THE ACCESS PROJECT

Registered charity 1143011 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as PROJECT ACCESS COMPANY

We help motivated students from disadvantaged backgrounds win places at top universities.

Objects

A) TO ADVANCE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN SUCH WAYS AS THE TRUSTEES THINK FIT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:- MAKING FACILITIES AND SERVICES AVAILABLE TO THEM WITH THE PARTICULAR (BUT NOT LIMITED) AIM OF HELPING THEM WIN PLACES AT UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES OR INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION; AND- AWARDING TO OR PROCURING THE AWARD TO THEM OF FINANCIAL OR OTHER SUPPORT.(B) TO PROVIDE FOR THE RECREATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE BY PROVIDING FACILITIES AND SERVICES TO THEM, WITH THE PARTICULAR (BUT NOT LIMITED) AIM OF HELPING STUDENTS GAIN PLACES AT UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES OR INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

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

Causes: Education/training · Recreation · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Southwark, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity closed the year with a moderate financial deficit of £194,987, an improvement on the previous year, despite raising £3.08 million in income. Total available funds decreased by 27% to £532,281, with unrestricted reserves falling to £403,062. The trustees maintain that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Goodman Jones LLP. Discloses 4 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.

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

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Access Project (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Anna Searle — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• John Kelly-Jones — Chair of the Board of Trustees (source)
• Wikus van der Merwe — Chief Operating Officer (source)
• Sam Davies — Director, Fundraising and Communications (source)
• Emily Price — Director, Delivery (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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• 29th May 1961 Charity — “Our current partners 29th May 1961 Charity” (source page)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 13.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (16/05/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (21/01/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• John Kelly-Joneschair
• Andrew David Burns
• Devyani Gupta
• Fatos Nacakgedigi
• Michael William Crowhurst
• Neil Andrew Miley
• Omar Subash Viroomal
• Patrick Timothy Moynihan
• Peter Denison-Pender
• Tahmid Chowdhury

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

Operates in: Birmingham City · Nottinghamshire · Throughout London

Income and spending

Common questions

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.

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 PROJECT ACCESS INTERNATIONAL.

• PROJECT ACCESS INTERNATIONAL income £133k
• ACCESS COMMUNITY TRUST income £5.9m
• MORE EDUCATION income £531k
• ACCESS ACCOUNTANCY income £128k
• THE OPEN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' EDUCATIONAL TRUST income £114k
• THE ACCESS TO SPORTS PROJECT income £896k

Side by side with its peers

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