2022-03-31-accounts - Staffordshire Pathway Project

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Charity No: 1005976 Company No: 02635912

The Staffordshire Pathway Project

(A company limited by guarantee)

Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Contents	Page
Vision, mission and values	2
Service review	3
Reference and administrative details	4
Trustees’ annual report	5
Report of the Independent Auditors	26
Statement of Financial Activities	30
Balance Sheet	31
Statement of Cash Flows	32
Notes to the Financial Statements	33

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Our Vision
To build a future where adults and children affected
by domestic and sexual abuse live in safety and free
from fear.
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Our Mission
To ensure that every adult and child who comes to us seeking support for domestic and
sexual abuse is given an opportunity to engage in services that can help them to make the
journey from victim to survivor.
Our Values
To put people at the heart of what we do:
At Pathway we believe in being service user led. Nobody knows what services and support are
needed, more than the people who access them. We are always here with an open mind and
open heart to ensure that we shape futures together.
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To be the best we can be:

No two people are the same. Whether you are a service user, volunteer or member of staff, we are all different. At Pathway we don’t believe in a one size fits all approach. Instead we want to celebrate our differences, value opinions and learn from each other, so that we can provide the best services, in the best way, with the best people.

To share our experiences:

Good, bad or funny. We want our service users to feel that they can share their experiences and know that they will be listened to and will contribute towards our development. We want our staff to know that in good and bad times, our door is always open and that our shared experience is what drives the strength of the team. At Pathway, we want to share our experiences and collaborate with other specialist organisations, to provide solutions and services that meet the needs of the people we are committed to.

To be open:

We understand that everyone’s journey begins at a different point and at a different time. At Pathway we won’t put restrictions on the number of times you can access a service, or on the amount of time that has passed before you felt that you could ask for support. We also understand that your needs may not always meet a threshold, but that doesn’t make them any less important to you. That’s why our helpline is open access to all, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Whether you need a friendly voice, to know more about our services or help getting support elsewhere, we will be there.

PATHWAY PROJEcf 2021/22 recer4ed 840 ferrOts for refuge space. were ableio 76 farn5. but had to twn away 764 Answered 4142 helpline calls and taken 1707 se worltiThg wth 803 ults. thildren aw 900/0 of rderra15 lastye 439 out of the fA6 adults we worked with had m•ntal health problom that's 681Its of Ser• 301 fdt 15epressed and had rtted from suKidal trUghts. jrKrra5e of 70/0 (Yb the year beth. 50 had self hami a5 a woyof cop¢ 58 service u8er8 had thre•ts to kill made ainsk them d suffe1 atr ment online or throu9h tempted strangula- soclnl medi• we prov•d•d 6824hr8 of support to adults. children and young peo- ple. including 7100 contacts face to face and by phone, tex¢ email and video lin and 1369 liaisons 9v. d •&lt ser¥iGe with other professionals 55010 of children young peq)le hal directty wii. nessed th)mellK abuse. and 5 6010 had inthrecty wit- ne55ed it. for ernotional abuse f•r ¢Ve1Ve control 79 •skod for su rt •r•und phy8•e•l 35Wo of TrY>ung peo h•d suffered dirert emotional abuse. with 320 ¢akng with direLt coer(iwe co •skod fw sur port arwnd finan¢• 470/0 of chil- dren and young people we worked with 30010 felt they needed sUPP(vtfor their were on a Child mentsl health and 2 50/0 said that t for 8talking1 the aSe

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Reference and administrative details For the year ended 31 March 2022

Company number	2635912	Country of incorporation	United Kingdom
Charity number	1005976	Country of registration	England and Wales
Registered office	The Hope Centre
and operational	3 Quonian Lane
address	Lichfield
	Staffordshire
	WS13 7LB
	Pathway Project is	the trading name of The Staffordshire Pathway Project
	(formerly The Burntwood Pathway Project)
Trustees	Trustees, who are	also directors under company law, who served during the
	year and up to the	date of this report were as follows:
		Chair
		Vice Chair
		Treasurer
		Company Secretary (Resigned 26 November 2021)
		(Resigned 26 November 2021)
Key Management	Hayley Baxter	Chief Executive
Personnel	Wendy Dee	Head of Operations
	Amanda Barnard	Finance Manager
	Jackie Hughes	Refuge Manager
	Lynn Laughton	Volunteer & Training Manager
Bankers	NatWest Bank plc
	47 Market Street
	Lichfield
	WS13 6LE
Solicitors	Moseley’s
	Compton House
	18 Bore Street
	Lichfield
	WS13 6LL
Auditors	Dains Audit Limited
	5 Colmore Row
	Birmingham
	B3 2BH

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

The trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022.

The reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. The trustees’ annual report also contains a directors’ report as required by company law.

Objectives and activities

The charity's objective is to relieve the physical, mental, emotional, social, financial and sexual distress among adults of all ages and/or their children, who have been maltreated or controlled by their partners, family members or persons with whom they were living or having a relationship with, or had made acquaintance of, specialising in gender-based abuse against women and girls.

a) Through our services we aim to provide adults and children with safety and support, whilst they make decisions about their future, and take the opportunity to change their lives in order to live a future in safety and free from fear.
b) Our main objectives for the year have been as follows:
To continue to effectively plan and manage services so that the minimum amount of disruption was caused to service users by COVID and pandemic regulations, until such a time as those regulations were removed.
To have an effective system for remote working and virtual support for service users that can be implemented whenever it is required.
To provide a programme of group work and support that can be offered virtually, where face to face working is not allowed so that service users can continue to benefit from training opportunities, whenever it is required.
To adept and respond to any additional health concerns as raised by national Government that may impact our services and their delivery.
To be aware of the ongoing economic situation of the country and the additional strain and risks that this may put on service users, and the service as a whole.
To safely work towards re-instating our programs of one to one and group face to face work, where appropriate.
To collaboratively work with Staffordshire Women’s Aid to deliver the county sexual violence service.
To support providers across the county by continuing to deliver a specialist County Counselling provision with the support of our Counselling Lead.
To continue to develop the Community Engagement Role to increase our community fundraising through post COVID events, including developing new fundraising opportunities and considering new fundraising techniques.
To continue to focus on applications for funding opportunities both from Government/Councils and other funders.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

To improve and develop services, and to work towards renewing our Women’s Aid National Quality Standards kite mark. Our accreditation was extended to five years and there was a temporary closure of the process during COVID, so we are now working to the new timescale.
To continue providing services and to find alternative funding streams that will support us to deliver a full service.
To develop specialist support for those people presenting with complex needs.
To develop new services that best meet the needs of our service users and our local communities.
To ensure that staff maintain their skills and knowledge through a programme of training and support.
To continue to develop our programme of specialist domestic abuse services across Tamworth and Lichfield.
To maintain the high level of service we provide through our refuge accommodation.
To work in partnership wherever possible so that service users get the best and most holistic service possible.
To undertake preventative work and support early intervention opportunities.
To support children and young people to recover from abuse and to understand healthy relationships.
To provide services offering legal advice to those unable to claim legal aid.
To continuously work to improve our services.
To work together with partners, increasing capacity and improving opportunities and learning.
To continue to deliver holistic services which work on meeting needs and supporting people in full long-term recovery after domestic abuse.
To continue developing and improving our groups and activities.
To continue developing our volunteering opportunities.

Public Benefit

Pathway Project works to provide services which benefit adults and children who have been made vulnerable due to domestic and/or sexual abuse, either within the home, or in their own personal or family relationships. Pathway Project recognises that domestic abuse is a primarily gendered issue and is a specialist women and girls organisation. Pathway Project also recognises that abuse can affect any person and offers a small range of male victim services in line with our funding arrangements. Each service that we offer is charitable, open to adults and children suffering abuse, and is free to the user, except in the case of refuge provision where rent and service charges are made. The greater proportion of this is paid by the local authority in the form of Housing Benefit, for women whose income is below the threshold.

