SWITCHBOARD LGBT+

Registered charity 296193 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as LONDON LESBIAN AND GAY SWITCHBOARD

Switchboard, the LGBT Helpline provides a telephone, instant messaging and email helpline service from 10am to 10pm every day of the year. We are a safe space for anyone to discuss anything, including sexuality, gender identity, sexual health and emotional wellbeing. We support people to explore the right options for themselves.

Objects

TO RELIEVE MEMBERS OF THE LGBT+ COMMUNITIES SUFFERING FROM MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL DISABILITY OR DESPAIR AND TO PROMOTE THEIR WELL-BEING BY COUNSEL AND/OR HELP.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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 · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity had no long-term debt and sufficient resources to meet liabilities as they fall due. The trustees assessed going concern and concluded that the charity's long-term viability is demonstrated by its performance in the last 12 months. The charity is exempt from audit under small companies' regime and underwent an independent examination.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 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
• Campaigns and political activity 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
• 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

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 02098685

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

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.

• GERMANOS, Lucas — director, appointed 25/10/2025on trustee list
• STINSON, Will — director, appointed 25/10/2025on trustee list
• COLLINS, John — director, appointed 28/01/2025on trustee list
• GILLOTT, Charles Adrian — director, appointed 28/01/2025on trustee list
• SALTON, Wesley — director, appointed 28/01/2025on trustee list
• SHAW, Mark — director, appointed 28/01/2025on trustee list
• HOUGHTON, Andrew — director, appointed 13/04/2024on trustee list
• MILLER, Joe — director, appointed 13/04/2024on trustee list
• PEDISICH, Alexandra — director, appointed 30/04/2022on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Reported reserves equal ~20.8 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (90% 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: 21.4% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Alexandra Pedisichchair
• Charles Gillott
• Joe Miller
• John Collins
• Lucas Germanos
• Mark Shaw
• Mx Andrew Houghton
• Wesley Salton
• Will Stinson

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 LGBT+ CYMRU HELPLINE.

• LGBT+ CYMRU HELPLINE income £72k

Side by side with its peers

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