DOWNS VIEW LIFE SKILLS COLLEGE

Registered charity 1185149 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The provision of education, training and work opportunities to develop the life skills of young adults with special needs.

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.4m

Latest spending

£1.3m

Registered

2019

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net income of £94,029 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in total unrestricted funds of £1,115,157. The trustees confirmed that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, and the independent auditors identified no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: reserves for any future payments to creditors, further site development, and future property requirements if the lease for the existing site was withdrawn (held: £1.1m)

“The trustees are holding reserves for any future payments to creditors. Reserves are also held for further site development. Reserves are held for any future property requirements if the lease for the existing site was withdrawn.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Chariot House Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Downs View Life Skills College (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Vanessa Hickey — Executive Head (source)
Raul Ortiz — Head of Site (Deputy Head) (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): instagram

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

Total income

£1.4m

Total spending

£1.3m

Reserves (reported)

£1.4m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~12.7 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (96% 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).

Trustees · trustee networks

Dr Jennifer Anne Chapman · trustee of 1 other charity
James Watkins
Margaret Paxton-Walker
SUSAN HIRSCHLER BSc Hons
Sophie Cook

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

Operates in: Brighton And Hove

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£1.4m	£1.3m
31/03/2024	£1.4m	£1.2m
31/03/2023	£1.4m	£1.1m
31/03/2022	£1.3m	£1.0m
31/03/2021	£1.0m	£1.0m

Common questions

Is DOWNS VIEW LIFE SKILLS COLLEGE financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net income of £94,029 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in total unrestricted funds of £1,115,157. The trustees confirmed that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, and the independent auditors identified no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Chariot House Limited.

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 ALLEN OVERY SHEARMAN STERLING FOUNDATION	2	£15k
THE STEVE MORGAN FOUNDATION	1	£145k
THE STEVEN BLOCH IMAGE OF DISABILITY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£91k
THE BEATRICE LAING TRUST	1	£50k
CHARITY OF CHARLES CLEMENT WALKER (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE WALKER TRUST)	1	£43k
THE HARGREAVES FOUNDATION	1	£25k
PETER HARRISON FOUNDATION	1	£23k
THE LAWSON TRUST CIO	1	£17k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with DERWEN COLLEGE.

DERWEN COLLEGE income £17.9m
Learn and Thrive income £111k
DOWNRIGHT EXCELLENT income £224k
DOWN SYNDROME TRAINING AND SUPPORT SERVICE LIMITED income £236k
THE DOWNS SCHOOL (CHARLTON HOUSE) LIMITED income £5.8m
PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES AND SUPPORT income £1.2m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
DOWNS VIEW LIFE SKILLS COLLEGE	£1.4m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
DERWEN COLLEGE FY2025	£17.9m	£90,001 - £100,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
Learn and Thrive FY2025	£111k	—	0	within	—	no doubt
DOWNRIGHT EXCELLENT FY2025	£224k	—	0	below	—	no doubt
DOWN SYNDROME TRAINING AND SUPPORT SERVICE LIMITED FY2025	£236k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE DOWNS SCHOOL (CHARLTON HOUSE) LIMITED FY2025	£5.8m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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