REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 00244591 (England and Wales)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 212527

Report of the Trustees and

Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2025

for

Women's Farm & Garden Association(The)

Page

Report of the Trustees

1

to

5

Independent Examiner's Report

6

Statement of Financial Activities

7

Balance Sheet

8

to

9

Notes to the Financial Statements

10

to

17

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31st December 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of 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).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Charitable activities

Chair's Report

This has been a year of significant transformation for Working for Gardeners. I am proud to share the progress we have made as an organisation committed to building a thriving programme of education for gardeners across the UK, as interest in horticulture both as a career and an informed amateur thrives. We are, as always, very grateful to the garden owners and Head Gardeners who make our WRAG (Work and Retrain as a Gardener) scheme possible in their amazing gardens, from grand houses to private and community gardens. They all share our belief in the mission of Working for Gardeners to provide a hands-on horticultural education for all.

Our WRAG scheme remains at the heart of what we do. In 2025, we awarded 128 certificates for meeting our training standard and had 135 new starters. Since 1993, we have now helped over 1,800 people forge new careers in horticulture, which is a fantastic achievement, but we continue to need more gardens to meet the demand of prospective trainees waiting for placements.

Our programme of educational events expanded considerably in 2025, with a wider and more varied range of courses and workshops - from pruning and propagation to plant identification - bringing members together in beautiful gardens and online. The appetite for learning within our community continues to inspire us. We have received very positive feedback from attendees, many of whom are already professional gardeners with RHS Level 2 qualifications and who want to deepen specific practical skills.

As we continue to grow, we recognised the importance of ensuring that our identity and infrastructure match our ambitions. This year, we launched a refreshed brand for the Association, and although it was still rooted in our heritage, our new branding better reflects who we are today and the vibrant community we serve. We grew our social media following and presence which was helped by our activities at Gardeners World Live where we sponsored and mentored ten of our current and former WRAG trainees with designs for the Beautiful Borders competition. Following on from this in 2026, we will be investing in a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and a new website, which will transform how we connect with our members and the wider public. These are significant steps forward and lay the foundation for sustainable growth in the years ahead.

We are grateful for the continued support of our funders and donors in what is a challenging market for charitable donations and funding. Thank you to our members, volunteers, garden owners, and supporters - your commitment makes all of this possible.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial position

Our income totalled £241,872 during 2025, across three principal sources: WRAG trainee fees £83,960 (35% of the total, roughly level with £80,240 during 2024); membership subscriptions £59,168 (24% of the total, well up on £49,528 during 2024); and events £44,079(18%, also substantially up on £28,096 during 2024). Income from gift aid and donations came to £48,404 (20% of the total up from £24,265 during 2024), with financial items accounting for most of the balance of £6,261 of income.

We have continued to develop our network of remarkable partner gardens across the UK in which we are able to place trainees and organise events. During 2025, 135 WRAG trainees started their placements - such training opportunities would be particularly difficult for potential career changers to access directly for themselves. We remain one of the few charities, if not the only one, in the UK that is focused on arranging and moderating paid part-time gardening placements. The trainee earns at least the National Living Wage, paid directly by the garden owner, and receives valuable practical, vocational gardening experience under the expert leadership and mentoring of either the head gardener or garden owner in truly inspirational gardens across the UK. The trainee pays an admin fee of £640 to the Charity (raised from £600 for 2024) to contribute to the assessment and support function of our Regional Managers.

We are constantly working on developing our garden network further, partly because we have continued to see demand for placements outstripping available gardens, and partly because a significant portion of our gardens each year decide to retain their WRAG trainee for continuing direct employment and do not therefore offer a new WRAG trainee placement.

These gardens in our network also provided wonderful venues and expert instruction for our practical training events. We ran 109 events across the UK during 2025, both in garden and online, up from 70 in 2024. We have continued to price these events affordably relative to the numerous other horticultural training events available from third parties, but have started to narrow the discount, with members pricing generally in the region of £50, at a discount to our non-member pricing, in order to encourage membership. Events continue to be a major area of strategic focus for us, so we are particularly grateful for the support shown by our garden owners and their head gardeners in this context. Our 1650+ members also receive regular newsletters and other communication highlighting our garden tours, workshops and skills days, as well as access to our Garden Recruitment Network.

We are also most grateful to have been able to continue to collaborate with our generous donors during 2025. Donations received during the year amounted to £37,093. These are instrumental in opening up placement opportunities and providing other financial support to trainees and as such, are key to delivering meaningful change to trainees' lives. Expansion of our fundraising efforts continues to be a key strategic focus for us.

