**Charity Number (England & Wales): 1016532 Charity Number (Scotland): SC040779 Company number: 02752456**
**THE NATIONAL DEAF CHILDREN’S SOCIETY (A company limited by guarantee)**
## **REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
**FOR THE YEAR ENDED**
**31 March 2023**
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Contents**
**Page 1** Legal and administrative information
- **3** Strategic report
- **34** Report of the independent auditors
- **38** Consolidated statement of financial activities
- **39** Consolidated balance sheet and balance sheet
- **40** Consolidated statement cash flows **41** Notes forming part of the financial statements
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Board of directors**
Dominic Holton (Chair) (from 5 November 2022) Jennie Rayson (Vice Chair) (from 5 November 2022) George Crockford (Treasurer) (trustee and treasurer from 5 November 2022) Luke Kelly (Deputy Treasurer) (trustee and deputy treasurer from 5 November 2022)
Suzanne Beese Katherine Binns (to 19 August 2022) Lynn Gadd (to 15 July 2023) Altaf Kassam Sheila McKenzie (to 5 November 2022) Lesley Lindberg (from 5 November 2022) Tim Polack (to 5 November 2022) Felicity Preacher (from 5 November 2022) Damian Proctor Jan Rutherford Helen Selwood (to 5 November 2022) Lorraine Wapling
## **Chief Executive**
Susan Daniels OBE
## **Auditor**
Crowe UK LLP, 2nd Floor, 55 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7JW
## **Solicitors**
Bates Wells London LLP, 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1BE
## **Bankers**
National Westminster Bank plc, 46 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3HZ
## **Principal and registered office**
Ground Floor South, Castle House, 37–45 Paul Street, London EC2A 4LS
## **Charity number (England and Wales)**
1016532
## **Charity number (Scotland)**
SC040779
## **Company number**
02752456
1
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
The trustees (who are the directors) of the National Deaf Children’s Society have pleasure in presenting their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the notes to the accounts, and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011, 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, published on 16 July 2014.
The charity is registered with the Charity Commission, under registration number 1016532, and with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, under number SC040779. It is a company limited by guarantee.
We operate in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, and undertake international work through partners in South Asia and East Africa. Details of trustees and the chief executive who served during the year are set out on page 29.
## **Our aims and objectives**
## **Objectives**
The charity’s objectives are to further the education of and to relieve the needs of deaf children.
## **Vision**
Our vision is a world without barriers for every deaf child.
## **Charitable aims**
Our mission is that together we will overcome the social and educational barriers that hold deaf children back.
## **Public benefit**
The achievement of these long-term aims drives our objectives and activity programme. In order to respond to the needs of deaf children and their families we reviewed our aims, objectives and activities half-yearly in 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23. As part of that process, we considered the outputs of our activities, assessed the benefit of those outputs to the lives of deaf children, and developed future objectives to make sure that our work continues to deliver the most benefit against our charitable aims.
The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit.
2
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Strategic report**
Our ambition is that by 2030 no deaf child will be left behind. This year marked the final year of our 2017 to 2022 strategy, extended for one year due to Covid, under which the three key areas of focus were:
- local and national services
- early years (from 2021/22 onwards our focus shifted from language and communication to concentrate on the early years)
- independence.
Language and communication continued to run as a theme throughout our work in all three areas.
We continued to keep a clear set of regularly reviewed planning assumptions to help us adapt as appropriate, including regular risk register updates. Our work throughout the year, and our impact and reach, can be seen in the following sections.
We developed a new strategy during this final year, which was launched soon after the year closed. It reflects our ambition to prioritise and focus on initiatives that achieve the greatest impact and provide the greatest value to our beneficiaries, and ensure our work is as effective as possible.
## **1. Area of focus A: Overcoming barriers in local and national services**
## **We will improve outcomes for deaf children and young people by making sure that services for them are available, accessible and of a high quality to meet their needs.**
**Measure:** Evidence of our influence, so that the rights of deaf children and young people are upheld, and their needs are met, as services recover from Covid-19.
## **Influencing policy and practice**
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Review in England was published at the end of March 2022. During 2022/23 we continued to focus on what this meant for deaf children, engaging with the Department for Education (DfE) throughout. In March 2023, the DfE published an Improvement Plan which set out how they planned to change the SEND and alternative provision system in England. One of our key asks regarding more Teachers of the Deaf (ToDs) was included in the plan with a clear commitment to a Teacher of the Deaf apprenticeship. This is something we have been involved with and supported from the start.
Since autumn 2019, we’ve been working with the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP), the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, and a team of colleagues
3
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
from across the sensory impairment sector to develop an apprenticeship route for training to become a qualified ToD. This has the potential to make a real difference as schools and local authorities would be able to access government funding for university course fees for apprentice Teachers of the Deaf. We anticipate the first apprenticeships will start in 2025.
Another one of our asks was related to post-16 support. We were pleased to see that the DfE will publish good practice guidance on transition into and out of post-16 settings and that work continues on the ‘adjustment passports’ which aim to help disabled young people move into employment by setting out what support they might need.
In Wales, we surveyed parents, carers and professionals about the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) reforms and submitted our findings to the Senedd’s Education, Children and Young People’s Committee. While we strongly support the new system in Wales, the submission highlighted the continued awareness gap around the ALN reforms and the need for consistent information and application of the reforms.
In Northern Ireland, we continued to work to grow the ToD workforce and specialist classroom support, in order to improve deaf education. We also lobbied for the forthcoming sign language legislation to lead to wider availability of Family Sign Language support. With no Assembly, the regulations needed to commence the 2016 legislation still can’t be passed.
As referenced in the Scotland section on page 10, we continued to challenge the lack of British Sign Language (BSL) academic qualifications at Higher level and the availability of BSL to deaf children in the early years in Scotland.
We continued to push for progress on the BSL GCSE in England including providing feedback on consultations. The consultation on draft subject content was launched in June 2023 and we expect first teaching to start in 2025.
We have also secured a place on the UK Government’s BSL Advisory Board, which was set up following the passing of the BSL Act last year. The members of the board, who all have lived experience of BSL, have been appointed for three-year terms. They will advise the Government on the use of sign language in its communications and how to address issues facing the deaf community. We will champion the rights of deaf children and their families, with a particular emphasis on Family Sign Language.
We continue to influence parliamentarians and in England, we held a parliamentary event attended by 22 MPs including Tom Pursglove MP, the Minister of State for Disabled People. We met with the Minister for Children for England, Claire Coutinho MP, and led introductory sessions on deaf awareness and BSL to celebrate Deaf Awareness Week. We were also invited to give evidence to two House of Commons committees about the SEND Review and the Disability Action Plan. All three events help us to keep the needs of deaf children higher up the political agenda.
4
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
Local policy and campaigning successes in education included securing the withdrawal of proposals to significantly reduce specialist staff at a primary school resource provision in Islington, which would have impacted 70 deaf children. We worked closely with a large group of parent campaigners and local MPs and engaged positively with the local council. Across the UK, we also continued to collect evidence in order to ensure the views and needs of deaf pupils and their families are taken into consideration if local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reviews occur.
## **Audiology**
Over the past year we have continued to engage with key professionals, consortia, groups and organisations across the UK about audiology services for deaf children and young people. In light of the scandal about poor quality audiology services in NHS Lothian, we have stepped up our engagement with governments and other audiology partners across the UK. We have sought to use this crisis in audiology as an opportunity to raise our longstanding concerns about the lack of oversight of children’s hearing services.
In England, we chair the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme Advisory Group. Through this group we supported a data review of the number of deaf babies in each screening site, followed by a formal audit of sites which identified the fewest number of deaf children per head of the population. Sadly, this audit uncovered identical problems to those found in Lothian and showed failures to identify deafness in children. In response those sites have set up incident groups, with some closing services.
NHS England also established a national steering group sponsored by the NHS England medical director. We are determined that this group will learn from the review of NHS Lothian and address short-term and longer-term issues in paediatric audiology.
We undertook our annual Listen Up! survey of NHS paediatric audiology services in England. We then published the _Listen Up!_ report, which identifies and tracks trends in paediatric audiology and showed that audiology services are stretched, with growing waiting times. As well as allowing us to gather evidence to influence national policy debates, the report is a useful resource for audiology professionals to benchmark their own services and plan service developments.
