2021-03-31-accounts

Become Charity

Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements

for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

Company no. 2700693

Charity no. 1010518

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Contents

Message from the Chief Executive and Chair	3
Trustees Annual Report for the Year Ended March 31 2021	5
Financial review	14
Principle risks and uncertainties	17
Plans for the future	18
Structure, governance and management	19
Statement of responsibilities of the trustees	20
Report of The Independent Auditors to the members of Become	22
Charity Limited
Statement of Financial Activities	26
Statement of Cash Flows	27
Statement of Financial Position	28
Notes to the financial statements	30
Reference and administrative details	41

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Message from the Chief Executive and Chair

This year Become has built on the solid foundations laid in the previous year and, despite the challenging operating environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation has been able to grow and thrive. Through growing the team, we have created a greater emphasis on being a strong platform for the voices of young people and increasing the opportunities that young people have to be heard directly by people in power, creating positive change in both policy and practice.

We leaned into the challenges presented to us by the global pandemic and have used the crisis to review our ways of working, finding ways to reach out to young people digitally, replacing for now our previous face to face delivery model. Through diversifying our approach, we have continued to demonstrate our commitment to being there for care-experienced children and young people whatever the circumstances.

This year we are proud to have increased the number of young people we directly supported by 40% on the previous year, with more than 700 young people accessing our frontline services. This includes support from our Care Advice Service, staffed by knowledgeable and empathetic staff who are able to listen to, advocate for and be there for young people, whether they’re calling to ask about their rights and entitlements, suffering from poor mental health or simply have no-one else to turn to. We have helped young people with one-to-one and group coaching sessions and supported a greater number of young people to access education and training opportunities through Propel. Our online weekly Link-Up, a place for care-experienced young people to engage and have fun, has enabled the charity to engage with young people from across England, diversifying our geographical reach.

We have made a strong start to the development of an innovative, co-created pilot training programme that is aimed at giving Personal Advisors (the professionals who support those young people leaving care) with a nationally recognised training offer to improve their practice.

Until January 2021, we were supported by a wonderful Advisory Group who made an enormous contribution and enhanced how we work alongside other care-experienced young people. The group has now graduated but their legacy and input remain, and the values they created remain at the heart of our work with young people: community, diversity, passion and support.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the individuals, trusts and foundations who give so generously to Become. We are grateful that so many of our donors and supporters continued to stand with us over the last year, especially during such a challenging and difficult year presented to us by the pandemic. In 2019/20 we were honoured to receive support from trusts and foundations, individual donors, and our brilliant cycling fundraisers who once more took to the roads for the annual Biking for Children in Care event.

Following our success last year of securing a manifesto promise from the now-Government for a review of the care system, in February we welcomed the launch of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. At Become we believe that this review presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the care system and ensure that it is fit for purpose. We have taken every available opportunity to feed into the review, and we hope that its outcomes recommend the radical change needed to ensure that every child in care and every young person leaving the care system experiences the love, stability and security that their peers do. To play our role in achieving this we have significantly supported the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Looked After Children in Care Leavers with its Spotlight Inquiry. As the

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Secretariat for the APPG, we launched a new call for evidence and programming a series of regional evidence sessions, hosted by MPs, to feed into the independent review. The Inquiry focuses on the connections between experiences in care and communities, gathering evidence from people with varied personal and professional experiences on what makes a difference.

For many children in care and young care leavers, the ongoing pandemic continues to have a devastating impact. As we emerge into a different world, much needs to change and more urgently than ever. Young care-experienced people are facing increased isolation, mental health problems, hardship and homelessness. Not only are they struggling now, but they are also particularly at risk as we face economic uncertainty in the future. We know that we will need to be there for more young people over the coming months and years. We must continue to be determined and ambitious about rising to that challenge and optimistic that change is possible and that we can bring it about. In order to do this, this year we have made significant steps forward in our desire for digital innovation with the goal of supporting more young people, including the most disadvantaged, clearly in our sights. We remain committed to ensuring their voices are heard by those making decisions and empowering and inspiring young care-experienced people to be campaigners.

Our support, expertise and advocacy has never been more necessary – and the voices and experiences of children in care and young care leavers will continue to be at the heart of everything we do.

In the meantime, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us on our journey so far – we’re looking forward to continuing to work together to deliver a better care system and transform the lives of children in care and care-experienced young people.

Hugh Thornbery CBE Chair of Trustees

Katharine Sacks-Jones Chief Executive

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

The trustees present their report (which includes the strategic report) and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021. The reference and administrative information are set out on page 42 of this report.

The aims and objectives of Become

Charitable objects:

To promote the care, upbringing and establishment in life of children and young people who are or have been looked after or assisted by local authorities or other public or charitable bodies charged with the care and upbringing of children or who are or have been in the care of foster or adoptive parents.

(https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charitydetails/1010518/governing-document )

Our vision is that care-experienced people have the same chances as everyone else to live happy, fulfilled lives.

Our mission is to help children in care and young care leavers to believe in themselves and to heal, grow and unleash their potential. We work alongside them to make the care system the best it can be.

Ensuring our work delivers our aims

We review our aims, objectives and activities each year. This year has been the first year of our five-year strategy period (2020 – 2025). As the year started, we were at the very beginning of our response to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently spent the year working remotely through a series of national lockdowns and following Government guidance on working from home. As an organisation that provides a vital lifeline for many young people, we increased the number of people we supported as well as adapting our services to be able to deliver them remotely and digitally.

We found that throughout the year we had an increase in the number of young people using our services and adapted our offer to reflect the changing need. This has meant focusing on supporting young people in isolation, through mental health challenges, financial hardship, and homelessness threats.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have continued to develop ambitious plans, have increased capacity, and have started a process of building our organisation’s operational capacity alongside our delivery capacity to allow us to take an ambitious direction and deliver tangible change for young people in the coming years.

Our values

Honesty

We speak up, for, and alongside children in care and young care leavers. We always act in their best interests. We share a vision and purpose that we convey clearly to others.

Empowerment

We help children in care and young care leavers to be powerful agents of positive change in their own lives, in the care system and in society.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Respect

We listen to care-experienced people and we work in partnership with them to improve the experience of being in care and life after care.

Kindness

We care about the young people we work with and we help the care system to be more like a good parent. We look after ourselves and after each other so we can be our best for young people.

Optimism

We are angry about the times when the care system and society let young people down, but determined, ambitious and optimistic about our ability to make things better.

Strategic aims

Supporting children

We help children in care and young care leavers to believe in themselves and to shape the future they want.

Supporting practice

We develop and support the practice of people who work with and care for children in care and young care leavers, so that they are able to do their best for young people.

Challenging the system

We ensure that the voices of children in care and young care leavers are listened to and acted upon – and we hold people and organisations who have power in and over the care system to account.

Changing attitudes

We improve society’s understanding of, and empathy with, children in care and young people and adults who are care-experienced.

