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FAMILY RIGHTS GROUP ANNUAL REPORT for the year ended 31 March 2021

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

FRG Ltd Legal & Administrative Information

Patron

The Rt. Hon. Alan Johnson

Charity number (England and Wales) 1015665

Trustees

Martin Pilgrim MBE Chair of Trustees Stuart Black Jacqueline Campbell Ann Chavasse Elizabeth Cape Cowens Patricia Denney Angela Frazer-Wicks appointed February 2021 Mark Gurrey Kevin Makwikila Chris Nicholson Jason Nisse Christine Smart John Trevor-Allen Jeremy Westhead Susan White

Charity number (Scotland)

SC047042

Company number 2702928

Principal address

The Print House 18 Ashwin Street London, E8 3DL

Registered office

The Print House 18 Ashwin Street London, E8 3DL

Secretary

John Loveday appointed December 2020 Steve Caldwell resigned December 2020

Auditor

Frances Wilde FCCA DChA Warner Wilde Chartered Certified Accountants 4 Marigold Drive Bisley, Surrey, GU24 9SF

Bankers

Unity Trust Bank plc Nine Brindley Place Birmingham, B1 2HB

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||| |---|---| |1 - 4|Chief Executive’s Welcome| |5 - 38|Trustees’ report| |39 - 43|Financial Results| |44|Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities| |45 - 47|Independent auditor's report| |48 - 49|Statement of financial activities| |50|Balance sheet| |51 - 67|Statement of cash flows|

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Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021. The Trustees’ Report is also a Directors’ Report for the purposes of company law, incorporating the Strategic Report as required by the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013.

The Trustees have paid due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit in deciding what activities to undertake.

The Trustees regularly update the charity’s risk register to identify and mitigate the major risks to which FRG Limited is exposed. The register incorporates both financial and non-financial risks and systems in place to reduce those risks to a reasonable level.

Objects

The objects of the charity are to relieve families with children who are in need or distress.

And in furtherance of the above objects:

1) Informing, supporting and advising families in relation to decisions affecting them and their children’s lives;
2) Providing help to families through their wider communities;
3) Educating the public and practitioners and organisations, including those in the field of children’s social care, education and youth justice in order to prevent difficulties families face;
4) Undertaking research, delivering training and campaigning to challenge injustice.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Chief Executive’s Welcome

It has been a year like no other and one in which our work at Family Rights Group has become even more critical. The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on the lives of children and families we work with and placed great strain on communities across the UK. Many families have faced increased stresses, including poverty and isolation. Many support services that families might usually have turned to have closed or restricted services to mitigate risks or as a result of financial pressures. The number of children in the care system is now at the highest level since 1985. The challenges already faced by the child welfare and family justice system – those we identified in the 2018 Care Crisis Review – have been amplified.

What has remained the same is Family Rights Group’s commitment to helping create a society in which children live safely and thrive within their family and community. We have adapted at pace to the ever-changing situation to ensure that our work to support children and families in need has never faltered.

For the first time in the charity’s 47year history, more than 18,000 callers rang our advice line. Our expert advisers quickly adapted to remote working and have continued to answer calls from parents, relatives and friends throughout the pandemic.

With emergency COVID-19 funding from the Department for Education, we were able to recruit additional staff and answer more calls. During the year, we began a new partnership with the charity Become to provide bespoke advice and support young parents (and parents to be) who themselves have spent some or all of their childhood in the care system. A complete revamp of our website and online resources enables families to draw upon a huge repository of legal and practice information, advice and guidance about the child welfare and family justice system.

Domestic abuse is now consistently the prominent reason why callers are contacting our advice line about children’s services involvement. Too often, mothers who have experienced domestic abuse feel that they are further punished by a system that blames them for failing to keep their children safe. We received COVID-19 funding from the Home Office to develop enhanced domestic abuse advice sections on our website for families and for practitioners and to provide follow up advice to parents and carers.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Our Lifelong Links programme, designed to build lasting support networks for children in care, has continued to grow, boosted by the evaluation by the Rees Centre, Oxford University, which was published in January 2021. The evaluation demonstrated the positive difference that Lifelong Links is making to the lives of children and young people in care. During the pandemic our team have worked with a growing number of local authorities, taken our training programme online and adapted the Lifelong Links approach so that it is also tailored to care leavers. Over 1500 children and young people in England and Scotland have now benefited from Lifelong Links or are currently in the middle of the process. In 2021 we continue our work so that more children and young people who are in care and care leavers can benefit, including extending Lifelong Links to Wales.

We have continued our campaign and policy work on kinship care, so more children are able to be raised safely with family or friends, when they are unable to live at home. This was a year when kinship care has taken on greater prominence in political and policy debates. In September 2020 – after contending with the general election and the ongoing pandemic – we held the virtual launch of the report of the Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care.

The Taskforce called on kinship care to become the first thought, not an afterthought, when children cannot be raised by their parents, and published a series of recommendations as to how that can be achieved. As the Chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England, Josh MacAlister commented at a meeting of the new APPG on Kinship Care recently, the Taskforce’s work put kinship care firmly on the policy map.

Early signs from the English Care Review suggest that focus on kinship care will continue. That being said, during the second national lockdown 1 we had to issue a pre-action letter to the Department for Health to challenge regulations which prevented prospective kinship carers from meeting with children in the same way prospective adopters could. While the move was a success and the

Government issued amendments, the case demonstrated that kinship care is still an afterthought in policymaking. As secretariat to the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care, we will continue to work with parliamentarians of all political colours to influence and promote solutions that support more children to live safely and thrive in their family network. We also continue to work with colleagues in the Kinship Care Alliance to campaign for change.

1 A pre-action letter is a formal letter notifying an individual, business or public agency that court proceedings may be brought against them.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

In February, the Public Law Working Group, set up by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division of the High Court, published its report. This included best practice guidance on support for and work with families prior to court proceedings. Family Rights Group was the only voluntary sector organisation to have participated in the Working Group from the outset. The Group’s report reinforces the principles of effective partnership working with families to safeguard children, that underpins the Children Act 1989. The crucial challenge is seeing those recommendations consistently put into practice. To that end, we are delighted to have successfully secured a major threeyear grant from the Legal Education Foundation. We will be working with the judiciary, child welfare leaders, front-line practitioners and families to embed the key policy and practice messages from the Working Group, Care Crisis Review and other research.

Our parents’ and kinship carers’ panels continue to flourish and panel members are a fantastic demonstration of the contribution those with lived experience have to make in designing services and shaping culture and practice. The partnership between Family Rights Group and the communications charity Sound Delivery is stronger than ever and during the pandemic panels have continued to meet and take part in creative workshops remotely. The new skills learnt were brought together at the ‘Our Families, Our Voices’ event in March 2021.

It was a groundbreaking event comprising talks, performance and conversation curated and led by young people, parents and kinship carers with experience of the child welfare system.

All of these activities are underpinned by our new, ambitious Strategic Plan (2021-2026). Our mission is to create a more socially just society in which the child welfare and family justice systems support children to live safely and thrive within their family, while strengthening the family and community networks of those children who cannot live at home. Our Strategic Plan also sets out our vision, principles, way of working and our campaign and impact goals for the next five years.

Our work would not be possible without the unwavering support of our Board of trustees, our staff, our supporters and funders.

We are lucky to have an experienced, knowledgeable and committed group of trustees. Particular thanks go to Martin Pilgrim, Chair of Trustees, who has provided calm and reassuring leadership during a challenging year. When Martin steps down in Autumn 2021, we are delighted that Angela Frazer-Wicks will become Chair of Trustees. This is a significant step in our history. For the first time the Board will be led by a parent whose own children were adopted. Alongside this half of our trustees are now parents and kinship carers with child welfare or family justice experience.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

To our incredible staff team, we are so thankful for your determination, commitment and hard work during a year which has been testing personally, for the charity, for the families we support and the organisations we work with. We have said goodbye to some longstanding team members, including Steve Caldwell who looked after the charity’s finances and administration for 23 years and was a consistently calm and welcoming presence. We are also delighted to have welcomed new members to the team too. All have gone above and beyond to ensure we can continue our work and are a huge credit to Family Rights Group. We also simply couldn’t do what we do without the support of our funders and donations from supporters. To everyone who has supported our work this year, we are very grateful for your generosity and your commitment to our work and our values.

In 2021 difficult times continue, but so too does our commitment to building a society where all children and families can thrive.

Cathy Ashley OBE, Chief Executive October 2021

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Trustees’ Report

1) Our 2021-26 strategy

The Charity was set up in 1974. During that time, Family Rights Group has achieved many successes, but even greater challenges remain. Our ambitious 2021-26 strategic plan, developed during the year, sets out Family Rights Group’s vision, mission, principles, way of working and our campaign and impact goals for the next five years.

