Charity Commission Register Flags Hartlepool Councillor Charity's First Set Of Financial Accounts...
Financial Accounts for a Hartlepool Housing Charity Headed by a Reform Town Councillor Leaves Key Accounting Questions Unanswered....
10th November 2026
The Charity Commission’s register has marked the first set of financial accounts for a Hartlepool housing charity as qualified, meaning the auditor or independent examiner has expressed reservations or concerns about parts of the financial statements rather than giving the charity a clean bill of health.
Precision Acres CIC, filed its accounts for the year to the 31st March 2026 on time, however, the public copy of the accounts seen by the Teesside & Durham Post contain no independent examiner’s or auditor’s report to explain why the accounts were flagged as a concern.
What the accounts show
Precision Acres, which is vying for Grant Funding from Hartlepool Borough Council reported £25,560 in income and £20,859 in expenditure. Its income was said to have been above the £25,000 threshold for independent examination that applied to the financial year it reported.
The accountants say they compiled the figures from the records and information supplied to them, with the public filing leaving open as to whether an independent examination of the financial accounts actually took place and, if so, where the report has seemingly gone ?
The accounts for the charity also show £4,701 in cash and net assets, but only £4,656 in total charity funds at the end of the year. The £45 difference reportedly matches an entry described as an “account top up”, which appears in total income but drops out of the year-end funds reconciliation, with the discrepancy failing to give any indication as to whether this led to the qualification marker being added to the charities accounts. .
Council register lists Reform Councillor Mike Young as a volunteer, despite him listed as a 'Trustee' of the charity...
Reform UK councillor Mike Young, Hartlepool Borough Council’s deputy leader is listed by the Charity Commission as a 'trustee' as from the 5th October 2026, with his appointment coming just four days before the accounts were filed and more than a month after they were approved in August, however a number of sources claim the Councillor & 'Freemason' has been heavily involved in the charities operations since it was set up back in April 2025.
A recent report by a local newspaper states The charity was set up by Open Jar Tribute Festival organiser Joe Franks and deputy leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, Councillor Mike Young, confirming the sources claims.
The declaration from Young’s council profile dated 30th June 2026 records his involvement supposedly as “Precision Acres CIO – Volunteer”, predating his official trustee appointment, with the council’s code requiring councillors to notify the monitoring officer within 28 days of becoming aware of a new interest or a change to a registered one, with the published form failing to show whether Young has since submitted an update.
Co-founder’s former business went into liquidation Owing substantial sums to its creditors..
Cllr Mike Young reportedly helped set up Precision Acres with Open Jar Tribute Festival organiser Joseph Franks after they saw former colleagues struggling to find somewhere to live.
Franks was formally fhe director of the Hartlepool Company Eskimo Joe’s (Hartlepool) Ltd when the company went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on the 2nd May 2024.
Its statement of affairs, signed by Franks, estimated a £116,643 shortfall to creditors, including £111,122 in unsecured claims.
The liquidators’ May 2025 progress report recorded that Franks then entered an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) on the 4th April 2025. After an investigation raised concerns over the way franks had been running the business.
Liquidators then reportedly submitted a claim to his IVA for the company’s creditor shortfall, however its claimed liquidators ultimately recovered no money.
The final report records a separate personal payment of £4,000 plus VAT which Franks paid under a guarantee covering the liquidators’ costs before their appointment. The wider creditor shortfall was the subject of the claim submitted to the IVA.
Despite the concerns over the charities financial accounts, Precision Acres claims it works with local councils and other agencies to arrange accommodation and support for people facing homelessness, domestic abuse and other housing crises across Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Durham.
Speaking in October, Franks said referrals to Precision Acres had risen in recent months. The charity works with Hartlepool-based LilyAnne’s Wellbeing to give residents access to counselling and other mental health support.
However, the charity LilyAnne’s Wellbeing is itself in the middle of a controversy following claims its disputing a loan given to if from Hartlepool Charity the Wharton Trust which claims it made to the former LilyAnne’s CIC, a business which was dissolved in November 2024.
The Wharton Trust’s 2024 accounts recorded a £30,000 loan and £10,000 made in repayments. Its 2025 accounts were later reported as showing £35,000 advanced and £15,000 repaid. Both sets of figures left a £20,000 balance, which the Trust says it wrote off after efforts to recover the money failed.
LilyAnne’s Wellbeing says neither the charity nor the former CIC received a loan from the Trust.
Cllr Young’s business interests however, drew considerable scrutiny when he controversially joined Reform UK back in August 2025. The Teesside & Durham Post reported at the time that he'd been linked to a number of failed businesses, including the collapsed business Eskimo Joe’s where he reportedly operated as 'a financial consultant'. Companies House records also show that the business 'Music on Demand Ltd' was voluntarily struck off in 2017 while Young was still listed as a director. He'd already resigned from Pulse Technologies NE Ltd and Commercial Leisure Management Ltd when the former was voluntarily struck off in 2020 and the latter was compulsorily struck off in 2023 as well as politicial controversies surrounding the nuclear waste scandal back in 2021, which led to him having to stand down as deputy leader of Hartlepool Borough Council.