Our beneficiaries have a charitable need which we aim to address in the many and varied services that we offer, and we are constantly developing our services to ensure that we provide a holistic and inclusive service.

The charitable purposes that we meet are:

a) The prevention or relief of poverty

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

b) The advancement of health or the saving of lives
c) The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantages

The trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period.

The trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the trustees ensure the charity’s aims, objectives and activities remained focused on its stated purposes.

The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity‘s aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Significant activities

Refuge Accommodation

We received 840 enquiries and referrals for refuge space 2021/22; this was down 6.6% on last year but still up 112% from pre COVID. We were able to house 76 families but had to turn away, refer on or signpost 764 families, meaning we had to turn away over 90% of our referrals. Again, we saw another increase in the number of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women, looking to access refuge; this went up to 39% from 32% in 2020/21. Alongside this increase we have also seen BME women needing to stay

with us for longer periods of time while we work through immigration issues, on average this is seeing women and their families staying with us for an average of 12mths before they are being given indefinite leave to remain and can begin to bid for housing.

Refuge accommodation still remains a vital and much needed service for Pathway Project. As more and more women entering emergency accommodation present with complex needs, refuges have become more than just somewhere to stay and are instead intensive services helping women and families with debt management, tenancy sustainment, life skills,

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

budgeting, literacy and numeracy. Supporting women through financial difficulty remains a key part of our work in refuge and our Financial Abuse Specialists work with everyone who comes into refuge to do an initial financial assessment that then means a package of support can be tailored around their individual needs. 65% of the service users in refuge had a financial need that ranged from destitution to being able to access benefits, with one of the biggest issues being housing arrears that had built up while they were with their abuser. It has been a huge help to us that our allocation of funding from the Smallwood Trust enables us to support women in financial difficulties by awarding them a grant, this service has allowed us to empower service users to pay off their arrears and begin their journey to a new home.

With the support of refuge funding we have also been able to launch a resettlement service. Whilst we have always had follow up phone calls, and referrals to outreach where domestic abuse work is still needed, this service allows us to do more to support families in the practicalities of moving into independent living, such as furnishing a new property or setting up utilities. It also provides much needed emotional support for those women who find it challenging to go from an environment with other service users and full support staff to living by themselves. This service is offered to everyone leaving our refuges.

Thanks to support from Tamworth Borough Council (TBC) and funding they have received from Government for safe accommodation we have also been able to re-instate management back into Tamworth Refuge after many years. The removal of an onsite manager occurred when we suffered a number of funding cuts that meant that a dual site refuge manager was the only way that we could support staffing across both sites. We have always felt that Tamworth needed its own manager, and we were aware that the growing complexities of running 24hr refuges took up increasing amounts of management time. We are delighted to have someone in post that is already driving the refuge forward, and thanks to some additional funding from TBC, from September onwards we will also be able to provide some additional hours for social activities with the women out of hours.

We have seen a fairly consistent level in the amount of women presenting with mental health issues, and the significant rise we saw during COVID, doesn’t appear to have dropped in anyway, with similar figures around people presenting with depression and suicidal thoughts, alongside self-harm. We believe that this shows the ongoing impact of COVID, alongside the increase in anxiety and stress around the cost of living and being able to pay bills. We expect to see both the number of people presenting with financial abuse and mental health issues increasing again as we move into the winter months and costs continue to spiral.

As always Pathway Project prides itself on the children’s services that it is able to offer both to Mum’s learning how to parent their children independently, and to children and young people directly to enable them to be heard, understood and move forward with their lives. In 2021/22, 62% of the children entering into refuge had involvement from Children’s Services and 55% of them had both endured domestic abuse directly and witnessed it happening to someone else in their family.

Since April 2021 funding for refuges has been devolved from national Government to local County Councils to commission services. Staffordshire County Council made the decision to continue with funding arrangements for 2021/22 while they information gathered for their commissioning process, and then made the decision to further extend their current funding arrangements from April 2022 to April 2023 as they still feel that they need to better understand refuge services. We would anticipate that tenders for refuge service will now be out in the new year.

As always we are extremely grateful to our refuge staff for their commitment to their work. It is a challenging job, with lone working and anti-social hours, as well as dealing with a difficult and emotional

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

subject matter every day and we hugely appreciate everything they do that allows us to continue delivering services.

24 Hour Helpline

Pathway Project’s 24hr helpline continues to be our first point of contact for service users and agencies, providing a combination of advice, guidance, support and urgent help in a crisis. It is also our central point of contact for all of our referrals.

After the impact of the first year of COVID and lockdown we have seen a slight drop in our helpline calls from 4454 (2020/21) contacts through all of our available mediums (phone, email, live chat, messenger) to 4142 calls in 2021/22. Whilst this is a decline of 7% on the previous year, it is still an increase of 18% on the year before COVID began, showing that there is still an ongoing effect from the pandemic, and we have yet to see what the true effect of the cost of living crisis will be on victims. Due to the effectiveness of opening up different channels of communication with messenger and live chat through COVID, we have made the decision to maintain these moving forward, allowing people as many options as possible to reach out for support.

Through the year we have taken 1707 referrals for adults and children’s services, up 3% on last year, showing that there is still increasing demand for services. Most people referring themselves in took up more than one service provision, showing the importance of holistic, wrap around support. Our helpline continues to not just allocate the caller to the service they need, but also offers emotional support, advice and guidance, refers and signposts them on to other services, and helps source other accommodation when our refuge facilities are full. Our team of dedicated Helpline Coordinators, volunteers and support workers who help to cover out of hours, are absolutely crucial to the work we do, enabling us to not just support those who need it but to manage our referrals and ensure people can access the correct services.

The Hope Centre

Our first year in the new Hope Centre has shown that we have made the right choice to keep a central building for staff and service users, as everywhere is now in full use. The office area very much remains a safe space for staff to not only do their work, but to also access peer support, as well as allowing volunteers to feel that they are very much part of the team. We have allocated dedicated space to one to ones, which is also used as our main counselling spaces, and we have extended that to cover two rooms in order to meet demand. We also now have a full programme of group work that runs both throughout the day and the evening covering everything from self-help, to anxiety workshops to domestic abuse menopause cafes. We have also started our male group out of hours, and also had our first male counsellor start with us.

We have lots of great plans for service delivery with the new building, and it has really helped us to drive our counselling and group work. We are also working closely with the landlord to examine any opportunities that may present themselves through space in the building that is still vacant and will be up for rent within the next 12 months.

Outreach

Pathway Project has continued to work on the service provision offered from our outreach team. Our Risk Reduction Worker is still the base of our team, taking referrals from anyone who feels they need support around domestic abuse. We were lucky enough to be able to retain funding for our Mental Health

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

and Domestic Abuse Worker (Wellbeing Worker) in 2021/22 and we are still continuing to look for new sources of funding to ensure that the post continues from October this year. It is a much utilised service that offers support to an increasingly vulnerable section of our service users, and we have seen a significant improvement in the attendance of women to one to ones and group work, who have previously been classed as difficult to engage with by agencies. We also retained our Young Women and Girls Worker and provided a further 7.5hrs of funding to meet demand.

This year we were also incredibly grateful to have been awarded five years of funding from the National Lottery Reaching Communities Community Fund. This funding allowed us to retain our Risk Reduction Worker, and develop new posts around risk assessment, family work and housing, as well as funding other key roles. We felt extremely proud to receive such positive feedback about our previous Women and Girls Funding and achievements, as well as having support from such a large funder in our vision for Pathway Project moving forwards.

We were also fortunate to receive funding from Lichfield District Council for a new Economic Abuse Worker. This post looks at the larger picture around financial/economic abuse including issues such as stopping people accessing education, training or work, preventing them from learning skills (e.g. language) that would support their economic achievements and the control of things that money can buy such as clothes, transport or food. We are really excited to have this post, especially at a time when we know economic abuse is likely to be increasing, and finances as a whole are going to be challenging.