How our activities deliver public benefit

All our charitable activities focus on children and young people in care and young care leavers. We are committed to meaningfully involving young people in every area of our work where possible, including operations and governance. We have had due regard of the guidance issued by the Charity Commission.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Strategic report

Achievements and performance

Become delivers a range of services, projects, and activities aimed at improving the life outcomes of children and young people in care and care-experienced young people. These include the Care Advice Service, Coaching and 1:1 support, and Propel. Through these programmes we reached over 700 young people this year.

We also support young people to participate in policy making and this year have redeveloped our approach to young people’s participation, moving away from an advisory board and into a participation network – creating more opportunities for young people as well as increasing their impact.

Care Advice Service

The Care Advice Service provides holistic information, advice and support for children in care and care leavers, as well as professionals who support care-experienced young people. Over the last year, this service has been offered by freephone and email. We saw a 75% increase in calls to the Care Advice Line in the first three months of lockdown. This year we saw an increase in the complexity of issues of young people calling the Care Advice Line and a strong need for the follow-on case work support we offer as part of our service. We had young people contact us struggling with loneliness and isolation, who are worried about coping financially, or are having issues with their housing – including imminent risk of becoming homeless.

The most common themes arising from our support work on the Care Advice Line this year have been:

• Housing and homelessness

• Mental health

• Advocacy

• Accessing further and higher education.

Our team work closely with local authorities and other specialist providers to ensure young people can access the support they are entitled to. The Care Advice Service also acts as an internal referral pathway to other opportunities for young callers including involvement in our ongoing 1:1 support and coaching, and groupwork such as our new weekly Link Up group.

“I feel good and that you have given me some kind of hope. I didn't think I would be hearing anything back because of Covid-19.”

The Link Up

This year we started running online Link Ups in response to the increased needs of young people due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Moving from a monthly in-person meeting that had only been run twice, into a weekly online group, we created a space where care-experienced young people from across the country could meet, socialise and gain peer support. One young person who attended said they had never met another care-experienced young person before attending our Link Up. We held themed Link Ups – including Pancake Day where young people cooked together, creating a relaxed, fun and engaging space for young people.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Propel

This year we expanded and developed our Propel service with the addition of an Advice Officer specialising in Further & Higher Education, who is able to support young people on a 1:1 and group basis. Through this service we have been better able to support young people’s journeys through to further and higher education, with the most common themes being support with accommodation, finance, and applying to college or university. We worked with a digital consultant and young people to increase the reach of the service and added exciting new content to the website, including videos created by care-experienced young people. 8,760 people used Propel to better understand them support available to them at college and university.

We are looking forward to further developing Propel in future years, broadening its reach to Focus on skills and vocational learning.

Coaching and 1:1 Support

This year we adapted and delivered our coaching and support programme online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We offered a flexible approach to this work, with more regular check-ins with young people who were struggling in lockdown. Building on our flexible approach, we delivered 96 coaching sessions and 191 support sessions with young people – supporting them holistically with a range of needs and helping them to identify and work towards their goals.

In the sessions young people explored tools and approaches to improve well-being across five areas: positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Progress is measured through a questionnaire at the beginning, middle, and end of the programme. Results have shown clearly that all young people who attend the programme regularly make positive progress and improve their wellbeing.

Staff delivering coaching & tailored 1:1 support have supported young people to develop a range of skills:

• Goal setting

• Building confidence/self-esteem

• Decision-making

• Organisation and time management

• Budgeting and managing finances

• Managing personal relationships and building support networks.

One young person who graduated from our services commented:

“Being in a group with other people who have been in care, you learn to realise your accomplishments, and to enjoy them, and to realise how far you’ve come and you’re not on your own.”

Staff have provided emotional support alongside the skills-based activities including with issues around poor mental health & wellbeing, and loneliness & isolation.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Working with a younger age group.

Across our services team we worked with 10 care-experienced young people aged 16-18 to co-produce a series of Healthy Relationships workshops. In creating the workshops, the young people were at the very heart of the creation of the content – including ideas for topics, activities, and styles of presenting. Providing young people with the space to have autonomy and ownership encourages confidence, as it demonstrates recognition of the huge value of these young people, their thoughts, and their opinions. This is especially important for care-experienced young people who, as we are aware from our work at Become, often feel decisions are made about them or for them, rather than in consultation with them.

Impact

Across our Care Advice Service, 1:1 Support, and Coaching, we ask young people about the impact of our work.

Our universal impact question for our direct work with children and young people is the current measure we use. At the end of sessions/work with young people, our practitioners ask:

“How do you feel as a result of our work today?”

Young people’s responses told us we made a difference. Of young people asked, an average of over 90% reported a positive impact following our work with them.

In Summer 2021 we will be appointing an external impact specialist to support and lead our team to develop a wider impact framework for use across our services.

Training

This year we delivered training to 269 professionals in local authorities and charities across the UK. This exceeded our target of 250. In collaboration with young people, we developed and delivered our first webinar with the aim being for professionals to gain a better understanding of how to build and maintain meaningful working relationships with young care leavers.

Working remotely all year, we adapted our most popular training titles to online delivery including ‘Rights & Entitlements for Children in Care & Young Care Leavers’ and developed new online training titles including bitesize courses focusing on language, trauma and rights & entitlements. Delivery of these titles to groups of professionals online had positive results, with participants reporting an improvement on their knowledge of rights and entitlements for children in care and young care leavers.

We built our new Training team this year, bringing in a dedicated Training & Development Manager and Training Officer, new roles within the charity, enabling us to develop our training work as well as deliver our Personal Advisor Training Programme.

Personal Advisors Training Programme

We progressed our work with the PA Training Pilot, partnering with 4 local authorities – Buckinghamshire, Coventry, Kirklees and Essex, representing a total of 90 personal advisors. We recruited our project steering group comprising of academic researchers, Leaving Care Team managers, principle social workers, and other sector professionals including those with care experience,

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

and we began work with our external evaluator who will develop our impact and evaluation framework. We also began developing course content for training programmes alongside young people and our local authority partners. There has been incredible interest in this project, with local authority partners reporting how needed this work is and how interested and excited they are to be involved.

Influencing policy

As a charity working closely with young people in and leaving care, we are committed to challenging the system and using our insight, expertise, and platform to improve outcomes and opportunities for young care-experienced people. This places a responsibility upon us to provide that insight for policy-makers and service providers and to ensure the voices and experiences of young people are at the heart of decision-making; see the section below for further information about young people’s involvement in our work to improve the care system.

Following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we secured important additions to the guidance issued to local authorities and children’s social care providers, requesting that they proactively reach out to care leavers over the age of 21, ensure that access to existing financial entitlements wasn’t disrupted, and to extend the principle that no young person should have to leave care during the pandemic to include those leaving Staying Put arrangements or likely to experience a significant shift in the level of support they receive.

As part of the #KeepCaringTo18 campaign group, we jointly produced a young people’s version of the government’s consultation on unregulated accommodation and successfully secured an extension to the deadline for responses to allow more care-experienced people to share their views.

In early 2021, we responded to the launch of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, forming strong early relationships with the review team and Chair, and sharing our learnings around meaningful participation work to support their Experts by Experience group and other planning around consultation and involvement of care-experienced young people in the Review. As Secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary group for Looked After Children and Care Leavers, we also launched the Spotlight Inquiry exploring how to strengthen community connections for care-experienced young people, consisting of an accessible call for evidence, a series of online regional evidence sessions (hosted by MPs), and workshops to hear from smaller groups of care-experienced young people.

