FIRST UK

Registered charity 1178433 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as FIRSTROBOTICS

We make STEM education and careers less intimidating, diverse and inclusive - using robots, mentors, accredited content, epic competitions, and industry judged awards. We support less represented 12 to 18 year-olds in schools and community groups across the UK to design, build, code, and compete with a robot to take on a global challenge.

Objects

FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN IN STEM (SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS) SUBJECTS AMONGST SCHOOLS THROUGH THE PROVISION OF STRUCTURED PREPARATION AND LEARNING FOR ROBOTICS COMPETITIONS.

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

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Westminster, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£952k

Latest spending

£758k

Registered

2018

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income grew 56% to £951,880 while expenditure increased only 9% to £757,863, resulting in a net surplus of £194,017. Unrestricted reserves increased to £222,184, which the trustees note covers five months of governance and operating costs under their stated reserves policy. The charity reports no material debt and maintains adequate resources for future operations.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £90,001 - £99,000 — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median £60k)

“The equivalent remuneration was between £90,001 - £99,000.” — page 34

Per its FY2025 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
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.

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

Volunteers: 607
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£90,001–£100,000: 1)

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

Volunteers: 356
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£80,001–£90,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/03/2023

Volunteers: 296
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£80,001–£90,000: 1)

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

Funders the charity credits

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

Purposeful Ventures — “Proudly fuelled by Purposeful Ventures partners with social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to improve the education and well-being of you…” (source page)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) — “Proudly fuelled by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation a…” (source page)
The Rigby Foundation — “Proudly fuelled by The Rigby Foundation supports programmes that enable young people, regardless of their background, to access the best edu…” (source page)
Garfield Weston Foundation — “Proudly fuelled by Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded grant-maker that gives money to support a wide va…” (source page)
RTX — “Proudly fuelled by RTX is accelerating ideas to solve some of the world's biggest challenges by bringing together the brightest, most innova…” (source page)
Department for Education — “Funded by The Department for Education’s vision is for an education system that prepares young people for life in modern Britain, regardless…” (source page)
The Gene Haas Foundation — “Proudly fuelled by The Gene Haas Foundation was established in 1999, by Gene Haas, founder and owner of Haas Automation, Inc., to support th…” (source page)
Bloomberg — “Proudly fuelled by Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical ed…” (source page)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income

£952k

Total spending

£758k

Cost of raising funds

£32k

Reserves (reported)

£344k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~5.4 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (93% 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: 3.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Amelia Gouldchair
Christopher John Hatherall · trustee of 1 other charity
Peter Jeremy May Bartholomew Stephens
Peter Khalil

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£952k	£758k
31/03/2024	£608k	£696k
31/03/2023	£599k	£447k
31/03/2022	£242k	£265k
31/03/2021	£335k	£393k

Common questions

Is FIRST UK financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income grew 56% to £951,880 while expenditure increased only 9% to £757,863, resulting in a net surplus of £194,017. Unrestricted reserves increased to £222,184, which the trustees note covers five months of governance and operating costs under their stated reserves policy. The charity reports no material debt and maintains adequate resources for future operations. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

What does the highest-paid employee of FIRST UK earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £90,001 - £99,000 band.

Who funds FIRST UK?

Funders whose own accounts filings name FIRST UK as a grant recipient include PURPOSEFUL VENTURES.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
PURPOSEFUL VENTURES	FY2025	£335k	Maths Excellence Fund

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
THE DULVERTON TRUST	2	£187k
THE PEARS FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£1.0m
JACK PETCHEY FOUNDATION	1	£925k
THE LOWER GREEN FOUNDATION	1	£538k
PARKWILL LIMITED	1	£415k
THE MELOW CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£413k
UNITED TALMUDICAL ASSOCIATES LTD	1	£393k
LEMPRIERE PRINGLE 2015	1	£210k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with FIRST GIVE.

FIRST GIVE income £908k
PRIME EDUCATION FOUNDATION income £558k
FUTURE FIRST ALUMNI LIMITED income £1.0m
FIRST RUNG LTD income £2.3m
PRIMARY SCIENCE TEACHING TRUST income £419k
START UPRIGHT income £5.5m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
FIRST UK	£952k	£90,001 - £99,000	0	unclear	—	no doubt
FIRST GIVE FY2025	£908k	—	1	unclear	—	no doubt
PRIME EDUCATION FOUNDATION FY2025	£558k	—	0	within	—	no doubt
FUTURE FIRST ALUMNI LIMITED FY2025	£1.0m	—	—	within	—	no doubt
FIRST RUNG LTD FY2025	£2.3m	—	—	within	—	no doubt
PRIMARY SCIENCE TEACHING TRUST FY2025	£419k	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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