ADVOCACY FOCUS
Registered charity 1086151 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as EAST LANCASHIRE ADVOCACY SERVICE, EAST LANCS ADVOCACY
Free, confidential and independent advocacy support for vulnerable people to take part in decisions relating to their health and social care. The charity delivers a range of services including training, statutory mental health and mental capacity advocacy & general advocacy support for issues relating to health & social care in particular for those whose primary issues relate to mental health.
Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £111,668 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a decrease in unrestricted funds to £758,840. The trustees note a significant funding gap and increased demand for services, but confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern. The organization holds £320,000 in a designated fund for potential redundancy or closure costs.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Accounts audited by Mayes Business Partnership Ltd. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Advocacy Focus (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Justine Forster — CEO (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.
- MEADOWS, Samantha Marie — director, appointed 25/09/2025on trustee list
- STOKES, Stuart John — director, appointed 18/11/2024on trustee list
- O'BYRNE, David — director, appointed 29/07/2024on trustee list
- CHRISTIE, Karen — director, appointed 19/05/2023on trustee list
- CARROLL, Paul Stephen — director, appointed 19/05/2023on trustee list
- LINTERN, Christopher Bryan — director, appointed 02/10/2020on trustee list
- RODGERS, Dean — director, appointed 17/09/2018on trustee list
- BOND, Denise — director, appointed 15/07/2009on trustee list
Official officers record.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Reported reserves equal ~2.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (100% 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: 0.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Christopher Lintern
- DENISE BOND
- Dean Rodgers
- Karen Maria Christie
- Paul Stephen Carroll
- Samantha Marie Meadows
- Stuart John Stokes
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Lancashire · Salford City · St Helens · Trafford
Income and spending
Common questions
Is ADVOCACY FOCUS financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £111,668 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a decrease in unrestricted funds to £758,840. The trustees note a significant funding gap and increased demand for services, but confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern. The organization holds £320,000 in a designated fund for potential redundancy or closure costs. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Mayes Business Partnership Ltd.
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 ADVOCACY FOR ALL.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.