UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH STUDENTS UNION

Registered charity 1136115 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The advancement of education of students at the University of Portsmouth for the public benefit

Causes: Education/training · Accommodation/housing · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Amateur Sport · Environment/conservation/heritage · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.7m

Latest spending

£1.6m

Registered

2010

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £108,559 for the year, driven by a £4,147 actuarial loss on its defined benefit pension scheme and an overall operational deficit of £26,437 against budget. Despite these losses, the trustees confirm the union has sufficient funds to meet all obligations, supported by a significant increase in block grant funding from the University of Portsmouth.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £70,001 - £80,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)

“The average number of employees with emoluments (excluding employer pension contributions and employer National Insurance contributions) above £60,000 in this or the preceding year is as follows: 2025 1 £70,001 - £80,000” — page 29

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“The average number of employees with emoluments (excluding employer pension contributions and employer National Insurance contributions) above £60,000 in this or the preceding year is as follows: 2025 1” — page 29

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure (held: £548k)

“The calculated minimum reserves is £246k. An additional balance of reserves are designated to be utilised for the development fund. This amount will be determined periodically by the board/committee. The amount available will not exceed the difference between the free reserves and the minimum reserves.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Payments to trustees: Remuneration paid to 7 elected officer trustees

“As authorised under section 6 of the Articles of Association, a total of £116,902 (2024: £96,563) was paid in remuneration to 7 (2024: 8) elected officer trustees.” — page 36

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: University of Portsmouth

“The University of Portsmouth is, by virtue of the provisions of section 22 of the Education Act 1994, required to take all practical steps to ensure that the charity operates fairly and democratically and accounts for its finances. During the year under review, the charity received grants totalling £1,267,550 (2024: £1,267,560) from the University of Portsmouth.” — page 36

“A monthly management charge is made by the charity in respect of the operation and administration of this company. £118,615 (2024: £112,189) Annually the company pays their profit as a donation to the charity as per their deed of covenant agreement. £22,915 (2024: £79,429)” — page 36

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Portsmouth Students' Union Trading Company Limited

“The University of Portsmouth is, by virtue of the provisions of section 22 of the Education Act 1994, required to take all practical steps to ensure that the charity operates fairly and democratically and accounts for its finances. During the year under review, the charity received grants totalling £1,267,550 (2024: £1,267,560) from the University of Portsmouth.” — page 36

“A monthly management charge is made by the charity in respect of the operation and administration of this company. £118,615 (2024: £112,189) Annually the company pays their profit as a donation to the charity as per their deed of covenant agreement. £22,915 (2024: £79,429)” — page 36

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Trustees

“The University of Portsmouth is, by virtue of the provisions of section 22 of the Education Act 1994, required to take all practical steps to ensure that the charity operates fairly and democratically and accounts for its finances. During the year under review, the charity received grants totalling £1,267,550 (2024: £1,267,560) from the University of Portsmouth.” — page 36

“A monthly management charge is made by the charity in respect of the operation and administration of this company. £118,615 (2024: £112,189) Annually the company pays their profit as a donation to the charity as per their deed of covenant agreement. £22,915 (2024: £79,429)” — page 36

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Pension scheme deficit: £1.6m

“The charitable company does participate in a defined benefit scheme and at the date of this report the liability on this scheme was £1,579,763 which is repayable by annual instalments.” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Trading subsidiary: Portsmouth Students' Union Trading Company Limited

“The Union’s trading company; Portsmouth Students’ Union Trading Company Ltd (PSUT) is a wholly owned trading subsidiary company of the Union, which generates commercial income to support the Union’s charitable objectives.” — page 7

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by MC Audit Limited. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Megan Easton — Advice Manager (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.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income

£1.7m

Total spending

£1.6m

Cost of raising funds

£62k

Reserves (reported)

£548k

Employees

62

Reported reserves equal ~4.2 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (84% 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: 3.7% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Alexander Hannan
Elizabeth Boffey
Fidelia Ulreen Fidel-Turay
Ka Ki Dorothy Ku
Maia Graham
Raiyan Rahman
Robert William Thrower
Sarah Shaw
Srini Sathish Kumar
Tracy Smith
Victor Audu

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

Operates in: Hampshire · Portsmouth City

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£1.7m	£1.6m
31/07/2024	£1.8m	£1.8m
31/07/2023	£2.0m	£1.8m
31/07/2022	£1.7m	£1.6m
31/07/2021	£1.4m	£1.4m

Common questions

Is UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH STUDENTS UNION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £108,559 for the year, driven by a £4,147 actuarial loss on its defined benefit pension scheme and an overall operational deficit of £26,437 against budget. Despite these losses, the trustees confirm the union has sufficient funds to meet all obligations, supported by a significant increase in block grant funding from the University of Portsmouth. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by MC Audit Limited.

What does the highest-paid employee of UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH STUDENTS UNION earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £70,001 - £80,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
QUINTIN HOGG TRUST	1	£540k
THE PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF DEVONSHIRE BENEVOLENT FUND	1	£2k
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITED	1	£296

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH STUDENTS' UNION.

THE UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH STUDENTS' UNION income £4.8m
GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD income £4.4m
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON STUDENTS' UNION income £7.6m
THE STUDENTS' UNION AT BU LTD income £4.2m
THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM STUDENTS' UNION income £11.1m
DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' UNION income £1.9m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH STUDENTS UNION	£1.7m	£70,001 - £80,000	1	unclear	—	no doubt
THE UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£4.8m	—	2	unclear	—	no doubt
GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD FY2025	£4.4m	£70,001 - £80,000	2	below	—	no doubt
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£7.6m	—	—	below	—	no doubt
THE STUDENTS' UNION AT BU LTD FY2025	£4.2m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£11.1m	—	—	above	—	noted

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