Company registration number: 14036187 Charity registration number: 1204570
Babel Creative Education Ltd
(A company limited by guarantee) Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
Lambert Chapman LLP 3 Warners Mill Silks Way Braintree Essex CM7 3GB
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Contents
| Reference and Administrative Details | 1 |
|---|---|
| Chair's Report | 2 to 3 |
| Trustees' Report | 4 to 11 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 12 |
| Statement of Financial Activities | 13 |
| Balance Sheet | 14 |
| Notes to the Financial Statements | 15 to 22 |
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Reference and Administrative Details
Trustees J T Lynch T Taylor M Robinson Charity Registration Number 1204570 Company Registration Number 14036187 The charity is incorporated in England and Wales. Registered Office International House 6 Canterbury Crescent Brixton London SW9 7QE Independent Examiner Mark Pearson FCA Lambert Chapman LLP 3 Warners Mill Silks Way Braintree Essex CM7 3GB Bankers National Westminster Western Avenue Waterside Court Chatham Maritime Chatham Kent ME4 4RT
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Chair's Report for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
This has been a year of consolidation, invention and, in its own way, proof. Proof that an arts organisation can grow its reach and its output at the same time as it reduces its dependency on grant income. Proof that the values we have been developing and testing over the past several years are not only a creative framework but an organisational philosophy capable of sustaining real and ambitious work in conditions of genuine difficulty. And proof, I think, that Babel is becoming the kind of organisation it always set out to be: not a company that waits for permission to do the work, but one that finds a way to do it regardless.
The year began in the shadow of continued funding uncertainty, and we responded by making a considered and deliberate strategic decision: rather than continuing to invest time and energy into competitive funding applications whose outcomes we could not control, we would redirect that effort entirely into the development of earned income streams robust enough to sustain our charitable purposes without the precarious, fluctuating rhythm that grant dependency produces. That meant a smaller administrative team and a leaner operational structure. It also meant, unexpectedly and significantly, a larger programme. We worked with over 500 artists across the year in our workshops and programmes, and with over 20 freelance artists in direct service delivery. The scale of what we delivered without public subsidy is, I believe, remarkable, and it reflects something important about the relationship between constraint and creative capacity.
This year also brought significant organisational and leadership challenges that I want to acknowledge. Our Creative Producer, Aaron Greechan, took time away from his staff responsibilities due to illness. The operational and creative weight of the year fell, as a result, to me alone, and there were periods when that weight was considerable. I am grateful to Arron for his continued commitment as a trustee throughout that period, and I am glad to report that the organisation navigated the year without compromise to the quality or reach of its programme. But it has reinforced, with clarity, the importance of the staffing and capacity development work that the business plan sets out.
Against that context, the programme we delivered was extraordinary. Four Infuse residencies, each sold out, working with artists including internationally acclaimed artists Rhys Dennis and UK Dance Awards Choreographer of the Year Kloe Dean. Four Babel Labs, working with over 80 artists in the exploration of a values-led creative methodology that is proving to have implications far beyond the room in which it was first developed. Two further Propel residencies, free to access, delivered in partnership with the Ascension Agency and Lambeth Council. A six-week physical theatre module at East 15's MA/MFA directing programme, in which 15 professional artists were engaged to work alongside the next generation of theatre directors. The completion of MoveCircle. Two further commissions from Millfield School. All of it without grant funding. All of it sustained by the belief that the work is worth doing and that there is a way to do it.
The Babel Labs have become something I did not fully anticipate when we first designed them. What began as a programme of values-led creative workshops has evolved, through the responses of the artists who attended, into a genuine cultural proposition: a framework for creative practice and for organisational thinking that is being received not as a stylistic method but as a philosophical orientation. Artists have described the labs as a lifeline, as a transformation of their creative practice, as a way of understanding facilitation and leadership that they had not encountered before. We are developing this further, and the implications of that development, for what Babel is and for what it can offer the sector, continue to unfold.
