UNION OF BRUNEL STUDENTS

Registered charity 1173492 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as UBS

We are the democratic representation body for the students at Brunel University.We provide advice and support on a range of student lifestyle and academic matters including pro active campaigning and education on issues affecting young adults . We facilitate clubs and venues for our members sporting, social and cultural activities.

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Latest income

£3.1m

Latest spending

£2.8m

Registered

2017

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a surplus of £67,491, though total unrestricted reserves remain negative at £1,716,952 due to a significant pension scheme liability. Per the trustees' report, the charity has sufficient funds to meet all obligations, with core block grant funding confirmed for the upcoming year, although it notes risks related to potential cuts in university funding and increasing pension liabilities.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £80,001 - £90,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)

“One employee received remuneration of more than £60,000 in the band £80,000 - 90,000 (2024: one employee in the band £70,000 - 80,000).” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“One employee received remuneration of more than £60,000 in the band £80,000 - 90,000 (2024: one employee in the band £70,000 - 80,000).” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £-1.7m; policy: unclear)

“The reserves total at the end of 2025 was negative £1,614,333 (2024: negative £1,681,824), comprising unrestricted reserves of negative £1,716,952 (2024: negative £1,816,024) and restricted reserves of £102,619 (2024: £134,200).” — page 11

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Grant income from Brunel University

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from Brunel University of £1,364,328 (2024: £1,371,382). A further grant of £215,000 (2024: £215,000) has been received to facilitate free sport club membership and £205,062 (2024: £224,652) was received as a contribution to the SUSS pension deficit payments.” — page 30

“In addition, the Union occupies ins building on a rent-free basis under an informal license subject to the Union maintaining the building in a good state of repair. A notional value for rent in kind is included in the accounts and amounted to £424,529 (2024: £453,744).” — page 30

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Rent-free accommodation from Brunel University

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from Brunel University of £1,364,328 (2024: £1,371,382). A further grant of £215,000 (2024: £215,000) has been received to facilitate free sport club membership and £205,062 (2024: £224,652) was received as a contribution to the SUSS pension deficit payments.” — page 30

“In addition, the Union occupies ins building on a rent-free basis under an informal license subject to the Union maintaining the building in a good state of repair. A notional value for rent in kind is included in the accounts and amounted to £424,529 (2024: £453,744).” — page 30

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Catering compensation from Brunel University

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from Brunel University of £1,364,328 (2024: £1,371,382). A further grant of £215,000 (2024: £215,000) has been received to facilitate free sport club membership and £205,062 (2024: £224,652) was received as a contribution to the SUSS pension deficit payments.” — page 30

“In addition, the Union occupies ins building on a rent-free basis under an informal license subject to the Union maintaining the building in a good state of repair. A notional value for rent in kind is included in the accounts and amounted to £424,529 (2024: £453,744).” — page 30

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Remuneration of sabbatical officers who are trustees

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from Brunel University of £1,364,328 (2024: £1,371,382). A further grant of £215,000 (2024: £215,000) has been received to facilitate free sport club membership and £205,062 (2024: £224,652) was received as a contribution to the SUSS pension deficit payments.” — page 30

“In addition, the Union occupies ins building on a rent-free basis under an informal license subject to the Union maintaining the building in a good state of repair. A notional value for rent in kind is included in the accounts and amounted to £424,529 (2024: £453,744).” — page 30

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Pension scheme deficit: £2.5m

“At 31 July 2025, the balance sheet of the charity includes a liability of £2,507,997 (2024: £2,504,963), which represents the net present value of all future contributions towards eliminating this shortfall.” — page 28

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Knox Cropper LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Nafee — Student Activities President (source)
Richard 'Remz' — Welfare & Inclusion President (source)
Abhishek — Education President (source)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income

£3.1m

Total spending

£2.8m

Reserves (reported)

£754k

Employees

51

Reported reserves equal ~3.2 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (73% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (25/03/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Abhishek Ghawatechair
Arun Sharma · trustee of 1 other charity
Erica Brackenbury
Gurpreet Virk
Jo Emma Gregory-Gallagher
Muhammad Abubakar Siddique
Nafee Khan
Rana Muhammad Nauman Ishfaq
Tasnim Malik

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

Operates in: Hillingdon

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£3.1m	£2.8m
31/07/2024	£3.1m	£3.2m
31/07/2023	£3.1m	£3.2m
31/07/2022	£2.8m	£2.8m
31/07/2021	£2.4m	£2.1m

Common questions

Is UNION OF BRUNEL STUDENTS financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a surplus of £67,491, though total unrestricted reserves remain negative at £1,716,952 due to a significant pension scheme liability. Per the trustees' report, the charity has sufficient funds to meet all obligations, with core block grant funding confirmed for the upcoming year, although it notes risks related to potential cuts in university funding and increasing pension liabilities. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Knox Cropper LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of UNION OF BRUNEL STUDENTS earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £80,001 - £90,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds UNION OF BRUNEL STUDENTS?

Funders whose own accounts filings name UNION OF BRUNEL STUDENTS as a grant recipient include BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITED.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITED	FY2022	£15k	Development project

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
Sport England	17/10/2018	£10k	American Football capacity building project
Sport England	11/03/2010	£10k	American Football team at Brunel University

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE STUDENTS' UNION AT BU LTD.

THE STUDENTS' UNION AT BU LTD income £4.2m
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL STUDENTS' UNION income £7.7m
UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD UNION income £1.5m
UNION OF KINGSTON STUDENTS income £1.4m
GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD income £4.4m
UNIVERSITY OF DERBY STUDENTS' UNION income £2.7m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
UNION OF BRUNEL STUDENTS	£3.1m	£80,001 - £90,000	1	below	—	no doubt
THE STUDENTS' UNION AT BU LTD FY2025	£4.2m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£7.7m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD UNION FY2025	£1.5m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
UNION OF KINGSTON STUDENTS FY2025	£1.4m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD FY2025	£4.4m	£70,001 - £80,000	2	below	—	no doubt

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