Throughout the year, we continued to publish a range of policy statements, reports, consultation responses, and briefings for parliamentarians and others to better inform decision makers and influence policy development and practice. These included but weren’t limited to:

• Our response to the 2020 Department for Education consultation on unregulated accommodation

• A briefing ahead of a parliamentary debate on the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, referenced twice in the Commons chamber including in the opening statement from the then Shadow Education Secretary

• Our submission to the Education Committee’s Inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 on children’s services

• A joint research report – “I’m already falling”: Supporting care-experienced and estranged students over the summer – which successfully raised the profile of the difficulties facing this group of students within the sector and supported the development of a briefing from the sector regulator on good practice

• A joint children’s sector recovery plan for children in care and care leavers.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

As part of our commitment to being an evidence-led organisation, we also focused on putting in place the foundations for growing our research programme, completing a comprehensive literature review to understand the research landscape and enable us to move forward with planning our own research and developing research project propositions for funders.

Other highlights during the year included:

• Contributing to two oral evidence sessions and producing a written submission to support the civil society report to the UN Committee as part of the UK Government’s examination of its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We were pleased to see much of the language and recommended questions around rights breaches for children in care and care leavers included within the final report.

• Working alongside colleagues from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to feed into their guidance on joint housing protocols for care leavers, with our recommendations around linking clearly with the Local Offer, appeals processes and social housing allocation for returners included.

Young people’s participation in improving the care system

Our work to improve the care system is delivered alongside young people with experience of care and underpinned by eight key principles that we outline on our website. We believe strongly in the expertise held by care-experienced young people and seek to create opportunities where their views can be – shared directly with decision makers to improve policy and practice in ways that are both meaningful and safe. We also aim to support care-experienced young people to become decision makers

themselves and challenge the systems and structures which can act to deny them a role in designing a better care system.

Until January 2021, we were supported by a wonderful advisory group who made an enormous contribution and enhanced how we work alongside other care-experienced young people. The group has now disbanded but their legacy and input remain, and the values they created remain at the heart of our work with young people: community, diversity, passion and support.

Some of the advisory group’s highlights during the year included:

• Adapting to a completely new online way of working as a result of the pandemic, meeting more frequently to support each other and develop closer connections

• Recording a podcast sharing their experiences of the first lockdown and the impact of this on care-experienced young adults

• Submitting their views and recommendations to the House of Lords Covid-19 Committee’s ‘Life Beyond COVID’ Inquiry

• Enhancing Become’s staff and Trustee recruitment practices

Sharing their expertise and advising others including Ofsted, the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford, National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers and the Beyond Lockdown research project.

“One of my favourite parts at Become was during the first national lockdown when we started meeting on a weekly basis. Having those meetings gave me something to look forward to in such an uncertain time, it also allowed me to still feel proactive while making a change. I also loved this as we spent time just getting to know each other and I feel having those meetings during such a difficult time brought our Become family closer together and for that, I am grateful to the first lockdown.”

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

“I am proud of the whole group and everything we have achieved during our time together both with Become and in our own personal lives too. I am proud of the family and support network we have become for each other.”

“This has been one of the best things I've ever done in my life. It's made me feel like I'm part of something meaningful, it's also put me in contact with other charities where I've made friends. I'm so glad to have met everyone at Become, everyone has been really kind and has enormous amounts of integrity and truly care about what they are doing to help.”

“Once I turned 21 I started to feel my experience was irrelevant I felt my story no longer mattered and my voice was starting to fade into the background but then I joined Become and that changed. You gave me back my voice and gave me a platform to be even louder than before and gave me the opportunity to make a change on a national level and for that, I can never thank you enough.”

We have recently invested in growing and diversifying the community of care-experienced young people and young adults who we work alongside to create change and influence decision-making in care, creating meaningful opportunities for those with lived experience of care to shape public policy and debate.

Highlights during the past year have included:

• Organising a virtual meeting with the Secretary of State for Education and five care-experienced young people exploring support for care leavers during recovery from the pandemic

• Coordinating a roundtable meeting on leaving care and financial insecurity with careexperienced young adults and the Minister for Welfare Delivery and the Children’s Minister, successfully advocating for the acceleration of the Shared Accommodation Rate exemption and supporting with new user testing for improvements to the Universal Credit system

• Securing a place for a care-experienced young person to join the interviewing and selection panel for the next Children’s Commissioner for England

• Supporting individuals to contribute directly to governmental meetings, including the first meeting of the cross-governmental Care Leaver Covenant Board chaired by the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for the Cabinet Office, and a roundtable with the Minister for Universities and other sector leaders on improving support for care leavers in higher education.

Campaigning and Communications

For National Care Leavers’ Week 2020 (#NCLW2020), Become launched a campaign to raise awareness of the ‘care cliff’ – where upon turning 18, many young care leavers are forced to leave their placement and start to live independently before they feel ready.

For many care leavers, this can be incredibly abrupt and disruptive - falling at a time in their life when they need stability the most (last years at school, when they start university or a job). Young care leavers that Become supports have described that time as a “cliff edge” or “like being on death row, counting down the days” until they turn 18 and their placements are abruptly stopped.

During the Covid-19 crisis, the government stepped in to protect young people from this upheaval, pledging that ‘no one has to leave care during this period’. This was a lifeline to many young people.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Several celebrities, including actresses Michelle Collins and Samantha Morton, author and broadcaster DJ Annie Mac, Baroness Floella Benjamin, Olympic champions Fatima Whitbread and Jamie Baulch, and comedian and podcaster Deborah Frances-White took to social media throughout the week to show their support for the campaign by sharing their personal memories of turning 18.

As well as raising awareness of the care cliff that young care leavers face, and engaging with the careexperienced community, we more than doubled our following on Instagram, and secured over 120 pieces of media coverage.

Collaboration

We continue to collaborate and partner with other voluntary sector organisations and public bodies to strengthen our work to improve the care system and ensure care-experienced young people have opportunities to shape activity in the sector. We are members of alliances and coalitions campaigning on issues in the care system, including the Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers, Alliance for Youth Justice, and the Kinship Care Alliance, and have been a part of the Steering Group for the #KeepCaringTo18 campaign. We also sit on Ofsted’s Social Care National Consultative Forum and National Network for the Education of Care Leaver’s National Strategy Group. Our expertise has also been welcomed through joining advisory boards and steering groups supporting projects including the civil society submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, National Network for the Education of Care Leavers Quality Mark, Looked After Children Grown Up work, and other academic research projects.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Financial review

Fundraising

We’re grateful to our funders, donors and fundraisers who have joined our community of supporters committed to young people and changing the care system. Thank you for standing with us, particularly during the unique and unexpected challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The majority of our income comes from voluntary funding which in turn enables us to deliver our vision and mission. We therefore undertake a range of fundraising activities in support of our charitable aims. Our approach to fundraising includes:

• Securing grants from trusts and foundations

• Donations from individuals

• Participants fundraising for challenge events ranging from running to gaming

• Partnerships with businesses.