Our strategic priorities are that:

Families involved with the child welfare and family justice system are treated fairly, have their rights respected and are able to make informed decisions;
Children and families get the help they need, so wherever possible children can live safely and flourish within their family network;
All children, including those in care, have lasting and supportive relationships to sustain them throughout their lives;
Our child welfare and family justice systems – and wider society – promote social justice and create conditions that enable children to achieve their potential;
Children and families’ voices and experiences drive decision making at an individual and strategic level within the child welfare and family justice systems.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

The strategy sets out our eight campaign goals:

Access to effective preventative services and support for families to help children.

A right for all families to be offered a family group conference before their child enters the care system (except in emergencies) so that the family’s knowledge and strengths inform and enhance decision-making and planning about their child and all efforts are made to enable the child to remain safely within the family network.

A right to independent legal advice and advocacy for all families whose children are subject to child protection enquiries or other compulsory interventions within the child welfare or family justice system, including through extending legal aid.

Where the plan is for a child to return home from care, there is a duty on the local authority and other public agencies to provide (or once the child has returned home continue to offer) such support to the child and family as necessary to safeguard the child and promote their welfare.

Kinship care households are properly supported and resourced to maximise the chances of positive outcomes for the children, and that kinship carers are not plunged into poverty or discriminated against for taking on the children.

A duty on local authorities to offer therapeutic support and counselling to parents whose children are removed, to help them deal with their grief and to address the reasons why their child was removed.

That the law is changed to require local authorities to allow a looked after child reasonable contact with their brothers and sisters.

Every child in care has the opportunity of Lifelong Links, to help build and maintain a support network that they can turn to in child and adulthood.

and

That the above services and duties are adequately funded by Government. The strategy also sets seven impact goals which are summarised in this report.

2) Advice & Advocacy Service

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Family Rights Group runs a free, independent and confidential advice service. We advise families when they are involved with children’s services or need their help. We provide specialist legal and practice advice for parents, grandparents, relatives and friends including kinship carers in England. Our expert advisers help families to understand the law and child welfare processes and their rights and options, and better to understand social work concerns.

We secured £350,000 funding from the Department for Education (DfE) towards delivering our specialist legal advice service to families in 2020/21, and during the year we were also awarded a further £130,000 in emergency COVID-19 grant funds from the DfE. This allowed us to recruit more advisers and answer more calls. It has also led to a partnership with Become (the charity for children in care and young care leavers), to provide a bespoke advice and support service to care experienced young people who are parents or are pregnant mothers or expectant fathers involved with children’s social care services. Some of the parents may have had their child removed, whilst others are involved with social workers due to concerns about the child (or baby when born) being at risk.

Nevertheless, the impact of the pandemic on children, families and communities has been dramatic. Demand for the advice service has increased significantly.

Advice Service

We answered 6953 calls in 2020/21, 1500 more than the previous year

18,000 callers rang the advice service in 2020/1, the highest number in Family Rights Group’s history. And a rise of 3300 callers compared to the year before

Resource constraints and rising demand meant that despite answering more calls, we were only able to answer four in ten callers.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

46% of calls answered are from mothers, 20% from fathers and 30% from kinship carers or prospective kinship carers.

Domestic abuse has consistently been the most commonly cited reason by callers as to why children’s services are involved with their family. We received COVID-19 extraordinary Home Office funding for domestic support services to develop enhanced domestic abuse advice sections on the website for families and for practitioners and to provide advocacy support to parents/carers.

Reasons for calls

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2%
3%
16% 2%
3%
17%
35%
35%
17% 16%
27%
27%
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35% Care Proceedings/Child in Care

27%

17%

16% Family Support Accomodation

Child Protection

Private Law 3%

Adoption

WEBSITE RE-DESIGN AND NEW ONLINE ADVICE RESOURCES

We know the value of accurate and reliable advice for families involved with children’s services and the consequence of not getting the right help when it is needed. That is why we have upgraded www.frg.org.uk to provide families and practitioners with comprehensive and easy to follow content.

The advice content for families is organised in tiers, tailored to particular circumstances. An updated and expanded A-Z of key terms provides families with quick reference information to respond to initial queries. Users can then search under “Who?”, “What?”, or “Why?” categories to reach content directly applicable to their circumstances. A small suite of legal advice sheets provides more in-depth advice on topics that families involved with children’s services or the Family Court might need guidance about. This includes providing litigants in person with step-bystep guides through various court applications.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Other features include: practical tips and tools including template letters and “working with” guides; explainers on the law and child welfare processes that families may come across including infographics; interactive advice forums; and sharing of families’ stories and experiences through blogs, vlogs and podcasts. All content has been developed using readability software and with feedback from members of Family Rights Group’s family panels to ensure that it is easy to follow and accessible.

We are grateful for the support of the Legal Education Foundation to meet the technical and design costs of the work to redesign our website.

We have also obtained funding from Matrix Chambers to enhance advice resources available on the website for parents to-be and new parents involved in the child welfare system. Funds secured from the Baring Foundation have also enabled us to produce more extensive advice and resources on the new website for families and practitioners about children who come into the care system under a voluntary arrangement (under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989).

Our on-line advice is proving invaluable to many more families. There were more than 650,000 visitors to our website and on-line parents and kinship care discussion boards during the year, a rise of over 100,000 compared to the year before.

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frg.org.uk
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Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Impact of the advice service:

Family Rights Group worked with New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) in 2015 to establish a framework that would enable us to regularly conduct impact evaluations of our advice and advocacy services, including measuring economic outcomes. We used this for a 2020 evaluation of a sample of advice line callers which found that:

Immediately after the call to our advice line:

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83% 85%
of respondents felt that they felt that they understood their
understood the law better as rights and responsibilities
a result of the call better as a result of the call
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62% felt that the call with Family Rights Group helped them to understand the concerns of the social worker

81% felt that the call improved their understanding of children’s services procedures

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Four to six months following the call to the advice line:

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67%
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felt that the call with Family Rights Group helped them to understand the concerns of the social worker

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45%
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felt better able to work with the social worker/children’s services

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40%
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agreed that the support they received from us made a positive difference to the local authority plan and/or services for their child/children

Our cost effectiveness:

New Philanthropy Capital also constructed an economic model to estimate the public savings of the advice line from care costs avoided and local authority costs saved by averting the need for long term or more intensive statutory involvement. The findings suggest that the service saves an average of £15 for every £1 invested.

Moving forward:

We successfully secured an increased funding settlement from the Department for Education for the advice service in 2021/22. This will enable us to answer 7,200 calls to our free, specialist telephone advice line and to provide in depth follow up support to 315 callers. Whilst this is positive news, it still equates to our being able to advise only fewer than four in ten callers.

We aim that by 2026, at least:

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10,000 1 in 2
calls a year will be callers will report that our
answered advice has made a positive
difference to the child
remaining or returning to
their family, and/or to the
local authority plan for the
child and services
provided
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750,000
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unique visitors per year accessing information and advice from the website or discussion forums

We will further develop our advice and advocacy work for families involved in the child welfare system, including using technology where appropriate to enable more families to get the advice they need, and setting and promoting advocacy standards and best practice for other services to adopt.

3) Lifelong Links 15

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Our Lifelong Links programme is designed to build lasting support networks for children in care. It involves an independent coordinator, employed or commissioned by the local family group conference services and trained by Family Rights Group, working with the child and their social worker to explore who is connected with or important to the child. They use a range of bespoke tools and techniques. The network is then brought together at a Lifelong Links family group conference, which is a celebratory event at which a lasting support plan is made with and for the child or young person. The plan should be actively supported by the local authority, as long as it is safe and be embedded in the child’s care plan.

Lifelong Links have involved finding family members the child never knew about or had not met, such as grandparents, great aunts and uncles and even fathers, brothers and sisters. It has involved reconnecting children with former foster carers who always fretted about the children who had left their care; their former teachers and friends’ parents who had looked out for the child; and estranged relatives who cared about the children even if they could not provide them with a home.

1400 +

Over 1400 children and young people in England and Scotland have now benefited from Lifelong Links or are currently in the middle of the process.

My life has changed for the good since Lifelong Links have been involved, the worker that helped me was a lovely woman and she helped me develop my family tree and guided me the right way to get in contact with family I haven’t seen in 14 years. I am now frequently talking to my family and spending some quality time with them.

