BRISTOL LAW CENTRE

Registered charity 1059022 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as AVON AND BRISTOL LAW CENTRE, BRISTOL LAW CENTRE LTD, BRISTOL RESOURCE CENTRE

The Law Centre provides legal advice and advocacy service for unwaged and low paid people and for people experiencing unlawful discrimination

Objects

1. Objects1.1 The Objects of the Charity are: (a) The relief of financial hardship and other forms of distress in the designated area through the provision of legal and other advisory representation and information services to people who could not otherwise obtain them through lack of means(b) The advancement of education among people resident or working in the designated area in respect of the law and the administration of justice, having regard especially to those areas of law which are of particular concern to people experiencing financial hardship or other forms of distress.(c) The advancement of such other charitable purposes as are beneficial to the community for persons resident or working in the designated area1.2 This provision may be amended by special resolution but only with the prior written consent of the Commission.

Area of benefit: BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET, BRISTOL, NORTH SOMERSET, SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE, CORNWALL, DEVON, DORSET, SOMERSET, GLOUCESTERSHIRE AND WILTSHIRE

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 · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Bristol, City of, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £264,799 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total income of £1,501,892 against total expenditure of £1,237,093. Per the trustees' report, free unrestricted reserves amounted to £358,558, which the trustees confirmed were adequate and exceeded their stated policy target of three months' running costs (£351,045).

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Godfrey Wilson Limited. Discloses 5 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
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management 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.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Bristol Law Centre (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Karen Bowers — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• Gina Jones — Head of Services (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Bristol City Council — “As a charity we are grateful for financial support from Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Access to Justice Foundation an…” (source page)
• South Gloucestershire Council — “As a charity we are grateful for financial support from Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Access to Justice Foundation an…” (source page)
• Access to Justice Foundation — “As a charity we are grateful for financial support from Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Access to Justice Foundation an…” (source page)

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

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

Reported reserves equal ~3.5 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (82% 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: 2.5% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Allison Charlotte Lewis
• Dr Hannah Pearce
• Dr Nancy Namisi Siboe
• Emma Louise Harvey
• Jill Valerie Walsh
• Katherine Sarah Hygate
• Piotr Lisowski
• Skye Benjamin Wolfgang Al McGregor
• Toby Fisher
• William Ellerton

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

Operates in: Bath And North East Somerset · Bristol City · North Somerset · Somerset · South Gloucestershire

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 ISLINGTON LAW CENTRE.

• ISLINGTON LAW CENTRE income £2.0m
• LUTON LAW CENTRE income £407k
• HARROW LAW CENTRE income £1.0m
• MERSEYSIDE LAW CENTRE LIMITED income £525k
• NORTH BRISTOL ADVICE CENTRE income £592k
• SOUTH WEST LONDON LAW CENTRES income £1.8m

Side by side with its peers

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