In Scotland, our work has focused on responding to the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) NHS Lothian report. Our senior audiology advisor was a member of the steering group of the independent review, commissioned by then-Cabinet Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP, which secured an audit of the quality of audiology testing, and pushed for stronger leadership, training and quality assurance. We also supported the Families Failed by Lothian Audiology Action Group (FLAAG) at a parliamentary round table at Holyrood, arranged by Jeremy Balfour MSP and attended by Labour, Conservative and SNP MSPs.
5
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
**for the year ended 31 March 2023**
In Wales, we continued to work with the Welsh Audiology Services Standing Advisory Group (ASSAG) in examining services in Wales in light of the BAA NHS Lothian report. We are also a member of the task/finish group set up by the Welsh Government. We continued to engage with Health Boards to gather information on audiology waiting times and resource challenges.
In Northern Ireland, we continued to meet with Government officials in response to the BAA NHS Lothian report. The Department of Health is seeking detailed assurances from health and care trusts in light of what happened at Lothian and the Paediatric Audiology Forum is also now being reconvened.
We also continued to work with Children’s Hearing Services Working Groups (CHSWGs) – which bring professionals who work with deaf children together to improve services. We participated in meetings for all 119 active CHSWGs across the UK and encouraged inactive CHSWGS to start meeting again. Our focus continued to be on supporting CHSWGs to be more strategic and as part of this work we encouraged them to create action plans. In 2022/23, 49% of CHSWGs across England had developed action plans.
In Northern Ireland, we have been encouraging the establishment of CHSWGs. The Northern Trust CHSWG was established last year and we are supporting it to develop an action plan. We are also supporting the establishment of the Western Trust CHSWG.
## **Outreach, Roadshow and digital workshops**
With the lifting of Covid restrictions, we began running in-person workshops again in April 2022. We carried out 42 visits with the Roadshow bus across the UK and delivered 221 workshops for deaf children and young people on topics such as technology, emotional health and wellbeing (EHWB), managing transition between settings, online safety, deaf identity and preparing for the future. During those visits we supported 719 deaf children and young people, 3,266 hearing peers, 107 families and 491 professionals.
In addition, we carried out 28 outreach visits across the UK including attending high profile events such as the City Lit Deaf Day in London, engaging with 555 deaf children and young people, 61 families and 294 professionals.
We delivered 62 online workshops for deaf young people and their hearing friends on a range of topics including online safety, EHWB, careers (Deaf Works Everywhere) and deaf awareness. In total we engaged with 112 deaf children and young people, 3,133 hearing children and 845 professionals through our digital workshops.
We also delivered deaf awareness training for organisations such as fundraising partner Cadbury, the Metropolitan Police and the NHS.
6
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Supporting families to access and influence services**
We continued to provide information, support and advice to families on education and audiology issues, where possible supporting parents through our workshops and events.
We launched our Deaf Education Map in 2022, using data collected across the UK. Parents are now able to compare the education support available locally for their deaf child with that in other areas. They can also take action by calling for improvements to services. In 2022/23 the map was viewed 5,696 times and 408 actions were taken.
## **Did we succeed in this objective?**
Yes.
We have worked for several years to create an apprenticeship route to becoming a Teacher of the Deaf and were pleased that this idea received ministerial endorsement.
Our response to the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) NHS Lothian report has ensured that all four governments are reviewing the quality of children’s hearing services and looking at appropriate responses to improve NHS support for deaf babies and toddlers. More information can be found in the Scotland section on page 10. We have also been appointed to a new national steering group, sponsored by the NHS England medical director.
We have been integral in continuing to support Children’s Hearing Services Working Groups (CHSWGs) to develop effective action plans.
We've also had success in local campaigns, including challenging the reduction of specialist staff at a deaf unit within a primary school in Islington.
We have given parents and families the information and tools to compare and challenge services through our Deaf Education Map.
## **2. Area of focus B: Overcoming barriers in the early years**
**We will help families to ensure their deaf child has the best possible start in life, particularly focusing on information, advice and peer-to-peer support.**
**Measure:** Evidence of positive outcomes for families with children in the early years.
7
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
We continued to deliver most of our family events online, with 60 online events reaching 1,052 families during 2022/23. Ninety-six percent of those who provided feedback said they felt better supported after attending our events. We delivered 15 in-person events including seven Supporting Parents New to Hearing Loss events. These reached 87 people and we received some fantastic feedback from parents.
During 2022/23, our Family Sign Language (FSL) offer has developed significantly. We developed a UK-wide group course, which helped to maximise our reach and gave families the opportunity to learn regional signs based on the country they live in. We delivered 29 online FSL courses (26 one-to-one courses and three online group courses) and three in-person weekends, reaching 459 people in total. This is an 84% increase on the previous year's reach of 250 people.
Our practice sessions were attended by 255 people and provided an opportunity for families to recap signs they had learned at one of our FSL courses, as well as learning some new ones.
We also delivered our online Bright Start Programme, specifically designed to support early years families. These included Baby and Toddler and Happy Hands (Baby Sign) sessions, reaching 444 attendees. Feedback was excellent with 100% of parents reporting positive outcomes from attending the sessions, including increased knowledge, understanding or confidence, or feeling supported. We delivered seven in-person Baby Beats sessions during the summer that were attended by 131 people and again received excellent feedback.
The Bright Start team also engaged with early years professionals online through the Together We Can programme and early years networking sessions aimed at further developing their skills. These sessions were attended by 527 people and 98% reported positive outcomes.
We engaged with specialists such as Teachers of the Deaf (ToDs) and early years practitioners, including delivering training to ToDs at Birmingham University from the start of 2023.
Our _Success from the Start_ developmental resource is aimed at practitioners and is also available to families to use with young deaf children. It continues to be popular and has been downloaded over 530 times.
## **Did we succeed in this objective?**
Yes. By growing and refining our digital support offer, we were able to offer digital support to families across the UK with positive results. Demand for our Family Sign Language courses continues to be high and focusing on our online group has meant we are able to meet this demand more effectively.
Finally, our work to develop and refresh the skills of professionals working with deaf children in the early years proved to be popular, with our _Success from the Start_ resource appearing consistently in the top 10 resources downloaded from our website.
8
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **3. Area of focus C: Overcoming barriers to independence**
**We will support the development of deaf children’s independence and preparation for adulthood, with a focus on post-16 transitions and entry into employment.**
**Measure:** Evidence of positive outcomes for deaf young people in activities which link to independence.
We added new content on our Deaf Works Everywhere (DWE) YouTube and Instagram channels, releasing new videos showcasing deaf people in a variety of jobs. These deaf role models have helped to inspire deaf children to believe they can do anything other children can. Engagement far exceeded our targets with 1,233 Instagram followers and 679 YouTube subscribers.
Over 250 professionals across the UK used our DWE careers advisor e-learning modules in 2022/23. The Welsh e-learning module is now part of the Careers Wales induction training for new careers advisors. In Northern Ireland, the Department of Communities promoted our e- learning to work coaches. Our toolkit for careers advisors, teachers and Teachers of the Deaf (ToDs) was downloaded over 320 times, with over 40 professionals accessing our DWE Toolkit e-learning. We also delivered a webinar for the Careers Development Institute on tailoring careers activities for deaf young people.
We delivered our Deaf Works Everywhere and Work Ready workshops 11 times and ran four one-day events and six online events for young people on topics such as deaf identity, technology, and benefits and support. In addition, we delivered 10 deaf awareness training sessions for employers and 14 Accessibility in the Workplace workshops.
Working in partnership with other Youth Employment Group member organisations, we engaged with civil servants leading the Department for Education (DfE)’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Review in England on the support deaf and disabled young people need to successfully transition to employment. We were an active member of a DfE advisory group on new transition standards and ran a deaf young people’s focus group with DfE. We continue to advise DfE more widely on post-16 issues and the SEND Improvement Plan. Our influencing work ensured that references to disability were included in the DfE’s new version of the post-16 guidance.
