The directors present the strategic report for the year ended 31 August 2025.

The results for the financial year show a profit after taxation of £1,101,615 (2024: Loss £40,591) The Company’s net assets increased to £2,947,333 (2024: £1,072,223). The improved financial result was primarily due to increased revenue from higher home occupancy levels and an improved fee structure, which reflects our commitment to providing placements for children with more complex needs and behaviours.

The Forge (Nuneaton) Limited operates purpose-​built, high-​quality residential children’s homes. We provide therapeutic support to help children and young people achieve their full potential, regardless of the challenges they may have faced. Currently, we can support up to 24 children and young people across our four purpose-​built homes, all of which are registered with Ofsted.

We believe in the uniqueness of each young person and strive to instil confidence in them about their future, no matter their past experiences. Our dedicated colleagues are the backbone of our mission, working tirelessly to deliver the best services and support for children and young people in our care. From clinical staff to managers, team leaders to residential care workers, and even our administrative teams, we celebrate the diversity and breadth of experience they bring. They uphold our mission: “Fiercely believing in children, so they can believe in themselves.”

During this period, our existing homes reached maturity, resulting in revenue growth of 56%. The Company traded profitably throughout the whole year. We are entering the upcoming financial year with confidence as we establish further homes and a growing market presence across the West and East Midlands.

Risk management policy Regulatory and Legislative Risks

The residential care operation is registered with Ofsted as providers of social care. Inspections and reviews are carried out regularly by Ofsted on all registered establishments.

The business regularly updates its policies and procedures in order to ensure compliance with required standards.

Reputational Risk

The business activities give rise to certain reputational risks. These are managed through robust policies and procedures which are checked and monitored by our Responsible Individual.

Financial risk management policy

The Company’s principal financial instruments comprise cash, trade debtors and creditors, loans and borrowings and certain other debtors and accruals. The main risks associated with these financial assets and liabilities are set out below.

Credit risk

The Company’s customers are Local Authorities and have a good payment history. The directors believe the Group's exposure to bad debts is not significant.

Liquidity risk

The Company is funded by way of loans from the parent Company, operational cash generation, mortgages on its properties and unsecured loans.

Interest rate risk

The Company’s interest rate risk is managed by utilising fixed rate mortgages and loans.

Market price risk

Due to the nature of the principal activity, the directors do not believe the Company is exposed to significant movements in market prices of its services.

As part of the monthly financial review, the SLT report on Key Performance Indicators to the Board and Key Funders and Stakeholders.

The business regularly tracks 'KPls' to assist in the understanding of the progress, performance and status of the business. The KPls used by the business to measure its own performance include Ofsted ratings, Quality outcomes, Incidents, % occupancy, revenue and EBITDA %.

By having a blend of both quality and financial performance indicators we are able to spot trends and provide deeper analysis for business leaders and stakeholders.

Future outlook

We believe our business to be well placed for future growth, driven by a persistent shortage of quality homes for children in suitable locations. Our strong relationships with commissioning authorities offers significant potential for expansion into new counties. Through our strategic investment in our staff teams, training and technology coupled with investment in new homes we believe we can capitalise on the growing market demand for high quality children’s services across the midlands and to deliver a sustainable growth strategy.

Local authority spending on independent children’s homes and fostering services in England doubled from £1.6B (2019-2020) to £3.1B (2023-2024) While foster care households fell by 9% between 2020 and 2024 whilst residential care placement numbers increased by 10% (2024-2025).

In the year from 2024-2025 82% of children’s homes were rated Good or Outstanding by OSFTED, but placement instability remains high, it is estimated that nearly half of children living in residential care live more than 20 miles from home and 14% experience three or more placements in a year.

Issues persist with unregistered or unregulated homes, raising concerns regarding oversight, quality and safeguarding of children.

It is our belief that the current market conditions strongly support the rational of investment in opening new high quality residential homes, which will enable further growth as we expand our services to neighbouring counties and build on our strong USP of providing high standards of therapeutic care, support and accommodation.

On behalf of the board

The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2025.

The principal activity of the company continued to be the provision of residential care for children.

The results for the year are set out on page 9.

No ordinary dividends were paid. The directors do not recommend payment of a final dividend.

The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:

The company finances its operations through retained profits, operational bank accounts and bank loans, the interest on which are at market rate.

The directors' objectives are to retain sufficient liquid funds to enable the company to meet its day to day obligations as they fall due and to maximise returns on funds.

The company's funds are held primarily in current accounts which the directors believe give the group flexibility to release cash resources at short notice and allows the company to take advantage of changing economic and industry conditions as they arise.

In addition, various financial instruments such as trade debtors and trade creditors arise directly from the company's operations.

In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Edwards be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.

So far as each person who was a director at the date of approving this report is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditor is unaware. Additionally, the directors individually have taken all the necessary steps that they ought to have taken as directors in order to make themselves aware of all relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditor is aware of that information.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the medium-sized companies exemption.

The directors are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.

