DEAFWAY

Registered charity 1089918 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

All of our work, in the UK, on the Isle of Man, in Nepal and in Uganda, aims to give D/deaf people equal access to every part of life. We do this through Residential Support and Rehabilitation; Education and Training; Deaf/Sign Language Arts; Deaf Culture Projects; Deaf Heritage Projects; and the provision of Deaf Spaces. At the centre of of all that we do is Deaf Culture and sign language.

Objects

THE COMPANY IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE RELIEF OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DEAF OR WHO SUFFER FROM COMMUNICATION DISORDERS, FIRSTLY THOSE RESIDENT IN LANCASHIRE AND SECONDLY THOSE LIVING IN THE REST OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ELSEWHERE, PARTICULARLY BY ASSISTING AND SUPPORTING THEIR EQUAL ACCESS TO AND PARTICIPATION IN, ALL ASPECTS OF SOCIETY.

Area of benefit: LANCASHIRE, THE REST OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ELSEWHERE

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Accommodation/housing · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Preston, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity incurred a net expenditure of £277,017 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a decrease in total funds. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £573,817, which represents 2.4 months of unrestricted direct charitable expenditure, falling below the stated policy target of three months' running costs.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Champion Accountants LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Care Quality Commission. This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

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 04243198

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

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Teresa Dawson — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• Brian Donelly — Chairperson (source)
• Maureen Donelly — Deputy CEO / Finance Manager (source)
• John Ward OBE — Trustee & Director (source)
• Philippa Wynne — Trustee & Director (source)
• Val Hall — Trustee & Director (source)
• Lynne Barnes — Trustee & Director (source)
• Lesley Davidson MA — Trustee & Director (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.

• FUNNELL, Judith Ann — director, appointed 03/06/2026on trustee list
• TOMKINSON, Linda Margaret, Rev — director, appointed 13/08/2025on trustee list
• MILNES, Kyra — director, appointed 18/11/2024on trustee list
• BARNES, Lynne Bernadette, Dr — director, appointed 11/12/2023on trustee list
• HALL, Valerie Lee — director, appointed 06/02/2023on trustee list
• WYNNE, Philippa Edith — director, appointed 07/02/2022on trustee list
• CUMING, Carol Ann — director, appointed 04/10/2021on trustee list
• DONELLY, Brian Stanley — director, appointed 15/10/2010on trustee list
• DAWSON, Teresa Ann — secretary, appointed 06/03/2023
• DONELLY, Maureen — secretary, appointed 21/05/2022

Official officers record.

CQC provider record: Deafway — Registered, 1 registered location, 1 regulated activity, last inspected 13/01/2022.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record

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

Reported reserves equal ~2.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (98% 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: 2.8% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Care Quality Commission ratings

CQC inspection ratings for services run by a provider matching this charity’s name (matched by name; verify provider identity on CQC’s site).

• Brockholes Brow - Preston: Good (18/10/2024) · CQC record

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (21/08/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Brian Donellychair
• Carol Cuming
• Dr lynne Barnes
• Judith Ann Funnell
• Kyra Milnes
• Philippa Wynne · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev LINDA MARGARET TOMKINSON · trustee of 2 other charities
• Valerie Hall

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

Operates in: Lancashire · Nepal · Uganda

Income and spending

Common questions

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 DEAF UNITY.

• DEAF UNITY income £148k
• DEAF REACH income £354k
• ACTION DEAFNESS income £3.1m
• MUSIC AND THE DEAF income £41k
• DEAF WORLD income £249k
• BID SERVICES income £6.6m

Side by side with its peers

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