Comment from young person

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

In January 2021 the report of the independent evaluation into Lifelong

. The evaluation Links was published covered the three-year trial of Lifelong Links involving 13 local authorities in England. The evaluation was carried out by Dr Lisa Holmes at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford.

Some of the key findings of the Lifelong Links evaluation were:

An increase in family and friends connections

78% children and young people felt an improved sense of identity

Improved stability for children: 74% of the children and young people who participated in Lifelong Links were in the same foster or residential home a year later compared with only 41% of a comparator group of young people who did not experience Lifelong Links

Value for money: Cost benefit analysis showed a return on investment of monetisable outcomes was £1.02 for every £1 spent. These savings were mainly due to placement stability and children ceasing to be looked after. However, the primary outcome achieved by Lifelong Links was an increase and improvement in the number of sustainable and supportive relationships which is not directly monetisable, but is attributable to better longer-term outcomes, and reduced isolation and loneliness.

Analysis of practice summaries provided by local authorities found that on average children and young people increased their social networks from seven to 26 people.

Family Rights Group has continued during the year to support the rollout of Lifelong Links geographically, supporting 18 local authorities in England, two in Wales and five in Scotland to provide the service. We have also expanded access to the service for children and young people beyond the trial criteria, for example where they have been in care for more than three years or where they are care leavers.

During the pandemic, we have continued to support local authorities to deliver Lifelong Links, including developing bespoke guidance on providing the service remotely.

Moving forward:

Over the next 5 years we want to see a significant expansion of the Lifelong Links programme across the UK. We aim for at least 3000 children and young people in care or care leavers to direct benefit from Lifelong Links by 2026.

Primarily focusing on children in care, we will further develop Lifelong Links to support children and young people in particular situations, including those facing exploitation or impacted by the criminal justice system.

Ih 4) Kinship Care 19

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Kinship carers are relatives or friends who raise children who cannot safely remain with their parents. Across the UK more than 180,000 children are living with kinship carers – significantly more than are in the care system and many more than are adopted; this makes kinship care a key element of the children’s social care system. Yet kinship care is widely unrecognised, underappreciated and often unsupported – it is, in effect, the unacknowledged third pillar of the children’s social care system.

Kinship care enables children, who cannot live with their parents, to be brought up in the family and friends network, often by people who already know and love them. Research demonstrates the benefits include emotional stability, sense of identity and improved educational outcomes. However, both the child and their carers often struggle to get support, despite the child often having suffered tragedy or trauma and having multiple needs. Unlike adopters, the kinship carers are not entitled to a period of paid leave to settle in the children, instead half of kinship carers in work have to give up their job to take on the children, and many kinship care families end up in poverty. 2

2 Hunt J (2020) Two decades of UK research on kinship care: an overview. Family Rights Group

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care

Family Rights Group worked with the then Member of Parliament, Anna Turley, to set up the Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care in 2018. It was the first inquiry by parliamentarians focused on kinship care. Catherine McKinnell MP succeeded Anna as Chair following the 2019 General Election. Thousands of kinship carers and the children they are raising shared their evidence and experiences with members of the Taskforce. The inquiry also heard evidence from those engaged in frontline practice, grassroots charities, legal professionals, academics, and senior professionals and policymakers.

The launch of the Taskforce report was delayed by the general election and the Coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, the Taskforce commissioned Family Rights Group to carry out a survey into the experiences of kinship carers and the children they are raising during the pandemic. The Taskforce published a report on the survey and 57 parliamentarians supported a letter to the Prime Minister.

They urged the Prime Minister to take steps to ease the situation of kinship carers and to avoid placements breaking down, resulting in more children entering the care system. The Taskforce commissioned Family Rights Group to undertake an updated survey in January 2021 in order to understand the impact of a third lockdown on kinship carers.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

In September 2020, the Taskforce published its main inquiry report ‘First Thought Not Afterthought’ which summarised the research and evidence gathered by the Taskforce and made a series of recommendations for Government, local authorities and other public agencies to help deliver a vision for kinship care. FRG facilitated the virtual launch event which included speeches from the Children and Families Minister, Vicky Ford MP, and the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Kate Green MP. Members of FRG kinship carers’ panel also participated in a discussion with our patron, Alan Johnson, on their experiences.

All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care

In March 2021, in order to embed kinship care into the structures of Parliament, the new All Party Parliament Group on Kinship Care as established. It continues the work of the Parliamentary Taskforce to press the case for change. Family Rights Group provides the secretariat. The group has a strong team of officers, with Andrew Gwynne MP, a kinship carer, as the group’s Chair and Vice Chairs from across the political spectrum.

Legal aid for special guardians

In February 2019, the Ministry of Justice committed to extending the scope of legal aid to include special guardianship in a private law context by autumn 2020. Two years have now passed and this work has yet to be completed. Family Rights Group, with other legal organisations, including the Law Society met with the Ministry of Justice and drew up a paper aimed at influencing the draft regulations. Family Rights Group with partner organisations continues to pursue these commitments with the Government, alongside the APPG on Kinship Care.

Challenging COVID-19 regulations

The Covid regulations that applied during under Tier 2 and 3 restrictions and the subsequent national lockdown, included exemptions that allowed a child who could not live at home to be introduced to a potential adopter. But no similar exemption was made for children to meet with potential kinship carers, i.e. people from within their own family and friends network who could potentially care for them. This could have later impacted on decisions made by the family court and thus have lifelong consequences. In November 2020 FRG issued a pre-action letter requesting that the Department for Health urgently amend the regulations to address this. Following this threat of legal action, the Government introduced an exemption to the Covid Regulations.

Kinship care research synthesis

Professor Joan Hunt OBE, University of Cardiff, undertook a research synthesis of the evidence from across the UK about kinship care in order to develop an agreed understanding and narrative on kinship care. The document is a comprehensive, reliable, concise and accessible evidence base on kinship care. We are grateful to Professor Hunt for undertaking this work and to the John Ellerman Foundation for funding the project. A summary was included in the report of the Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care. The full research report was published in December 2020 and is available on our website.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Media

We have worked with parliamentarians involved in the Taskforce and the APPG, and with members of our kinship carers’ panel, to focus more media attention on the benefits and challenges of kinship care. We have secured coverage on Channel 4 News, Sky News, BBC Look North, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Times, and Politics Home/House Magazine.

Kinship care panel members have also worked with Sound Delivery to create and share their stories and experiences. One of the resources produced by a kinship carer - ‘A letter to my daughter’ - gives an account of how a mother saw her daughter change and withdraw as a result of a domestically abusive relationship. This featured in The Guardian and an audio recording (voiced by another member of our kinship panel) was played on BBC Woman’s Hour along with an interview with Cathy Ashley, our Chief Executive, as part of a feature on domestic abuse.

Panel members have also led our ‘Kinship Carers in Conversation With…’ podcast series, where they interview prominent politicians and decision makers, which can be heard here.

Kinship Care Alliance

The Kinship Care Alliance is a group of organisations which subscribe to a set of shared aims and beliefs on the issue of family and friends care. We meet regularly to develop a joint policy agenda and agree strategies to promote our aims.

The aims of the Kinship Care Alliance are to:

Prevent children from being unnecessarily raised outside of their family network

Secure improved recognition and support for family and friends carers and the children they are raising

Ensure that the opportunities and resources available to children living with kinship carers maximise their chances of positive outcomes

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Family Rights Group lead the legal and policy work of the Kinship Care Alliance (KCA), thanks to funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. We draft consultation responses on the Alliance’s behalf, develop its policy agenda, raise awareness within the media and influence decision makers, including politicians. KCA membership has risen from 21 to 29 in the last three years. New members include GMB Union, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Kinship Carers Cooking Club, Accidentally Healthy CIC, Home for Good, AFA Cymru, and Children at Risk Foundation UK. KCA meetings are also attended by a number of academics with a research interest in kinship care.

The KCA has met remotely during the pandemic, focusing particularly on maximising support for kinship carers to cope with the strains of Coronavirus. The KCA’s Agenda for Action formed the basis of an e-lobbying campaign during the 2019 General Election. The development of a forward strategy will form the basis of discussions with KCA members in 2021.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board

Our Chief Executive is a member of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board which exists to provide leadership and to drive improvements in performance in the adoption system and in respect of Special Guardianship Orders. Following lobbying from Family Rights Group and other members of the Kinship Care Alliance, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board (ASGLB) has set up a Special Guardianship Reference Group to mirror its Adopters Reference Group. Some members of our kinship carers panel are part of the new Special Guardianship Reference Group. The Group recently met with Vicky Ford MP, Children and Families Minister at the Department for Education.

Moving forward

We are at a crucial moment where kinship care is a key feature of debates around children’s social care and the future of the system.