While we will still be looking for ways to build the levels of support we can offer around domestic abuse and housing, this year did see the final year of funding from Nationwide for the specialist post. Sadly, Nationwide are not supporting any projects in Staffordshire this year, but will continue to focus on this as a key area of work, especially with the concerns around costs of housing in the current economic climate.

During 2022/23 we will be looking to continue developing our specialist workers, and the new opportunities we have with our lottery funding. We will be using the data we have available to ensure that we are focusing on the key areas that best meet the needs of our service users, with key issues appearing to be supporting people with disabilities.

Again, Pathway Project is hugely appreciative of all the hard work and commitment that staff bring to our organisation, without them we would not be able to make such a huge difference to so many people’s lives and we remain grateful for that passion and drive.

Recently, we had this wonderful feedback:

“I felt like I was losing my mind when I first contacted Pathway and you've really helped validate that I wasn't crazy and that I can have a happy future.

I also feel like everything that has happened over the last few weeks and this last weekend would have been completely different had I not reached out. I know for a fact I wouldn't have been able to handle it in the way I have because I was struggling so bad beforehand and I know I definitely wouldn't have had the courage to contact the police. I feel supported and I know I'm not alone.

I feel so emotional writing this because in a time I should feel so sad, all I feel is hope and gratitude.

I really do appreciate you. My life could have been so different now had I not had support and I will forever be grateful for that.”

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Sexual Violence Services

We have continued to deliver Survive (Sexual Violence Services) in conjunction with Staffordshire Women’s Aid, and have been delighted with the positive response from service users and commissioners. We have recently received the very positive news that this service will be commissioned for a further year from October 2022 and will retain the same hours and delivery for the Independent Sexual Violence Advisor and the Children’s Independent Sexual Violence Advisor. This year did see the end of the pilot for the Family and Significant Others Practitioner, further funding was given for a more reduced service to match need, and this is now being delivered in house by Staffordshire Women’s Aid, and we are able to access this through the Survive helpline. Again, we thank Staffordshire Women’s Aid for allowing us to be a key delivery partner for such an important service.

Children's Services

We have continued to deliver our Children’s Services, both in refuge and the community. We have been really pleased to be welcomed back into schools after the difficulties of the pandemic, and have also been able to utilise space at the Hope Centre to deliver one to ones. Our numbers have remained fairly similar to last year, with only a 6% increase, meaning that we have still not returned to pre COVID levels. We are aware that it is very challenging times for agencies working with children, with ongoing issues around

recruitment for front line staff alongside and rising concerns for mental health. As an organisation we anticipate that we will continue to see worries around the engagement of specialist services for young people for the immediate future.

As well as working directly with children and young people we also continue to deliver preventative work to other voluntary agencies, statutory agencies and schools, though their carousel and drop down days. This service continues to be well utilised by the local community and agencies who understand the specialist nature of the work.

This year we have also been very lucky to be able to apply for and receive an additional years funding from Children In Need, on top of our normal grant that would have ended in November. This was offered out to

organisations with a positive track record to allow Children In Need to temporarily close down and reformat their grant making process for most of this year.

As always, Pathway Project is hugely appreciative of the Children’s Team and the hard work it does in supporting some of our most vulnerable service users.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Community Engagement Worker

We first began our community engagement role during COVID, as a new way to drive fundraising and to continue to drive awareness raising for domestic abuse and the organisation as a whole. We continued this role through our fundraising and are pleased to say that we have now guaranteed its ongoing continuation through our new lottery funding.

This year we did make the decision to split the role down further, meaning we now have two members of staff, one focusing on overseeing and driving our social media and the website and the other focusing on community engagement and fundraising. This has enabled both members of staff to really focus on their own pieces of work and we are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve with our community focused work over the next year.

County Counselling Service

Pathway Project has always been passionate about counselling and the life changing work it can do to support people dealing with trauma and we were delighted to be able to offer a County Counselling Service throughout COVID and 2021/22, thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justic (MoJ) through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. This service has continued to work with all the domestic and sexual abuse service providers across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, ensuring access to counselling for all service users who need it.

As with during COVID, this support is offered in whatever way is best suited to the service user, whether that is face to face or through Zoom or WhatsApp and all service users are assessed by our Counselling Lead before moving fully into the counselling programme. Being able to take on a second counsellor has been a huge support to the service, helping us to see more service users and better manage demand. As well as taking on a second paid counsellor we have also continued to develop our volunteer counsellors, who offer additional support to the service. During 2021/22 we supported a total of 212 service users, and increase of 26% on the year before. We also saw an increase in referrals from Mental Health and started taking referrals from Savannah (Stoke in Trent) during this period.

We are extremely pleased to say that we have also been successful in our application to the MoJ for further continuation money for the service. Again, this is being issued through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and will continue until the end of 2023/24.

We had this lovely feedback from one of our service users:

“I am writing to you as M’s line manager to advise what a professional and excellent counsellor she is. I have had 9 sessions with M and hope to have my final appointment soon. She has helped me turn my life around by helping me to see how I need to consider myself more and gave me some strategies for keeping myself safe. In June I was suicidal I am far from this now and am much more self-aware and can appreciate what is going on around me. I can now assert myself without overwhelming guilt I no longer have to prove my decisions or justify them and I am much more me centred. I am 65yrs old and cannot wait to live my next chapter and thanks to M I know I can”

As well as service users we have also received positive feedback from Universities about the counselling placement opportunities we have been able to offer students, especially around the experience they have been able to develop and the supervision that they have been able to receive. This year we have also extended the number of educational establishments that we take placements from, which is working well.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Volunteering and Peer Mentoring

2021/22 has been very much about re-engaging with our volunteers after the difficulties of COVID, which saw us having to stop volunteering during the Governments work from home directive and then reduce our volunteers to minimum levels in order to ensure social distancing when we came back into the office. We made sure to still communicate with volunteers during this difficult time, with the Volunteer and Training Manager ensuring that there were regular phone and zoom catch ups. Not only did this allow us to retain our volunteers, but also meant we were able to ensure that they were not struggling with isolation and managing their self-care throughout this period.

We currently have 15 volunteers supporting us, with plans for a further recruitment day particularly looking for volunteers to help support with groups and fundraising. We have had an additional three volunteers taken on as paid staff for Pathway Project, and a further 3 volunteers transition into paid employment elsewhere, which has been amazing for us to see. We also have a volunteer at Tamworth Refuge who will be joining us as a paid worker in November, to help support our new out of hours offering for the refuge.

This year has seen us take on a second male volunteer in our counselling programme. Feedback with regards to this has been very positive with female service users happy to work with him. On the back of this success he is now going to be supporting us to deliver our new male victim group from September, and also support our Counselling Lead to deliver our mens anxiety group. Our other male volunteer continues to offer peer support to service users, as well as general support to the team.

In September we will also be welcoming back our first placement student since pre-COVID, they will be based at Lichfield Refuge for 12 months while they complete their social sciences course.

As normal our Volunteer and Training Manager has also supported our Counselling Lead in supervising and retaining all of our volunteer counsellors.

As an organisation we want to thank all of the volunteers for not just supporting us in all the work we do but also for their patience and kindness with us while we navigated the pandemic. We would also like to thank all the family members, friends and people in the community who have volunteered to help us with our fundraising and never turn us away when we ask!

