Charity Details

Birthlink

SC013007Registered charity from 26 May 1982

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Charity Information:

Address 21 Castle Street
Edinburgh

Postcode EH2 3DN

Website https://birthlink.org.uk/

Regulatory Type Standard

Link to Companies House https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/

Object:

(a) The company is established for charitable purposes only; and the expression charitable purposes shall mean charitable purposes under section 7 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 which are also regarded as charitable purposes in relation to the applications of the Taxes Acts . (b) In particular, the company is established for the following purposes: (i) to provide to people affected by adoption in Scotland and to people who have been looked after by local authorities in Scotland services designed to eliminate or alleviate disadvantages (such as ill-health and absence of well-being, particularly of a psychological nature; feelings of guilt, loss and grief; identity problems; discrimination; impaired life chances; impaired or lack of access to information relating to genetic inheritance and relevant medical history; separation from birth relatives; lack of information relating to birth relatives; and difficulties arising in relation to making contact with birth relatives and building and maintaining relationships) suffered by such people as a consequence of having been affected by adoption or having been looked after by local authorities in Scotland; (ii) to enhance the well-being and promote the welfare of all people affected by adoption in Scotland; (iii) to enhance the well-being and promote the welfare of people who have been looked after by local authorities in Scotland; (iv) to provide support and assistance to people affected by adoption in Scotland to enable them to secure the performance by public authorities of statutory duties owed to them; (v) to provide support and assistance to people who have been looked after by local authorities in Scotland to enable them to secure the performance by public authorities of statutory duties owed to them;

Operations:

What the charity is set up to do and how it does this:

Birthlink exists to support adults with experience of Adoption and Care. It owns and operates the the national Adoption Contact Register where adopted people and birth parents can register and when a match is made provides all support and mediation to the service users including facilitating reunion meetings. Birthlink supports adults with experience of care, helping individuals access and make sense of their care records and providing support throughout the process.

Charity Status: Active

Constitutional Form: Company (the charity is registered with Companies House)

Constitutional Form Date: 26 May 1982

Main Operating Location: City of Edinburgh

Number of Staff: 26

Number of Volunteers: 1-50

Purposes: "the advancement of health", "the relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage"

Beneficiaries: "Other defined groups"

Types Of Activity Undertaken: "It carries out activities or services itself"

Annual Submissions:

Year End	Income	Expenditure	Annual Return Received	Accounts Received	Latest Annual Reports and Accounts
31 Mar 2022	£422,261	£356,692	08 Dec 2022	Yes
31 Mar 2023	£647,118	£671,796	31 Dec 2023	Yes
31 Mar 2024	£733,416	£780,610	23 Dec 2024	Yes
31 Mar 2025	£594,467	£868,037	23 Dec 2025	Yes	Published accounts can be found on the Companies House website
31 Mar 2026			No	Annual Information due by 31 Dec 2026
If an annual return has been received on time (within nine months of the Year End Date), the 'Annual Return Received' box is green . If an annual return is late, the box is red .

Income and Expenditure:

Charity Trustees:

First Name	Last Name
No charity trustee information available
From 09 March 2026, OSCR is required by law to publish the names of a charity’s trustees as part of its Scottish Charity Register entry. We are also required to publish each charity’s annual report and accounts as received from this date, which may include the names of certain individuals. The only exceptions to publication are where a charity or one of its charity trustees applies for this information to be excluded, and OSCR is satisfied that publishing it would jeopardise the safety or security of a person or premises. If the charity trustee information on a Register entry appears blank, this may mean that an exemption applies or that the charity has not yet provided the required details to OSCR. Supplying this information will become mandatory as part of future annual submissions.

First Name

Last Name

No charity trustee information available

From 09 March 2026, OSCR is required by law to publish the names of a charity’s trustees as part of its Scottish Charity Register entry. We are also required to publish each charity’s annual report and accounts as received from this date, which may include the names of certain individuals. The only exceptions to publication are where a charity or one of its charity trustees applies for this information to be excluded, and OSCR is satisfied that publishing it would jeopardise the safety or security of a person or premises.

If the charity trustee information on a Register entry appears blank, this may mean that an exemption applies or that the charity has not yet provided the required details to OSCR. Supplying this information will become mandatory as part of future annual submissions.

From 30 June 2025, OSCR began collecting charity trustee information through OSCR Online. Providing this information is a legal requirement for all charities. The names of trustees will be published on the Scottish Charity Register from early 2026 to promote transparency and strengthen public trust in the sector.

The Scottish Charity Register ("The Register") is subject to Crown database right.

The Scottish Charity Register is licenced under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

When you use this information under the OGL, you should include the following attribution: © Crown Copyright and database right 2020. Contains information from the Scottish Charity Register supplied by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.

Charity accounts and constitution – what information do we publish?

The Scottish Charity Register contains key information about a charity’s operations and finances. This includes:

the names of a charity’s trustees (exemptions apply)
its annual report and full accounts, if submitted after 9 March 2026
(Accounts submitted prior to 9 March 2026 will be redacted, or may not be published, depending on the charity’s income level or legal form.)

These changes are designed to improve transparency across the charity sector in Scotland.

Please note that we accept no responsibility for the functionality, accuracy, or content of external websites. If you experience a technical issue with an external link, you should contact the charity directly.

Under section 23(1)(a) and (b) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, you have the right to request the following information directly from the charity:

a copy of the charity’s latest statement of accounts
a copy of the charity’s constitution

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