose a conviction to an employer, concern about navigating employment checks or even having to change career because their conviction bars them from continuing in their profession. Many employers hold their own prejudices against people with convictions too.

Every woman who comes to us has her own story, and her own set of circumstances that has swept her into the criminal justice system. That said, some experiences such as poverty, childhood EXPERIENCES SUCH AS trauma, addiction and domestic abuse are all too prevalent in the lives of women who receive prison POVERTY, CHILDHOOD sentences. Over-represented groups in the criminal TRAUMA AND justice system include racially minoritised people, people who were in care as children, people with DOMESTIC ABUSE ARE neurodivergence, people who have suffered a brain injury ALL TOO PREVALENT IN and Gypsy, Roma, and Travellers (GRT). THE LIVES OF WOMEN Working Chance exists to serve women with convictions WHO RECEIVE PRISON regardless of when their offence(s) happened. For brevity, we refer to ‘women with convictions’, but as an SENTENCES. organisation we are inclusive of gender identities and welcome non-binary individuals and trans women into our service. This year, 0.5% of our clients identified as transgender. Women who come to us experience the criminal justice system in a number of ways. Over half (54%) of our clients this year had spent time in prison (2024: 43%) with the remainder receiving community sentences, suspended sentences, cautions, or fines. Just under half (42%) were still technically involved with the criminal justice system, as they were on probation or licence when they entered our service (2024: 39%). 54% 44% 34% of clients had spent time in of clients were from of clients had caring prison racially minoritised responsibilities for children communities or adults ~~ Our youngest client was 19 and the oldest in her late sixties, with an average age of 39. 44% of our clients were from racially minoritised communities (2024: 51%), 34% had caring responsibilities for children or adults (2024: 40%); 34% were women with disabilities (2024: 30%) and 9% identified as being neurodivergent (2024: 8%).

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

The women we worked with this year had a very wide range of levels of education. Almost half (46%) had qualifications beyond A-level (eg. foundation degrees, undergraduate or master’s degrees, or a PhD or equivalent) (2024: 49%). GCSEs (or equivalent) were the highest level of qualification for just under a third (27%) of clients.

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----- Start of picture text -----
No qualifications,
Other 1% PhD, 0%
qualifications,
Foundation 5%
degree, 6%
Degree, 29%
Master's degree,
11%
GCSE, 25%
A-level, 22%
oO * or equivalent qualification.
Sum of percentages totals 99%
due to rounding.
56% of the women we supported this year reported having current mental health issues
(2024: 58%) with a further 4% disclosing that they had had mental health issues at some
point in the past. Our engagement data show that mental health challenges are one of
the most common reasons why women drop out of our service before they find a job, as
they want to be able to better manage their mental ill-health before they are ready to
take on the demands of working life.
----- End of picture text -----*

“Working Chance gives women in hopeless situations the strength they need to get up in the morning and face their fears. They provide the confidence needed to go out in the world and say 'I have done wrong but that doesn't mean I am a bad person and therefore still deserve something good in my life'. The only regret I have is not finding you sooner! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your help.”

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In terms of what offence(s) women have committed, over a third (36%) of women had committed a violent offence, up from 29% in 2024 and 21% in 2023. This steady increase is significant because employers are more likely to be averse to employing people whose offences were violent, meaning that we have to work even harder to persuade employers to ‘see the person, not the offence’. Employer attitudes are also affected by whether a

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

conviction is spent or unspent, with unspent convictions being viewed far less favourably. This year 65% of women we supported had unspent convictions (2024: 68%).

56% of clients reported having a mental health issue

65% of clients had unspent convictions

Enhancing employability

Our service initially supports women to improve their employability, and then for those women who want it, we help them apply for roles with one of the employers we work with (or other roles that the women have identified for themselves).

Until this year, these two elements of getting a woman into a role were delivered by two separate teams, but we have significantly restructured our service over the course of 2024/25. Rather than having a step change between employability and employment stages, we listened to clients’ feedback and now deliver one seamless service.

We help to build women’s confidence and self-belief, as well as providing practical support with things like CVs, interview techniques and the best way to disclose convictions during recruitment processes. This year we supported 172 (2024: 159) women to develop their employability through our core service. In addition, we were commissioned by other women's charities to work with a further 123 (2024: 89) women

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

who were in those charities’ services and who needed specific support around employability which those charities did not provide themselves.

We also offered support finding and accessing education and training opportunities to 78 women and some women received a combination of education and employability support.

In total, we supported 341 women in 2024/25 (2024: 248).

“The support from Working Chance gave me the strength to move forward with hope.” - Tracey, Working Chance client ee We engaged in important partnerships with the charities Advance and Women in Prison to deliver support for women in their services who had convictions. We were also pleased to be a partner in the delivery of Advance’s Maia service, alongside Chance UK and Woman’s Trust. The Maia service provides vital support for young women and girls who have experienced or who are at risk of domestic abuse or the criminal justice system.

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K
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341

women supported (in our core service, or through contract work with other charities)

117

women supported into a placement (a job, education or training)

Getting women into work

93 women were supported into a job of some kind (2024: 62). After a year, 86% of the women we supported into jobs were still in that role, and 100% were still in some form of employment (where we were able to elicit this information).

Some women were placed into more than one role during the year. That brings the total number of employment placements up to 105 (2024: 71). Typically in these situations clients will, for example, have a short-term job and then be supported into a permanent one, begin more than one part-time role, while others will leave a job that turned out not to be a good match for them - in these cases we try to find them something else that better meets their needs.

Of the 105 job placements, the majority (91) were into paid employment, while some women were supported into volunteering roles (13) where that was right for them, plus one work experience placement.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

5,000+ 12 £27,177 vacancies available at any new employers onboarded average full-time time to our clients this year equivalent salary across paid placements

A steadily increasing proportion of women are able to access part-time work, which is often preferred by our clients, mainly to manage work around caring responsibilities. Just over half (56%) of paid placements were part-time (fewer than 35 hours per week) and the rest were full-time.

We have access to over 5,000 vacancies at any given time through the employers we work with, which offers our clients the chance to choose vacancies based on their needs, abilities and locations. 12 new employers came on board to work with us this year, with a national footprint, bringing the total number of employers on our books up to 136.

This means our clients can apply to roles in many sectors including the public sector, charities, catering and hospitality, retail, education, health and social care, tech

THE RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR EMPLOYERS MEAN WE HAVE ACCESS TO ROLES AT MANY LEVELS – NOT JUST ENTRY LEVEL.

and recruitment. Importantly, the relationships with our employers mean we also have access to roles at many levels – not just entry level. We see women coming into the service with a variety of skills and their move into employment should reflect their experience. “I’ve successfully completed my probation period, I’m training to become a team leader, and on top of that I’ve been able to get myself a car.” - Kiera, Working Chance client a Education and training opportunities for women This year, following a successful pilot, Working Chance started offering dedicated support for women with convictions to access education and training. This strategic shift saw education and training support become a permanent part of our service, and in the first full year of this provision we supported 79 women. Of those, 41 were supported into 53 education and training placements, while the remainder were given guidance and advice.