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Groups

This year has seen a real focus on the continued development of our group work, to ensure we are offering as much support as we can in the key areas that affect service users the most. This year our group work has consisted of:

Reaching Out

A 6-week group aimed at raising awareness of domestic abuse, the affect it can have on individuals and other people in their lives. We also look at the blame culture, the legal implications of some actions and the support available. Some of the feedback we have had includes:

“The film used is powerful. Promotes, poignant discussion”

“Well organised, everyone was heard”

“Helped me to understand what abuse has done to me. I feel less alone and less at fault”

“Gained more understanding of domestic abuse through the group sharing experiences”

Journey to Self-Discovery

A 6-week programme run by our Counselling Lead looking at how to move on from domestic abuse, we also teach service users coping methods that use therapeutic techniques including self-care and mindfulness. This group tends to follow on from Reaching Out, to encourage service user to continue moving forward with their lives. This is a very popular group and some of the feedback has included:

“Learning about self-compassion, listening to my inner voice and recognising how to look after myself, and be the best version of me”

“Enjoyed all of it! Talked a lot, may have held up the course a little because of it! Took a lot out of this course

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Anxiety Programme

This is 3 weekly sessions, currently for women, and from September we will be providing this to men also. This group looks into the science behind anxiety, helping to understand how it affects the brain, and how we can manage it with therapies and medical intervention. This group was developed to react to the increasing number of people who were coming to Pathway Project with not just anxiety caused by domestic abuse, in increased generalized anxiety in reaction to COVID and cost of living pressures.

Menopause Café

This group looks at women’s health and well-being issues, also including guest speakers and peer support in the sessions. This is a safe environment for women who have suffered domestic abuse and our now dealing with the menopause to share their worries, and support each other with things that are related to them as individuals.

Male Support

These are monthly sessions aimed at giving men a voice in their own right. Overseen by our Volunteer and Training Manager, but with our male volunteer who has researched issues around support for males, and our male counsellor, running the sessions. From September the sessions will be done in the centre.

Wellbeing sessions

6 Sessions run by our wellbeing worker, looking at supporting women experiencing low level mental health issues and opening the discussion up around domestic abuse. Using talking, peer support and creative tasks to encourage shared experiences and support in a safe and confidential place.

Crafternoon

Run monthly by our Young Women and Girls worker, this group is one we have a lot of interest in, with around 12 women attending each session. The woman who attend have the chance to bring out their creative skills with a full range of crafts including decorating tote bags, building bird tables and designing plant pots. The focus of this group is around building social skills and friends, as well as increasing confidence in a safe environment. One service user told us:

“I walked through Lichfield on my own after the group, I didn’t let my anxiety beat me, I did it, that’s a big deal for me and it means I can do it again. I feel like I am bursting with confidence, thank you so much for letting me join the group”

Family Support

This is facilitated by our family support worker. This group aims to support family members of those who are experiencing domestic abuse, giving them a place to air their worries and have an understanding of how they can best support their family and friends, but also recognising they need to look after

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

themselves as well.

Chat and Chill

This group runs twice a month, in daytime and evening sessions. This was set up as we find that women who have met in the different groups, do form friendships and feel safe to talk to each other without judgement, and often asked us if they could meet again in other groups. It’s a relaxed, friendly group which changes as people join and leave it, but it’s never dull!

One off group sessions

These vary over the months, as we utilise a lot of funded sessions, or things that have been gifted to us. In the next few months we have cinema trips, belly dancing, cyber safety/scams sessions, and art sessions all coming up.

Legal Clinics

After closing our legal clinics during 20/21 due to COVID, the furloughing of a lot of local law firms and the backlog across courts, we are pleased to say that clinics were re-instated during 2021/22.

Constitution and Memorandum of Articles

This year we updated our Constitution and Memorandum of Articles to better reflect the organisation as it is now, update the language used and ensure we had clear direction around the Board with regards to the number of trustees we should hold and our AGM process. This was agreed by both Companies House and the Charity Commission and formally changed in October 2021.

The strategy that drives the activities………….

As always, the main focus for Pathway Project remains the needs of our service user. As an organisation we have always strongly believed that the best people to tell us what they need to make that journey from victim to survivor, are our service user themselves. This means that as well as using county and local authority strategies, national data and information from the police to shape our delivery, Pathway Project also spends a lot of time identifying specific needs within our local community, through the people we work with. We do this through a combination of analysing the data we are able to collect through our case and data management system, Oasis, key trends spotted by staff, service user’s direct request/comments and our own consultations that we run through our service user group consultations and our Survivor to Thrivor group.

As always Pathway Project is also very proud to be affiliated with National Women’s Aid who continues to provide support in a number of different ways, including the national framework for domestic and sexual abuse services. Accreditation for the standards was extended to five years, up to 2021, and with the standards put on hold by Women’s Aid during COVID; we are currently just working through our evidence for our re-accreditation, and hope to have this in place by the end of 2022.

Pathway Project continues to work closely with our partner domestic abuse agencies across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. We have supported New Era, Glow and Staffordshire Women’s Aid with our County Counselling services and we are subcontracting with Staffordshire Women’s Aid to help deliver Survive,

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

the County sexual violence service. This year we have also begun supporting Savannah, a sexual violence service in Stoke on Trent, with any referrals that are coming to them for domestic abuse counselling. As always, Pathway Project continues to work closely with a number of agencies both statutory and voluntary, including Tamworth Borough and Lichfield District Councils, Housing and Community Safety Partnerships, Children’s Services, Citizens Advice Bureau and Bromford Housing.

We are also continuing with our focus on specialist workers, supported by our Risk Reduction Worker. We have funding for our Mental Health and Domestic Abuse Specialist through Lichfield District Council until October 2022 and we are currently working on finding further funding to keep that post going due to the level of demand. While the main funding for our Domestic Abuse and Housing Specialist ended, we are now looking at other funding opportunities to reinstate this post to full time in the future. Our Resettlement Worker and Financial Abuse Worker are both in place at refuge, and we believe that this enhances the holistic package of support we can provide women to support them on their journey forward. As we mentioned in last year’s report, this year we wanted to focus on funding an Economic Abuse Specialist, which we have been successful in doing, and we are continuing to build evidence for a Substance Misuse Worker. In the upcoming year we will also be looking at putting together a business plan that will allow us to consider ways of generating sustainable income as well as volunteer and training opportunities for our service users and the local community.

Our online data and case management system, Oasis, remains a fantastic tool in allowing us to respond to funding applications and to meaningfully contribute to the local and national agenda on domestic and sexual abuse trends and issues. Not only does the system streamline the data into easy searches it also puts it into easy to read report formats, reducing what has previously been time consuming work. We are also happy to be able to share anonymous data with Women’s Aid to allow them to help build a national picture of what survivors want and need.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

As an organisation we are really excited to be building our community fundraising again, after having to cancel all our planned events with COVID. 2021/22 saw us attend the few community events that ran, although with still so much uncertainty over COVID, this was less than we had anticipated, however we already have a full schedule of our own, and others, events for 2022/23, including our pop up shop, pride events and awareness sessions. We have continued to use social media and online resources to drive our fundraising, including collaborations with a jeweler, participation in the Big Give an online draw for a John Lewis voucher alongside set fundraisers and birthday giving. We are continuing to look at how new technologies and online options can drive our fundraising, we have installed Enthuse on our website to allow people to directly donate straight to us online, and this also gives people the option to set up monthly giving if they want to. Enthuse can also be used by people to set up their own fundraising pages for us, meaning we can cut the costs of additional payments to Just Giving. We have also noticed that people have been asking us about making cash free donations when we have been out awareness raising, so we are now looking at different portable systems that may make this possible.