The year ended with two significant markers of the organisation's growing maturity. Our Instagram following doubled from 1,500 to 3,200, a modest but meaningful indicator of the degree to which Babel is becoming, in the words of those who follow us, an industry pillar for artists seeking support and development. And, in February 2025, we were awarded funding by Arts Council England to deliver twelve months of artist development activity in 2025-26, encompassing Infuse, Babel Labs, mentoring and the launch of Creation Space, a new programme for theatre-makers, dance and movement artists who want to build their own work in dialogue with leading voices in UK physical and contemporary practice.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Chair's Report for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
I began this year asking a question that I think is worth repeating: what does it mean to use our values and our current situation to achieve more rather than less? The natural institutional response to financial pressure is contraction. We chose expansion, and we chose it on our own terms. I am proud of that choice and of the organisation it continues to produce.
The chair's report was approved on 26 April 2026 and signed by:
.........................................
J T Lynch Trustee and Artistic Director
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
The trustees, who are directors for the purposes of company law, present the annual report together with the financial statements of the charitable company for the year ended 30 April 2025.
Objectives and activities
Objects and aims
Babel Creative Education Ltd exists to advance education for the public benefit through the promotion of the arts, in particular theatre and related creative practice, with an emphasis on training, mentoring and the widening of access where opportunities are limited.
Our work is guided by four values, identified through the organisation's sustained engagement with the Future Connected Leadership Programme and developed into a living creative and operational methodology across this and the preceding reporting period:
• Celebration: a commitment to honouring the people we work with and the stories we make, treating the trust placed in us as something to be held with care and genuine gratitude.
• Responsiveness: a commitment to remaining alive, curious and in genuine relationship with the world around us, allowing the realities of that world to shape and deepen what we make and how we make it.
• Audacity: a commitment to choosing bravery over comfort, and to pushing the boundaries of what we believe to be possible in our leadership, our artistry and our relationships.
• Disruption: a commitment to challenging the stigmas, assumptions and inherited narratives that no longer serve our communities or the sector, and to making work that insists on a more honest and equitable account of human experience.
During the reporting period, we delivered our charitable purpose through artist development residencies and peer learning programmes, education commissions with higher education institutions and independent schools, community wellbeing programmes, and leadership and professional development activity that supports both the organisation itself and the broader cultural sector.
Public benefit
The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
Achievements and performance
Context: building without subsidy
The defining characteristic of this year's programme is that it was delivered, in its entirety, without grant funding. The decision to step back from funding applications and redirect that organisational energy into the development of earned income was not made lightly, but it was made with conviction, and the results have validated it. The scale, quality and reach of what was delivered across 2024-25 represent a significant and evidenced demonstration that Babel's model of financially independent, values-led artistic development is viable, sustainable and growing. The following sections set out what was delivered and what was learned.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
1. East 15 Physical Theatre Module
Babel were invited by East 15's MA/MFA Directing programme, part of the University of Essex, to lead six weeks of physical theatre training for the cohort of postgraduate directing students, culminating in a one-week residency in which the directors were paired with professional physical theatre and dance artists in small collaborative groups. This was a significant commission, and one that sits squarely within the tradition of Babel's engagement with postgraduate theatre education that began with the HOME Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University commission two years previously.
To be invited inside a conservatoire as the company whose practice is considered rigorous and distinctive enough to shape how the next generation of theatre directors understands physicality, space and the body in performance is a genuine and meaningful recognition of where Babel stands in the sector. We engaged 15 professional artists to work alongside the directors during the residency week, each bringing their own specialism and practice to the encounter. The module was received with considerable enthusiasm by the programme, and the relationship with East 15 represents an important and developing strand of the charity's education commission work.
2. Infuse Artist Development Residency Programme
Infuse has, across this year, fully established itself as both a significant artistic and cultural resource for working artists and a cornerstone of the charity's earned income model. We delivered four residencies across the year, working with artists at the highest levels of the contemporary dance and physical theatre landscape, and priced each residency at approximately £250, against a standard market rate of between £500 and £1,000, making high-quality training accessible to working artists who could not otherwise afford it.
