NORTHERN LINES

Registered charity 1169480 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as NATIONAL THEATRE OF BRADFORD, The Javaad Alipoor Company

THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY THE PROMOTION OF THE ARTS, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY THE ART OF DRAMA

Objects

TO ADVANCE THE ARTS FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY THE PROMOTION IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY, OF THE ART OF DRAMA.”

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

Causes: The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Manchester, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£713k

Latest spending

£558k

Registered

2016

Accounts read

FY2026

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The charity ended the year with unrestricted reserves of £364,401, which is significantly above its stated policy target of £60,000 (three months of core running costs). The accounts state that this surplus reflects strong financial management, income performing ahead of budget, and the deferral of planned expenditure. The trustees attribute the position to prudent retention of reserves to provide financial resilience amid sector uncertainty.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: three months of core running costs, which equates to around £60,000 (reserves figure: £364k)

“The trustees have established a policy to provide for any sudden and unexpected loss of income, whereby unrestricted contingency funds should equal at least three months of core running costs, which equates to around £60,000.” — page 6

Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Ann Marie Teed is a senior employee of Factory International, with whom the Charity conducted business in relation to one project. The Trustees discussed a potential conflict of interest and concluded that none existed.

“Ann Marie Teed is a senior employee of Factory International, with whom the Charity conducted business in relation to one project. The Trustees discussed a potential conflict of interest and concluded that none existed.” — page 23

Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 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
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management 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

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 31/03/2026

Government income: £644,259 — contracts £268,302 (1), grants £375,957 (1); 90% of the £712,547 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£60,001–£70,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/03/2025

Government income: £370,000 — grants £370,000 (1); 67% of the £550,138 total gross income on the same return

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/03/2024

Government income: £370,000 — grants £370,000 (1); 71% of the £521,114 total gross income on the same return

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

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Total income

£713k

Total spending

£558k

Cost of raising funds

£2k

Reserves (reported)

£427k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~9.2 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (98% 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: 0.2% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Aliceson Robinsonchair
Ann-Marie Rachel Teed
Nadia Batool
Neelay Patel

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2026	£713k	£558k
31/03/2025	£550k	£434k
31/03/2024	£521k	£394k
31/03/2023	£210k	£271k
31/03/2022	£245k	£211k

Common questions

Is NORTHERN LINES financially healthy?

Per its FY2026 accounts: The charity ended the year with unrestricted reserves of £364,401, which is significantly above its stated policy target of £60,000 (three months of core running costs). The accounts state that this surplus reflects strong financial management, income performing ahead of budget, and the deferral of planned expenditure. The trustees attribute the position to prudent retention of reserves to provide financial resilience amid sector uncertainty. Its FY2026 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds NORTHERN LINES?

Funders whose own accounts filings name NORTHERN LINES as a grant recipient include JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION	FY2024	£120k	Towards core costs as they commission and produce four new, larger-scale pieces of work

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
HEY SMILE FOUNDATION	2	£28k
SISTERS OF MERCY SUNDERLAND	1	£210k
THE ORR MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION LIMITED	1	£15k
THE LIZ AND TERRY BRAMALL FOUNDATION	1	£5k
GILCHRIST EDUCATIONAL TRUST	1	£750

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with NORTHERN BROADSIDES THEATRE COMPANY.

NORTHERN BROADSIDES THEATRE COMPANY income £382k
NORTHERN ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS income £32k
FREEDOM ROAD CREATIVE ARTS income £104k
NORTHERN LEARNING TRUST income £890k
PRIME EDUCATION FOUNDATION income £558k
NORTHERN DANCE income £87k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
NORTHERN LINES	£713k	—	above	—	no doubt
NORTHERN BROADSIDES THEATRE COMPANY FY2026	£382k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
NORTHERN ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS FY2025	£32k	—	below	—	no doubt
FREEDOM ROAD CREATIVE ARTS FY2025	£104k	—	above	—	no doubt
NORTHERN LEARNING TRUST FY2025	£890k	—	below	—	no doubt
PRIME EDUCATION FOUNDATION FY2025	£558k	—	within	—	no doubt

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