ADOPTION UK CHARITY
Registered charity 1160647 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also registered in Scotland as SC037892 (OSCR)
Adoption UK is a membership organisation providing support, community and advocacy for all those parenting or supporting children who cannot live with their birth parents. We connect adoptive families, provide information and signposting on a range of adoption-related issues and campaign for improvements to adoption policy and legislation at the highest levels.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported an operational deficit of £391,374 for the year ending March 2025, with free reserves falling to £324,465, which is well below the trustees' policy target of approximately £1,000,000. The auditors have identified a material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, citing a net liabilities position and uncertainty over future grant income. However, the trustees maintain that restructuring actions and cost reductions provide a reasonable basis for preparing the financial statements on a going concern basis.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Adoption support contracts (71% of income)
“Adoption support contracts 699,683”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £324k)
“Our unrestricted free reserves are £324,464, well short of the policy target.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Going concern: material uncertainty disclosed
“Accordingly, a material uncertainty exists which may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, and therefore the charity may be unable to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: 2 x £120 transactions for lived experience speaker fees for the son of a trustee in 2025
“There were 2 x £120 transactions for lived experience speaker fees for the son of a trustee in 2025 (2024 – none)” — page 30
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Thomas Coombs Limited. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2024) → material uncertainty (FY2025).
Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Adoption UK (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.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram · linkedin
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£249k
Reported reserves equal ~1.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% 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: 6.0% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (03/01/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (13/02/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Michael Victor REBEIROchair · trustee of 1 other charity
- Anju MAHBUBANI
- Anna JAQUES
- Anwen Mai Aspden
- Dr Christopher Tennyson
- Dr Tony Eastwood
- Lucy Rowe
- Nicolette Moser
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is ADOPTION UK CHARITY financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported an operational deficit of £391,374 for the year ending March 2025, with free reserves falling to £324,465, which is well below the trustees' policy target of approximately £1,000,000. The auditors have identified a material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, citing a net liabilities position and uncertainty over future grant income. However, the trustees maintain that restructuring actions and cost reductions provide a reasonable basis for preparing the financial statements on a going concern basis. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Thomas Coombs Limited.
Who funds ADOPTION UK CHARITY?
Funders whose own accounts filings name ADOPTION UK CHARITY as a grant recipient include MOONDANCE FOUNDATION, THE SHANLY FOUNDATION, THE ALLEN OVERY SHEARMAN STERLING FOUNDATION, THE FORRESTER FAMILY TRUST, The Squire Patton Boggs Charitable Trust.
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 CCS Adoption Ltd.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.