THE BLACKTHORN TRUST
Registered charity 1117979 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as Blackthorn Charity
Treatment & rehabilitation for patients suffering serious long term conditions (chronic pain, poor mental health, and Type 2 Diabetes) using anthroposophic therapies and work in a community setting.
Objects
FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT, TO RELIEVE SICKNESS, PROMOTE GOOD HEALTH, ADVANCE THE EDUCATION AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE WITH SEVERE AND/OR CHRONIC ILLNESS (EITHER PHYSICAL OR MENTAL) BY PROVIDING MEDICAL, EDUCATIONAL AND REHABILITATION SERVICES, DEVELOPED OUT OF THE PERSPECTIVE OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (WHICH PRINCIPLES ARE SET OUT IN APPENDIX 1).
Area of benefit: UNDEFINED. IN PRACTICE, KENT.
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 · website · Get email alerts
Registered contact address: Maidstone, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £134,799 for the year ended 31 December 2025, driven by a significant reduction in incoming resources. Per the trustees' report, free reserves fell to £149,458, which is below the stated policy target of three months' operating costs, prompting the release of an endowment fund to cover operational expenses.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £149k; policy: three months of operating costs)
“After excluding the funds tied up in the value of fixed assets, the Charity's completely "free reserves" at 31 December 2025 were £149,458 (2024: £177,163), below the target level.” — page 6
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Donation from Shaw Business Partnership Ltd
“During the financial year, the charitable company received a donation of £5,000 from Shaw Business Parntership Ltd. Jonathan Shaw, who serves as a director of both The Shaw Business Partnership Ltd and The Blackthorn Trust, is therefore considered a related party.” — page 29
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by UHY Hacker Young. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "above" (FY2024) to "below" (FY2025).
Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed 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
- 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
- Paying staff
- Risk management
- Safeguarding policy and procedures
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- Serious incident reporting 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.
Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2025
- Volunteers: 50
- Government income: £41,198 — contracts £35,277 (1), grants £5,921 (1); 7% of the £598,252 total gross income on the same return
Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2024
Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2023
- Volunteers: 28
- Government income: £40,918 — contracts £30,001 (1), grants £10,917 (2); 8% of the £488,304 total gross income on the same return
Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Blackthorn Trust (matched by registered charity number).
Public-sector contracts awarded
From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.
Property (HM Land Registry)
2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram · linkedin
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£54k
Reported reserves equal ~2.4 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 9.1% of total income — above the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).
- JONATHAN SHAWchair
- Alice Laura Chapman-Hatchett
- Andrew James
- George Alan Perry
- Justine Sloover
- Kevin Andrew Moule · trustee of 1 other charity
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Kent
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE BLACKTHORN TRUST financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £134,799 for the year ended 31 December 2025, driven by a significant reduction in incoming resources. Per the trustees' report, free reserves fell to £149,458, which is below the stated policy target of three months' operating costs, prompting the release of an endowment fund to cover operational expenses. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by UHY Hacker Young.
Who funds THE BLACKTHORN TRUST?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE BLACKTHORN TRUST as a grant recipient include WILLIAM AND EDITH OLDHAM CHARITABLE TRUST, JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST, THE EDWARD GOSTLING FOUNDATION, THE MRS SMITH AND MOUNT TRUST, THE W H AND A HAWKINS CHARITABLE TRUST.
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 THE ALBRIGHTON TRUST LIMITED.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.