We’re grateful to all our donors for supporting care-experienced young people through this extraordinary year. Here are just some of our extraordinary supporters:

Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropy Lincoln Private Investment Office BBC Children in Need Lloyds Bank Foundation The Biking for Children in Care volunteer Mark Leonard Trust committee chaired by Gill Timmis National Lottery Community Fund CHK Foundation Orbis City Bridge Trust Oso Foundation Clothworkers Foundation Paul Hamlyn Foundation Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Souter Charitable Trust Garfield Weston Foundation Swire Charitable Trust Gilbert & Eileen Edgar Foundation Wyndham Charitable Trust Global’s Make Some Noise

We would also like to mark the passing of former Trustee, Dave Hill CBE, who showed boundless commitment to children in care and care leavers in all his work including through a decade on our Board. We’re grateful to Dave’s friends and family, who mirrored that commitment by raising over £9,000 in Dave’s memory. Thank you.

Most of our fundraising activity is managed by our small in-house fundraising team. During this year we did employ the services of some specialist providers to support us in certain areas. This included a major donor specialist, to support our efforts to research and plan a philanthropy strategy, and a consultant to undertake an audit of our trust fundraising approach. All of this was undertaken under the supervision of our fundraising team.

We did not engage the services of any professional fundraising agencies to undertake direct response fundraising solicitation or cultivation either by phone, online or face-to-face.

We plan our fundraising communication to ensure we don't create undue pressure to donate, and we are especially sensitive when engaging vulnerable children and adults in our

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COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

fundraising. We seek to share the authentic voice of the young people we support and never sensationalise their experiences. We record donor details and preferences on our secure database to ensure we contact them in the way they choose; supporters have the option to update their contact preferences at any time.

We strive to achieve the highest possible standards of fundraising and undertake several measures to ensure we are accountable for our practices. And we had no complaints this year with regard to our fundraising practices. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator who holds the Code of Fundraising Practice for the UK as well as the Fundraising Preference Service, so that we can respond quickly to donor’s wishes. We work within these regulations, as well as carrying out our activities in line our own values and commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

Our principal sources of funding during the year continued to be grant funding for information projects and various young people participation projects - 81% of the total income of the charity (2020: 80%). Grants are recorded as income from charitable activities. The other 19% is derived from voluntary donations, challenge events and investment income.

----- Start of picture text -----
Income comparatives Income Sources
£
1,400,000 Voluntary
1,200,000 Income income
1,000,000 from 9% Events
800,000 charitable 8%
600,000
400,000 activities Sales
200,000 81% 1%
0
Voluntary Events Sales Investment Income Total
income income & from Investment
gains charitable income &
activities gains
2019-20 2020-21 1%
----- End of picture text -----

Overall income in 2020-21 was higher than the previous year, at £1,161,149 compared to £637,921 the year before. The total increase was thanks to significant gains in grant income and a strong response to our new gaming challenge ‘Become Players’ and our emergency fundraising appeal following the first lockdown. Total expenditure increased due to demand on services and to reflect organisational growth plans. This was £913,326 compared to £670,782 in the previous year.

The charity began delivering a 5-year strategy in April 2020. In response to the pandemic and the changing operating environment, however, the Board and SMT re-examined the strategy to ensure it remains achievable and to identify areas that require an adapted or new approach. As the strategy is a growth strategy, significant thought went into the sustainability of the charity’s income in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Board subsequently agreed to invest in a new area of fundraising – philanthropy – to help balance against expected reduction in income from activities such as mass participation events.

We continued to deliver direct work to young care leavers throughout the year, focusing our work towards 1-to-1 support, the Care Advice Service and Propel (our online resource for careexperienced young people who would like to get into higher and further education). Our work

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

continues to attract interest from other organisations and policy-makers as we take what we learn from direct delivery to inform policy and influencing work.

Restricted funds raised for participation projects and information support totalled £557,736 in 2021 (2020: £219,293). Spending against grants received amounted to £511,176 (2020: £219,657). Any restricted funds unspent are carried forward for use in following years.

Charitable work/ Accounting year:	2021-21	2019-20	2018-19	2017-18	2016-17
Total charitable work	£644,088	£498,601	£562,921	£568,035	£782,249
Increase/ (decrease) on previous year	29%	(11%)	(1%)	(27%)	(3%)

Reserves policy

At 31[st] March 2021, the total reserves of the charity were £693,406, of which £175,462 was restricted by funders for specific projects and £517,944 was unrestricted. The trustees have decided that the charity should aim to retain an appropriate level of unrestricted, ‘free’ reserves, which are sufficient to cover between six to nine months' core running costs. In 2021 this represents between £201,075 and £301,613.

The trustees calculate the free reserves as that part of the unrestricted funds that are freely available, and not including any designated funds which have been earmarked for specific projects.

At 31 March 2021, the charity carried forward unrestricted free reserves of £499,779 (2019: £247,814) representing around fifteen months' core running costs on our general fund £402,150, see unrestricted expenditure on page 27), as follows:

Unrestricted reserves less: net book value of unrestricted fixed assets (note 9) Total unrestricted free reserves	£517,944 £(18,165)
	£499,779

Our financial performance during the pandemic has been strong and this has improved our financial resilience for the future. Our strong reserves position means that funds are available to invest in our strategy over the remainder of the strategy period. Plans are therefore in place to reduce free reserves to target levels over the coming years in a managed way.

Investment policy

The trustees managed the investment portfolio in accordance with our governing document. Monies not immediately required for the objects of the charity may be invested in investments, securities or property as may be thought fit having regard to any consents and in accordance with any relevant laws. The finance sub-committee includes trustees with sufficient specialist knowledge and experience of investments suitable to the present needs of the charity.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

We held investments in cash deposits and the COIF Global Equity Fund at the year end. In April 2021, we withdrew £50,000 from the COIF fund as it was reducing in value and in order to reduce the risk to our cash flow if we weren’t successful in securing funds in light of the pandemic. The investments are primarily held for income purposes, generating £6,255 in the year – a return on investment of 2.93%. Although we do not have a specific target for returns on investment, we aim to have a positive return.

Principal risks and uncertainties

Strong financial controls are in place to mitigate the risk of financial losses due to theft or fraud, and these controls are regularly reviewed. We also have in place a safeguarding policy that applies to all staff and trustees, volunteers or consultants working on our behalf.

Trustees monitor the charity's risk register and charge the Chief Executive and senior management team to employ appropriate controls and mitigating actions to manage the levels of risks. The board is satisfied that the charity is managing its key risk areas:

Financial surety

• Insufficient income generation leading to inability to deliver on mission and plans.

Business Continuity and Operational Resourcing

• ICT systems failures leading to operational issues and data breaches

• Loss of key staff leading to loss of experience, skills and knowledge

• Staff sickness, absence and other employment issues having big operational impact in relatively small organisation

• Responding to external events i.e., pandemic, flooding, terrorist attack etc.