Following the inaugural residency with Christopher Evans the previous year, we opened the 2024-25 programme with Rhys Dennis, an international choreographer and dancer working across contemporary dance, hip hop and movement directing, whose practice spans the most significant stages and institutions in the global dance landscape. His residency sold out and was received with such enthusiasm that we programmed him to lead a second summer residency in the same year, an unusual and deliberate decision that reflects both the quality of what he offered and the depth of appetite for this kind of work among practising artists.
We completed the programme with a residency led by Kloe Dean, one of the foremost choreographers in hip hop in the United Kingdom, whose work spans film, television, music, commercial and fashion contexts, and who was recently awarded Choreographer and Creative Director of the Year at the UK Dance Awards. Her residency, focused on movement directing and choreography, was an exceptional close to a year of programming of the highest order.
We also launched a Black and Brown Bursary Scheme during the year, inviting participants to donate towards bursaries enabling Black and Brown artists to attend Infuse residencies free of charge. This is a direct expression of the organisation's commitment to making artistic training genuinely accessible, and to ensuring that the financial barriers which continue to shape who can and cannot participate in professional development do not go unchallenged within our own programmes.
The financial year closed with the announcement of the 2025 Infuse programme, working with the award-winning Ephemeral Ensemble, named by the Guardian as one of the top ten theatre shows of 2024, as part of a deeper and developing relationship with the company that will continue across 2025 and 2026.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
3. Babel Labs
The Babel Labs entered their second year as a programme and deepened considerably in their ambition, their reach and their significance. We delivered four laboratories across the year, each oriented around one of the organisation's four values, working with over 80 artists in total across all four workshops, with every session selling out. Delivered in continued partnership with Chisenhale Dance Space, the Labs have grown from a successful artist development programme into something with a wider and more consequential cultural resonance.
What the response from participants has made clear, with increasing force and consistency, is that the values framework developed through the Labs is being received not merely as a creative methodology but as a cultural proposition: a way of thinking about making, about leading, about facilitating, and about what it means to be an artist in the contemporary world, that artists are finding genuinely transformative. The four values function not only as creative constraints within which work is made, but as stages in a complete creative process, moving from Celebration and the act of honouring, through Responsiveness and the act of exploring, through Audacity and the act of pushing further, to Disruption and the act of refining, breaking and reconstituting. In that configuration, they offer something that very few creative frameworks manage: a process that is simultaneously philosophical, practical and generative.
We developed a core cohort model within the Labs this year, inviting a small group of artists to attend every workshop across the year, building a sustained community of practice around the framework. The response to this model has been exceptionally positive, and we intend to develop and extend it, with consideration of how bursary support might make it accessible to a wider range of artists.
Participant feedback across the year reflects the depth of what the programme is offering: “Being part of the Labs has really changed my way of thinking. It has been a lifeline for me as an artist trying to figure out my own creative practice. I have learned so many skills and tools, and I have also learned a new way of facilitating and teaching. The facilitators lead with heart, courage, warmth and vulnerability in a way that is not often seen in the arts.”
4. MoveCircle
MoveCircle reached the end of its delivery cycle during this year, completing the programme that began the previous year and that was built to address a specific and underserved need: the absence, for movement directors and practitioners, of a community-led space in which to research, question and develop their practice alongside peers who share the same professional reality. The programme performed to the expectations set for it, generating genuine community and genuine development among its participants.
We are now exploring how MoveCircle might be developed into a funded model, one that would extend its reach to emerging artists and evolve into a structured mentoring scheme. The appetite for what it offers is clear, and the question of how to resource it in a way that is sustainable and properly supported is one we are actively working to answer.
5. Propel
We delivered two further Propel residencies during the year, both free to access, in continued partnership with the Ascension Agency on behalf of Lambeth Adult Education providers. Each was a week-long residential programme led by Artistic Director Joseph Lynch, drawing on his practice as a life coach, creativity coach and consultant to offer working artists a sustained and comprehensive engagement with the knowledge and tools that sustain a creative career over time: the management of burnout and overwhelm, productivity, networking, funding literacy, values clarification, the maintenance of professional boundaries, and the broader question of how to live a full and self-determined life as an artist in the contemporary creative economy.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
The demand for this programme continues to demonstrate that the questions it addresses are not peripheral to the professional development of working artists but central to it. That these questions are so rarely addressed in arts education contexts, and that Babel is one of the few organisations in the sector equipping artists with this knowledge in a sustained and generous way, is something the trustees regard as a significant dimension of the charity's public benefit contribution.
