CITIZENS ADVICE GATESHEAD

Registered charity 1020565 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as GATESHEAD CAB, GATESHEAD CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU, Society Matters Foundation

We aim to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and improve the policies and practices that affect people's lives. We provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.

Objects

The Charity’s objects are to promote any charitable purpose for the public benefit by the advancement of education, the protection and preservation of health and the relief of poverty, sickness and distress in particular, but without limitation, for the benefit of the community in England and Wales, and in particular, Gateshead and surrounding areas.

Area of benefit: GATESHEAD AND SURROUNDING AREAS

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

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Economic/community Development/employment · Other Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Gateshead, North East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated total income of £7,220,624 against total expenditure of £7,053,069, resulting in a net surplus for the year. However, free reserves of £233,658 are below the trustees' stated policy target of £590,000, although designated reserves of £475,000 are held for specific future uses. The trustees and auditors confirm the charity is a going concern with adequate resources to meet debts as they fall due.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Robson Laidler Accountants Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Financial Conduct Authority. This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

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
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• 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

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Gateshead Council and Citizens Advice Gateshead joint working benefiting residents gateshead.gov.uk · 29/10/2024
• Citizens Advice Gateshead named North East Charity of the Year chroniclelive.co.uk · 20/10/2022
• Citizens Advice Gateshead offers alternative to Legal Aid bdaily.co.uk · 22/06/2015

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 02631064

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Citizens Advice Gateshead (matched by registered charity number).

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.

• CARR, Susan Mary — director, appointed 26/09/2024on trustee list
• ROBERTON, Kirsty — director, appointed 14/09/2023on trustee list
• MARSH, Andrew Alexander — director, appointed 29/09/2022on trustee list
• LEE, Richard — director, appointed 29/09/2022on trustee list
• MCHARG, Scot Gardner — director, appointed 29/09/2022on trustee list
• WHITTAKER, Catherine Anne — director, appointed 28/05/2020on trustee list
• GIBSON, Judith, Councillor — director, appointed 30/01/2020on trustee list
• LEE, Heather — director, appointed 28/03/2019on trustee list
• TAYLOR, Barry — director, appointed 28/01/2016on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Reported reserves equal ~0.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (89% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (28/11/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Andrew Alexander John Marsh
• Barry Taylor
• Catherine Anne Whittaker
• Cllr Judith Gibson
• Heather Lee · trustee of 2 other charities
• Kirsty Roberton
• Richard Lee · trustee of 1 other charity
• Scot Gardner McHarg · trustee of 1 other charity
• Susan Mary Carr · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Throughout England

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 CITIZENS ADVICE CHESHIRE WEST.

• CITIZENS ADVICE CHESHIRE WEST income £1.8m
• Citizens Advice East Hampshire Limited income £779k
• CITIZENS ADVICE IN NORTH & WEST KENT income £2.1m
• CITIZENS ADVICE SEFTON income £1.1m
• Citizens Advice Greenwich income £990k
• CITIZENS ADVICE DONCASTER BOROUGH income £1.9m

Side by side with its peers

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