We advised the Student Loans Company on quality metrics for the two winning bidders of contracts to deliver Disabled Students’ Allowance assessments and assistive technology in England and Wales. We have subsequently been invited to participate in a quality assurance committee as the new contracts are put in place. We worked together with the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children (BATOD) to collect case studies of higher education students impacted by shortages of specialist support workers and highlighted policy issues with DfE.
9
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Did we succeed in this objective?**
Yes. We continued to create opportunities for deaf young people to increase their independence, connect with each other and access careers-related information and support. We delivered deaf awareness training to several organisations and also managed to progress some of our local and national policy and campaigning work.
## **Scotland**
## **Overcoming barriers in local and national services**
During 2022/23 a major focus of our work was to influence the National Review of Audiology in Scotland, which took place following the exposure of serious failings in audiology services at NHS Lothian. Our senior audiology advisor was a member of the review steering group which secured an audit of the quality of audiology testing and pushed for stronger leadership, training and quality assurance in paediatric audiology. Our head of policy for Scotland was part of the review reference group, ensuring that the voices of deaf children and families were heard. We led consultation events on behalf of the review, which found concerns about the lack of alignment between health and education services and about the culture and attitude of audiologists. The difference that effective support makes to deaf children was also clear.
We continued to meet with Humza Yousaf MSP, who was then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. We also met with Scottish Government officials, highlighting that many of the families affected by the failings at NHS Lothian were still not getting the long-term support they needed. In March 2023, we helped organise a round table event at Holyrood for affected families and local MSPs, which led to a cross-party group of politicians raising concerns with the minister.
We undertook research in 2022 which indicated that deaf children in Scotland are still more than twice as likely to leave school with no qualifications and half as likely to go to university as their hearing peers. We also found that too many deaf children in Scotland still face barriers when accessing the support they need to match the educational achievements of their hearing peers.
Our major public-facing campaign focused on the number of Teachers of the Deaf in Scotland. We supported nearly 300 members to write to the local authority finance convenor on this subject.
We continued to challenge the failure to deliver academic qualifications in British Sign Language (BSL) at a National 5/Higher level and the failure to ensure that deaf children in the early years can access BSL, including supporting a petition to the Scottish Parliament. We also lobbied for the new Scottish Government BSL Action Plan to include provision for early learning of BSL.
10
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
We have been working closely with Social Security Scotland to ensure that the roll-out of two new Scottish welfare benefits, the Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment, meet deaf children and young people’s needs. After our advice and guidance officers raised concerns about how some of the assessment guidance was being implemented, we developed revised guidance. After meeting with Social Security Scotland officials, this guidance was adopted in full, ensuring that the specific issues faced by deaf children are now fully recognised. We also delivered training to Social Security Scotland staff on assessing benefit claims.
Our regionally based advice and guidance officers continued to support large numbers of deaf children and families across Scotland. They dealt with 246 active cases, a 25% increase on the previous year. This included 49 active cases for Child Disability Payment and in-depth support for families affected by the failings at the NHS Lothian paediatric audiology service.
As well as direct support to families, the Advice and Guidance team also delivered deaf awareness sessions to professionals, including health visitors. We also organised a wellattended training event in November 2022 in Glasgow on deaf children’s rights and additional support needs (ASN) law in Scotland. The event was attended by colleagues from across the National Deaf Children’s Society and other Scottish charities, including Sense Scotland and West Scotland Deaf Children’s Society (WSDCS).
In Scotland, deaf young people and their families regularly access our Freephone Helpline, Live Chat and SignVideo services, which offer free independent information, advice and guidance on a range of topics relating to childhood deafness. We also offer information, advice and guidance for free to professionals working with deaf children and young people. Our Helpline responded to 66 enquiries from Scotland.
## **Overcoming barriers in the early years**
Over the course of the year, 56 families in Scotland engaged in our Family Sign Language (FSL) offer. Twelve families attended an in-person event in Glasgow, 37 attended online group courses and seven families took part in a priority one-to-one online course. All sessions were delivered by FSL tutors living in Scotland and focused on Scottish signs, ensuring our families have access to and learn local signs. We received lots of positive feedback from families about how we supported and helped to improve communication at home, with over 90% keen to continue on their sign language learning journey.
We delivered our online Bright Start and Family Programme sessions for families and professionals in Scotland, reaching 67 participants.
We organised a fringe meeting at the SNP conference in October 2022 where our deaf young ChangeMakers talked about their experiences. The ChangeMakers also got to meet with Humza Yousaf MSP, now the First Minister, who declared it to be his favourite meeting of the conference.
11
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
In March 2023, we worked with sympathetic Scottish Labour MSPs and councillors to secure unanimous support at Labour’s Scottish Conference for a motion on improving early years support for deaf children, followed by a fringe meeting with Lothian parents.
## **Overcoming barriers to independence**
Working with Careers Advice Scotland, we developed an e-learning module for those providing careers advice to deaf young people in Scotland. We were also involved in the consultation on the Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill, with one of our young ChangeMakers giving oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee on the bill.
## **Scottish ChangeMakers**
Our young ChangeMakers have played a key role in all of our activities in Scotland during 2022/23, including helping to develop our campaign plans, sharing our social media posts, speaking at party conferences and giving evidence in Parliament.
We ran online events for our ChangeMaker group, which were attended by between six and 14 young people. They identified that they were looking for experience of campaigns in action, opportunities to volunteer and be involved in the policy process, as well as an overarching desire to be part of a peer support network that allowed them to build their deaf identity and explore shared experiences.
Since 2019, deaf young people have been working with the Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian to improve accessibility for deaf visitors. We also held our main face-to-face meeting for the ChangeMakers there in June 2022. At that session, the group provided their recommendations for next steps and planned their participation in conferences and policy work for the year ahead.
## **International**
**We will continue to work with partners in East Africa and South Asia, supporting deaf children internationally in our three strategic areas of focus. We will continue to increase our profile, build our evidence base and develop our international role as an expert trainer.**
Most Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted during this period and travel to and within South Asia and East Africa began again in April 2022. All the partners we supported during the pandemic had managed to maintain good contact with local communities and had been able to continue their work to support deaf children in education.
Deaf children in the areas where we work were particularly affected by the fact that most learning had moved online but rarely catered for their needs, as there was no sign language interpretation or subtitles. Partner organisations played a crucial role in offering additional
12
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
support through Covid-safe one-to-one and group interventions. Projects with partners reached 922 deaf children and young people from more than 510 households.
Having built up good relationships with our partners prior to the pandemic, we were able to maintain excellent communication and offer support at a distance to 11 partners. In 2022 we were able to visit projects and re-establish in-person training and support with existing partners.
The online training which we launched during the pandemic was extremely well received and continued to attract participants from all continents. There were a total of 65 attendees from 28 countries. We now deliver online courses four times a year; it has become a core part of our work and new modules are being added. All courses are delivered by deaf and hearing trainers from the regions in which we work and there is ongoing training of trainers so we develop an experienced pool. In-person training also resumed during 2022, including safeguarding training with all our partners.
The webinars that we set up during the pandemic continued to command large audiences, although we delivered fewer this year. We are now looking at opportunities to support regional webinars, with our partners taking the lead.
A new organisational strategy was being developed during this timeframe which will set a framework for new work in the coming year.
## **Did we succeed in this objective?**
Yes. We continued to work with partners in East Africa and South Asia to further develop our training and profile, reaching global audiences and making new contacts.
## **Underpinning activities**
**We will continue to develop the support we give to our members, providing them with information, advice and guidance, and empowering and supporting them to advocate, influence and campaign on behalf of their own child and on behalf of deaf children more generally. We will continue to build on our accelerated digital transformation from the previous year.**
## **Membership**
Cumulative membership (excluding supporter members) sits at over 90,000 – with approximately half of these being UK parents and carers. We were joined by over 3,000 new members this year; 1,322 (43%) of these were parents or carers and 850 (28%) were individual professionals. Other membership groups include educational organisations, Buzz club, deaf young people, relatives, international (various) and associate members.
13
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
Looking at parent and carer membership acquisitions specifically – just over half this year were parents of children aged 0 to 4. The largest segment by type of deafness was parents of children with moderate, severe or profound bilateral deafness.
Whilst parent membership acquisitions are improving each year, we have still not returned to pre-Covid levels. We are reaching an estimated average of 43% of permanently deaf children in the UK, through parent membership specifically.
