OAK TREE ANIMALS' CHARITY

Registered charity 1169511 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as ANIMALS' REFUGE, THE NATIONAL EQUINE (AND SMALLER ANIMALS) DEFENCE LEAGUE · filing overdue (register status) · also registered in Scotland as SC048389 (OSCR)

Oak Tree Animals' Charity is at the heart of the community. Helping hundreds of animals each year, we find loving new homes for cats, dogs and horses, promote responsible pet ownership through education and outreach activities and work with individuals who need our support.

Objects

TO PROMOTE HUMANE BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS ANIMALS BY PROVIDING APPROPRIATE CARE, PROTECTION, TREATMENT AND SECURITY FOR ANIMALS WHICH ARE IN NEED OF CARE AND ATTENTION BY REASON OF SICKNESS, MALTREATMENT, POOR CIRCUMSTANCES, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY ASSESSING, REHABILITATING AND REHOMING SUCH ANIMALS AND TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC IN MATTERS PERTAINING TO ANIMAL WELFARE IN GENERAL AND THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY AND SUFFERING AMONG ANIMALS.

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

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

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

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The charity reported a deficit of £406,217 for the year ended 31 December 2024, resulting in total unrestricted reserves of £2,341,791. The trustees have identified a material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, citing reliance on uncertain future funding and trading growth to meet liabilities over the next 12 months and beyond.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Armstrong Watson Audit Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2023) → material uncertainty (FY2024).

Comparing this charity’s FY2023 and FY2024 accounts as analysed by this site.

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
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• 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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 4 annual returns with a recorded received date, 2 were received after the due date: year ending 31/12/2024 (received 20/12/2025, 50 days after the 31/10/2025 due date); year ending 31/12/2021 (received 15/11/2022, 15 days after the 31/10/2022 due date).

1 further annual return is past its due date with no recorded received date (Charity Commission register).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 10404912
• Trading subsidiary: OTAC TRADING LTD Companies House 10502353

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Oak Tree Animals' Charity (matched by registered charity number).

Funders the charity credits

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

• Sally Carter — “A special thank you goes to the Trusts, Foundations and Grant-Givers who so generously fund vital projects and ongoing core costs. Here is t…” (source page)
• Battersea Cats and Dogs Home — “We would also like to thank the following funders for support in previous years: Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, the Beryl Evetts and Robert L…” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• WINDER, Robert — director, appointed 22/05/2025on trustee list
• GRIFFITHS, Rachel Louise — director, appointed 11/03/2025on trustee list
• LOWRY, Georgina Sheilagh — director, appointed 29/02/2024on trustee list
• SQUIRES, Martin Benjamin — director, appointed 25/09/2017on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

5 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (5 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Reported reserves equal ~9.2 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 32.1% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (19/11/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (19/11/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (04/09/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Rachel Griffithschair
• Georgina Sheilagh Lowry
• Martin Squires
• Robert Winder

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

Operates in: Cumbria · Northumberland · Scotland

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.

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 OAK TREE HOMES TRUST.

• OAK TREE HOMES TRUST income £64k
• OAK TREE FARM RURAL PROJECT LIMITED income £461k
• PEAR TREE FARM ANIMAL SANCTUARY income £28k
• OAKWOOD ANIMAL SANCTUARY income £45k
• OLSEN ANIMAL TRUST income £904k
• OAKWOOD DOG RESCUE income £366k

Side by side with its peers

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