FOUNDATIONS - WHAT WORKS CENTRE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Registered charity 1188350 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as WHAT WORKS FOR CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE, WHAT WORKS FOR EARLY INTERVENTION AND CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE

What Works for Children's Social Care seeks better outcomes for children, young people and their families by bringing the best available evidence to practitioners and other decision makers across the children's social care sector.

Objects

1. THE PROMOTION OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO BY RESEARCHING, EVALUATING AND DISSEMINATING PRACTICE, POLICIES, RESOURCES, AND PROGRAMMES INTENDED TO PROMOTE BEST PRACTICE AND BETTER OUTCOMES IN THE CARE OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS THE UK AND BEYOND;2. FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT TO ADVANCE ANY OTHER PURPOSES RECOGNISED AS CHARITABLE IN ENGLAND AND WALES BY SUCH MEANS AS THE TRUSTEES THINK FIT INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE PROVISION OF GRANT FUNDING TO INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITIES AND OTHER GROUPS WORKING IN THE SECTOR OF CHILDREN’S SOCIAL CARE.

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

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Disability · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the charity held £2.8m of free reserves as of 31 March 2026, which is above its stated policy target range of £1.65m to £2.54m. While the charity reports adequate resources to meet obligations, the trustees note that the outcome of a pending 10-year funding bid from the Department for Education could affect its going concern status at the end of the 2026/27 financial year.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "within" (FY2025) to "above" (FY2026).
• Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2025) → going-concern doubt noted (FY2026).

Comparing this charity’s FY2025 and FY2026 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
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• 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

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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 12136703

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.

• BIRCH, Martin — director, appointed 16/10/2025on trustee list
• PATEL, Krupesh Vinodkumar — director, appointed 16/10/2025on trustee list
• BAIG, Rashida Akhtar — director, appointed 16/10/2025not on trustee list
• ARMSTRONG, Hilary, Baroness — director, appointed 20/11/2024on trustee list
• WHITE, Sam — director, appointed 07/10/2024on trustee list
• AULADIN, Reshard Sheik Mahmad — director, appointed 15/12/2022on trustee list
• PEARCE, Nicholas Robin, Professor — director, appointed 15/12/2022on trustee list
• RAMCHANDANI, Paul Gulab, Professor — director, appointed 15/12/2022on trustee list

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Reported reserves equal ~3.8 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (99% 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 (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (21/11/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Sam Whitechair
• Baroness Hilary Armstrong
• Krupesh Vinodkumar Patel
• Martin Birch
• Professor Nicholas Robin Pearce · trustee of 1 other charity
• Professor Paul Gulab Ramchandani
• Rashida Akhtar Baig MBE · trustee of 1 other charity
• Reshard Sheik Mahmad Auladin

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

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 CENTRE FOR OUTCOMES OF CARE.

• CENTRE FOR OUTCOMES OF CARE income £105k
• THE GLOBAL FUND FOR CHILDREN UK TRUST income £2.6m
• WMVS CHILDREN IN CARE FOUNDATION income £233k
• Foundation for Children income £76k
• CARE FOR CHILDREN income £1.8m
• SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN income £7.2m

Side by side with its peers

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