Some of our aims over the next five years:

To support an active All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care
To establish a councillors’ network to raise awareness of kinship care in local government and help equip local politicians to champion kinship care
To address gaps in research evidence, including the experience of children from Black and minority ethnic communities who are be raised by kinship carers. To continue to be recognised as the national policy and legal authority on kinship care and in leading the campaign for kinship care to be prioritised and adequately supported.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

5) Family Rights Group’s Parents’ and Kinship Carers’ Panels

Our parents’ panel, comprising mothers and fathers with experience of the child welfare system, and our kinship carers’ panel are continuing to flourish. Nineteen parents and twenty-three kinship carers are currently involved with our panels. Members reflect a range of different family circumstances and FRG has worked to expand the panels to ensure inclusivity of marginalised groups, including young fathers and sibling carers raising their younger brothers and sisters. We continue to work to improve the diversity of our panels further.

Members of our panels are active participants in the direction we take as a charity. They provide insight and feedback which shape our priorities and our campaigns. They are involved in the co-production of resources and co-delivery of training courses and events. They also engage with other child welfare organisations, including Cafcass and local authorities, to motivate them and to support them to set up family engagement structures.

Since early 2019, we have worked with the specialist digital storytelling consultancy, SoundDelivery, to run a series of creative workshops with panel members and our staff. These are designed to increase family members’ confidence and skills to share their experiences to a range of audiences, including at meetings with decision makers and via social media. They also help equip the charity to support such an approach as a central part of our communications strategy. As a result, a wealth of creative content has been published on our Families’ Voices section of the website. Since the onset of the pandemic, panel meetings and SoundDelivery workshops have transitioned to a virtual format, allowing the panels to continue to meet, to contribute, and to continue to develop their skills with SoundDelivery.

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Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Panel members worked with SoundDelivery on preparing and speaking at an ‘Our Families, Our Voices’ event which was held on 30th March 2021. This was an evening of talks, performance and conversation curated and led by young people, parents and kinship carers with experience of the child welfare system. It was an opportunity to showcase their experiences in order to challenge presumptions, help change narratives and affect changes to benefit the lives of children, young people and families. The event had a wide-ranging invitation list, including decision makers and practitioners from across the child welfare and family justice system, as well as journalists, other opinion formers and family members. A recording of the event has website. been published on our

Panel members have been regularly consulted by academics and child welfare and family justice organisations, such as Ofsted, What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care and the National Family Justice Observatory. For example, panel members helped shape the National Family Justice Observatory research project led by Dr Mary Baginsky on child protection conferences during Covid.

We are grateful for the ongoing support of the LankellyChase Foundation for our Family Voices work.

Moving forward

We want it to become the norm that children and families with experience of the child welfare and family justice system help shape it, at local and national level.

Our goals include:

For families with experience of the child welfare system to be directly involved in the co-production and co-delivery of training to the judiciary, social work students and social workers;
By 2026 at least 20% of children’s services departments and other child welfare and family justice agencies will have an engagement mechanism in place, in which parents and kinship carers influence policies and the commissioning of services;
To continue to support the development and influence of our family panels, and address under representation of fathers, disabled parents and carers and Black and minority ethnic parents and kinship carers.
We will also co-develop platforms to enable young parents and those who have grown up in kinship care or in the care system to have their voice, views and experiences heard.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

6) Public Law Working Group

In 2017, Family Rights Group instigated the sector-led Care Crisis Review, which involved sector leaders, social workers, lawyers, families and the former and current Presidents of the Family Division of the High Court. The Review explored the contributory factors to the record number of care proceedings and proposed twenty recommendations.

Following the Care Crisis Review, the President of the Family Division of the High Court, Sir Andrew McFarlane, convened a working group to consider what might be done to reduce the volume of care applications being made, and to enhance the ability of the courts to deal with these cases justly and efficiently.

Specifically, the working group was asked to consider how children and young people may:

1.be safely diverted from becoming the subject of public law proceedings; and
2.once they are subject to court proceedings, best have a fully informed decision about their future lives fairly and swiftly made.

In October 2018, FRG was invited to sit on the public law working group, to offer our expertise in relation to the child welfare and family justice system. The working group is comprised of members of the judiciary, lawyers, directors of children’s services, and representatives from Cafcass, the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice. FRG is the only voluntary sector organisation to have participated in the working group from the outset. We took the findings from the Care Crisis Review, including the Options for Change, as a starting point. We have also drawn on: learning from the Knowledge Inquiry, which we led in respect of section 20/section 76 voluntary accommodation; calls to our advice service; the views of our parents’ and kinship carers’ panels; and other related evidence including Professor Broadhurst’s born into care research.

We have worked to shape the PLWG’s recommendations. We held focus groups on special guardianship orders and on voluntary arrangements to influence the PLWG's thinking and best practice guidance. FRG has sat on a number of its sub-groups, and has led specific pieces of engagement work with families to inform its conclusions.

The PLWG published its report in February 2021. The report reinforces the principles of effective partnership working with families to safeguard children, that underpins the Children Act 1989. It complements a wider body of material on effective family engagement and emphasises the importance of collaboration and co-production with families, at a strategic and individual level.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Legal Education Foundation – Disseminating best practice

We are delighted to announce that Family Rights Group (FRG) has been successful in securing a major three-year grant from The Legal Education Foundation. This funding is being awarded to enable FRG to develop an approach that will promote, support the implementation of, and embed the key policy and practice messages regarding pre-proceedings work arising from:

The Care Crisis Review

The reports and guidance produced by the Public Law Working Group and Relevant academic and voluntary sector research.

All the elements of the work to be undertaken will be co-produced, in design and delivery, with families and we will be working closely with a range of practitioners. The grant will also fund an academic evaluation of the approach FRG develops and the impact it makes. We are pleased to announce that the evaluation will be led by Caroline Thomas, Independent Researcher and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Stirling.

In pursuing this project we are grateful to have had the endorsement of both Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division of the High Court, and Mr Justice Keehan, Chair of the Public Law Working Group.

7) Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England

In January 2021, the government launched the ‘independent review of children’s social care in England’. The Review proposes to ‘provide a once in a generation opportunity to transform the children’s social care system and provide children with loving, safe and stable families’.

Family Rights Group believes that the Care Review is an important opportunity to influence proposals for change across the child welfare system in England. We are engaging with the Review, challenging where we think necessary and seeking to influence its recommendations, including through contributing evidence and sharing insight from our services and legal and policy experience. We are also working to ensure the Review hears the voices and experiences of mothers, fathers and kinship carers involved with the child welfare system.

Angela Frazer-Wicks, a member of our Board and parents' panel, was appointed to independent Care Review’s Experts by Experience working group which is leading on the Review’s engagement work with families and children. In April 2021, our parents’ and our kinship care panel members met with the Care Review to share their experience and influence the Review’s thinking. In May 2021 we also hosted a workshop for mothers, fathers and kinship carers with experience of the child welfare system to share their experiences and ideas with the Care Review engagement team.

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Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

8) Born Into Care

The number of new-born babies subject to care proceedings had risen significantly prior to the pandemic. Research conducted by Professor Karen Broadhurst and Claire Mason of Lancaster University has shone a light on this hitherto underexplored issue.

Further research, commissioned by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and published in June 2021, revealed a significant increase in the number of newborn babies (i.e babies under 2 weeks old) in England and Wales who are subject to care proceedings. It also found many cases in which the notice to parents of care proceedings for their newborn baby was given on the same day as the court hearing. There are significant regional variations – with 41% of same day hearings for newborns in North East England, compared to 9% in London. Previous research found that final legal order outcomes for nearly half of newborns subject to care proceedings was placed for adoption.

Family Rights Group staff and Angela Frazer-Wicks (parents’ panel member and trustee) sit on a project board, led by Prof Broadhurst, designed to develop national best practice guidance for health, legal and social care practitioners working with families whose newborn baby has been, or is at risk of, removal. They have also been meeting regularly, including with the charity Birth Companions, considering ways to highlight the impact of the pandemic on parents/parents to be, who are at risk of losing their children.

For example, some mother and baby units closed during the pandemic, in some cases mothers, including those who had health complications or learning disabilities, were not allowed to have their partner or supporter at the birth, and, following removal, contact between a mother and her baby was severely restricted in some areas. They have also been promoting measures used by some innovative authorities to creatively support parents in this situation, including use of family group conferences in early stages of pregnancy, working closely with maternity teams and adapting local facilities so contact to be safely supported.

Moving forward – leading and influencing policy and practice

Our mission can only be achieved by working with: children and families with experience of the child welfare system and those practitioners working within in it; national and local decision makers; academics; and, our organisational friends.