There are a number of reasons why education or training are suitable for a woman with a conviction, including:

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

Education can be a stepping stone on a woman’s journey towards being ready for the demands of full-time, paid employment.
Getting a conviction can exclude someone from certain roles or sectors – we find that clients sometimes need to re-train to find work in a different sector after receiving their conviction.
Involvement with the criminal justice system can disrupt education, either through schooling being disrupted by interaction with the youth justice system, or clients needing to withdraw from study due to their conviction.
Convictions often involve a break from employment, and so some clients want to upskill and refresh their qualifications after a prolonged period away from the world of work.

SOME WOMEN RECEIVED A MIXTURE OF EMPLOYABILITY AND EDUCATION SUPPORT. OUR SERVICE IS ADAPTED FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL WOMAN WHO NEEDS IT.

The applications we helped with were extremely varied, ranging from post-graduate degree applications to project management qualifications, barista courses, functional skills in English and maths, and apprenticeships.

Some women received a mixture of employability and education support: perhaps to find training to aid their job search, or sometimes to find paid work alongside a course or a degree. Our service is adapted for each individual woman who needs it.

,

“This is the first step in my journey… I’m ready for this now.”

Ayani, Education client

Evaluation

The number of women we support has increased year on year. We also measure our impact using the Work Star evaluation method - an accredited outcomes star tool, which we have tailored to our client group’s needs. This measurement process takes place over three readings, at the beginning, middle, and end of their journey with us and invites clients to reflect on the broader impact and outcomes of our service. The five areas we measure change in are: job skills and experience; aspiration and motivation; job search skills; stability; and health and wellbeing. This year, the two areas with the most significant increases were job search skills and aspiration and motivation.

This year:

89% of clients progressed in one or more areas (2024: 90%)
75% progressed in two or more areas (2024: 82%)
56% progressed in three or more areas (2024: 60%)
35% progressed in four or more (2024: 40%)
20% progressed in all five areas (2024: 15%).

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

The overall Work Star score for each individual forms our operational definition of improved employability. Using this definition, 80% of the women we worked with improved their employability following engagement with our service.

When aggregated the average scores increased in every area at both stages of our service. The outcomes show a statistically significant change with large effect size, which means that there is strong evidence of the change women experience thanks to our service.

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----- Start of picture text -----
Job skills & Experience
8.77
8.55
7.68
Health & well-being 8.92 aN 9.08Aspiration and motivation
7.99 8.22
8.35 7.08
6.99
7.93
8.43 8.31
8.65 8.92
Stability Job search skills
First reading Second reading Final reading
“My keyworker was amazing! I
looked forward to our calls every
week because I knew after our
chats I would feel more positive
and looking forward to the next
steps in finding a job.”
- Hannah, Working Chance client
om
12
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Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

Challenges in 2024/25

The demand for our service is steadily increasing. This year saw a record number of enquiries, which meant some women who wanted to get into work had to spend time on a waiting list as we didn’t always have sufficient capacity to meet the rising demand.

We also saw an increasing proportion of women whose support needs were more complex, as shown by the increase in clients who had spent time in prison and those whose offence(s) had involved violence.

Despite this, we are very pleased to report that we supported more women and achieved more placements than in the previous year. Feedback from clients this year was overwhelmingly positive, with 98% of clients who filled in our feedback survey saying they would recommend our service.

95%

of clients said Working Chance improved their ability to disclose their convictions to employers

94%

said Working Chance improved their confidence to look for and apply for jobs

97%

said the support made them feel more hopeful for the future

98%

of clients would recommend Working Chance to other women with convictions

95%

of clients said the service could not be improved

“I’m extremely grateful to Working Chance for making me feel worthy again.” - Louise, Working Chance client =

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

INFLUENCING THE EMPLOYMENT LANDSCAPE

A key strand of our mission is influencing employers to become more open to hiring people (not just women) with convictions. We want employers to think more broadly about their hiring practices and to recognise the benefits of a workforce that proactively targets and includes people with convictions. “Working Chance’s support has made a huge difference to what we’ve been able to achieve. We now feel a lot more confident and comfortable in terms of our processes for hiring people with convictions. The knowledge, the flexibility and the adaptability to work with us as an organisation has just been fantastic. I absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Working Chance.” - Cheryl Hathaway, Head of People and Talent Development Big Yellow Self Storage _ We hold relationships with 136 employers (and counting!) to open up vacancies for the women we support to apply to. Through these relationships, we are able to make recommendations and influence employers to recruit in an inclusive, ethical way that is right for their business.

In February 2025, we ran an in-person event in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, bringing together over 40 national employers to discuss how they can improve their hiring practices and support employees with convictions where this is needed. Attendees included senior representatives from Co-op, Northern Railway and Amey. “Working Chance presented at our monthly Senior Governance Group meeting, a forum for senior leaders within our organisation who are responsible for the employment decisions around candidates coming in through our pilot New Futures Programme. The nuances of employing women who have been through the criminal justice system was an area we were particularly keen to learn about to ensure we have the right level of support around the women who we employ. The lived experience lens provided by Working Chance was incredibly valuable, painting a picture of the common experiences and lack of support they face and what role organisations can play through employment opportunities.” - Nicholas Fox, Head of Government Practice KPMG 14 o

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

Building on this, and on our 2023 landmark publication Hiring with Conviction, we established a paid-for training and consultancy offer for employers who want training on bringing people with convictions into their workforces ethically, safely and effectively, or who want something more bespoke at a deeper level to improve their practice and record in this area. We provided training and consultancy to organisations including KPMG, the YMCA St Paul’s Group, and Big Yellow Self Storage. Next year we aim to scale this work up so that we can extend our influence on the employment landscape at the same time as generating vital earned income for the charity.

Additionally, we nurtured a strategic partnership with the umbrella organisation for the adult social care sector, Care England, to develop a targeted campaign for their members to consider the benefits of hiring people with convictions. This is an important sector for us as it reports staffing

shortages and also appeals to many women we support, who routinely struggle to access roles in care. As well as digital content and events for its member organisations, we published a special edition of our employer guidance, Hiring With Conviction, specifically targeted at adult social care companies.

Although the number of job vacancies saw a downward trend in the last quarter of the year (June to August 2025), the UK continues to face labour shortages, notably in construction (arguably less relevant for women) and a general struggle to find and retain talent, especially in the NHS and social care. An aging workforce and changing work expectations WE WILL CONTINUE TO (with the wholescale move toward greater flexible working that started during Covid lockdowns) have ENCOURAGE EVER MORE contributed to this picture.

WE WILL CONTINUE TO ENCOURAGE EVER MORE ORGANISATIONS TO TAP INTO THE DIVERSE SKILLS AND TALENTS OF THE 12 MILLION ADULTS OF WORKING AGE WHO HAVE CONVICTIONS.

