Note from the Chair

I am pleased to present our Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2025.

This year saw a General Election and change of government, with RAMP pausing much of our activity over the campaign period, and then focussed on building relationships with new MPs and re-establishing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration post-election. Migration-related issues have continued to have a high profile in UK politics, with particular focus on Channel crossings and an overall increase in net migration, and our mission to improve the quality and quantity of debate on migration, and to bring people together across the political spectrum to collaborate on legislation and policy development feels as important as ever.

We have continued to support Olivia Blake MP, Tim Farron MP, David Simmonds MP, Baroness Stroud, Baroness Lister, Lord German, the Bishop of Chelmsford and Baroness Mobarik in Parliament, with Tony Vaughan MP and Chris Murray MP joining the Project as well. We have also been excited to launch a new programme of work to start seconding policy advisers into the teams of a group of Combined Authority mayors, to support their work on migration and inclusion issues as well, and to recruit new team members to support that growth in activity.

This year we said goodbye to our previous Treasurer, Srivatsallan Sridharan, whose support we have been very grateful for, and welcomed Adam Stewart to replace him in that role. I’m thankful for the continued support from our existing funders and very pleased that this year saw renewed or additional partnerships with AB Charitable Trust, Open Society Foundations, This Day and Unbound Philanthropy. We’re also grateful to Vialto for the strategic advice and support they’ve provided this year.

Finally, I’d like to thank our Executive Director Laura Taylor, the RAMP team, our advisors, Principals and Associates and the Board for all that they have contributed over a year that has seen the work and reach of RAMP grow in such an important way. As ever, we greatly appreciate the contribution of a wide range of partners whose perspectives enrich our work. In the coming year, we look forward to expanding this network of relationships in the regions where we will be working, and to the opportunities and insights that bringing together work at the national and regional level promises to bring.

Sue Rubenstein

Chair

The RAMP Project’s vision is to have a world-class migration system which helps to create a successful and integrated UK and is fair to all.

Our mission is to help political leaders to think more deeply and to collaborate more widely on migration, asylum and integration issues and to improve the quality and quantity of political debate and subsequent policy outcomes. We do this primarily by seconding high-quality advisers into the teams of a cross-party group of politicians and by acting as the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Migration.

We value trusted, open and relational dialogue; evidence-based debate; diversity of opinion and experience; and broad coalitions that bring together unusual allies. We believe that all of these can help to establish genuine common ground and enable better policy-making which in turn can further the common good and help our vision to become a reality.

Our primary objectives are to:

• Enable politicians to make regular, constructive and, where possible, collaborative/cross-party contributions to political and public debates on migration, asylum and refugee resettlement which help improve the tone of the debate and the eventual policy outcomes.

• Support politicians and others to hold the Government to account on critical issues including scrutiny of primary and secondary legislation and the operation of the Home Office.

• Establish relationships and improve communication between politicians of different parties and with and between experts from business, academia and civil society - including those with lived experience of migration - in order to identify policy proposals and wider narratives which can command broad support, thus neutralising the culture war and improve policy outcomes for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

In line with the annual governance cycle, and supported by the Executive Director, the RAMP board reviewed organisational policies over the course of the year. Updates were made to our staff handbook and a new staff loans policy was approved. A review was conducted of our risk register and we undertook a remuneration review for staff which took into account the rate of inflation and cost of living.

Over the summer of 2024 we conducted a learning review of the impact of our work so far, with qualitative interviews conducted with a range of stakeholders. This was presented to the Board in October and informed the new 3 year organisational strategy which was also approved by the board in October.

At each of our meetings we continue to review the management accounts presented by the Executive Director and Treasurer; and a summary of recent activity and the current status of items on the risk register, prepared by the Executive Director and the Programme Manager for the mayoral programme.

Details of related parties:

• David Barclay is a Partner of the Good Faith Partnership

• Ian Robinson is a partner at Vialto

• Awale Olad is a Councillor on Camden Council and, as such, a Politically Exposed Person

As a small organisation, in its early years of operations, there was no legal or regulatory requirement for The RAMP Project to undertake a statutory audit or an independent review. RAMP falls below the requirement thresholds prescribed under the Companies Act 2006. The RAMP Project is not mandated to undertake a statutory audit by its Articles of Association or through other requirements. The Board agreed that this year, with the relatively low level of income and risk, that we would not invest in a voluntary independent audit or review at this early stage of organisational development. We will continue to keep this under review for future years.

The risks identified on our risk register are being managed robustly. We have also managed costs well to resource mission-critical activity this year and also to allow us to remain a fair and attractive employer throughout a period of high inflation and increases in the cost of living.

We have been able to use our unrestricted funds to secure our financial and operational sustainability through building up reserves in line with our reserves policy. The grants that we have received during the year have been used for the purposes defined in the specific grant agreements. If a specific purpose has been defined in the agreement, the grants have been used for the agreed purpose. Where no specific purpose has been defined, the grant has been used for the primary purpose as defined in the Company's Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association. As noted above during the financial year, we have increased our scope of work to include support for Combined Authority Mayors for their placed-based work on migration and inclusion. We are extremely grateful to receive restricted project support for this work and, as a result, have adjusted the way that our accounts are produced to allow us to properly account for this restricted income and expenditure.

