DOWN'S SYNDROME ASSOCIATION

Registered charity 1061474 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5302759 · Wikipedia · also known as DOWNS SYNDROME ASSOCIATION, DSA

We provide information and support for people with Down's syndrome, their families and carers, and the professionals who work with them.We strive to improve knowledge of the condition.We champion the rights of people with Down's syndrome.

Objects

TO CREATE AND DEVELOP THE CONDITIONS WHICH WILL ENABLE PEOPLE WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME TO ATTAIN THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.TO UNDERTAKE ANY OTHER CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES IN CONNECTION WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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

Causes: Education/training · Disability · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Richmond upon Thames, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £267,635 for the year ended 31 March 2025, compared to a deficit in the prior year. Per the trustees' report, free reserves amount to £1.7m, which the trustees consider adequate to fund activities for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Top pay band moved from Over £60,000 (FY2024) to £60,001 - £70,000 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed 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
• 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.

Corporate structure

• Trading subsidiary: DOWN'S SYNDROME TRADING LIMITED Companies House 02201212
• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03310024

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Down's Syndrome Association (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Carol Boys — Chief Executive (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).

• Big Yellow Foundation — “One example of this is the support for the WorkFit programme by the Big Yellow Foundation . The employment programme brings together employe…” (source page)

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.

• HOLLAND, Anthony John, Professor — director, appointed 01/06/2023on trustee list
• PEARCY, Trevor Robert — director, appointed 11/07/2015on trustee list
• WARKCUP, Darren — director, appointed 14/01/2012on trustee list
• STIRLING, Robert Alexander — director, appointed 27/11/2010on trustee list
• COGHLAN, John Gerard — director, appointed 16/10/1999on trustee list
• LEGGAT, Sarah — director, appointed 01/10/1997on trustee list
• LACLOTE, Macarena — secretary, appointed 01/03/2022

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

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

Reported reserves equal ~8.4 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 14.8% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (02/10/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (24/03/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (18/01/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (27/01/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• DARREN WARKCUP
• Dr JOHN GERARD COGHLAN
• Professor Anthony J Holland
• ROBERT STIRLING
• SARAH LEGGAT
• TREVOR PEARCY

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

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 DOWN SYNDROME INTERNATIONAL.

• DOWN SYNDROME INTERNATIONAL income £389k
• DOWN SYNDROME UK income £455k
• DOWNS SYNDROME RESEARCH FOUNDATION LIMITED income £30k
• CORNWALL DOWNS SYNDROME SUPPORT GROUP income £30k
• NOTTINGHAMSHIRE DOWN'S SYNDROME SUPPORT GROUP income £68k
• DOWN SYNDROME TRAINING AND SUPPORT SERVICE LIMITED income £161k

Side by side with its peers

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