Achievements and Performance

While 2020/21 was about surviving COVID, 2021/22 has been about navigating the aftermath of the pandemic, alongside challenging world issues, including rising costs, the war in Ukraine and the political landscape and this will be continuing into 2022/23, with the added pressures of cost of living increases. For many charities this whole period of time has been about retaining services, managing finances and supporting staff and service users, and this has been no different for Pathway Project. At the heart of everything has been ensuring that we continue to deliver much needed services to those people who are most vulnerable and in need. This year Pathway Project has seen:

Expansion of our group work to include male victims, a menopause café, family and significant others work, as well as craft and informal social sessions.
Development of our Economic Abuse Specialist role.
Recruitment of the resettlement worker role in refuge.
The National Lottery awarding us with five years of funding through their Reaching Communities programme.
Advent for Change and their team choosing us to be one of their charities for the fourth year running, this year will be on both the premium Advent Calendar and the Advent Candle again.
Funding secured to put management support back into Tamworth Refuge, and into providing additional out of hours sessions there for the women and children.
The continuation and development of our Community Engagement Worker role and our Social Media role
Our refuges secure a further year of funding through Staffs County Council.
Our County Counselling Service having their contract extended for a further two years.
An additional one year’s funding from Children in Need.
Staffordshire Women’s Aid continuing to sub contract us to support delivery of the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent sexual violence Survive Service.
Smallwood Trust awarding us additional capital to disperse out to women in need.
Our first successful Big Give online match funding campaign

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Our first post COVID networking with Love Biz Women’s Networking.
Successful Christmas and Easter campaigns.
Our continuing contribution to the local community and county domestic abuse strategies.

One of the greatest assets that Pathway Project has is our wonderful team. The work that we do as an organisation is demanding in many ways, but our staff never falter in making sure that they do their best for the service users who need us and Pathway Project would like to say a huge thank you to every one of our staff for the commitment and love that they have shown our organisation, no matter what the challenges.

Beneficiaries of our services

The complex needs of our beneficiaries have been recognised in our strategy focusing on specialist support, as very rarely do service users present with domestic/sexual abuse, and no other additional support needs. We feel that the more support that can be offered from one central point, with one trusted worker in a place that enables someone to feel safe, the better engagement we will receive and the greater opportunity for success for our service users. Pathway Project continues to take on feedback, both negative and positive, and use this to drive forward our services and make effective changes

Financial Review

Fundraising remains a key priority for Pathway Project; this is through all mediums including community fundraising, grants, trust and large funding streams. This is also across all areas including restricted funding for set projects or costs, unrestricted funding to help cover general costs, and capital funding to fund projects such as new phone and IT systems.

As always, the successful delivery of a professional organisation means that it is necessary to have management oversight and buildings to operate from, including their operating costs, and all of these contribute to the front-line services at the heart of Pathway Project. The importance of having a building has been re-enforced this year with the number of people coming in to receive counselling and attend group work. Funding both of these areas remains a constant struggle for charities, and will become more so with the increases in utility costs, where there is a continued focus by funders on direct delivery, and not their associated costs. Despite this Pathway Project continues to work hard to source any funding that may support this.

Nationwide, with the continued funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities being dispersed to County Councils (DLUHC), our refuges remain safe until April 2023. At the moment we have no indication from Staffordshire County Council with regards to when the commissioning process for refuge is likely to be going out for procurement, although we do know that there is funding available to continue commissioning current services past April 2023, if the commissioning process is not ready.

Our Head of Operations is now working an additional day a week, this allows for her to work closely with both the Social Media and Community Engagement Workers, and help to drive our general fundraising. It is also allowing her additional time to start working on some of the smaller bids to support the CEO, and allow her to concentrate on larger funding opportunities. Both roles are also supporting the Community Engagement Worker to build her skill set so that she can also support funding applications.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

In February 2022, we also made the decision to award a 5% pay increase to all of our staff, to recognise both their hard work during COVID and the ongoing issues around the cost of living. This was put in place in April 2022.

During this year our total income decreased to £832,862 (2021: £903,409). We expected this decline due to a large proportion of additional funding that we accessed through COVID no longer being available and also due to the fact that our National Lottery Empowering Women and Girls Funding, which funded a number of core posts, came to a close in July 2021, alongside our Nationwide funding. Expenditure has been tightly managed but still increased to £860,619 (2021: £780,287). Again, this was expected as costs that had dramatically reduced during lockdown such as rent, utilities and staff expenses, were re-instated during this period, and we had some new larger services in place, such as the county counselling service. We were also expecting to retain a deficit for 2021/22, due to the loss of the large National Lottery funding, for job roles within services that couldn’t be closed, such as the helpline and Volunteer and Training Manager, while we sourced other funding.

Thank you to the Patrons and Friends of Pathway Project for their on-going commitment. It is a huge encouragement to us that people remain so passionate about the work we do.

Principal funding sources

Our refuge ‘bricks and mortar’ costs are funded through the housing benefit which is paid to us on behalf of residents, we review this yearly with our District and Borough Councils and we are thankful the campaigning that has secured government support for retaining housing benefit payments for refuges, as this remains our only consistent source of funding. The money from Staffordshire County Council, through DLUHC has been instrumental in funding the staffing of our refuges, which are critical to successful refuge provision. We are also very grateful to Staffordshire County Council for recognising increases in costs to organisations and increasing the refuge funding to help accommodate this.

The National Lottery Empowering Women and Girls Initiative completed its final year in July 2021, after five years of funding. This project was a huge support for our organisation, allowing us to secure funding for staple services within our organisation, as well as allowing us to trial new services. After a long application process we are delighted to say that we were awarded National Lottery Reaching Communities funding in April 2022, starting in May 2022. Again this has allowed us to give our staff job security for five years as well as securing vital services, and allowing us to continue some of our new work.

The Ministry of Justice, through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, has supported our County Counselling project. Due to us providing fully qualified and registered counsellors, the support costs for this are high, but the number of people seen and the current outcomes are excellent.

The Smallwood Trust has supported us to be able to offer our first grant making service to any women working us who are struggling with financial hardship. The fund provides a small amount to help cover the work that needs to be done by our Finance Manager to administer the payments, and the remainder of the money is paid out to service users to support them with things such as housing arrears, new furniture etc. We were also fortunate to receive some core cost funding from the Smallwood Trust during COVID.

Children in Need have also been a key funder in supporting the work that we do with children and young people, and have continued their funding into next year.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

We are very grateful to our District and Borough Councils for their support around our Mental Health and Domestic Abuse Specialist, our Economic Abuse Worker and our new Refuge Manager at Tamworth.

We also have a number of other grants and gifts from trust funds, foundations and through individuals in our Patron’s scheme.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The Board of Trustees is very aware of on-going risks and regularly reviews the work done to mitigate these. We have both a business plan and an income generation plan that we work towards and review. We have a Risk Management Policy and regularly review the principal risks identified, which are financial, operational and reputational.

Financial – Income generation still remains a key focus and priority for Pathway Project, both around securing contributions to core costs, raising funds for capital projects and for ensuring the continuity of current services and the development of new ones. Work will constantly be done on fundraising throughout the year, our main current priority is funding for the continuation of our Mental Health and DA Specialist. Our biggest uncertainties at the moment remain the potential commissioning, and timescales for this, for refuge provision alongside the dramatic increases in the cost of living and how this will impact on staff retention and recruitment, and the general costs of the organisation. We are currently working on a benchmarking exercise in relation to staff salaries.

Operational – Our biggest operational risk remains the Hope Centre, this is in terms of the potential impact of increasing costs and how we manage the building operationally, to help manage those, as it is key to our delivery package. We continue to work with people with complex needs, chaotic lives, and who are often at serious risk. Having done all that we can to minimise the risks, we also have insurance against many possible risks and losses.

Reputational – Once again the main issue is that we work with vulnerable service users with complex needs and we need to prioritise safeguarding all of the people who we work with. Where we need to ensure our staff’s safety, they work jointly in pairs or do joint visits with other agencies. We only visit service users having undertaken a thorough risk assessment. All of our working practices are aimed at supporting both staff and service users. We attend regular professionals meetings in order to maintain awareness of risk to or from vulnerable service users, and we deal promptly with any issues which arise. We monitor out media presence so that we can take action wherever appropriate. We also remain aware of the professional and reputational challenges that can come into place with regards to the commissioning process that is likely to be taking place within the next 18 months.

