UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Registered charity 1183000 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as UCSU

ADVICE & REPRESENTATION; DEMOCRATIC ENGAGEMENT; LEADERSHIP AND EMPLOYABILITY ACTIVITIES / OPPORTUNITIES; CAMPAIGNING AND AWARENESS RAISING; SOCIAL, CULTURAL, EDUCATIONAL AND POLITICAL SOCIETIES/GROUPS; SPORTING CLUBS/OPPORTUNITIES (COMPETITIVE AND RECREATIONAL); INITIATIVES/PROJECTS THAT BENEFIT THE LOCAL COMMUNITY (INCLUDING FUNDRAISING FOR OTHER CHARITIES); TRADING SERVICES (VENUES AND RETAIL)

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.2m

Latest spending

£1.2m

Registered

2019

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a surplus of £47,585 and unrestricted reserves of £76,185. However, the trustees note that the union remains dependent on block grant funding from the University and is actively monitoring financial performance due to declining commercial revenues and reduced student numbers.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: 3 months operating costs (circa £120K) (held: £76k)

“Trustees have reconsidered the length of time and amount of free reserves they are looking to achieve and consider that 31 July 2030 would now be an appropriate timescale to aim to build up reserves equivalent to 3 months operating costs (circa £120K).” — page 11

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: University of Chichester

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from the University of £325,000 (2024: £330,000). During the year ended 31 July 2025. Additional grants amounting to £5,000 (2024: £1,000) were received during the year ended 31 July 2025 for support the Arrivals process. The University also donated the use of University premises with a considered value of £50,000 (2024: £50,000).” — page 41

“The University provided the Union with additional admin/IT support amounting to £11,112 (2024: £9,077) and Cleaning services £9,517 (2024: £19,959). The University also administered and paid the Union’s net pay during the year; the amount of £291,123 (2024: £293,123) was reimbursed.” — page 41

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: University of Chichester

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from the University of £325,000 (2024: £330,000). During the year ended 31 July 2025. Additional grants amounting to £5,000 (2024: £1,000) were received during the year ended 31 July 2025 for support the Arrivals process. The University also donated the use of University premises with a considered value of £50,000 (2024: £50,000).” — page 41

“The University provided the Union with additional admin/IT support amounting to £11,112 (2024: £9,077) and Cleaning services £9,517 (2024: £19,959). The University also administered and paid the Union’s net pay during the year; the amount of £291,123 (2024: £293,123) was reimbursed.” — page 41

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Chichester Enterprises Ltd

“The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from the University of £325,000 (2024: £330,000). During the year ended 31 July 2025. Additional grants amounting to £5,000 (2024: £1,000) were received during the year ended 31 July 2025 for support the Arrivals process. The University also donated the use of University premises with a considered value of £50,000 (2024: £50,000).” — page 41

“The University provided the Union with additional admin/IT support amounting to £11,112 (2024: £9,077) and Cleaning services £9,517 (2024: £19,959). The University also administered and paid the Union’s net pay during the year; the amount of £291,123 (2024: £293,123) was reimbursed.” — page 41

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by TC Group. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — UCSU (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Owen Sheriff — President (source)
Bel Rogers — Vice 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

£1.2m

Total spending

£1.2m

Cost of raising funds

£782k

Reserves (reported)

£307k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~3.1 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (58% 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: 63.4% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Owen Sheriffchair
Dashiell Hesselgesser
Duncan Hales
Isabel Carol Rogers
Isabelle Ball
Luke Alfred Sheavyn
Neil Batley

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

Operates in: West Sussex

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£1.2m	£1.2m
31/07/2024	£1.3m	£1.3m
31/07/2023	£1.3m	£1.3m
31/07/2022	£1.3m	£1.2m
31/07/2021	£841k	£793k

Common questions

Is UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER STUDENTS' UNION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a surplus of £47,585 and unrestricted reserves of £76,185. However, the trustees note that the union remains dependent on block grant funding from the University and is actively monitoring financial performance due to declining commercial revenues and reduced student numbers. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by TC Group.

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
Sport England	08/04/2014	£9k	Creation of competitive BUCS American Football Team

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
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITED	2	£6k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD.

GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD income £4.4m
FALMOUTH & EXETER STUDENTS' UNION income £941k
NUS STUDENTS' UNION CHARITABLE SERVICES income £3.9m
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON STUDENTS' UNION income £7.6m
READING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' UNION income £5.6m
STUDENTS' UNION ROYAL HOLLOWAY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON income £6.9m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER STUDENTS' UNION	£1.2m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD FY2025	£4.4m	£70,001 - £80,000	2	below	—	no doubt
FALMOUTH & EXETER STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£941k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
NUS STUDENTS' UNION CHARITABLE SERVICES FY2025	£3.9m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£7.6m	—	—	below	—	no doubt
READING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£5.6m	more than £70,000	2	above	—	no doubt

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