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2022-03-31-accounts

CERTITUDE LONDON Southside Partnership Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

Contents

Contents
Chair and Chief Executive Introduction 3
Annual Report of the Board 5
Structure, Governance and Management 6
Objectives and Activities 8
Certitude’s Vision, Mission, Pillars and Values are: 9
Our Values and Behaviours Framework: 10
Strategic Report 11
Our priorities and achievements 11
Fundraising 22
Risk Management 24
Key Risks 25
Financial Review 28
Reserves Policy 28
Going Concern 30
Investment Policy 31
Remuneration 33
Funds managed on behalf of others 33
Statement of the Board members’ responsibilities in respect of the Financial Statements 33
Independent Auditor’s Report 36
Statement of Financial Activities 40
Balance Sheet
 41
Notes to the Financial Statements 42

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Chair and Chief Executive Introduction

We are pleased to issue our Annual Report for the year ending 31st March 2022.

For a second year, the COVID-19 pandemic dominated people’s lives across the world and Southside Partnership (SSP), as part of the Certitude Group felt the impact of the pandemic during 2021/22. Our Group wide Business Continuity Plan and Task Team approach resulted in people continuing to be supported and staying as safe and well as possible.

As lockdowns and restrictions have eased, our focus has turned to supporting people to reestablish their lives within their communities – college, employment, re-connecting and enjoying opportunities and activities again. For many, this has been a difficult process. After two years of restricted living and the associated worry and anxiety of the pandemic, it has taken bravery as well as patient, pro-active support to enable people to re-start their lives again.

Despite the ongoing effects of the pandemic, the Group has continued to thrive over the past 12 months, exceeding its planned annual growth target. Certitude has increased its support offer to people with learning disabilities and people with mental health needs in Lambeth, Croydon and Southwark, and was also delighted to start supporting people with learning disabilities who live in the London Borough of Bexley, increasing its presence across London to 17 boroughs.

As London has re-emerged from the pandemic, so have our core community projects. Connect and Do, Treat Me Right!, Solidarity in a Crisis and The Gate, amongst others, have all resumed in person too – enabling people to come together for mutual support, to raise awareness, learn new skills and celebrate talent. Our support on Transforming Care has helped shape our model of support for people with learning disabilities and autism who have complex support needs. Approaches such as Positive Behaviour Support, Total Communication, Intensive Interaction and our family support offer have raised the quality of our specialist support.

Recruitment across social care remains a significant challenge. Our highly engaged colleagues work with great passion and commitment which is evidenced by better retention rates than sector benchmarks. This year, we took an innovative step in raising the profile of Certitude and about having a career in social care by releasing our first TV led, digital recruitment campaign, which was shown on Sky On Demand, YouTube and social media. Over three months, the advert: “London is Calling” reached over 3 million Londoners with a resulting increase in applications to work in Certitude.

It was with great sadness, that we announced the sudden death of our Chair, Eleri Ebenezer in August 2021. Eleri was Chair of Certitude’s Board for 11 years. She was hugely committed and contributed significantly to the organisation’s success over the past decade. Our sincere thanks go to Philippa Laughton who became Acting Chair, enabling Certitude to continue on course. Following a rigorous process, we are delighted to welcome Scott Greenhalgh as the new Chair of Certitude. Scott joins Certitude at an exciting time as we move into our new strategic period.

Over the past year, we have reflected on our learning and successes of the previous strategy and have developed an ambitious 10-year vision with a supporting initial three-year strategic plan: “Plan Big, Be Local”. As we move forward, our focus is on a strong and growing Certitude which prioritises the quality and impact of the support we provide to people and

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their families through the progressive work of all colleagues. None of this would be possible without the commitment, talent and skill of our wonderful colleagues and the support of the Board of Trustees to whom we are immensely grateful.

Sue Wickerson Chair of the Southside Partnership Board

Aisling Duffy Chief Executive

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Annual Report of the Board

The Board is pleased to present its report along with the financial statements of Southside Partnership (SSP) (a Company Limited by Guarantee) for the year ended 31 March 2022. Southside Partnership is a subsidiary of Certitude Support (Certitude). Certitude is the only shareholder of Southside Partnership. Certitude Support is a Registered Society registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (previously an Industrial and Provident Society), with registration number 30891R. Southside Partnership is a Registered Charity 1010187 and company 2599171.

The Registered Office is 31-33 Lumiere Court, 209 Balham High Road, Balham, London SW17 7BQ, which is also one of the two principal offices from which the affairs of the charity are managed.

Ultimate responsibility for the governance of Southside Partnership rests with a Board which comprised the following members up to the date of approval of these financial statements.

Southside Partnership:

The Board
Total		 21/7/22
31/3/21
Sue Wickerson, Chair
1
1
Adebayo Emanuel, Vice Chair
1
1
Nick Dimbleby (until 07/12/21)
-
1
Michelle Eisenberg (from 01/03/22)
1
-
Sally Glen
1
1
Dianne Greyson (until 28/01/22)
-
1
Kate James (until 22/09/21)
-
1
Chris Morris (from 01/03/22)
1
-
John Turner
1
1
6
7

All current Board members are also Board members of Certitude Support. The day-to-day management of the Group is delegated to a Chief Executive and other members of the Leadership Team who, and at the date of approval of these Financial Statements, are as follows:


Statements, are as follows:
AislingDuffy Chief Executive
Nicholas Campbell-Watts Strategic Director of Quality & Performance
Caroline Fraser Director of People & Organisational Development
Emma Main Director of Operations & Improvement

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Mary Schumm (until 31/05/22) Director of Learning Disabilities Marianne Selby-Boothroyd Director of Development Sanjay Shah Director of Finance & Housing Christo Gouws (from 07/03/22) Director of Digital

The Trustees submit their annual report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022. The report has been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and as a Directors’ Report for the purposes of section 415 of the Companies Act 2006. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (FRS 102) in preparing the annual report and financial statements of the charity. The reference and administration information also forms part of this report.

The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and 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) (effective 1 January 2015).

Structure, Governance and Management

The Board has overall responsibility for ensuring all areas below are in place and are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure compliance with best practice.

The Board regularly reviews its performance to identify any specific skills, knowledge or experience which are lacking, and which should be sought in the appointment of any new members. The following areas are identified as important:

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Prospective Board members who meet the identified needs at the time are interviewed by the Nominations Committee. Written references are obtained, together with an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service, which includes a check against the Protection of Vulnerable Adults list. Successful candidates are invited to apply to become a Board member shortly before their appointment to the Board.

Once appointed, Board members are provided with a comprehensive induction and Board Manual and are trained in taking part in visits to people and their support teams. Other onboarding activities are arranged according to individual need. Ongoing training takes the form of briefings at Board and Committee meetings, away days and occasional attendance at external conferences and events.

The Board has seven committees:

Certitude has Standing Orders which set out the delegation of day-to-day management to the Chief Executive and the Leadership Team, and the Terms of Reference of the Board and its committees. The objectives of each Committee Chair and the Board Chair are reviewed and approved by the Board.

Given the importance of safeguarding in our sector, the Board has continued to review governance and reporting in relation to safeguarding concerns; reinforcing the Board’s commitment to quality, transparency, and continued learning.

Creating a safe and welcoming environment, where everyone is respected and valued, is at the heart of safeguarding. Certitude works to ensure the organisation is run in a way that actively prevents harm, harassment, bullying, abuse and neglect. Everyone in the organisation has a role to play in safeguarding; it is part of everyone’s day-to-day activities. All safeguarding incidents are reported to each Quality, Performance and Compliance Committee meeting and an annual review is also completed to understand the learning that has taken place and how we can improve safeguarding protocols across the organisation being implemented.

The Board has adopted the Charity Governance Code, this is reviewed during the year and any changes agreed by the Board.

Through the Chief Executive, the Leadership Team has corporate responsibility for the overall formulation and implementation of the organisation’s policies and procedures. In accordance with the guidelines from the Board and various committees, the Leadership Team advises the Board on the development and practical implementation of the Business Plan.

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Objectives and Activities

The Objectives of the Society as set out in its Rules are for public benefit:

Public benefit

We provide support across London to people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health support needs. We support people to develop new skills, meet new people and live the life they want – so they can bring their own unique brilliance to the world.

As a charity, we remain mindful of our commitment to public benefit by working to fulfil our charitable aims and we have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. Our response to COVID-19 over the last year has been planned around ensuring we are keeping everyone we support and our workforce safe during this very difficult period.

We have continued to develop the organisation’s brand and we work towards more people in London being aware of who we are and what we do. We had for the first time a TV advert aimed at recruiting more people from across different parts of London.

To express ourselves and explain our work in meaningful and unique ways, we introduced the “four Pillars of Certitude” which set us apart from other providers and underpin our values as an organisation.

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Certitude’s Vision, Mission, Pillars and Values are:

Vision

For the life you want.

Mission

At Certitude, we exist, simply, to support those who need us. To help them develop new skills, meet new people, and experience new things. We have a love for life. Our mission is to help people live the life they want whatever that may be – so they can bring their own unique brilliance to the world.

The Four Pillars

Brave

We stand up for what is right. Not right for the process or system, but what is right for the person. We believe in taking the system on, fighting against anything outdated, and unnecessarily bureaucratic.

Loving

Love and bravery are two sides of the same coin. Across our organisation there is a powerful and non-sentimental love. Love for the people we support, the work we do, and the jobs we have. Because this love exists, we are brave enough to challenge and do what is right.

Unconventional

We embrace unconventionality. We believe in having the confidence to not follow the crowd, and to find different ways to do things. To live life means everyone is welcome, everyone has something to offer, and everyone is in.

London Plus

This is in our DNA. Not just because of geography but because we know first-hand the wonder and challenges that living and working in and around London brings. We think this makes us more understanding, more compassionate, more richly diverse, and more tenacious in the face of a challenge.

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Our Values and Behaviours Framework:

Our Values and Behaviour framework describes how we can all contribute to the success of our organisation and to our own individual success. These behaviours demonstrate the attitude and approach we should bring to our work and encompass:

The framework identifies behaviours which will help us to achieve our organisational purpose and develop an inclusive culture which makes Certitude a great place to work for everyone. The framework can also be used by each of us to help reflect on whether we are personally living Certitude’s values.

