STEP ONE CHARITY
Registered charity 235434 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as ST LOYE'S, ST LOYE'S COLLEGE, ST LOYE'S COLLEGE FOR TRAINING THE DISABLED FOR COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, ST LOYE'S COLLEGE FOUNDATION, ST LOYE'S FOUNDATION, THE ST LOYE'S COLLEGE FOR THE TRAINING AND REHABILITATION OF THE DISABLED
Step One supports people with physical, mental health, sensory and other disabilities, or those with long-term health conditions, to improve their quality of life and degree of independence and have the opportunity to achieve their potential through personal development, training and employment.
Causes: Education/training · Disability · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure deficit of £650,769 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a reduction of total funds to £11,043,552. The trustees confirm that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, adopting the going concern basis. However, the charity remains in a deficit position due to inflationary pressures and insufficient contract uplifts, with unrestricted reserves of £1.4m falling below the stated policy target of £2.0m.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Highest-paid employee band: £80,001 - £90,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)
“In the band £80,001 - £90,000 1 2” — page 27
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £1.4m; policy: six months’ operational expenditure)
“The target level of reserves for 2024-25 had been set at £2.0m and at the year-end this had not been achieved with a level of reserves of £1.4m.” — page 8
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Outstanding balance for payments on behalf of Community Care Trust, a related party to 4 of the Trustees.
“The Charity has an outstanding balance of £425 for payments on behalf of Community Care Trust, a related party to 4 of the Trustees at 31 March 2025.” — page 41
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Bishop Fleming LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "above" (FY2024) to "below" (FY2025).
Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Step One Charity (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Derek Blackford — CEO & Director of Finance (source)
- Sara Wright — Director of Quality Improvement, Service Delivery & Deputy CEO (source)
- Dr Chandanee Kotecha — Head of Psychological Practice and Development (source)
- Lorna Collingwood-Burke — Chair of Trustees (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-sector contracts awarded
From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.
Property (HM Land Registry)
4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 freehold); recorded price paid £2.2m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£76k
Reported reserves equal ~4.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
Care Quality Commission ratings
CQC inspection ratings for services run by a provider matching this charity’s name (matched by name; verify provider identity on CQC’s site).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (09/04/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Devon · Torbay
Income and spending
Common questions
Is STEP ONE CHARITY financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure deficit of £650,769 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a reduction of total funds to £11,043,552. The trustees confirm that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, adopting the going concern basis. However, the charity remains in a deficit position due to inflationary pressures and insufficient contract uplifts, with unrestricted reserves of £1.4m falling below the stated policy target of £2.0m. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Bishop Fleming LLP.
What does the highest-paid employee of STEP ONE CHARITY earn?
Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £80,001 - £90,000 band.
Who funds STEP ONE CHARITY?
Funders whose own accounts filings name STEP ONE CHARITY as a grant recipient include THE CLARE MILNE TRUST, THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED, THE ASTOR FOUNDATION, THE DAVID GIBBONS FOUNDATION.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
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 ONE FOOTSTEP.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.