BREAKING BARRIERS

Registered charity 1161901 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also registered in Scotland as SC052265 (OSCR)

Helping refugees living in the UK rebuild their lives through education, training and employment.

Causes: Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Economic/community Development/employment · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£3.6m
Latest spending
£3.5m
Registered
2015
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity made a surplus of £0.14m for the year ended 31 May 2025, with total income of £3.60m and total expenditure of £3.46m. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £1.12m, which the charity considers to be three months of forward expenditure, meeting its stated policy target.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £60,001 - £70,000 — below the median for charities its size (£70k)
“The following number of employees received compensation (excluding employer pension and NI) during the year between: £60,000 - £69,999” — page 65
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Employees paid over £60,000: 1
“The following number of employees received compensation (excluding employer pension and NI) during the year between: £60,000 - £69,999” — page 65
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Largest income source: Trusts and foundations (50% of income)
“Income from trusts and foundations £1.80m (FY24: £1.17m)”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Fundraising cost ratio: 19.5% of fundraised income, as disclosed
“Expenditure on raising funds was £0.68m, which was a reduction on the previous year (FY24: £0.82m) and represented 19.5% (FY24: 19.9%) of total expenditure.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: three months of forward expenditure (held: £1.1m)
“At Breaking Barriers, our reserves policy is to maintain a general fund, which represents three months of forward expenditure.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Donation from Apax Foundation
“During the year, we received a donation of £148.5K from the Apax Foundation (FY24: £75K), our Trustee Andrew Waidhofer is Vice President of Apax Partners.” — page 70
“Additionally, we received £55.2K (FY24: £25k) from the GSR Foundation, where our former Trustee James Newell is on the leadership team.” — page 70
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Donation from GSR Foundation
“During the year, we received a donation of £148.5K from the Apax Foundation (FY24: £75K), our Trustee Andrew Waidhofer is Vice President of Apax Partners.” — page 70
“Additionally, we received £55.2K (FY24: £25k) from the GSR Foundation, where our former Trustee James Newell is on the leadership team.” — page 70
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Donation from BNY Mellon
“During the year, we received a donation of £148.5K from the Apax Foundation (FY24: £75K), our Trustee Andrew Waidhofer is Vice President of Apax Partners.” — page 70
“Additionally, we received £55.2K (FY24: £25k) from the GSR Foundation, where our former Trustee James Newell is on the leadership team.” — page 70
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Breaking Barriers Trading Ltd
“The charity has one subsidiary undertaking, Breaking Barriers Trading Ltd, which is wholly owned by the charity and was established in 2018.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Godfrey Wilson Limited. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Corporate structure

BREAKING BARRIERS TRADING LTD — per its own Companies House accounts
  • Amounts owed to group undertakings: £22,149 (2025) vs £30,583 (2024)

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Breaking Barriers (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.

Funders the charity credits

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

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/05/2025)

Total income
£3.6m
Total spending
£3.5m
Cost of raising funds
£676k
Reserves (reported)
£1.8m
Employees
68

Reported reserves equal ~6.2 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (82% 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: 18.8% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/05/2025£3.6m£3.5m
31/05/2024£3.9m£4.1m
31/05/2023£3.8m£3.3m
31/05/2022£2.9m£2.3m
28/05/2021£1.8m£1.6m

Common questions

Is BREAKING BARRIERS financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity made a surplus of £0.14m for the year ended 31 May 2025, with total income of £3.60m and total expenditure of £3.46m. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £1.12m, which the charity considers to be three months of forward expenditure, meeting its stated policy target. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Godfrey Wilson Limited.

What does the highest-paid employee of BREAKING BARRIERS earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £60,001 - £70,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds BREAKING BARRIERS?

