THE MAGISTRATES ASSOCIATION

Registered charity 216066 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Promoting awareness of magistrates/the magistrates' courts serviceDeveloping guidance/protocols to improve the delivery of justice in Magistrates' courtsProviding information/advice to magistratesConsulting magistrates/responding to proposals which affect the delivery of justiceEducating the public through community-based presentations, publications and events

Objects

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE ASSOCIATION IS ESTABLISHED AND INCORPORATED ARE TO PROMOTE THE SOUND ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW BY THE FOLLOWING MEANS: (A) EDUCATING AND INSTRUCTING MAGISTRATES AND OTHERS IN THE LAW, THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, THE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS AND THE BEST METHODS OF PREVENTING CRIME; AND (B) ISSUING PUBLICATIONS AND PROMOTING CONFERENCES AND DISCUSSIONS ON DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a consolidated deficit of £365,209 for the year ended 30 June 2025, a reduction from the previous year's deficit of £862,423. Per the trustees' report, free reserves stood at £2,503,220, which exceeds the stated minimum target of £1,200,000, providing resilience during the business change programme.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Price Bailey LLP. Discloses 4 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
• Complaints handling
• 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
• 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

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold); recorded price paid £1.4m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~39.3 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (78% 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: 0.7% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (21/05/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• David Ford JPchair
• Ben Paolozzi
• Jacqueline MacDonald-Davis JP
• Luke Sambridge
• Patricia White
• Patricia Willmott JP
• Paul Taylor
• Robert Hawkins
• Sarah Butters
• Sarah Clarke JP
• Tracy Sortwell
• Valerie Castell

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 COMMONWEALTH MAGISTRATES' AND JUDGES' ASSOCIATION.

• COMMONWEALTH MAGISTRATES' AND JUDGES' ASSOCIATION income £279k
• THE ASTROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION income £112k
• MAGEN CHARITABLE TRUST income £165k
• THE ASSOCIATION OF CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS income £161k
• LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL STUDENT ASSOCIATION income £2.5m
• THE ADVICE SERVICES ALLIANCE income £149k

Side by side with its peers

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