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2021-03-31-accounts

Annual report and accounts 2020/2021

We Are With You Annual Report 2020/2021 | 1

Everyone should feel comfortable getting the support they need for issues with drugs, alcohol or mental health.

We work with people on their own goals, whether that’s staying safe and healthy, making small changes or stopping an unwanted habit altogether. We give people support in a way that’s right for them either face to face, in their local service, community or online.

We provide a free and confidential service without judgement to more than 100,000 people a year.

We use our expertise to improve the help available and raise awareness around drugs, alcohol and mental health so that more people can get support.

We Are With You.

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contents

Section 1: Our strategy 16
Section 2: Service delivery 32
Section 3: Financial review 42
Section 4: Infrastructure, governance and management 46
Section 5: Reference and administrative details 60
Section 6: Financial statements 70

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Our impact through 2020/21

It’s certainly been a year like no other for We Are With You. This report covers an unprecedented period in global, national and organisational history - as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted upon every single aspect of our lives. As with every person and organisation we’ve had to evolve quickly to ensure through various degrees of lockdowns we were able to continue to meet and serve the needs of the people we support.

even bikes for young people together with socially distanced Walks with You when allowed, combined to actively support and engage with our service users.

Our hybrid working models with additional virtual delivery ensured we were able to provide extra resources to reach out to our service users and especially, engage with the most vulnerable through the pandemic. Visits to our refreshed website and use of our Webchat services soared over the last year, ensuring help and advice were available to support more people.

While face to face interactions were at times difficult, we can very proudly state we ensured all of our services remained open and accessible. Following government guidance, social distancing measures and using appropriate PPE enabled continued support and engagement wherever appropriate and possible.

We’ve ensured we have continued to learn, adapt and evaluate our overall approach and the support we provided with regular service user and staff surveys. These have helped us to stay on the right track.

Being able to rapidly adapt our service offering was a big positive and we tailored and led our approach in a variety of different ways. Expansion of our outreach teams, providing service users with phones and data to encourage virtual and telephone sessions, food parcels and moving to actual cooked food deliveries, activity packs,

We worked with 59,546 adults in England and Scotland to overcome issues with drugs and alcohol

Pandemic impacted - 167 volunteers gave more than 2,789 hours to support our work and role model recovery.

12,201 people began treatment with us in our mental health programme

133 young people completed our Mind and Body self harm and wellbeing programme.

Blackpool Fulfilling lives - 7 year community programme, over 1200 people helped, 529 regularly engaged

Launched our national Find a needle exchange covering all providers

We supported 5,233 young people aged 11-24 with drug, alcohol and mental health issues.

We received £4.8m in grants and donations from supporters, donors and trusts and foundations

23,000 people chatted with a trained advisor on our award winning webchat service, a 41% increase.

346,624 people visited our information and advice website

Our Walk With You staff fundraising campaign - over 16,198 COVID-19 safe miles walked

We started treatment with 474 people in prisons to address drug issues and reintegrate into communities.

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Supporting young people with mental health issues

By Sophie Beer, Service Manager at We Are With You at Mind and Body

Schools are our main way of contacting the young people we work with, so since the pandemic began we’ve had to adapt. We’ve worked more closely with the community, through GPs, social services and directly with families, to find young people who may need support.

It’s hard to imagine what life must be like for young people right now. While it’s too soon to say what the long term mental health effects of the period will have on our young people, it’s fair to say it’s been a tough period.

I manage We Are With You’s Mind and Body programme in Kent. We provide early intervention for young people aged 13 to 17 who are engaged in or vulnerable to self harming behaviours. We deliver the programme in schools, in communities and with families.

We also knew we had to change the way we delivered our programme. I’m proud to say that we were quickly able to get our whole programme running remotely, continuing to offer the usual range of group work, one to one meetings, family work and support for parents and carers.

I’ve seen first hand how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of the vulnerable young people we work with. We’ve seen a large rise in the number of young people reporting anxiety, low mood and isolation. Over the past few months more and more young people are telling us we’re the first people they’ve shared their self harm and suicidal thoughts with. Unfortunately this is also happening at a time when young people can’t have regular face to face contact with the professionals in their lives.

When we asked our young people what they thought about our remote services, the overwhelming feedback was that while they preferred face to face, remote calls were the next best thing and they were really thankful for the contact.

As the impacts of the pandemic continue, we expect to see a lasting increase in demand for this kind of support for young people. Mental health support, particularly early intervention around self harm, is needed now more than ever. of support for young people.

I’ve seen first hand how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of the vulnerable young people we work with.”

Making CBT more accessible

By Noelia Moronta-Jacobs, CBT Therapist at We Are With You in Kent

I first began using live chat to deliver Cognitive Behavioural Therapy sessions not long after the first COVID-19 lockdown. Finding myself suddenly working from home, with two young children in tow, was a tricky situation. Many of the people we support had also found themselves with very little privacy to talk openly and accessing psychological therapy was no longer quite as straightforward as it had been.

People have told me they’ve found it easier to be ‘honest’ online, and have therefore been able to get more out of therapy in this way.”

Live chat is the platform we use to deliver online instant messaging sessions. This was something we’d considered offering for a while as we wanted to expand how we support people and offer a varied range of options. With the COVID-19 lockdown, this was fast-tracked, to help continue to improve access to psychological therapies while traditional support was less accessible but more needed than ever.

Practicing CBT via live chat has been an enjoyable learning curve for me. I was pleasantly surprised and reassured at being able to continue to build and maintain a positive therapeutic alliance in this format, along with all of the other important aspects of a typical CBT session. Some of the people we’ve supported have told me they’ve found it easier to be ‘honest’ online, and have therefore been able to get more out of therapy for themselves in this way.

offering live chat, and we’re particularly offering this medium to people who need low intensity, CBT and counselling.

As we enter a new phase of COVID-19, Live Chat remains a positive way to access therapy, for a number of reasons. Besides offering privacy, it’s also been really helpful for those with hearing or other disabilities, or those who just otherwise would not have accessed therapy at all due to finding it too daunting to speak on the phone to someone. More and more of my colleagues are

COVID-19 has been really difficult both personally and professionally, and I’ve seen the huge impact it has had on the people we support. But I’m really glad that we were able to face this unprecedented and difficult period and find the opportunity to explore a new way of working that we can take forward into our regular practice.

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A message from the Chair of Trustees

Drug, alcohol and mental health support has never been more needed.

Drug-related deaths continue to rise year-onyear across both England and Scotland, showing that drug, alcohol and mental health support has never been more needed. The last year has been dominated by the impact of the pandemic. I express my overwhelming admiration and thanks to our colleagues, staff and volunteers, who have ensured we continue to deliver our services in extraordinary circumstances at a time of increasing need.

We welcome the recent publication of the Government’s Drugs Strategy, following Dame Carol Black’s independent report of substance misuse treatment services, which demonstrated the impact of significant and sustained cuts to service provision. Her report stands as testament to the work of staff at the front line and those with lived experience who support our services. The report is a cogent, evidence based and compelling review with a considered series of recommendations as to how the Government and our sector must significantly improve prevention, treatment and recovery provision for those with drug problems. We are glad that these recommendations are now being acted upon; and

we look forward to seeing how the Drugs Strategy will improve services in practice.

During the challenges experienced throughout the pandemic we’ve led by change and adaptation, and adjusted well. However, the impact of the pandemic has accelerated some parts of our change agenda but limited others. We have much more to do, and will not be complacent.

It is clear that during the pandemic drug and alcohol habits have changed, creating new challenges for the future. Awareness of mental health needs is increasing, but the impact of the last year on young people is still too early to fully determine. There will be related challenges ahead. We note carefully that trauma-informed approaches and care will become increasingly important in our strategy and approach.

In broad terms, we know the sector struggles to build on access, engagement and inclusivity, with women and minority groups particularly being underrepresented. Access to services can be limited, stigmatising and difficult; outcomes are variable; and success metrics don’t always match achievements. These are all areas we can continue

to work towards improving and our rebrand was designed specifically to help reduce stigma and improve accessibility.

Our focus over the next year needs to be absolutely on the front line of our services - our staff and volunteers remain our single most valuable asset.

I express my personal thanks to our volunteer Trustees, who have contributed substantial time, energy and expertise to ensure effective and robust governance of the charity this year.

My sincere thanks and appreciation go to all who are part of With You.

Alex Carlile Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE QC Chair of Trustees

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A message from the Chief Executive

It’s an understatement to say this has been a difficult year.

It perhaps is an understatement to say this has been a difficult year, but even through the external challenges faced, we have come together collectively as an organisation to adapt and change and continue to work with people who need our support.

Our principles and teamwork have stood us in good stead. The staff team has been magnificent. We have stayed in touch with the people that need us, supporting them to create a better future for themselves. I feel hugely encouraged to be able to reflect so positively on the great resilience of our staff, volunteers and the people we support.

For myself joining an organisation a few days after lockdown started was the strangest of experiences. And until lockdown ended, I had only met one work colleague in the flesh. Yet the character of this charity shines through. The passion our team have, the going the extra mile and the care and compassion and actually the fun too, come across even through the initiallystrange medium of a 2D screen.

We have all learnt new skills and mastered changing technologies. More than half of the people we help have been able to engage using web-based channels. We have stayed in contact with the rest using in-person contact, phone calls and texts. Some of our services, like outreach, prison and residential services, have remained inperson all the way through the pandemic and our teams have learned to keep themselves and our service users safe using appropriate locations and PPE.

As we move into the final year of our 3-year strategy, the impact of the pandemic has shown in sharper relief what is faced by our communities. The risks are rising of building problems within addiction, substance misuse and mental health. Our strategic aims remain relevant. We aim to:

Limited travel has changed massively how we reach out and make contact, and during the pandemic we have been providing;

We were extremely honoured to be awarded Investors in People Gold award in 2021, This was a hugely positive achievement and a reflection of our work to support our staff through the pandemic.

For staff we launched our internal online Currents platform to everyone at We Are With You, so that staff feel part of one organisation and are clear on who we are.

Finally in terms of our finances, after last year’s consolidation year we have continued to build resilience. We have taken advantage of changes in our spend patterns to focus on investment into learning and development and our IT infrastructure, to ensure we are well placed to continue to improve and adapt to changing needs and provide very good value to the commissioners that ask us to run their services.

We arranged additional wellbeing activities to support staff – such as ‘wobble groups’ and coffee catch ups – to ensure we all stayed connected and have organised virtual site visits for our Trustees.

Staff have even found time to walk and raise money with our Walk With You fundraiser and we have encouraged Walk With You to provide 1-2-1 support to service users. On this month-long staff challenge we covered over 16,198 miles – walking, running, cycling and swimming – with funds raised being invested directly back into services.

We now look to the future development of our services, taking account of the factors raised from the Government’s Drugs Strategy and building on our own significant subject matter expertise in the sector.

