AQA EDUCATION

Registered charity 1073334 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as AQA, ASSESSMENT & QUALIFICATIONS ALLIANCE, ASSESSMENT AND QUALIFICATIONS ALLIANCE

The purpose of AQA is to advance education for the benefit of the public. It does this by setting, marking and awarding public examinations such as GCSEs and A levels; providing vocational and technical qualifications, apprenticeship courses and training needed for certain jobs; and delivering assessment services and technology to help others improve teaching, learning and assessment more widely.

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Group is in a strong and stable financial position with sufficient liquidity, holding £100,770,000 in cash at bank and £91,559,000 in cash fund investments. The Trustees maintain free reserves of £88,182,000, which is slightly above their stated target range of £70 million to £80 million, providing a contingency for unexpected costs or loss of income. The Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "within" (FY2024) to "above" (FY2025).

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

Corporate structure

• Trading subsidiary: DOUBLESTRUCK LIMITED Companies House 02373295
• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03644723
• Trading subsidiary: ALPHAPLUS CONSULTANCY LIMITED Companies House 04801609
• Trading subsidiary: AQA ASSESSMENT SERVICES LIMITED Companies House 05568337
• Trading subsidiary: TRAINING QUALIFICATIONS UK LTD Companies House 07827508

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.

• ROBINSON, Steven Vears — director, appointed 07/10/2025on trustee list
• ABEDI, Mana — director, appointed 07/10/2025on trustee list
• ALOZIE, Jennese Rachael — director, appointed 01/10/2025on trustee list
• HEALD, Claire Louise — director, appointed 01/10/2025on trustee list
• LAWS, David Anthony — director, appointed 10/12/2024on trustee list
• JACKSON, Thomas John — director, appointed 01/05/2024on trustee list
• EWING, Hilary Ann — director, appointed 01/04/2024on trustee list
• SMITH, Paula — director, appointed 01/01/2023on trustee list
• HALL, Thomas Joseph — director, appointed 01/09/2022on trustee list
• ALLEN, Mark Barry Lindon — director, appointed 01/09/2022on trustee list
• O'DONOGHUE, Deirdre Mary — director, appointed 01/07/2021on trustee list
• HUGHES, Colin — director, appointed 01/09/2020on trustee list
• STEVENS, Nicholas Martin — secretary, appointed 01/04/2017

Official officers record.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

• AI-enabled High Stakes Assessment —

Trustpilot: AQA scores 3.3/5 from 1 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): linkedin (63,256 followers)

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

Reported reserves equal ~7.3 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% 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 (2.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• David Lawschair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Claire Louise Heald
• Colin Hughes · trustee of 1 other charity
• Deirdre Mary O'Donoghue
• Dr Hilary Ann Ewing · trustee of 4 other charities
• Jennese Alozie
• Mana Abedi
• Mark Barry Lindon Allen
• Paula Smith
• Steven Robinson
• Thomas John Jackson
• Thomas Joseph Hall

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

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 AIM Qualifications and Assessment Group.

• AIM Qualifications and Assessment Group income £4.2m
• THE ARTS EDUCATIONAL SCHOOLS income £12.0m
• CVQO LTD income £3.9m
• ADVANCE HE income £17.6m
• ACADEMY OF MEDICAL EDUCATORS income £337k
• Skills and Education Group Access income £749k

Side by side with its peers

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