The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

We have audited the financial statements of The Forge (Nuneaton) Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 August 2025 which comprise the profit and loss account, the statement of comprehensive income, the balance sheet, the statement of changes in equity and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the company's affairs as at 31 August 2025 and of its profit for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:

• the information given in the strategic report and the directors' report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the strategic report and the directors' report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors' report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of directors' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

As explained more fully in the directors' responsibilities statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the Company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the OFSTED regulations, Companies Act 2006, employment law and health & safety compliance.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be in the following areas: the override of controls by management, revenue journals, inappropriate treatment of non-routine transactions and areas of estimation uncertainty, specifically surrounding the valuation of tangible fixed assets. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, review and discussion of non-routine transactions, sample testing on the posting of journals and review of accounting estimates for biases.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

These inherent limitations are particularly significant in the case of misstatement resulting from fraud as this may involve sophisticated schemes designed to avoid detection, including deliberate failure to record transactions, collusion or the provision of intentional misrepresentations.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

The profit and loss account has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions relating to medium-sized companies.

The Forge (Nuneaton) Limited is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is The Forge, Waggestaff Drive, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 9SL.

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.

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, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

This company is a qualifying entity for the purposes of FRS 102, being a member of a group where the parent of that group prepares publicly available consolidated financial statements, including this company, which are intended to give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the group. The company has therefore taken advantage of exemptions from the following disclosure requirements:

• Section 7 ‘Statement of Cash Flows’: Presentation of a statement of cash flow and related notes and disclosures;

• Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instrument Issues: Interest income/expense and net gains/losses for financial instruments not measured at fair value; basis of determining fair values; details of collateral, loan defaults or breaches, details of hedges, hedging fair value changes recognised in profit or loss and in other comprehensive income;

• Section 26 ‘Share based Payment’: Share-based payment expense charged to profit or loss, reconciliation of opening and closing number and weighted average exercise price of share options, how the fair value of options granted was measured, measurement and carrying amount of liabilities for cash-settled share-based payments, explanation of modifications to arrangements;

• Section 33 ‘Related Party Disclosures’: Compensation for key management personnel.

The financial statements of the company are consolidated in the financial statements of Forge Care Limited. These consolidated financial statements are available from Companies House.

Atruet the time of approving the financial statements, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the directors continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Turnover is recognised at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable for goods and services provided in the normal course of business, and is shown inclusive of VAT as the company is exempt from such taxes.

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:

Freehold land is not depreciated.

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is credited or charged to profit or loss.

At each reporting period end date, the company reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any). Where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, the company estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.

Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted.

If the recoverable amount of an asset (or cash-generating unit) is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease.

Recognised impairment losses are reversed if, and only if, the reasons for the impairment loss have ceased to apply. Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset (or cash-generating unit) in prior years. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the reversal of the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation increase.

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.

The company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the company's balance sheet when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Equity instruments issued by the company are recorded at the proceeds received, net of transaction costs. Dividends payable on equity instruments are recognised as liabilities once they are no longer at the discretion of the company.

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

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.

Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all timing differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that they will be recovered against the reversal of deferred tax liabilities or other future taxable profits. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the timing difference arises from goodwill or from the initial recognition of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the tax profit nor the accounting profit.

The carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each reporting end date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered. Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the profit and loss account, except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with in equity. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when the company has a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the deferred tax assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax authority.

The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense.

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

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

Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged to profit or loss on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease except where another more systematic basis is more representative of the time pattern in which economic benefits from the leases asset are consumed.

In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

The estimates and assumptions which have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities are as follows.

Freehold land and buildings are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses. The company’s freehold land and buildings were valued on a market value basis as at 6 June 2025 by Cushman & Wakefield. In the opinion of the Directors, the properties fair value is unchanged at 31 August 2025.

Turnover within the financial statements relates directly to the principal activity of the company.

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

Their aggregate remuneration comprised:

The number of directors for whom retirement benefits are accruing under defined contribution schemes amounted to 4 (2024 - 4).

The actual charge for the year can be reconciled to the expected charge/(credit) for the year based on the profit or loss and the standard rate of tax as follows:

In addition to the amount charged to the profit and loss account, the following amounts relating to tax have been recognised directly in other comprehensive income:

The company has an unrecognised deferred tax asset of £909,523 (2024 - £1,255,827) in relation to carried forward taxable losses. This has not been recognised as its future recoverability is uncertain.

The carrying value of land and buildings comprises:

Freehold land and buildings with a carrying amount of £12,920,000 were revalued at 6th June 2025 by Cushman & Wakefield, independent valuers not connected with the company, on the basis of market value. This valuation was adopted by the company from 31st August 2025. The valuation conforms to International Valuation Standards and was based on recent market transactions on arm's length terms for similar properties.

If freehold land and buildings were measured using the cost model, the carrying amounts would have been £6,572,971 (2024 - £6,725,979), being cost £6,945,568 (2024 - £6,932,884) and depreciation to date £372,597 (2024 - £206,906).

Bank loans are secured by way of a fixed and floating charge over the company's assets. Interest is charged at various rates, between 7.90% and 15.61% per annum. The loans are being repaid in equal monthly instalments.

The following are the major deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the company and movements thereon:

The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the company in an independently administered fund.

The rights attached to each class of share can be found in the company's Articles of Association.

Certain Directors of the company have provided a personal guarantee securing overdraft facilities up to £25,000 for The Forge (Nuneaton) Limited of which £Nil was utilised as at 31 August 2025 (2024 - £Nil).

At the reporting end date the company had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:

Amounts contracted for but not provided in the financial statements:

The company has taken advantage of the exemption conferred within FRS102 section 33.1A not to disclose transactions between wholly owned members of the same group.

The Directors are considered to be key management personnel. Details of their remuneration can be found in note 7.

The company's immediate and ultimate parent undertaking is Forge Care Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales.

Forge Care Limited is the largest and smallest group for which group financial statements are prepared.