## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
Period start date Period end date 01 January 2025 31 December 2025
**From To**
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name** Triple A Project (All About Autism) **Other names charity is known by** Triple A **Registered charity number (if any)** 1177317 **Charity's principal address** The Resource Centre Sandgate Penrith **Postcode** CA11 7TP
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled
Trustee name Office (if any)
year to appoint trustee (if any)
1 Sheila Gregory Chair
Louise Galloway Treasurer (Outgoing) 1 [st] Jan – 6 [th] October
2
Secretary 6th of October onwards
Andrew Asquith- Secretary (Outgoing) 1 [st] Jan-30 [th] June
3
Vallance
Stephen Edward Trustee
4
Prior
5 Sarah Burrows Trustee
6 Penny Day Trustee Appointed 24/01/2026
7 Prof. John Young Trustee Appointed 24/01/2026
8 Dr Geoffrey Jolliffe Trustee Appointed 24/01/2026
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
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**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
**Name Dates acted if not for whole year**
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## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
**Type of adviser Name Address**
## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
## **Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **Description of the charity’s trusts**
Type of governing document
Constitution
- (eg. trust deed, constitution)
Charity Incorporated Organisation How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Appointed by Trustees Trustee selection methods
- (eg. trust, association, company)
- (eg. appointed by, elected by)
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
Declared conflict of interest by trustee Stephen Prior, who is married to the charity CEO
Additional trustees appointed at the beginning of 2026, treasurer post remained open until May 2026
- the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
- relationship with any related parties;
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
## **Section C Objectives and activities**
The promotion of social inclusion for the public benefit amongst autistic & neurodivergent individuals who are socially excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of being autistic or neurodivergent by: 1. **Summary of the objects of the** Raising public awareness of the issues affecting autistic and **charity set out in its** neurodivergent individuals and their families, both generally and in **governing document** relation to their social exclusion; 2. Provide education opportunities and information to support and enable autistic & neurodivergent people and their families to maximise their educational, social, and economic opportunities; 3. Providing social and recreational facilities and
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opportunities for autistic people; 4. Provide workshops, forums, mentoring and general support for autistic and non-autistic people.
A summary of the main activities undertaken by the charity to carry out its charitable purposes for the public benefit include:
- informing public about autism and neurodivergence by training, social media, speaking at public events, speaking at statutory meetings
- establishing volunteering and personal development opportunities for autistic adults through training, design and delivery of Discovery Your Autism programme and other programs, facilitation of social groups, focus groups and involvement in lived experience centred research
**Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)**
- developing peer-mentoring for autistic and neurodivergent people through the Navigator Programme to offer intensive and bespoke support
- Providing social and recreational opportunities for autistic people through social and shared interest groups and activities
- Delivery of employment related support and personal development opportunities through the Inclusion @ Work programme
- To develop pilot psychoeducational workshops for autistic and neurodivergent young people
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**Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
Section D Achievements and performance
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## Section D Achievements and performance
|**Summary of the main**
**achievements of the charity**
**during the year**|Over the past year Triple A Project has worked hard to provide and
enhance our services to the autistic community in Cumbria. We are
pleased to be able to provide support and opportunities to more
than 300 autistic people across our Navigator peer-mentoring
Programme, social and shared interest groups , post
diagnosis Discover Your Autism courses, and Inclusion @ Work
programme.
Notably, In 2025 we opened up our employment and mentoring
services to people with ADHD, who do not have an autism
diagnosis. To reflect current diagnosis waiting times, we have also
opened these same services to people who do not have a formal
diagnosis, where this would otherwise prove a barrier to timely
support.
Some members access just one of our services, whilst others are
involved in multiple Triple A activities. It is not uncommon, for
example, for a newly diagnosed Autistic adult to come through our
NHS funded post-diagnosis “Discover your Autism” course and go
on to access our Inclusion @ Work Service or our Navigator
mentoring service and then to join one or more of our social
groups.
Our North Cumbria NHS funded Discover Your Autism course
moved from grant-funded to contracted status in 2025.
