THE SOCIAL MOBILITY FOUNDATION
Registered charity 1115888 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE LINKSON FELLOWSHIP · also registered in Scotland as SC051842 (OSCR)
The Social Mobility Foundation is a charity that helps talented young people 16-25 from low-income backgrounds achieve their potential. Our programmes offer mentoring, university and job application support, skills and careers advice and work experience. We advocate and campaign for social mobility and undertake research including the annual Social Mobility Employers Index.
Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity returned to a surplus of £154,008 for the year ended 30 September 2025, with total income of £3,267,972 against expenditure of £3,113,964. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves were £544,880, which is below the stated policy target of approximately £695,000 (2.5 months of running costs). The trustees confirmed adequate resources for the foreseeable future with no material uncertainties identified.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Employees paid over £60,000: 2
“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: 2025 No. 2” — page 33
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: 2.5 months running costs (held: £545k)
“The Trustees aim to maintain a level of unrestricted reserves sufficient to cover 2.5 months running costs of the Charity - at the current operating budget this is approximately £695,000.” — page 11
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Goodman Jones LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Social Mobility Foundation (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Sarah Atkinson — Chief Executive Officer (source)
- Alan Milburn — Chair (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.
- KETT, Paul Michael — director, appointed 05/02/2026on trustee list
- MILLER, Elizabeth Jane, Dr — director, appointed 05/02/2026on trustee list
- RAILTON, Nigel — director, appointed 05/07/2023on trustee list
- ROCKHILL, Tom Peter — director, appointed 05/07/2023on trustee list
- OWEN, Ruth Elizabeth — director, appointed 23/02/2022on trustee list
- DAWSON, Fiona Eleanor — director, appointed 17/02/2021on trustee list
- RODHAM, Benjamin John — director, appointed 10/01/2019on trustee list
- DOHERTY, Ann Teresa — director, appointed 01/04/2015on trustee list
- ATKINSON, Sarah Elizabeth — secretary, appointed 02/01/2020
Official officers record.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£60k
Reported reserves equal ~2.1 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (94% 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: 1.8% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (05/01/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Nigel Railtonchair
- Ann Doherty
- Benjamin John Rodham
- Dr Elizabeth Jane Miller
- Fiona Dawson · trustee of 1 other charity
- Lee Edward Cain
- Namrata Patel
- Paul Michael Kett
- Ruth Elizabeth Owen
- Tom Peter Rockhill
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE SOCIAL MOBILITY FOUNDATION financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity returned to a surplus of £154,008 for the year ended 30 September 2025, with total income of £3,267,972 against expenditure of £3,113,964. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves were £544,880, which is below the stated policy target of approximately £695,000 (2.5 months of running costs). The trustees confirmed adequate resources for the foreseeable future with no material uncertainties identified. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Goodman Jones LLP.
Who funds THE SOCIAL MOBILITY FOUNDATION?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SOCIAL MOBILITY FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include THE PWC FOUNDATION, THE DULVERTON TRUST, THE PA FOUNDATION, OVE ARUP PARTNERSHIP CHARITABLE TRUST, BGF FOUNDATION.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
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 THE TALENT FOUNDRY TRUST.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.