We will:

Continue to promote at national and local level in England and Wales implementation of the findings of the Care Crisis Review. Engage with the independent Care Review in England and the Ministry of Justice’s ongoing consideration of legal aid reform.
Develop and implement a five year vision for our work in Scotland, to help realise The Promise.

Our work will further enhance our position, reputation and recognition and media presence as the leading:

organisation working with government, local authorities and other public agencies to introduce and embed family led practices in the interests of children.
voice on safe and effective alternatives to
children having to enter the care system and to nurturing supportive relationships for those who are in care.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

9) Family Group Conferences

A family group conference (FGC) is a family-led meeting in which the family and friends network come together to make a plan for a child where there is a concern. The process is supported by an independent coordinator who helps the family prepare in advance for the family group conference. Children are usually involved in their own family group conference, often with support from an advocate. It is a voluntary process and families cannot be forced into one. The process should be organised to reflect the culture and wishes of the family, and effective preparation is key.

The FGC conference itself involves three parts:

The information sharing stage, in which the social worker (or referring agency) sets out why the FGC was called and ways that agencies can support the child and family

Private time, in which the family produce their plans for the child or young person; and The third stage, in which the social worker (or other referring agency) agrees the plan as long as it is legal, safe and addresses any ‘bottom line’.

Families should be offered the opportunities for a review FGC three months later or at another time agreed with the family.

FGCs can help ensure that wider family members and friends understand at an early stage the seriousness of the situation and have the opportunity to support the child to live safely with their parents where feasible and make contingency plans for alternative care within the family if the child cannot remain at home.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Family Rights Group introduced the family group conference model to the UK in the early 1990s. Our most recent mapping of FGC services across England in 2019 found that 78% of local authorities had or commissioned a family group conference services service, compared to 75% in 2017.

We host the National Family Group Conference Network, including an electronic discussion board for FGC coordinators and managers and holding quarterly Network meetings focused on relevant themes. We continue to be the foremost organisation in providing consultancy services in supporting local authorities to set up or commission FGCs and in training FGC coordinators. We also run an accreditation scheme to promote consistent, high quality standards amongst local FGC services and have pioneered an accredited post graduate certificate for coordinators which is run with the University of Salford.

During the pandemic, we have held regular virtual meetings with family group conference service managers and published a guide to promote ways that family group conferences can continue to be offered to families.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Our new strategic plan spells out how we want family group conferences to become a common approach across the child welfare system to embed partnership working between families and the state to address needs and resolve safeguarding concerns in relation to a child.

The Public Law Working Group best practice guidance includes recommendations on the use of family group conference pre proceedings. The Parliamentary Taskforce report also made recommendations to local and national government in relation to offering a family group conference before a child enters the care system, unless there is an emergency.

We were pleased to host a virtual event in June 2021, bringing together the four family group conference networks of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to share learning and insight.

Moving forward:

Our impact goals. By 2026 we want:

75% of local authorities to be offering families the option of a family group conference if their child is at risk of entering the care system;
Half of family group conference services to have been accredited by Family Rights Group; There is a growing body of evidence and awareness amongst the public and decisionmakers as to the benefits of family group conferences and how they contribute to improved decision making and better outcomes for children.

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Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

10) Domestic abuse

The impact of domestic abuse on adult and child victims can be devastating and long lasting. However, too often parents, most commonly mothers, who have experienced domestic abuse, feel that they are further punished by a child welfare system that blames them for failing to protect their child but neither engages nor holds the perpetrator of the abuse to account.

Domestic abuse remains consistently the main reason callers to our advice line cite as to why children’s services are involved with their family and this has increased during the pandemic. There were 64% more calls where domestic abuse was a factor in the last quarter of 2020/21 than there had been in the same period in 2019/20. In comparison, the overall increase in total number of callers advised between Jan-March 2019 to Jan-March 2020 was 35%.

We now have an enhanced section of our website focused on advice on domestic abuse, including bespoke resources for mothers and fathers. Our panel members have also created new audio-visual resources focused on their experienced of domestic abuse, to support other families facing similar situations.

Family Rights Group has established a knowledge inquiry on child protection and domestic abuse, which aims to develop principles for good practice for children’s social care services. The principles are being developed in partnership with children, mothers, fathers, wider family members, practitioners, managers, commissioners and academics. Our ambition is that this will help to deliver respectful, effective work with families that safeguards children, recognises the needs and wishes of adult and child victims, including their safety and holds perpetrators to account.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Cafcass Learning and Improvement Board

Our Chief Executive and Angela Frazer-Wicks (one of our trustees and a member of our parents’ panel) are co-chairs of the Cafcass Learning and Improvement Board which is overseeing an improvement programme for Cafcass’ work with children and families who have experienced domestic abuse.

Thank you to staff

The Board of Trustees would like to register their gratitude to the staff team at Family Rights Group whose range of skills, expertise and dedication are truly impressive. We would like to thank them for their passion, creativity, empathy and hard work on behalf of the Charity,

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

The Legal Form of the Company

Family Rights Group is legally formed as FRG Ltd, a charity registered in England and Wales (1015665) and Scotland (SC047042). The charity is a company limited by guarantee (company number 02702928).

Structure, governance and management

The Trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

Martin Pilgrim MBE (Chair of Trustees) Stuart Black Jacqueline Campbell Ann Chavasse Elizabeth Cape Cowens Patricia Denney Angela Frazer-Wicks Mark Gurrey Kevin Makwikila Chris Nicholson Jason Nisse Christine Smart John Trevor-Allen Jeremy Westhead Susan White

The liability of the trustees is limited to £1, being the amount that each member undertakes to contribute to the assets of the charity in the event of the same being wound up while they are a member. The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities as detailed on page 44 for the preparation of the charity's annual financial statements, upon which the auditors are obliged to report to the members of the charity.

Appointment of trustees

Trustees are appointed to the board upon delivery of an application for admission in accordance with the wishes of the board, and with the board’s approval. Trustees are appointed for a term of three years; this is renewable up to a period of no more than nine years.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Financial Results 2020/21

During the year the charity raised £2,799,297 (2020: £1,756,245) and spent £2,570,858 (2020: £1,449,290). Restricted income from government grants and charitable trusts made up 89% of total income (2020: 86%). Unrestricted income from grants, sale of goods and services, subscriptions, donations and fundraising events made up 11% of total income (2020: 14%). Unrestricted (free) reserves at the end of the year (including designated reserves) were £583,292 (2020: £379,139).

TOTAL INCOME = £2,796,297

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted funds
£302,002 / 11%
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
2%
3%
17%
'Pass-through' General restricted funds
restricted funds
£1,762,320 / 63%
£731,975 / 26%
35%
16%
27%
----- End of picture text -----*

*DfE Lifelong Links Champions Fund for local authorities, administered separately from the charity's income streams

RESTRICTED INCOME BY FUNDER

----- Start of picture text -----
Income from corporate bodies, 2%
trusts and foundations
3%
25% 17%
Government funds
75%
35%
16%
----- End of picture text -----

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

UNRESTRICTED INCOME = £302,002

----- Start of picture text -----
Other income
£4,834 / 2%
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
2%
3%
Incoming resources from 17%
Voluntary income
charitable activities
£109,421 / 36%
£108,845 / 36%
35%
16%
27%
----- End of picture text -----

Income generation including training & consultancy £78,902 / 26%

EXPENDITURE = £2,563,108

----- Start of picture text -----
Other charitable activities
£392,775 / 15%
2%
3%
17% Lifelong Links
£958,459 / 37%
Award of 'pass-through'
restricted funds
£731,975 / 29%
35%
Advice & Advocacy
£479,899 / 19%
----- End of picture text -----*

*DfE Lifelong Links Champions Fund for local authorities, administered by FRG

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Unrestricted funds

The charity raised £302,002 (2020: £250,053) of general or unrestricted income. Expenditure of £97,849 (2020: £113,156) was set against this, leaving a surplus of £204,153 (2020: £136,897). When added to balances brought forward of £279,139, the fund balance at 31 March 2021 was £483,292.

Income from training and consultancy made up 13% of total unrestricted income (2020: 20%), grants made up 68% (2020: 50%), donations, supporters’ fees and Family Group Conference Network membership made up 14% (2020: 17%), and fundraising events and publication sales made up 4% (2020: 13%).

Designated funds

The trustees have previously set aside £100,000 of unrestricted funds to cover staffing contingencies. This fund makes up part of the total free reserves and remains unused in the year.

