Hopeworks UK (Bedford)
Registered charity 1139956 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as KING'S ARMS PROJECT (BEDFORD), KING'S ARMS PROJECT; ONWARD FLOATING SUPPORT; ONWARD PLUS; ONWARD
HopeWorks is a charity tackling homelessness, displacement, and isolation in Bedford. We provide person-centered support, accommodation, and opportunities for growth. Our 4 teams Outreach, Supported Accommodation, Pathways, and Refugee & Migrants offer housing, employment support, legal aid, and life skills training, helping individuals regain stability and thrive in their communities.
Causes: The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · Religious Activities · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity finished 2025 in a strong financial position with a surplus of £261,339 and total reserves of £979,736. Per the trustees' report, the charity's free reserves are considered well above the amount specified by its reserves policy, although the unrestricted reserves alone are below the estimated policy target of £545k.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Employees paid over £60,000: 1
“One employee received remuneration between £60k-£70k in 2025 (Nil: 2024).” — page 35
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £215k)
“The current free reserves are £241k (unrestricted reserves of £214.6k + non-essential designated reserves of £130.9k – fixed assets £104.5k), plus essential designated reserves of £543.6k towards Refugee and Migrant services show we are well above the amount specified by the policy”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: 14 Related Party Transactions
“During the year 2025 trustees donated £2,650 and senior leadership donated £1,851 (2024: £15,462) to the charity. During the year, the charity repaid the costs of filing the accounts of £64 (2024: £34) to a limited liability partnership (LLP) which a Trustee is a member of.” — page 39
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Employees paid over £60,000: 0 (FY2024) → 1 (FY2025).
- 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.
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Hopeworks UK (Bedford) (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
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.
- DAVIS, Lucy, The Reverend Canon — director, appointed 19/03/2026on trustee list
- COOPER, John Peter, Dr — director, appointed 20/11/2025on trustee list
- FROSSELL, Sue — director, appointed 24/11/2022on trustee list
- BURGE, Matthew James — director, appointed 15/04/2021on trustee list
- LIPSKI, Vanessa Julie — director, appointed 28/01/2021on trustee list
- TAYLOR, Nigel Clifford — director, appointed 01/09/2018on trustee list
Official officers record.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£125k
Reported reserves equal ~3.8 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (93% 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: 4.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Dr John Cooper
- Matthew James Burge
- NIGEL CLIFFORD TAYLOR · trustee of 1 other charity
- Rev Lucy Davis
- Sue Frossell
- Vanessa Julie Lipski
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Bedford
Income and spending
Common questions
Is Hopeworks UK (Bedford) financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity finished 2025 in a strong financial position with a surplus of £261,339 and total reserves of £979,736. Per the trustees' report, the charity's free reserves are considered well above the amount specified by its reserves policy, although the unrestricted reserves alone are below the estimated policy target of £545k. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP.
Who funds Hopeworks UK (Bedford)?
Funders whose own accounts filings name Hopeworks UK (Bedford) as a grant recipient include THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED, THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF CHRIST CHURCH BEDFORD.
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 HOPE AT HOME.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.