With hiring challenges still present, employers need to rethink their hiring processes to be more competitive in attracting employees. We will continue to advocate that inclusive hiring is a big part of the answer, encouraging ever more organisations to tap into the diverse skills and talents of the 12 million adults of working age who have convictions, while tangibly increasing social impact.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

CHANGING HEARTS AND MINDS

As well as influencing employers to embrace inclusive hiring, we share policy insights into how the justice system can reduce the criminalisation of women and offer more effective employability support when women are in prison.

We were delighted that, after a competitive process, our Chief Executive Natasha Finlayson was appointed to the partnership delivery group for the new Women’s Justice Board (WJB). Chaired by prisons minister Lord Timpson, the WJB was announced in September 2024 with a remit to reduce the number of women in prison. The partnership delivery group includes senior external specialists, with Natasha holding the seat responsible for education, training and employment for women. We also participated in these groups, bringing our unique insights and expertise:

The Ministry of Justice’s Female Offender Minority Ethnic working group

• The National Women’s Justice Coalition, including its anti-racism steering group • National Police Chiefs' Council Women's Practitioner Group • Working Group on Trauma-informed Approaches in the Department for Work and Pensions • London Blueprint Delivery Group (run by the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime) • Recall Reform Coalition • Criminalisation of VAWG Victims Group. LIVED EXPERIENCE t Our advisory panel of women with lived experience meets six times a year to discuss, influence, and scrutinise our work as a charity. It is made up of 15 women, roughly half of whom have been in prison, with the rest having received community or suspended sentences. Of those women, half are currently or have been Working Chance clients, and the rest have not, giving them an invaluable range of perspectives on what we can do better and how we should operate. “Joining Working Chance on the advisory panel is my way of turning compassion into action. I want to empower women with convictions to reclaim their future. Every woman deserves a chance to rebuild, to rise above her past, and to step into a world that sees her potential, not her history. By supporting Working Chance using my lived experience we’re not just opening doors to employment; we’re unlocking a future full of hope, dignity, and new beginnings.” - Gilly, advisory panellist ee 16

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

This year in addition to advisory panel ‘business as usual’, we delivered media training to advisory panellists, giving them the tools to speak to journalists with confidence about the impact of having a conviction. Women on the group were supported to undertake interviews with media outlets over the year including LBC, BBC Radio and Channel 4. We also ran a series of sessions in partnership with the Royal Literary Fund called Writing For Self Expression to build the women’s confidence and help them to tell their own stories and talk about their lived experience of the criminal justice system.

“It was a transformative experience to discover that I can write poems. It makes me feel human and I will always cherish that I got the opportunity to write beautiful poems with the Royal Literary Fund and Working Chance.” - Rayhana, advisory panellist

In addition to our advisory panel, we strive to embed lived experience throughout every part of our organisation. Increasing the representation of individuals with lived experience is a key objective in our equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategy. Both our Board of Trustees and staff team include women with lived experience of the justice system.

PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT

By helping women to find work, develop their career prospects and achieve financial autonomy, the work of the charity has a tangible, positive and lasting impact on the women it supports, and on the wider community through cost savings for the state and overall benefits to society by reducing reoffending.

The Trustees believe that this ongoing work of empowering women and helping them to change their lives means the charity continues to meet the Charity Commission’s Public Benefit requirement.

The Trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The Trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remained focused on its stated purposes.

The Trustees 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 its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

FUNDRAISING

Working Chance relies on the generosity of our supporters, including trusts and foundations, companies and individuals to allow us to carry out the work we do helping women to transform their lives.

We are committed to being fully transparent and accountable about how our donations and grants are used. We share the impact of our work with our supporters and donors on a regular basis.

This year our fundraising was carried out in-house. We did not receive any complaints about our fundraising. We keep up to date with changing regulation and ensure we comply with it by changing processes if needed. Working Chance is registered with the Fundraising Regulator.

WE ARE COMMITTED TO BEING FULLY TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE ABOUT HOW OUR DONATIONS AND GRANTS ARE USED.

Working Chance is committed to ensuring that all fundraising activities are conducted ethically and with sensitivity to the needs of vulnerable individuals. We recognise that some people may require additional support when engaging with fundraising communications or making donations.

We have the following in place:

Safeguarding Policy : All fundraising staff are trained in our safeguarding policy, which includes guidance on recognising and responding appropriately to signs of vulnerability.
Ethical Conduct : Fundraisers are instructed to act with respect, fairness, and care, in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice. They are trained to avoid pressuring individuals and to disengage respectfully if a person appears distressed, confused, or unable to make an informed decision.
Informed Consent : We do not accept donations from individuals who we believe may lack the capacity to give informed consent. Fundraisers are empowered to pause or decline donations where there is concern about a donor’s wellbeing.
• Continuous Improvement : We regularly review our fundraising practices and safeguarding procedures to ensure they remain effective and responsive to the needs of those we serve.

Through these measures, we aim to create a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all supporters, especially those who may be vulnerable.

We are incredibly grateful to each organisation and individual who supports us - everything we have achieved this year has only been possible because of their generosity and their belief in our cause and our impact.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

LOOKING FORWARD

2025/26 will be the third and final year of our current organisational strategy and will see us develop an ambitious new growth strategy for the coming years.

Agreed priorities for the year are:

expanding our training and consultancy service for employers in order to bring about greater change in hiring practices to level the playing field for women with convictions
ensuring that development and support for our frontline staff enables us to increase the number of women we support into a job
and expanding our fundraising activity (through use of our designated fund) to ensure financial sustainability.

Having hit the £1million mark with income in 2024/25, we have an uphill climb to sustain that level of income while also laying the groundwork for income in future years, so investment in the most appropriate types of income generation and building our brand recognition will be crucial.

Our Chair’s second and final term of office concludes at the end of 2025/26, so the search for our new Chair will commence in the new year.

We will publish an in-depth research report on the way that experience of trauma, both before involvement with the criminal justice system and because of it, can affect women’s chances of securing suitable, sustainable employment.

And lastly, we will continue to work with the government on its strategy to reduce the number of women who go to prison and to improve the employment outcomes for women prison leavers, and as part of this we will continue to deepen our relationships with all women’s prisons in England, so that women leaving know how to contact us if they need help getting on their feet and finding a job.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Where our funds come from

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Corporate donations Other income
Other donations 1% 4%
Individual
1%
donations
2%
Contract income
10%
Grants
82%
xe)
Split of funds
Restricted
Unrestricted
51%
49%
fo)
What we spend our funds on
Influencing Fundraising
26% 11%
Service
63%
fe)
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Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

This year we made a net surplus of £58k (2024: surplus of £41k), which was in line with what we had anticipated. We had a strong year for income, topping the one-millionpound mark for the first time in many years. We have continued to invest in fundraising and have further widened our supporter base this year. We have been successful in bringing some new grant income to the charity, notably from Henry Smith Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation as well as gaining more support from existing supporters and partnerships such as Big Yellow Foundation. Total income for the financial year was £1,017k (2024: £907k), an increase of 12% on the prior year.