This has been a challenging year but our staff, volunteers and the people we support have all stepped up to the challenge and we’ve collectively emerged stronger from the experience. Our commitment to radically improve the chances of getting better for those that need our services remains strong and I look forward to building on our achievements in the year ahead.

On top of this, our staff have continued to raise awareness in their communities and teams and we have seen successful fundraising challenges of double back-to-back walking marathons, cycling virtual volcanos and all-year-round freshwater and sea swimming. Most definitely a case of being more active We Are With You.

We held our first virtual all-staff conference, made up of 60 sessions over three days where staff could mix and match attendance. The focus was Wellbeing and Connection with over 1,000 people joining the event. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we will be developing this format for Belinda Phipps more regular events. Interim Chief Executive

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Keeping a human connection in our work without face to face support

By Tracy Morrice, Service Manager at We Are With You in North East Glasgow

Positive relationships are an important part of recovery from drug and alcohol issues. We work hard to help people build these relationships whether that’s between our staff and people looking for support or between the people who access our services.

In normal times both our hubs in Scotland are buzzing. There’s always something going on that people can get involved in. But when the pandemic first hit, all of that changed. One person described the first lockdown as a black cloud appearing over his recovery. Everything he was doing that was good for him stopped overnight.

Through a lot of hard work from our staff and volunteers, we found a way to lift that dark cloud. We got our seven-day-a-week group programmes up and running online within 24 hours. We offered one to one sessions via phone and we added additional support wherever we could, including distributing Naloxone door to door and providing doorstep training.

The end result of this hard work is that, despite everything, we’ve maintained consistently high referrals and continued to keep people engaged with the services. We’re also seeing more people seeking support for the first time. Most people accessing our services between May and December of 2020 had never engaged with services before.

I don’t think we’ll ever take for granted the ability for someone to come into the hub, or to go round to someone’s house for a coffee and a chat. None of us realised how important those little things were until we couldn’t do them.

As we move into a new phase of the pandemic I’m endlessly impressed by how resilient people are. People who’ve never used Google or Zoom have learnt new skills and adapted to this new way of support. People have been so strong and brave in the way they’ve put themselves out there in our group sessions despite the unfamiliar online environment.

Our staff have been incredibly passionate and resilient through this time as well. They’ve become chefs cooking meals for people. They’ve become delivery drivers lifting crates of food upstairs. They’ve had to respond to an increasing number of really serious crisis calls. That’s the stuff lots of people don’t see.

Through a lot of hard work from our staff and volunteers, we found a way to lift that dark cloud.”

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Section 1 Our strategy

The pandemic has impacted upon almost all aspects of our lives. It’s made delivering services more difficult and increased risk to the people we support. Of necessity it has driven massive change in how we do things. Some of these changes had already started but the pace of change accelerated rapidly during the pandemic.

As we enter the final year of our three year strategy, the key principle underpinning the whole of our organisational approach remains improving outcomes for our service users. The pandemic has increased the use of technology in service delivery but has also placed new challenges in our path to be assessed and included in our approach for the year ahead.

Everything we’ve done in the last year has happened in the context of COVID-19. This includes how we’ve adapted and developed to ensure we’ve maintained focus on working with the people we support in unprecedented circumstances, as well as taking every measure possible to keep our staff safe. Our organisational strategy has helped shepherd us through the obstacles created by the pandemic.

To support our strategy we’re working towards three big : goals

  1. Radically improve people’s chance of getting better

  2. Help ten times more people

  3. Transform our organisation to get the best from each other

Our key goals were set to challenge and stretch us. They’ve required a significant level of organisational change in how we operate internally and externally while building on the ethos set when our organisation was established over 50 years ago, our role and remit set back in 1967 however, remains the same.

We have made significant steps forward in terms of our progress and impact and have seen growth in engagement across our different platforms. There has been 41% growth in our webchat services and significant increases in our websites traffic.

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Goal 1:

Radically improve people’s chance of getting better

If you have the courage to ask for help, you should have the best chance of getting well.

Key to this lies in improving outcomes for our service users - whatever that may be. We work with a variety of individuals including young people, adults with substance use issues, those in the criminal justice system, people needing mental health IAPT services, and users of our varied community programmes.

Our ethos is based on working with individuals to co-design their care, supporting them to set their own goals. We are increasingly aware of greater recognition of the impact of trauma and mental health both as issues in themselves and also as part of substance misuse recovery.

Our progress in 2020/21

Creating an accessible online space for people who inject drugs

By Steph Keenan, Operations Digital Contract Manager

website for this group, and this was reflected in the low number of injecting drug users accessing our webchat support.

Needle and syringe services rely on physical locations where people can pick up new equipment. While the pandemic has increased the risks to people who use drugs, it’s also led to fewer

Following our research we looked at a couple of ways to improve our needle and syringe service offering.

people visiting these services. Since March 2020, the number of people visiting services for new syringe packs went down by 50%. We flagged this as a key issue we wanted to research and address.

Over the last year we developed a needle and syringe service finder that only shows the information that people who inject drugs really need. It includes pharmacy services as well as those based in our drug and alcohol services. Anyone living in England and Scotland can now find the location of a nearby needle and syringe service with a simple postcode lookup.

Through conversations with our staff and people who access our services, we heard again and again that our non-judgmental approach is what motivates people to come back. Building relationships helps people trust the advice we give.

While many people feel confident about the advice they can get in services, we found that people who inject steroids and other image and performance enhancing drugs tend to look in other places for the information they need.

Another part of our work was creating new content which speaks to individuals who inject. The first new page we published, ‘safer injecting for steroid users’ is now our most-visited advice page.

We also discovered that there was a lack of accessible online resources for people who inject. We ourselves had limited information on our

This is just the beginning of this work. We’re excited about continuing to create a safe space online for people who inject drugs.

We heard again and again that our nonjudgmental approach is what motivates people to come back.”

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Goal 2:

Help many more people

We have to think differently if we’re going to help everyone access the support they need.

We launched our new brand just before we became aware of COVID-19. Put very simply, the key objective of our rebrand was to encourage people to get support with drugs, alcohol and mental health.

We know that, sadly, millions of people go without treatment for drugs, alcohol and mental health. For example, only 1 in 5 dependent drinkers are accessing any kind of support*. Within this, different groups such as young people and people from black and minority ethnic groups are under-represented. As another example, women make up only a quarter of the drug treatment population.

Ensuring our message and name are out there, providing different modes of access to support different cohorts and groups has been key to help us support more people.

*Source: Public Health England (2018). Public Health Dashboard.

Our progress in 2020/21

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Better supporting the LGBTQ+ community

By Ben Kaye, Young People and Family Recovery Worker and LGBTQ++ Lead at We Are With You in Bournemouth

As a group we had lots of ideas for what our offer should be. We know how important it is that our work is informed by the shared experiences of members of the community so we worked with partners who are already active in these spaces including LGBT Foundation, London Friend and Stonewall.

The first big project that’s come out of this group is expanding our webchat service to provide LGBTQ+ specific sessions with a specialist advisor.

With our digital team I also helped develop two information and advice pages for our website relevant to the community on chemsex. After publishing these pages we started to notice an increase in the number of webchats we got relating to this topic.

We want everyone to know they’re welcomed and respected in our services. But for members of the LGBTQ+ community it’s not always that simple.

Alcohol and drug use among LGBTQ+ groups is higher than the general population. We also know that across the UK there are limited programs to address culturally specific LGBTQ+ issues within health services.

This is just the start of this project and we know we have more to find out and more to do to ensure we provide better support to the community.

Setting up an LGBTQ+ recovery group in my service in Bournemouth highlighted to me why creating a safe space where LGBTQ+ people are welcomed, understood and heard is so important. Since our launch in 2018 we’ve had regular attendance and people feel they’re able to be open and vulnerable in a way they wouldn’t normally. I’ve learned that my facilitating it as a member of the LGBTQ+ community adds to its attraction.

We know how important it is that our work is informed by the shared experiences of members of the community.”

In late 2019 With You started a project to improve the organisation’s offering to LGBTQ+ people who use our services or work with us.

Supporting staff wellbeing and raising funds during a pandemic By Alexis Nielson, Individual Giving Manager

In 2020 we started running Walk With You, a fundraising and wellbeing campaign largely led by our staff and local services.

It’s motivated the team to be more aware of how active they are and now they’re challenging themselves on a daily basis.”

Our service in North Lincolnshire came up with the fundraising idea during the first pandemic lockdown: since we can’t meet face to face at the moment, let’s get out and about, at a safe social distance, in our own local areas. From there we set ourselves the goal of collectively walking the whole distance between all of our services while raising awareness and funds for the organisation.

During the event our staff, volunteers and the people we support collectively walked 16,198 COVID-19 compliant miles - over 8 times more than the original target of 2,000 miles.

When asked why they took part in the event, 77% of the participants said their mental wellbeing was their motivation.

We know from our frontline work that having strong social connections and relationships is essential for recovery from drug, alcohol and mental health issues. We also know the positive impact nature and exercise can have on mental health.

After the success of last year’s event we’re running the event again in 2021. The world is in a very different place than it was in 2020 but COVID-19 is still an omnipresent part of our lives. But even in normal times there’s always a space for looking after our own physical and mental health. I’m glad Walk With You will continue to be there to provide that boost regardless of what’s going on in the wider world.

When we developed this campaign we thought it would be a great way to help our staff stay physically and mentally well, while connecting with each other. What we didn’t anticipate was that for so many staff it was exactly what they needed during such a socially isolating and stressful time.

One participant said: “I think it has brought the team together more especially during COVID-19. It has made me feel more involved again. It’s motivated the team to be more aware of how active they are and now they’re challenging themselves on a daily basis.”

Another participant said: “it helped give me a sense of belonging.”

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Goal 3

Transform our organisation to get the best from each other

To achieve change, we need to modernise and make it easier to work together.

Improving how we work together as an organisation has been a major challenge this year with pandemic conditions. We have transformed the way we work using google and are making continuous incremental improvement, learning, both from the systems we use and the processes to allow us to connect nationally without travel.

Through the pandemic supporting our staff’s wellbeing has been paramount, ensuring more flexible working hours, provision of home working kit and equipment, appropriate PPE, and tools like Headspace to help manage day to day stress. Also providing clear guidance and updates to meet the changing conditions and government requirements as we enter and exit lockdowns

We’re creating new partnerships to work together on shared problems, trying new things and learning together, putting people in touch, making connections and offering opportunities to get involved.

Our work through this exceptionally difficult pandemic experience has yielded very positive results and we proudly achieved Investors in People Gold Award early in 2021/22.

Our progress in 2020/21

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Our priorities for 2021/22

So, from where we are now, what are the next steps in our strategy?

Our goals for the last three years have enabled us to build firm foundations for our organisation.

Although this is the final year of that strategy, the principles that underpin our approach have not changed. Our ethos remains in line with Mollie Craven’s original statement that established our charity.

