St. Patrick's College Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Buchanan House, 30 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HS.
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 £.
Income and expenses are included in the financial statements as they become receivable or due.
Expenses include VAT where applicable as the company cannot reclaim it.
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.
The company does not enter into any transactions that can be classified as other financial assets, including equity instruments which are not subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
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.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all timing differences and deferred tax assets are recoonised 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 income statement, 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 company is not carrying on a business for the purposes of making a profit and is therefore exempt from corporation tax.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the director is 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 following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements.
The key judgement applied by the director is in respect of recoverability of intercompany receivables. The director considers the net assets and trading prospects of group debtors to form a judgement on the recoverable amount after taking account of the nature and extent of group support and guarantees issued. The director concluded that no impairment was required at year end.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
During the year ended 31 July 2025, the Directors identified that the corporation tax liability recognised in prior periods had been incorrectly offset against intercompany balances on the basis that the liability had been settled by another group undertaking. Following confirmation received from the Group’s tax advisers that the liability remained outstanding and had not been paid at the reporting date, the liability has been reclassified to creditors.
In accordance with FRS 102 Section 10 “Accounting Policies, Estimates and Errors”, this matter has been treated as a prior period error as the prior period financial statements did not correctly reflect the existence of the corporation tax liability. Comparative amounts have therefore been restated to reclassify the outstanding corporation tax liability from intercompany balances to creditors.
The correction relates solely to the presentation and classification of balances within the balance sheet and does not impact the profit or loss account or total equity for the current or prior periods.
The company is limited by guarantee, not having a 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.
As the income statement has been omitted from the filing copy of the financial statements, the following information in relation to the audit report on the statutory financial statements is provided in accordance with s444(5B) of the Companies Act 2006.
The auditor's report is unqualified and includes the following:
The company acts, along with other group companies, as guarantor in respect of a lease held by Interactive Pro Limited, a group company. The director considers that no material exposure arises under the guarantee.
In 2018 HMRC opened an enquiry into historic VAT treatments applied by certain entities in the Global University Systems group, including St Patrick's College Limited. The Board are of the view that directives relating to the application of VAT as it applies to education services is open to varying interpretations by HMRC, tax tribunal and the courts. As at the year end, appeals were continuing and so no final resolution had been reached in respect of the enquiry. Therefore the director considers the outcome of the enquiry, which could include interest and penalties in addition to any assessed additional VAT liability, to be uncertain.
At year end and at the date of approval of the financial statements, an HMRC enquiry into corporate interest deductions within the wider Global University Systems group is ongoing. The enquiry may result in additional corporation tax, plus interest, becoming payable. However, the enquiry is ongoing and the Director considers that the outcome is uncertain.
The director is of the opinion that there were no significant adjusting or non-adjusting events occurring after the reporting date.
The company has taken advantage of the exemption allowed in FRS 102 and has not disclosed details of related party transactions with 100% owned entities within the group.