Grant income remains our primary source of income at 82% (2024: 75%) of total income and has increased as a share of overall income this year, reflecting the ongoing opportunities we see in this area. This includes grants from trusts, foundations and companies. We are now seeking to further diversify income sources in order to spread risk, and this will be a key area of focus for 2025-26.

It’s important to note that despite recent successes, we continue to operate in a challenging economic and fundraising climate. This is reflected in the fact that 5% of our total income over the year came from Trusts and Foundations that were in the process of winding up.

Our donation income this year of £40k (2024: £92k) was significantly lower this year, mainly reflecting a number of larger one-off donations in the previous year. Our individual giving base remains small despite efforts in the year to attract new supporters. Donation income continues to show a declining trend within our overall income, comprising 4% of our income total compared to 10% in the previous year and 15% the year before that.

We also had income from our contracts work which involves supporting women in other charities’ services with employability. This totalled £104k in the year (2023: £99k) and comprised 10% of our income.

Our spend was higher compared to the previous year as we incurred higher staff costs partly reflecting the rise in NI contributions, and also as a result of our determination to retain talent and ensure that we have the continuity to deliver the best possible support to our clients.

Our expenditure increased to £960k (2024: £867k), an increase of 11% over the previous year as we invested further in fundraising, incurred higher costs to attract and retain staff offset by savings across the board on non-staff costs as we sought to balance our higher staff costs.

This year, we continued to report on expenditure through the lenses of our key activities of influencing and service delivery. Our service delivery costs represent our direct work with women and this totalled £600k (2024: £558k) for the year once support costs had been allocated. This equates to 63% of our costs which was broadly in line with last year (2024: 64%).

Our influencing work aims to encourage employers to adopt inclusive recruitment policies and practice, as well as liaising with government and the prison and probation system to help decision-makers understand what needs to happen to increase the employment rate of women with convictions, particularly those leaving prison. Overall, once support costs had been allocated, we spent 26% (2023: 24%) on influencing which

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

amounted to £250k (2024: £210k). We also spent 11% of total spend on fundraising (£110k) compared to 11% last year.

The surplus for the year meant that our total reserves increased compared to last year and stand at £888k (2024: £831k) at the end of the year. See below for further details on our reserves.

Working Chance’s balance sheet remains healthy. We do not foresee any cashflow problems as we continue to hold the majority of our reserves in cash (liquid assets).

Reserves

Working Chance holds free reserves to enable us to continue operating in the event of unexpected financial setbacks, such as loss of income or cost increases. Reserves also provide an adequate level of working capital and provide investment income.

In 2023/24 we invested in fundraising and committed to monitoring the fundraising performance carefully throughout 2024/25 to review whether this investment reduced our income risk longer term with a view to reducing our need to hold reserves at the nine-month level. We are pleased to report that this investment has paid off, and income has performed better over 2024/25. Therefore, after careful consideration, talking to funders, reviewing our income and benchmarking with other charities, Trustees agreed that the level of free reserves should be reduced from a minimum of £742k (equivalent to nine months of expenditure) to £554k (equivalent to six months of expenditure).

Alongside this, in 2024/25 Trustees designated a fund of £275k, primarily to continue our investment in fundraising to further grow the charity so that we can support the higher number of women seeking to access our services. We intend to spend this part of the designated fund from the second half of 2025/26 up until 2028/29 when we hope the investment will result in sustainable income that will increase the financial sustainability of the charity.

We will also use the fund to invest in training and development for our frontline service delivery team, to ensure that we are as successful as possible in achieving positive outcomes for the women we support.

At the end of August 2025, our total reserves were £888k (2024: £831k). Our free reserves were £610k (2024: £804k), equivalent to six months’ expenditure from the total 2025/26 budgeted spend and therefore within our policy.

We assess that there remains much uncertainty about the economic climate (including the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the effects of high inflation) and we continue to see extremely tough competition for funding. We review the reserves policy every quarter, taking into consideration our strategy, financial position and the external environment.

Last year total reserves also included restricted funds of £21k; these funds are to be used for specific purposes as requested by the donor. This year, we did not hold any restricted funds at year end. Further detail on reserves is given below in note 17 to the accounts.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

Going concern

Trustees have assessed the ability of Working Chance to continue as a going concern. The Trustees have considered several factors when forming their conclusion as to whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate when preparing these financial statements including a review of budget to the end of 2026 and draft budgets to the end of 2029, a review of pipeline income for the rest of the year 2025-26 and a consideration of key risks, including strategic risks, that could negatively affect the charity.

Trustees have reviewed funding for the coming year and at the time of writing this report, we have secured 51% of grant funding for 2025-26 (compared to 64% this time last year). This is the main source of income for the charity and is lower than last year, reflecting the significant statutory funding from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) that has not been confirmed past April 2026, a number of one-off donations in 2024-25 that are difficult to replace and the growing need to further develop our funding partnerships beyond one-year agreements.

The key risk in 2025-26 is our new unidentified income target of £260k. Trustees have assessed this risk reviewing the following mitigating actions:

In addition to the secured income, we have a pipeline of potential income where funders have been identified or where we are awaiting the outcome of applications already made. This is weighted so that we can better balance risk across the portfolio. This pipeline of potential income is diverse but lacks the depth and breadth of funding opportunities that we have seen in previous years. To strengthen this pipeline, we are working hard to identify new grant prospects. We are continuing to run lead generation campaigns to develop our individual giving supporter base and have approached employers that we work with to ask them for donations. Our primary fundraising focus is on securing larger multi-year grants to ensure financial sustainability.

Our investment in fundraising over the past two years has delivered results, generating increased income for the charity. In order to attempt to maintain this increased level of income and put the foundations in place for future income growth, we plan to allocate part of the designated fund toward further strengthening our fundraising capacity. This will include engaging a fundraising consultant to assess our readiness to expand into new income streams, such as corporate partnerships and individual giving. Based on their recommendations, we aim to create an additional role within the fundraising team to help drive these opportunities forward and boost our income-generating activities.

Based on the information above, the Board has concluded that Working Chance will be able to continue for 12 months from signing without material uncertainties and therefore consider Working Chance to be a going concern.

Investments

Our investment objective is to maintain sufficient liquidity of funds and their overall value in order to ensure that the charity can be managed effectively and to mitigate against unexpected shortfalls.

As at 31 August 2025, Working Chance had cash deposits of £971k (2024: £913k representing primarily unrestricted reserves (see above section for more details on reserves).

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

In 2022-23, we reviewed our investment policy in response to rising inflation and interest rates that impacted the economy from summer 2022 onwards. Our revised investment policy allows more flexibility by use of a cash platform which allows easy access to several different banks and preferential interest rates. This has allowed us to take advantage of significantly better deposit rates than we previously had access to and allows us to be agile with our cash investments, ensuring we are getting the best return possible on our cash. We generated £34k of interest this year compared to £37k last year, the slight reduction reflecting the lowering of interest rates during the year. We have maintained the requirement that deposits should be spread by counterparty, subject to maximum exposure of 40% of the total cash balance per institution. We monitor the distribution of cash among the banks monthly and as at 31 August 2025 we were within this limit across our bank accounts.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The Trustees and executive management of Working Chance believe that sound risk management is integral to both good management and good governance practice. Risk is considered in key decision processes at Working Chance at the executive and Board level.