At Certitude we want an inclusive culture where everyone feels respected and empowered to make a difference. Where we are passionate about the people we support, and we work together in a co-productive and collaborative way, using both strength-based and personcentred approaches to deliver outcomes, enabling people to live the lives they want.

Our culture is one where everyone is inspired to give their best every day and has access to opportunities to grow and thrive, so we can together confidently deliver our Certitude Forward Strategy. At Certitude, our colleagues matter and we value the contributions we all bring to work whilst taking care to support each other’s wellbeing. Our culture is underpinned by the following principles, approaches and frameworks:

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Strategic Report

Our priorities and achievements

There is no doubt that COVID-19 continued to have an impact on the plans and projects that we had originally prioritised for this year. Our main focus has been on keeping people we support and our colleagues safe, while continuing to adapt to new, more flexible ways of working. However, despite the narrowing of our focus, we continued to make real progress against the four strategic goal areas set out in our five-year strategy, which we extended to a sixth year to allow time to develop our future plans.

A great deal of work was done during the year to agree the new three-year forward strategy. This included a strategic review of the last six years as well as key achievements over the last 12 months. We listened to people we support and their families, our teams across Certitude, and key commissioners. From their feedback we were able to build a clear picture of our strengths as an organisation and set our priorities going forward. Despite the challenges of engaging with key stakeholders through the pandemic, we were pleased to have a range of important stakeholders contribute to shaping Certitude’s strategic planning.

Our continued success in tender activity has been impressive, both in terms of retaining existing contracts and gaining new business. Over the last 12 months we have achieved good growth in new boroughs such as Bexley, and expanded our support in Croydon and Lambeth. Over the last five years of the strategy, there was significant growth and expansion in Hounslow, Hillingdon, Camden, Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, Croydon, and the merger with Yarrow. The organisation has grown by £17m during this strategic period and now supports 1550 people in 175 locations across 17 London boroughs.

Although considerable progress has been made against the four strategic goals, we did not achieve all the outcomes we had set out and these have influenced the new forward strategy.

Key Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal 1: To improve, develop and expand our specialist support for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, autism, and challenging support needs, complex mental health needs and associated physical and social support needs.

We planned to continue growing and developing our support to more people, families, and commissioners in London. It was important to adapt our approach to mobilising new contracts so that we could still ensure the effective integration of new services despite some of our processes and systems not operating fully because of the significant disruptions due to COVID-19.

What we achieved

Overall, we are supporting groups of people that we were not reaching five years ago, including through our specialist learning disability and autism offer. Our work on Transforming Care has helped shape our model of support for people with learning disabilities and autism who have complex support needs. This has been a challenging area for support providers across the country and we now have more experience of what does

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and does not work during assessment, transition and recruitment, and the ongoing Positive Behavioural Support and family support required. We have used our learning to enhance our specialist support offer as part of key contracts, for example in Westminster and Hillingdon. Approaches such as NAPPI, Positive Behaviour Support, Total Communication and Intensive Interaction with people with profound and multiple learning disabilities have raised the quality of our specialist support.

We were able to grow the organisation and were successful in securing new business in Bexley and with the South-East London CCG. We have continued the transformation work in Hounslow resulting in us replacing properties that were not suitable for newer, better-quality ones. Our partnership with Lambeth LA has resulted in the development of The Crescent, a new scheme which includes both Respite and Supported Living provided by Certitude and day support provided by the Local Authority.

We continue to face challenges around having availability of suitable accommodation for people. We have made some good progress working to develop partnerships with different housing providers including Chrysalis Housing and Westmoreland Housing Association; this is a key area of development in the new strategy.

Our short-term intensive mental health offer has expanded as it has developed a strong reputation for effectiveness and impact. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust extended the successful mental health stepdown service at the Orchards in Croydon. It now comprises three properties providing short-term recovery support in Croydon. Since the first property opened in May 2020, over 250 people have been supported by the Orchards team to return to independent living or to supported accommodation. As well as enabling people to leave hospital sooner, it has freed up more beds for those who need an in-patient stay.

This model of support provides an effective way forward for further growth and for building our profile in the mental health sector. A targeted approach to promotion is required to demonstrate to potential commissioners how these services can support them with some of their critical challenges.

Strategic Goal 2: To invest in and champion new and better approaches that inform our development and differentiate our support

We continue to be highly ambitious about developing better ways to support people and their families. This has been particularly true over the last year where we have had to learn how to support people to remain safe and well, while experiencing restrictions during extended periods of lockdown.

What we achieved

Over the last year we put in place a highly effective programme to keep people we support and their families safe during COVID-19. This has ensured teams have maintained a high standard of infection control, which is critical to the safety of people we support, staff and visitors. Our move to utilising technology better and creating online Connect and Do sessions has enabled people to stay connected.

We carried out a full review and refresh of Quality of Life (QoL), the section of our online Buzz system that helps us to record how we support people to achieve the goals and

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outcomes that are important to them. QoL is a tool that enables us to plan and record the goals people want to work towards and effectively measure the progress people make. Using QoL across Certitude will improve how we plan and record, while making sure that the decisions and outcomes we work towards are led by people we support, increasing their independence and ownership of their own support. The tool is designed to support this by focusing on people’s potential rather than their problems.

We also made the decision to adopt a strengths-based approach across Certitude. This is a collaborative process between the person being supported and those supporting them, allowing us to work together to determine outcomes that draw on the person’s strengths and assets. The approach concerns itself principally with the quality of the relationship that develops between those providing support and those being supported.

Co-Production continues to be an area of development. During the past year, there has been continued good work in Solidarity in a Crisis and Treat me Right – both co-produced programmes of work. This is an area of focus for the new forward strategy.

There has continued to be good examples of positive risk taking in our work such as with the Lambeth Alliance, Transforming Care and Fulfilling Lives. The Fulfilling Lives programme in particular faced significant challenges, as many of its plans for the final two years of operating were hugely disrupted by the restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the Fulfilling Lives team adapted with pace to continue to pilot, test and share learning about system change and to develop better support approaches.

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Strategic Goal 3: People we employ, people we support, and their families will know us as the best social care employer in London

Over the last year we were focused on ensuring effective business continuity through strong governance, leadership and management during the period of major disruption from COVID19. We also focused on engaging with our colleagues to develop some of the approaches that will help us to recover.

What we achieved

People, Culture and Organisation Development Strategy

The People, Culture & OD Strategy has been developed which sets out the strategic direction and focus for the next five years with a clear vision for Certitude and its workforce which will “enable colleagues to do their best work for the people we support so that people can live the lives they want”. It highlights “what difference” the strategy will make to the people we support and their families, Certitude’s colleagues and the organisation itself.

Recruitment and attraction

Recruitment and attraction has been a key focus for People and L&OD as the recruitment market in social care and many other sectors has been very challenging. Two recruitment fairs have been held to attract applicants for current vacancies and to build our employer brand. We also developed Certitude’s first TV advert. The TV advert had a key aim of building our brand and has shown a strong increase in website traffic since it launched. In the first month the advert aired, traffic to the Certitude website significantly increased; rising from an average of 4,000-5,000 visits in a month to 14,000 with 84% being new users. The level of sign-ups in the first month was 249 and across all digital platforms, the advert was viewed over 3 million times in a three-month period.

We have continued to build a range of partnerships who support disadvantaged job seekers. A Task Team was commissioned to address the urgent and significant challenges in the recruitment of support workers. The purpose of the project team was to develop, test and implement solution focused approaches to selection, relationship management, onboarding and successful joining and retention of support workers. This has included ensuring people we support and families are involved in matching people to the right teams. The Task Team will then evaluate the effectiveness of approaches and, where appropriate, recommend or develop different approaches. The organisation’s branding has become more defined, and our profile is increasing but there is still work to do. Our workforce has continued to grow, and we have looked to maximise our reward offer and increase our employee brand awareness.

Diversity and Inclusion

Work was completed in Q1 to produce a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Plan with key priorities. One of the key priorities was to undertake an analysis of our D&I data to ensure our resources are focused on robust data and evidence based. The data analysis has identified that whilst we do have a diverse workforce and lots to be proud about, there is still more to do in certain areas. We will continue to review our data six monthly and take forward identified areas for improvement, such as increasing the numbers of colleagues from underrepresented groups, including disability, gender, sexual orientation and age.

Values and Behaviours Framework

We were pleased to work closely with colleagues across Certitude to refresh our values and

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behaviours framework. This allowed us to take on board learning from our experience of the last year and incorporate people’s views about the values and behaviours that will be important for the next few years as we recover from the pandemic. The new framework is being used in recruitment and induction, and to support annual reviews.

Digital technology

We have continued to build our digital capabilities and resources, ensuring more effective and efficient ways of supporting colleagues in their day-to-day work. This has included work to embed Buzz (our bespoke online client records system) and CHRIS (our online HR system) and we have started work to commission an e-rostering system that will help managers and teams to more effectively plan and deploy staff to best meet the needs of people they are supporting.

Learning & Development

Our Care Certificate delivery has been revised, following a successful pilot within the induction programme for colleagues at The Crescent. There are now three distinct pathways for new colleagues who are new to a role in the care sector: a Learning Disability or Mental Health pathway, and one for new colleagues with prior care certification. The delivery model has a blended approach, with a reduced number of virtual workshops, eLearning modules, observations and witness statements from their manager.

To improve our mandatory training compliance, the L&D Team have developed a new training dashboard. All mandatory topics reported within the KPIs have seen an increase in compliance % rate. Figures for permanent colleagues are all within 80-90%, achieved by ensuring data is clear, reliable, up to date, focussed, discussed and highlighted to the appropriate line managers.

To implement the recommendations in relation to a review of moving and positioning practice across Certitude, we have worked with osteopaths to review the current delivery with regards to Moving & Positioning/Manual Handling. A tiered system has now been introduced and all teams, including central teams, are assigned to one of the levels according to the level of support they provide and related equipment they use.