Looking at individual professional membership acquisitions – as in previous years, over half of all new acquisitions were childcare and education professionals, including Teachers of the Deaf. Acquisitions remain significantly down compared to pre-Covid, however. This is thought to be due to the successful launch of our publicly available e-learning modules. As in previous years, we have very few healthcare professionals joining us as individual members. However, audiology departments engage with us significantly outside of membership, through local engagement work and our printed information materials.
## **Advice and guidance**
We’ve continued to provide information, advice and guidance to our members. There were 8,166 initial contacts to our Helpline. This is a significant increase on the figures reported in previous years as we’re now able to report on the full range of contact methods including emails, live chats and social media contacts.
Advice and guidance officers worked on over 1,200 cases over the year, over 200 more than the previous year. Satisfaction levels remain very high, with 100% of families reporting they were either satisfied or very satisfied with our support across all four quarters.
We supported 119 independent education tribunals. Success rates continued to be very high at 94% despite external challenges.
We supported families to apply for and secure over £773,000 of ‘in-year’ benefits and over £1,178,000 of ‘full award’ benefits, providing vital financial support to families during a difficult and challenging year.
Advice and guidance officers also attended over 230 sessions in the community, reaching over 2,200 individuals, families and professionals.
## **Media, digital and communications**
We continued to keep our members engaged through regularly targeted emails, tailored website content, family blogs, social media updates and _Families_ magazine. As we have found new and better ways to reach out to a wider audience, _Families_ is due to be discontinued in 2023. We will continue to use learnings and experiences from the magazine to inform how we share stories of deaf children and their families in the future.
We also saw a high interest in articles and content related to money and benefits. Although these are always popular this may also reflect the cost of living crisis.
14
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
We continued to progress our digital transformation. We undertook a significant amount of work optimising information content across our website and saw a marked improvement in our accessibility, quality assurance, digital certainty and search engine optimisation (SEO) scores.
We also used previously unseen footage from our 2021 mental health photoshoot to produce new videos and content for Children's Mental Health Week, with a goal to remind our audiences of the importance of early mental health support for deaf children and young people.
Our media work reached 2.87 billion people – more than three times as many as in the previous year – and generated around 2,000 news articles. Key coverage included attainment data, which revealed deaf children achieved an entire grade less at GCSE than hearing children for the seventh year running (including coverage in the Guardian and the Independent). There was also the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE) report which showed Teacher of the Deaf numbers across the UK had fallen by 19% since 2011 (including coverage on LBC and STV); and our research which revealed almost nine in 10 teachers across England did not feel they could educate deaf children effectively (including coverage in TES and ITV News). We also contributed to high profile stories, including proposed cuts to Laycock Primary School’s provision for its deaf pupils (including coverage in the Guardian and LBC) and the BSL Bill becoming law (including coverage on Sky News).
We sold over 400 copies of our children's books to families, schools and libraries. We also supplied 366 free books to children in the early years whose families attended our Family Sign Language or Bright Start courses.
We continued to develop content for young people on the Buzz website, including our popular Buzz Book Club. We supported deaf young people to share their views on the latest books with deaf characters and/or by deaf authors.
## **Working with others**
At the end of the year, we had 85 affiliated deaf children’s societies across the UK. We also supported around 20 informal groups and new networks – a way to help families connect early on, enjoy the benefits of peer and group support, and begin their journey. We’ve built close relationships with groups and provided tailored support to each group, as they are all very different and have specific needs at different times.
We continued to learn so much from the expertise of local groups and from the needs of the families they support. We’ve been thrilled to see so many groups returning to running activities and events. They are reaching new families, providing information and access to a range of vital support and services, and in the process, they are championing the work of the charity.
We have continued to work with and consult deaf young people. For the first time, our Young People’s Advisory Board (YAB) hosted four fringe events, attracting over 150 people, at Political
15
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
Party Conferences (Labour, Conservative, Scottish National Party and The Scottish Labour Party). During these events we shared our _Hands Up_ report, which explores the experiences of over 100 deaf young people within education. We also talked about how the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in education needs to change. YAB members really impressed the audience and the MPs with how eloquently and bravely they spoke about their experiences. In Scotland, two Scottish Motions were submitted during Deaf Awareness Week, highlighting the YAB petition and deaf awareness in schools.
We increased our Welsh Youth Parliament membership to two young people from our ChangeMaker programme and they are currently leading the Education and School Curriculum Committee, ensuring that there is more awareness of deafness and disability as part of the curriculum in schools in Wales. These young people have worked with the Senedd research team to highlight priority improvements in additional learning needs support, pupil wellbeing and class sizes.
Young people were also involved in consultations at a national level, for example, the Department for Education’s SEND Review, co-production of transitions standards and the Scotland Education Consultation. We also consulted over 250 deaf children and young people to understand more about their emotional health and wellbeing and benchmark against the Good Childhood Index.
We have continued to position ourselves as experts through our professional training work and the professionals’ conference, working with 40 deaf young people to develop our Involve, Engage, Inspire conference, which focused on participation. The event was attended by 120 professionals, who left with a broader knowledge and understanding of the barriers young people experience and how to co-create solutions within education. Ninety-four percent of respondents rated the event as either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, 100% reported positive learning outcomes and 94% said they would put into practice something they learned on the day.
We continued to deliver online training and reached a total of 3,196 professionals across the UK, almost double the number reached in the previous year. Of these, 2,651 accessed our e- learning modules. In terms of impact, from our live training and conference, 94% of delegates said they learned something useful for their job and 96% said that they would take action as a result. For our e-learning modules, 85% rated them as ‘good’ or ‘excellent,’ 81% said they would take action as a result of the module, and 89% said they learned information valuable for their job.
## **Did we succeed in this objective?**
Yes. We have successfully provided tailored information, support and advice to thousands of families of deaf children. We have continued to grow our digital offer, improving our online content and reaching segments of our membership that have engaged less with in-person delivery. We also ran in-person events when restrictions allowed, increasing parents’ ability to connect and share their experiences. We have grown our reach of professionals through our online training and conferences.
16
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Smarter working**
**We will continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our work and will prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our staff. We will review our strategy, setting new targets for 2023 to 2028, and undertake a transformation programme to refresh our culture and ways of working so that we can deliver the new strategy and drive greater impact.**
Internal communication remained a top priority as we developed our new strategy and areas of focus, which we launched in April 2023. We also prepared for the adoption of our new organisational design in May 2023.
Our _In the Loop_ newsletter continues to be the main internal channel for all organisational news, with open rates increasing over the year from 40% to 60%. Attendance at Live@11s – the forum where we can all be together in one ‘Zoom room’ now that two-thirds of colleagues are home-based – has also been consistent.
Workplace continues to be our ‘community’ for peer-to-peer chat and sharing of news. There has been an average of 271 users over the year, 161 monthly users and 82 engaged users (active for at least 10 days of a 28-day monthly period). A number of interest groups with regular participation have also been set up – such as the Deaf Discussion Hub, wellbeing, a gardening group, book club and photography group.
We introduced a range of staff wellbeing measures, recognising the duty of care we have for the welfare of our staff. We trained 18 mental health first aiders and updated the wellbeing toolkit on our intranet with useful information on how to manage one’s wellbeing and signposting to support organisations. Mind (mental wellbeing charity) provided an online session to all staff on how to manage wellbeing, which included a question and answer session, a discussion with practical tips and signposting to useful online content. We regularly posted updates on all of our wellbeing initiatives on Workplace and on the intranet wellbeing page.
Much work has been done in recent months to prepare staff for the new ways of working, with comprehensive training programmes covering areas such as Agile working and coaching. In order to fully take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital, however, we now plan to increase digital skill levels across all teams. It is likely that our digital skills programme will encompass universal training to teach skills needed by everyone and advanced training for targeted groups of staff. Already we have implemented a range of digital tools to support our new ways of working including the collaborative tool Miro and the project development tool Jira.
Our shortened planning cycle has allowed us to be more reactive, including keeping planning assumptions and interim risk registers under review. We improved our approach to understanding and reporting our context, trends, performance and impact. We also continued to closely monitor the needs of our members from insights and trends from our work, including
17
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
undertaking focused work on membership, looking at user journeys and analysing responses to our annual Deaf Children Today survey.