Reserves Policy and Going Concern

The trustees have examined the charity’s requirements in light of the main risks of the organisation and aim to build up our reserves to give us some financial stability if problems arise. We are susceptible to shortfalls in funding where particular activities are funded by varied and unpredictable income streams. Our policy and target level of free reserves is to hold a minimum of 12 months’ operating expenditure. As a result, we estimate that we currently require approximately £700,000 to meet this target. Our actual free reserves at the year-end were £431,637 (2021: £420,867) an increase on last year, although we will have a significant challenge ahead to continue to build our reserves until we meet this target level, especially with current economic challenges.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Restricted funds as at 31 March 2022 are £79,112 (2021: £110,999) and these funds will all be spent on the charitable activity to which they apply in the next financial year.

Despite the target to build unrestricted reserves, the free reserves of the organization are primarily supported by cash resources. We have demonstrated in the past our ability to be agile in how we have reacted to significant changes in our overall business model, including losing key sources of funding, and have demonstrated a tight control over our cost base. These practices will continue, along with the regular monitoring of the income pipeline to ensure that Pathway Project can continue to deliver its key services in an external environment presenting continued uncertainty. As a result of regularly monitoring both reserves levels and cash flow, the trustees are satisfied to approve these financial statements on a going concern basis.

Plans for the future

To secure funding for our Mental Health and DA Specialist and continue to develop our programme of specialist roles, based on the needs of our service users.
To continue to develop our group programme offering to ensure a holistic programme of additional education and support, alongside one to one work.
To continue to enhance our provision for service users at the Hope Centre.
To continue to grow our community fundraising opportunities.
To put together a business plan for a project based on sustainable income, volunteering and training for service users and the local community.
To implement a programme of redecoration for Tamworth, as well as upgrading some older facilities such as the security camera system, and changing the lights to LED.
To prepare for commissioning opportunities that will be coming out in the upcoming 18 months.

As always Pathway Project will continue to proactively develop models of working which best meet the needs of survivors as well as seeking opportunities for funding and collaborative working. We will also continue to work on raising awareness in both the local and wider community, to ensure that domestic and sexual violence and the work needed to be done to end it is truly understood.

Fundraising

As a charity we are working hard to broaden the base of our funding streams so that there is less reliance on any single source. We have continued to plan our applications to grant funders, both national and local. We have also taken a more pro-active approach to raising funds from the community, and particularly unrestricted funds.

We believe that our fundraising should be ethical, and in line with the Fundraising Regulator Code of Practice. Pathway Project operates a policy around the protection of vulnerable adults, and this includes ensuring vulnerable people are not negatively impacted by our fundraising. We have a Fundraising Group who plan and oversee community events. One trustee from the charity is part of this group and ensures

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

that best practice is always followed. Our Community Engagement Worker is overseen by our Head of Operations and all fundraising has to be signed off by Senior Management.

We have a robust insurance policy which protects us for running events and we follow a risk assessment process when planning our events. The Head of Operations feeds back on the Fundraising Group in the next trustee meeting following it.

We are happy for the public, including our supporters, to complain if they are unhappy with our fundraising. We received no complaints during 2021/22. Complaints and comments are welcome and we aim to use feedback, whether positive or negative, to help us to improve our service.

Structure, governance and management

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 7 August 1991 (in England and Wales) and registered as a charity on 14 November 1991.

The company was established under a memorandum of association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its articles of association. This was revised and accepted by the Charity Commission and Companies House in October of 2021.

All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. No expenses are reclaimed from the charity as disclosed in note 8 to the accounts.

Code of Governance

As part of our work with Pilotlight and as part of our own internal review procedures, the Trustees have considered best practice set out within the Charity Governance Code and use this to form the basis of their work.

Appointment of trustees

A process is in place following best practice guidelines, to recruit and appoint new trustees in a similar process to that used to appoint staff members. The charity plans strategically to have a board of trustees who are able to bring a range of expertise and skills to the board meetings.

Trustee induction and training

Trustees are inducted and trained through a formal training system, which includes having a Mentor who is a more experienced board member. Part of the annual Trustee Away Day is sometimes a particular briefing session to inform and build knowledge. All trustees are welcome to attend training / briefing sessions that are being held for staff.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

Policy for employment of disabled persons

Pathway Project believes in providing equality of opportunity for disabled persons. All jobs are advertised with a person specification outlining the particular aptitudes and abilities required in the role. The job is given to the person who best fulfils the requirements of the role. If necessary adjustments are required then we will seek to accommodate the adaptations.

Should a member of staff become disabled during their employment we will work with them to facilitate a return to work when possible, and will seek to accommodate their needs for adaptations or assistance.

Opportunities for training and career development will be equally open to disabled persons and they will not be disadvantaged in possible promotion opportunities.

Employee information and remuneration policy for key management personnel

The CEO and Head of Operations have delegated authority for managing the day to day operation of the organisation.

Employees are the foundation of our organisation and as such we seek to keep them informed and consulted about any changes that are being made in the organisation. This is done through regular team meetings and email memos.

When changes are being considered, which will impact on the working conditions of staff, they are fully consulted and offered opportunities to have an input into decisions being made.

The remuneration of the key management personnel is set by the Board. The Chair conducts the annual appraisal of the Chief Executive Officer and the board agrees her salary. Comparable salaries for executive roles in other similar sized organisations in the health and social care sector are used as a benchmark for setting the salary.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of Pathway Project for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report including the strategic report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2022

State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company 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 charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware
The trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

The trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

The trustee’s annual report has been approved by the trustees on 24 November 2022 and signed on their behalf.

Independent Auditors’ Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Staffordshire Pathway Project (the ‘charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2022, which comprise the Statement of financial activities, the Balance sheet, the Statement of cash flows and the related notes, 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 our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2022 and of the charitable company's incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council's Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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.

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 other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report other than the financial statements and our Auditors' Report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the 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 course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies

Independent Auditors’ Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project

or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. 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.

Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

the information given in the Trustees’ Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the Trustees’ Report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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 misstatements in the Trustees’ Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of director's remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemptions in preparing the Trustees' Report and from the requirement to prepare a Strategic Report.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement set out on page 24, 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 determine 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.

Independent Auditors’ Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project

Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 Auditors' 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.

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. Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

the senior statutory auditor ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charitable company through discussions with Trustees and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the charity sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charitable company, including the financial reporting legislation, Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation, anti-bribery, employment, and environmental and health and safety legislation;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.

We assessed the susceptibility of the charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

Independent Auditors’ Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project

agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
reviewing correspondence with HMRC, relevant regulators and the charitable company’s legal advisors.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditors' Report.

Other matters

The financial statements of the charitable company for the year ended 31 March 2021 were audited by Haines Watts who expressed an unmodified opinion on these financial statements on 26 November 2021.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditors' Report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and its members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Mark Gurney FCCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Dains Audit Limited

Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants

Birmingham 24 November 2022

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Statement of financial activities For the year ended 31 March 2022

Note Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2022 2022 £ £ Income from Donations 2 51,984 42,400 Charitable activities Domestic violence prevention 3 73 177,974 Refuge 3 398,238 69,567 Refuge based activities 3 - 42,750 Children’s projects 3 - 32,976 Other trading activities 4 16,758 113 Investments 5 30 - Total income 467,082 365,780 Expenditure on Raising funds 6 3,330 - Charitable activities Domestic violence prevention 6 - 263,030 Refuge 6 418,541 - Children’s projects 6 - 69,034 Refuge based activities 6 - 106,684 Total expenditure 6 421,871 438,748 Net income / (expenditure) before transfers 45,211 (72,968) Transfers between funds 15 (41,081) 41,081 Net movement in funds 4,130 (31,887) Reconciliation of funds Fund balances brought forward 427,543 110,999 Fund balances carried forward 431,673 79,112		Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2022 2021 2021 £ £ £ 94,384 59,995 3,666 178,047 18,121 264,034 467,805 374,593 51,649 42,750 - 47,896 32,976 2,508 53,256 16,871 26,818 750 30 123 - 832,862 482,158 421,251 3,330 2,303 - 263,030 - 255,472 418,541 402,780 - 69,034 - 64,904 106,684 - 54,828 860,619 405,083 375,204 (27,757) 77,075 46,047 - (9,446) 9,446 (27,757) 67,629 55,493 538,542 359,914 55,506 510,785 427,543 110,999	Total 2021 £ 63,661 282,155 426,242 47,896 55,764 27,568 123 903,409 2,303 255,472 402,780 64,904 54,828 780,287 123,122 - 123,122 415,420 538,542