Our leadership offer includes qualifications at Level 5 in Health and Social Care, ILM Diploma in Leadership & Management and an Operational managers apprenticeship. We are also supporting access to CMI Level 7 Senior Leadership, and we have continued with our internal management development programme ‘Managing@Certitude’. Twelve managers/deputy managers recently joined the ‘Moving up’ programme. This is facilitated and partly funded by Skills for Care and aimed at Black, Asian and minority ethnic leaders who want to develop themselves, progress in their careers and build confidence so they can overcome some of the barriers preventing them from doing so. Further Skills for Care accredited and funded programmes were promoted to managers and deputies, aimed at developing operational managers and leaders. To ensure we have a strong blended development offer, we also have a suite of eLearning courses, to support the development pathway for our managers and leaders.

A review of our Qualification and Apprenticeship offer has been carried out and recommendations implemented. A new Learning Management system has been acquired and will be implemented this year to better support our Learning and Development offer.

Great Reviews

We have carried out a “Great Reviews” project with the objective of understanding how we

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can improve the quality of reviews and 1:1s at Certitude. A set of recommendations have been developed which will be a part of the People, Culture and OD Strategy and Plan. They include a culture change process jointly implemented by HR, OD, and Operations to drive up the number and quality of 1:1’s and reviews and ensure they are:

Engagement

Our organisational ‘Have Your Say’ employee engagement survey has continued to show good levels of engagement and trust across the organisation.

The table below shows some of the results from the 2021 Certitude ‘Have Your Say’ survey. This has been compared against the results from the survey we carried out in 2017 and, where possible, compared with the average benchmark of similar organisations in social care.

These comparisons are shown wherever there is a significant difference between our 2021 result and either our 2017 result or the benchmark average. Agenda Consulting, who carried out this survey, define 'significant' as 4% more or 4% less.

72% of respondents would recommend Certitude as a good place to work (-6% vs 2017, +7% vs Benchmark)

84% of respondents would be willing to put in extra effort in order to help Certitude

75% of respondents feel proud to work for Certitude

71% intend to be working for Certitude in 12 months’ time

74% of respondents are confident that the leadership team and senior managers have the skills required to make Certitude successful. (+15% vs Benchmark)

73% trust and respect the Leadership Team and senior managers in Certitude. (+15% vs Benchmark)

75% of respondents understand Certitude’s priorities, and where the organisation is going. (-5% vs 2017)

91% of respondents feel their colleagues show concern for people's wellbeing in a caring and meaningful way

87% of respondents feel their team regularly discusses ways to improve the service

85% of people feel the place they work in delivers a high-quality service to the people we support

84% feel they would be able to speak out on sensitive issues if they had concerns

81% feel that Certitude delivers a high-quality service to the people we support

Following the survey, a matrix group has been set up including colleagues from different departments and roles to take forward areas to develop further.

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Wellbeing

People & OD have prioritised the wellbeing of our colleagues throughout the pandemic, and this has continued to be an important area as we move out of the pandemic. We have developed a Wellbeing Plan and have also brought together a multi-disciplinary Wellbeing Steering Group made up of colleagues who are working together to discuss, agree and implement further initiatives that are designed to improve the different aspects of employee wellbeing and improve the organisation’s offer to colleagues. Work includes analysing and responding to the wellbeing results in our ‘Have Your Say’ engagement survey, agreeing awareness days to acknowledge and promote, and rolling out mental health awareness training, which has been facilitated by Mind.

Strategic Goal 4 : To guarantee quality, effectiveness and deliver efficiency

Our Quality Assurance Framework supports the organisational vision that everyone should have the life they want. During 2021/22, COVID-19 restrictions continued to impact people’s ability to live their lives in the way that they wish. Our focus has been to keep people safe but we have continued to work toward our vision for quality in Certitude, where the people we support and their families define the positive outcomes that they seek; where our skilled and well-led colleagues provide person-centred support to help achieve those outcomes; where we work within a robust framework that is effective, responsive and safe and which allows us to record and review our work in order to improve and innovate.

What we achieved

CQC inspection ratings

The Care Quality Commission, as the independent regulator of health and social care, continued to adapt its approach to inspection this year as a result of the pandemic. During the year, CQC carried out a number of IPC (infection prevention and control) inspections at Certitude registered care homes. Following these inspections, CQC published judgements stating whether they are assured, somewhat assured or not assured by the provider’s infection control measures. In all cases, Certitude registered care homes evidenced compliance with IPC good practice requirements.

Maintaining Good overall CQC ratings is an organisational priority and achieving Outstanding ratings remains a key ambition. We are committed to supporting registered managers to achieve and maintain Good and Outstanding CQC ratings. We have continued to develop our programme of support for CQC-regulated services, including a Registered Managers Forum, CQC mock inspections schedule, identifying and addressing development areas for registered managers and building confidence in relation to inspection preparation. Our central Quality Team provides targeted direct support to CQC-regulated services in areas where improvement is required by accurately and consistently recording the work carried out, the actions put in place and the improvements being achieved.

Across our 24 CQC-registered services, the current highest rated areas are ‘Caring’, ‘Responsive’ and ‘Safe’. Our Southside Partnership Domiciliary Care Agency and Yarrow Domiciliary Care Agency are rated Outstanding. 83% of registered services are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ (75% good, 8% outstanding).

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CQC Inspection Ratings

----- Start of picture text -----
2, 8%
4, 17%
18, 75%
Requires Improvement Good Outstanding
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Pandemic response

Our quality management system consists of a coordinated series of quality audits and compliance checks, underpinned by robust policies and procedures, a focus on people we support and a commitment to continuous improvement. Assuring quality during a second year of COVID-19 disruption continued to require a flexible and dynamic approach. The organisation’s focus was on keeping people we support and colleagues safe and well, and on-site visits continued to be restricted at times during the year. We continued our approach of maximising the use of technology and remote capability, supporting managers and teams to continue to evidence compliance with organisational standards, and reinstated on-site visits as restrictions were eased.

Quality Improvement Strategy

during the year, we developed a Quality Improvement Strategy that supports the objectives of our new Forward Plan - Plan Big, Be Local. This sets out our plans to mobilise people

across Certitude, at every level and in every team, to drive up quality everywhere. We will build our approach to quality around each person we support, with a focus on what matters most to the person and their family.

We will use strengths-based approaches to understand each individual’s needs, preferences and priorities. We will ensure that people and their families have positive experiences of being supported by us by always being caring and responsive .

We will provide care and support that delivers positive impact and outcomes that help people to achieve and maintain

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a good quality of life. We will demonstrate that we are effective by using our Quality-of-Life outcome framework to evaluate and report progress. We will ensure that people we support, and our colleagues feel safe , and also confident to take positive risks by trying out new things, making mistakes and learning from these.

None of this is possible without us being well-led at every level in Certitude, with our local and organisational leaders setting clear expectations, upholding standards and deploying resources wisely to support teams everywhere to drive up quality.

Our key objectives include significantly increasing people and families’ involvement in quality improvement activities so we focus on what matters most to them, including: locating responsibility for delivering excellent quality outcomes as close to the person being supported as possible; ensuring that local teams have the resources, skills and authority needed to deliver outstanding support; developing a quality culture where quality improvement is seen as everyone’s responsibility and where all teams and departments, our Board, people and their families, have a clear sense of their own important contribution.

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Plans for Future Periods

Our new Forward Plan - Plan Big, Be Local, will act as the roadmap for Certitude to continue growing and developing. It will focus our strategic planning and investment over a three-year period 2022-25, helping us to respond to the threats and opportunities that the sector is likely to experience as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.

The three-year Forward Plan should be seen as our next strategic step, but it is set against a longer-term 10-year vision of our ambition and direction of travel as an organisation. This will help us to plan the organisational capabilities that Certitude must continue building for that journey. Our vision is based on four strategic destinations:

We have set out the first of two 18-month business plans that will deliver on the strategic priorities set out in the new three-year forward strategy.

Prioritisation and Programme Management

Certitude is a busy organisation with multiple organisational change projects. As such, we have developed a programme management approach, including a more robust process for authorising and prioritising activities/projects.

Post-COVID-19 Reset

Over the last two years, the pandemic has disrupted the scale and full completion of activities set out in our Business Plans. While we hope the worst of the pandemic is now behind us, we will still need to maintain focus and preparedness for further disruption. We also need to reset both our central teams and operational teams around new ways of working and put our business-as-usual systems back in full operation.

‘Moving the dial’ Programmes

We are also finalising, and will begin to mobilise, the foundational strategies and programmes that will underpin our development over the next several years. These include:

The 18-month business plan has been developed with clear strategic objectives, and we will be monitoring how we are doing in achieving the key outcomes we have set as well as

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looking at the impact over three and five years. The strategic objectives that have been set against our three strategic goals includes:

Strategic Goal 1: Quality and Impact of Our Support: To become the provider of choice in the areas where we work

  1. Maximise opportunities for people and their families to have more choice and control over important aspects and decisions in their lives by establishing a consistent, scalable approach to how we work, which values and involves them locally in the planning, design, delivery and review of our support and key activities.

  2. Establish an effective approach to the design, delivery and structure of local operations that enables us to:

  3. Design support around people’s needs, responding with agility and pace to the changing needs and requirements of local people and commissioners

  4. Deliver strong quality, regulatory and business performance outcomes

  5. Achieve and absorb significant growth

  6. Establish an effective framework of intelligent quality and business performance data to monitor, evaluate and continuously improve our local teams’ ability to meet people’s needs, demonstrate social impact and ensure good contract and regulatory performance.

