THE LONDON EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION
Registered charity 299686 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as WESTMINSTER CHILDREN'S SOCIETY
The London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) is one of the UK's largest charitable social enterprises with a social purpose of 'changing the world one child at a time'. We achieve our social purpose by giving London's children aged 0-5 years the best start in life through the highest quality Early Years Education and Care, especially those who otherwise may not be able to access or afford it.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity delivered a surplus of £0.8m for the year ended March 2025, increasing unrestricted reserves to £2.2m and total reserves to £3.3m. Per the trustees' report, the organization maintains a cash reserve target of one month's operating payroll costs, with an actual cash balance of £2.7m exceeding the required £2.1m. The trustees confirm the charity is a going concern with sufficient funding to meet obligations for at least 12 months.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Related-party transaction: Payments to family members of CEO and key staff
“payments of £51,405 (2024: £39,059) that were made to family members of the Chief Executive Officer and a key member of staff under current standard employment and supplier terms.” — page 32
“In addition £3,500 (2024: £3,345) was paid for a membership of Social Enterprise (UK) which is a charity connected to the Chief Executive officer.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Membership of Social Enterprise (UK)
“payments of £51,405 (2024: £39,059) that were made to family members of the Chief Executive Officer and a key member of staff under current standard employment and supplier terms.” — page 32
“In addition £3,500 (2024: £3,345) was paid for a membership of Social Enterprise (UK) which is a charity connected to the Chief Executive officer.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Corporate structure
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Mike Abbott — Director of Operations (source)
- Kevin Dyson — Director of Finance (source)
- Melanie Wright — Director of People and Culture (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.
Funders the charity credits
Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).
- Social Business Trust (SBT) — “Over this time, SBT has supported LEYF with a number of pro-bono consulting projects and funding our previous phase of growth.” (source page)
- Permira Foundation — “Permira has been a committed partner of LEYF since 2020. It has supported us in a variety of ways, including funding our Doubling Down progr…” (source page)
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.
- QURESHI, Wajeha — director, appointed 11/12/2025on trustee list
- HICKS, James Peter — director, appointed 23/09/2025on trustee list
- VISHWAS SARKAR, Anu — director, appointed 21/03/2024not on trustee list
- VERMA, Ravi — director, appointed 15/12/2022on trustee list
- REED, Kirsty Ann — director, appointed 15/09/2022on trustee list
- HOLLIDAY, Soumya Sarah Sowani — director, appointed 13/12/2021on trustee list
- PERKINS, Anthony Roy — director, appointed 23/07/2019on trustee list
- GARSTKA, Michael Thomas — director, appointed 10/11/2014on trustee list
Official officers record.
Property (HM Land Registry)
29 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (8,172 followers) · instagram (3,589 followers)
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (97% 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 (3.8%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (07/01/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (22/07/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (22/06/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (26/01/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Anthony Roy Perkins
- Anu Vishwas Sarkar
- James Peter Hicks
- Kirsty Reed
- MICHAEL THOMAS GARSTKA
- Ravi Verma
- Soumya Sarah Sowani Holliday
- Wajeha Qureshi
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout London
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE LONDON EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity delivered a surplus of £0.8m for the year ended March 2025, increasing unrestricted reserves to £2.2m and total reserves to £3.3m. Per the trustees' report, the organization maintains a cash reserve target of one month's operating payroll costs, with an actual cash balance of £2.7m exceeding the required £2.1m. The trustees confirm the charity is a going concern with sufficient funding to meet obligations for at least 12 months. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP.
Who funds THE LONDON EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE LONDON EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include GUY'S AND ST THOMAS' FOUNDATION, SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUST, THE WESTMINSTER FOUNDATION, THE GREATER SHARE FOUNDATION, The Aurelia 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 LITTLE LEARNERS NURSERY GROUP.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.