Participant responses from across the two residencies reflect the consistency and quality of the programme's impact: “Propel is a life-changing workshop that is relevant to any creative at different points of their journey. So many of us found community, encouragement and hope, and this would not have been possible without funding, as such workshops are usually unaffordable for us to access.”
6. Ongoing Education Commissions
The relationship with Millfield School in Somerset, established the previous year, continued to develop during this period, with Babel delivering further commissions for the school's GCSE and A-Level drama students. These commissions represent a sustained and productive strand of the charity's education work, and affirm the portability of the principles and methods developed through community engagement in East and South London into independent school settings of very different character and demographic composition.
The Move Your Music commission with Raw Music Media also continued, sustaining a collaborative relationship that has been a consistent source of cross-pollination between the charity's programmes and the communities that Raw Music Media serves.
Financial review
The charity reported income of £65,666 (2024: £21,439) and total expenditure of £53,191 (2024: £54,140) for the year ended 30 April 2025. Income mainly came from grants and other trading activities including workshops and commission income.
Closing reserves amount to £13,514 of which £9,167 relates to specific programme delivery and £4,347 is available for general use. The trustees are aware that building a stronger base of unrestricted reserves remains a priority.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
Plans for future periods
Aims and key objectives for future periods
The 2024-25 year has consolidated the earned income model and demonstrated its viability at scale. The work of the coming period is to build on that foundation, to deepen the organisational infrastructure that supports it, and to begin the delivery of the Arts Council England-funded programme that will take the charity's artist development work to a new level of reach and ambition.
The 2025-26 programme, supported by Arts Council England, will deliver twelve months of artist development activity encompassing the Infuse residency programme, Babel Labs, mentoring sessions and the launch of Creation Space, a new programme for theatre-makers, dance and movement artists who want to develop their own work in sustained dialogue with leading voices in UK physical theatre and contemporary dance. Creation Space will offer participants workshop intensives, one-to-one coaching, funding support, space access and the opportunity to share work in a public scratch in early 2026. The founding cohort of the programme will form a lasting peer community and a long-term relationship with Babel as an organisation.
Alongside the ACE-funded programme, we will continue to develop Infuse as an earned income strand, deepen the Babel Labs methodology and its dissemination, and pursue the development of Propel as a standalone programme with its own funding and commercial identity. We will also continue and develop the East 15 relationship and explore further higher education commissions consistent with the quality and ambition of the work delivered there this year.
Organisationally, the priorities are the restoration of full operational capacity through the return of the Creative Producer and/or the recruitment of additional staff or contracted support; the continued development of unrestricted reserves; and the active governance work required to ensure that the board is properly equipped to support an organisation whose programme is growing in complexity and reach. The appetite for what Babel offers is deepening and broadening. The task ahead is to resource it with the care, intelligence and ambition it deserves.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
Going concern
The trustees have identified the following principal risks facing the charity and the mitigations in place to address them.
Financial sustainability and core cost coverage. The charity's ongoing financial risk is the gap between earned trading income and the full cost of running an organisation of this ambition and reach. The decision taken this year to step back from grant funding applications has been vindicated by the income generated through earned activity, but the trustees are conscious that this model requires continued investment in programme development and marketing, and that its resilience depends on maintaining the quality and demand that has characterised the first years of Infuse and the other earned income programmes. The award of Arts Council England funding in February 2025 for the 2025-26 period provides a welcome additional foundation.
Staffing and sole-leadership risk. The departure of the Creative Producer from active staff responsibilities due to illness created a period in which all operational and creative leadership rested with a single individual. The trustees regard this as the organisation's most significant current governance risk and are committed to addressing it as a priority: through the recruitment of additional operational capacity, through the development of the board's active involvement in organisational support, and through the staffing development plans set out in the business plan.