Strategic Goal 2: People Culture and Organisational Development: To become the employer of choice in the areas where we work

  1. To develop and establish effective approaches to attraction, recruitment, reward and recognition to enable Certitude to be an employer of choice

  2. To develop Certitude’s Learning & Development and OD offer and approach to Leadership Development to equip Certitude colleagues to be confident and capable to deliver Certitude’s Forward Plan

  3. To enable Certitude to successfully manage change and develop an engaging and inclusive high performing culture

  4. To establish a robust organisation design for Certitude that’s capable of absorbing growth, and develop our approach to engagement of colleagues and their wellbeing

Strategic Goal 3: A Strong and Growing Organisation: To become the strategic partner of choice in the areas where we work

  1. To continue to grow and develop the organisation in line with the objectives of the organisational strategy through the delivery of the Growth and Development Strategy

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  1. To enable more effective, smarter, and agile ways of working, driving business efficiency and supporting collaboration across teams and organisational projects

  2. To ensure our sustainability through strong financial management

  3. To ensure effective business continuity during the continuing period of disruption from COVID-19

  4. To maintain good governance in line with best practice and ensure the continuing development of the Board

Fundraising

This year has continued to be challenging for charities to secure fundraising income as companies and individuals struggle with the lasting impact of COVID-19 and the downturn in the economy. We are pleased, therefore, to have been able to raise over £142,000 through donations, grants, sponsorship and gifts in kind.

We are grateful to City Bridge Trust for providing us with grants to help with IT and other core costs during the pandemic, to establish an arts therapy programme for people with learning disabilities traumatised by the pandemic, and to enable us to continue with our Connect & Do programme. Other grants received this year include one from Asda Foundation for music therapy sessions at our Activity & Resource Centre in Ealing, and from Sainsburys for healthy eating and cooking sessions in Hounslow. Sadly, our Charity of the Year partnership with Marks & Spencer in Kew was not able to continue due to the impact of COVID-19 on their business and staffing, but we did receive a final donation of £2,500 for them for which we are grateful.

Our Support a Skill digital campaign, which began in Winter 2020, continued throughout last year. We asked supporters to help us purchase equipment so people could develop new skills during the COVID-19 restrictions and/or extend existing skills. This helped people to be engaged and to try out new activities to replace those they could not do during the pandemic. We reached out to retailers, corporates and social media followers for financial and gift in kind donations to support these activities and received assistance from several Waitrose and Sainsburys stores across London, as well as TK MAXX. People we support were able to purchase items such as a sewing machine, printer and photography equipment, baking equipment, art materials, an iPad, laptop and a session in a music studio.

Some mass participation events remained cancelled in 2021/22 (such as the London Santa Run) but others resumed, and we had three runners supporting us in the London Marathon and six in the London Vitality 10k race. We are grateful to these participants for all their efforts and to the people who sponsored them for their generous donations.

We also received £2,032.50 (including Gift Aid) through JustGiving in memory of Eleri Ebenezer, our former Chair.

This is a period when probing questions are being asked about fundraising practice across the sector in the UK and fundraising generally is facing difficulty due to the pandemic. Despite the challenges we are doing our very best to ensure it is a transparent and rewarding experience for our donors during this difficult time. We work closely with all our

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supporters and endeavour to:

We are aware that the ways in which people choose to give are changing and we have responded. Donors are now able to text to donate, make contactless payments, donate gifts in kind through our Amazon Wishlist and via giving platforms such as Facebook and JustGiving. People are additionally able to donate to Certitude through their usual consumer shopping behaviour, for example, through Easy Fundraising and Amazon Smile.

We comply with the latest fundraising guidelines from the Fundraising Regulator, Gambling Commission, Charity Commission, and this includes the Code of Fundraising Practice for the UK. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards by meeting best practice guidelines and by comply with regulations when undertaking our activities and insist on the same from those raising funds on our behalf. For individuals, this is through our fundraising guidelines. We are not aware of any instances where those acting on our behalf have failed to comply. We currently work with a small number of companies to raise money and expect them to work with us to meet the same high standards. We carefully manage our corporate relationships and have contracts and/or memorandums of understanding in place to ensure compliance and shared understanding. We also ensure that all companies are subject to our due diligence process. We have received no complaints in 2021/22 regarding fundraising. However, we continue to monitor our fundraising channels to ensure any complaints are dealt with according to guidance from the Fundraising Code of Practice and internal company practices.

We monitor regulatory developments to ensure these standards are maintained, and our fundraising activity is open, legal and fair. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and our Fundraising Promise is posted on our website. We have reviewed and updated our approach to data protection in line with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into effect on 25 May 2018. We take our supporters’ requests and the protection of their personal data very seriously. We never swap or sell their data and our supporters can change their communication preferences at any time.

We will continue to develop our fundraising capacity and approaches in 2022/23 but are mindful that the impact of the pandemic and the current economic climate will continue for a period of time.

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Risk Management

The Board has overall responsibility for ensuring that the Society and its subsidiaries have appropriate systems of controls; financial and otherwise. The Board is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the organisation and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities, and to provide reassurance that:

As part of Certitude’s risk management process, the Board acknowledges its responsibility for the system of internal control and for reviewing its effectiveness. The Board recognises that such a system is designed to manage (and not eliminate) risk of failure to achieve the organisation’s vision and mission and can only provide reasonable (not absolute) reassurance against material misstatement or loss.

Management of risk is an integral part of our planning and project management processes, with risks identified and assessed as we develop our plans each year. With support from the Board, we have developed a corporate Risk Register in line with the organisation strategy setting out key strategic risks, scoring of these based on gross and net risks, the actions needed to achieve the target net risk rating, assessing risk appetite and further actions required. We have also developed a Quality Framework that provides a range of assurance processes to ensure quality provision of service delivery activities.

During 2021/22, Certitude has been reviewing the ongoing risk management around COVID19 and the impact for people we support and colleagues. In line with our Business Continuity Plans this process has been ongoing throughout the year with weekly reviews by the Incident Management Team. The overall Risk Register is reviewed in detail by the Leadership Team and reported to the Certitude Board to ensure all key risks are included and mitigations are being implemented.

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Key Risks

The following key risks have been identified by the Board as part of its review:

Risk Impact Management
Certitude has a
reputational,
regulatory and
potentially financial
risk as a result of a
serious incident
taking place		 Immediate and ongoing
negative press and social
media coverage, non-
compliance with regulatory
bodies including the Charity
Commission, potential risk
to current contracts and
obtaining new contracts of
work due to reputational
damage. Inability to access
suitable insurance.		 Policy for reporting incidents to the
relevant regulatory authority in place.
Weekly review in place of incidents
which could lead to future liabilities
(LT level). Operational reporting policy
and processes in place for all
incidents.
Insurance policy and process in place
with Markel. Approach in place within
communications for responding to
social media / press articles or
enquiries.
Compliance with
regulatory,
contractual and best
practice standards
not consistently
achieved or
maintained across all
our services		 Potential risks to the health
and wellbeing of people we
support. Potential loss of
contracts or closure of
services and the resulting
impact on our reputation
and image as a high-quality
provider.		 Quality of Life approach is being
strengthened and relaunched.
Prioritising quality and application of
quality assurance measures across the
Group; ongoing review of the
resources required to ensure we
maintain high quality across the
Group.
Maintain our focus on achieving Good
and Outstanding ratings in CQC
registered services. Implementing new
approaches to organisational
learning/practice improvement from
accidents and incidents.
Planned audits carried out over the
last 12 months and, detailed audit
reviews take place for all new services.
Clear actions plans developed if any
remedial actions are required.

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Risk Impact Management
Loss of strategically
important contracts
leading to significant
loss of income and
contribution to
central management
costs		 Strain on other contracts
and less service
development and innovation
opportunities through
reduced central
management income.
Reputational damage of
losing
contracts in key boroughs.		 Discussion with commissioners to
review service model changes and
work towards more flexible longer
term contracting arrangements
continue.
We continue to review options for
each contract and any cost centres in
deficit and plan to bring the relevant
budget back to balance.
We ensure pricing for new services
include all fixed and variable costs and
future proof value for the life of the
contract. Service redesign options for
houses with higher void levels to
provide longer term sustainability.
Ongoing impact of
COVID-19 on people
we support and staff
as well as on
financial resources		 Risk to people we support
and staff across the
organisation.
Impact on individual
services if people we
support and staff need to
self-isolate/quarantine in
light of any future waves.
Staff teams diminished as a
result of COVID-19 and
having to utilise staff
resources from other areas.
Agencies and bank staff
unavailable to cover shifts.
Health and safety of
the people we support and
our staff, if appropriate
trained staff are not
available to deliver safe
services.
Financial loss covering
agency and sickness has an
adverse impact on budgets.		 Task Team established to lead
coordination of the response directed
by the Incident Management Team.
Additional resources made available
for staff resources to manage any
ongoing outbreaks.
COVID-19 Information Hub on the
staff intranet to communicate with
colleagues in a consistent and clear
manner considering advice issued by
central and local government. Ongoing
review of Coronavirus Business
Continuity Plan to ensure effective
handling of any future waves.

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Risk Impact Management
Recruitment and
Retention		 Increasing vacancies and
turnover as well as the
current challenging market
are all having an impact.
Reliance on use of agency
and bank staff to fill shifts,
increased costs has an
adverse financial impact.		 Risk is being carefully monitored by
the HR Committee. We have a strong
plan to address the challenges,
including recruitment campaigns on
digital platforms, careers fairs as well
as a variety of retention strategies. A
Task Team is leading on recruitment
and retention across the organisation.
Localised recruitment has been
undertaken to target key areas with
higher vacancy rates.
Certitude is exposed
to a Cyber-security
threat that results in
loss of sensitive
information or fraud		 Failure to protect sensitive
data, Certitude holds a
significant amount of
sensitive data relating to the
people we support,
colleagues and families.
The Certitude IT
infrastructure and network
configuration is not
adequate to maintain data
protection and protect
against cybersecurity
threats.		 Regular external reviews of our
security with penetration testing
throughout the year. New perimeter
firewalls implemented and any
recommendations of future annual
penetration tests to be implemented
within agreed timescales.
Multi Factorial Authentication has been
implemented and to be maintained
throughout the organisation.
Cyber-security improvements and
accreditations included in Digital
Strategy 2022-2025. Details of
projects to improve cyber-security
position and reduce risk to be updated
on an ongoing basis.

Overall responsibility for overseeing the management of risks, compliance with our risk management framework and the agreed risk appetite of the Group lies with the Board. The appetite takes into account the level of risk and risk combinations that the Board is prepared to take to achieve the strategic objectives, together with the level of risk the organisation is able to withstand.