During 2025, our Executive Officer (appointed in mid-2024) has continued to have day-to-day responsibility for implementation of our rolling Strategic Plan and for operations, including managing our brand identity and systems development projects. She has oversight responsibility for our network of freelance, paid Regional Managers (numbering 21 at year-end 2025 up from 18 at the prior year end) and 2 part-time staff in our administrative office in Trull. During the year, we have recruited and trained 6 new Regional Managers to allow for natural turnover. In 2025 as in other years, our main operating expenses were related to the trainee and garden coordination activities of our Regional Managers (£99,586 in 2025, up 30% over the year) and to our executive/admin team (£73,898 during 2025, up 45% primarily due to the addition of the Executive Officer role in mid-2024). Our trustees provided their time pro-bono.

Overall, our operating expenses (excluding disbursement of bursary monies) totalled £290,094 during 2025, up 15% over 2024. While these operating expenses may seem high for a charity as a percentage of incoming resources, they should really be assessed relative to our "financial footprint" rather than our incoming resources as such. We consider our financial footprint to include not just our incoming resources per these statutory accounts but also the remuneration paid to our WRAG scheme trainees by the owners of the gardens in which they are placed, which we estimate to be in the region of £1.1 million during 2025. With our financial footprint in the region of some £1.34 million, our operating expenses represent around 21% of that footprint.

In 2024, we decided to deploy some of our substantial reserves to seek to increase the scale of our charitable activities, particularly given the unmet demand for WRAG scheme placements. As part of the initiatives in this rolling Plan, during 2024 and through 2025/2026, we have been investing in the systems and marketing underpinnings needed to underpin this ambition. During 2025, we completed a review of our identity and branding and have started to freshen up the look and feel of our communications with members and the public, including in social media and online. For our statutory accounts, all of this expense is recognized in the financial year in which it is disbursed (£24,303 during 2025) rather than the bulk of it being capitalised. Had we amortised these investments over a 5-year period for our statutory accounts (as we do for our internal management accounts), our net expenditure would have been £25,108 rather than the reported £43,962, and our cashflow would have been unchanged as per the statutory accounts. We have budgeted investment of around £20,600 and upfront annual system running costs of £9,021 during 2026, primarily to develop and roll out an integrated suite of systems improvements, including a new website and tailored CRM system.

Our net expenditure in 2025 for unrestricted funds amounted to £51,421, due to the marketing investment and admin team expansion. In addition, during 2025 we received £36,150 in restricted donations and gift aid and disbursed £28,691 to fund placements and bursaries, which meant that our net income for restricted funds overall amounted to £7,459.

The Charity headed into 2026 in a healthy financial position, with net assets of £217,089, of which £179,823 was unrestricted.

Reserves policy

A reserves policy is necessary to ensure there is sufficient income to tide an organisation over in order that it may meet its liabilities, whilst fundraising is done, if and when existing sources of income are lost. It also enables contractual obligations to be met in the event that the organisation needs to be wound up.

The board considers that a minimum unrestricted reserves amount of between £35,000-£50,000 is sufficient to address both of these objectives. We can identify with relative ease the liabilities that we would face in the event of the need to close the charity's operations in an orderly manner (principally payroll to staff and expense obligations to Regional Managers and suppliers, plus office premises and contracted overheads).

Our unrestricted net assets of £179,823 exceeded our minimum reserves target. During 2026 and over the coming years, the board is deploying these reserves, together with funds raised through the generous support of our donors, to continue to support practical, hands-on horticultural learning. As presaged in our 2024 report, during the latter part of 2025 and in 2026, we have been putting in place the foundations for this strengthening of our horticultural community. This has involved capital expenditures of £23,568 during 2025 and a budgeted amount of £20,600 during 2026), in addition to the £18,762 that we have invested in increased marketing and communications spend during the year. This follows on from £19,236 marketing spend during 2024, with outsourced marketing communications, and £6,801 during 2023. We started 2026 with a much stronger expression of our mission and branding; we have freshened our website while we work on improving its functionality and ease of use; and are on track to implement an integrated set of tailored tools including a Beacon CRM system that will help us to improve our members experience and to serve our community of trainees, garden owners and other stakeholders - past, present and future.

Going concern

The Trustees have considered the Going Concern of the Charity, and with the level of Unrestricted Reserves at the year-end it is considered that the Going Concern of the Charity is assured for 2026.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The Association is a company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006. The governing document of the charity is its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 11 December 1929 (as altered by Special Resolutions on 1 April 1950 and 18 April 1964) and Articles of Association passed by Special Resolution at the AGM 10th July 2011.The Articles of Association were updated and amended by Special Resolution on 19th September 2020 to comply with the latest Charity Commission regulations, and the working name of Working for Gardeners Association was adopted on the same date. These documents can be viewed in the members section of the WFGA website. They are also available on the Charity Commission website for the general public to access at any time.