Rate of growth and infrastructure. The volume and ambition of the programme delivered this year, against a backdrop of reduced administrative capacity, represents a genuine and monitored risk of overextension. The trustees are committed to ensuring that programme growth is accompanied by proportionate investment in the systems, processes and people that make delivery sustainable and safe, and will keep this balance under active review.
Safeguarding and staff wellbeing. The nature of our work, which creates spaces of emotional depth and authenticity with participants who are sometimes navigating significant personal and professional difficulty, requires robust safeguarding practice and a genuine and sustained commitment to the wellbeing of the people who deliver it. The risk of burnout in a sole-leadership delivery structure is particularly acute, and the trustees take seriously their responsibility to support the Artistic Director's wellbeing as well as that of the freelance practitioners who carry the programme.
Trustees and officers
The trustees and officers serving during the year and since the year end were as follows:
Trustees: J T Lynch T Taylor M Robinson A Williams (resigned 1 February 2026) A Greechan (resigned 1 February 2026) V Mizon (resigned 19 January 2026) U F Y Kankiya (resigned 6 February 2026)
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
Structure, governance and management
Organisational structure
The trustees are responsible for ensuring that the charity is governed effectively, that resources are applied in furtherance of the charity's objects, and that risk, safeguarding and organisational wellbeing are held with appropriate seriousness and with genuine regard for the people the organisation exists to serve.
Day-to-day delivery during the reporting period was led solely by the Artistic Director, Joseph Lynch. Arron Greechan, the charity's Creative Producer, stepped back from staff responsibilities during the year due to illness, and continued to serve in his capacity as a trustee. The trustees record their recognition of the significant contribution Arron has made to this organisation since its founding, and their continued support for his recovery and return to full involvement. The trustees acknowledge the organisational risk that arises from sole-leadership delivery and are committed to addressing this as a priority in the period ahead.
The charity works with a network of freelance artists, facilitators and partners in the delivery of its programmes. The trustees recognise the essential and irreplaceable contribution of those freelancers to the charity's mission, and remain committed to developing a culture of work that properly supports and safeguards the people who carry the programme.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Trustees' Report
Statement of trustees' responsibilities
The trustees (who are also the directors of Babel Creative Education Ltd for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland". The report and accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions in the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable accounting standards, comprising FRS 102 have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that can disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Small companies provision statement
This report has been prepared in accordance with the small companies regime under the Companies Act 2006.
The annual report was approved by the trustees of the charity on 26 April 2026 and signed on its behalf by:
......................................... J T Lynch Trustee
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Independent Examiner's Report to the trustees of Babel Creative Education Ltd ('the Company')
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 30 April 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity’s trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).
Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of Babel Creative Education Ltd as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act 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; or
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the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities [applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)].
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.
...................................... Mark Pearson FCA Lambert Chapman LLP 3 Warners Mill Silks Way Braintree Essex CM7 3GB
27 April 2026
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 30 April 2025 (Including Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses)
| Note Income and Endowments from: Donations and legacies 3 Other trading activities 4 Investment income 5 Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities 6 Total expenditure Net income/(expenditure) Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward 15 |
Unrestricted funds £ 270 38,427 14 38,711 (35,403) (35,403) 3,308 3,308 1,039 4,347 |
Restricted funds £ 26,955 - - 26,955 (17,788) (17,788) 9,167 9,167 - 9,167 |
Total 2025 £ 27,225 38,427 14 65,666 (53,191) (53,191) 12,475 12,475 1,039 13,514 |
Total 2024 (Restated) £ 7,837 13,588 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21,439 | ||||
| (54,140) | ||||
| (54,140) | ||||
| (32,701) | ||||
| (32,701) 33,740 |
||||
| 1,039 |
All of the charity's activities derive from continuing operations during the above two periods. The funds breakdown for 2024 is shown in note 15.