Strategic clarity and vision

• Lack of strategic vision and planning leading to mission drift, reduced impact and insufficient information for future fundraising

• Ensuring ongoing relevance to a changing and diverse community of children in care and young care leavers.

Good Governance

• Lack of good governance leading to ineffective organisational leadership.

Safeguarding children and young people

• Ineffective safeguarding policies and procedures meaning vulnerable children and young people not sufficiently protected.

Good reputation and profile

• Non-compliance with funder requirements leading to reputational damage and requirements to repay grants

• Failure to build external profile undermining public support for campaigns and fundraising

• External activity aimed at the charity on social media has a detrimental impact on Become’s reputation.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Plans for the future

We have started a trajectory of growth across the organisation and we plan to continue to grow in order to increase our reach and impact in the coming years.

Building on the success of digitising our services during the pandemic we have a strong focus on how we can use digital developments to increase our reach with young people, increase access to our services, and we are committed to ensuring that future organisational digital products are co-created with the young people that we are here to serve and support.

We continue to be dedicated to tackling the structural and systemic issues that impact children and young people in care. In the short term, we will be focused on ensuring that young people are both heard and listened to during the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and after its publication will use our platform to influence decision makers on changes to policy and practice that will make a transformative difference to thousands of young people. We have exciting plans to transform our evidence base ensuring that we have credible research to share alongside the important and compelling testimony of those with lived care experience.

Involvement of people with experience in the care system will remain central to everything we do. Building on learning from our previous advisory group model, we will continue to build our wider network of care-experienced young people, from a diverse range of backgrounds, to inform and co-produce our work and be powerful advocates for change.

As our ambitions grow so too does our commitment to ensuring we understand what’s working and where we are having greatest impact. A robust approach to measurement and evaluation is an integral part of our plans so that we can ensure that all the young people that our work touches experience the most effective support that enables them to understand their rights, believe in themselves, and thrive.

We also are committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion throughout our work. As the organisation continues to grow, we want to make sure that we are attracting and retaining diverse talent within the organisation. In the next period, we are focusing on our recruitment, onboard and induction processes to ensure that we are open and attractive to candidates from all backgrounds.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Structure, governance and management

Governing document

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 26 March 1992 and registered as a charity on 22 April 1992. The company was established under a memorandum of association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its articles of association.

Members of the charitable company guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charitable company in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31 March 2021 was eleven (in 2020 it was eight). The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charitable company.

The legal objects of the charity

Our legal objects are to promote the care, upbringing and establishment in life of children and young people who are or who have been looked after or assisted by local authorities or other public or charitable bodies charged with the care and upbringing of children who are or who have been in the care of foster or adoptive parents and in particular (but without limitation) by:

1. Providing education, training and advice to such children and young people and to their carers

2. Conducting and promoting research as to the most effective means of providing care, making available the useful results

3. Relieving poverty, sickness, hardship and distress and preserving and protecting the health of such children and young people.

Board of trustees

The Board assesses its skills base on a regular basis and fills identified gaps by advertising and recruiting new trustees. Trustees are chosen for their complementary skills, breadth of experience and contribution to the charity in a range of ways. New board members are appointed by the board to serve the period up to the next AGM when the appointment is put to the members for approval.

The chair and trustees are appointed on a three-year term, renewable for three years, subject to consideration by the Board in particular circumstances. The minimum number of trustees is four and the maximum number is 12.

New trustees meet with the Chair, Chief Executive and the senior management team as part of an induction process. This year we produced a new comprehensive induction guide for incoming trustees as part of their introduction to both their role and the charity. As the charity works with vulnerable children and young people, disclosure and barring service checks are completed as appropriate in accordance with our safeguarding policy.

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

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A Senior Independent Trustee is appointed. It is a role which supports our governance, leading on Chair appraisal and acting as a source of advice and support to the Chair, and to other members of the board as required.

In addition to regular board meetings, the board holds periodic strategic planning and review days to consider emerging issues and develop strategic plans.

This year we increased the number of trustees by 4, this was as part of our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. The recruitment resulted in an increase of the number of people with lived experience of the care system being recruited to the Board, as well as changing the diversity profile of the Board on race and age.

Following on from the recruitment of new board members the charity invested in Board Development support from an external organisation to enable board members to better know each other and appreciate the different expertise and perspectives on the board and to enhance board decision making and effectiveness.

Organisational structure

The board of trustees meets quarterly and is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the charity. Trustees review salaries on an annual basis as part of the organisation’s budget cycle. Salaries are set based on the requirement and responsibility of a role and sector pay benchmarking.

The finance and funding sub-committee meet quarterly prior to board meetings to inform, support and monitor key finance and risk areas, and report to the full board on these areas. Responsibility for the day-to-day running of the charity and delivery of activities is delegated to the Chief Executive and the senior management team.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The Trustees, who are also directors for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ annual report (including the strategic report) and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom accounting standards.

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

• Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently

• Observe the methods and principles in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)

• Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent

• State whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

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• Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of charitable company and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the memorandum and articles of association. The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

• There is no information relevant to the audit of which the auditors are unaware

• The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

Auditors

A resolution to re-appoint Haines Watts, Chartered Accountants, for the coming year will be put to the annual general meeting.

In approving the Trustees’ annual report, we also approve the strategic report included therein, in our capacity as company directors.

Approved by the Trustees on 14[th] October 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Hugh Thornbery (Oct 15, 2021 18:47 GMT+1) Hugh Thornbery CBE Chair

Eliot Lyne Treasurer

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Report of The Independent Auditors to the members of Become Charity Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Become Charity (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Cash flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting . Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2021, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the 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

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:

• the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or

• the trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the charitable company’s ability to

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continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

However, not all future events or conditions can be predicted. The Covid-19 viral pandemic is one of the most significant economic events for the UK with unprecedented levels of uncertainty of outcomes. It is therefore difficult to evaluate all of the potential implications on the charity's operations, funders, suppliers and wider economy. The trustees' view on the impact of Covid-19 is disclosed in the accounting policies note on page 30.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ 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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the trustees’ report (incorporating the strategic report and the directors’ report) 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 have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report and the directors’ report.

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

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

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• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

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

The objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud and error; to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud or error; and to respond appropriately to those risks. Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that material misstatements in the financial statements may not be detected, even though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs (UK).

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

• We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the charity and the sector in which it operates. We determined that the following laws and regulations were most significant: The Charities Act, Companies Act 2016 and UK GAAP.

• We obtained an understanding of how the charity is complying with those legal and regulatory frameworks and made enquiries to the management of known or suspected instances of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations. We corroborated our enquiries through our review of board minutes, other relevant meeting minutes and review of correspondence with regulatory bodies.

• We assessed the susceptibility of the charity’s financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur. Audit procedures performed by the audit team included:

• Identifying and assessing the controls management has in place to prevent and detect fraud;

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• Understanding how those charged with governance considered and addressed the potential for override of controls or other inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process;

• Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in its significant accounting estimates and judgments,

• Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular journal entries posted with unusual account combinations; and

• Assessing the extent of compliance with the relevant laws and regulations.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations are from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusions.

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 Report of the Auditors.

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.