“We parents of addicts are a neglected and ignored group. I would like to appeal to everyone interested in this agonising problem to form an association. We can help each other, we can help with research into the problem and its origin and cure; we can cooperate with the new legislation; in many ways we can help each other’s children where we cannot help our own.”

For us, our next steps are to refine the goals to support the challenges of our service users and to meet the opportunities raised by the Dame Carol Black report. The report, outside of the funding issues across the sector, sets some key themes for the road ahead. For We Are With You, building on our current strategy we will focus on the following areas:

Building on Performance

Service and organisational development

Clinical Services

Digital Development and Innovation

Our finances

Building community and stakeholder engagement

Service Users

Volunteers & Community

Volunteering is an integral part of our organisation and ethos; our volunteers bring their passion, specialist experience, skills and knowledge to our organisation and we benefit enormously from their involvement. From our Recovery Champions offering peer to peer support to our family and friend volunteers who support our service users.

So many of our case studies reflect the experiences of service users who have moved through their recovery journey and continue to volunteer and work with us. Volunteering can be a valuable part of the process of recovery, building new skills and social connections and supporting reintegration in communities.

We will continue to ensure our volunteers and Recovery Champions remain a fundamental part of With You.

We also ensure we remain an active part of our communities through:

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Building information and best practice - sharing the road to recovery

Our People

Information Technology and Data

The pandemic has highlighted how important technology has been to keep us connected and to support our service users. We had already begun a significant technological infrastructure refresh before lockdown and were able to quickly adapt and accelerate our plans. Through 2021/22 we will continue to develop our IT and data roadmap to ensure we are meeting our strategic aims:

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion matter - our strategy is to make EDI a reality in the everyday workings of our organisation which will enable us to help more people and improve outcomes. As well as ensuring our organisation is an inclusive place to work we also need to focus on having a better understanding of why people do and don’t access services.

With You continue to prioritise and actively work towards being an inclusive organisation. Work is being undertaken to respond to issues highlighted by our Diversity and Inclusion Working Group who are representatives of the diverse mix of communities across the organisation.

This continues to be a priority area for more development in 2021/22, practically, we will support equality, diversity and inclusion by:

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Exploring new approaches to drug and alcohol rehabilitation

By Jennie Archibald, Education Training & Employment Worker (ETE) at We Are With You in Wigan

A farm in Wigan is not the first thing you think of when thinking of drug and alcohol rehab, but that’s where Jane found herself after her alcohol use led to her falling down the stairs and breaking her neck. She had been to private rehab facilities before, but being surrounded by fields, allotments and even three Donkeys was new to her.

The farm setting is wonderful. It’s so relaxing and welcoming, people instantly feel a part of something and that really contributes to the project’s success. Since the pandemic struck the programme has moved online and while it has gone well I can’t wait to get back to Greenslate.

While residential facilities certainly have their benefits, a community programme gives people the opportunity to work through real life issues at the same time as daily life is brought into it.

Greenslate Community Farm is a 30 acre site in Orell, just west of Wigan. It’s home to a number of community activities including a Community Rehabilitation programme run by With You in Wigan. The programme differs from a residential programme as people attend from nine until four, Monday to Friday before going home.

Jane agrees and has even found the community model more helpful.

“You are in real life,” she says. “You aren’t stuck away in a building. You’ve got to deal with temptations, you go home and the shop is still at the end of the road. Getting through it gave me my self-confidence back.”

I lead this programme. Our interventions are similar to a residential facility, with a focus on building self-esteem, motivation, relapse prevention, triggers, cravings and goal setting. Participants are also encouraged to engage in outdoor activities such as bike rides as well as tending to the farm and looking after the animals.

The farm setting is so relaxing and welcoming, people instantly feel a part of something and that really contributes to the project’s success.”

With concerted action homelessness isn’t inevitable

By Iain Barnes, Recovery Worker (Outreach), We Are With You in Bournemouth

Towards the end of last year, I was on an outreach shift when I came across a couple huddled together in a dingy stairwell. They were clearly in a bad way.

I know there will be challenges ahead, but through harnessing the strengths of different organisations, I’m really hopeful about what we can achieve.”

I squatted down and started chatting to them, just simple stuff like asking their names and where they were from. Despite being on the streets and injecting they weren’t engaged with any services at the time. So, working together with St Mungos, we supported them to move into one of the hotels Bournemouth Council was using to house people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic. From there my colleagues at St Mungos helped the couple set up a bank account and register with a GP, while I worked with them to stabilise their drug use.

turbulent existence that blows you one way or another with drugs and alcohol a way to mask the pain. Without an address or an income it can be easy to fall into despair.

This is a normal day in my work on Bournemouth’s Drug and Alcohol Homeless Pathway.

While the impact of the pandemic has been dreadful, it has shown that with concerted action homelessness isn’t inevitable. The latest rough sleeper count reported the number of people sleeping on the streets on one night in England fell by a third between 2019 and 2020. This is a trend we’ve seen in Bournemouth, with many people now permanently housed and progressing really well through our new system.

Many people don’t realise the huge difficulties people face when they are on the streets. It’s a

The couple I came across in a stairwell are now living in social housing. They have an income, while their new found stability means they are able to properly engage in support around their drug use in a way they never have before. I know there will be challenges ahead, but through harnessing the strengths of different organisations, I’m really hopeful about what we can achieve.

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Section 2 Service delivery

Through this year we have welcomed new services to the organisation.

The overall contract tender environment has slowed dramatically due to the difficulties associated with changing and embedding new service providers. However, there were some changes and we welcomed or retained the following services:

What to look forward to in 2021/22

We were sad to farewell to the following services:

Two of our community programmes funded by the National Lottery also came to a close:

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Our service provision

Recovery is the gift that keeps on giving

Drug and alcohol treatment

Our adult services work with people to recover from drug and alcohol issues through structured programmes, advice and information and peer support. In 2020-21 we worked with 59,546 adults in England and Scotland. Of this number, 23,993 participated in structured treatment programmes. During the year we received 24,871 referrals and enrolled 11,675 new starters in structured treatment.

Over 50s

We are the lead partner in Drink Wise, Age Well, a unique programme to help over 50s make healthier choices about alcohol. Drink Wise, Age Well ended in March 2020 as a support service, but it’s website continues as a professional resource.

Our strategic partners continue to champion age-inclusive services and practices, and we continue to work with our research colleagues from a variety of universities.

Drink Wise, Age Well was funded by the The National Lottery Community Fund and was delivered in conjunction with 17 partners.

We had 617 calls to our Over 50s Alcohol Helpline which launched in November 2020 and is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.

24,871

drug and alcohol referrals

By Sarah*

When I was 14, I got really drunk in a park then my friends left me there alone. Two men walked towards me and I thought they were coming to help. Instead they attacked me. Afterwards I went home and I lay in my bed frozen in shock. Nobody realised what had happened.

After that I just stopped caring about most things in my life. When I was partying, I felt like I was okay. And I never wanted the party to end.

The days went by and turned into weeks then years. It continued this way even after I had my daughter and entered my twenties. I would disappear completely for days and turn my phone off. I’d leave my daughter with my mum and dad even though they had their own lives and jobs.

This all culminated when I took my daughter to a party because my parents couldn’t look after her. She ended up watching me have a fight with somebody. She had to tell the police where my mom and dad lived because I was kicking off too much to say anything.

When I was in custody, that’s when I found out about services that could help. I never knew what recovery was. But I knew that if I didn’t get a grip, I was gonna lose everything.

I started getting support from We Are With You. I had a recovery worker and a group of strong women behind me. It’s the most magical thing that I’ve ever been a part of. Until then I’d never properly processed the things I’ve been through.

Now I’m in recovery, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I have a proper relationship now with my daughter. We have a house together. And she can talk to me about how she’s feeling.

For most of my life I haven’t felt great. Right now I feel amazing. * Sarah’s name has been changed to protect her identity

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spotlight

Criminal Justice: Prisons

Supporting people in prison while the rest of the UK is locked down

By Bev Ball, Service Manager at We Are With You at Lincoln Prisons

regular psychosocial interventions sessions our clinical staff have had to make the most of those brief moments of contact. You’ve got two minutes with someone so you push that brief exchange. You try and find out how they’re feeling, what they’re doing, do they need anything from us?

A big part of our work is supporting people leaving prisons and transitioning to regular life. The ‘Everyone In’ scheme during the first lockdown meant people leaving prison had access to secure accomodation in a way they might not have before. But key things like benefits, long term housing solutions, trying to get people into work and to link with community mental health teams have been much more difficult to organise.

I’ve found it’s difficult for people to get their heads around what prison life is really like. Some of these people have committed quite serious crimes but they’re also human beings living in a very closed, unusual environment in which anyone would struggle on some level.

When the rest of the UK locked down in March last year, prisons locked down too. The only people they could see for much of this time was their cellmate who they didn’t get to choose. Visits from family and friends weren’t possible for a long time.

Despite all of these challenges, we’ve done well. From the prison employed staff to our partner agencies to the people in prison, we’re all working together better than we ever have before. It feels like a united front. We’ve all had to be inventive and seize every opportunity to do our jobs the best we can. It’s been a difficult year but at the end of the day we all want the same thing.

During regular times our work is unique and challenging. The pandemic made it significantly tougher. We work with around 25% of the prison population, with one team providing psychosocial interventions to support drug and alcohol issues and a clinical team providing medication like opioid substitutes.

We’ve all had to be inventive and seize every opportunity to do our jobs the best we can.”

Our clinical team has continued to attend the prison 7 days per week to deliver medication throughout the three national lockdowns. With prisoners not getting their

We work with people in the criminal justice system to make positive life changes in prisons and custodial settings. Our work helps people recover from drug, alcohol and mental health issues and reintegrate into their communities. We provide clinical and therapeutic interventions in prisons and we offer follow-on services on release in many of our services. In 2020-21 we worked with 652 prisoners and former prisoners in structured treatment programmes.

Family services

We support family members affected by a relative using drugs or alcohol. Our services offer a range of family interventions and support for parents, carers and young people.

Mental health services

We Are With You provide mental health support to people experiencing a wide range of symptoms. Whether it is for people who are just starting to notice they are worrying more, or sleeping less, to people who have experienced a traumatic event, we provide evidence-based support that puts their needs at the centre. Thinking about how we support people with their mental health is embedded throughout our services. We also deliver Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services and services supporting employees in their workplace.

In the last year 9,213 people completed a course of treatment.

Young people and transitional services

We work with young people experiencing drug and alcohol issues, mental health issues and self harm. We help people aged 11 to 24 take control, develop healthy patterns of behaviour and reach their potential. In 2020-21 we provided one-to-one help and support to 5,233 young people with 1,824 in structured treatment.

1,824

young people in structured treatment

16,634 mental health referrals

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spotlight

Escaping county lines and stopping my drug use was the hardest and best thing I’ve ever done.

