CARERS FIRST

Registered charity 1085430 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Carers FIRST is a charity supporting people who look after a relative or friend who due to ill health, physical or mental illness, disability, frailty, or addiction cannot manage without their support. We provide information, advice, guidance, emotional support, training and activities, giving carers an opportunity to have a break from their caring role and help them to get the support they need.

Objects

4.1 For the public benefit, to relieve the needs of carers and persons who are sick, infirm, disabled or who have social care needs in particular but not exclusively by:4.1.1 the provision of information, advice and support4.1.2 the provision of respite care

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 · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Medway, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the financial statements give a true and fair view of the charitable company's affairs and have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice. The independent auditors reported no matters requiring exception regarding the trustees' use of the going concern basis or any material uncertainties casting significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue operating.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by WP Audit Services LLP. Discloses 3 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
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds 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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 04144820

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Carers First (matched by registered charity number).

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.

• PICKERSGILL, Sarah — director, appointed 25/03/2026on trustee list
• WITHERS, Caroline Bernadette Elizabeth — director, appointed 22/01/2026on trustee list
• USHER, Hannah Elizabeth — director, appointed 05/01/2026on trustee list
• TAYLOR, Josephine Mary — director, appointed 24/12/2025on trustee list
• HIGHAM, Christian Patrick Shepley — director, appointed 18/11/2025on trustee list
• CECCHINI, Daniela Domenica — director, appointed 25/10/2024on trustee list
• NEAL, Semantha — director, appointed 01/07/2023on trustee list
• SPARROW, Clive Bertram — director, appointed 16/06/2023on trustee list
• HUSSAIN, Manir, Dr — director, appointed 16/06/2023on trustee list
• HEYS, Roberta Camilla — director, appointed 16/06/2023on trustee list
• WELLS, Vicki Jayne — director, appointed 11/11/2020on trustee list
• JENKINS, Peter Alan — director, appointed 06/04/2020on trustee list
• RUST, Kelly Ann — secretary, appointed 09/03/2026

Official officers record.

CQC provider record: Carers First — Deregistered, 3 registered locations, last inspected 12/12/2016.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Reported reserves equal ~3.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (90% 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: 0.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (14/11/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (18/04/2013) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Vicki Jayne Wellschair
• CLIVE BERTRAM SPARROW · trustee of 1 other charity
• Caroline Bernadette Elizabeth Withers
• Christian Patrick Shepley Higham
• Daniela Domenica Cecchini
• Hannah Elizabeth Usher
• Josephine Mary Taylor
• Peter Alan Jenkins
• Roberta Camilla Heys
• Sarah Joan Louise Pickersgill

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

Operates in: Croydon · Essex · Hackney · Haringey · Lincolnshire · Medway · Southend-on-sea · Waltham Forest

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 CARERS' SUPPORT CENTRE.

• CARERS' SUPPORT CENTRE income £1.1m
• THE PRINCESS ROYAL TRUST FOR CARERS IN HAMPSHIRE income £1.5m
• CARERS UK income £4.7m
• CARERS TRUST income £13.0m
• CARERS TOGETHER IN HAMPSHIRE income £178k
• WANDSWORTH CARERS' CENTRE income £955k

Side by side with its peers

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