ASYLUM AID
Registered charity 328729 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
The provision of legal advice and representation to people seeking asylum in the UK, lobbying and campaigning with the aim of achieving a fairer asylum process in the UK and advancing public and understanding of the position of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK.
Objects
2. Objects2.1 The Charity is established for the following purposes for the benefit of the Beneficiaries:2.1.1 to relieve their conditions of need, hardship or distress (including by providing them with legal advice and representation);2.1.2 to preserve and protect their physical and mental health;2.1.3 to advance their education and training so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within a new community;2.1.4 to advance public education about the position of and issues relating to the Beneficiaries, including the situations which give rise to refugee movements; and2.1.5 assisting them in such other exclusively charitable ways as the Charity determines from time to time.2.2 In this Article 2, “Beneficiaries” means individuals who:2.2.1 are seeking asylum or other forms of protection in the UK;2.2.2 have already been granted refugee status, humanitarian protection or other forms of protection status by UK immigration authorities;2.2.3 have insecure immigration status or are stateless;2.2.4 are vulnerable to destitution, exploitation, abuse, trafficking or other forms of human cruelty including but not limited to those outside their country of origin; and2.2.5 the dependants of those mentioned in Articles 2.2.1 to 2.2.4 above.
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: Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · website · Get email alerts
Registered contact address: Hackney, London, England (from the postcode on the register)
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that Asylum Aid ended the financial year with a surplus of £106,174, bringing total funds to £1,784,537. The charity holds £379,399 in free unrestricted reserves, which the trustees confirm represents 3.6 months of cover and falls within their stated policy target of 3-6 months of expenditure. The trustees and auditor have confirmed that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: 3-6 months expenditure (held: £379k)
“Trustees have set a target for free reserves of the equivalent to 3-6 months expenditure.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (FY2024) → 0 (FY2025).
Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 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 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
- 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.
Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2025
- Volunteers: 5
- Government income: £313,070 — contracts £220,818 (2), grants £92,252 (1); 19% of the £1,689,448 total gross income on the same return
Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2024
- Government income: £312,920 — contracts £248,920 (2), grants £64,000 (1); 14% of the £2,275,078 total gross income on the same return
- Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£70,001–£80,000: 1)
Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2023
- Volunteers: 12
- Government income: £272,307 — contracts £208,307 (2), grants £64,000 (1); 16% of the £1,723,495 total gross income on the same return
- Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£60,001–£70,000: 1)
Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Asylum Aid (matched by registered charity number).
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.
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£77k
Reported reserves equal ~2.9 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (54% 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: 4.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).
- Elizabeth Anne Mottershaw
- John Scampion
- Katharine Lorenz
- Novide Refahi · trustee of 1 other charity
- Ruth Tanner
- Shahd Mousalli
- Sir Nicolas Bratza
- Yehia Nasr · trustee of 1 other charity
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is ASYLUM AID financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that Asylum Aid ended the financial year with a surplus of £106,174, bringing total funds to £1,784,537. The charity holds £379,399 in free unrestricted reserves, which the trustees confirm represents 3.6 months of cover and falls within their stated policy target of 3-6 months of expenditure. The trustees and auditor have confirmed that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Sayer Vincent LLP.
Who funds ASYLUM AID?
Funders whose own accounts filings name ASYLUM AID as a grant recipient include DISRUPT FOUNDATION, JUSTICE COLLABORATIONS, THE LEGAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION, TRUST FOR LONDON, THE ALLEN OVERY SHEARMAN STERLING FOUNDATION.
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 ASYLUM JUSTICE.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.