By Will*

My favourite part of coming to We Are With You was the young person’s group. Everyone was my age and we were all going through the same thing. I felt like no one was judging me.

But at that time I was still lying about my drug use. I lied so often I started to believe the lies myself. The way I looked at it, the drug was my best mate. All it wanted was a bit of love from you and I did love it so we got on really well.

Earlier in my life I’d been involved in county lines child exploitation. I was in a gang but also taking drugs myself on a daily basis. It got to a point where my mum couldn’t do it anymore. If it didn’t stop then I think it would’ve escalated and I didn’t want my family in danger. Getting out of that life was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But it was the best thing I’ve ever done.

After going through a few different support services I ended up at We Are With You. I’d later realise everything I did at We Are With You was helping in some way. Even though I was still going back out to my mates and doing drugs I was still coming in every week and talking about my problems. And that made me realise: a little part of me probably actually wanted to change, otherwise I wouldn’t even be turning up.

A while after I’d stopped taking drugs I started looking around to see how I could help out around the service. I decided I wanted to use my story to help others.

I shared my story on social media and did presentations about my experience in the community. Eventually, because I’d worked so hard and shown so much passion helping people out, I was offered a job by my We Are With You service.

And that’s where I am at the moment. I’m just getting started. * Will’s name has been changed to protect his identity

The legacy of Blackpool Fulfilling Lives

By Ian Treasure, Partnership Manager, Blackpool Fulfilling Lives’ Legacy Board

When I reflect back on the last few years of Blackpool Fulfilling Lives, ‘tenacity’ is the best way to describe everything we’ve achieved.

Blackpool Fulfilling Lives ran from 2014 to 2021 through a partnership with With You and a range of statutory and voluntary sector organisations and services in Blackpool.

As one of 12 Fulfilling Lives programmes in England funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, we helped 529 people experiencing multiple disadvantage to engage with services and find hope. All people we supported showed improvements in their well being and our independent evaluation quantified savings in emergency services of just under £10,000 per person when helped for 12 months.

Team who provided real time feedback to us, and to other services, on how people coming forward for help really felt. This team is now funded by Blackpool Council, with dozens of former team members now fully trained and working in a variety of local services. Our success in building off lived experience has been a huge legacy of the programme.

In 2018, during regular community engagement work, we discovered a crazy golf course, and with the help of clients, renovated the course and opened it as a social enterprise to employ people who are disadvantaged. This has attracted national interest and highlighted the value of our work and approach.

Alongside this essential support we also made significant contributions to the national evidence base on what approaches are most effective when supporting people with multiple disadvantage. Through our well supported Blackpool Partnership Board, we led on creating a definition and action plan for systemic change.

Now in our legacy year, we’re working to reinvigorate our work on systemic change and psychologically informed approaches with other services and help to inform commissioning processes. The Blackpool Fulfilling Lives board continues to be well attended - we’re grateful for their ongoing commitment that has ensured the success of the programme. And our lived experience team are where they should be - sat round the table as equal partners helping to make decisions on support services.

In 2017 we created an academy model that allowed people with Lived Experience to work in the service as ‘Associate Navigators’. We also commissioned the independent Lived Experience

Drawing on lived experience was central to our programme.

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Our work in Scotland

We’re the largest third sector provider of drug and alcohol services in Scotland. Through our national network of 16 services we employ more than 165 staff and we’re supported by 33 volunteers.

Like the rest of the UK this has been a particularly challenging year. Despite the pandemic we were able to keep all of our services physically and virtually open. We quickly embarked on making sure our service users had the necessary equipment and data to use online one to one and groups. In Glasgow we still have 6 groups a day, 7 days a week and this mode of working will continue in the future. They include everything from mutual aid to keep fit and homework clubs. We delivered outreach to make sure people had food, utilities, clean injecting equipment and naloxone.

All of our services now see people within 3 days of first contact, often on the same day. Our services also all meet the target we set for over 50% of people we support having a planned discharge. That is drug/alcohol free are within recommended guidelines. As we began to unlock in the Autumn we saw a dramatic increase in the numbers of referrals particularly from people struggling with alcohol.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we further improved our partnerships with our statutory and other voluntary sector services . In many cases we worked and continue to work as joined up teams particularly for home visit welfare check ins. We have created non fatal overdose outreach teams to make contact and provide wrap around with people who have a non fatal episode.

We invested in our UK wide web chat service which is managed from Scotland and had over 20,000 interventions. We have seen a steady rise in the number of callers to our Know The Score and Drinkline services.

Sadly during lockdown we saw a significant increase in people dying from a range of health related conditions but conversely we saw a decrease in overdose deaths. We believe this is because there has been a move away from daily pick up of substitute prescribing and the risks inherent in regular contact with people who are still using illicit drugs.

13,854 users of our Scotland based webchat service

My support worker Maggie made me believe ‘I can do this’

By Rob

When I was 13, my little sister died. That tragic event really affected me. When I was 16 I moved from Glasgow to England and discovered alcohol. It became an issue really quickly and would stay an issue for the next few decades of my life.

During this time I had kids and got married. I was headhunted for a good job in London. I thought I’d arrived but at the same time I hated it. I’d realise later that it was the alcohol that I hated. Eventually my marriage broke down and I even ended up homeless for a while.

This all culminated in March 2020 when I tried to take my own life. I sat in my flat just thinking about how I couldn’t get away from alcohol. I couldn’t live with it, I can’t live without it.

Eventually a crisis psychiatrist referred me to We Are With You. I’d got support a couple of different times in England and after I moved back to Glasgow, but nothing really stuck. I didn’t even really understand what I was suffering from.

Maggie was my We Are With You support worker and I credit her with saving my life. I went in feeling broken, and as soon as I met her I felt comfortable. We sat in a room, and I broke down and I cried, for the first time in a long time. It was around this time that the first pandemic lockdown started so we switched to twice a week phone calls. She really gave me the confidence to say “I can do this”.

The other people in the service were kind as well. really wanted the best for me. They made me feel like I was worth something and worth saving. Eventually my We Are With You service encouraged me to volunteer with them, helping to run online groups and other things during the pandemic. This gave me confidence, self-worth and self-belief.

Today it’s been 13 months since I last drank alcohol. It’s been a journey from this little boy losing his sister, to sleeping on the streets for two years, to losing everything I had, to finding the right support and feeling like I could do this even during a global pandemic. I couldn’t have done it without Maggie.

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Section 3 Financial review

Overview

2020/21’s financial results reflect the huge changes resulting from the impact of the pandemic. We have seen significant cost reductions from restricted lockdown travel offset by equally significant increases in technology spend both to support virtual working with online service delivery and also to ensure our staff have the right kit and equipment to work from home where possible.

We have seen less volatility in contracting as the difficulty of tendering and implementing new services has meant extensions have been the norm. Thankfully this has been in the best interests of service users over this period. We have seen new funding sources specifically COVID-19 related to provide additional support for increased service user needs created by the pandemic.

As an organisation we have redirected our resources quickly and effectively to support pandemic ways of working and maintain our services. our sector combined with local funding reductions for services, we have been able to build on our core offering and consolidate our financial position through the year ensuring our reserves and cash positions are above our minimum requirements.

While fewer of our services were re-tendered this year, we did see a number of our community projects drawing to a close, most notably Blackpool Fulfilling Lives. We will be finalising the results and legacy of this seven year community health programme into 2021/22.

At the start of 2020-21 we planned to build on our foundations and operating surplus established through 2019/20 following a number of years of deficit. Changes to how we have had to operate through the pandemic have increased our surplus for the

year significantly against our initial budget expectations. We have ended the year achieving a positive surplus. Our income was £59.2 million and expenditure was £57.2 million.

As a result of this position, our unrestricted reserves increased from £6.1 million to £8.2 million. Free reserves at £6.5 million were above the minimum level required by our reserves policy (see page 44). For 2021/22 we have established a designated reserve fund to continue the development of our technology strategy, to reinvest in our staff training and development programmes and to build on our performance to directly improve people’s chances of getting better.

We continued to spend down restricted grants brought forward and restricted funds fell from £0.8 million to £0.7 million.

A high proportion of our reserves are represented by cash and other assets that can be quickly realised. Our cash balances at the end of the year were £10.4 million, significantly more than we need for working capital.

Looking ahead to 2021/22, our financial outlook continues to reflect the environment within which we operate and strategic decisions we take about our work (see “Our priorities for 2021/22” on page 26).

We continue to consolidate towards our core business and charitable purpose, and expect to see our overall income grow over the year ahead. We will continue to develop our service model in line with our strategic goals. In turn this will support the continuation of a targeted approach to business development, focussing on areas that are aligned to our wider strategic plan and goals.

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Funding sources

We Are With You seeks and obtains funding from a number of sources to support our activities and key objectives. The principal sources are set out in the following table.

Funding source How it supports our work Contracts from local authorities, NHS Trusts or These fund: similar institutions Work with adults in relation to drug or alcohol misuse Specialist drug and alcohol support to young people Mental health services Work with families Primary care services Work in the criminal justice system Grants from funding institutions See Note 2 “Grant income” on page 78. Individual giving Allocated to where it is needed most to help people to get treatment, support and enter recovery.

As part of the 2020/21 annual accounts the Trustees have approved the establishment of a designated reserve fund £1m to support organisation wide projects.

Reserves

Summary of reserves

To meet its objectives, We Are With You has agreed a budgeting and reserves policy that enables us to make appropriate strategic allocations of funds, while at the same time securing a sound financial base for our future needs. Decisions on the resources necessary, both to deliver new activities and to sustain continuing commitments, are based on our overall strategic requirements.

The projects included:

The investments will be utilised through 2021/22.

We hold several types of financial reserves. Some of these are restricted, meaning that they have been given or provided for specific purposes or with specific conditions and cannot be expended in any other way.

Finally, we hold general charitable funds or free reserves for four principal reasons:

Some reserves are in the form of designated funds that are earmarked by the Trustees to represent fixed and other assets which cannot be readily converted into cash.

The reserves policy adopted by the Trustees has established that, at the current activity level, the appropriate target range for free reserves is between £5.1 million and £7.8 million.

Total funds at the end of the financial year were £8.9 million. Of these, £0.7 million were restricted and not available for the general purposes of the charity, while £1.7 million were designated, representing the carrying amount of functional assets which the Trustees consider to represent a commitment of reserves. The level of general charitable funds was £6.5m million, which is within the target range established by the reserves policy.

Going concern

Summary of going concern

We Are With You’s activities, together with the factors likely to affect our future development, performance and financial position, are set out on pages 32-41. The financial position of the group, its cash flows, liquidity position and reserves are described in the financial statements on pages 70-88. In addition, Note 1 to the financial statements includes our policies for managing funds. The management of financial and other risks is described on page 53.

We Are With You has significant liquid financial resources, comprising short-term cash deposits and balances totalling £10.5 million, which is more than our free reserves. In addition, we obtain funding from a wide range of sources. As a consequence, the

Trustees believe that We Are With You is well placed to manage business risks successfully.

