SMART WORKS CHARITY

Registered charity 1080609 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as DRESS FOR SUCCESS (LONDON), DRESS FOR SUCCESS LONDON

We help women on low incomes get back to work by dressing them in a complete outfit of smart clothes to wear to their interview and by giving them one-to-one interview training. A professional outfit followed by careful interview preparation transforms our clients' self-confidence and gives them a far greater chance of succeeding.

Objects

THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS (THE "OBJECTS") ARE THE RELIEF OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP AND THE RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT THROUGH THE PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE AMONG WOMEN IN SUCH WAYS AS MAY BE THOUGHT FIT, INCLUDING (BUT WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING) BY PROVIDING WORK APPROPRIATE CLOTHING FOR INDIVIDUALS SEEKING EMPLOYMENT AND / OR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, PROVIDING JOB-SEEKING ADVICE, TRAINING AND EDUCATION AND PROVIDING SUPPORT SERVICES FOR THOSE WHO SUCCESSFULLY PROCURE EMPLOYMENT OR AN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY, AND PROVIDED THAT SUCH BENEFITS MAY BE PROVIDED TO MEN WHERE IT IS DEEMED APPROPRIATE, IN THE DISCRETION OF THE TRUSTEES, IN THE COURSE OF ADVANCING THE OVERALL OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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 · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Islington, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £293,077 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total income of £4,727,852 and total expenditure of £5,020,929. Per the trustees' report, free unrestricted reserves of £883,763 meet the stated policy target of three to six months of annual expenditure, and management concluded there are no material uncertainties regarding going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Gravita Audit Oxford LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

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
• Investment
• 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 — Smart Works Charity (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Julietta Dexter — Chair (source)
• Melanie Prater — Treasurer (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).

• Bobbi Brown Cosmetics — “Bobbi Brown Cosmetics has generously supported us for over eleven years. The iconic brand shares our mission to empower women. Each year, th…” (source page)
• Bank of America — “Bank of America is supporting our Career Coaching programme with significant funding and added employee volunteering and engagement.” (source page)
• Aberdeen Group Charitable Trust — “A new £1m Initiatives grant from Aberdeen Group Charitable Trust will support Smart Works to develop our employability programme across the …” (source page)
• Square UK — “Our journey together began in 2022, when we partnered with Clearpay, and now Square UK (both part of Block) are joining us on our mission.” (source page)
• Bicester Village — “Bicester Village has selected Smart Works as one of its charity partners as part of the DO GOOD Programme supporting the empowerment of wome…” (source page)
• The Permira Foundation — “The Permira Foundation supports Smart Works through both funding and pro bono assistance to drive our mission to reach 10,000 women a year b…” (source page)
• Avison Young — “Avison Young supports Smart Works through funding, strategic support and employee engagement.” (source page)
• PayPal — “PayPal is proud to support Smart Works by providing funding, spotlighting Smart Works at checkout, and practical support to help deliver the…” (source page)
• Starling — “Starling is a long-term partner of Smart Works, collaborating closely across multiple campaigns to raise awareness and drive impact. Their s…” (source page)
• Admiral — “Admiral supports Smart Works through a shared commitment to enabling employability, helping women gain the confidence, clothing and coaching…” (source page)
• The Hiscox Foundation — “The Hiscox Foundation is a long-term supporter of Smart Works, providing vital funding to help expand our service and support more women acr…” (source page)
• The Inflexion Foundation — “The Inflexion Foundation supports Smart Works through funding that helps improve life chances and expand our impact, enabling more women to …” (source page)

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

Reported reserves equal ~2.1 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (78% 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: 11.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Julietta Dexterchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jane Elizabeth Shepherdson
• Juliet Lia Brown
• Melanie Johanne Prater · trustee of 5 other charities
• Rachel Atkins
• Ruth Eleanor Redding
• Shen Chen
• Simongnette Maria Theresa Scavazza
• Sophie Amanda Hedley

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 SMART WORKS BIRMINGHAM.

• SMART WORKS BIRMINGHAM income £188k
• Smart Works North East income £299k
• SMART WORKS YORKSHIRE income £507k
• SMART WORKS READING income £245k
• SMART WORKS (GREATER MANCHESTER) income £380k
• BEING WOMAN income £122k

Side by side with its peers

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