In the ordinary course of activities, Certitude and its subsidiaries actively manage a variety of financial risks which include credit risk and liquidity risk through various control mechanisms. Our liquid assets are held in cash and in a well-diversified investment portfolio which is managed by Investec and overseen by the Finance & Housing Committee. Cash levels are reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure funds are held at appropriate levels, considering both daily operational needs and how to diversify the risk. With new planned activities over the next few years, cash management will need to be monitored closely as well as ensuring a strong balance sheet is maintained.

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Financial Review

Southside Partnership presents its Financial Statements in line with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). Incoming resources (including contract income, grants, rental income and other income) amounted to £18.040m (2020/21 £20.0m) which is a decrease of 9.8% from the previous year, this was mainly as a result of contractual changes in Bromley, we did however have new service developments in Bexley, Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark.

Southside Partnership expended £17.036m in 2021/22 which is a decrease of 13.3% from the previous year, this was primarily driven by contractual changes in Bromley. There were no other major changes to Southside Partnership’s core expenditure during the year other than the increase in expenditure from additional activity and additional income to cover COVID-19 costs.

Whilst we have seen an overall decrease in total income it was encouraging to see that Southside Partnership continues to have good steady income growth with several new developments underway. Considering the challenges, we have been facing over the last year and the impact of COVID-19 throughout the year, we are pleased to be reporting an operating surplus of £437k (before taking into account the Bromley LGPS Pension adjustment of £567k).

Employment costs represent 79.6% of income which compares to 79% the previous year, the increase in staff costs will be because of COVID-19 related costs as we had to ensure we had sufficient cover in place. There was an increase in agency costs during the year, but it is still at a fairly low level overall.

Overall, we are pleased to be reporting an increase in reserves, this is however primarily as a result of some one off adjustments detailed below in the reserves section. We are however seeing the effects of the increase in inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war, both impacting on our investments and driving up costs.

Funding pressure is a continuing reality for social care with local authority budgets in particular under continuous downward pressure. Costs are rising as a result of high inflation and it is increasingly challenging to achieve better settlements from local authorities. We have where possible sought to streamline delivery without compromising on quality outcomes. Contract retention approaches are proving successful with positive relationship management including renegotiation of current contracts, tenders for existing business

Reserves Policy

The balance sheet shows total unrestricted reserves of £9.9m (2020/21: £8.2m) and restricted reserves of £30k (2020/21: £35k). Overall, we are pleased to be reporting an increase in reserves, this is however primarily as a result of some one off adjustments, we had an adjustment on the Bromley LGPs Crystallisation of £567k, unrealised investment gains of £69k and a fixed asset revaluation of £680k.

Reserves are maintained at a level that enables the organisation to manage operational financial risks and short-term income volatility. They allow the Charity to sustain service delivery over the long-term, ensuring that financial commitments can be met as they fall due. Reserves are those unrestricted funds which are freely available to the trustees to spend on any of the organisation’s purposes. However, they exclude amounts which, if

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spent, would adversely affect the organisation’s ability to deliver its aims. Reserves do not therefore include property, funds which are set aside for programmes specifically to further our organisation’s objectives, or amounts set aside for essential costs.

During 2021/22 the Certitude Board undertook a detailed review of the reserves policy and agreed a new reserves policy:

Reserves should be maintained to cover a minimum of 6 months of Central Management costs as well as an amount to manage any one-off events that may occur and the annual pension deficit payments. This will be reviewed annually by the Audit & Risk Committee and the Board.

The 6 months of central costs stipulated by the policy ensure we can manage the loss of the contribution from our largest contracts, as well as the unlikely loss of one of the Group’s subsidiaries.

The one-off events that we have factored into our review include risks around the potential level of grant income or one-off income that may have potential pick up costs or exit costs, as well as exit costs for services fully subsidised by Certitude or non-statutory services such as day support.

The pensions deficit held on the balance sheet is not a useful measure for us to use when considering our reserves policy. Instead of providing cover for the full balance sheet obligation, the Board have agreed that we should have sufficient cover to hold one year’s worth of deficit payments, currently £0.075m.

Levels of minimum reserves required by the policy are calculated as follows:

When calculating free reserves, property assets are excluded. In addition, we add back the pension defined benefit liability held on the balance sheet, as cover for pensions deficit payments are provided for in our minimum reserves calculation.

For 2021/22 we calculate free reserves of £4.8m. With a minimum fund requirement of £2.3m, additional reserves of £2.5m are therefore available for Certitude to invest in future activities. The Board have reviewed reserves held together with investments identified in Certitude’s Forward Strategy. This review has resulted in the decision to create, at Certitude Group level, a designated fund, to support the delivery of the strategy over the next 3 years.

The forward strategy fund includes following elements:

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These will be utilised over the next three years as part of delivering our key forward strategic plans.

As the majority of reserves are held within the 3 subsidiaries, the designated funds have only been shown on the consolidated group accounts. There are no specific allocations of reserves from individual subsidiaries.

Going Concern

The Board of Trustees has reviewed Certitude’s key activities, financial position and risk management policies together with factors likely to affect future development, including the impact of the ongoing economic uncertainty. The financial impact of COVID-19 has been central to these assessments and any ongoing implications as we move forward. Board Trustees have concluded that, with agreed adjustments to our plans and with ongoing financial risk management, it is reasonable to expect Certitude to have adequate resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the going concern basis of accounting continues to be adopted in preparing the financial statements.

During 2021/22, as part of the forward strategy development, we have undertaken detailed financial modelling which is projected to 2031/32. The Audit and Risk Committee and the Finance & Housing committee have reviewed this at different points over the last 12 months. The modelling work included:

Contracts Review: we have reviewed the contracts pipeline and considered any significant changes that will have an impact on the organisation. We are confident that the contracts pipeline is strong, and we have contractual commitments with commissioning authorities at least until 2024/25. We have had over £4m growth in the last 12 months and we have set an ambitious growth target for future years.

All new contracts are based on us being able to include a reasonable central management return. We review the benchmarks that are available for the sector to assist in cost profiling and to remain competitive.

Staff Costs and Non-Pay Expenditure: An annual review of staff remuneration is completed by the Board to ensure we can attract and retain quality staff and ensure pay and reward remain competitive. Financial modelling is based on staff costs increasing year on year, but this must be in line with affordability. Non-pay costs are assumed to increase with inflation year on year, while utility and housing costs are increasing above inflation. These assumptions remain under review.

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Income and expenditure are reviewed monthly and reported to the Finance and Housing committee and Board quarterly and more frequently, if required.

Cash Flow Analysis: we have reviewed as part of the 10-year financial modelling a detailed cash flow which considers income and expenditure changes as well as other capital commitments. This shows that Certitude has a good level of cash reserves. It is important to note that Certitude holds investments of £7.8m which can be liquidated in a short timeframe. At present we do not believe we will need to seek any additional cash to meet requirements.

Investment Policy

The overall objective of the Certitude investment portfolio is to create sufficient income and capital growth to enable Certitude to carry out its purposes consistently year by year, with due and proper consideration for future needs and the maintenance of, and if possible, enhancement of the value of the invested funds while they are retained.

The day-to-day management of the portfolio has been delegated to Investec Wealth & Investment Limited, who implement the portfolio allocation that has been agreed with Certitude. The portfolio asset allocation will fall within the following broad planning ranges and performance will be measured against a weighted average of the movements in the comparative indices (a bespoke benchmark) as set out below.

Asset Class Ranges (%) Benchmark (%) Comparative Indices
Fixed Interest 10-35 16 FTSE Government All
Stocks Index
UK 45-75 60 FTSE All Share
Equities/Overseas Index/FTSE World (ex-
Equity UK)Index £
Property 0-12.5 5 Investment Property
Databank monthly index
Infrastructure/ 2.5-20 17 Bank of England base rate
Absolute +2%
Return/Gold
Cash 0-10 2 Bank of England base rate
-0.5%

There are no investments in unquoted securities.

All bonds bought are of investment grade or better as ascribed by the credit agencies, except up to 5% of the bonds can be below investment grade. Investments in derivatives or securities traded on margin with contingent liability are not permitted, except for forward currency contracts for hedging purposes, designed to minimise currency risk due to foreign exchange movement or exchange volatility.

Ethical considerations

The Board reserves the right to exclude companies that carry out activities contrary to their

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aims or from holding investments which could damage the organisation’s reputation. The Board expects the fund manager to have considered the suitability of investments of the same kind as any particular investment proposed to be made or retained.

Investment performance

For 2021/22 there was an unrealised gain of £69k; dividend income continued to produce a much better return than interest from banks. Total income was £60k.

The investment portfolio has produced a total return 6.0% gross of fees (5.4% net of fees), compared to 7.1% for the benchmark over the year to 31[st] March 2022.

Global markets enjoyed strong returns over the last year, however the road to recovery has not been a simple one. The main area of focus was the re-opening of the economy following a successful vaccine program. However, by Christmas, the new Omicron variant had taken hold, and we were simultaneously seeing a sharp pick-up in inflation with central banks moving to limit monetary support.

Initially, central banks were fairly sanguine around rising inflation, and it was expected that any tightening of monetary policy could be gradual and controlled. Nevertheless, by the start of 2022, it became clear that central banks would be required to take a more aggressive approach to monetary policy with supply chain bottlenecks, increasing commodity prices and full employment, all contributing to inflation hitting 8%, well above the Bank of England’s 2% target.

Additionally, the war between the Ukraine and Russia and associated rising geopolitical tensions, also contributed to the inflationary environment and uncertainty over future economic growth. As a result, there has been an aggressive rotation in markets with higher growth companies on fuller valuations, falling out of favour relative to slower growth companies on lower valuations, and this led to the portfolio slightly underperforming the benchmark.

During the period, it was also agreed to change the investment mandate for the portfolio from low-medium risk to medium risk, as the time horizon for the portfolio is long term and there were no drawdown requirements. We have therefore been using the current volatility in markets to adjust the asset allocation in favour of the new benchmark.