We continued to make good progress with our safeguarding work and have implemented all recommendations from our safeguarding culture audit and safer recruitment audit. We were also able to transition to a more proactive safeguarding plan, after needing to spend the previous year reacting to the pandemic. We had a good year, continuing to enhance our processes and safeguarding management and the workforce underpinning these.
## **Did we succeed in this objective?**
Yes. We have continued to support our staff, prioritising internal communication and feedback opportunities. We remain an effective and efficient organisation, while driving for continuous improvement in order to maximise our impact on deaf children and their families across the UK.
## **Targets for 2023/24**
Our mission is to overcome the social and educational barriers that hold deaf children back. Our ambition is that by 2030 no deaf child will be left behind.
In April 2023, we launched our new five-year strategy that will take us to 2028. Making a difference in the early years for deaf children is the overarching theme of our strategy and this threads through the areas of work prioritised for 2023/24.
The strategy focuses our work around four objectives and two enablers:
## **Objectives:**
- We deliver outstanding support in the early years.
- We provide life-changing information and advice.
- We build communities that unite families.
- We are the leading global authority on childhood deafness.
## **Enablers:**
- We transform to meet deaf children’s needs.
- We deliver value for money.
18
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
We will focus on these areas for 2023/24:
## **Objective 1: We deliver outstanding support in the early years**
What we’ll do:
- Improve our engagement with audiology services to ensure more families are referred to us for support.
- Influence early years standards and services for deaf children across the UK.
- Review and improve the early years support we provide to families and professionals.
**Measures:** More parents joining us as members in the first year after their child is identified as deaf and reporting positive outcomes.
## **Objective 2: We provide life-changing information and advice**
What we’ll do:
- Develop ways that help to reach families in the most convenient way for them, which we know is largely digital.
**Measure:** New digital information and advice projects launched and well used by our customers.
## **Objective 3: We build communities that unite families**
What we’ll do:
- Conduct research to inform our approach to building a strong community for families.
**Measure:** Evidence that we’re beginning to build strong and effective networks and understand where the opportunities are for parents and children to connect on a local level.
## **Objective 4: We are the leading global authority on childhood deafness**
What we’ll do:
- Comprehensively review our approach to working internationally and develop a plan which fits with our overarching strategic objectives and maximises our influence and impact.
**Measure:** Evidence that we fully understand the impact and influence we’ve had and that we have a clear plan for the future of our international work.
19
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Enabler 1: We transform to meet deaf children’s needs**
What we’ll do:
- Continue to improve technology to support our systems and services.
- Adopt an organisational structure that will support agile ways of working, with a focus on coaching to develop the skills of our people.
**Measure:** Evidence that key business systems support our development and delivery and that an effective pay, performance and reward framework is in place.
## **Enabler 2: We deliver value for money**
What we’ll do:
- Support our agile way of working, by removing as much administrative burden as possible to allow our people to focus on delivering the strategy for deaf children and their families.
- Continue to raise funds in the most sustainable way.
**Measure:** Evidence that we spend money wisely, optimising our income to improve the lives of deaf children and their families.
## **Fundraising**
Fundraising is essential to allow us to carry out our vital work to support deaf children, young people and their families.
Trustees are extremely grateful to the many individuals, companies, trusts and institutions who supported our work over the year. Our fundraising is supervised in detail by the trustee Finance, Audit and Risk sub-committee, with regular reporting to our full trustee board. Trustees receive copies of all fundraising mailings.
We are active members of the Fundraising Regulator and of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, and our staff engage widely across the sector to support measures to increase public trust and support.
In 2022/23 we continued to focus on making up for the reduction in fundraising activity during the Covid-19 pandemic. As Government restrictions were lifted and guidance was relaxed, we maintained a detailed risk register, made available to the public via our website, setting out our commitment to operating safely and explaining the processes in place to protect members of the public, supporters and our fundraising workforce.
20
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
As well as employing our own professional fundraising staff, we use specialist agency support to engage new supporters for our work. The standards we expect from agencies working on our behalf are written into formal contractual obligations and include a requirement to abide by the Code of Fundraising Practice. We have reviewed and strengthened the controls we have in place, as part of our commitment to continuous learning. We encourage all agencies to be members of both the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Regulator and work closely with them to ensure they treat everyone they deal with courteously and professionally.
We are particularly conscious of the need to take care when interacting with individuals who are, or may be, vulnerable and we require all staff and agencies we work with to follow our Ethical Fundraising, and Fundraising and Vulnerable People policies. We also ensure that fundraising agencies’ own policies and procedures around vulnerability are consistent with the requirements of our own. Agency staff working on our behalf receive initial and regular ongoing training which ensures they are given detailed information about the work of the charity, understand the regulations governing professional fundraising, and are equipped with the skills necessary to fundraise responsibly and respectfully.
As part of their scrutiny of our fundraising, trustees review the completed Charity Commission checklist, _Charity Fundraising: A guide to trustee duties (CC20)_ annually. We follow rigorous processes to ensure all complaints and allegations of fraud are recorded and investigated within strict timeframes by a designated staff member, and that any learning is documented and acted upon.
Over the course of the year, we recorded 31 potential instances of fraud, of which 21 progressed to a full investigation. Of these, we upheld 12 and reported these to the police via Action Fraud.
Our website outlines our Complaints policy and clearly explains how an individual can complain. We received 576 complaints about our fundraising activity, 570 of which related to our face-toface supporter recruitment campaigns. To put this in context, our recruiters made contact with an estimated 13 million individuals over the course of the year, giving a complaint rate of one complaint per 23,000 contacts made. Whilst our complaint rate as a percentage of new supporters increased compared with the previous year, this was the second-best rate of the last five years. All complaints were handled in line with our Complaints policy.
The Fundraising Regulator carried out a review of our practices, having received 13 complaints about our fundraising over a 12-month period. The investigation was completed and details were published in June 2023. They concluded that while the scale of our operations meant errors would sometimes occur, individual complaints were appropriately handled and acted upon. We have taken forward their recommendation to streamline our Complaints policy.
21
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
We received six requests to amend communication preferences via the Fundraising Preference Service, all of which were actioned promptly on our database. Detailed complaint and fraud reports covering the above are regularly reviewed by our trustees. As part of our commitment to maintaining high standards, we set targets for the number of face-to-face interactions and outbound telephone calls which are monitored and receive regular reports. A designated compliance officer supports this work and progress is monitored by trustees.
## **Principal risks and uncertainties**
Trustees have agreed and implemented a Risk Management policy. Key risks are reviewed quarterly by the executive directors, by the relevant board committee at each committee meeting, and more frequently if required. Mitigating actions are assigned to individuals. These actions reduce the likelihood and/or impact of any detrimental events. The trustees consider the following to be the key risks facing the organisation.
- **Income drops significantly.** Recent recruitment levels have been good and our supporters have continued to show resilience and maintain their financial support. However, we are concerned about the potential impact of high inflation and the ongoing cost of living crisis and we continue to monitor trends closely. We regularly review trends in support income, updating our financial forecasts, and making sure we are ready to manage the impact of any drop in income. This is discussed regularly with trustees, with mechanisms in place for additional reporting if there is cause for concern. Trustees also oversee compliance with fundraising regulations and make sure that fundraising is carried out to high ethical standards. Investment continues in income diversification projects to mitigate the risk of reliance on a narrow range of fundraising channels where possible.
- **We are no longer relevant to our members.** Our target audiences (deaf young people, their parents, professionals and decision-makers) have different needs and many competing demands for their time and attention. If we are to achieve our ambitions, we must stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace, with a clear offer that is relevant to them at this time. We have invested in audience insights and marketing, as well as regularly engaging with, and responding to, our audiences through consultation and co-production on new offers. As we enter 2023/24, we will use data and insight to underpin the delivery of our new strategy and we expect this risk to lower.
- **A safeguarding failure.** We recognise the importance of safeguarding children and young people in all areas of our work and in activities organised by affiliated local groups and our international partners. The charity has a Safeguarding policy which applies to everyone who works with or for the charity. The policy is implemented through robust procedures and supported by training programmes for staff and volunteers. In 2021/22 we also undertook a safeguarding culture audit and an audit of our safer recruitment processes. All actions and recommendations from this had been implemented by the end of 2022/23.