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included above.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project (registered company number 02635912)

Balance sheet As at 31 March 2022

Notes Fixed assets Tangible assets 10 Current assets Debtors 11 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 12 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Total net assets Funds Restricted 15 Unrestricted 15 Total funds		2022 £ 8,086 32,431 506,997 539,427 (36,728) 502,699 510,785 510,785 79,112 431,673 510,785	2021 £ 10,468 23,092 563,586
			586,678 (58,604) 528,074 538,542


			538,542
			110,999 427,543
			538,542

Approved by the Board on 24 November 2022 and signed on its behalf by:

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Statement of cash flows As at 31 March 2022

Cash flows from operating activities Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period Depreciation charges Loss on disposal of fixed assets Interest from investments Decrease / (increase) in debtors (Decrease) / increase in creditors Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities Cash flows from investing activities Interest from investments Payments to acquire fixed assets Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year		2022 £ (27,757) 2,868 3,264 (30) (9,339) (21,876) (52,871) 30 (3,750) (3,720) (56,591) 563,586 506,997	2021 £ 123,122 2, 653 - (123) 8,834 5,609
			140,095 123 -
			123
			140,218 423,368
			563,586

The notes on pages 33 to 45 form part of these financial statements.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies

1.1 Statutory information

The Staffordshire Pathway Project is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in the United Kingdom (England and Wales). The registered office address and operational address is The Hope Centre, 3 Quonians Lane, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 7LB. The principal activity of the charitable company is given in the Trustees’ report.

1.2 Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance and fully complies with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

1.3 Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

1.4 Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

1.5 Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

1.6 Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

1.7 Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

1.8 Fund Accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees, in furtherance of the general objectives of the charitable company, and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds are unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for a specific, but not legally binding, purpose.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donors within the objects of the charity. Expenditure that meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

1.9 Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose
Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of delivering services undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Governance costs are those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charitable company and include audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charitable company.

Direct charitable expenditure is allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However support and governance costs, so the cost of the overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the basis of staff time attributable to each activity.

1.11 Operating Leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

1.12 Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

1.13 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Assets which cost in excess of £500 are initially capitalised at cost. Depreciation is provided at annual

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:

Children’s play equipment 20%, reducing balance basis Fixtures and fittings 20%, reducing balance basis Office equipment 25%, reducing balance basis

1.14 Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due and prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid.

1.15 Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity 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 after allowing for any trade discounts due.

1.16 Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

1.17 Pension costs

The charity has a defined contribution pension scheme to offer all employees in order to comply with the requirements of auto-enrolment. The charity is contributing a minimum employer contribution into the scheme as set by the Pension Regulator.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

2 Donations

Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2022 2022 £ £ Anonymous 3,000 39,952 Friel Homes Ltd 10,000 - HS1 2,250 - Lichfield Conduit Lands Trust - - Lichfield Denerry & Mother’s Union 1,125 - Pathway Patrons’ 3,000 2,448 Thompson Family Charitable Trust 5,000 - Waitrose Ltd – John Lewis - - Gift aid income tax recovered 1,817 - Donations of £1,000 and under 25,792 - 51,984 42,400	Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2022 2021 2021 £ £ £ 42,952 13,000 - 10,000 - - 2,250 2,000 - - 2,500 - 1,125 - - 5,448 2,849 2,666 5,000 - - - 3,000 - 1,817 4,387 - 25,792 32,259 1,000 94,384 59,995 3,666	Total 2021 £ 13,000 - 2,000 2,500 - 5,515 - 3,000 4,387 33,259
		63,661

3 Income from charitable activities

Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2022 2022 Domestic violence prevention £ £ Big Lottery Funding - 27,500 Tamworth BC - - Nationwide Community - 17,972 Smallwood Trust - 32,500 Staffordshire Women’s Aid - 73,324 Lichfield DC - 14,628 National Lottery Awards - - National Lottery Community Fund - 9,550 Western Power - - Community Foundation - 2,500 Grants £1,000 and under 73 - Sub-total for domestic violence 73 177,974 prevention	Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2022 2021 2021 £ £ £ 27,500 - 110,000 - - - 17,972 - 6,604 32,500 5,047 47,084 73,324 - 44,993 14,628 - 15,000 - 10,224 34,437 9,550 - - - - 4,927 2,500 2,850 989 73 - - 178,047 18,121 264,034	Total 2021 £ 110,000 - 6,604 52,131 44,993 15,000 44,661 - 4,927 3,839 -
		282,155

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2022 2022 Refuge Accommodation charges 275,433 - Staffs County Council – MHCLG 93,705 69,567 Tamworth Borough Council 25,000 - Clothworkers Foundation - - Staffordshire County Council - - Grants £1,000 and under 4,100 - Sub-total for Refuge 398,238 69,567 Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2022 2022 Refuge based activities Staffordshire PCC - 42,750 Sub-total for Refuge based activities - 42,750	Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2022 2021 2021 275,433 264,896 - 163,272 99,062 51,214 25,000 - - - 2,765 435 - 3,500 - 4,100 4,370 - 467,805 374,593 51,649 Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2022 2021 2021 42,750 - 47,896 42,750 - 47,896	Total 2021 264,896 150,276 - 3,200 3,500 4,370 426,242 Total 2021 47,896 47,896

Unrestricted funds 2022 £ Children’s projects Children in Need - Lichfield DC – Action Kids - Eveson Charitable Trust - Grants £1,000 and under - Sub-total for children’s projects - Total income from charitable activities 398,311	Restricted funds 2022 £ 32,976 - - - 32,976 323,267		Unrestricted Total funds 2022 2021 £ £ 32,976 2,508 - - - - - - 32,976 2,508 721,578 395,222	Restricted funds 2021 £ 31,256 10,000 12,000 - 53,256 416,835		Total 2021 £ 33,764 10,000 12,000 - 55,764 812,057

4
	Unrestricted	Restricted		Unrestricted	Restricted
	funds	funds	Total	funds	funds	Total
	2022	2022	2022	2021	2021	2021
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Fundraising events	16,531	113	16,644	26,720	750	27,470
Training and services income	215	-	215	-	-	-
Memberships	12	-	12	98	-	98
						37

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

16,758 5 Investment income Unrestricted funds 2022 £ Bank interest receivable 30	113 Restricted funds 2022 £ -		16,871 26,818 Unrestricted Total funds 2022 2021 £ £ 30 123	750 Restricted funds 2021 £ -		27,568 Total 2021 £ 123

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

6a Analysis of expenditure 2022

Staff costs Refuge costs Management Finance Information technology Office costs Audit fees Professional fees Other sundry expenses Support costs Governance costs Total 2022	Domestic Raising violence funds prevention £ £ 83 174,701 - - - 7,661 - 1,930 - 3,971 - 12,986 - - - - 1,672 19,860 1,755 221,109 1,575 34,368 - 7,553 3,330 263,030	Children’s Refuge based Refuge projects activities £ £ £ 193,495 52,188 46,011 131,667 - - 19,662 - 18,100 30,842 - - 4,359 997 69 14,764 1,608 874 - - - - - 39,492 12,478 2,686 1,163 407,267 59,513 105,709 9,289 9,521 975 1,985 2,034 - 418,541 69,034 106,684	Support Governance costs costs £ £ 55,728 807 - - - - - - - - - 330 - 9,900 - 535 - - 55,728 11,572 (55,728) - - (11,572) - -	Totals 2022 £ 523,013 131,667 45,423 32,772 9,396 30,562 9,900 40,027 37,859
				860,619 - -
				860,619