At an asset class level, the fixed interest proportion of the portfolio fell by -0.8% over the year compared to a decline of -5.1% from the FTSE Government All Stocks Index. The portfolio benefitted from holding short-dated corporate bonds, which have less sensitivity to rising interest rates, whilst we also held US Treasury Inflation protected securities, which have helped protect the portfolio against inflation.

The UK equity proportion of the portfolio increased by 9.7% compared to 13.0% by the FTSE All share. Overseas equities on the portfolio have gained 5.0% compared to 14.9% on the FTSE World.

Within property, the charity property funds have generated a good return, returning 21.0% over the year compared to 23.9% of IPD monthly.

Looking ahead, the outlook for the coming year remains challenging. We acknowledge that persistently higher inflation could potentially lead to an economic slowdown and that this is

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now a real risk for markets. This increasing uncertainty may mean heightened levels of volatility over the coming year, highlighting the importance of taking a balanced approach.

Remuneration

Certitude aims to pay salaries which are fair and competitive within the charity sector and proportionate to the complexity of the role. In determining the right level of pay, this last year has shown the true value of what colleagues deliver and this needs to be recognised in their remuneration particularly when people live and work in London.

We aim to:

The Remuneration Committee reviews salary levels annually.

Our approach to remuneration is to ensure we can attract and retain the talented and motivated people needed to ensure we achieve our mission and deliver our strategic goals. The pay of the Leadership Team is reviewed annually, alongside that of all staff, by the Remuneration Committee which is a committee of the main Board. Salaries are reviewed and benchmarked with other similar organisations in the not-for-profit sector and taking account of the fact we work in London. All Board members give their time freely and no Board member received remuneration in the year.

Funds managed on behalf of others

Certitude does not formally hold funds itself on behalf of others. However, it does offer some support with, and management of, people we support’s finances in some cases, which is overseen by the Customer Finance Manager. For some people, the Customer Finance Manager acts as appointee for DWP benefit purposes, and in a small number of cases has been appointed Receiver by the Court of Protection.

Statement of the Board members’ responsibilities in respect of the Financial Statements

The Board is responsible for preparing the report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. The Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 requires the Board to prepare financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the registered society and the Group and of its income and expenditure for that period. In preparing these accounts the Board is required to:

The Board is responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the registered society and enable it

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to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 and the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Group Accounts) Regulations 1969. It has general responsibility for taking reasonable steps to safeguard the assets of the registered society and the Group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Board members are aware:

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

Auditor

A resolution will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting that Crowe U.K. LLP be reappointed as auditor to the registered society for the ensuing year. In approving the Annual Report of the Board, the Board members are also approving the Strategic Report included therein.

By order of the Board

Sue Wickerson Chair

Date: 21 July 2022

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Statutory Information

Other relevant organisations:

Bankers: Barclays Bank plc South West London Group PO Box 385 Onslow Hall The Little Green Richmond Surrey TW9 1WB Auditors: Crowe U.K. LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW Investment Managers: Investec Wealth & Investment Limited 30 Gresham Street London EC2V 7QN

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Independent Auditor’s Report

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Southside Partnership (‘the charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and notes to the financial statements, including 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:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. 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 Trustee's 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 trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. 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

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obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether 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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within 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:

Responsibilities of the Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 33, 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.

Auditor’s 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 auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always

37

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.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

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 auditor’s report.

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were CQC Regulations for service providers and managers, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health and safety legislation and Employment legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income, recording the impact of the CQC regulatory reviews and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management and the Audit & Risk Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not

38

have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

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 charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s 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 charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Dipesh Chhatralia Senior Statutory Auditor for and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London

Date: 15 August 2022

39

Southside Partnership Statement of Financial Activities

(including the Income and Expenditure Account)

Notes
Income from
Investments
2
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Contract income:
Supporting people with
learning disabilities
Supporting people with
mental health needs
Rental Income
Other income
Total income
Expenditure on
Raising funds
Investment management fees
Fundraising
Charitable activities
Supporting people with learning
disabilities
Supporting people with mental
health needs
Bromley pension scheme
termination
15
Total expenditure
5
Operating surplus/(deficit)
Net gains/(losses) on
investments
8
Net gains on fixed asset
revaluation
Net (expenditure)/income
Actuarial loss/(gains)
15
Net movement in funds
Total funds brought forward
13
Total funds carried forward
13		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Funds
Funds
£'000
£'000
60
-
473
1,466
5,895
-
8,287
-
1,841
-
18
-		 2022
Total
Funds
£'000
60
1,939
5,895
8,287
1,841
18		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Funds
Funds
£'000
£'000
57
-
660
1,469
9,276
-
6,892
-
1,654
-
-
-		 2021
Total
Funds
£'000
57
2,129
9,276
6,892
1,654
-
16,574
1,466		 18,040 18,539
1,469		 20,008
12
-
49
-
6,971
1
9,100
1,470
(567)
-		 12
49
6,972
10,570
(567)		 11
-
56
-
10,233
-
7,903
1,467
-
-		 11
56
10,233
9,370
-
15,565
1,471		 17,036 18,203
1,467		 19,670
1,009
(5)
69
-
680
-		 1,004
69
680		 336
2
216
-
-
-		 338
216
-
1,758
(5)
(57)
-		 1,753
(57)		 552
2
(404)
-		 554
(404)
1,701
(5)		 1,696 148
2		 150
8,227
35		 8,262 8,079
33		 8,112
9,928
30		 9,958 8,227
35		 8,262

These financial statements on pages 40 to 41 were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees on 21 July 2022 and signed on their behalf by:

Adebayo Emanuel Board Member

Sue Wickerson

Chair

The results relate wholly to continuing activities and the notes on pages 42 to 54 form an integral part of these financial statements.

40

Southside Partnership Company registration number 2599171 Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2022


pany registration number 2599171
nce Sheet as at 31 March 2022
2022 2021
Notes £'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 6 296 343
Tangible assets 7 5,581 4,964
Investments 8 2,505 2,197
8,382 7,504
Current assets
Debtors 9 1,834 1,261
Cash at bank and in hand 2,470 3,066
4,304 4,327
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year 10,11 (2,171) (2,322)
Net current assets 2,133 2,005
Total assets less current liabilities 10,515 9,509
Creditors
Amounts falling due after more than one year 12 (164) (182)
Net asset or liabilities excluding pension asset or liability 10,351 9,327
Defined Benefit Pension Scheme (Liability) 15 (393) (1,065)
Net assets 9,958 8,262
Unrestricted funds
General funds 7,060 6,012
Property revaluation reserve 2,868 2,215
Total Unrestricted funds 9,928 8,227
Restricted funds 30 35
Total Funds 13 9,958 8,262

These financial statements on pages 40 to 41 were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees on 21 July 2022 and signed on their behalf by:

Adebayo Emanuel Sue Wickerson Board Member Chair

The notes on pages 42 to 54 form part of these financial statements.

41

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

Accounting policies

Legal status

Southside Partnership is a charitable company incorporated in England under the Companies Act 2006. The Charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charity. At the balance sheet date there was one member (2021: 1). The address of the registered office is 31-33 Lumiere Court, 209 Balham High Road, Balham, London, SW17 7BQ. The nature of the Charity’s operations and principal activities are to provide care and support for people who have learning disabilities or difficulties and/or autism, and/or experience mental ill health and/or physical disability or are elderly or infirm; and to undertake any other charitable purpose.

Basis of accounting

The Charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance 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) issued on 16 July 2014, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2015.

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include freehold and leasehold properties and investments at fair value. The financial statements are prepared in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £000.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

The Trustees have taken advantage of the exemption from including a Statement of Cash Flows as per paragraph 1.12 of FRS 102 in the financial statements as the consolidated accounts of Certitude Support Group (Registered Society Number 30891R) are publicly available.

Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported for assets and liabilities as at the balance sheet date and the amounts reported for revenues and expenses during the year. However, the nature of estimation means that actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements. For valuation and depreciation relating to fixed assets, please see section below. For estimations relating to defined benefit pension liability, please see section below.

Investments

The organisation’s investments are stated at market value. It is the organisations policy to keep valuations up to date such that when investments are sold there is no gain or loss arising to previous years. As a result, the SOFA includes those unrealised gains and losses arising from the revaluation of the investment portfolio throughout the year. Certitude as the parent company administers the investment portfolio on behalf of its subsidiaries and a Declaration of Trust arrangement has been agreed to facilitate this. Short term investments are treasury deposits held at financial institutions for a short period with a view to earn interest income.

Fixed Assets

Tangible fixed assets are depreciated over their useful lives taking into account residual values, where appropriate. The actual lives of the assets and residual values are assessed annually and may vary depending on a number of factors. In re-assessing asset lives, factors such as technological innovation, product life cycles and maintenance programmes are taken into account. Residual value assessments consider issues such as future market conditions, the remaining life of the asset and projected disposal values.

Depreciation is provided to write off the costs or valuation of property, plant and equipment less any residual value over their estimated useful lives on the straight line basis as follows:


estimated useful lives on the straight line basis as follows:
Intangible asset, major software development of internal communication system - BUZZ - over 10 years
Intangible asset, HR software - over 5 years
Office equipment and computers - over 4 years
Telephone system - over 5 years
Property held on long leases for office premises - at 2% p.a.
Freehold property (excluding land) - at between - 2% and 3.2%
Capitalisation threshold has been set at - £5,000

42

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

Fixed assets, except property held on long leases, are disclosed at cost less accumulated depreciation.

Freehold property and property held on long leases are carried at professional valuation in accordance with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Valuation Standards. Professional revaluations will be undertaken at least once in every five year period. Impairment reviews will be carried out in the interim period.

An increase arising on revaluation is taken to the Revaluation Reserve except where it reverses impairment for the same asset. A decrease is charged to the Revaluation Reserve to the extent that there is a balance on the reserve for the asset and thereafter to expenditure. Freehold land is not depreciated.

Income

All income is accounted for in the SOFA when the Charity is legally entitled to the income, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. Income due to delivery of goods and services, furthering the objects of the Charity is included under income from charitable activities.