22
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
We provide online training and require affiliated local groups to meet safeguarding standards. Similarly, we set clear standards and procedures and provide training for our international partners. There is an experienced trustee lead on safeguarding and safeguarding work across the organisation is regularly reported to the board. All policies and procedures are regularly reviewed internally and with an external advisor. Although we believe the operational procedures have strong safeguards embedded in them, it remains a key risk on our risk register.
- **A breach of our IT security.** With staff working remotely and hybrid or home working becoming the default, reliance on our IT systems is critical for effective working. Cyberattacks, including phishing and malware, have significantly increased in frequency and sophistication, and we are continually investing in security to keep our systems and data available and secure. This year we have put protective measures in place including implementing additional security controls, and we have increased the level of cyber security training. All staff complete mandatory security and data protection training, and this is then reinforced with monthly awareness videos and simulated phishing attacks. As a result of this programme, we have seen an improvement of around 20% in our organisational risk score. To support effective oversight by the board we also introduced reporting on cyber risks and the status of our cyber security programme. Whilst cyber security remains a key item on our risk register, the foundational work done over the course of this year allowed us to achieve the government’s Cyber Essentials accreditation in early 2023/24.
## **Financial review**
We are pleased to report that our income, charitable expenditure and fundraising investment grew in the year ended 31 March 2023 as planned. The deficit of £3 million, funded from our reserves, was lower than budgeted.
Overall our income increased by £5.1 million to £30.9 million in 2022/23. Supporter income made up 88% of the total and legacy income 5%. Our total expenditure of £33.5 million increased by £5.7 million, with higher expenditure in all areas of our charitable activity, £3.4 million in total, and £2.3 million on fundraising investment, which will secure vital income in future years to fund our charitable work. You can read about how our charitable expenditure helps us to achieve the targets we set ourselves earlier in the Directors’ Report and in our Impact Report.
As planned we have continued to invest from our reserves to build up our supporter numbers following the suspension of recruitment activities for most of 2020/21 due to Covid. Our committed and enthusiastic Fundraising team met recruitment targets and the positive impact of this investment last year and in 2022/23 can be seen in the £4.9m year-on-year increase in supporter income, which rose to £27.4m. These regular monthly contributions from our generous supporters, in most cases enhanced by Gift Aid, continue to fund the majority of our
23
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
work. We closely monitor how our individual giving fundraising performs against the annual targets set and model a range of financial scenarios based on favourable and adverse trends, which are regularly reviewed by trustees.
We will continue to assess and, where viable, pilot suitable opportunities to diversify individual giving income streams as they arise.
Legacy income continues to be a valued source of income but one which can be volatile yearon-year. In 2022/23 there was a marginal increase to £1.6 million.
## **Financial position at year-end**
The planned deficit, increasing both our fundraising investment to secure future income streams and our charitable expenditure, reduced our net assets by £3 million to £11.7 million. We will continue to invest significantly in supporter recruitment to grow the income we need to deliver our strategic priorities.
## **Performance of subsidiaries**
NDCS Limited had a successful year and will pass a profit of £27,000 to the charity. Further details are shown in Note 3 of the financial statements.
## **Reserves**
We have a risk-based reserves policy which is underpinned by the organisational risk register and is linked with the charity’s strategy and corporate plan. This has determined that the target range of general reserves (excluding those reserves represented by restricted funds and fixed assets reserves) required by the charity is between £7.6 million and £10.2 million.
The total reserves of the charity as at 31 March 2023 were £11.7 million (2022: £14.7 million). Unrestricted reserves formed £11.2 million (2022: £14.1 million) and restricted reserves £0.5 million (2022: £0.5 million).
Of the unrestricted reserves balance of £11.2 million, £0.1 million was related to intangible and tangible fixed assets.
General reserves (excluding reserves represented by restricted funds and fixed assets) stood at £11.2 million. This is above the target reserves range. However, a £1.5 million deficit budget is planned for 2023/24 with significant investment in fundraising to secure future income and our digital transformation.
The trustees continue to review a range of financial scenarios at each meeting to help them consider the impact on our reserves and longer-term financial sustainability, of the uncertainties and risks which the charity faces in a volatile and fast-changing world. Additionally, the trustees conduct an annual review of the appropriate level of general reserves, and changes to the charity’s risk profile, strategy and plan are considered as part of
24
**The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
**for the year ended 31 March 2023**
that review. The output of the annual review informs subsequent planning and budgeting cycles.
## **Investments**
Trustees have considered the requirements of the SORP and the Charity Commission’s guidance (CC14) and remain of the opinion that there are no listed investments adverse to the purpose of the charity. The Investment policy is reviewed annually and there are no specific investment restrictions. Trustees have adopted a cautious and diversified investment strategy to balance potential return with appropriate risk and mitigate the consequences of volatility in the markets.
Quilter Cheviot manage a medium risk, multi-asset portfolio for the charity with a total return target at CPI inflation, plus 3.5% pa net of fees. This is benchmarked against CPI plus 3.5% annualised, ARC Steady Growth Charity Index and a composite of market indices:
- fixed interest and government bonds: iBoxx £ UK Gilts
- UK corporate bonds: iBoxx Sterling Corporates
- UK equities: MSCI UK IMI
- overseas equities: MSCI AC World ex UK
- alternative investments: 50% iBoxx £ Gilt 1 to 5 year and 50% MSCI AC World Index (ACWI)
- cash: Bank of England Base Rate.
There was a fall of 4.4% over the year compared to a Benchmark fall 2%. The market value of investments stood at £4.8 million at 31 March 2023, a decrease of £0.2 million in the year after reinvestment of income. In a year when investments were affected by considerable market volatility, there was an overall loss of £0.3 million.
## **Going Concern**
The trustees have reviewed our activities, current financial position and risks on our voluntary income and planned supporter recruitment. Although we plan to run a deficit in 2023/24 this will be funded by drawing down our reserves. Our trustees will continue to regularly review financial scenarios that model factors such as supporter recruitment levels and rates of lapsing as well as the impact of wider economic risks such as falling investment values. These currently indicate that it remains appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
The trustees have considered several factors when forming their conclusion as to whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate when preparing these financial statements, including a review of updated forecasts to 31 March 2026, a consideration of key risks that could impact the charity and the latest available management information. Our analysis, and our experience in recent years, is that a reduced level of supporter recruitment results in an improved short term financial position due to the associated reduction in costs, however over time there is a significant impact on income as we have fewer supporters than planned. At present we do not regard this as an immediate risk.
25
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
Our plans for delivery of charitable activities reflect our increased use of digital delivery methods to support, and campaign for, deaf children and their families and this is reflected in the scenarios considered. Trustees conclude it is appropriate for the financial statements to continue to be prepared on a going concern basis.
## **Grant policy**
As part of delivering our international charitable activities we award grants to partner organisations in line with our strategic objectives. We undertake a formal appraisal of the project and partner organisation before making a grant, which is subject to a specific grant agreement. The due diligence process includes a review of the governance, senior management and financial capacity, and an assessment of the organisation’s capacity to deliver the project objectives. Progress against targets is monitored before making further grant payments and if we are not satisfied that the grant is being managed in accordance with the partnership agreement the grant will be delayed or terminated. In 2022/23, we awarded £395,000 in grants to partner organisations in relation to our international work and £576,000 in total.
## **Corporate structure, governance and accountability**
We have three subsidiary undertakings and a 25% share in a joint venture consolidated in the group. The three subsidiary undertakings are NDCS Limited and Friends for Young Deaf People, both registered in England and Wales, and Fundación Niños Sordos del Mundo, a charity registered in Spain. NDCS Limited is the only subsidiary undertaking that is actively trading, and it donates its trading profit to the National Deaf Children’s Society. Further details are included in Note 3 to the financial statements. We have a 25% share in Childlife, a company limited by guarantee. Further details are included in Note 4 to the financial statements.