The notes on pages 15 to 22 form an integral part of these financial statements. Page 13
Babel Creative Education Ltd
(Registration number: 14036187) Balance Sheet as at 30 April 2025
| Note Current assets Debtors 12 Cash at bank and in hand 13 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 14 Net assets Funds of the charity: Restricted income funds Restricted funds 15 Unrestricted income funds Unrestricted funds Total funds 15 |
2025 £ 150 16,664 16,814 (3,300) 13,514 9,167 4,347 13,514 |
2024 (Restated) £ 150 2,959 |
|---|---|---|
| 3,109 (2,070) |
||
| 1,039 | ||
| - 1,039 |
||
| 1,039 |
For the financial year ending 30 April 2025 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
Directors' responsibilities:
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The members have not required the charity to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476; and
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The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to companies subject to the small companies regime within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements on pages 13 to 22 were approved by the trustees, and authorised for issue
on 26 April 2026.
The financial statements were signed on their behalf by:
......................................... J T Lynch Trustee
The notes on pages 15 to 22 form an integral part of these financial statements. Page 14
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
1 Charity status
The charity is limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales, and consequently does not have share capital. Each of the trustees is liable to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 towards the assets of the charity in the event of liquidation.
The address of its registered office is: International House 6 Canterbury Crescent Brixton London SW9 7QE
2 Accounting policies
Summary of significant accounting policies and key accounting estimates
The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.
Statement of compliance
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)) (issued in October 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
Basis of preparation
Babel Creative Education Ltd meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.
Going concern
The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern nor any significant areas of uncertainty that affect the carrying value of assets held by the charity.
Exemption from preparing a cash flow statement
The charity opted to early adopt Bulletin 1 published on 2 February 2016 and have therefore not included a cash flow statement in these financial statements.
Summary of disclosure exemptions
Babel Creative Education Ltd meets the definition of a qualifying entity under FRS 102 and has therefore taken advantage of the disclosure exemptions available to it in respect of its separate financial statements, which are presented alongside the consolidated financial statements. Exemptions have been taken in relation to financial instruments, presentation of a cash flow statement, intra-group transactions and remuneration of key management personnel.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
Income and endowments
All income is recognised once the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of the income receivable can be measured reliably.
Donations and legacies
Donations are recognised when the charity has been notified in writing of both the amount and settlement date. In the event that a donation is subject to conditions that require a level of performance by the charity before the charity is entitled to the funds, the income is deferred and not recognised until either those conditions are fully met, or the fulfilment of those conditions is wholly within the control of the charity and it is probable that these conditions will be fulfilled in the reporting period.
Grants receivable
Grants are recognised when the charity has an entitlement to the funds and any conditions linked to the grants have been met. Where performance conditions are attached to the grant and are yet to be met, the income is recognised as a liability and included on the balance sheet as deferred income to be released.
Other trading activities
Income from other trading activities comes from workshops and commission income and is recognised on a receivable basis.
Investment income
Investment income derives from bank interest which is recognised on a receivable basis.
Expenditure
All expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to that expenditure, it is probable settlement is required and the amount can be measured reliably. All costs are allocated to the applicable expenditure heading that aggregate similar costs to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Charitable activities
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.
Support costs
Support costs include central functions and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Governance costs
These include the costs attributable to the charity’s compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements, including the preparation of the financial statements and independent examination services.
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
Taxation
The charity is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and bank balances.
Fund structure
Unrestricted income funds are general funds that are available for use at the trustees discretion in furtherance of the objectives of the charity.
Restricted income funds are those donated for use in a particular area or for specific purposes, the use of which is restricted to that area or purpose.