Susan Plumb ACA Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Haines Watts, Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors Old Station House Station Approach Newport Street Swindon SN1 3DU

Date: .............................................

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COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

Statement of Financial Activities

(Incorporating an income statement)

Year ended 31 March 2021

Note Income from: Donations and Legacies 2 Income from other Trading Activities 3 Income from Charitable activities 4 Income from Investments Total Income Expenditure on: Costs of raising funds Expenditure on charitable activities Total Expenditure 5&8 Net income/ (expenditure) before gains and losses on investments Net gain / (loss) on investments 10 Net income / (expenditure) Transfers between Funds 13 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Fund balance at 1st April 2020 13 Fund balance at 31st Mar 2021 13	Unrestricted £ 200,838 7,656 388,664 6,255 603,413 269,238 132,912 402,150 201,263 55,533 256,796 - 256,796 261,148 517,944	Restricted £ 557,736 557,736 511,176 511,176 46,560 - 46,560 - 46,560 128,902 175,462	2021 Total £ 200,838 7,656 946,400 6,255 1,161,149 269,238 644,088 913,326 247,823 55,533 303,356 - 303,356 390,050 693,406	2020 Total £ 104,210 17,681 507,768 8,262
				637,921
				195,460 475,322
				670,782
				(32,861) (5,332)
				(38,193)
				-
				(38,193)
				428,243
				390,050

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. The income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. See page 41 for an analysis of the 2020 comparatives.

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COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

Statement of Cash Flows

Year ended 31 March 2021

Cash flows from operating activities: Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities Net movement in funds (page 38) Add depreciation Less purchase of fixed assets Less interest & dividend income Less (gain) / add loss on revaluation of investments Less increase in debtors Add increase in creditors Cash provided by/ (used in) operating activities A Cash flows from investing activities Income from interest & dividends Sales of investment assets (Purchases) of fixed assets Cash provided by/ (used in) investing activities B Cash flows from financing activities C Increase/ (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year (A+B+C) Total cash & cash equivalents brought forward **Total cash and cash equivalents carried forward ***	2021 £ 2020 £ 303,356 (38,193) 9,330 8,303 (14,161) (443) (6,255) (8,262) (5,533) 5,332 (27,328) (14,570) 25,518 16,282
	284,927 (31,551)
	6,255 8,262 - - - -
	6,255 8,262
	- -
	291,182 (23,289) 205,664 228,953
	496,846 205,664

*refer to balance sheet, page 29

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COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet)

As at 31 March 2021

Note Fixed assets: Tangible assets 9 Investments 10 Current assets: Debtors 11 Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities: Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 12 Net current assets Total net assets less current liabilities Net Assets Funds General funds 13 Designated funds 13 Total unrestricted funds 13 Restricted funds 13 Total funds 13	2021 £ 18,165 208,017 75,183 496,846 572,029 104,805	2021 £ 226,182 467,224 693,406 693,406 517,944 - 517,944 175,462 693,406	2020 £ 13,334 202,484
			215,818 47,855 205,664
			253,519 79,287
			174,232
			390,050
			390,050
			261,148 -
			261,148 128,902
			390,050

Approved by the trustees on 14 10 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Hugh Thornbery (Oct 15, 2021 18:47 GMT+1)

Hugh Thornberry CBE Chair

Eliot Lyne Treasurer

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COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

Notes to the financial statements

1 Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

Basis of preparation : The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts under Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK (FRS102 – effective 1 January 2015)-(Charities SORP FRS102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The presentational currency in these accounts is sterling, rounded to the nearest £.

Become meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis : The Covid-19 viral pandemic is one of the most significant economic events for the UK with unprecedented levels of uncertainty of outcomes. It is therefore difficult to evaluate all of the potential implications on the charity's operations, funding, suppliers and wider economy. The Trustees' view on the impact of Covid-19 is that, given the measures that could be undertaken to mitigate the current adverse conditions and the current resources available, they can continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. The charity has cash reserves of £496,846 and net assets of £693,406.

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

• Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable. Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant and is not deferred.

Donated services and facilities : Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS102), the general volunteer time with the charity is not recognised and reference is made in the trustees’ annual report on their contribution.

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

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BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

1 Accounting policies cont.

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

Expenditure, allocations and irrecoverable VAT: Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure includes attributable VAT which cannot be recovered. All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories in the SoFA on a basis designed to reflect the use of the expenditure. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly, others including support costs and governance costs, are apportioned on an appropriate basis as set out in note 8, and as agreed with funders:

• The costs of generating funds relates to salary & support costs incurred in raising funds from both voluntary sources (including investment income) and restricted grants for charitable activities.

• Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

• Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back-office costs, finance, personnel, payroll, IT costs, and premises costs which support the charity’s engagement programmes and activities. These costs are allocated between the costs of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The basis of apportionment is set out at note 8.

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

Operating leases : Rentals payable under operating leases, where substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership remain with the lessor, are charged to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they fall due and on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

Tangible fixed assets: All assets purchased with a value of over £1,000 and a life of more than one year are capitalised at cost. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value on a straight line basis over its expected useful life, usually 3 years. Leasehold improvements and the building of cloud and other IT infrastructure is amortised over the remaining length of the lease or over 5 years if shorter.

Investments: are shown in the accounts at market value at the balance sheet date. Any unrealised gains or losses made in the year are recorded in the statement of financial activities.

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Accounting policies cont.

Debtors and prepayments : Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discounts. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any discounts.

Cash at bank and in hand : Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Creditors and provisions : Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably.

Fund accounting :

• Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor or funder.

• Designated funds are unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

• General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

• Transfers between funds are made where the income for a project is exceeded by the costs incurred on the project, or where it has been agreed with the funder to use unspent balances at the end of a project on activities with a similar objective.

Pensions: The charitable company operates a group money purchase defined contribution pension scheme operated by Royal London. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charitable company in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable under the scheme by the charitable company to the fund. The charitable company has no further liability under the scheme other than for the payment of those contributions.

The charity made a 5% employer contribution to a money purchase pension scheme operated by Royal London under auto-enrolment. It acts as agent in the collecting and paying over of any employee pension contributions. However, there is currently no requirement for employees to make a matching contribution. The employer’s contributions made for the accounting period are treated as an expense in the financial statements.

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2 Donations and legacies

Orbis BTMK Solicitors Events General donations	Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 2021 total £ 2020 total £ 5,000 - 5,000 - - - - 12,139 95,575 - 95,575 54,553 103,263 - 103,263 37,518 200,838 - 200,838 104,210

Donations and incoming resources are separately identified where single transaction amounts are £5,000 or over, except for donors who wish to remain anonymous.