In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

The Board of Trustees set the agenda and budget for the Association. A Trustee is elected for a period of three years, with re-election for a further three, after six years the Trustee must step down for a period of at least one year.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is selected from within the Board.

Risk management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed, and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. The trustees reviewed and updated the WFGA Risk Management policy document in accordance with government advice in 2025. The next review is due during 2026.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

00244591 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

212527

Registered office

7 Trull Farm Buildings

Trull

Tetbury

Gloucestershire

GL8 8SQ

Trustees

Amanda Ponsonby MBE

James McArthur

Susan Reed

Daniel Cartwright

Rosalind Chandler

Catherine Hastie - Chair (appointed 1/3/2025)

Company Secretary

Independent Examiner

JD Frost Accountants

7 Links View

Cirencester

Gloucestershire

GL7 2NF

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 6th July 2026 and signed on its behalf by:

James McArthur - Trustee

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Women's Farm & Garden Association(The) ('the Company')

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31st December 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

1.	accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by Section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

2.	the accounts do not accord with those records; or

3.	the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of Section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

4.

the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities (applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)).

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Mrs J D Frost

JD Frost Accountants

7 Links View

Cirencester

Gloucestershire

GL7 2NF

17th September 2026

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

Total

funds

funds

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

2

146,071

-

146,071

132,663

Charitable activities

Charity running costs

44,079

-

44,079

28,096

Christine Ladley Fund

-

7,650

7,650

3,650

National Garden Scheme

-

-

-

(2,100

)

George Cadbury Fund

-

10,000

10,000

-

Other

-

16,500

16,500

7,500

Other trading activities

3

1,464

-

1,464

3,778

Investment income

4

4,797

-

4,797

6,678

Other income

9,311

2,000

11,311

12,320

Total

205,722

36,150

241,872

192,585

EXPENDITURE ON

Raising funds

5

350

-

350

70

Charitable activities

Events

18,116

-

18,116

9,116

Garden and Trainee coordination

99,586

-

99,586

76,841

Marketing and communication

18,187

-

18,187

19,236

Branding review

24,303

-

24,303

-

Charity running costs

100,861

-

100,861

76,567

Christine Ladley Fund

-

8,550

8,550

6,075

National Garden Scheme

-

9,341

9,341

58,181

Stanley Smith Fund

-

-

-

3,694

Other

-

10,800

10,800

801

Other

-

-

-

968

Total

261,403

28,691

290,094

251,549

Net gains on investments

4,260

-

4,260

3,600

NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

(51,421

)

7,459

(43,962

)

(55,364

)

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

231,244

29,807

261,051

316,415

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

179,823

37,266

217,089

261,051

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

Total

funds

funds

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

FIXED ASSETS

Tangible assets

10

102

-

102

1,070

Investments

11

68,214

-

68,214

62,156

68,316

-

68,316

63,226

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

12

20,405

4,875

25,280

21,550

Cash at bank

114,405

33,022

147,427

187,775

134,810

37,897

172,707

209,325

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

13

(23,303

)

(631

)

(23,934

)

(11,500

)

NET CURRENT ASSETS

111,507

37,266

148,773

197,825

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

179,823

37,266

217,089

261,051

NET ASSETS

179,823

37,266

217,089

261,051

FUNDS

15

Unrestricted funds

179,823

231,244

Restricted funds

37,266

29,807

TOTAL FUNDS

217,089

261,051

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31st December 2025.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2025 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for

(a)	ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records that comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006 and

(b)

preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of each financial year and of its surplus or deficit for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company.

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

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 6th July 2026 and were signed on its behalf by:

James McArthur - Trustee

1.	ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) '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)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value, as modified by the revaluation of certain assets.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

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 a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Branding

All expenditure on branding review and systems development has been expensed and not amortised, including costs with multi-year benefits.

Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Fixtures and fittings

-

20% on reducing balance

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charitable company's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

2.	DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

2025

2024

£

£

Donations

2,943

2,895

Memberships

59,168

49,528

Work and Retrain As a Gardener (WRAG Scheme) Fees

83,960

80,240

146,071

132,663

3.	OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES

2025

2024

£

£

Other income

1,464

3,778

4.	INVESTMENT INCOME

2025

2024

£

£

Dividends

1,514

1,669

Other fixed asset invest - FII

634

38

Deposit account interest

2,649

4,971

4,797

6,678

5.	RAISING FUNDS

Investment management costs

2025

2024

£

£

Portfolio management

350

69

6.	NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

2025

2024

£

£

Depreciation - owned assets

968

968

7.	TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31st December 2025 nor for the year ended 31st December 2024.

Trustees' expenses

2025

2024

£

£

Trustees' expenses

599

2,613

8.	STAFF COSTS

2025

2024

£

£

Wages and salaries

72,323

50,028

Other pension costs

1,575

1,068

73,898

51,096

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:

2025

2024

Office

4

3

No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.

