WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
Promote adult and general education by stimulating and responding to the demand for liberal education, providing for the needs of working class adults and of those who are socially, economically or educationally disadvantaged, providing educational programmes in the community and in the workplace, furthering the advancement of education for all and promoting the effectiveness of similar charities.
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 July 2024
Total income:
£32,705,088
Donations and legacies | £39.30k | |
Charitable activities | £30.89m | |
Other trading activities | £0 | |
Investments | £1.73m | |
Other | £47.96k |
Total expenditure:
£28,746,513
Raising funds | £0 | |
Charitable activities | £27.47m | |
Other | £1.27m |
£0 investments gains (losses)
Total income includes £15,359,609 from 40 government contract(s) and £14,638,439 from 25 government grant(s)
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure with investment gains
Charitable expenditure
Some charities generate all, or a substantial part, of their income from investments which may have been donated to the charity as endowment or set aside by the charity from its own resources in the past. Such investments usually take the form of stocks and shares but may include other assets, such as property, that are capable of generating income and/or capital growth.
In managing their spending and investments charities need to strike a balance between the needs of future and current beneficiaries. They also need to take account of spending commitments that may stretch over a number of future years. To do this, charities will normally adopt an investment strategy designed to generate both income and capital growth. To maximise returns trustees may commit to investment strategies for several years.
Investments can experience large swings in value so trustees may, in a particular year, decide to realise and spend part of their charity’s capital or to invest part of its income.
By clicking the investment gains checkbox the charitable spending bar is adjusted to take account of capital growth as well as income. This shows the balance the charity is striking, between spending on current beneficiaries and retaining resources for future beneficiaries.
Raising funds and other expenditure | £1.27m | |
Charitable expenditure | £27.47m | |
Retained for future use | £3.96m |
People

736 Employee(s)
12 Trustee(s)
750 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
Number of employees | |
---|---|
£60k to £70k | 13 |
£70k to £80k | 7 |
£80k to £90k | 5 |
£90k to £100k | 4 |
£110k to £120k | 1 |
£140k to £150k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Education/training
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- Disability
- The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
- Economic/community Development/employment
- Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity
- Children/young People
- Elderly/old People
- People With Disabilities
- People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin
- The General Public/mankind
- Makes Grants To Individuals
- Makes Grants To Organisations
- Provides Human Resources
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
- Provides Services
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Other Charitable Activities
- Throughout England
- Scotland
Governance
- 20 January 2006: Standard registration
- 01 March 2023: Funds received from 1112281 WILLIAM ALDERSON MEMORIAL TRUST FUND
- WEA (Working name)
- Ofsted (Office For Standards In Education)
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Financial reserves policy and procedures
- Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
- Internal risk management policy and procedures
- Investing charity funds policy and procedures
- Investment
- Paying staff
- Risk management
- Safeguarding policy and procedures
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
- Social media policy and procedures
- Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
- Trustee expenses policy and procedures
- Volunteer management
Trustees
Trustees are the people responsible for controlling the work, management and administration of the charity on behalf of its beneficiaries. Generally trustees are treasurer, chair, board member etc. The trustees are responsible for keeping this list up to date and can do this by updating their details as they happen through the online service
12 Trustee(s)
Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
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John Widdowson | Chair | 18 July 2018 |
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Matthew Pointon | Trustee | 01 August 2024 |
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Ronald Marks | Trustee | 01 August 2024 |
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Jamey Johnson | Trustee | 01 November 2023 |
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Stephanie Mason | Trustee | 01 November 2023 |
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Catherine Armor | Trustee | 01 November 2023 |
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Tracey Irving Craib | Trustee | 01 November 2023 |
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Kevin Michael Doyle | Trustee | 01 October 2022 |
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Malcolm Robert Grady | Trustee | 18 July 2022 |
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Christine Grant | Trustee | 14 July 2022 |
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Geoffrey Mark Layer | Trustee | 18 July 2019 |
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Robin Cook | Trustee | 18 July 2018 |
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Financial history
Financial period end date
Income / Expenditure | 31/07/2020 | 31/07/2021 | 31/07/2022 | 31/07/2023 | 31/07/2024 | ||
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Total gross income | £28.84m | £30.31m | £28.49m | £27.48m | £32.71m | |
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Total expenditure | £27.88m | £25.46m | £27.66m | £26.12m | £28.75m | |
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Income from government contracts | £5.23m | £3.80m | £3.62m | £4.50m | £15.36m | |
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Income from government grants | £20.48m | £24.49m | £20.26m | £18.25m | £14.64m | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £97.32k | £78.00k | £48.00k | £189.00k | £39.30k | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £1.13k | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £27.78m | £29.66m | £27.56m | £25.54m | £30.89m | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £954.44k | £552.00k | £13.00k | £1.34m | £1.73m | |
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Income - Other | £13.89k | £17.00k | £870.00k | £399.00k | £47.96k | |
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Income - Legacies | £2.00k | £500 | £2.00k | £149.76k | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £27.02m | £24.92m | £27.01m | £25.03m | £27.47m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £214.52k | £231.00k | £278.00k | £353.00k | £354.28k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £3.36m | £3.71m | £1.93m | £1.79m | £2.05m | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Other | £864.00k | £538.00k | £650.00k | £1.09m | £1.27m |
Assets and liabilities
Definitions for assets and liabilities
These are assets, other than investments, which are held for more than 12 months and used to run and administer the charity such as buildings, offices, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Long term InvestmentsInvestments are assets held by the charity with the sole aim of generating income which will be used for their charitable purposes such as deposit accounts, shares, rental property and unit trusts.