Improvements in pre-course information and sign-up processes
have seen course sign up numbers and retention rates increase
significantly from 75% of attendees completing the course in 2024
to almost 80% by the end of 2025 and still rising. Courses are fully
Autistic led and course content centres around building self-
understanding, self-acceptance, sense of belonging and identity
related self-esteem, with course facilitators and attendees sharing
their own experiences to give context to course materials. Here are
some feedback examples from course attendees:
_“I walked away buzzing after the first session and finally after 49_
_years I was amongst people who totally got me and fully_
_understood me.”_
_“I found the whole of the course very useful. I've expanded my_
_knowledge around autism. I think the emotional wellbeing [session]_
_was really helpful for me, it has helped me to understand my limits,_
_to set boundaries and stick to them! Also, the importance of self-_
_care and compassion towards myself.”_
_“Overall, it was very positive and validating and I’m really looking_
_forward to the next session.”_
We are proud to report that the two former course attendees who
moved through paid co-facilitation roles on the course into lead
facilitator roles in 2024, continue to grow in confidence and
experience, with one of these going on to step in to play a key role
in project managing the development of a pilot youth version of the
course.|
|---|---|
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Section D Achievements and performance
Our Navigator Programme continues to demonstrate sustainable positive impact on individual lives with peer-led, individually tailored mentor support. Our Navigator mentors help mentees build selfunderstanding and develop self-led life goals and strategies to help them achieve these in ways which are sustainable beyond the lifespan of their support. Goals and support duration vary but typical goals include building social confidence, building specific life skills, developing executive functioning strategies, developing coping strategies, developing confidence and skills around communication or self-advocacy or developing strategies to support emotional or sensory regulation. We continue to see individuals demonstrate improvements in social confidence and sense of connection to their communities, confidently socialising beyond our own groups and communities and experiencing improved independence, employability and self-worth. Our Navigators come from a range of professional backgrounds including teaching, social work, counselling, mediation, occupational therapy and mental health but, importantly, most are either autistic or neurodivergent themselves. Here’s a comment passed on to a manager by a family member from a mentee who had recently started Navigation, illustrating why this is so important: _“[mentee name] said that she has never felt so understood by someone and she feels like she can really talk to Martha [her mentor]. She said that she has never experienced that with another person, which is amazing!”_ Social groups: Our fifteen social and shared interest groups across Cumbria seek to provide a friendly welcoming space for autistic people to be themselves and build social connection. Many of our groups can boast outcomes as significant as some of our more formal interventions. Notably our small Penrith-based Dungeons and dragons group has seen several group members who had formerly used self-descriptive terms such as “virtually housebound" improve their social confidence to the point at which they were able to begin attending other social activities within the wider community, such as sports teams and bands, then go on to secure paid employment. Initially the majority of Dungeons and Dragons group members where economically inactive, there are currently no group members who are not in paid employment. Our online women's group continued to grow in popularity and numbers during 2025, with sessions moving from fortnightly with extended time-slots to weekly to keep up with demand. Here are some quotes from women’s group attendees:
_“I love attending our group when I am able. I feel connected and can speak out about how I feel in the group too. I have gone to work meetings/groups with a list to say and felt overpowered so don’t say anything. In our group it feels so natural. I always feel like I belong and we are all on the ‘same page’ together.”_
“ _I've always struggled to fit it with other people and yet from joining the Women's Autistic Group I've started to understand why at last,_
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## Section D Achievements and performance
_in my late 50's! From listening to the other women in the group talking about autism and neurodiversity etc, hearing about their life experiences, what issues they have and how they work through things has given me so much more confidence in myself. I've realised that I fit in somewhere in the world, I'm not alone.”_ As well as support for individuals we provide lived-experience led CPD accredited training, workshops and talks to groups and companies: We continue to enjoy extremely positive feedback and participant recommendations continue to generate new bookings, income and payment in kind through training and resource swaps. Our Inclusion @ Work service continues in a paired down format, with funding from Cumbria Community Foundation enabling support and advocacy for those who are in-work and struggling only. After failing to attract continued funding from the National Lottery the service can no longer support those seeking employment. The great news is, that the end of 2025 saw Triple A successfully secure a contract to deliver the DWP funded Connect to Work service beginning from April 2026, in partnership with contract lead Inspira and a consortium of like-minded partner organisations. Not only will this funding more than replace the loss of Lottery funding but the collaborative and evidence based working model will allow us to deliver better resourced client-led support to each individual, over a longer period and in a way which aligns with our organisational ethos. The service is voluntary with no risk of benefit sanctions and prioritises finding fulfilling work and the right work fit, rather than simply any work and work at all costs. Increases in demand for our Navigator mentoring service and training drove staffing increases to include a new Operations Manager, a training development lead and three new Navigator mentors, taking our contracted team to eighteen, including casually contracted trainer/facilitators. This increase, in part, reflects a policy shift from using freelance workers for service delivery roles towards greater use of contracted staff. We continue to use some long-standing freelance colleagues on our post-diagnosis Discover Your Autism course, alongside contracted workers and in selected group facilitation roles, where this is the preference of the worker themselves. Our CEO remains Triple A’s only full-time employee. Our 2025 grant income has been generously provided by the following funders: Co-op Community Fund Cumbria Community Foundation Energy Coast English Heritage Francis C Scott Trust Frida Scott Trust Lloyd’s Banking Foundation NENC Integrated Care Board
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Section D Achievements and performance
Sir John Fisher Foundation Sport England The Copeland Fund The National Lottery Community Fund The National Lottery Awards For All
The Board of Triple A recognises that the charity could not deliver the pioneering and life-changing services it offers without the support and encouragement of its funders and the dedication and hard work of Triple A’s staff and volunteers. Thanks to all.
