Open Awards

Analysis

Open Awards is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Liverpool. It was registered in April 2006, 20 years ago. Its declared purposes cover education/training, which this site groups under education and training. Legally it is a charitable company (Companies House number 05462874). It says it provides services and provides advocacy/advice/information.

In the financial year ending July 2025, Open Awards reported income of £2.7m and spending of £2.7m, spending 98% of its income. Across the 5 years on record, from July 2021 to July 2025, income fell from £2.9m to £2.7m (-5.4%), an average of -1.4% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to July 2024, when income rose by 27%. Over the whole period it spent 89% of the income it received.

Among 21,402 England and Wales charities whose main cause is education and training and that reported income, Open Awards sits at the 96th percentile: it is larger than about 96% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 97th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include Prifysgol Cymru / the University of Wales (£2.7m), Libraries Connected (£2.7m) and Sunderland Engineering Training Association Limited (£2.7m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 87%, trading 8.5% and investments 4.5%. Charitable activities took 90% of spending and raising funds 9.1%. Grants to other organisations totalled £5,000. Reserves of £2.8m would cover about 12 months of spending at that rate. It employed 45 people.