WOMEN'S ENGINEERING SOCIETY

Registered charity 1008913 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as W E S

Promotes education, training & practice of engineering among women. Increases public awareness of women in engineering. Forum for the exchange of opinions for women with interests in engineering. Sustains contacts with women engineers on career breaks & facilitates their return to paid employment. Ensures voice of women engineers is heard in Government & policy-making institutions.

Objects

The objects for which the Society is established are:(A) to promote the education of women in engineering sciences and other skills, the better to fit women for the practice of engineering;(B) to advance the education of the public concerning the study and practice of engineering among women; and(C) to relieve poverty amongst women who are or have been professional or technician engineers or technologists in allied sciences or educated in science or technology or in the art and techniques of engineering and allied sciences or in other disciplines considered by the Directors to be complementary, their dependants and (if they are deceased) their former dependants.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net movement in funds of -£105,468 for the year ended 31 March 2025, driven by exceptional costs from strategic staffing transitions. Despite this deficit, the trustees affirm that unrestricted free reserves of £177,571 align with the stated policy target of three months of core operating costs, and liquidity was maintained through a controlled drawdown from long-term investments.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00162096

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• POOLEY, David — director, appointed 14/03/2026on trustee list
• RILEY, Claire — director, appointed 08/11/2025on trustee list
• DONAGHEY, Ann — director, appointed 08/11/2025on trustee list
• MCDONALD, Susan Hillen — director, appointed 26/10/2024on trustee list
• ABOLLE-OKOYEAGU, Chika Judith, Dr — director, appointed 26/10/2024on trustee list
• MCCALL, Caitlin, Dr — director, appointed 26/10/2024on trustee list
• RATANSI, Alysha — director, appointed 25/10/2024on trustee list
• SHRIEVES, Laura — director, appointed 27/10/2023on trustee list
• MCMAHON, Paula — director, appointed 27/10/2023on trustee list
• FOSTER-TURNER, Aniela — director, appointed 22/03/2023on trustee list
• HASLAM, Sarah — director, appointed 29/10/2022not on trustee list
• CRITCHLEY, Katherine, Dr — director, appointed 19/10/2019on trustee list
• ROBSON, Susan — secretary, appointed 27/09/2024

Official officers record.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 32.6% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Katherine Critchleychair
• Alysha Ratansi
• Aniela Foster-Turner
• Ann Donaghey
• Caitlin McCall
• Claire Riley · trustee of 1 other charity
• David Pooley
• Dr Chika Judith Abolle-Okoyeagu
• Laura Shrieves
• Paula McMahon · trustee of 1 other charity
• Sarah Haslam MBE
• Susan McDonald

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with UN WOMEN NATIONAL COMMITTEE UK.

• UN WOMEN NATIONAL COMMITTEE UK income £698k
• WOMEN'S TECHNOLOGY TRAINING LIMITED income £1.4m
• THE INSTITUTION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS income £10.6m
• THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY income £64.1m
• ENGINEERING INTEGRITY SOCIETY income £116k
• THE WOMEN'S ORGANISATION income £2.3m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.