Restricted funds

A total of £2,497,295 (2020: £1,506,192) of restricted income was received in the year. This included a pass through fund for local authorities of £731,975, leaving restricted income for the charity to spend at £1,762,320. Expenditure of £1,741,034 (2020: £1,545,826) was set against this and, after bringing forward funds of £147,109, the balance of restricted funds was £171,395. Income from government grants made up 75% (2020: 68%) of total restricted income. The Department of Education gave a grant of £480,000 for the national advice service, and the largest restricted grant of £800,000 for the Lifelong Links project. Income from corporate bodies, trusts and foundations made up 25% (2020: 32%) of restricted income.

Note on Restricted income

Included in the restricted income total is £731,975, shown in the accounts as "Pass Through" income. This income was matched by an equivalent expense and represented payments to Family Rights Group that were due to local authorities in respect of the Life Long Links Innovation Programme. Under the legal agreement with the Funder, these amounts were contractually obliged to be passed on to those local authorities which met a set of requirements once received by the charity. This amount did not therefore represent an incoming resource that was available for the charity to fund its operations.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Funders and Fundraising

We are grateful for the generous support received from a variety of funders and individuals. The following funders supported projects and activities during the year and without them we would have been unable to continue our work: The Baring Foundation, Batchworth Foundation, Department for Education, The Dulverton Trust, The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Home Office, The John Armitage Trust, John Ellerman Foundation, KPMG Foundation, The Law Society, The Legal Education Foundation, Lankelly Chase Foundation, Matrix Chambers, The Rayne Foundation, The Robertson Trust and Segelman Trust. We would also like to thank all those individuals who supported us by giving a donation or raising funds from participation in sponsored activities. This year due to the pandemic many of our usual fundraising events including organised sporting challenges were cancelled. Instead, FRG staff, trustees and supporters collectively ran, swam and cycled an ultratriathlon in the very first Family Rights Groupathlon. The event raised over £8000 to support our work, contributing to a total of £11,761 raised from fundraising events. We also raised £10,716 from donations from supporters. These generous donations form an absolutely essential part of our funding and we are extremely grateful to all our supporters.

Reserves Policy

The trustees previously decided that it was appropriate to set a minimum level of free reserves to cover known wind-up costs, and to set a target to increase the level to cover three to six months’ expenditure, allowing for changes in expenditure patterns and the fundraising climate. The current level of reserves now exceeds three months’ expenditure, but falls short of 6 months’ expenditure. Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future in particular given the level of committed funding. Furthermore, the trustees are confident that there are no material uncertainties that may cast doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The reserves policy will be kept under review and reserve levels adjusted as perceptions of risk and other factors change.

Asset cover of funds

The notes to the accounts set out an analysis of the assets attributable to the various funds. These assets are sufficient to meet the charity’s obligations on a fundby-fund basis.

Disclosure of information to auditors

Each of the directors has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditors are aware of such information.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Directors' Responsibilities

The directors acknowledge their responsibility as detailed on page 4 for the preparation of the charity's annual financial statements, upon which the auditors are obliged to report to the members of the charity.

Auditors

Auditors shall be appointed and their duties regulated as required in accordance with the Companies Act and the Charities Act.

Appointment of directors

Every person desiring to become a member must, before she/he can do so, sign and deliver to the company an application for admission in such form as the Management Committee may from time to time require. The Management Committee may, on passing of a special resolution, determine the membership of any member of the company.

Organisation

The governing document of FRG Limited is the memorandum and articles of association incorporated 1st April 1992 and as amended by special resolution dated 22nd April 1993.

The Management Committee

The Management Committee shall manage the business of the company and may raise or borrow for the purposes of the company such money as they think fit and may secure the repayment of or raise such sum as aforesaid by mortgage or charge upon any part of the property and assets of the company. It shall appoint and employ all such officers and servants as they consider necessary and shall (subject to the provisions of the Memorandum of Association) regulate their duties and fix their salaries.

The Trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

Martin Pilgrim, Chair of Trustees 2 October 2021

FRG LIMITED

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

The Trustees, who are also the directors of FRG Limited for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company Law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.

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

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Independent Auditor's Report to the Trustees of FRG Ltd

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of FRG Limited (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the 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, 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, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

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 charity 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 charity’s ability to 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.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and 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.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Trustees' report; or
sufficient and proper accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees' responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the charity for the purpose 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 charity’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.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder. Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Frances Wilde FCCA DChA For and on behalf of Warner Wilde Chartered Certified Accountants Statutory Auditor 18 October 2021

Warner Wilde Chartered Certified Accountants 4 Marigold Drive Bisley, Surrey GU24 9SF

Frances Wilde FCCA DChA is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Current financial ear			Total 2020 £ 71,705 1,565,043 111,069 545 7,883
Net income for the year/ Net movement in funds 204,153 Fund balances at 1 April 2020 379,139 Fund balances at 31 March 2021 583,292 y Unrestricted funds 2021 Notes £ Income and endowments from: Voluntary income 3 109,421 Incoming resources from charitable activities 4 108,845 Activities for generating funds including training and consultancy 5 78,902 Investments 6 161 Other Incoming resources 7 4,673 Total income 302,002 Expenditure on: Raising funds 8 4,260 Charitable activities Advice and Advocacy 9 - Training and Consultancy 9 - Other Charitable Activities 9 93,099 Lifelong Links 9 - Total charitable expenditure 93,099 Other 14 490 Total resources expended 97,849 Net income for the year/ Net movement in funds 204,153	- 24,286 - 147,109 - 171,395 Restricted Restricted funds funds "Pass Through" general 2021 2021 £ £ - - 731,975 1,762,320 - - - - - - 731,975 1,762,320 - - 731,975 479,899 - - - 299,676 - 958,459 731,975 1,738,034 - - 731,975 1,738,034 - 24,286	228,439 526,248 754,687 Total 2021 £ 109,421 2,603,140 78,902 161 4,673 2,796,297 4,260 1,211,874 - 392,775 958,459 2,563,108 490 2,567,858 228,439
			1,756,245
			37,161
			380,991 32,398 563,864 644,568
			1,621,821
			-
			1,658,982
			97,263 428,985 526,248 97,263

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (CONTINUED) INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Prior financial year

Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2020 2020 Notes £ £ Income and endowments from: Voluntary income 3 71,705 - Incoming resources from charitable activities 4 58,851 1,506,192 Activities for generating funds including training and consultancy 5 111,069 - Investments 6 545 - Other Incoming resources 7 7,883 - Total income 250,053 1,506,192 Expenditure on: Raising funds 8 37,161 - Charitable activities Advice and Advocacy 9 25,122 355,869 Training and Consultancy 9 32,398 - Other Charitable Activities 9 10,979 552,885 Lifelong Links 9 7,496 637,072 Total charitable expenditure 75,995 1,545,826 Total resources expended 113,156 1,545,826 Net income for the year/ Net movement in funds 136,897 (39,634) Fund balances at 1 April 2019 242,242 186,743 Fund balances at 31 March 2020 379,139 147,109	Total 2020 £ 71,705 1,565,043 111,069 545 7,883
	1,756,245
	37,161
	380,991 32,398 563,864 644,568
	1,621,821

	1,658,982
	97,263 428,985
	526,248

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2021

Notes Fixed assets Tangible assets 15 Current assets Debtors 16 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 17 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Income funds Restricted funds - general 19 Unrestricted funds Designated funds: Staff Contingency 21 General unrestricted funds	2021 £ £ 17,342 631,558 622,015 1,253,573 (516,228) 737,345 754,687 171,395 100,000 100,000 483,292 583,292 754,687	2020 £ £ 1,300 165,249 566,342 731,591 (206,643) 524,948 526,248 147,109 100,000 100,000 279,139 379,139 526,248	2020 £ £ 1,300 165,249 566,342 731,591 (206,643) 524,948 526,248 147,109 100,000 100,000 279,139 379,139 526,248
			526,248
			147,109 379,139
			526,248

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 31 March 2021, although an audit has been carried out under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011.

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the charity keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements under the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 27 September 2021.

J Westhead, Trustee

Company Registration No. 2702928

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Notes Cash flows from operating activities Cash generated from operations 25 Investing activities Purchase of tangible fixed assets Proceeds on disposal of tangible fixed assets Interest received Net cash used in investing activities Net cash used in financing activities Net increase in cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year Cash and cash equivalents at end of year	2021 £ (22,976) 686 161	£ 77,802 (22,129) - 55,673 566,342 622,015	2020 £ (833) - 545	£ 173,284 (288) - 172,996 393,346 566,342

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1 Accounting policies

Charity information

FRG Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL.