Funders whose own accounts filings name BREAKING BARRIERS as a grant recipient include THE APAX FOUNDATION, BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST, CARETECH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, John Lewis Partnership Foundation, The Considered Ask Foundation.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE APAX FOUNDATIONFY2025£303kSocial mobility
THE APAX FOUNDATIONFY2023£150kSocial mobility
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£120kGeneral funding
CARETECH CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2025£105kTransforming access into social care for refugees
John Lewis Partnership FoundationFY2024£100kGrant over two years for targeted programme for young refugees
The Considered Ask FoundationFY2024£100k
AKO FOUNDATIONFY2022£97kRefugee employment
AKO FOUNDATIONFY2022£97kRefugee employment
AKO FOUNDATIONFY2022£97kEmployment for refugees
CARETECH CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2022£95k
BOLTON TOGETHERFY2023£95k
WILLIAM ADLINGTON CADBURY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£76kVulnerable Groups
THE APAX FOUNDATIONFY2024£75k
AKO FOUNDATIONFY2024£75kEducation
THE FIDELITY UK FOUNDATIONFY2024£75kTowards a new finance system to support operational efficiencies.
BOLTON TOGETHERFY2025£72k
The Considered Ask FoundationFY2022£66k
THE APAX FOUNDATIONFY2021£65kSocial enterprise and relief of financial hardship
CARETECH CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2023£60kSecuring roles for refugees in health and social care
BOLTON TOGETHERFY2024£60k
THE BIG YELLOW FOUNDATIONFY2024£55kGeneral grant and targeted grant (Employment programme services)
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£50kGeneral funding
THE CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTEFY2022£50kEmployability programme for refugees
THE BIG YELLOW FOUNDATIONFY2025£48kGeneral grant
THE BIG YELLOW FOUNDATIONFY2022£45k
The Considered Ask FoundationFY2023£45k
THE BIG YELLOW FOUNDATIONFY2023£40kSupporting Breaking Barriers expand their refugee employment support into Glasgow and Liverpool
THE FORRESTER FAMILY TRUSTFY2023£40kTheme of the Year
THE GSR FOUNDATIONFY2023£30k
THE GSR FOUNDATIONFY2024£25k
THE RAYNE FOUNDATIONFY2023£25kTowards the delivery of bespoke employment support to refugees and people of refugee background across Greater Manchester and Liverpool.
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUSTFY2023£25kPrimary
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUSTFY2024£25kSecondary
RE:VISION NORTH LIMITEDFY2025£24kRelief of unemployment and provision of training/employment opportunities
BOLTON TOGETHERFY2022£23k
THE RAYNE FOUNDATIONFY2025£20kEmbedding Refuaid's language acquisition and accreditation programme into Breaking Barriers
H C D MEMORIAL FUNDFY2024£20kRefugee
THE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2022£20k
THE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2023£15k
BOLTON COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTARY SERVICESFY2023£15k
THE 4814 TRUSTFY2024£15k
THE MOTIVATION CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£11kBreaking Barriers
EAST END COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONFY2023£10kSupport for Ukrainian Refugees
SOCIETY OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS CIOFY2023£10ktowards core costs to continue to support refugees
THE SIMMONS AND SIMMONS CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2022£10kSocial inclusion
THE EVAN CORNISH FOUNDATIONFY2025£10kUK Round July 2024
THE SAID FOUNDATIONFY2022£10kHumanitarian Programme (UK)
THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITEDFY2025£10kCommunity
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, PETERBOROUGHFY2021£9kDirect donation
SKIPTON BUILDING SOCIETY CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2025£6k

Government & lottery funding

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

FunderDateAmountPurpose
Foundation Scotland14/04/2025£500Unrestricted cost of living increase award from Foundation Scotland.
City Bridge Foundation10/03/2025£42kGrant to Breaking Barriers
Foundation Scotland26/07/2024£5kUnlocking employment for marginalised refugees in Glasgow
The National Lottery Community Fund28/09/2023£240kSupporting refugees in Birmingham into employment
City Bridge Foundation21/07/2022£123kGrant to Breaking Barriers
The National Lottery Community Fund17/06/2022£10kRefugees at Work: Talent Beyond Barriers
City Bridge Foundation30/05/2022£3kGrant to Breaking Barriers
Barrow Cadbury Trust07/10/2020£50kCOVID-19 - Breaking Barriers
UK government29/07/2020£40kCoronavirus Community Support Fund
A B Charitable Trust09/01/2020£10kA grant to Breaking Barriers

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 BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING BRIDGES.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
BREAKING BARRIERS£3.6m£60,001 - £70,0001within19.5%no doubt
BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING BRIDGES FY2025£318k—0unclear—no doubt
REFUGEES AT HOME FY2024£1.2m——above—no doubt
REFUGEASE FY2024£300k—0below75.5%noted
BARKA UK FY2025£179k—0unclear—no doubt
BREAKTHROUGH U.K. LTD FY2025£350k—0unclear—no doubt

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