LISTER STEPS LIMITED

Registered charity 1083268 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Childcare services: day nursery, after school, breakfast club, playgroup, playschemes enabling parents to access employment, education or training. Lister Steps provides training for staff and opportunities for placements and voluntary work for students and members of the community.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£674k
Latest spending
£671k
Registered
2000
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a small surplus of £3,887 for the year, with total income rising to £674,466. However, the charity faced significant cashflow pressures, noting that meeting payroll obligations was difficult in some months and that it carries high levels of bad debt in its nursery operations. Despite these liquidity challenges and a disputed water bill, the trustees maintain that the charity has adequate reserves and access to funding to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure (held: £107k)
It is the policy of the charitable company to maintain unrestricted funds, which are free reserves at a level to cover redundancy provision, and three months, running costs should no further funding be received. — page 5
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Governance: The Board of Trustees lacked a formally-elected chair during the year.
During periods when the Board of Trustees lacked a formally-elected chair, the Company Secretary held regular meetings with the Chief Executive to provide support and maintain clear communication. — page 6
Some meetings we were not quorate and made use of the in quoracy amendment to our Articles of Association which was adopted at the last AGM. — page 7
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Governance: Difficulty recruiting trustees resulted in meetings not being quorate.
During periods when the Board of Trustees lacked a formally-elected chair, the Company Secretary held regular meetings with the Chief Executive to provide support and maintain clear communication. — page 6
Some meetings we were not quorate and made use of the in quoracy amendment to our Articles of Association which was adopted at the last AGM. — page 7
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Lister Steps (matched by registered charity number).

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title 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): instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income
£674k
Total spending
£671k
Reserves (reported)
£0
Employees
18

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Liverpool City

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/07/2025£674k£671k
31/07/2024£526k£618k
31/07/2023£776k£669k
31/07/2022£673k£690k
31/07/2021£564k£583k

Common questions

Is LISTER STEPS LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity generated a small surplus of £3,887 for the year, with total income rising to £674,466. However, the charity faced significant cashflow pressures, noting that meeting payroll obligations was difficult in some months and that it carries high levels of bad debt in its nursery operations. Despite these liquidity challenges and a disputed water bill, the trustees maintain that the charity has adequate reserves and access to funding to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

FunderDateAmountPurpose
Sport England04/11/2025£5kMove Together: Community Yoga
Sport England27/07/2021£10kTGC CF Lister Steps & The Old Library
The National Lottery Heritage Fund04/05/2020£27k"COVID19: Lister Steps"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund28/01/2014£4.4m"The Old Library - Lister Steps Carnegie Community Hub"

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.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
JOHN HUNTINGDON'S CHARITY1£6k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with ST BEDE'S CHILDCARE LIMITED.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
LISTER STEPS LIMITED£674k0aboveno doubt
ST BEDE'S CHILDCARE LIMITED FY2025£3.9m0aboveno doubt
SAWSTON CHILDCARE LIMITED FY2025£1.0m0unclearno doubt
Chiltern Nursery and Training College FY2025£2.8m£80,001 - £90,0001withinno doubt
KELTON NURSERY FY2025£1000k0unclearno doubt
PENRHYN PLAYGROUP FY2025£440k0unclearno doubt

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