The Trustees consider that We Are With You has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements.

Guarantees

Summary

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31 March 2021 was 11 (2020: 14). The Trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Auditors

BDO LLP have indicated their willingness to be re-appointed as statutory auditors.

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Section 4 Structure, governance and management

Overview

We Are With You is a private company limited by guarantee and a charity, incorporated on 6 February 1991 and registered as a charity on 19 February 1991. It operates throughout England and Wales and Scotland. It is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association that determine its legal framework and set out its charitable purposes. We Are With You is governed by a Board of Trustees.

Our Trustees are aware of the Charity Governance Code published in 2017 and updated in 2020, setting out principles and recommended practice for good governance in the charity sector. The Board of Trustees is satisfied that We Are With You applies the principles of the Code within its governance arrangements, which are regularly reviewed.

Good governance is fundamental to our sustained success, it ensures we are best placed to deliver on our strategy, achieve our goals and promote the sustainable and long term success of our charity for the benefit of the communities we serve.

Our Trustees (Directors) have a set of general duties they need to comply with. One of these duties is to act in a way that, in their good faith, promotes the success of the company and, in doing so, Trustees are required by section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 to have regard to some factors, including:

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----- Start of picture text -----
Stakeholder Group Key Considerations How we engage
Service Users Everyone should feel comfortable We work with people on their own
getting the support they need for goals, whether that’s staying safe
issues with drugs, alcohol or mental and healthy, making small changes
health. or stopping an unwanted habit
altogether.
Two key goals of our strategy are
based directly on our service users: We give people support in a way
improving people’s chance of getting that’s right for them either face to
better and helping many more face, in their local service, community
people. or online.
Building existing and new Through our digital programme we
partnerships around shared have built new tools to help people
challenges to help us reach more direct and shape their own care, and
people. designed new self-help advice to
reach more people.
Our funders We Are With You seeks and obtains 1-2-1 engagement on relevant issues.
funding from a number of sources
Round table events by regions and
to support our activities and key
service type.
objectives, including:
Feedback and insights on
• Local authorities
performance and issues relevant to
• NHS Trusts that funder.
• Funding institutions As appropriate via the projects our
funders support.
• Individual giving
Regulators Maintaining governance procedures Timely submissions of all necessary
to ensure compliance with all fillings and returns.
application regulatory regimes.
Self-reporting and engagement
where appropriate.
Prompt and comprehensive response
to requests for information if
requested.
Employees Transform our organisation to get the We have introduced improved online
best from each other. training materials and in person
programmes in areas such as trauma
Growth training and development.
informed care, running and facilitating
Diversion, inclusion and equality. groups, prescribing best practice and
supervision.
Improving the quality of our internal
information to support our staff to do Adopted google technology, to create
their jobs. a more dynamic environment for staff
to stay connected without the need
to travel.
Intranet, all staff meetings and
newsletters.
Employee engagement survey.
Annual employee awards programme.
----- End of picture text -----

Leadership

The Trustees are responsible for the overall management of the charity, its strategic direction and decision-making. Our committees are organised to reflect the key focus of the organisation: Resources Committee; the Income and Profile Committee ; the Service Delivery and Clinical Governance Committee ; and the Nominations Committee.

Matters not reserved for decision by the Trustees are delegated to the Chief Executive. Executive salaries are decided by the Remuneration Committee, a sub-committee of the Resources Committee. The Trustees have delegated responsibility for the dayto-day management of the charity to the Chief Executive, supported by a management structure. The Chief Executive leads a team of six Executive Directors with functional areas of responsibility.

The likely consequences of any decision in the long term

The charity’s strategy based on achieving our three core goals as part of our 3 year business plan is outlined on pages 16 to 29. The current strategy was set in 2018/19. During the year the Trustees reviewed progress and performance of the plan against the broader backdrop of service needs and outcomes. The impact and achievements to date against this strategy are included on pages 18 to 25. The Trustees’ discussion of all aspects of the future direction of the charity’s work was informed by the feedback received through service user and staff engagement.

Our Trustee Board and its Committees keep under review the charity’s principal risks and its risk appetite, considering emerging risks and reviewing changes in the charity’s risk profile and responses quarterly.

The charity has in place a range of policies and processes that promote corporate responsibility and ethical behaviour. All these policies are reviewed periodically.

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Key decisions in 2020/2021

The table overleaf sets out the key decisions taken by the Trustee Board during the year and how the interests of our stakeholders and the wider factors set out in section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 were taken into account.

Our strategy management

Our key goals:

This year we have focussed on the following areas:

Update on key decision 2020/21

The Board agreed to the establishment of a designated reserve to support the acceleration of investment and development projects.

Key considerations:

Our IT refresh programme has been part of our overall strategy. The Pandemic has driven considerable changes in working patterns and increased the requirement of our IT infrastructure and systems. Consideration was given to all relevant stakeholders including:

These projects were established as part of the organisational strategy with acceleration driven by the impact of the pandemic, including IT, Homeworking & staff wellbeing

CEO recruitment

In light of ensuring consistency and stability during the pandemic, permanent CEO recruitment has been delayed for the time being.

Trustee Recruitment

We recruit and appoint Trustees by advertising vacancies and looking for particular skill sets which enhance the work of the board and encourage diversity. All applications are considered by the nominations committee and suitable candidates are interviewed. Recommendations are then made to the main board and successful applicants are appointed.

New Trustees are provided with an induction into their role through a meeting with the Chief Executive and members of the executive, project visits in the first few months of their tenure and briefings from key members of staff on We Are With You’s work and their legal responsibilities as Trustees. New Trustees must comply with the Care Quality Commission’s Fit and Proper Persons Test and also sign an agreement that sets out We Are With You’s expectations of their role and responsibilities. Trustees do not receive any remuneration but may be reimbursed for general expenses.

Trustees serve a three-year fixed term with the possibility of re-election for a further two terms dependent on performance. At each AGM a third of the Trustees retire by rotation and are eligible for re-appointment.

During the year two new Trustees were appointed to ensure that the board is equipped to support the work of the charity in the constantly changing environment within which we operate.

Statement of staff and volunteer engagement

The success of our organisation is intrinsically linked to the work of our staff and volunteers. Staff and volunteer engagement is a key part in how our three year strategy was designed and is the focus of one of our key goals:

Our internal communications strategy has been designed in conjunction with our wider organisation business plan to meet three clear staff priorities:

Progress and actions to support this goal are detailed in the Trustee’s Strategic report and the People and Culture subsection, and are supported by an ongoing programme of Trustee service visits, (these were supported virtually through the pandemic) combined with regular staff surveys and engagement forums.

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Risk management

We Are With You operates in an uncertain and challenging service delivery environment. We are focussed on ensuring we respond to the changing demands of our work and continue to fulfil the stringent requirements of our commissioners and regulatory bodies, against ongoing reductions in funding. Delivering our services both clinical and non-clinical requires vigilance to support continuous review of our systems and processes against the highest standards to ensure they are safe and effective.

We Are With You works with some of the most vulnerable people in society and safeguarding is at the core of our work. We have a well developed and coherent approach to risk management in accordance with best practice and Charity Commission guidelines. We use a bespoke risk management tool to record and manage all risks across the organisation. We record, review and mitigate risks across clinical, operational, contractual, financial, information governance, health and safety, and reputational areas.

Every service has a risk register which is reviewed at team meetings and also at the relevant business hub meeting. Risks that can be managed and mitigated at the service level remain with the regional team. Where we are unable to mitigate risks we raise them to the next level within the organisation. This means some service level risks may be escalated to the corporate risk register. The corporate register is reviewed and action taken as necessary by the Executive on a monthly basis and by the Trustees at every sub committee and at the main Trustee Board. The Trustee Board ensures that all emerging or unforeseen risks are managed and acted upon swiftly.

independent inspections of regulated activity within our services. The resulting report and rating awarded to each service is published on the CQC website. We have clear policies on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults with access to training for all staff across We Are With You. All policies including, health and safety and managing complaints are reviewed regularly to ensure compliance with any statutory requirements.

Risk Register

We are fully compliant and registered with the Care Quality Commission which carries out

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Fundraising

In 2020-21 we received £4.8 million in grants and donations from generous individuals, companies and charitable Trusts.

A summary of projects we delivered due to donations and thanks to specific funders can be found on page 78.

Our approach to fundraising is underpinned by our ethos and values. We ensure the trust of our supporters and our responsibility to clients is not compromised. We apply this approach to all of our funding streams, with our staff and suppliers adhering to a range of policies and processes.

Our Vulnerable Supporters Policy provides all staff, volunteers, Trustees and anyone engaging with supporters on behalf of We Are With You, with clear guidance on how we can recognise a vulnerable supporter and ensure appropriate actions are taken to treat them fairly and put their needs first.

No complaints regarding fundraising have been received during the year.

As a result, anyone engaging in fundraising on our behalf is clear on: the regulatory framework that guides our approach to vulnerable supporters; how to identify a vulnerable supporter; when we should refuse or return donations and how our approach to vulnerable supporters can be applied to our clients. We are members of the Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Regulator.

We also expect the same standards from any third party suppliers we employ to carry out fundraising on our behalf. This is subject to regular review.

Employment practices and pay

will escalate any concerns in accordance with Charity Commission guidance and good practice.

Dignity at work

Everyone has the right to be treated with consideration, fairness, dignity and respect, and we do not tolerate bullying and harassment. Our policy covers our employees, temporary workers and volunteers across all our services. It is imperative that everyone is accountable for the impact of their own actions. We do not tolerate any form of unfair treatment or discrimination in any of our recruitment or employment practices. All employees and applicants are provided with fair access to training, development, reward and progression opportunities. It is only through treating everyone fairly, and with dignity and respect, that we will enable our people to perform at their best.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

We value, celebrate and embrace EDI and we have set ourselves ambitious objectives. We believe the inherent benefits of a diverse, inclusive organisation will enhance our impact and performance.

We are raising awareness and fostering inclusion through our recruitment and selection practices, and our learning and development programmes.

Gender Pay Gap

Safeguarding

In April 2020 our gender pay gap was by mean average 1.1% and by median average 5.0% in favour of men. An improvement in comparison with 2019, mean and median averages 3.2% and 7.9% respectively.

Everyone is entitled to live their lives free from harm and it is important that children and vulnerable adults can feel safe and protected alongside our employees and volunteers through the services we deliver. We have a comprehensive, regularly updated, safeguarding policy, a dedicated safeguarding lead, and a safeguarding forum to ensure continuous review and evaluation of our practices. We have made online safeguarding training mandatory for all our employees. All employees are subject to a rigorous vetting process and where required, Disclosure and Barring Service checks. Likewise, volunteers are vetted when required, on a risk basis dependent on their role. All safeguarding concerns are logged centrally and escalated when required. The logs are regularly reviewed and reported to our Executive Board and Trustee Committees. We fully embrace Charity Commission recommendations and

This data shows that our gender pay gap is better than the national average with a decrease from last year. We are committed to narrowing the Gender Pay Gap even further.