We have committed to reviewing our risk management framework and processes on an annual basis and have completed this during the year.

The Board is satisfied that the major risks facing the charity have been identified and are being appropriately addressed. This includes the Board’s assessment of the ongoing economic challenges of the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation as well as recent and ongoing conflicts in the world and a difficult fundraising environment.

We identify and analyse our key strategic risks in five areas (governance, external, regulatory, financial, operational) and prioritise these based on their impact and likelihood. We also have a risk appetite statement which was agreed by the Board to describe our approach to risk in key areas such as service delivery, finance and influencing activity.

Alongside our existing risk management framework, the following processes are in place to ensure risk management is embedded across the organisation and that key risks are monitored effectively.

The risk register is monitored by the senior leadership team (SLT) on a quarterly basis.
The Finance and Fundraising Committee (FFC) reviews the top five risks on a quarterly basis with the top five being defined as those with the highest score or where there has been significant movement or update.
The FFC also reviews strategic risks quarterly.
In addition, the FFC views one key risk area in depth at every quarterly FFC meeting to understand and challenge the impact, controls and scoring for risks in that area.
The People Committee specifically review the top three people risks on a quarterly basis.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

The Board reviews key strategic risks on a quarterly basis alongside the quarterly risk-reporting to the FFC.

We identified that the key risks currently facing the charity were:

Income generation and financial sustainability continue to be an issue which Trustees are monitoring. See above for commentary (under ‘going concern’) for a summary of mitigations in this area.
Increasing demand for our service, which means that women are placed on a waiting list before accessing our support. We introduced a waiting list for the first time in January 2023, and while we have made progress in reducing the length of time women wait to access the service, demand still outstrips our capacity. To help manage this, we trialled bringing in temporary frontline worker support over the summer, which proved effective in easing pressure on the service. We may use this approach again in the future, however we are hopeful that by investing in income generation, we can channel additional resources into expanding our delivery team, ensuring we’re better equipped to meet the demand from women for our service. The underlying trend is clear - more women are seeking our help, and the demand continues to grow.

Other risks include safeguarding, data protection, cyber security and health and safety. We are committed to providing a safe environment for everyone and continue to review all our safeguarding policies and related procedures to ensure they are in line with the latest guidance and ensure that all staff and Trustees receive appropriate training. During the year, we renewed our Cyber Essentials Plus certification, which forms part of our mitigation against cyber-security threats and refreshed our Health and Safety policy.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Working Chance was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee on 6 August 2009 and registered as a charity on 24 September 2009. It is regulated by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The Articles set out that the charity was established to support socially disadvantaged members of our community. The Working Chance mission evolved from those objects – namely to empower women with convictions to fulfil their potential and reintegrate into mainstream society by helping them to develop their employability and self-belief and find a job they can thrive in.

Working Chance applies and follows the Charity Governance Code (for smaller charities) which was refreshed in December 2020. Last year we reviewed our governance arrangements against this code and found that we had a robust governance framework in place although we did identify some opportunities around risk management, assessing effectiveness of the Board and further embedding our EDI priorities at Board level. This year we have strengthened our approach to risk management, reviewing our risk management processes annually rather than every 3 years and taken time to refresh our risk appetite statement during the year. We have included EDI as a standing agenda item in our People Committee meeting and are working on ways to bring the Board and our lived experience panellists together more effectively.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

The Board of Trustees has collective responsibility for everything that the charity does, including the legal responsibility to ensure it is controlled and properly managed. The Board delegates responsibility for operational management to the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive leads the senior leadership team to develop plans, policies and processes following the Board’s advice and approval.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the strategic direction of the charity and meets quarterly together with the Chief Executive and senior leadership team to review progress and to ensure the charity is on track to meet its objectives.

All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 8 to the accounts.

Appointment of Trustees

The directors of the company are also charity Trustees for the purposes of charity law. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, each Director:

may be appointed for a term of up to three years; and
may serve one or more terms in office

but shall not be eligible to hold office as a Director for more than six consecutive years unless under exceptional circumstance all Directors agree up to one additional year.

In an effort to maintain a broad skill mix, the Board of Trustees reviews its effectiveness regularly and in the event of particular skills being needed individuals are recruited to the Board. We carried out a Trustees skills audit during 23-24 and again in September 2025 which showed no significant skills gaps amongst the current Trustee cohort.

When recruiting new Trustees, we always seek to increase the diversity of the Board, particularly with regard to lived experience of the criminal justice system and ethnicity.

During 2024-25, one Trustee resigned from the Board, and one new Trustee was appointed. Trustees serving in 2024-25 are listed on page 52.

TRUSTEE INDUCTION AND TRAINING

We ensure that new Trustees receive any training they need associated with their legal obligations under charity and company law and the requirements of the Charity Commission, including safeguarding training.

In addition, they are provided with a full induction pack containing information about the charity focused on its mission, strategy, structure and performance. They also spend time with the Chair and key staff to gain a greater understanding of the charity.

Trustees are given opportunities throughout the year to meet staff and service users through participation in planned events, workshops and staff presentations to the Board.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

RELATED PARTIES AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS

None of our Trustees receive remuneration or other benefit from their work with the charity. Any connection between a Trustee or senior manager of the charity or with other industry-related bodies or organisations must be disclosed to the full Board of Trustees, in the same way as any other contractual relationship with a related party would be. In the current year no such related party transactions were reported.

REMUNERATION POLICY FOR KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

During the year, we revised our Pay and Reward policy committing to providing competitive salaries and benchmarking pay for specific roles on an annual basis. Organisational affordability is also a key determinant of pay increases. All Working Chance employees are paid above the London Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Remuneration for the Chief Executive and senior leadership team is approved by the People Committee, a sub-committee of the Board of Trustees which includes the function of the Remuneration Committee. It meets as a Remuneration Committee at least once a year to review remuneration policy and to provide scrutiny to remuneration decisions. The remuneration ratio for the charity, defined as the multiple between the highest pay to lowest pay in the organisation, is considered as well as external market conditions for specific roles.

EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

This year we continued to work on implementing our equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy across the organisation. We have fully embedded our anonymous recruitment processes and have seen a slight positive impact on our demographics with the proportion of racially minoritised groups represented in staff at Working Chance increasing slightly over the last three years. We have also enabled greater internal career progression by restructuring our service delivery team during the year, implemented from September 2025. We have continued to bring in external EDI training and to support our own EDI working group which helps the organisation to identify the areas where improvements can be made. We run regular employee pulse surveys to help us understand the employee experience and the People Committee reviews analyses of these surveys at their quarterly meetings.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES

The Trustees (who, for the purpose of company law, are also directors of Working Chance), are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ annual report including the strategic report and the financial statements, in accordance with applicable law and UK Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare true and fair financial statements for each financial year, that give an overview of the state of affairs of the charitable company, of the incoming resources and their application, including the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. When preparing these financial statements, the Trustees must:

Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently.
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

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 for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware.
The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information. 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 UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31 August 2025 was 8 (2024: 8). The Trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 August 2025

AUDITOR

Sayer Vincent LLP was appointed as the charitable company’s auditor during the year and has expressed its willingness to continue in that capacity.

The Trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

The Trustees’ annual report has been approved by the Trustees on 9 December 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Lin Hinnigan Chair of Trustees

Independent auditor’s report

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Working Chance Limited (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 August 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including 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 charitable company’s affairs as at 31 August 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended
Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006

Basis for opinion

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

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on Working Chance Limited’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 auditor’s report

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the 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 this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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 for the financial 31 August 2021 for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
The Trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

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’ 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 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; or
The directors were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the Trustees’ annual report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Independent auditor’s report

Responsibilities of Trustees

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

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

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

We enquired of management, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity’s policies and procedures relating to:
Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;
The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or noncompliance with laws and regulations.
We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience.

Independent auditor’s report

We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We reviewed any reports made to regulators.
We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: 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 charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Noelia Serrano (Senior Statutory Auditor)

Date 15 December 2025 for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor, 110 Golden Lane LONDON EC1Y 0TG

Statement of financial activities

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

For the year ended 31 August 2025

				2025			2024
		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	Note	£	£	£	£	£	£
Income from:
Donations and legacies	2	40,431	-	40,431	91,763	-	91,763
Charitable activities	3	415,754	522,972	938,726	235,221	540,392	775,613
Other trading activities	4	3,885	-	3,885	1,445	-	1,445
Investments		34,170	-	34,170	36,553	-	36,553
Other income	5	220	-	220	2,099	-	2,099
Total income		494,460	522,972	1,017,432	367,081	540,392	907,473
Expenditure on:
Raising funds	6	109,592	-	109,592	77,616	20,723	98,339
Charitable activities	6
Delivery of services		81,835	518,362	600,197	97,457	460,627	558,084
Influencing		224,422	25,383	249,805	171,695	38,485	210,180
Total expenditure		415,849	543,745	959,594	346,768	519,835	866,603
Net income for the year and		78,611	(20,773)	57,838	20,313	20,557	40,870
net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward		809,865	20,773	830,638	789,552	216	789,768
Total funds carried forward		888,476	-	888,476	809,865	20,773	830,638

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 17a to the financial statements.

Balance sheet

BALANCE SHEET

As at 31 August 2025

				Company no. 06331809	Company no. 06331809
			2025		2024
	Note	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets:
Tangible assets	12		3,828		6,559
			3,828		6,559
Current assets:
Debtors	13	121,154		62,426
Short-term deposits		170,000		255,000
Cash at bank and in hand		800,955		657,868
		1,092,109		975,294
Liabilities:
Creditors: amounts falling due	14	(207,461)		(151,214)
within one year
Net current assets			884,648		824,079
Total net assets			888,476		830,638
The funds of the charity:	17
Restricted income funds					20,773
Unrestricted income funds:
General funds		613,476		809,865
Designated funds		275,000
Total unrestricted			888,476		809,865
funds
Total charity funds			888,476		830,638

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to small companies subject to the small companies' regime.

Approved by the Trustees on 9 December 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Lin Hinnigan Chair

Statement of cash flows

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the year ended 31 August 2025

		2025			2024
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Cash flows from operating
activities
Net cash provided by operating	57,838	57,838		40,870	40,870
activities
Adjustments for:
Interest receivable	(34,170)	(34,170)		(36,553)	(36,553)
Depreciation	3,230	3,230		4,641	4,641
Loss on sale of fixed assets	-	-		1,526	1,526
Increase in debtors	(58,728)	(58,728)		(9,619)	(9,619)
Increase in creditors	56,247	56,247		39,440	39,440
Net cash provided by operating			24,417			40,305
activities
Cash flows from investing
activities:
Dividends, interest and rents	34,170	34,170		36,553	36,553
from investments
Purchase of tangible fixed	(500)	(500)		(2,520)	(2,520)
assets
Short-term deposits returned	85,000	85,000
Net cash provided by investing			118,670			34,033
activities
Change in cash and cash			143,087			74,338
equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at			657,868			583,530
the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at			800,955			657,868
the end of the year

Notes to the financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 August 2025

1. Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

Working Chance Limited is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in the United Kingdom. The current registered office address (and principal place of business) is: Working Chance Limited, Southbank Technopark, 90 London Road, London, SE1 6LN.

b) Basis of preparation

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

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

In applying the financial reporting framework, the Trustees have made a number of subjective judgements, for example in respect of significant accounting estimates. Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The nature of the estimation means the actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. Any significant estimates and judgements affecting these financial statements are detailed within the relevant accounting policy below.

c) Public benefit entity

The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

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

The Trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

e) Income

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

Income from charitable activities is recognised on a cash basis when grants are received. Where grant income is subject to specific time-based conditions or performance periods, the income is recognised on a straight-line basis over the duration of the relevant period, in accordance with the accruals concept.

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

Legacy income is recognised when the charity believes there is entitlement, receipt is probable and the amount can be measured reliably.

f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity

Notes to the financial statements

has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) volunteer time is not recognised.

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

g) Investment income (interest receivable)

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

h) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor.

Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes that are freely given and without specified purpose.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes.

i) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

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

Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charity in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose, and any associated support costs.

Expenditure on charitable activities is split between the following categories:

Expenditure on delivery of services includes the cost of delivering the front line service to women undertaken to further the purposes of the charity, monitoring and evaluation costs and any associated support costs."
Expenditure on influencing activities includes our work to create better informed and more empathetic attitudes about women with convictions and to shift policy and practice along with any associated support costs.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

j) Allocation of support costs

Support and fundraising costs are allocated to charitable activities and fundraising based on staff time/cost attributable to that activity.

Governance costs are costs incurred in relation to constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

k) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Notes to the financial statements

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Fixtures, fittings, equipment and computer equipment (4 years).

l) Debtors

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

m) Cash at bank and in hand

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

n) Creditors and provisions

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

o) Pension

The company operates a defined contribution scheme for the benefit of its employees. Contributions payable are charged in the Statement of Financial Activities in the year they are payable.

p) Termination benefits

Termination benefits are payable when employment is terminated before the normal retirement date, or whenever an employee accepts voluntary redundancy in exchange for these benefits. The charity recognises termination benefits when it is demonstrably committed to either (i) terminating the employment of current employees according to a detailed formal plan without possibility of withdrawal or (ii) providing termination benefits as a result of an offer made to encourage voluntary redundancy.

2. Income from donations and legacies

	2025	2024
	Total	Total
	£	£
Gifts	30,521	81,308
Gift Aid tax reclaims	5,250	2,105
Gifts in kind	4,660	8,350
	40,431	91,763

Income from donations and legacies was £40,431 (2024: £91,763) all of which is unrestricted income.

