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Charity Details

 

Firsthand Lothian

SC020655Registered charity from 29 October 1992
2MB ZIP file, with green, blue and mono style logos
2MB ZIP file, with green, blue and mono style logos
Charity Information:
Address Strathmore
8b McDonald Road
Postcode EH7 4LZ
Regulatory Type Standard
Link to Companies House https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/
Object:
The Objects for which the Service is established are to promote the welfare of and to provide relief and support for disadvantaged and vulnerable families including parents and carers of children with disabilities in Edinburgh and its environs by:- (a) Providing a family support service (b) Providing a health and well-being service (c) Providing a befriending service (d) Providing any other family support services as required by families or other agencies working with families. (e) Promoting, providing and supporting volunteering opportunities for the mutual benefit of volunteers, children, parents and families (f) Providing a sitter service (g) Providing opportunities for education and training for volunteers (h) Gathering and disseminating learning (i) Engaging in any other activities which promote the aforesaid objects and are deemed by law to be charitable.
Operations:
What the charity is set up to do and how it does this:
Working with families living across the city of Edinburgh, Firsthand Lothian delivers 1:1 tailored support to children and young people with disabilities. A worker /volunteer is matched with each child/young person, meeting up together for 3 hours every week for 6 months, doing activities and exploring new places etc which help the child/ young person achieve sustainable change. Firsthand Lothian also offers 3 strands of support for parent/ carers - Health and Well being Sessions, Parent and Carers on line meetings and short term 1:1 support to help isolated parent/carers explore and access activities and places of interest locally, going with them until they are confident to attend alone and have begun to develop new networks of support of their own.
Charity Status: Active
Constitutional Form: Company (the charity is registered with Companies House)
Constitutional Form Date: 29 Oct 1992
Main Operating Location: City of Edinburgh
Number of Staff: 12
Number of Charity Trustees: 5
Number of Volunteers: 1-50
Purposes: "the relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage"
Beneficiaries: "Children or young people", "People with disabilities or health problems", "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 2021 £191,242 £156,767 06 Sept 2021 Yes
31 Mar 2022 £101,270 £160,746 23 Aug 2022 Yes
31 Mar 2023 £205,177 £155,697 22 Jun 2023 Yes
31 Mar 2024 £164,917 £168,616 19 Jun 2024 Yes
31 Mar 2025 £200,948 £161,264 01 Jul 2025 Yes Published accounts can be found on the Companies House website
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
Sian Aitken
Debbie MacAulay
Maiken Thomsen
Shona Campbell
Anne Hamilton
Susan Robertson Robertson
*OSCR is required by law to publish the names of a charity’s trustees and its principal office address as part of the charity’s Scottish Charity Register entry. They are also required to publish the annual report and accounts for each charity, including the names of some individuals. The only exceptions to this are where a charity or one of its trustees applies for this information to be excluded from the Register entry and where OSCR is satisfied that if it were published then the safety or security of a person or premises would be jeopardised.
Copyright

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.

© Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator 2006. Crown Database Right 2006.

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.

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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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