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Pay

We are committed to fairness in our remuneration practices and our remuneration policy follows these guiding principles:

Remuneration may vary depending on the job type and talent pool and is validated objectively using market comparators.

This includes salary survey data from the charitable, private and public sectors. Guidance is sought from external professional advisers as appropriate. Our remuneration framework sets out pay bands clearly and is openly available to employees. This supports our intention to engender fairness and teamwork.

Our annual salary review has been supported by an indepth pay and reward project, the framework for this project was established towards the end of 2020/21 and will continue into 2021/22. The project is planned to review our remuneration policy through 2021/22 to ensure we are paying appropriately to attract and retain skilled and experienced people and also take account of the recommendations within the Dame Carol Black review.

Senior executive pay

To achieve our objectives, we need to attract and retain high-performing senior leadership. Each position on the Executive Board is individually benchmarked, using external advisers, and salaries are positioned with similar responsibilities in the corporate sector.

We have adopted the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities and disclose the aggregate salary of our Executive Board on page 81.

We provide descriptions of the roles and responsibilities for the Executive Board on our website to demonstrate the scale and breadth of their responsibilities.

Environment

Sustainability

The work we do has an impact on the environment and therefore we have a duty to ensure we proactively manage this in a responsible and ethical manner. Our sustainability approach is managed through our Property and Estates team. This includes evaluating the ethics of our supply chains, reporting and managing our energy use and carbon footprint, and finding ways to reuse and reduce our waste. Our Sustainability Policy challenges the whole Charity to find innovative ways of reducing our environmental impact across all our activities.

We have introduced a number of new ways of working this year focussed on sustainable development to help reduce our impact on the environment. Practically, we look after our physical, social and economic environment by:

We have also established our sustainability focussed taskforce The Green Team. Our Green Team explores ways and paths to improve and support the organisation’s environmental objectives.

Specifically, the Green Team’s aims to consider:

The work of the Green Team supports We Are With You’s environmental commitment to:

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Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting

We Are With You, is reporting energy and carbon emissions in compliance with The Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018.

----- Start of picture text -----
Energy Type 1st April 2019 - 31st March 2020 1st April 2020 - 31st March 2021
Indirect Emissions - 545.5 tCo²e 423.4 tCo²e
purchased electricity & gas -
heating/cooling
Indirect Emissions - business 583.2 tCo²e 144.5 tCo²e
travel, mileage
----- End of picture text -----

Methodology

Our reporting methodology is based on the World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (revised edition), and the UK Government’s Environmental Reporting Guidelines, 2019. We have taken an operational control approach, meaning that 100% of emissions from operations over which We Are With You has operational control have been reported. Additionally, we have excluded all managed services or offices where we do not receive a separate charge for energy. Our mileage is based on £221, 431 paid 45p per mile which includes staff and volunteers driving their own vehicles for We Are With You business. The primary sources used for energy and fuel are billing data and meter reads are only used where there is no billing data.

We Are With You Annual Report 2020/2021 | 59

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Section 6 Reference and administrative details

Company number 02580377

Charity number 1001957

OSCR number SC40009

Trustees

Registered office and operational address

Part Lower Ground Floor Gate House 1-3 St John’s Square London, EC1M 4DH

The Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:

Lord Carlile of Berriew (Chair) Anne Chapman (Vice Chair)

Lynne Clow

Dr Neera Dholakia

Ron Finlay

Jeremy Fish

Richard Gould

Nigel Mccorkell Prof Lawrie Elliott (resigned 11 June 2020) William Willis (resigned 29 October 2020) Mehul Tank (resigned 29 April 2021) Sarah Drummond (resigned 10 November 2021)

Chief executive

Company secretary

Bankers

Solicitors

Auditors

Belinda Phipps

Alexandra Borghesi

Lloyds Bank 4th Floor Gresham St London EC2 7HN

Bond Dickinson LLP 112 Quayside Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 3DX

BDO LLP 2 City Place Beehive Ring Rd Gatwick RH6 0PA

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Statement of Trustees responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Strategic report, the Annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position

About this report

This report provides information about our aims, objectives and activities, and about this year’s performance and financial results. In publishing this report, we want to give a clear picture of what we do, what we have achieved and how we use the money we receive to meet our charitable aims. The report also fulfils legal requirements placed on us by laws and regulations to provide information publicly about the work we do.

We Are With You is registered both as a charity and a company (see page 41), and this charitable company is what we mean when we refer to “the charity”.

The report includes the activities of the charity, all of which are charitable or carried out on a not for-profit basis. The objects of the charity relate to the promotion of health and social inclusion and the prevention and reduction of ill health and poverty, particularly by: seeking to relieve and prevent the harmful use of substances including alcohol; relieving and preventing mental health problems; and providing employability and training opportunities.

The report is presented by the members of the board, who are the Trustees of the charity under UK charity law and its directors under UK company law. In this report we refer to the members of the board as “the Trustees”.

The report as a whole includes the Reference and administrative details on page 61, the Statement of Trustees responsibilities on page 62 and the Financial statements on pages 70-88.

In preparing the report, we seek to meet our overall obligations under the rules and regulations in these ways:

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Public benefit statement

We Are With You exists entirely for the public’s benefit. The services we offer are available free of charge where we are contracted to provide services. This work benefits not only individuals and their families but also the wider community, by reducing the harm and related costs caused to society by drug and alcohol misuse, and improving the public’s physical and mental health and other related issues.

In setting plans and priorities for areas of work, the Trustees of We Are With You have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. In particular, the Board of Trustees considers how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives it has set. More information about the responsibilities of the Trustees can be found on page 62.

Acknowledgements

The Trustees wish to record their gratitude to all those who contribute to With You’s work: the people who use our services, our volunteers, staff, donors, commissioners, partners, funders and managers. We are hugely grateful for your dedication and support for our work.

The Trustees’ Annual Report, incorporating the Strategic Report, was approved by the Trustees on 10 December and signed on their behalf by:

Lord Alex Carlile Chair of trustees

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members and Trustees of We Are With You

Opinion on the financial statements

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Independence

We remain independent of the Charitable Company in accordance with the ethical requirements relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

Conclusions related to going concern

We have audited the financial statements of We are With You (“the Charitable Company”) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The other information comprises:the Trustees’ Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Other Companies Act 2006 reporting

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charitable Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatement in the Strategic report or the Trustee’s report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion;

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees

determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the Charitable Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Extent to which the audit was capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

As part of the audit we gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the Charitable Company and the sector in which it operates, and considered the risk of acts by the Charitable Company that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud. We considered the Charitable Company’s own assessment of the risks that irregularities may occur either as a result of fraud or error, the Group’s compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements such as the Charities Act 2011, Companies Act 2006 and other laws and regulations applicable to the group such as employment law, taxation legislation, data protection, health and safety legislation. We considered financial performance, key performance indicators and other performance targets. We also considered the risks of non-compliance with requirements imposed by the Charity Commission, and other regulators, and we considered the extent to which noncompliance might have a material effect on the group financial statements.

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations, potential fraud risks and that there were no known matters of significant non-compliance with laws and regulations, to all engagement team members including internal specialists audit teams, and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

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As a result of these procedures we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas: donations and legacy revenue recognition.

Our audit procedures were designed to respond to risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery, misrepresentations or through collusion. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures performed and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we are to become aware of it.

Our tests included:

Use of our report

Heather Wheelhouse (Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of BDO LLP, statutory auditor

Gatwick, West Sussex

BDO LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (with registered number OC305127).

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With You

Section 7 Financial statements

Statement of Financial Activities

(incorporating an income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2021

Notes
INCOME FROM:
Fundraising income
2
Investment income
Other income
3
Charitable activities
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Young people’s and transitional services
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds
Fundraising
Charitable activities
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Young people’s and transitional services
Profle and infuence
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
4
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
FOR THE YEAR
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
Funds brought forward at 1 April
FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD AT 31 MARCH		 Unrestricted
funds
£000
111
7
55		 Restricted
funds
£000
4,767
-
-		 Total
funds
2021
£000
4,878
7
55		 Total
funds
2020
£000
8,654
26
170
173 4,767 4,940 8,850
42,691
-
5,748
5,249		 111
70
31
379		 42,802
70
5,779
5,628		 42,745
80
5,296
6,553
53,688 591 54,279 54,674
53,861 5,358 59,219 63,524
156 - 156 194
156 - 156 194
40,979
19
5,178
4,989
410		 4,983
70
31
405
-		 45,962
89
5,209
5,394
410		 51,470
308
5,169
6,198
342
51,575 5,489 57,064 63,487
51,731 5,489 57,220 63,681
2,130 (131) 1,999 (157)
2,130
6,101		 (131)
796		 1,999
6,897		 (157)
7,054
8,231 665 8,896 6,897

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds and transfers between funds are disclosed above and in Note 13 to the financial statements.

The notes on pages 74 to 88 form part of these financial statements. The detail of comparative figures for the previous year is shown in Note 15.

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With You Balance Sheet

AS AT 31 MARCH 2021

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
9
Current assets
Debtors
10
Cash at bank and in hand including
short term deposits
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year
Creditors and accrued expenses
11
Net current assets
Creditors
Amount falling due after more than one year
Net assets
Represented by
FUNDS
Unrestricted:
Designated funds
General charitable funds
Restricted
13
Total funds
12		 The Charity
2021
2020
£000
£000
679
1,053
679
1,053
6,218
6,873
10,353
6,675
16,571
13,548
(8,246)
(7,600)
8,325
5,948
(108)
(104)
8,896
6,897
1,679
1,035
6,552
5,066
8,231
6,101
665
796
8,896
6,897

Company number 2580377

The notes on pages 74 to 88 form part of these financial statements.

The Financial Statements were approved by the Trustees on 10 December 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

With You Statement of Cash Flows

for the year ended 31 March 2021

Cash fows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities
Cash fows from investing activities:
Payments to acquire tangible fxed assets
Net cash (used in)/provided by investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the
reporting period
Cash and cash and equivalents at the beginning of the
reporting period
Cash and cash and equivalents at the end of the
reporting period		 2021
£000
£000
3,759
(81)
(81)
3,678
6,675
10,353		 2021
£000
£000
3,759
(81)
(81)
3,678
6,675
10,353		 2020
£000
£000
2,093
(47)
(47)
2,046
4,629
6,675		 2020
£000
£000
2,093
(47)
(47)
2,046
4,629
6,675
3,678
6,675		 2,046
4,629
10,353 6,675

Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities

Net expenditure for the reporting period (as per the statement
of fnancial activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Amortisation
Impairment
(Proft) / Loss on disposal of fxed assets
Decrease in stock
Decrease/ (Increase) in debtors
Increase/ (Decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
Analysis of changes in cash
and short-term deposits
Cash and cash equivalents		 409
-
-
46
-
655
650		 1,999






1,760		 397
205
693
14
-
537
404		 (157)







2,250
3,759 2,093
As at
31 Mar 2020
£000
6,675		 Cash
fows
£000
3,678
As at
31 Mar 2021
£000

10,353

The notes on pages 74 to 88 form part of these financial statements.

