CHANGING LIVES TOGETHER

Registered charity 1139983 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CHANGING LIVES IN CHESHIRE, CLIC - CHANGING LIVES IN CHESHIRE

Changing Lives Together provides affordable furniture and electrical items and Community Transport. We also work extensively with our local community and support people through a variety of work, training and volunteering programmes for vulnerable, disabled and excluded individuals.

Objects

THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS ARE SPECIFICALLY RESTRICTED TO THE FOLLOWING; 5.1 THE RELIEF OF THOSE IN NEED BY REASON OF YOUTH, AGE, ILL-HEALTH, DISABILITY, FINANCIAL HARDSHIP OR OTHER DISADVANTAGE, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY, BY THE PROVISION OF AFFORDABLE FURNITURE, AFFORDABLE FOOD, RECYCLED AND REUSED ITEMS AND SERVICES TO REDUCE SOCIAL ISOLATION.5.2 THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE PHYSICAL AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY THE PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES.5.3 TO PROVIDE TRANSPORT SERVICES IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY IN CHESHIRE AND THE SURROUNDING AREA FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE SPECIAL NEED OF SUCH SERVICES BECAUSE THEY ARE ELDERLY, POOR OR DISABLED, PEOPLE WITH YOUNG CHILDREN OR THOSE LIVING IN ISOLATED AREAS.

Area of benefit: UNDEFINED. IN PRACTICE, NATIONAL

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

Causes: Education/training · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Received the assets of CHESHIRE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST (charity 1112525) — merger registered 20/10/2020.

Source: Charity Commission register of merged charities (OGL v3.0).

Latest income

£2.8m

Latest spending

£2.8m

Registered

2011

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The charity reported a small surplus of £15,340 for the year ended 31 December 2025, reversing a deficit from the previous year. Unrestricted reserves stood at £404,511, which the trustees confirmed meets their policy target of covering three months of routine expenditure. The auditors confirmed the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £80,001 - £90,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)

“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: £80,001 - £90,000 2025 1” — page 20

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: £80,001 - £90,000 2025 1” — page 20

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: three months of routine expenditure (reserves figure: £405k)

“The Trustees have agreed that the appropriate level of unrestricted liquid reserves should be sufficient to cover 3 months of routine expenditure” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Murray Smith LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

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
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.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2025

Volunteers: 600
Government income: £1,811,098 — contracts £1,730,451 (7), grants £80,647 (3); 65% of the £2,775,473 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£80,001–£90,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2024

Volunteers: 600
Government income: £1,552,000 — contracts £1,492,000 (6), grants £60,000 (2); 63% of the £2,444,931 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£70,001–£80,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2023

Volunteers: 600
Government income: £1,414,700 — contracts £1,400,000 (6), grants £14,700 (3); 54% of the £2,623,852 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£70,001–£80,000: 1)

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Changing Lives Together (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

David Grocott — Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Total income

£2.8m

Total spending

£2.8m

Reserves (reported)

£405k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~1.8 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (69% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (20/10/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Bernadette McEvilly
Brian Gordon Dunn
Brian Michael Clarke
Christina Frances Lees Jones
Gillian Edwards · trustee of 2 other charities
Heidi Elizabeth Lesley Dilliway-Nickson
Katie Louise Walker
Kayleigh Atherton
Maurice McBride
Peter Price
Ruth Blackhurst
Tony Baxter

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

Operates in: Cheshire East · Cheshire West & Chester · Warrington

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2025	£2.8m	£2.8m
31/12/2024	£2.4m	£2.5m
31/12/2023	£2.6m	£2.6m
31/12/2022	£2.4m	£2.5m
31/12/2021	£2.6m	£2.4m

Common questions

Is CHANGING LIVES TOGETHER financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The charity reported a small surplus of £15,340 for the year ended 31 December 2025, reversing a deficit from the previous year. Unrestricted reserves stood at £404,511, which the trustees confirmed meets their policy target of covering three months of routine expenditure. The auditors confirmed the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Murray Smith LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of CHANGING LIVES TOGETHER earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £80,001 - £90,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds CHANGING LIVES TOGETHER?

Funders whose own accounts filings name CHANGING LIVES TOGETHER as a grant recipient include THE MOULDING FOUNDATION, TARPORLEY WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL TRUST, EARL OF CHESTER'S FUND.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE MOULDING FOUNDATION	FY2024	£40k	opening of their new site in Crewe
TARPORLEY WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL TRUST	FY2025	£17k
EARL OF CHESTER'S FUND	FY2025	£5k
EARL OF CHESTER'S FUND	FY2024	£2k
TARPORLEY WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL TRUST	FY2026	£144

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Community Fund	19/03/2021	£219k	Cheshire Buddying & Befriending Scheme
The National Lottery Community Fund	04/05/2020	£71k	COVID 19 Cheshire Buddying and Befriending
The National Lottery Community Fund	29/10/2018	£374k	Changing Lives in Cheshire ? Expanding our Future
The National Lottery Community Fund	28/07/2011	£9k	CLiC to Success

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
REAL FARMING TRUST	1	£139k
John Lewis Partnership Foundation	1	£120k
THE KAYS FOUNDATION	1	£50k
THE LANKELLYCHASE FOUNDATION	1	£33k
The Crerar Family Trust	1	£30k
CEO SLEEPOUT	1	£27k
THE FYRISH FOUNDATION	1	£23k
LANDAID CHARITABLE TRUST LIMITED	1	£19k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CHANGING OUR LIVES LTD.

CHANGING OUR LIVES LTD income £318k
LIFE CHANGERS CHURCH income £182k
TURNING LIVES AROUND LTD income £8.4m
LIFE CHANGERS EMPOWERING MINISTRY income £74k
HELP CHANGE LIVES income £600k
THE CYRENIANS LTD income £38.0m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
CHANGING LIVES TOGETHER	£2.8m	£80,001 - £90,000	1	above	—	no doubt
CHANGING OUR LIVES LTD FY2025	£318k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
LIFE CHANGERS CHURCH FY2025	£182k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
TURNING LIVES AROUND LTD FY2025	£8.4m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
LIFE CHANGERS EMPOWERING MINISTRY FY2025	£74k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
HELP CHANGE LIVES FY2025	£600k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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