The Ballinger Charitable Trust (‘the Trust’) is a company limited by guarantee. The Trustees are its directors. The Trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025.

The Trust’s financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with its governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charitable organisations preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)".

Funding made easy

The organisations we fund work hard doing great things in a tough and uncertain financial environment. The Ballinger Charitable Trust has a ‘beneficiaries-first’ ethos. We make life as easy as we can for them by having a simple application process – it takes five minutes to complete – and by keeping our reporting requirements contained – a yearly page of narrative with a link to the latest accounts. We go to see them for half an hour every couple of years in case there are any problems we can help with, otherwise we stay out of their way so they can do the real work.

We grant money to charitable causes according to the priorities we have chosen to support. The money comes from both income generated by the investments held by the Trust, and from expending those investments in part from time to time.

We invite applications for grants via our website ballingercharitabletrust.org.uk. Our typical grant award in 2025 was between £10,000 to £20,000 per annum, for a 2 or 3 year period, though our grant values have varied over time; our highest grant awarded in a single year was £600,000 and our lowest £250.

Our working team of Trustees, Andrew and John, supported by our Trust Co-ordinator, Joanne, visit prospective and current grantees as part of our due diligence and monitoring. We encourage grantees to set the parameters for use of grant, offering 95% of grantees either unrestricted funding or funding for core running costs. For grants over £5,000, we scrutinise due diligence material in quarterly Trustee Meetings attended by all Trustees and our Trust Co-ordinator. For project specific grants we request a brief proposal and budget aligned to the intended project expenditure.

In the last year, we continued to focus on supporting children, young people and older people, particularly those with dementia and their carers. We also continued our non-grant making work to:

• help charitable organisations collaborate successfully to access funding;

• connect with other funders, to reduce multiple applications by charitable organisations to multiple funders and to bring new funders to the attention of local charitable organisations

• identify where governance and management changes might enable the charitable organisations we support to realise their ambitions more effectively.

We continued to make a number of small (“micro”) grants to community groups who deliver very localised support to their communities. We work with local councils, councillors and civil society infrastructure organisations to identify the community groups we support in this way. Those grants are typically £1,000 or less.

We collaborated with Sherburn House Charity (Reg Charity No. 1177535), a care home organisation in County Durham, to distribute £10,000 of their funding in £1,000 micro-grants to 10 charitable organisations supporting older people across the Northeast region.

Through the year we made grants totalling £4,352,489 (2024: £3,457,328) from income of £1,157,690 (2024: £1,219,056) with the remainder from capital.

At any one time, we have a number of multi-year grants for which we set aside designated funds. Information on these grants can be found at note 18 to the accounts. We renewed almost all of those relationships with grantees who were coming to the end of their grant period as well as identifying new grantees through our online application process.

Our grant-making and non-grant-making work has been well supported by our Trust Co-ordinator, Joanne.

Public benefit

The Trust operates for the public benefit. It supports charitable organisations by awarding grants.

We confirm that we have referred to the guidance produced by the Charity Commission on public benefit and are confident that the requirements are satisfied.

Investments between balance sheet dates have increased in value this year from £59,029,866 to £59,379,608 reflecting that our portfolio of investments managed by Rathbones Group plc (“Rathbones”) increased in value.

In 2025, we received donations totalling £10,000 (202: £15,000).

We expect to meet all designated funding commitments in the coming year and to continue to support those charitable organisations which fulfil our priorities.

Reserves Policy

Free reserves (being the funds available to the Trust) stand at £56,048,839 (2024: £56,091,896), equivalent to the total income funds less restricted funds, designated funds and tangible assets set out in the balance sheet. Those free reserves are used so that all grants can be paid in the normal course of business across the year, whilst covering the annual administrative costs and to ensure that there are funds available to respond to future applications in subsequent years.

Investment Policy

The Trust’s investment portfolio is held by Rathbones. We delegate responsibility for investment decisions to Rathbones on a discretionary basis.

The Trustees agree an Investment Policy Statement with Rathbones that describes how Rathbones will manage the portfolio. This statement is reviewed annually by the Trustees with Rathbones, and includes an appropriate risk profile for the investments managed on our behalf. Rathbones benchmark investment portfolio performance.

At year end the portfolio had increased in value.

Risk Management

We assess the Trust’s major risks and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure.

The two major risks are:

• that investments fall significantly and unexpectedly in value; which we mitigate through our relationship with Rathbones and the Investment Policy Statement we agree with them; and

• the risks inherent in our grant-making activity and the manner in which our grantees use the funds that we award; which we mitigate by assessing prospective grantees and undertaking in-person visits before making larger multi-year donations and by monitoring grantees throughout the grant period through review of the periodic written reports we require from all grantees and follow-up in-person visits where we consider they’re necessary.

Plans for the Future

We will continue to provide grants to charitable organisations that meet the priorities we have chosen to support.

In 2022, the Trustees decided to spend down the Trust’s total assets over a 20-year timeline, commencing in 2023. The implementation of this decision will be kept under annual review by the Trustees and in consultation with Rathbones.

