POHWER
Registered charity 1061543 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also registered in Scotland as SC048858 (OSCR)
POhWER provides information, advice, statutory and non statutory advocacy services to people with disabilities or who are vulnerable or disadvantaged, supporting them to speak up and have a voice that is heard when important decisions are being made about them. Our statutory advocacy services include Community Advocacy, Mental Health and Mental Capacity advocacy and NHS/Health Complaints advocacy.
Causes: The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Economic/community Development/employment · Other Charitable Purposes · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that POhWER reported a surplus of £121,136 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total income of £15,975,771 and total expenditure of £15,854,802. The charity holds free unrestricted reserves of £3,746,308, which the trustees confirm are within their stated policy target of holding between 1.5 and 4 months of operating expenditure. The trustees and auditors have concluded that the charity is a going concern with no material uncertainties.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: between 1.5 and 4 months of operating expenditure (held: £3.7m)
“The current reserves policy is to hold free reserves representing between 1.5 and 4 months of operating expenditure.” — page 16
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Trustee reimbursement for travel and incidental expenses
“During the financial year 1 Trustee was reimbursed £64 (2023/24: 3 Trustees reimbursed £667) for travel and incidental expenses which related to carrying out their duties as Trustees of the charitable company.” — page 36
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — POhWER (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Robert Templeton — Chair (source)
- Antony Kildare — Chair (Outgoing) (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.
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.
- TESSARO, Michelle — director, appointed 26/03/2026on trustee list
- AGUILAR, Maria Gloria — director, appointed 26/03/2026on trustee list
- KANES, John — director, appointed 26/03/2026on trustee list
- TEMPLETON, Robert Stuart — director, appointed 11/07/2024on trustee list
- HOPE, Gemma Rebecca — director, appointed 26/10/2022on trustee list
- ROBINSON, Paul — director, appointed 26/10/2022on trustee list
- GILTHORPE, Rachael — director, appointed 26/10/2022on trustee list
- BARNES, Laura Anne — secretary, appointed 30/10/2025
Official officers record.
Public-sector contracts awarded
From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.
Property (HM Land Registry)
2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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 · linkedin
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£332
Reported reserves equal ~3.5 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (99% 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 (3.8%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (08/03/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Robert Templetonchair
- Gemma Hope
- John Kanes
- Maria Aguilar
- Michelle Tessaro
- Paul Robinson
- Rachael Gilthorpe · trustee of 1 other charity
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England
Income and spending
Common questions
Is POHWER financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that POhWER reported a surplus of £121,136 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total income of £15,975,771 and total expenditure of £15,854,802. The charity holds free unrestricted reserves of £3,746,308, which the trustees confirm are within their stated policy target of holding between 1.5 and 4 months of operating expenditure. The trustees and auditors have concluded that the charity is a going concern with no material uncertainties. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by HaysMac LLP.
Who funds POHWER?
Funders whose own accounts filings name POHWER as a grant recipient include THE ALLEN OVERY SHEARMAN STERLING FOUNDATION.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
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 ADVOCACY FOCUS.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.