Investment assets are re-valued every year and included in the balance sheet at their current market value.
Long term investments are held for more than 12 months.
These are assets held generally for less than 12 months such as cash and bank balances, debtors, investments to be sold within the coming year and trading stock.
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liabilityThis is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.
Total liabilitiesThese are all the amounts owed by the charity at the balance sheet date to third parties such as bills due but not yet paid, bank overdrafts and loans and mortgages.
Asset / Liability | 31/07/2020 | 31/07/2021 | 31/07/2022 | 31/07/2023 | 31/07/2024 | ||
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Own use assets | £4.42m | £4.56m | £4.49m | £5.28m | £8.81m | |
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Long-term investments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Other assets | £8.10m | £11.86m | £12.34m | £14.68m | £15.94m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Total liabilities | £3.42m | £2.82m | £2.83m | £5.06m | £6.29m |
Accounts and annual returns
Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
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Annual return | 31 July 2024 | 05 March 2025 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 July 2024 | 05 March 2025 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 July 2023 | 31 January 2024 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 July 2023 | 31 January 2024 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 July 2022 | 27 January 2023 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 July 2022 | 27 January 2023 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 July 2021 | 11 February 2022 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 July 2021 | 11 February 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 July 2020 | 22 January 2021 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 July 2020 | 24 May 2021 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Governing document
It is not the full text of the charity's governing document.
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 05 APR 1993 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 19 DEC 2005 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 19 JAN 2006 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 06 MAR 2006 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 02 MAY 2007 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 19 DEC 2012 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 14 DEC 2017 as amended on 10 Jan 2023 as amended on 11 Jul 2024 as amended on 11 Jul 2024
Charitable objects
THE OBJECT OF THE ASSOCIATION IS TO PROMOTE ADULT AND GENERAL EDUCATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY REGIONALLY, NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY BASED ON DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES IN ITS ORGANISATION AND PRACTICE, THROUGH THE PARTICIPATION OF ITS VOLUNTARY MEMBERS. 3.1 STIMULATING AND RESPONDING TO THE DEMAND FOR LIBERAL EDUCATION, THROUGH THE DIRECT PROVISION OF COURSES AND OTHER ACTIVITIES; 3.2 RELIEVING POVERTY AND PROVIDING FOR THE NEEDS OF WORKING CLASS PEOPLE AND OF THOSE WHO ARE SOCIALLY, ECONOMICALLY OR EDUCATIONALLY DISADVANTAGED AND IN PARTICULAR ( BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION) BY PROVIDING EDUCATION AND TEACHING SKILLS FOR EMPLOYMENT, VOLUNTARY WORK AND SOCIAL INCLUSION ( DEFINED AS PROMOTING EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, MULTI-CULTURAL AWARENESS, HUMAN RIGHTS AS SET OUT IN THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SUBSEQUENT INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS, PARTICIPATION IN CIVIL SOCIETY INCLUDING VOLUNTEERING, SELF-DEVELOPMENT AMONG THE DISADVANTAGED, LITERACY, NUMERACY AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED AND THOSE AT RISK OF UNEMPLOYMENT, ALL TOWARDS SUPPORTING THE DISADVANTAGED OF ALL AGES AND ENABLING IMPROVEMENT IN THEIR EDUCATION STANDARDS, LEVELS OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT AND GENERAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING); 3.3 PROVIDING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES FOR APPROPRIATE ORGANISATIONS CONCERNED WITH COLLECTIVE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN THE COMMUNITY AND IN THE WORKPLACE; 3.4 GENERALLY FURTHERING THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION TO THE END THAT ALL PEOPLE IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD MAY HAVE FULL ACCESS TO THE EDUCATION NEEDED FOR THEIR COMPLETE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT; 3.5 PROMOTING THE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CHARITIES WITH SIMILAR PURPOSES AND THE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE APPLICATION OF RESOURCES FOR SUCH PURPOSES, IN PARTICULAR BY PROMOTING AND DISSEMINATING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES AND MODELS OF ACTIVITY, PROJECTS OR GOOD PRACTICE DEVELOPED OR CARRIED OUT BY THE ASSOCIATION NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY IN ANY APPROPRIATE FORM OR FORMAT, AND BY THE DELIVERY OF SUPPORT SERVICES GENERALLY TO SUCH CHARITIES.
Area of benefit
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.
Contact information
- Address:
-
WEA CORPORATE SERVICES
4 LUKE STREET
LONDON
EC2A 4XW
- Phone:
- 02074263485
- Email:
- national@wea.org.uk
- Website:
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