Notes to the financial statements

Gifts in kind income comprised the receipt of free psychotherapy sessions for clients alongside some free training sessions for the delivery team. These are valued at the amount the charity would have to pay to acquire. An equivalent charge is included in expenditure.

3. Income from charitable activities

	2025	2025	2025	2024	2024	2024
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Grants	398,364	284,907	683,271	218,019	308,606	526,625
Statutory -
government grant	-	151,000	151,000	-	150,000	150,000
income
Statutory - delivery	17,390	87,065	104,455	17,202	81,786	98,988
of services
Total for charitable	415,754	522,972	938,726	235,221	540,392	775,613
activities

4. Income from other trading activities

	2025	2024
	Total	Total
	£	£
Training and consultancy	3,885	1,445
	3,885	1,445

5. Other income

5. Other income
	2025	2024
	Total	Total
	£	£
Access to work grant	-	999
Other income	220	1,100
	220	2,099

Notes to the financial statements

6a. Analysis of expenditure

Our charitable activity is split into our delivery of service costs (which relates to our frontline work and direct work with women) alongside influencing work to create better informed and more empathetic attitudes about women with convictions and to shift policy and practice.

	Raising	Charitable activities	Charitable activities	Governance	Support	2025	2024
	funds	Delivery of	Influencing	costs	costs	Total	Total
		services
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Staff costs (Note 8)	90,449	466,638	200,572	5,154	69,061	831,874	728,185
Other staff costs	-	28,937	1,687	-	5,596	36,220	20,454
Direct costs	1,873	9,875	-	11,971	2,827	26,546	33,794
Monitoring and evaluation	-	5,648	-	-	-	5,648	6,042
Marketing and Advocacy	-	-	9,249	-	-	9,249	4,215
Premises	-	-	-	-	24,000	24,000	30,145
Office running	-	-	-	-	226	226	16,192
Information technology	-	-	-	-	7,100	7,100	7,204
Insurance	-	-	-	-	3,783	3,783	3,492
Telephone	-	-	-	-	6,469	6,469	5,200
Depreciation and loss on disposals	-	-	-	-	3,230	3,230	6,166
Subscriptions	-	-	-	-	4,846	4,846	4,993
Other Expenditure	-	-	-	-	403	403	521
	92,322	511,098	211,508	17,125	127,541	959,594	866,603
Support costs	15,226	78,551	33,764	-	(127,541)	-	-
Governance costs	2,044	10,548	4,533	(17,125)	-	-	-
Total expenditure 2025	109,592	600,197	249,805	-	-	959,594	866,603
Total expenditure 2024	98,339	558,084	210,180	-	-	-	866,603

Notes to the financial statements

6b. Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

		Charitable activities	Charitable activities
		Delivery of		Governance		2024
	Raising funds	services	Influencing	costs	Support costs	Total
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Staff costs (Note 8)	72,415	388,327	151,883	10,058	105,502	728,185
Other staff costs	-	9,701	629	-	10,124	20,454
Direct costs	439	17,350	-	11,488	4,517	33,794
Monitoring and evaluation	-	6,042	-	-	-	6,042
Marketing and Advocacy	-	-	4,215	-	-	4,215
Premises	-	-	-	-	30,145	30,145
Office running	-	-	-	-	16,192	16,192
Information technology	-	-	-	-	7,204	7,204
Insurance	-	-	-	-	3,492	3,492
Telephone	-	-	-	-	5,200	5,200
Depreciation and loss on disposals	-	-	-	-	6,166	6,166
Subscriptions	-	-	-	-	4,993	4,993
Other Expenditure	-	-	-	-	521	521
	72,854	421,420	156,727	21,546	194,056	866,603
Support costs	22,938	123,007	48,111	-	(194,056)	-
Governance costs	2,547	13,657	5,342	(21,546)	-	-
Total expenditure 2024	98,339	558,084	210,180	-	-	866,603

Notes to the financial statements

7. Net income for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

	2025	2024
	£	£
Auditor's remuneration: Audit	9,700	9,200
Depreciation	3,230	4,641
Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets	-	1,526
Operating lease payments: Land and buildings	-	26,720

8. Analysis of staff costs, Trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

	2025	2024
	£	£
Salaries and wages	711,666	631,308
Social security costs	81,895	64,697
Pensions	38,313	32,180
	831,874	728,185

The number of employees receiving employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) greater than £60,000 are:

		2025	2024
		No.	No.
£80,000 - £89,999	£80,000 - £89,999	1	1

The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £326,124 (2024: £315,940).

The charity Trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2024: £nil). Three Trustees were reimbursed £345 (2024: two Trustees, £171) for travel and other expenses during the year. No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity.

Notes to the financial statements

9. Staff numbers

The average monthly head count was 18 staff (2024: 18 staff). The average monthly number of full-time equivalent employees during the year was as follows:

	2025	2024
		Re-stated
	No.	No.
Delivery of services	11.5	11.0
Influencing	3.0	2.0
Raising funds	1.5	1.3
Support	1.0	1.5
	17.0	15.8

10. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions during the year. Some Trustees of Working Chance are also employed by organisations that have worked with or funded the charity. The Trustees have no financial interest in these transactions.

There were no donations from related parties which were outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties. The total donations given by the charity Trustees in the year were £1,090 (2024: £1,127).

11. Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

12. Tangible fixed assets

12. Tangible fixed assets
		Fixtures,
		fittings
		and
	IT	equipment	Total
Cost	£	£	£
At the start of the year	19,499	890	20,389
Additions in year	500	-	500
Disposals in year	(1,332)	-	(1,332)
At the end of the year	18,667	890	19,557
Depreciation
At the start of the year	13,181	649	13,830
Charge for the year	3,007	223	3,230
Eliminated on disposal	(1,331)	-	(1,331)
At the end of the year	14,857	872	15,729
Net book value
At the end of the year	3,810	18	3,828
At the start of the year	6,318	241	6,559

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

Notes to the financial statements

13. Debtors

	2025	2024
	£	£
Trade debtors	18,142	21,686
Prepayments	13,738	10,563
Accrued income	89,274	30,177
	121,154	62,426

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	2025	2024
	£	£
Trade creditors		14,545	6,227
Taxation and social security		17,788	15,444
Pension liability		6,464	5,530
Accruals		27,515	29,663
Deferred income (note 15)		141,149	94,350
		207,461	151,214

15. Deferred income

Deferred income comprises of grants received in advance.