Contractual income and grants are included on a receivable basis. Contract income is recognised as performance obligations are satisfied. Rental income represents fees received for managing accommodation on behalf of housing associations, stated net of voids. All income received in advance for the delivery of a specific service or activity is deferred until such service delivery or activity has taken place.

Expenditure

Resources expended are included on an accruals basis and allocated to appropriate heading in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA). Any irrecoverable VAT is included as part of the cost to which it relates.

Resources expended are included on an accruals basis and allocated to appropriate heading in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA). Any irrecoverable VAT is included as part of the cost to which it relates.

Costs in relation to operating leases are written off to the Statement of Financial Activities as they are incurred.

Support costs are the infrastructure costs supporting the group’s charitable activities and governance. Support costs are allocated substantially on the basis of expenditure.

By virtue of S.478 Corporation Tax Act 2010, the charitable company is exempt from corporation tax.

Reserves

Restricted funds comprise monies where a restriction has been placed on their use by a donor. These are separately accounted for and described in note 13.

Unrestricted funds comprise monies given freely to the organisation that can be applied at the discretion of the trustees in accordance with Certitude’s charitable objectives.

Financial Instruments

Financial instruments held are classified as follows:

Pensions

The company participates in pension schemes for eligible employees through several schemes. The NHS Pensions Agency (for former health service employees). There is also a Defined Contribution Scheme which is with the Social Housing Pension Scheme (SHPS), administered by TPT Retirement Solutions. This scheme was available to staff since 2011 and is now also the scheme for auto enrolment which Southside Partnership implemented for all staff from February 2014 as required by new pension regulations. The company also participates in a defined benefit pension scheme for eligible employees through SHPS, administered by TPT Retirement Solutions. This defined benefit scheme was closed to new entrants in October 2011.

For financial years ending on or before 28 February 2019, it has not been possible for the company to obtain sufficient information to enable it to account for the Scheme as a defined benefit scheme, therefore the company has accounted for the Scheme as a defined contribution scheme.

For financial years ending on or after 31 March 2019, it is possible to obtain sufficient information to enable the company to account for the Scheme as a defined benefit scheme.

The change in accounting for the defined benefit pension scheme has impacted the accounts as following:

Estimates of the net pension liability depend on a number of complex judgements relating to the discount rate used, changes in retirement ages and mortality rates. The Group engages a firm of actuaries to provide expert advice about the assumptions made and the effect on the pension liability and changes in these assumptions.

43

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

outhside PartnershipNotes to the Financial Statements
2
Investment income
Bank/ short term investment interest receivable
Income on investments
3
Staff cost
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
Agency staff		 2022
2021
£'000
£'000
-
-
60
57
60
57
2022
2021
£'000
£'000
12,327
13,542
1,098
1,206
750
1,018
195
69
14,370
15,835

Redundancy costs of £3,264 has been recognised as expenditure and paid. (2021:£14,695 expensed and paid).

The average number of employees during the year was:
2022 2021
Number Number
Average number of full time employees 424 450
Average number of employees 646 680

a) One staff member received emoluments plus taxable benefits amounting to over £60,000 during the year (2021:one) b) Pension contribution for higher paid staff was £5,200 c) No remuneration for services was paid to any members of the Board

4
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Stated after charging:
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
Auditor remuneration
Bad debts
5
Analysis of total expenditure
Expenditure on raising funds
Investment management fee
Fundraising
Charitable activities
Supporting people with learning disabilities
Supporting people with mental health needs
Bromley pension scheme termination
Total resources expended		 2022
2021
£'000
£'000
152
165
21
16
(66)
89
Activities
undertaken directly
Support costs
2022
Total
£'000
£'000
£'000
12
-
12
41
8
49
6,108
864
6,972
8,412
2,158
10,570
(567)
-
(567)
14,006
3,030
17,036

Included in Support costs are Governance costs of £31,212

44

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

6 Intangible fixed assets

Cost or
valuation
At 1 April 2021
Additions
Transfer from
parent
At 31 March 2022
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021
Charge for the year
At 31 March 2022		 Software Cost
£'000
428
-
-
428
85
47
132
Net book
value
At 31 March 2022
At 31 March 2021		 296
343

Included in intangible fixed asset is an amount of £316,243 of software development relating to a new internal communication system, and £26,779 in relation to a new HR system.

7 Tangible fixed assets

Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2021
Additions
Disposals
Revaluation
At 31 March 2022
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021
Charge for the year
Disposals
Revaluation
At 31 March 2022
Net book value
At 31 March 2022
At 31 March 2021		 Freehold Land
& Buildings
Long
Leasehold
Property
Fixtures
fittings &
equipment
IT equipment
Total
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
3,050
2,014
8
89
5,161
-
-
43
-
43
-
-
-
-
-
450
450
3,500
2,014
51
89
5,654
73
94
3
27
197
37
40
6
23
106
-
-
-
-
-
(110)
(120)
-
-
(230)
-
14
9
50
73
3,500
2,000
42
39
5,581
2,977
1,920
5
62
4,964

Freehold Land and Buildings and Long Leasehold Property classes of Tangible fixed assets were assessed and revalued on 31 March 2022 by Robert Wilson of HB Surveyors and Valuers. The basis of this valuation is Fair Value. The valuation has been undertaken in accordance with RICS valuation standards- Global and UK edition.

Historical Cost (Freehold Land and Buildings and Long Leasehold Property) at 31 March 2022 £'000

Freehold Land and Buildings 1,410 Long Leasehold Property 1,222

45

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

8
Fixed asset investments
Market value as at 1 April
Additions
Disposals proceeds
Net investment gains/(losses)
Market value at 31 March
Historical cost at 31 March
Investments are represented by:
UK Fixed Interest
Overseas Fixed Interest
Total Fixed Interest
UK Equities
European Equities
North American Equities
Japanese Equities
Far East & Australasian Equities
International equities
Emerging Economies
Total Equities
Property
Alternative Assets
Cash
Total		 2022
2021
£'000
£'000
2,197
1,792
250
200
(11)
(11)
69
216
2,505
2,197
2,242
1,935
243
491
113
56
356
547
621
452
117
74
532
285
43
26
128
81
69
44
33
43
1,543
1,005
110
110
462
423
34
112
2,505
2,197

46

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

9 Debtors

Trade debtors
Rent debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
Other debtors
Amount owed by group
10
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Other taxation and social security
Accruals
Annual Leave Accrual
Deferred income
Other creditors
Amount owed to Support for Living
Mortgage (see note 12)
11
Deferred income
The movement on deferred income in the year is:
Brought Forward
Deferred in Year
Released in Year
12
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Mortgage repayable – within 2 to 5 years
Mortgage repayable – in over 5 years		 2022
2021
£'000
£'000
962
812
253
171
245
105
10
22
364
151
1,834
1,261
2022
2021
£'000
£'000
214
177
297
325
267
325
59
55
303
467
941
954
71
-
19
19
2,171
2,322
2022
2021
£'000
£'000
467
525
303
467
(467)
(525)
303
467
2022
2021
£'000
£'000
76
76
88
106
164
182

The mortgage is secured on a freehold supported living scheme property. The initial mortgage of £428,000 comprised 80% of the property’s cost and is repayable over 25 years. The interest rate is 1.25% above base rate. Interest payable for the year was £2.7k (2021: £2.9k).

47

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

13 Fund statement and revaluation reserve

Restricted funds:
Other Fundraised
income
City Bridge project
Fulfilling lives - Big
Lottery funded
Total restricted
funds
General funds
Property revaluation
reserve
Total unrestricted
funds
Total restricted and
unrestricted funds		 At 1
April
2021
Incoming
Resources
Resources
Expended
Gains/
(Losses)
Transfers
At 31
March
2022
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
6
-
(1)
-
-
5
18
52
(56)
14
11
1,414
(1,414)
-
-
11
35
1,466
(1,471)
-
-
30
6,012
16,574
(15,565)
12
27
7,060
2,215
-
-
680
(27)
2,868
8,227
16,574
(15,565)
692
-
9,928
8,262
18,040
(17,036)
692
-
9,958

Restricted funds

Other Fundraised income - Income generated to enrich the lives of the people we support such as art therapy sessions, healthy eating, improving gardens, providing assistive technology and investing in technology to provide sensory experiences to benefit people who have profound, multiple and complex learning disabilities.

City Bridge project - A community arts project, with focus on mentoring people with lived experience of mental health support needs, for them to be able to run and facilitate various arts activities.

Big Lottery Fund Grant, Fulfilling Lives - a programme focusing on the impact of service design, and how person centered and coordinated services can improve the outcome for people with multiple and complex needs. The programme findings will be shared and used, so that the findings can be used to provide a wider benefit.

Revaluation Reserve

At 1 April 2021
Revaluation gain
Transfers
At 31 March 2022		 Freehold Land
& Buildings
Long
Leasehold
Property
Total
£'000
£'000
£'000
1,542
673
2,215
560
120
680
(12)
(15)
(27)
2,090
778
2,868

48

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

14 Analysis of net assets between funds

Designated Unrestricted Total
Unrestricted		 Restricted 2022
Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Fixed assets 5,877 - 5,877 - 5,877
Investments - 2,505 2,505 - 2,505
Current assets - 4,274 4,274 30 4,304
Creditors: due
within one year		 - (2,171) (2,171) - (2,171)
Creditors: due
after more than - (164) (164) - (164)
one year
Defined Benefit
Pension Liability		 - (393) (393) - (393)
5,877 4,051 9,928 30 9,958

15 Pension Adjustments

Southside Partnership has complied in full with the requirements of FRS102 and detailed below are the disclosure notes required for both the Social Housing Pension Scheme as well as the Bromley Local Government Pension Scheme.

Pensions Trust Social Housing Pension Scheme

The company participates in the Social Housing Pension Scheme (the Scheme), a multi-employer scheme which provides benefits to some 500 non-associated employers. The Scheme is a defined benefit scheme in the UK.

The Scheme is subject to the funding legislation outlined in the Pensions Act 2004 which came into force on 30 December 2005. This, together with documents issued by the Pensions Regulator and Technical Actuarial Standards issued by the Financial Reporting Council, set out the framework for funding defined benefit occupational pension schemes in the UK.