Nigel Mccorkell Chair, Resources Committee

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With You Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2021

1 Accounting policies

b) Going concern

With You’s activities, together with the factors likely to affect our future development, performance and financial position, are set out on pages 16 to 41. The financial position of the charity, its cash flows, liquidity position and reserves are described in the financial statements on pages 70 to 88. The management of financial and other risks is described on page 53.

2020/21 has started with the unprecendented situation of a global pandemic. Whilst the impact of COVID-19 has been significant we do not feel that this has adversely impacted on our going concern outlook.

With You has significant liquid financial resources, comprising short-term cash deposits and balances totalling £10.3 million, which is more than our free reserves. In addition, we obtain funding from a wide range of sources. As a consequence, the Trustees believe that With You is well placed to manage buisess risks successfully.

The Trustees consider that With You has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements.

c) Critical accounting estimates and judgements

To be able to prepare financial statements in accordance with FRS102, With You must make certain estimates and judgements that have an impact on the policies and the amount reported in the annual accounts. The estimates and judgments are based on historical experience and other factors including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable at the time such estimates and judgements are made. None of the estimates and judgements made create a significant risk of causing material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities in subsequent financial years.

Dilapidations Based on average historical cost per sq ft

Support cost allocation Allocated to each of the activities in proportion to the total of direct expenditure

Bad Debt Actual debt over 365 days old unless specifics have been identified

With You

Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2021

Contract income is recognised when there is sufficient evidence that it has been earned. Income from some contracts is subject to a ‘payment by results’ element, which is calculated in relation to set criteria, the results of which may not be determined until some time after the accounting period.

Income recognition / Payment by Results

d) Income

Income received by way of donations and gifts to the charity is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when receivable.

Where unconditional entitlement to grants receivable is dependent upon fulfilment of conditions within the charity’s control, the income is recognised when there is sufficient evidence that conditions will be met. Where grants are received but there is uncertainty as to whether the charity can meet such conditions the income is deferred.

Contract income is recognised when there is sufficient evidence that it has been earned. Income from some contracts is subject to a ‘payment by results’ element, which is calculated in relation to set criteria, the results of which may not be determined until some time after the accounting period. In these cases, income is recognised or deferred on the basis of the evidence available up to the date of this report.

Investment and other income is recognised when earned.

e) Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for under the accruals concept and stated gross of irrecoverable VAT. Expenditure is allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity.

The support costs of With You are allocated to each of the activities in proportion to the total of direct expenditure.

Governance costs comprise the costs incurred which are directly attributable to the constitutional activities of With You, and the necessary procedures for compliance with statutory requirements. The costs of raising funds are those incurred by With You in raising income for its charitable work.

Rentals for leased assets held under the terms of operating leases are charged directly to the SOFA over the term of the lease.

f) Tangible fixed assets

Freehold property is held at cost or fair value at acquisition. Improvements to leasehold premises and fixtures, fittings and equipment are capitalised where the total cost of the asset or combined cost of the project exceeds £10,000 in With You. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

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With You Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021

Intangible fixed assets

Costs directly attributable to the development of digital tools are capitalised as intangible assets only when the technical feasibility of the project is demonstrated, the Charity has an intention and ability to complete and use the tools and the costs can be measured reliably. Such costsinclude the purchases of material and services and the payroll-related costs of employees directly involved in the project.

Intangible assets are amortised at 20% on cost from the date of implementation.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Freehold property 2% on cost or valuation at acquisition

Improvements to short leasehold premises 5% - 50% on cost Fixtures, fittings and equipment 10% - 33% on cost Computers and IT equipment 20% - 33% on cost Motor vehicles 20% - 25% on cost

g) Investments

With You does not invest in stocks, shares or other financial assets. The investments of the group consist solely of investment properties. Investments are stated at market value at the balance sheet date and the SOFA shows net investment gains and losses arising from revaluations and disposals during the year.

Investment properties are valued by a RICS Registered Valuer, either on the basis of RICS Valuation Professional Standards, or where properties have been marketed for sale, at accepted offer price.

h) Financial instruments

The group only has financial assets and liabilities of a kind that qualify as ‘basic financial instruments’ under FRS102. These are initially recognised at cash or transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value if different.

i) Debtors

With You Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2021

k) Taxation

With You is eligible for the tax exemptions available for charitable activities.

With You is a charity within the meaning of Para 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010. Accordingly the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in rspect of income or capital gains within categories coverd by Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation Chjargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

No tax charge arose in the current or prior period.

l) Unrestricted funds

These funds are received and applied to achieve the general objectives of With You.

m) Designated funds

These are unrestricted funds representing tangible fixed assets.

n) Restricted funds

These are to be used for specified purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is identified to the fund, together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.

o) Operating leases

Rentals payable under operating leases, where substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership remain with the lessor, are charged to the SOFA on a straight line basis over the minimum lease term.

With You strives to ensure that its property leases are co-terminus with its contracts. Where a property lease is longer than the initial contract we strive to ensure that break clauses are in place.

p) Termination payments

All costs involved in terminating employee contracts are accounted for on an accruals basis and disclosed in aggregate in Note 8. Termination benefits are measured at the best estimate of the expenditure required to settle the obligation at the reporting date.

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due less a provision for any impairment losses. A provision is established for impairment when there is objective evidence that amounts due under the original payment terms will not be collected.

j) Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where With You has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount.

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With You Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021

q) Pension schemes

The Charity operates or contributes to both defined contributions and defined benefit schemes for its employees. All defined benefit schemes are closed to new entrants and the numbers of active members can only grow as a result of the transfer of staff from other organisations.

Employees who are members of defined benefit schemes are those who were part of a TUPE transfer for contracts awarded to the Charity. As per the contracts, the Charity is not liable for any defined benefit pension scheme liability and are only liable for a fixed pension contribution to the relevant schemes. As such no liability is recognised in the financial statements in relation to these schemes and the contributions are treated as if they were those payable to a defined contribution pension scheme.

The assets of any pension schemes are held separately from those of the Charity.

Pension costs charged in the SOFA represent the contributions payable by the charity for the year together with any material provision to record the Charity’s liability in relation to a defined benefit pension scheme, where this can be identified, in accordance with the accounting standard incorporated in FRS102.

With You

Notes to the financial statements continued

Income

2
Grant income
National Lottery Community Fund
-Fulflling Lives Multiple Needs - Blackpool (BLF Ref:30114808)
-Drink Wise, Age Well (BLF Ref:31014853)
- Building Connections Fund (Ref: 10346058)
- Young Start (Ref: 0010356819)
-Life Chances Fund Grant (BLF Ref:10298686)
-Digital Project (BLF Ref:0010357389 )
-COVID-19 Emergency Response (Ref: 20134486)
-Covid Comm. Response-Individual Relief & Family Discretionaly Fund (Ref:
20141958)
-Community Navigator Gate Pick Up (Ref: 20142993)
National Lottery Community Fund and ESF Building Better Opportunities Grant via:
-The Learning Partnership for Cornwall and Isle of Scilly Ltd
-The Pluss Organisation CIC
-Ixion Holdings (Contracts) Ltd
-Active Pluss Community Interest Company
ABF the Soliders’ Charity
Department of Health and Social Care; Department of Work and Pensions
- Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents fund Section 64 grant
Corra Foundation - Families Plus-East Dunbartonshire
Good Things Foundation Reboot UK
Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
The Hunter Foundation
The Mickel Fund
The Royal British Legion
The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity
The Scottish Government -South Lanarkshire Suvivor Support
The Scottish Government - COVID-19 Recovery and Response Fund
The Scottish Government - Survivor Support Innovation Grant
The Scottish Government - Webchat
The Scottish Government - Response to COVID-19 - Webchat
Veterans’ Foundation
Volutary Action NE Lincolnshire Crime Reduction Fund
Zurich Community Trust (UK) Ltd
Other grants
Donations and gifts
3
Other income
Court reports
Training
Rental
Social placements
Other		 2021
2020
All restricted
All restricted
£000
£000
1,560
1,554
527
4,826
50
35
50
50
159
35
369
200
493
-
33
-
10
-
12
86
411
422
87
88
307
288
30
-
-
120
-
20
-
2
-
15
21
-
-
10
-
32
15
15
75
55
5
-
-
23
229
42
30
-
-
30
-
8
-
5
274
476
20
49
4,767
8,485
2021
2020
All
Unrestricted
All
Unrestricted
£000
£000
1
1
6
19
20
76
23
64
5
10
55
170

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With You

Notes to the financial statements continued Expenditure

4
Expenditure
Costs of raising funds
Fundraising
Trading operations
Charitable expenditure
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Young people’s and transitional services
Profle and infuence
Total		 Direct
Staff
costs
Other
direct
costs
Support
costs
2021
Total
2020
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
107
32
17
156
194
-
-
-
-
-
28,854
12,139
4,969
45,962
51,470
76
3
10
89
308
4,122
524
563
5,209
5,169
3,982
829
583
5,394
6,198
241
124
45
410
342
37,382
13,651
6,187
57,220
63,681

Included in support costs are staff costs totalling £3,888,713 (2020; £3,379,084)

Costs of raising funds
Fundraising
Trading operations
Charitable expenditure
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Primary care services
Young people's and transitional services
Profle and infuence
Total		 Direct
Staff
costs
Other
direct
costs
Support
costs
2020
Total
2019
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
135
41
18
194
193
-
-
-
-
-
29,131
17,566
4,773
51,470
52,491
252
28
28
308
192
3,792
898
479
5,169
7,439
-
-
-
-
921
4,515
1,108
575
6,198
6,632
217
93
32
342
524
38,042
19,734
5,905
63,681
68,391

With You

Notes to the financial statements continued Expenditure

6
Governance costs
Staff costs
Audit fees and other fees payable to
auditor
Trustees’ expenses
Trustees’ indemnity insurance
Company secretariat		 2021
2020
£000
£000
43
40
59
49
-
1
1
2
34
32
137
123
7
Net expenditure/income for the year
is stated after charging:
Depreciation
Trustees’ indemnity insurance
Trustees’ expenses
Auditors’ remuneration:
Audit of the group accounts
Operating lease rentals:
Property		 2021
2020
£000
£000
409
397
1
2
-
1
59
49
1,424
1,742

Trustees’ expenses represent travel for 1 (2020: 1) trustees relating to attendance at meetings. No trustee received any remuneration from With You in the current or preceding years.