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## **Section E Financial review**
Trustees have set a target of three months of total operating costs, which **Brief statement of the** would currently equate to approximately £60k. After defining accurate **charity’s policy on reserves** relationships between restricted and unrestricted income and expenditure, the Trustees are content that we meet the target stated and are in a healthy financial position to take the charity forward.
**Details of any funds materially in deficit**
## **Further financial review details (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about:
- the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
- how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
- investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
## **Section F Other optional information**
## **Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)** Sheila Gregory **Position (eg Secretary, Chair,** Chair **etc) Date** 19/06/26
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
Triple A Project (All About Autism) 1177317
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period
01/01/2025 To 31/12/2025
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Donations & funraising 624 - - 624 60
Grants 46,041 41,183 - 87,224 159,324
Income from ASC & Health Contracts 99,463 - - 99,463 59,618
Training & Consultation Sales 3,420 - - 3,420 2,550
Bank Interest - - - - -
Income from self-funded clients 1,517 - - 1,517 3,124
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for AR) 151,065 41,183 - 192,248 224,676
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see
table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 151,065 41,183 - 192,248 224,676
A3 Payments
Staffing and employment costs 130,756 55,379 - 186,135 194,631
Rent, maintainence & Rates 6,550 1,500 - 8,050 6,000
Heat, light and Electricity - - - - -
Insurance 1,273 1,273 1,410
Print, Stationary, office sundries 3,533 - - 3,533 14,666
Services training and consultation 15,229 - 15,229 16,080
Charitable activities (including travel) 8,674 5,529 - 14,203 14,876
Returned funds - 1,954 - 1,954 -
Telephone & internet 1,802 490 - 2,292 2,295
Sub total [ 167,817 ] 64,852 - 232,669 249,958
A4 Asset and investment purchases,
(see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 167,817 64,852 - 232,669 249,958
Net of receipts/(payments) - 16,752 - 23,669 - - 40,421 - 25,282
A5 Transfers between funds - 3,351 3,351 - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 36,208 63,474 - 99,682 124,964
Cash funds this year end 16,105 43,156 - 59,261 99,682
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of
all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**|**Details**
Bank account
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**16,105**
**-**
**-**
**16,105**
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**43,156**
**-**
**-**
**43,156**
OK
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
OK
**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Current value**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Current value**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**When due**
**(optional)**
Date of
approval|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||
|||Print Name|||
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Report to the trustees/** Charity Name **members of** Triple A Project (All About Autism) **On accounts for the year** 31/12/2025 **Charity no** 1177317 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** 1-2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets) I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31 December 2025** . **Responsibilties and** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the **basis of report** accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
**Independent** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. _._
**Date:** 06/08/2026
**Signed: Name:** MARTIN BORRADAILE **Relevant professional** FCA, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales **qualification(s) or body (if any):**
1
**IER**
**Oct 2018**
**Address:** Dodd & Co Limited, FIFTEEN, Montgomery Way, Rosehill Industrial Estate
CARLISLE, CA1 2RW
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
2
**IER**
**Oct 2018**