9.	2024 COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

funds

funds

funds

£

£

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

132,663

-

132,663

Charitable activities

Charity running costs

28,096

-

28,096

Christine Ladley Fund

-

3,650

3,650

National Garden Scheme

-

(2,100

)

(2,100

)

Other

-

7,500

7,500

Other trading activities

3,778

-

3,778

Investment income

6,678

-

6,678

Other income

9,445

2,875

12,320

Total

180,660

11,925

192,585

EXPENDITURE ON

Raising funds

70

-

70

Charitable activities

Events

9,116

-

9,116

Garden and Trainee coordination

76,841

-

76,841

Marketing and communication

19,236

-

19,236

Charity running costs

76,567

-

76,567

Christine Ladley Fund

-

6,075

6,075

National Garden Scheme

-

58,181

58,181

Stanley Smith Fund

-

3,694

3,694

Other

-

801

801

Other

968

-

968

Total

182,798

68,751

251,549

Net gains on investments

3,600

-

3,600

NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

1,462

(56,826

)

(55,364

)

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

229,782

86,633

316,415

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

231,244

29,807

261,051

10.	TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Fixtures

and

fittings

£

COST

At 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025

13,679

DEPRECIATION

At 1st January 2025

12,609

Charge for year

968

At 31st December 2025

13,577

NET BOOK VALUE

At 31st December 2025

102

At 31st December 2024

1,070

11.	FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

Listed

Investment

investments

cash

Totals

£

£

£

MARKET VALUE

At 1st January 2025

60,986

1,170

62,156

Additions

67,486

67,955

135,441

Disposals

(66,772

)

(67,135

)

(133,907

)

Revaluations

4,524

-

4,524

At 31st December 2025

66,224

1,990

68,214

NET BOOK VALUE

At 31st December 2025

66,224

1,990

68,214

At 31st December 2024

60,986

1,170

62,156

There were no investment assets outside the UK.

Cost or valuation at 31st December 2025 is represented by:

Listed

Investment

investments

cash

Totals

£

£

£

Valuation in 2025

66,224

-

66,224

Cost

-

1,990

1,990

66,224

1,990

68,214

Fixed Assets Investments refer to a sum of cash reserves that the charity holds in an equities portfolio with medium risk profile, managed by Quilter Cheviot during 2025 and since 2011.

12.	DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2025

2024

£

£

Trade debtors

2,725

-

Prepayments and accrued income

22,097

21,550

Prepayments

458

-

25,280

21,550

13.	CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2025

2024

£

£

Bank loans and overdrafts (see note 14)

631

-

Trade creditors

7,885

6,694

Social security and other taxes

801

464

Pension Fund

306

208

Net wages control

159

-

Accruals and deferred income

12,550

130

Accrued expenses

1,602

4,004

23,934

11,500

14.

LOANS

An analysis of the maturity of loans is given below:

2025

2024

£

£

Amounts falling due within one year on demand:

Bank overdrafts

631

-

15.	MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net

movement

At

At 1/1/25

in funds

31/12/25

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

213,895

(38,596

)

175,299

Revaluation Reserve

17,349

(12,825

)

4,524

231,244

(51,421

)

179,823

Restricted funds

Christine Ladley Fund

2,431

1,100

3,531

Fairlight Hall

486

-

486

National Garden Scheme

15,748

(9,341

)

6,407

George Cadbury Fund

2,568

10,000

12,568

Other funds

8,574

5,700

14,274

29,807

7,459

37,266

TOTAL FUNDS

261,051

(43,962

)

217,089

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Incoming

Resources

Gains and

Movement

resources

expended

losses

in funds

£

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

205,722

(261,403

)

17,085

(38,596

)

Revaluation Reserve

-

-

(12,825

)

(12,825

)

205,722

(261,403

)

4,260

(51,421

)

Restricted funds

Christine Ladley Fund

9,650

(8,550

)

-

1,100

National Garden Scheme

-

(9,341

)

-

(9,341

)

George Cadbury Fund

10,000

-

-

10,000

Other funds

16,500

(10,800

)

-

5,700

36,150

(28,691

)

-

7,459

TOTAL FUNDS

241,872

(290,094

)

4,260

(43,962

)