The results for the year are shown in the attached financial statements.

We have been grateful for the continued core support from our existing funding partners Unbound Philanthropy and the Family Office, the Open Society Foundations, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and This Day Foundation. We have also been grateful for ongoing restricted project support as follows:

• Barrow Cadbury Trust - for £25K for our charitable activities in Parliament

• AB Charitable Trust - £33K for our charitable activities in pursuit of a fair immigration system

• The Sam and Bella Sebba Foundation - £50K for our charitable activities in pursuit of a fair immigration system

• The Migration Foundation - £22K for our charitable work in Parliament

• Global Dialogue - £10K for our charitable work for the No Recourse to Public Funds condition

People

Nabila Haque joined us as our Events and Communication Officer in April 2024, replacing Louis Dean. Charlie Winstanley joined RAMP as Programme Manager for the Mayor Programme in January 2025 and spent the first few months in post building key relationships and starting the recruitment of advisers.

We also recruited Dr. Alex Bulat as an adviser for Laura Kyrke Smith MP (who stepped down after a quick promotion to a frontbench position ) and then Chris Murray MP. In March 2025 Jamil Keating was recruited into the new role of Operations Manager, and from that month our Strategic Engagement Adviser Sabrina Huck began a one day per week secondment into the Justice Together Initiative to help provide support during a maternity leave.

Activity

RAMP parliamentarians spent a considerable amount of time scrutinising the Safety of Rwanda Bill and then the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill during their passage through Parliament, with advisers pulling together briefings on key aspects of the legislation and organising meetings with experts from a range of organisations.

Through our support to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration we have enabled a range of cross-party parliamentarians to get a deeper understanding of a broad array of other migration-related issues. Members undertook a visit to Wethersfield asylum accommodation and to visit the work of the UN High Commission for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration organising refugee resettlement programmes in Egypt. We also supported members of the All Party Groups on Migration and on Poverty to undertake an inquiry into the links between immigration policy and poverty in the UK where they took evidence from over 200 organisations and individuals and published a report summarising their findings. We organised briefing sessions from a range of organisations including the Work Rights Centre, Focus on Labour Exploitation; the British Red Cross; Praxis; the Refugee Council; the Institute for Government and former Independent Chief Inspector for Borders and Immigration, David Neal.

On the back of these and other briefings, advisers have supported Parliamentarians to ask oral and written questions to Ministers or to speak in relevant debates on a wide range of issues - a good way of getting a verbal response from a Minister on the record and of raising the profile of a topic. RAMP advisers also supported parliamentarians to raise crucial issues in the media - helping them with preparation for interviews or articles published or broadcast for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky News, Politics Home and The Guardian

On behalf of the board

In order to assist you to fulfil your duties under the Companies Act 2006, we have prepared for your approval the financial statements of The Ramp Project for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise, the balance sheet and the related notes from the company’s accounting records and from information and explanations you have given us.

This report is made solely to the Board of Directors of The Ramp Project, as a body. Our work has been undertaken solely to prepare for your approval the financial statements of The Ramp Project and state those matters that we have agreed to state to the Board of Directors of The Ramp Project, as a body. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than The Ramp Project and its Board of Directors as a body, for our work or for this report.

It is your duty to ensure that The Ramp Project has kept adequate accounting records and to prepare statutory financial statements that give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and surplus of The Ramp Project. You consider that The Ramp Project is exempt from the statutory audit requirement for the year.

We have not been instructed to carry out an audit or a review of the financial statements of The Ramp Project. For this reason, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of the accounting records or information and explanations you have given to us and we do not, therefore, express any opinion on the statutory financial statements.

The directors of the company have elected not to include a copy of the income and expenditure account within the financial statements.true

For the financial year ended 31 March 2025 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared and delivered in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

The Ramp Project is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is The Courtyard, High Street, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7HP.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 as applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. The disclosure requirements of section 1A of FRS 102 have been applied other than where additional disclosure is required to show a true and fair view.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

Income and expenses are included in the financial statements as they become receivable or due. Income is recognised in line with contracts and deferred as necessary for the proportion of work to be completed after the year end.

Expenses include VAT where applicable as the company are not VAT registered.

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Cash and cash equivalents are basic financial assets and include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when the company becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the financial instrument.

Debtors do not carry interest and are stated at their nominal value. Appropriate allowances for estimated irrecoverable amounts are recognised in the Profit and Loss account when there is objective evidence that the asset is impaired.

Creditors are not interest bearing and are included at their nominal value.

The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable.

The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the profit and loss account because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The company’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting end date.

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:

The company is limited by guarantee without share capital and consequently the liability of members is limited, subject to an undertaking by each member to contribute to the net assets or liabilities of the company on winding up such amounts as may be required not exceeding £1.