3 Income from other trading activities

Other Income Consultancy & Training	Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 2021 total £ 2020 total £ 2,409 - 2,409 1,084 5,247 - 5,247 16,597
	7,656 - 7,656 17,681

4 Incoming resources from charitable activities

	Unrestricted	Restricted	2021 total	2020 total
Grant income:	£	£	£	£
The Mark Leonard Trust	50,000	-	50,000	58,000
Co-op Foundation	-	-	-	35,000
Department for Education		88,602	88,602	-
Evan Cornish Foundation		5,000	5,000	-
Garfield Weston	30,000	-	30,000	-
Paul Hamlyn	50,000	-	50,000	-
Mrs Smith & Mount Trust	-	-	-	15,000
Oso Foundation	20,000	-	20,000	20,000
CHK Charities Ltd	40,000	-	40,000	25,000
BBC Children In Need		9,874	9,874	-
The What works Centre for Children's Social Care		67,665	67,665	-
The National Lottery Community Fund		174,679	174,679	-
The City Bridge Trust		26,471	26,471	-
The Cloth Workers Foundation	-	-	-	130,000
Alan and Gill Gray Philanthropy		118,293	118,293	-

32

BECOMECHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME Tolkien Trust Family Rights Group Leach Fourteenth Trust Esmee Fairbairn Withy King LLP CLI Five Rivers Child Care Ltd Ronnie Lubner The Dulverton Trust Swire Charitable Trust The Beacon Lodge Charitable Trust Lloyds TSB Foundation Global Make Some Noise The Cotton Trust Tripple T Charitable Trust The 29thMay 1961 Charitable Trust Other (under £5,000)	COMPANYNUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED31 MARCH2021 50,000 - 50,000 - 30,000 - 30,000 - 5,000 - 5,000 - 33,500 5,952 39,452 65,000 10,000 - 10,000 - 5,000 - 5,000 - 5,000 - 5,000 - - - - 35,000 25,000 - 25,000 25,000 - - - 25,000 - 6,000 6,000 15,000 - 50,000 50,000 - - - - 20,000 - - - 5,000 5,000 - 5,000 5,000 30,164 5,200 35,364 29,768
	388,664 557,736 946,400 507,768

Grants, trust, corporate and contract income are separately identified where single transaction amounts are £5,000 or over or if the funder requires disclosure in the accounts.

5 Net income/ expenditure
This is stated after charging the		2021	2020
following expenditure:		£	£
Depreciation & loss on disposal		9,330	8,303
Auditors remuneration		3,961	4,272
Operating lease rentals:	Equipment	-	-
	Property	63,213	63,213
Trustees/ Directors remuneration	(note 7)	-	-

33

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

6 Staff costs and numbers

Staff costs and numbers
Staff costs were as follows: Salaries and wages Voluntary redundancy payment Social security costs Pension contributions (defined contribution scheme) Total direct staff costs Outsourcing & consultancy fees Total costs	2021 £ 2020 £ 516,243 357,010 0 2,963 43,877 34,141 23,082 17,800
	583,202 411,914 105,019 42,811
	688,221 454,725

One employees emoluments were within the range of £70,000 to £79,999 (2020: 0 within £60,000 to £69,999, although the annual salary of the CEO was within this bracket they were not in post for the full year). Employer's pension contributions for that employee were £3,425 under a defined contribution pension scheme.

The key management of the charity comprises the Chief Executive, Director of Services, Director of Fundraising & Engagement and Director of Policy, Campaigns and Communication. Their total emoluments amounted to £251,141 (2020: £171,845) plus employer’s pension contributions of £11,249 (2020: £8,759)

The average weekly number of employees (full-time equivalent) employed by the charity during the year was as follows:

Generating Funds Charitable activities Governance	2021 no. 2020 no. 3.3 1.8 8.5 6.6 0.2 0.0 12.0 8.4

7 Trustee Remuneration and Related Part Transactions

No trustees received remuneration during the year (2020: nil).

No trustee or other person related to the charity had any personal interest in any contract or transaction entered into by the charity during the year (2020: none).

34

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

8 Total expenditure

BECOMECHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME 8 Total expenditure		COMPANYNUMBER: 2 YEAR ENDED31 MAR
Staff costs and freelance consultants (note 6) Related staff & volunteer costs Participant travel & related expenses Materials production, printing and activities General office costs Website development Premises costs Professional, legal and accounting fees Trustees' expenses Depreciation (note 5 & 9) Expenditure – 2021 (see below for 2020) Allocation of support staff & related costs Allocation of support costs Sub-total Allocation of governance costs Total expenditure reallocated* Comparative expenditure for 2020 before reallocation (see above for 2021 totals)		Cost of generating funds £ Charitable expenditure £ Governance costs £ Support costs £ 2021 £ 2020 £ 169,506 393,620 3,600 121,495 688,221 454,725 1,351 13,093 1,910 14,044 30,398 49,029 53 5,780 - - 5,833 6,076 6,960 1,348 - - 8,308 28,746 10,603 33,639 340 37,540 82,122 32,305 - 2,123 - 3,029 5,152 5,178 - - - 73,994 73,994 74,897 4,652 - 3,961 1,355 9,968 11,500 - - - - - 23 - - - 9,330 9,330 8,303
		193,125 449,603 9,811 260,787 913,326 670,782 37,448 95,688 2,403 (260,787) - - 34,605 88,423 2,220 - - -
		265,178 633,714 14,434 - 913,326 670,782 4,060 10,374 -14,434 - - -
		269,238 644,088 - - 913,326 670,782
		116,057 291,699 4,295 258,731 - 670,782

• The charity identifies costs to support its general charitable activities and fundraising costs (costs of generating funds). It then identifies governance costs. General management and support staff costs are allocated to the charitable activities and costs to generate funds on the basis of time spent per activity. Central office costs, depreciation, establishment and other sundry costs are allocated to charitable activities and costs to generate funds on the basis of headcount, as an approximation to usage rates.

BECOME CHARITY

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

WORKING NAME: BECOME

9 Tangible fixed assets

ECOME CHARITY ORKING NAME: BECOME Tangible fixed assets	COMPANYNUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED31 MARCH2021
COST At 1 April 2020 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2021 DEPRECIATION At 1 April 2020 Charge for the year Disposals At 31 March 2021 NET BOOK VALUE At 1 April 2020 At 31 March 2021	Leasehold Improvements £ Computer hardware &software £ Furniture& Equipment £ Total £ 12,764 52,105 18,324 83,192 - 14,161 - 14,161 - - - -
	12,764 66,266 18,324 97,353
	10,201 42,300 17,357 69,858 1,823 6,540 967 9,330 - - - -
	12,025 48,839 18,324 79,188
	2,562 9,805 967 13,334 739 17,426 0 18,165

10 Investments

10 Investments
	2021	2020
COIF Charities Global Equity Income Fund	£	£
Value at 01 April 2020	202,484	207,817
Additions/(Disposals) in the year	(50,000)	-
Value at 31 March 2021: 112,497.63 @ 179.99p	208,017	202,484
Unrealised gain/ (loss)	55,533	(5,333)
Based on the quarterly dividends paid, the income yield was 2.93% (2020–3.64%)

11 Debtors

Trade debtors HM Revenue & Customs – Gift Aid reclaimable Taxation & social security Accrued income Prepayments & accrued income Other debtors	2021 £ 2020 £ 6,205 2,419 12,000 4,000 118 - 13,270 - 27,785 25,631 15,805 15,805
	75,183 47,855

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

12 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Subscriptions in advance and deferred income Trade creditors Taxation & social security Accruals	2021 £ 2020 £ 4,166 - 44,248 36,836 16,832 11,105 39,559 31,346
	104,805 79,287