3 Income from donations and legacies
| Donations and legacies; Donations Grants, including capital grants; Grants |
Unrestricted funds General £ 270 - 270 |
Restricted funds £ - 26,955 26,955 |
Total 2025 £ 270 26,955 27,225 |
Total 2024 (Restated) £ 337 7,500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,837 |
4 Income from other trading activities
| Trading income; Workshop and commission income |
Unrestricted funds General £ 38,427 38,427 |
Restricted funds £ - - |
Total funds £ 38,427 38,427 |
Total 2024 £ 13,588 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,588 |
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Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
5 Investment income
| Interest receivable and similar income; Interest receivable on bank deposits |
Unrestricted funds General £ 14 |
Restricted funds £ - |
Total 2025 £ 14 |
Total 2024 £ 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
6 Expenditure on charitable activities
| Note Artist Fee Space Hire Equipment hire Staff training Telephone and fax Office expenses Computer software and maintenance costs Printing, postage and stationery Charitable donations Advertising Fines and penalties Consultancy fees Legal and professional fees Bank charges Purchases Travelling Trade subscriptions Governance costs 7 |
Unrestricted funds General £ 15,827 4,477 - 1,370 - 308 3,802 59 - (292) 375 - 68 6,109 368 1,502 200 1,230 35,403 |
Restricted funds £ 13,700 4,088 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 17,788 |
Total 2025 £ 29,527 8,565 - 1,370 - 308 3,802 59 - (292) 375 - 68 6,109 368 1,502 200 1,230 53,191 |
Total 2024 £ 45,497 1,175 445 480 20 340 1,763 - 90 561 - 619 814 45 885 466 100 840 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54,140 |
Page 18
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
7 Analysis of governance and support costs
Governance costs
| Unrestricted funds Total General £ 2025 £ Independent examiner fees Examination of the financial statements 1,230 1,230 Other fees paid to examiners - - 1,230 1,230 8 Net incoming/outgoing resources Net incoming/(outgoing) resources for the year include: 2025 £ Other non-audit services 1,230 9 Trustees remuneration and expenses During the year, the charity made the following transactions with trustees: - J T Lynch received £19,513 in respect of artists fees and £828 of reimbursed expenses; |
Total 2024 £ - 840 |
|---|---|
| 840 | |
| 2024 £ 840 |
|
- A Greechan received £3,000 in respect of artists fees.
No trustees have received any other benefits from the charity during the year.
10 Independent examiner's remuneration
| Examination of the financial statements Other fees to examiners All other services |
2025 £ 1,230 - |
2024 £ - |
|---|---|---|
| 840 |
Page 19
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
11 Taxation
The charity is a registered charity and is therefore exempt from taxation to the extent that income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.
12 Debtors
----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
£ £
Other debtors 150 150
13 Cash and cash equivalents
2025 2024
£ £
Cash at bank 16,664 2,959
14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
2025 2024
£ £
Accruals 3,300 2,070
----- End of picture text -----
Page 20
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
| 15 Funds Unrestricted funds General Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Arts Council England Total funds Unrestricted funds General Unrestricted funds Restricted Arts Council England East End Community Fund Foundation for Future London Hill Dickinson Fund Rise Up (London Youth) MFL London Youth Total restricted funds Total funds |
Balance at 1 May 2024 £ 1,039 - 1,039 Balance at 1 May 2023 £ 7,700 5,340 10,200 8,500 2,000 - - 26,040 33,740 |
Incoming resources £ 38,711 26,955 65,666 Incoming resources £ 13,939 2,000 - - - 5,150 350 7,500 21,439 |
Resources expended £ (35,403) (17,788) (53,191) Resources expended £ (20,600) (7,340) (10,200) (8,500) (2,000) (5,150) (350) (33,540) (54,140) |
Balance at 30 April 2025 £ 4,347 9,167 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,514 | ||||
| Balance at 30 April 2024 £ 1,039 - - - - - - |
||||
| - | ||||
| 1,039 |
The specific purposes for which the funds are to be applied are as follows:
Restricted funds were provided to the charity by the funders detailed above for the purposes of productions and workshops.
Page 21
Babel Creative Education Ltd
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2025
16 Analysis of net assets between funds
| Current assets Current liabilities Total net assets Current assets Current liabilities Total net assets |
Unrestricted funds General £ 7,647 (3,300) 4,347 Unrestricted funds General £ 3,109 (2,070) 1,039 |
Restricted funds £ 9,167 - 9,167 Restricted funds £ - - - |
Total funds at 30 April 2025 £ 16,814 (3,300) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13,514 | |||
| Total funds at 30 April 2024 £ 3,109 (2,070) |
|||
| 1,039 |
17 Related party transactions
There were no related party transactions in the year.
Page 22