Support and governance costs are allocated according to the time spent by the relevant staff on each activity.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

6b Analysis of expenditure 2021

Staff costs Refuge costs Management Finance Information technology Office costs Audit fees Professional fees Other sundry expenses Support costs Governance costs Total 2021	Domestic Raising violence funds prevention £ £ 44 157,809 - - - 30,661 - - - 7,441 - 11,427 - - - - 742 20,636 786 227,974 1,517 25,529 - 1,969 2,303 255,472	Children’s Refuge based Refuge projects activities £ £ £ 189,891 48,019 104 122,715 - - 10,262 2,348 5,000 31,124 - - 2,412 745 - 15,497 2,010 1,182 - - - - - 26,585 2,200 6,475 12,383 374,101 59,597 45,254 26,401 4,787 9,574 2,278 520 - 402,780 64,904 54,828	Support Governance costs costs £ £ 67,808 28 - - - - - - - - - 284 - 2,880 - 1,575 - - 67,808 4,767 (67,808) - - (4,767) - -	Totals 2021 £ 463,703 122,715 48,271 31,124 10,598 30,400 2,880 28,160 42,436
				780,287 - -
				780,287

Support and governance costs are allocated according to the time spent by the relevant staff on each activity.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

7 Net income / (expenditure) for the year

Net income / (expenditure) for the year
	Total	Total
	2022	2021
Net income / (expenditure) is stated after charging the following items:	£	£
Auditors’ remuneration (excluding VAT)	8,250	2,400
Operating lease rentals	20,738	1,824
Depreciation	2,868	2,653

8 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses and the cost of key management personnel

personnel
Wages and salaries Social security costs Employer contributions to defined contribution pension schemes	Total 2022 £ 494,458 30,964 12,138 537,560	Total 2021 £ 432,311 28,452 15,996
		476,759

The average number of employees during the year based on a headcount basis was 27 (2021: 29).

No employee earned in excess of £60,000 per annum (2021: none).

The total employee benefits (including employer’s pension contributions and employer’s national insurance) of the key management personnel were £146,717 (2021: £145,023).

No trustee received any remuneration or benefits during the year ended 31 March 2022, nor in the year ended 31 March 2021.

No trustees received expenses during the year ended 31 March 2022 (2021:none).

9 Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions to disclose for 2022 (2021: none).

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

10 Tangible fixed assets

Children’s play equipment £ Cost At 1 April 2021 12,179 Additions - Disposals - At 31 March 2022 12,179 Depreciation At 1 April 2021 11,509 Charge for the year 134 Eliminated on disposal - At 31 March 2022 11,643 Net book value At 31 March 2022 536 At 31 March 2021 670 11 Debtors Accounts receivable Rent receivable Prepayments and accrued income 12 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Operating creditors Social security and other taxes Accruals and deferred income	Fixtures and Office fittings equipment £ £ 63,520 20,813 3,750 - (51,561) (17,868) 15,709 2,945 54,113 20,422 2,635 99 (48,573) (17,593) 8,175 2,928 7,534 17 9,407 391 2022 £ 20,994 1,340 10,096 32,431 2022 £ 3,548 - 33,180 36,728	Total £ 96,512 3,750 (69,429) 30,833 86,044 2,868 (66,166) 22,747 8,086 10,468 2021 £ 6,783 7,505 8,803	Total £ 96,512 3,750 (69,429) 30,833 86,044 2,868 (66,166) 22,747 8,086 10,468 2021 £ 6,783 7,505 8,803
			22,747
			8,086
			10,468
			2021 £ 6,783 7,505 8,803
			23,092
			2021 £ 3,916 7,328 47,361
			58,604

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

13 Operating lease commitments

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods:

Within 1 year Between 2 and 5 years Over 5 years	2022 £ 20,738 121,731 72,000 214,469	2021 £ 20,758 46,469 -
		67,227

14a Analysis of net assets between funds 2022

Unrestricted Restricted £ £ Fixed assets 7,550 536 Debtors 7,276 25,154 Cash 437,737 69,260 Creditors (15,691) (21,037) Net assets as at 31 March 2022 436,873 73,913	Total £ 8,086 32,431 506,997 (36,728) 510,786

14b Analysis of net assets between funds 2021

Unrestricted Restricted £ £ Fixed assets 6,676 3,792 Debtors 15,326 7,766 Cash 426,481 137,105 Creditors (20,940) (37,664) Net assets as at 31 March 20 21 427,543 110,999	Total £ 10,466 23,092 563,588 (58,604) 538,542

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

15a Movement in funds

At 1 April 2021 £ Unrestricted funds General funds 427,543 Restricted funds Children’s Projects: Children in Need 665 Children’s Projects: Other 14,092 Central costs 7,748 Domestic violence prevention: Big Lottery Funding5,000 Domestic violence prevention: Other 39,617 Refuge 33,164 Smallwood Trust 10,713 110,999 Total funds 538,542 15b Movement in funds 2021 At 1 April 2020 £ Unrestricted funds General funds 359,914 Restricted funds Children’s Projects: Children in Need 3,699 Children’s Projects: Other - Central costs - Domestic violence prevention: Big Lottery Funding5,000 Domestic violence prevention: Other 41,691 Refuge 5,116 Smallwood Trust - 55,506 Total funds 415,420	Income Expenditure £ £ 467,082 (421,871) 32,976 (32,111) 25,329 (28,196) - (43,961) 27,500 (32,368) 189,385 (196,394) 58,091 (71,374) 32,500 (34,345) 365,780 (438,748) 832862 (860,619) Income Expenditure £ £ 482,158 (405,083) 31,257 (34,291) 44,705 (30,613) 46,682 (38,934) 110,000 (119,446) 106,454 (108,528) 57,153 (29,105) 25,000 (14,287) 421,251 (375,204) 903,409 (780,287)	Transfers £ (41,081) - - 36,213 4,868 - - - 41,081 - Transfers £ (9,446) - - - 9,446 - - - 9,446 -

The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2022

Transfers between funds

Transfers between unrestricted and restricted funds were to cover any deficit of funds spent on restricted projects compared with grant income received, together with the transfer of agreed management costs.

Purposes of restricted funds:

Children’s projects : funding, including grants from Children in Need , received for the provision of support to children in the refuges who are suffering as a result of living in a home with domestic violence. The funding received is provided to work with children both in the refuge and as an outreach to service users through a children’s worker, a parenting support carer and a sessional crèche worker, together with additional costs such as outings and equipment.

Central costs : funding received towards the central costs of the refuge centres including the Head of Operations.

Domestic violence prevention and advice fund : funding received for the provision of support to women who have suffered as a result of domestic violence. The funding is provided to work with women both in the refuges and as an outreach to service users through the provision of an early intervention worker, an independent domestic violence adviser and a 24-hour helpline operated by the project.

Refuge : funding received for the provision of support to service users whilst resident with the project. Such funding is provided to work with women in the refuge through a specialist support worker, a counselling service and activities to promote a healthier life style.

Smallwood Trust : funding received from the trust is used to make financial grants to vulnerable female service users, in order to help them better manage their financial circumstances, or support activities that will help improve their mental health. Service users make applications for particular activities/needs through their Support Worker, providing proof of their financial circumstances and grants are then allocated out. During the funding, grants have included purchasing carpets and white goods, paying for driving lessons and bus passes, paying for divorces and purchasing new identification documents.

Pension commitments

The charitable company operates a defined contributions pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charitable company in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the charitable company to the fund and amounted to £12,138 (2021 - £11,492). Contributions totalling £Nil (2021 - £Nil) were payable to the fund at the balance sheet date.