Included in support costs are staff costs totalling £3,379,084 (2019; £3,538,659)

5
Allocation of support costs
Fundraising
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Young people’s and transitional services
Profle and Infuence
Total		 Executive
&
Central
Admin
Finance,
IT & HR
Govern-
ance
Quality
Bidding
for New
Services
2021
Total
2020
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
3
10
-
3
1
17
18
869
2,905
110
801
284
4,969
4,773
2
5
-
2
1
10
28
98
329
13
91
32
563
479
102
341
13
94
33
583
575
8
26
1
7
3
45
32
1,082
3,616
137
998
354
6,187
5,905

Support costs have been allocated in relation to direct costs.

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With You Notes to the financial statements continued

Expenditure

Employees
The total costs of salaries and wages were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension contributions
Agency/support staff		 2021
2020
£000
£000
34,912
34,556
3,170
3,081
2,116
2,176
885
1,187
41,083
41,000

Redundancy and other termination costs included in expenditure during the year were £487,463 (2020: £263,756)

The average number of employees was as follows:
Fundraising
Young people’s services
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Profle and infuence
Governance
The number of employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000 were:
£60,001 - £70,000
£70,001 - £80,000
£80,001 - £90,000
£90,001 - £100,000
£110,001 - £120,000
£120,001 - £130,000
£130,001 - £140,000
£140,001 - £150,000
£160,001 - £170,000		 2021
2020
No.
No.
3
4
118
140
973
1,022
2
7
145
134
6
6
2
2
1,249
1,315
2021
2020
No.
No.
13
14
6
4
2
1
4
1
-
2
-
-
-
-
1
1
1
-

All of these employees accrue benefits under the defined contribution pension scheme.

Total pension contributions paid for these employees were £120,885 (2020; £116,816)

With You

Notes to the financial statements continued

Assets and liabilities

9
Fixed assets
Tangible fxed assets
Cost at the start of the year
Additions
Disposals
Cost at the end of the year
Accumulated depreciation at the start of the year
Depreciation for the year
Depreciation for the year on disposals
Accumulated depreciation at the end of the year
Net book value at the end of the year
Net book value at the start of the year
10
Debtors
Trade debtors
Accrued income
Other debtors
Prepayments
11
Creditors and accrued expenses
Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
Deferred income
Accruals
Movement in deferred income
Deferred due to timing of receipt		 Freehold
Land &
Buildings
Improve-
ments
to short
leasehold
premises
Fixtures,
fttings,
equip-
ment and
vehicles
Comput-
ers and
IT equip-
ment
Total
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
410
1,590
93
1,576
3,670
-
56
22
4
81
-
(29)
(21)
(1,265)
(1,315)		 Freehold
Land &
Buildings
Improve-
ments
to short
leasehold
premises
Fixtures,
fttings,
equip-
ment and
vehicles
Comput-
ers and
IT equip-
ment
Total
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
410
1,590
93
1,576
3,670
-
56
22
4
81
-
(29)
(21)
(1,265)
(1,315)		 Freehold
Land &
Buildings
Improve-
ments
to short
leasehold
premises
Fixtures,
fttings,
equip-
ment and
vehicles
Comput-
ers and
IT equip-
ment
Total
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
410
1,590
93
1,576
3,670
-
56
22
4
81
-
(29)
(21)
(1,265)
(1,315)
410
1,616
94
315
2,436
61
1,248
55
1,252
2,617
7
138
35
229
409
-
(29)
(21)
(1,218)
(1,268)
68
1,357		 69
263
1,757
342
260		 25
52
679
349
341		 38
324
1,053
Balance b/f
Released
to SOFA
£000
£000
720
(720)		 Charity
2021
2020
£000
£000
3,976
4,093
1,531
2,227
177
7
534
546
6,218
6,873
Charity
2021
2020
£000
£000
1,903
2,218
1,016
1,075
1,599
720
3,728
3,587
8,246
7,600
Deferred
Balance c/f
in year
£000
£000
1,599
1,599

During the year 2 members of With You’s staff received a salary over £100,000 (2020: 3).

The total amount of remuneration and employee benefits received by key management personnel for their services during the year was £939,199 (2020: £688,919). Key management personnel relates to the Executive Board members (2021:8, 2020:6).

Included in accruals is a provision for dilapidations and other potential legal matters of £343,873 (2020: £437,142) The estimated future costs of dilapidations and other legal matters are reviewed annually and adjusted as appropriate.

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With You

Notes to the financial statements continued

Funds

12
Movements in funds
Net Income/(Expenditure) for the year
before transfers
Transfers
Net Movement in Funds
Balance at the start of the year
Balance at the end of the year		 General
General
charitable
funds
Designat-
ed
fund
Restricted
funds
Total
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
2,130
-
(131)
1,999
(644)
644
-
-
1,487
644
(131)
1,999
5,066
1,035
796
6,897
6,552
1,679
665
8,896

In accordance with With You’s reserves policy, the designated fund represents fixed and other assets that cannot be readily converted into cash. At 31 March 2021 this was made up of £679,000 representing the net book value of unrestricted fixed assets.As part of the 2020/21 annual accounts the Trustees have approved the establishment of a designated reserve fund £1m to support organisation wide projects.

The projects included:

With You

Notes to the financial statements continued

Funds

Restricted funds
Revenue grants
Fulflling Lives Multiple Needs - Blackpool
Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme
Drink Wise, Age Well
Life Chances Fund
Recovery Pursuits SLanarkshire
The Learning Partnership for Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Ltd
The Pluss Organisation CIC
Ixion Holdings (Contracts) Ltd
Active Pluss Community Interest Company
Zurich community Trust (UK) Ltd
Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents fund Section 64 grant
Other funds
Capital grants
Total restricted funds		 Balance at
1 April
2019
Income
Expendi-
ture
Balance at
31 March
2020
£000
£000
£000
£000
48
1,554
(1,597)
4
55
-
(55)
0
564
4,826
(4,936)
454
-
35
(35)
-
5
50
(48)
7
2
86
(88)
0
5
422
(411)
16
12
88
(100)
-
1
288
(280)
8
21
5
(26)
-
18
120
(138)
-
208
1,199
(1,118)
289
939
8,673
(8,833)
778
46
-
(28)
18
996
8,673
(8,873)
796
13
Restricted funds
Revenue grants
Fulflling Lives Multiple Needs - Blackpool
Drink Wise, Age Well
Recovery Pursuits SLanarkshire
The Learning Partnership for Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Ltd
The Pluss Organisation CIC
Ixion Holdings (Contracts) Ltd
Active Pluss Community Interest Company
Other funds
Capital grants
Total restricted funds		 Balance at
1 April
2020
Income
Expendi-
ture
Balance at
31 March
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
4
1,555
(1,478)
81
454
527
(742)
239
7
50
(57)
-
-
14
(14)
-
16
408
(423)
1
-
68
(68)
-
8
284
(285)
7
289
2,452
(2,404)
337
778
5,358
(5,741)
665
18
-
(18)
-
796
5,358
(5,489)
665

14

Analysis of charity net assets between funds
Fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
Long term liabilities
Fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
Long term liabilities		 General
Charitable
Designated
Restricted
Total
funds
fund
funds
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
-
679
-
679
14,934
1,000
665
16,599
(8,274)
-
-
(8,274)
(108)
-
-
(108)
6,552
1,679
665
8,896
General
Charitable
Designated
Restricted
Total
funds
fund
funds
2020
£000
£000
£000
£000
-
1,035
18
1,053
12,769
-
779
13,548
(7,600)
-
-
(7,600)
(104)
-
-
(104)
5,065
1,035
796
6,897

Restricted funds relate to various grants and donations received from funders to support future services.

Within restricted funds, project capital funds are grants and donations given specifically for leasehold improvements, and new IT and office equipment purchases. Fund balances are reduced by depreciation on the relevant tangible fixed assets.

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With You Notes to the financial statements continued SOFA Comparatives

15 Statement of Financial Activities - detail of comparative figures

Notes
INCOME FROM:
Fundraising income
Investment income
Other income
3
Charitable activities
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Young people’s and transitional services
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds
Fundraising
Charitable activities
Adult services
Family services
Mental health services
Young people’s and transitional services
Profle and infuence
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
4
NET (EXPENDITURE)
FOR THE YEAR
Other recognised gains:
Actuarial gain on defned benefts
pension scheme
21
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
Funds brought forward at 1 April
FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD AT 31 MARCH		 Unrestricted
funds
£000
169
26
170		 Restricted
funds
£000
8,485
-
-		 Total
funds
2020
£000
8,654
26
170
365 8,485 8,850
42,649
10
5,296
6,531		 96
70
-
22		 42,745
80
5,296
6,553
54,486 188 54,674
54,851 8,673 63,524
194 - 194
194 - 194
43,077
154
5,169
5,872
342		 8,393
154
-
326
-		 51,470
308
5,169
6,198
342
54,614 8,873 63,487
54,808 8,873 63,681
43
-
43
6,058		 (200)
-
(200)
996		 (157)
-
(157)
7,054
6,101 796 6,897

With You

Notes to the financial statements continued

Lease obligations

16 Lease obligations

2021 2020
£000 £000

The following payments are committed to be paid in the future in respect of leases:

Minimum lease obligations falling due at the balance sheet date are set out below:

Under one year
Two to fve years
Over fve years
Total commitments		 915
959
1,972
2,147
834
943
3,721
4,049

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With You Notes to the financial statements continued Pension schemes

17 Pension schemes

The pension cost charge for the group’s defined contributions schemes represents contributions payable under the schemes by the group and amounted to £1,791,952 (2020: £1,811,170).

With You had Direction Employer status with the NHS Pension Scheme in relation to employees at a number of its projects during the year. The Scheme is an unfunded, defined benefit scheme, preparing its own statements, that covers NHS employers, general practices and other bodies, allowed under the direction of the Secretary of State, in England and Wales. The Scheme is not designed to be run in a way that would enable With You to identify its share of the underlying Scheme assets and liabilities. Therefore, the Scheme is accounted for as if it were a defined contribution scheme and the cost of the Scheme is taken as being equal to the contributions payable to the Scheme for the accounting period. The total employer contributions payable in the year were £262,066 (2020: £295,936). For both years employer contributions were paid at 14% of pensionable salary. Member contributions are between 5% - 14.5% of pensionable salary. At 31 March 2021 there were 52 (2020: 70) active members in the scheme employed by With You.

With You has Admitted Body status with the Local Government Pension Scheme in Shropshire, Hereford and Greater Manchester and Merseyside. The Scheme is a multi-employer defined benefit scheme. The total employer contributions payable in the year were £45,721 (2020: £63,835).

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© WE ARE WITH YOU. We are a private company limited by guarantee, with company no. 02580377, and a registered charity in England (no. 1001957) and Scotland (SCO40009).

Registered address: Part Lower Ground Floor, Gate House, 1-3 St. John’s Square, London, England, EC1M 4DH

90 | We Are With You Annual Report 2020/2021