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CHALLENGE PARTNERS

Registered charity 1149266 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Challenge Partners is an England-wide school improvement partnership. We foster collaboration and challenge between schools and school trusts through programmes, networks and knowledge sharing activities which drive upwards convergence across the education system.

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£3.3m
Latest spending
£3.2m
Registered
2012
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity concluded the year in a stable financial position with unrestricted reserves of £654,845, which is above the stated policy target of £580,000. The charity generated a surplus of £117,328 and reports no material uncertainties regarding its 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: £130,001 - £140,000 — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median £70k)
“Remuneration was in the range £130,001 - £140,000” — page 42
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Largest income source: Network of Excellence (87% of income)
“£2.8 million from the Network of Excellence, primarily partnership subscriptions.” — page 19
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Fundraising cost ratio: 8.0% of fundraised income, as disclosed
“Fundraising activities account for approximately 8 per cent of the charity’s total income for the year”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Payments to trustees: Dr Katherine Chhatwal OBE received remuneration of £130,001 - £140,000, pension payments of £6,902, and private health cover of £329.
“Dr Katherine Chhatwal OBE was paid a salary in respect of her role as Chief Executive and serves as a trustee ex officio. Remuneration was in the range £130,001 - £140,000 (2024: £130,001 - £140,000). Additional pension payments amounted to £6,902 (2024: £6,695). Private health cover costs of £329 (2024: £315) were also paid.” — page 42
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Received £29,912 for annual subscriptions and services from Authentic Education Trust, chaired by Trustee Alison Beane OBE.
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £29,912 (2024 - £nil) from Authentic Education Trust for annual subscriptions and services. Alison Beane OBE is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Authentic Education Trust.” — page 48
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £21,134 (2024: £14,264) from Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership for annual subscriptions and services. Challenge Partners also paid one school in the Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership £191 in the year (2024: nil) to reimburse travel expenses related to our school improvement programmes. Gary Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer and a trustee of Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership.” — page 48
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Received £21,134 for subscriptions/services from Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership (CEO/Trustee Gary Lewis) and paid £191 for travel reimbursement.
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £29,912 (2024 - £nil) from Authentic Education Trust for annual subscriptions and services. Alison Beane OBE is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Authentic Education Trust.” — page 48
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £21,134 (2024: £14,264) from Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership for annual subscriptions and services. Challenge Partners also paid one school in the Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership £191 in the year (2024: nil) to reimburse travel expenses related to our school improvement programmes. Gary Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer and a trustee of Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership.” — page 48
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Received £3,585 for subscriptions/services from SCS-DRC (Principal Vijita Patel, former Trustee) and paid £3,570 for programme services.
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £29,912 (2024 - £nil) from Authentic Education Trust for annual subscriptions and services. Alison Beane OBE is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Authentic Education Trust.” — page 48
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £21,134 (2024: £14,264) from Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership for annual subscriptions and services. Challenge Partners also paid one school in the Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership £191 in the year (2024: nil) to reimburse travel expenses related to our school improvement programmes. Gary Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer and a trustee of Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership.” — page 48
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Received £nil funds and free services from School Reviewer Limited, directed by Trustee Dr Katherine Chhatwal OBE.
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £29,912 (2024 - £nil) from Authentic Education Trust for annual subscriptions and services. Alison Beane OBE is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Authentic Education Trust.” — page 48
“During the year, Challenge Partners received funds of £21,134 (2024: £14,264) from Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership for annual subscriptions and services. Challenge Partners also paid one school in the Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership £191 in the year (2024: nil) to reimburse travel expenses related to our school improvement programmes. Gary Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer and a trustee of Lighthouse Schools’ Partnership.” — page 48
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

What the charity says about itself (2024/25)

From its own voluntary annual review / impact report — the charity’s account of its work, distinct from the statutory accounts analysed above.

The report highlights a specific performance metric for disadvantaged pupils in schools that have been partners for four or more years, contrasting with national trends.
“Schools in Challenge Partners for four or more years increased the proportion of disadvantaged pupils achieving a crucial grade 4+ in GCSE English and maths by 4.1 percentage points over five years to 2024, compared to a national decline of 1.3 points.”

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.

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

Total income
£3.3m
Total spending
£3.2m
Cost of raising funds
£22k
Reserves (reported)
£636k
Employees
26

Reported reserves equal ~2.4 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (87% 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: 0.7% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Throughout England

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/08/2025£3.3m£3.2m
31/08/2024£3.3m£3.2m
31/08/2023£3.0m£3.0m
31/08/2022£2.6m£2.5m
31/08/2021£2.1m£2.2m

Common questions

Is CHALLENGE PARTNERS financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity concluded the year in a stable financial position with unrestricted reserves of £654,845, which is above the stated policy target of £580,000. The charity generated a surplus of £117,328 and reports no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by HaysMac LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of CHALLENGE PARTNERS earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £130,001 - £140,000 band.

Who funds CHALLENGE PARTNERS?

Funders whose own accounts filings name CHALLENGE PARTNERS as a grant recipient include SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUST, THE PERMIRA FOUNDATION, DAVID AND ELAINE POTTER FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUSTFY2025£274k
SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUSTFY2022£219k
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATIONFY2022£178kStrategic Grants - UK partnerships
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATIONFY2024£174kStrategic Grant
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATIONFY2023£173kUK
SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUSTFY2024£99k
DAVID AND ELAINE POTTER FOUNDATIONFY2022£37kEducation
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATIONFY2025£0Strategic Partnership (GROWTH Fund - UK)
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATIONFY2025£0Strategic Partnership (SPARK Fund - UK)

Government & lottery funding

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

FunderDateAmountPurpose
Greater London Authority07/05/2018£148kGrant to Challenge Partners
Greater London Authority10/05/2017£148kGrant to Challenge Partners

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.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
IMPETUS - THE PRIVATE EQUITY FOUNDATION1£563k
THE YOUTH ENDOWMENT FUND CHARITABLE TRUST1£529k
THE FRANK JACKSON FOUNDATION1£142k
THE GOSHEN TRUST1£95k
CSIS CHARITY FUND1£63k
DOVEDALE1£40k
THE TOBACCO PIPE MAKERS AND TOBACCO TRADE BENEVOLENT FUND1£33k
THE OGDEN TRUST1£25k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with PHYSICS PARTNERS.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
CHALLENGE PARTNERS£3.3m£130,001 - £140,000—unclear8.0%no doubt
PHYSICS PARTNERS FY2025£208k—0unclear—no doubt
EDUCATION SUPPORT PARTNERSHIP FY2025£4.6m——unclear—no doubt
TITAN PARTNERSHIP LIMITED FY2025£509k——unclear—no doubt
PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN FY2025£365k—0unclear—no doubt
TEEN CHALLENGE UK FY2025£3.7m—0unclear—no doubt

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