13 Movements in funds

a. Widening Participation in FE/HE b. All Party Parliamentary Group c. Care Advice Service d. Passport to Parliament e. Impact f. Personal Advisors’ Training g. Policy & Participation h. Coaching and 1:1 Support i. Workshops for Children in Care j. Capacity Development k. Covid Response l. Young person hardship fund Total Restricted funds General Funds Total funds	At start of year £ Incoming resources £ Outgoing resources £ At end of year £ - 67,665 22,920 44,745 210 - 210 - 1,751 55,200 50,001 6,950 3,453 - 3,453 - 15,000 - 9,425 5,575 96,157 - 89,758 6,399 - 5,000 5,000 - 12,191 - 12,191 - - 9,874 5,302 4,572 - 124,245 17,024 107,221 - 295,752 295,752 - 140 - 140 -
	128,902 557,736 511,176 175,462
	261,148 658,946 402,150 517,944
	390,050 1,216,682 913,326 693,406

Purposes of restricted funds

Restricted funds cover specified activities, including employment, health and education programmes, online services for children and young people and specific projects, as described below:

13a. Widening Participation in FE/HE - The What Works Centre for Children's Social Care is funding a 12-month project to widen participation in further education for young people leaving care.

37

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

13b. All Party Parliamentary Group - the charity holds a small fund to support involvement of young people with the APPG.

13c. Care Advice Service – grants were received from Global Make Some Noise, Hasluck Charitable Trust, Claire King Charitable Trust, Bartle Family Charitable Trust and other smaller grants towards the Care Advice Service.

13d. Passport to Parliament - Comic Relief funding for our Passport to Parliament programme.

13e. Impact - Lloyd Bank Foundation funded a new monitoring and evaluation database.

13f. Personal Advisors’ Training – the Clothworkers’ Foundation are funding a five-year pilot PA training programme which aims to improve the skills and knowledge of PAs who are supporting young people leaving care.

13g. Policy & Participation - a grant from the Evan Cornish Foundation contributed towards the Policy & Participation Managers salary.

13h. Coaching and 1:1 support - The Mrs Smith and Mount Trust contributed towards delivering a Coaching Programme to improve the emotional wellbeing of care-experienced young people.

13i. Workshops for Children in Care - BBC Children in Need have committed to 3-years of support in the development and delivery of workshops for children in care, helping them build positive relationships, improve emotional wellbeing and increased confidence.

13j. Capacity development - funding from Esmee Fairbairn’s ‘Funding Plus’ programme to enable us to develop our training offer and a three-year grant from Alan and Gill Philanthropy to increase Becomes capacity to deliver direct support to young people, build an evidence base, develop an impact measurement approach and invest in future sustainability.

13k. Covid response - Become received five grants in response to the Covid 19 to help the organisation through the lockdowns which enabled Become to fulfil the higher than usual demand on our services and increase our reach digitally. Funders were The City Bridge Trust as part of the London Community Response Fund; The Department for Education (two grants); The National Lottery Community Fund and Lloyds Bank Foundation.

13l. Young person hardship fund - funding provided by the London Catalyst Samaritans to assist young people in need through the provision of emergency hardship payments or through loans.

14 Analysis of net assets between funds

Tangible fixed assets Investments Net current assets Net assets at 31 March 2021	Unrestricted funds £ Restricted funds £ Total funds £ 18,165 - 18,165 208,017 - 208,017 291,762 175,462 467,224
	571,944 175,462 693,406

38

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

15 Operating lease commitments

The charity had total commitments under operating leases expiring as follows:

Within 1 year Within 2-5 years After more than 5 years Total Operating Lease Commitments	Equipment Property 2021 £ 2020 £ 2021 £ 2020 £ 230 230 24,248 63,213 403 633 - 24,248 - - - -
	633 863 24,248 87,461

The lease for the administrative offices and young person’s participation space ends on 18 August 2021 with a break clause after 5 years in 2020, which was not exercised.

The lease for the franking machine was renewed at the end of December 2020, replacing the existing contract from that date.

16 Restricted funds in deficit

Where a restricted fund is in deficit at the end of an accounting period, the charity makes a decision on whether there is some prospect for the deficit to be reduced by funding receipts in subsequent accounting periods. If there is a good prospect, the deficit is shown in full. Otherwise, the deficit is transferred to the General fund.

17 Legal Status of the Charity

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.

18 Corporation tax

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Income and Corporation Taxes 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objectives.

39

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

19 Detail comparatives for the statement of financial activities

Note Income Donations and legacies - Income from other trading activities - Income from charitable activities - Income from investments Total income Expenditure Costs of raising funds: Costs of generating activity income Expenditure on charitable activities: Total expenditure 5& 8 Net (expenditure)/ income before gains and losses on investments Net gain/(loss) on investments 10 Net (expenditure)/ income Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Fund balances at 1st April 2019 13 Fund balances at 31st March 2020 13	Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 2020 total £ 104,210 - 104,210 17,681 - 17,681 288,475 219,293 507,768 8,262 - 8,262
	418,628 219,293 637,921
	172,180 - 195,460 278,944 219,657 475,322
	451,125 219,657 670,782
	(32,497) (364) (32,861) (5,332) - (5,332)
	(37,829) (364) (38,193) - - -
	(37,829) (364) (38,193)
	298,977 129,266 428,243
	261,148 128,902 390,050

40

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Reference and administrative details

Charity number	1010518
Company number	2700693
Registered office and	Become Charity
operation address	15-18 White Lion Street,
	London, N1 9PG
Patrons	David Akinsanya
	Professor Sonia Jackson OBE
	Louisa Lane-Fox
	The Earl of Listowel
	Joyce Moseley OBE
	Dame Esther Rantzen
	Dame Jacqueline Wilson

Board of Trustees
	Hugh Thornbery CBE	Chair
	Eliot Lyne	Treasurer
	Anne Cameron	Director (resigned 19thJuly 2021)
	Terry Galloway	Director
	Khatija Hafesji	Senior Independent Trustee
	Andy Harris	Director
	Beth Taswell	Director
	Rachael Wardell	Director
	Appointed December 2019
	Ony Chima	Director
	Meera Mistry	Director
	Phillipa Uden	Director
	Tom Willets	Director
Senior Management	Katharine Sacks-Jones	Chief Executive & Company Secretary
Team	Victoria Langer	Interim Chief Executive (Maternity
		Cover, Jan 2021)
	Davinia Batley	Director of Fundraising & Engagement
	Lee Mauve Patron	Director of Services
	Lisa Watch	Director of Policy, Campaigns &
	Rhiannon Clapperton	Communications (Shared position)
Bankers	Unity Trust plc
	P.O. Box 7193
	Planetary Road
	Willenhall, WV1 9DG

41

BECOME CHARITY WORKING NAME: BECOME

COMPANY NUMBER: 2700693 YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Triodos Bank Deanery Road Bristol BS1 5AS

Independent Auditors Haines Watts,

Chartered Accountants Old Station House, Station Approach, Newport Street, Swindon, SN1 3DU

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