1.1 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 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 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

1.2 Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3 Charitable funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Endowment funds are subject to specific conditions by donors that the capital must be maintained by the charity.

1.4 Income

Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charity has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected. If the amount is not known, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1 Accounting policies

1.5 Expenditure

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Overheads and support costs are apportioned to activities on a reasonable and consistent basis for example, hours engaged in different activities for staff costs which is then used to apportion other overheads.

Irrecoverable VAT is allocated in the same way as the cost to which it is associated.

1.6 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

IT equipment 25% reducing balance method Fixtures, fittings & equipment 25% reducing balance method

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.

1.7 Impairment of fixed assets

At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

1.8 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1 Accounting policies

1.9 Financial instruments

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments. Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

1.10 Employee benefits

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received. Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

1.11 Retirement benefits

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

1.12 Leases

Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged as an expense on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

2 Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future

3 Voluntary income

	Unrestricted	Unrestricted
	funds	funds
	2021	2020
	£	£
Donations and gifts	11,921	5,705
Unrestricted Grant Income	97,500	66,000
	109,421	71,705
Donations and gifts
Other	11,921	5,705
	11,921	5,705

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

4 Incoming resources from charitable activities

Grant Income 2021 £ Sales within charitable activities - Performance related grants 1,784,654 1,784,654 Analysis by fund Unrestricted funds 43,731 Restricted funds - "Pass Through" 731,975 Restricted funds - general 1,008,948 1,784,654	Advice and Advocacy 2021 £ - 479,899 479,899 - - 479,899 479,899	Other 2021 £ 114 338,473 338,587 65,114 - 273,473 338,587	Total 2021 Grant Income 2020 £ £ 114 - 2,603,026 1,244,748 2,603,140 1,244,748 108,845 58,556 731,975 - 1,762,320 1,186,192 2,603,140 1,244,748	Advice and Advocacy 2020 £ - 320,000 320,000 - - 320,000 320,000	Other Total 2020 2020 £ £ 295 295 - 1,564,748 295 1,565,043 295 58,851 - - - 1,506,192 295 1,565,043

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

5 Activities for generating funds including training and consultancy

		Unrestricted	Unrestricted
		funds	funds
		2021	2020
		£	£
	Training and consultancy	38,176	50,354
	Membership subscriptions and sponsorships which are in substance a
	payment for goods and services	28,965	28,601
	Fundraising events	11,761	32,114
	Activities for generating funds including training and consultancy
		78,902	111,069
6	Investments
		Unrestricted	Unrestricted
		funds	funds
		2021	2020
		£	£
	Interest receivable	161	545
7	Other Incoming resources
		Unrestricted	Unrestricted
		funds	funds
		2021	2020
		£	£
	Other incoming resources	4,673	7,883

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

8 Raising funds

	Unrestricted	Unrestricted
	funds	funds
	2021	2020
	£	£
Costs of generating voluntary and charitable income
Other fundraising costs	4,260	12,808
Staff costs	-	24,353
Costs of generating voluntary and charitable income	4,260	37,161
	4,260	37,161

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

9 Charitable activities

Advice and Advocacy Other Charitable Activities 2021 2021 £ £ Staff costs 370,584 256,865 Depreciation and impairment - 5,758 Other costs 47,815 85,042 418,399 347,665 Grant funding of activities (see note 10) 731,975 10,000 Share of support costs (see note 11) 61,500 26,725 Share of governance costs (see note 11) - 8,385 1,211,874 392,775 Analysis by fund Unrestricted funds - 93,099 Restricted funds - "Pass Through" 731,975 - Restricted funds - 479,899 299,676 1,211,874 392,775	Lifelong Links 2021 £ 603,654 - 247,668 851,322 - 107,137 - 958,459 - - 958,459 958,459	Total 2021 £ 1,231,103 5,758 380,525 1,617,386 741,975 195,362 8,385 2,563,108 93,099 731,975 1,738,034 2,563,108	Advice and Advocacy Training and Consultancy Other Charitable Activities 2020 2020 2020 £ £ £ 289,260 4,798 46,953 - - 411 10,255 26,665 383,234 299,515 31,463 430,598 - - - 56,354 935 133,266 25,122 - - 380,991 32,398 563,864 25,122 32,398 10,979 - - - 355,869 - 552,885 380,991 32,398 563,864	Lifelong Links 2020 £ 637,072 - 7,496 644,568 - - - 644,568 7,496 - 637,072 644,568	Total 2020 £ 978,083 411 427,650
					1,406,144 - 190,555 25,122
					1,621,821
					75,995 - 1,545,826
					1,621,821

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

10 Grants payable

	Advice and	Other	Total
	Advocacy	Charitable	2020
		Activities
	2021	2021
	£	£	£
Grants to institutions:
DfE Lifelong Links "Pass Through" Grants	731,975	-	-
Other	-	10,000	-

11 Support costs

Support costs
Support costs Governance costs £ £ Staff costs - - Organisational Running Costs 195,362 - Audit fees - 8,120 Management - 265 195,362 8,385 Analysed between Charitable activities 195,362 8,385	2021 Support costs Governance costs £ £ £ - - 13,600 195,362 190,555 2,650 8,120 - 7,374 265 - 1,498 203,747 190,555 25,122 203,747 190,555 25,122	2020 £ 13,600 193,205 7,374 1,498
		215,677
		215,677

Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £8,120 (2020: £7,374) for audit fees (including accounts preparation and VAT) and £240 (2020- £nil) for other services.

12 Trustees

No (2020:1) trustee was reimbursed a total of £nil (2020: £159 travelling, training and conference expenses.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

13 Employees

Number of employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

Project workers Support and administration Employment costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Other pension costs	2021 Number 26 6 32 2021 £ 1,041,251 102,747 87,105 1,231,103	2020 Number 23 5
		28
		2020 £ 862,037 89,792 64,207
		1,016,036

The number of employees whose annual remuneration was £60,000 or more were:

			2021	2020
			Number	Number
60,001	-	70,000	1	1
70,001	-	80,000	1	-

Pension contributions for higher paid staff amount to £10,761 (2020: £5,881).

Key Management Personnel are defined as the Senior Management Team, the gross cost including employer's national insurance and pension contributions was £306,899 (2020: £294,358).

14 Other

	Unrestricted	Total
	funds
		£
	2021	2020
Net loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets	490	-

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

15
Tangible fixed assets
IT equipment
Fixtures,
fittings &
equipment
£
£
Cost
At 1 April 2020
6,794
1,997
Additions
22,976
-
Disposals
(3,004)
-
At 31 March 2021
26,766
1,997
Depreciation and impairment
At 1 April 2020
5,541
1,950
Depreciation charged in the year
5,746
12
Eliminated in respect of disposals
(1,828)
-
At 31 March 2021
9,459
1,962
Carrying amount
At 31 March 2021
17,307
35
At 31 March 2020
1,253
47
16
Debtors
2021
Amounts falling due within one year:
£
Trade debtors
126,041
Other debtors
484,758
Prepayments and accrued income
20,759
631,558
17
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
2021
Notes
£
Other taxation and social security
31,462
Deferred income
18
174,582
Trade creditors
207,667
Other creditors
5,957
Accruals
96,560
516,228
18
Deferred income
2021
£
Other deferred income
174,582

Total
£
8,791
22,976
(3,004)
28,763
7,491
5,758
(1,828)
11,421
17,342
1,300
2020
£
16,986
138,313
9,950
165,249
2020
£
23,668
141,250
25,302
256
16,167
206,643
2020
£
141,250

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

19 Restricted funds

The income funds of the charity include restricted funds set up to account for grant funding given to support specific projects.