The last triennial valuation of the scheme for funding purposes was carried out as at 30 September 2020. This valuation revealed a deficit of £1,560m. A Recovery Plan has been put in place with the aim of removing this deficit by 31 March 2028.

The Scheme is classified as a 'last-man standing arrangement'. Therefore the company is potentially liable for other participating employers' obligations if those employers are unable to meet their share of the scheme deficit following withdrawal from the Scheme. Participating employers are legally required to meet their share of the Scheme deficit on an annuity purchase basis on withdrawal from the Scheme.

For financial years ending on or before 28 February 2019, it was not possible for the company to obtain sufficient information to enable it to account for the Scheme as a defined benefit scheme, therefore the company has accounting for the Scheme as a defined contribution scheme.

For financial years ending on or after 31 March 2019, it is possible to obtain sufficient information to enable the company to account for the Scheme as a defined benefit scheme.

For accounting purposes, a valuation of the scheme is carried out with an effective date of 30 September each year. The liability figures from this valuation are rolled forward for accounting year-ends from the following 31 March to 28 February inclusive.

The latest accounting valuation was carried out with an effective date of 30 September 2021. The liability figures from this valuation were rolled forward for accounting year-ends from the following 31 March 2022 to 28 February 2023 inclusive.

The liabilities are compared, at the relevant accounting date, with the company's fair share of the Scheme's total assets to calculate the company's net deficit or surplus.

We have been notified by the Trustee of the Scheme that it has performed a review of the changes made to the Scheme’s benefits over the years and the result is that there is uncertainty surrounding some of these changes. The Trustee has been advised to seek clarification from the Court on these items. This process is ongoing and the matter is unlikely to be resolved before the end of 2024 at the earliest. It is recognised that this could potentially impact the

49

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

value of Scheme liabilities, but until Court directions are received, it is not possible to calculate the impact of this issue, particularly on an individual employer basis, with any accuracy at this time. No adjustment has been made in these financial statements in respect of this potential issue.

Bromley Local Government Pension Scheme

During the year 2021/22 the Bromley service contract has ended, and staff who are members of the Bromley Pension scheme have left their employment with Southside Partnership. This lead to a crystallising event, where Southside Partnership was required to settle Bromley pensions deficit. The value of the deficit was calculated to £71,000, which was paid during the year. The amount held as a liability at end of March 2021 was £638,000. The balance of £567,000 has been released to the income and expenditure account during the year.

Present value of defined benefit obligation, fair value of assets and defined benefit asset/(liability)

Fair value of plan assets
Present value of defined benefit obligation
(Deficit) in plan
Unrecognised surplus
Defined benefit asset (liability) to be recognised
Deferred tax
Net defined benefit asset (liability) to be recognised		 2022
2021
£'000
£'000
2,326
2,372
2,719
2,799
(393)
(427)
-
-
(393)
(427)
(393)
(427)

Reconciliation of opening and closing balance of the defined benefit obligation

Defined benefit obligation at start of period
Current service cost
Expenses
Interest expense
Contributions by plan participants
Actuarial losses (gains) due to scheme experience
Actuarial losses (gains) due to changes in demographic assumptions
Actuarial losses (gains) due to changes in financial assumptions
Benefits paid and expenses
Liabilities acquired in a business combination
Liabilities extinguished on settlements
Losses (gains) on curtailments
Losses (gains) due to benefit changes
Exchange rate changes
Defined benefit obligation at end of period
Reconciliation of opening and closing balance of the fair value of plan assets
Fair value of plan assets at start of period
Interest income		 2022
£'000
2,799
-
4
59
-
124
(44)
(167)
(56)
-
-
-
-
-
2,719
2022
£'000
2,372
51

50

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

Experience on plan assets (excluding amounts included in interest income) -
gain/(loss)		 (144)
Employer contributions 103
Member contributions -
Benefits paid and expenses (56)
Assets acquired in a business combination -
Assets distributed on settlements -
Exchange rate changes -
Fair value of plan assets at end of period 2,326
The actual return on plan assets (including any changes in share of assets) over the period from 31 March 2021 to 31
March 2022 was (£93,000).
Defined benefit costs recognised in other comprehensive income
Experience on plan assets (excluding amounts included in net interest cost) -
gain/(loss)
Experience gains and losses arising on the plan liabilities - gain/(loss)
Effects of changes in the demographic assumptions underlying the present value
of the defined benefit obligation - gain/(loss)
Effects of changes in the financial assumptions underlying the present value of the
defined benefit obligation - gain/(loss)
Total actuarial gains and losses (before restriction due to some of the surplus not
being recognisable) - gain/(loss)
Effects of changes in the amount of surplus that is not recoverable (excluding
amounts included in net interest cost) - gain/(loss)
Total amount recognised in other comprehensive income - gain/(loss)
Defined benefit costs recognised in statement of comprehensive income
Current service cost
Expenses
Net interest expense
Losses (gains) on business combinations
Losses (gains) on settlements
Losses (gains) on curtailments
Losses (gains) due to benefit changes
Defined benefit costs recognised in statement of comprehensive income (SoCI)		 2022
£'000
(144)
(124)
44
167
(57)
-
2022
£'000
-
4
8
-
-
-
-
12
(57)

51

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

Assets
Global Equity
Absolute Return
Distressed Opportunities
Credit Relative Value
Alternative Risk Premia
Fund of Hedge Funds
Emerging Markets Debt
Risk Sharing
Insurance-Linked Securities
Property
Infrastructure
Private Debt
Opportunistic Illiquid Credit
High Yield
Opportunistic Credit
Cash
Corporate Bond Fund
Liquid Credit
Long Lease Property
Secured Income
Liability Driven Investment
Currency Hedging
Net Current Assets		 2022
£'000
446
93
83
77
77
-
68
77
54
63
166
60
78
20
8
8
155
-
60
87
649
(9)
6
2,326		 2021
£'000
378
131
69
75
89
-
96
86
57
49
158
57
60
71
65
-
140
28
47
99
603
-
14
Total assets 2,372

None of the fair values of the assets shown above include any direct investments in the employer’s own financial instruments or any property occupied by, or other assets used by, the employer.

52

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

Key Assumptions

Key Assumptions
2022 2021
% per annum % per annum
Discount Rate 2.79% 2.12%
Inflation (RPI) 3.70% 3.31%
Inflation (CPI) 3.25% 2.84%
Salary Growth 4.25% 3.84%
Allowance for commutation of pension for cash at
retirement		 75% of
maximum
allowance		 75% of
maximum
allowance

The mortality assumptions adopted at 31 March 2022 imply the following life expectancies

Life
expectancy at
age 65
(Years)
Male retiring in 2022 21.1
Female retiring in 2022 23.7
Male retiring in 2042 22.4
Female retiring in 2042 25.2

London Borough of Bromley Pension Fund - Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

The Local Government Pension Scheme is a defined benefits scheme. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate fund.

Net pension liability

Residual Assets as at 31
August 2021
Residual Liabilities as at 31
August 2021
Termination deficit as at
31 August 2021
Amount paid
Net pension liability		 2022
Net pension
liability
£'000
859
Estimated
employer assets
(930)
Total value of
liabilities
(71)
Net pension
liability
71
-		 2021
£'000
1,822
(2,460)
(638)

Certitude terminated the pension scheme as at 31 August 2021, total contributions paid for the year was £30,913. The balance of the net liability held, after payment of the termination deficit, was £567,000. This amount has been released to the income and expenditure account.

53

Southside Partnership Notes to the Financial Statements

16 Capital and other commitments

There were capital commitments as at 31 March 2022 (2021: £nil).

There were no commitments under non-cancellable operating leases at 31 March 2022 (2021: £Nil).

17 Control relationship

Southside Partnership is a wholly owned subsidiary of Certitude Support Limited, a Registered Society with registration number 30891R which is the ultimate controlling party. Its Registered Office is 31-33 Lumiere Court, Balham High Road, Balham SW17 7BQ. The ultimate controlling parties are the Trustees of Certitude Support Limited.

18 Related party transactions

SSP is a 100% Subsidiary of Certitude Support, accordingly, transactions and balances arising with fellow group entities are not separately disclosed, as permitted by section 33.1A of FRS 102, since they are eliminated in the consolidated financial statements of Certitude Support, that are filed with the Charity Commission. The total indebtedness between group organisations as at 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2021 is stated in notes 9 and 10. During the year Trustees have not declared any interests that could be determined a related party transaction.

19 Funds held on Trust

At end of March 2022, Southside Partnership Ltd was holding a total sum of £1,168,307 (2021: £1,105,209) on trust in relation to clients. This amount has not been included in cash or creditors in these accounts.

20 Prior year comparatives, funds and asset allocation Fund statement

Fund statement
Restricted funds:
Other Fundraised income
City Bridge project
Fulfilling lives - Big
Lottery funded
Total restricted funds
General funds
Property revaluation
reserve
Total unrestricted
funds
Total restricted and
unrestricted funds		 At 1
April
2020
Incoming
Resources
Resources
Expended
Gains/
(Losses)
Transfers
At 31
March
2021
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
5
1
0
-
-
6
17.00
65
(64)
18
11
1403
(1,403)
-
-
11
33
1,469
(1,467)
-
-
35
5,839
18,539
(18,203)
(188)
102
6,089
2,240
-
-
-
(102)
2,138
8,079
18,539
(18,203)
(188)
-
8,227
8,112
20,008
(19,670)
(188)
-
8,262

Analysis of net assets between funds

Fixed assets
Investments
Current assets
Creditors: due within one year
Creditors: due after more than one
year
Defined Benefit Pension Liability		 Designated
Unrestricted
£'000
£'000
5,308.00
-
0
2,198
0
4,290
0
(2,322)
0
(182)
0
(1,065)		 Total
Unrestricted
£'000
5,308
2,198
4,290
(2,322)
(182)
(1,065)		 Restricted
£'000
-
-
35
-
-
-		 2021
Total
£'000
5,308
2,198
4,325
(2,322)
(182)
(1,065)
5,308
2,919		 8,227 35 8,262

54