The Trust is planning an incremental increase to the annual total grant-making in 2026, to a total of around £4,500,000.

Fundraising

We don’t carry out any fundraising, nor do we use professional fundraisers or subscribe to any scheme of fundraising regulation.

Going Concern

There are no uncertainties at the year-end regarding going concern.

In 1994, Martin Ballinger set up an unincorporated charitable foundation, The Ballinger Charitable Trust, using part of his shares and dividend income from Go-Ahead Group plc, which he had co-founded in 1987 as Go Ahead Northern Limited, following the privatisation of the Northern Bus Company. The principal aims of the new foundation were to benefit the young and the old in the Northeast of England, the home territory of both Martin and Go Ahead Northern Limited. Martin's bequest of Go Ahead Group plc shares in 2007 increased the capital of the foundation and has enabled us to make £34,457,987 of grants since that date. That same year the foundation changed its constitution to become a company limited by guarantee and its Trustees became Directors of the company, governed by Company Law.

The Trust, being a company limited by guarantee, is governed by a memorandum and articles of association which govern eligibility for membership of the charity and membership of the Board of Trustees. There are no restrictions in the governing document on the operation of the charity or on its investment powers other than those imposed by general charity law. None of the Trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All Trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.

Key management personnel

The Trustees are responsible for the day to day management and control of the Trust and the overall direction of its work. Those who served during the year were:

The directors are still referred to in their day to day work as trustees. No trustee recruitment is currently taking place and we are not expecting to appoint new trustees.

In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Azets Audit Services be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting. The report of the directors has been prepared taking advantage of the small companies exemption of section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.

Each of the trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditor is aware of such information.

The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

The trustees, who are also the directors of Ballinger Charitable Trust for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.

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

- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable 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 charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Ballinger Charitable Trust (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows 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 charitable company's affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;

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 charitable 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.

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' 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 charitable 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 trustees 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 trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and 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.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees' report; or

sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or

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

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

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purpose of company law, 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 trustees 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 trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable 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 trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

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.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above and on the Financial Reporting Council’s website, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.

We obtain and update our understanding of the entity, its activities, its control environment, and likely future developments, including in relation to the legal and regulatory framework applicable and how the entity is complying with that framework.  Based on this understanding, we identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.  This includes consideration of the risk of acts by the entity that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud, we designed procedures which included:

• Enquiry of management and those charged with governance around actual and potential litigation and claims as well as actual, suspected and alleged fraud; 

• Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;

• Assessing the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations considered to have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the entity through enquiry and inspection; 

• Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

• Performing audit work over the risk of management bias and override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for indicators of potential bias. 

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation.  This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance.  The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

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 charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees 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 charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Azets Audit Services is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charitable company by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 31 December 2025, although an audit has been carried out under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011.

The trustees are responsible for ensuring that the charity keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year.  They are also responsible for its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395, and for compliance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements under the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

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

Ballinger Charitable Trust is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Bede House, Belmont Business Park, DURHAM, DH1 1TW, United Kingdom.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charitable company's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charitable company is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

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

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

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

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Designated funds comprise funds which have been set aside at the discretion of the trustees for specific purposes. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the accounts.

Income is recognised when the charitable company is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charitable company has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charitable company has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected. If the amount is not known, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset.

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Grants payable are payments made to third parties in the furtherance of the charitable objectives of the Trust. In the case of an unconditional grant offer this is accrued once the recipient has been notified of the grant award. Grant awards that are subject to the recipient fulfilling performance conditions are only accrued when the recipient has been notified of the grant and any remaining unfulfilled conditions attaching to that grant are outside of the control of the Trust.

A provision for a multi-year grant is recognised at its present value where settlement is due over more than one year from the date of the award, there are no unfulfilled performance conditions under the control of the Trust that would permit the Trust to avoid making the future payment(s), settlement is probable, and the effect of discounting is material. The discount rate used is the rate offered on government bonds (gilts) for a commensurate or similar time period offered in the year in which the grant award is made.

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:

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 recognised in the statement of financial activities.

Fixed asset investments are stated at market value as at the balance sheet date. The statement of financial activities includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluation and disposals throughout the year. Disposals of investments are treated on a FIFO basis.

Dividends are included in the income and expenditure account when they are declared. Bank interest is included in the income and expenditure account on a receivable basis.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any trade discounts due.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Investments

Raising funds

Charitable costs

John Flynn received £20,000 (2024- £19,000) from the charity in lieu of lost income for his time spent on work for the charity during the year, and was also reimbursed £24 for travel expenses incurred (2024 - £17). The trustees believe this sum is a worthwhile cost due to the value of expertise Mr Flynn provides to the charity.

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.

Listed investments are included at their market value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. The historic cost of the investments at the balance sheet date was £49,276,620 (2024: £52,500,375). No individual holdings are greater than 5% of the total portfolio.

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

The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.

Fees in the sum of £20,000 (2024 - £19,000) were paid to Mr J Flynn a trustee of The Ballinger Charitable Trust.

The charitable company had no material debt during the year.