Movement in funds Balance at 1 April 2019 Incoming resources Expenditure Balance at 1 April 2020 £ £ £ £ Department for Education (Lifelong Links) - - - - Department for Education (Social Connections Tool) 163,238 699,752 (748,489) 114,501 KPMG Foundation (Scottish Lifelong Links) (12,500) 100,000 (87,500) - KPMG Foundation (UK Lifelong Links) - - - - Robertson Trust (Lifelong Links) - 50,000 (50,000) - RS MacDonald Trust 5,513 - (5,513) - Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (Lifelong Links) - 99,000 (99,000) - Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (Kinship Care) - 62,690 (53,823) 8,867 Lankelly Chase Foundation 33,715 133,000 (139,776) 26,939 Noel Buxton Trust - (5,000) 5,000 - Legal Education Foundation - 26,667 (29,865) (3,198) Trust for London - 15,000 (15,000) - Erasmus (3,223) 5,083 (1,860) - Department for Education (Advice Line) - 320,000 (320,000) - Home Office (COVID) - - - - Barings (Voluntary arrangements for children) - - - - Home Office (Domestic Abuse) - - - - Matrix - - - - 186,743 1,506,192 (1,545,826) 147,109	Movement in funds Incoming resources Expenditure Balance at 31 March 2021 £ £ £ 800,000 (800,000) - - (25,201) 89,300 25,000 (25,228) (228) 28,125 - 28,125 42,108 (42,108) - - - - 113,715 (97,846) 15,869 48,300 (47,800) 9,367 130,000 (139,076) 17,863 - - - 13,333 (10,135) - - - - - - - 479,899 (479,899) - 39,940 (39,940) - 30,000 (19,901) 10,099 10,900 (10,900) - 1,000 - 1,000 1,762,320 (1,738,034) 171,395	Movement in funds Incoming resources Expenditure Balance at 31 March 2021 £ £ £ 800,000 (800,000) - - (25,201) 89,300 25,000 (25,228) (228) 28,125 - 28,125 42,108 (42,108) - - - - 113,715 (97,846) 15,869 48,300 (47,800) 9,367 130,000 (139,076) 17,863 - - - 13,333 (10,135) - - - - - - - 479,899 (479,899) - 39,940 (39,940) - 30,000 (19,901) 10,099 10,900 (10,900) - 1,000 - 1,000 1,762,320 (1,738,034) 171,395
		171,395

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

19 Restricted funds

Restricted funds were for the following purposes:

Department for Education (Family and Friends Advice Line): to supply information, advice and guidance and intensive support services through digital and telephony services.

Department for Education (Lifelong Links): to deliver the Lifelong Links trial in England. Lifelong Links aims to create lifelong support networks for children and young people in care. This grant included provision of a local authority Champions Fund administered by Family Rights Group to enable and encourage local authorities to develop, test and scale new approaches in the creation of life-long social networks for children and young people in care, and care leavers. The Fund was administered and apportioned separately from the charity's income.

Department for Education (Social Connections Tool): a digital programme to map the social networks of young people at the start of the Lifelong Links process.

KPMG Foundation: to contribute to the pilot of Lifelong Links across the UK.

Robertson Trust: to contribute to the pilot of Lifelong Links in Scotland.

RS MacDonald Trust: to contribute to the pilot of Lifelong Links in Scotland.

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (Lifelong Links): to contribute to the pilot of Lifelong Links in Scotland.

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (Kinship Care): to support an alliance of organisations working to improve support for kinship carers through strategic work.

Lankelly Chase Foundation: to continue and progress the objectives of the Your Family, Your Voice alliance.

Noel Buxton Trust: to support advice and advocacy work.

Trust for London: to enhance knowledge and skill of domestic violence agencies to support mothers involved with children’s services.

Erasmus: participation in the project ‘European exchanges on family group conferencing’.

Legal Education Foundation: to improve access via the website to legal advice for families involved with the child welfare system.

Matrix: to enhance advice resources available on the website for parents to-be and new parents involved in the child welfare system.

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

20 Restricted funds - "Pass Through"

These are restricted funds which are material to the charity's activities made up as follows:

	Movement		Movement in funds	Movement in funds
	in funds
	Incoming	Balance at	Incoming	Resources	Balance at
	resources	1 April 2020	resources	expended	31 March 2021
	£	£	£	£	£
DfE LL "Pass Through" Fund	-	-	731,975	(731,975)	-

21 Designated funds

The income funds of the charity include the following designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes:

Movement in funds Movement in funds Balance at 1 April 2019 Incoming resources Balance at 1 April 2020 Incoming resources 31 £ £ £ £ Staffing contingency fund 100,000 - 100,000 - 100,000 - 100,000 -	Balance at March 2021 £ 100,000
	100,000

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

22 Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds
Unrestricted funds Designated funds Restricted funds 2021 2021 2021 £ £ £ Fund balances at 31 March 2021 are represented by: Tangible assets 17,342 - - Current assets/(liabilities) 465,950 100,000 171,395 483,292 100,000 171,395	Total Unrestricted funds Restricted funds 2021 2020 2020 £ £ £ 17,342 1,300 - 737,345 277,839 147,109 754,687 279,139 147,109	Total 2020 £ 1,300 524,948
		526,248

Family Rights Group Annual Report and Financial Statement 2020/21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

23 Related party transactions

There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2020 - none).

24 Contingent Asset

The charity undertook a detailed VAT review to make sure that the treatment of income and expenditure and subsequent identification of VAT to pay or reclaim was being carried out accurately.

With the assistance of a VAT specialist an asset of approximately £2,000 has been identified which is contingent on the completion of work to enable a claim to be submitted.

25 Cash generated from operations

Cash generated from operations 2021 £ Surplus for the year 228,439 Adjustments for: Investment income recognised in statement of financial activities (161) Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets 490 Depreciation and impairment of tangible fixed assets 5,758 Movements in working capital: (Increase)/decrease in debtors (466,309) Increase/(decrease) in creditors 276,253 Increase in deferred income 33,332 Cash generated from operations 77,802	2020 £ 97,263 (545) - 411 32,659 (12,034) 55,530
	173,284

Cash generated from operations
2021
£
Surplus for the year
228,439
Adjustments for:
Investment income recognised in statement of financial activities
(161)
Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets
490
Depreciation and impairment of tangible fixed assets
5,758
Movements in working capital:
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
(466,309)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
276,253
Increase in deferred income
33,332
Cash generated from operations
77,802

2020
£
97,263
(545)
-
411
32,659
(12,034)
55,530

173,284

26 Analysis of changes in net funds

The charity had no debt during the year.

Family Rights Group's mission is to create a more socially just society in which the child welfare and family justice systems support children to live safely and thrive within their family, while strengthening the family and community networks of those children who cannot live at home.

We seek to ensure that:

Families involved with the child welfare and family justice system are treated fairly, have their rights respected and are able to make informed decisions; Children and families get the help they need, so wherever possible children can live safely and flourish within their family network;
All children, including those in care, have lasting and supportive relationships to sustain them throughout their lives; Our child welfare and family justice system – and wider society – promotes social justice and create conditions that enable children to achieve their potential; Children and families’ voices and experiences drive decision making at an individual and strategic level within the child welfare and family justice system.

© Family Rights Group 2021. The copyright of all material appearing in this publication belongs to Family Rights Group. It may not be reproduced, duplicated or copied by any means without our prior written consent.

FRG Limited Established in 1974 Company Registration No. 2702928 Charity No. 1015665 (England and Wales) SC047042 (Scotland)

2021-03-31-accounts

FAMILY RIGHTS GROUP ANNUAL REPORT for the year ended 31 March 2021

FRG Ltd Legal & Administrative Information

Patron

Trustees

Principal address

Registered office

Secretary

Auditor

Bankers

Objects

And in furtherance of the above objects:

Chief Executive’s Welcome

Trustees’ Report

1) Our 2021-26 strategy

Our strategic priorities are that:

The strategy sets out our eight campaign goals:

and

Advice Service

46% of calls answered are from mothers, 20% from fathers and 30% from kinship carers or prospective kinship carers.

Reasons for calls

Impact of the advice service:

Immediately after the call to our advice line:

Four to six months following the call to the advice line:

Our cost effectiveness:

Moving forward:

We aim that by 2026, at least:

1400 +

Moving forward:

Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care

All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care

Legal aid for special guardians

Challenging COVID-19 regulations

Kinship care research synthesis

Media

Kinship Care Alliance

The aims of the Kinship Care Alliance are to:

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board

Moving forward

Some of our aims over the next five years:

5) Family Rights Group’s Parents’ and Kinship Carers’ Panels

Moving forward

Our goals include:

6) Public Law Working Group

Legal Education Foundation – Disseminating best practice

7) Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England

8) Born Into Care

Moving forward – leading and influencing policy and practice

We will:

9) Family Group Conferences

The FGC conference itself involves three parts:

Moving forward:

Our impact goals. By 2026 we want:

10) Domestic abuse

Cafcass Learning and Improvement Board

Thank you to staff

The Legal Form of the Company

Structure, governance and management

Appointment of trustees

Financial Results 2020/21

TOTAL INCOME = £2,796,297

RESTRICTED INCOME BY FUNDER

UNRESTRICTED INCOME = £302,002

EXPENDITURE = £2,563,108

Unrestricted funds

Designated funds

Restricted funds

Funders and Fundraising

Reserves Policy

Asset cover of funds

Disclosure of information to auditors

Directors' Responsibilities

Auditors

Appointment of directors

Organisation

The Management Committee

FRG LIMITED

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Independent Auditor's Report to the Trustees of FRG Ltd

Opinion