The trustee board governs the charity and has a maximum of 12 trustees. The majority of trustees must be elected by the membership. All elected trustees must be carers or parents of deaf children and members of the charity. These trustees can be appointed by the trustee board but must stand for election by the voting membership at the next Annual General Meeting (AGM). Additional trustees may be co-opted by the trustee board to enhance the skills of the board. These co-opted trustees do not have to be full members of the National Deaf Children’s Society. The honorary chair must be the parent of a deaf child. In addition to the honorary chair, there are three honorary officer roles – honorary vice chair, honorary treasurer and honorary deputy treasurer.
The articles require that each year, one-third of the elected trustees – those who have been in office the longest since last elected – should offer themselves for re-election. Elected and coopted trustees may serve for a maximum of nine consecutive years. After maximum service, all trustees must have a break of three years before being eligible to stand again for election or cooption.
26
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
Potential trustees are invited to submit a written application, which is considered by a nominations panel comprising the chair, vice chair, governance committee chair and an independent governance expert. A Board Diversity Action Plan is in progress to encourage applications from a wider section of the community. Suitable applicants are interviewed before being proposed as a trustee. All new trustees undertake an induction programme which involves an introduction to their responsibilities and to the operation of the charity. They are offered the opportunity to have an existing trustee as a mentor in their first year.
The trustees provide leadership and direction for the charity, setting the vision, mission and strategy, which are delivered by the chief executive and their team. The trustees are legally responsible for making sure that resources are used prudently and only in support of our objectives, for stewardship of our assets and for ensuring that the charity complies with all relevant legislation and regulation. The trustee board operates a Conflicts of Interest policy. A declaration of interest form is completed annually by trustees, senior management and fundraising staff, and declarations are made and recorded at the start of every trustee committee meeting, where relevant to the agenda.
The trustee board meets four times a year. It is supported by four committees, each of which has specific terms of reference. The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, which meets four times a year, oversees all financial and administrative matters. The Services and Campaigns Committee, which meets three times each year, provides strategic support and direction to the development of services for beneficiaries and for advocacy. The International Committee, which meets three times each year, provides strategic support and direction to the development of our international work; and the Governance Committee, which meets three times each year, and is responsible for ensuring the charity has an effective governance framework and that the trustee board and committees have an appropriate skills mix. The committees are chaired by trustees with a minimum of three trustee members. Committee meetings are also attended by relevant staff. Each committee has its decisions ratified by the trustee board where appropriate.
The day-to-day running of the National Deaf Children’s Society and the exercise of executive responsibility are delegated to the chief executive for operational matters, including finance, employment and service delivery.
Each year, the Governance Committee reviews our governance practices in detail against the Governance Code, which operates using an ‘apply or explain’ approach. Progress and outcomes of the action plan are reported to the Governance Committee.
There are clear distinctions between the role of the trustees and of senior management. Matters such as policy and strategic plans are prepared by senior management for consideration and approval by the trustees. All trustees give up their time freely and no trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Details of trustee expenses are disclosed in Note 6 of the financial statements. There were no related party transactions.
27
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Employees**
Our dedicated employees are based across the UK and we aim to provide the support and development to enable them to reach their full potential. The Smarter Working section on page 17 above provides more information on training, support for wellbeing and internal communications.
We value diversity and want to create an inclusive and welcoming environment so that all our colleagues can thrive. Our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion working group continued to attract new members and built awareness and understanding of the issues through a popular series of webinars covering a wide range of topics and a deaf awareness at work pulse survey. We continue to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and encourage applications from disabled persons, working with them to identify and provide the adjustments to support their application and if successful, their employment with us. We recruit and promote on the basis of aptitude and ability without discrimination. We support the continued employment and retraining of employees who become disabled during employment with us, working with them to identify and deliver the appropriate support and training required.
Our on line induction events enabled the chief executive and other senior members of staff to explain to new starters how their teams support deaf children and their families , ensure that safeguarding is highlighted and that new starters benefit from deaf awareness training. All staff are encouraged to build on this initial deaf awareness training to improve their sign language and communication skills.
## **Remuneration**
The charity recognises the contribution of every employee and our policy on remuneration is to ensure that the reward package offered is both sustainable and competitive with other organisations so that we can recruit, retain and develop staff with the skills to deliver our strategy. In setting pay levels for our staff we take account of pay practice in other similar sized charities, the public sector and, where necessary, the private sector for specialist and technical roles. The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee reviews a recommendation from the CEO for an annual pay increase as part of the annual budget approval process. Trustees consider affordability, economic trends and external market pay movement and make a recommendation for approval by the Trustee Board.
We operate a defined contribution group personal pension scheme, to which all eligible employees are auto-enrolled. We make a contribution of 5.5% of salary with staff contributing 1.5%, with an option to contribute more.
Information on the maximum and minimum remuneration levels for each grade, and all benefits (including pension) are available to all employees.
The total remuneration of the Executive team (as defined below) was £616,706 (£512,876 in 2021/22). This included pension contributions of £18,380 (£13,986 in 2021/22). There were no benefits in kind. The Executive team were awarded the same increase as other staff with annual
28
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
increments awarded to eligible staff. The Executive team consists of: Susan Daniels (CEO), Jane Foreman (Deputy CEO and Director People, Finance and Business Solutions), Maria Chambers (Interim Director of Services and Innovation) 2022/2023 only, Mike Hobday (Executive Director of Policy and Campaigns) and Mike Wade (Director of Fundraising and Communications).
## **Members of the Trustee Board 2022/2023**
Dominic Holton (Chair) (from 5 November 2022) Jennie Rayson (Vice Chair) (from 5 November 2023) George Crockford (Treasurer) (trustee and treasurer from 5 November 2022) Luke Kelly (Deputy Treasurer) (trustee and deputy treasurer from 5 November 2022)
Suzanne Beese Katherine Binns (to 19 August 2022) Lynn Gadd (to 15 July 2023) Altaf Kassam Sheila McKenzie (to 5 November 2022) Lesley Lindberg (from 5 November 2022) Tim Polack (to 5 November 2022) Felicity Preacher (from 5 November 2022) Damian Proctor Jan Rutherford Helen Selwood (to 5 November 2022) Lorraine Wapling
As well as trustees, we are supported by our President, Sir Christopher Benson JP, DL, FRICS, FRSA.
## **Members**
There are the following categories of membership:
## **Full members**
Full members have the right to attend, speak and vote at general meetings. The following qualify for full membership:
- Parents or carers of deaf children aged 0 to 25 years, and deaf people aged 18 to 25 years, living in the United Kingdom.
## **Supporter members**
Supporter members have the right to attend and speak, but not to vote at, general meetings. They retain the benefit of all other rights under company law and all other facilities and
29
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
advantages of supporter membership. The following shall be qualified for supporter membership:
- Any individual aged 18 or over, who is not a full member, making at least a minimum subscription to the charity, and who is a participant in the charity’s supporter scheme.
## **Associate members**
Associate members have the right to attend and speak, but not to vote at, general meetings. An associate member is either an individual who is not a full member or a supporter member, or an organisation that falls into one of the following categories:
- professional members – professionals working in fields related to the education and relief of deaf children
- affiliate members – any group or organisation based in the UK which adheres to the charity’s vision and values statement
- board members – co-opted members of the trustees who have been appointed by the existing members of the trustee board (and are known as co-opted trustees)
- international individual members – any individual living outside the UK. (Adopted by a resolution of the trustees made on 12 September 2009.)
- international affiliate members – any group or organisation based outside the UK which adheres to the charity’s vision and values statement
- family members – anyone who is a family member of a deaf person
- parent/carer members – anyone who is a parent or carer of a deaf person aged over 25 years
- adult deaf members – anyone who is a deaf person aged over 25 years
- young deaf members – anyone who is a deaf person aged 16 to 18 years
- other members – any individual aged 16 or above living in the United Kingdom.
## **Volunteers**
We have approximately 480 volunteers who support teams, deaf children and young people, and their families as well as a group of pro-bono legal volunteers who support the Appeals team.
Volunteers provided approximately 1,912 hours of support in 2022/23.
Volunteers supported 76 events. Across these events there were 163 volunteer assignments and volunteers provided approximately 505 hours of support for 11 different teams.
- These volunteers supported different types of events and had different roles:
- 125 presenter assignments across 65 events (53 of these assignments requested deaf adult presenters) with volunteers providing approximately 250 hours of support.