	2025	2024
	£	£
Balance at the beginning of the year	94,350	62,902
Amount released to income in the year	(94,350)	(62,902)
Amount deferred in the year	141,149	94,350
Balance at the end of the year	141,149	94,350

Notes to the financial statements

16a. Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

	Designated	General	Restricted	Total
	funds	unrestricted		funds
	£	£	£	£
Tangible fixed assets	-	3,828	-	3,828
Net current assets	275,000	609,648	-	884,648
Net assets at 31 August 2025	275,000	613,476	-	888,476

16b. Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

	Designated	General	Restricted	Total
	funds	unrestricted		funds
	£	£	£	£
Tangible fixed assets	-	6,559	-	6,559
Net current assets	-	803,306	20,773	824,079
	-	809,865	20,773	830,638
Net assets at 31 August 2024

Notes to the financial statements

17a. Movements in funds (current year)

	At 1 September 2024	Income & gains	Expenditure & losses	Transfers	At 31 August 2025
	£	£	£	£	£
Restricted funds:
Advance Advocacy	-	47,933	(47,933)	-	-
Advance Advocacy - MAIA	-	39,133	(39,133)	-	-
Anonymous grant donation	-	4,165	(4,165)	-	-
Big Give	-	14,780	(14,780)	-	-
Big Yellow Foundation	-	35,000	(35,000)	-	-
Charles Haywood	-	25,000	(25,000)	-	-
City Bridge Trust	-	41,625	(41,625)	-	-
Columbia Threadneedle Foundation	20,773	14,000	(34,773)	-	-
Emmanuel Kaye Foundation	-	30,000	(30,000)	-	-
Ministry of Justice	-	151,000	(151,000)	-	-
National Lottery - Reaching Communities	-	80,000	(80,000)	-	-
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust	-	33,336	(33,336)	-	-
The Third House Trust	-	7,000	(7,000)	-	-
Total restricted funds	20,773	522,972	(543,745)	-	-
Unrestricted funds:
Designated Funds	-	-	-	275,000	275,000
General	809,865	494,460	(415,849)	(275,000)	613,476
funds
Total unrestricted funds	809,865	494,460	(415,849)	-	888,476
Total funds	830,638	1,017,432	(959,594)	-	888,476

Notes to the financial statements

Purposes of restricted funds (current year)

Restricted funds	Description, nature and purposes of the fund
Advance Advocacy	Delivery of employability workshops.
Advance Advocacy - MAIA	Delivery of employability services to young women that have experienced violence who are at risk of contact with criminal justice system.
Anonymous grant donation	Delivery of employability support to women with convictions.
Big Give	Funding for our employability services work.
Big Yellow Foundation	Funding our education and training support to women with convictions.
Charles Haywood	Delivery of employability support to women with convictions.
City Bridge Trust	Delivery of our employability work in London.
Columbia Threadneedle Foundation	Funding for our Education and Training work.
Emmanuel Kaye Foundation	Delivery of employability support to women with convictions.
Ministry of Justice	Core funding for support staff, office and overhead costs.
National Lottery - Reaching Communities	Delivery of employability support to women with convictions alongside funding for our evaluation work and work with employers.
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust	Delivery of employability support to women with convictions.
The Third House Trust	Delivery of employability support to women with convictions.

The Trustees have designated a new fund of £275k at the end of 2024-25 for further investing in fundraising which will support our growth over the next few years and strengthen our financial sustainability. The fund will also support enhancements in the service team, helping us to make our service for women with convictions even better.

Notes to the financial statements

17b. Movements in funds (prior year)

	At 1 September 2023	Income & gains	Expenditure and losses	Transfers	At 31 August 2024
	£	£	£	£	£
Restricted funds:
Advance Advocacy	-	44,990	(44,990)	-	-
Advance Advocacy - MAIA	-	36,796	(36,796)	-	-
Big Give	-	20,000	(20,000)	-	-
Blackrock	-	7,588	(7,588)	-	-
Charles Haywood	-	25,000	(25,000)	-	-
City Bridge Trust	-	30,600	(30,600)	-	-
Columbia Threadneedle Foundation	-	60,000	(39,227)	-	20,773
Emmanuel Kaye Foundation	-	30,000	(30,000)	-	-
Fondation Chanel -step down funding	-	33,750	(33,750)	-	-
Ministry of Justice	-	150,000	(150,000)	-	-
National Lottery - Reaching Communities	-	60,000	(60,000)	-	-
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust	-	16,668	(16,668)	-	-
The Clothworkers' Foundation	216	-	(216)	-	-
QBE Foundation	-	25,000	(25,000)	-	-
Total restricted funds	216	540,392	(519,835)	-	20,773
Unrestricted funds:
Designated Funds
	50,000	-	(50,000)	-	-
General
funds	739,552	367,081	(296,768)	-	809,865
Total unrestricted funds	789,552	367,081	(346,768)	-	809,865
Total funds	789,768	907,473	(866,603)	-	830,638

Notes to the financial statements

Purposes of restricted funds (prior year)

Restricted funds which expired in prior year included below

Restricted funds
Description, nature and purposes of
the fund
Blackrock
Development of our employerportal.
Fondation Chanel - step down funding
Funding for our new dedicated
fundraiser, fundraising support costs
and towards our communications
team.
The Clothworkers' Foundation
Fundingof equipment.
QBE Foundation
Delivery of employability support to
women with convictions.
18. Legal status of the charity
The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each
member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.
~~a~~

References and administrative information

REFERENCES AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Company number: 06331809 Country of incorporation: United Kingdom Charity number: 111802 Country of registration: England & Wales Registered office and operational address: South Bank Technopark, 90 London Road, London, SE1 6LN.

Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:

Lin Hinnigan, Chair Joanna Dennis, Treasurer Kate Hamilton, appointed 24 June 2025 Renata Graver Ami Jenick Clare Laxton Kat Liapis Kate Millward, retired 12 June 2025 Alex Talcer

Key management staff

Natasha Finlayson Chief Executive Ruth Daniells Head of Finance and Resources, Chief Operating Officer from 9 October 2025 Lizzy Jewell Head of Communications and Engagement Richard Rowley Head of Strategic Partnerships, Deputy Chief Executive from 1 October 2025 Helen Sweet Head of Employability, resigned 9 May 2025

Bankers

The Co-Operative Bank Flagstone PO Box 250 1st Floor, Clareville House Delf House 26-27 Oxendon Street Southway London Skelmersdale SW1Y 4EL WN8 6WT

Auditor

Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor 110 Golden Lane

London EC1Y 0TG

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS

Anonymous funders

Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust

The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust

Autotrader

Garfield Weston Foundation

The A B Charitable Trust

Belpech Trust

Henry Smith Foundation The Big Yellow Foundation

Big Give

Impact London Collective
The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation

CABWI Awarding Body

Capital Group
Charles Hayward Foundation
John and Susan Bowers Fund
Learning Curve Foundation (Point North)
L’Oreal Foundation

The Julia Rausing Trust

The National Lottery Community Fund The Tolkien Trust
City and Metropolitan Welfare Charity
Marsh Charitable Trust
The Tomoro Foundation

City Bridge Foundation

Columbia Threadneedle Foundation
Michael and Shirley Hunt Charitable Trust
Ministry of Justice
The Willow Tree Trust
- Third House Trust
Dr Catherine Nelson
Sydney Black Charitable Trust

Working Chance South Bank Technopark 90 London Road London, SE1 6LN info@workingchance.org

workingchance.org @working_chance /workingchance /company/workingchance