30
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society**
## **Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
Presenters give presentations based on their experience or skills. Deaf adults and parents of deaf children share their lived experience. Some presentations may be around technology, our services, or to meet with fundraising groups. Professionals provide presentations based on their professional knowledge of audiology, communication or early learning. Events were online and face-to-face, including information events for parents and families.
- 28 youth support volunteer assignments across eight face-to-face events for children and young people. Volunteers provided approximately 216 hours of support.
- 10 activity supporter assignments across five events, providing approximately 39 hours of support. This included general support at events and cheerers.
Ten team supporter volunteers supported nine teams, providing approximately 502 hours of support. Roles included carrying out consultations with young people and parents, digitalising records, analysis of our Deaf Child Today survey, data entry and reviewing responses for the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE) report, research to identify relevant elements of key legislation for countries where Deaf Child Worldwide works, auditing our YouTube channel, and supporting Strive, an internal career development programme for deaf colleagues.
The Parent-to-Parent Support Programme in Bristol and Glasgow matches parent volunteers with parents who are new to hearing loss. The volunteers create a supportive environment where parents feel able to talk about their experiences, and answer questions using their personal experience and local knowledge. The volunteer and family connect via calls, text, video calls or visits. Ten volunteers provided 269 hours of support.
More than 15 volunteers provided upwards of 41 hours of support by reviewing information and documents, responding to posts on the Your Community online network, taking part in ‘Day in the Life of…’ videos for our Deaf Works Everywhere project, piloting a new project supporting a Turkish speaking family, and taking part in co-production sessions. Around 35 individuals from a local authority also spent an hour putting together 200 delegate packs for our family courses.
Legal pro-bono (education) volunteers support the Appeals team. These volunteers are from two law firms (Fieldfisher and Osborne Clarke), who take on some of our education appeals cases and are supervised by our staff. This support from volunteers allows us to help more families than we would otherwise be able. Volunteers have provided 560 hours of support, equating to a value of £9,300.
The trustees would like to take this opportunity to thank all our volunteers for their continued support. Without their time and skills and their continued commitment our activities and events would not be as extensive and successful as they are, nor our teams as well supported.
31
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors**
## **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Statement of trustees’ responsibilities**
The trustees (who are also directors of the National Deaf Children’s Society, for the purposes 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 trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and the group, and of the incoming or outgoing resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charitable group, for that period. In preparing these financial statements the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
- make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis, unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose, with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the charitable company, and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group, and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
In so far as the trustees are aware:
- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware
and
- the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information, and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
32
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Directors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Auditors**
Crowe UK LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
## **By order of the Board**
In approving this report, the trustees are also approving the Strategic Report included here in their capacity as company directors.
Dominic Holton Director and Trustee
Date: 3 November 2023
33
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Independent Auditors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members and Trustees of the National Deaf Children’s Society**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of the National Deaf Children’s Society (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiary (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (including the Consolidated Income and Expenditure Account), the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of the group’s income and expenditure, for the year then ended
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (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 group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concerns are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial
34
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Independent Auditors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:
- the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the Directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 24 the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate
35
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Independent Auditors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud**
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.
In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Anti-fraud, bribery and corruption legislation, Taxation legislation, Employment legislation.
Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities,
36
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Report of the Independent Auditors for the year ended 31 March 2023**
including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income, and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management and the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of nondetection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing noncompliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Jayne Rowe Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor
London
**Date: 9 November 2023**
37
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Consolidated statement of financial activities**
## **(including consolidated income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2023**
|**Income and expenditure**
**Note**
**Income and endowments from**:
Donations and legacies
Regular donations and subscriptions from
individuals
Legacy income
5(a)
Other donations and gifts
Charitable activities
5(b)
Other trading activities
5(c)
Investments
5(d)
Other income
5(e)
**Total**
**Expenditure on**:
Raising funds
7(a)
Charitable activities:
Overcoming barriers in local and national
services
Overcoming barriers in the early years
Overcoming barriers to independence
Other charitable activities
Total charitable activities
7(a)
Share of net loss in joint venture
4
**Total**
7(a)
Net (loss)/ gain on investments
10(c)
**Net (expenditure) / income and Net**
**movement in funds before transfers**
7(e)
**Net (expenditure) / income and**
**Net movement in funds after transfers**
Fund balances brought forward
**Fund balances carried forward**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
27,153
1,513
971
29,637
48
51
290
-
**30,026**
14,752
10,075
3,168
2,622
2,018
17,883
8
**32,643**
(338)
**(2,955)**
**(2,955)**
14,131
**11,176**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
208
87
130
425
470
-
-
-
**895**
-
194
227
432
48
901
**901**
-
**(6)**
**(6)**
549
**543**|**Total**
**2023**
**£000s**
27,361
1,600
1,101
30,062
518
51
290
-
**30,921**
14,752
10,269
3,395
3,054
2,066
18,784
8
**33,544**
(338)
**(2,961)**
**(2,961)**
14,680
**11,719**|**Total**
**2022**
**£000s**
22,481
1,444
1,143|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||25,068
513
54
218
3|
|||||**25,856**|
|||||12,463
8,157
2,699
2,903
1,637|
|||||15,396|
|||||23|
|||||**27,882**|
|||||268|
|||||**(1,758)**|
|||||**(1,758)**
16,438|
|||||**14,680**|
All amounts relate to continuing activities.
There were no recognised gains or losses other than those dealt with in the above Statement of Financial Activities. The notes on pages 41 to 60 form part of the financial statements.
38
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Consolidated balance sheet and balance sheet for the year ended 31 March 2023**
|**Note**
**Fixed assets**
Intangible assets
8
Tangible assets
9
Investment in joint venture
-
share of net assets
4
Other investments
10
**Current assets**
Debtors
11
Cash at bank and in hand
**Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
12
**Net current assets**
**Net assets**
**The funds of the charity**
**Unrestricted funds**
Fixed asset reserve
General funds
**Restricted funds**
13
15|**Group**
**2023**
**£000s**
52
32
98
4,788
4,970
2,634
6,285
8,919
2,170
**6,749**
**11,719**
84
11,092
11,176
543|**Group**
**2022**
**£000s**
4
33
106
5,006
5,149
3,464
8,540
12,004
2,473
**9,531**
**14,680**
37
14,094
14,131
549|**Charity**
**2023**
**£000s**
52
32
-
4,788
4,872
2,675
6,232
8,907
2,158
**6,749**
**11,621**
84
10,994
11,078
543|**Charity**
**2022**
**£000s**
4
33
-
5,006|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||5,043|
|||||3,491
8,502|
|||||11,993
2,462|
|||||**9,531**|
|||||**14,574**|
|||||37
13,988|
|||||14,025
549|
||**11,719**|**14,680**|**11,621**|**14,574**|
The deficit for the financial year dealt with in the financial statements of the parent company was £2,953,012 (2022: deficit of £1,735,428).
The financial statements were approved by the Board and authorised for issue on 3 November 2023 and signed on its behalf by:
…………………………………………………………………
D Holton Director
Date: 3 November 2023
The notes on pages 41 to 60 form part of the financial statements.
39
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2023**
|**Cash flow from operating activities:**
Net income (expenditure) for the year
_Adjustments for:_
Depreciation/amortisation
Loss/(Gain) on investments
Income from investments
Investment management fees
Share of net loss in joint venture
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
(Decrease)/increase in creditors
**Net cash (used in) operating activities**
**Cash flows from investing activities:**
Interest on cash deposits
Income from joint venture
Purchase of intangible fixed assets
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
**Net cash provided by investing activities**
**(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year**
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 2022
**Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2023**||**2023**
**£000s**
(2,961)
54
338
(290)
29
8
830
(301)
(2,293)
39
100
(78)
(23)
38
**(2,255)**
8,540
**6,285**|**2022**
**£000s**
(1,758)
25
(268)
(218)
33
23
(1,606)
1,182|
|---|---|---|---|
||||(2,587)|
||||10
80
-
(7)|
||||83|
||||**(2,504)**
11,044|
||||**8,540**|
The notes on pages 41 to 60 form part of the financial statements.
40
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **1 Company information**
The National Deaf Children’s Society is a private company, limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, registration number 02752456. The registered office is Ground Floor South, Castle House, 37-45 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4LS. The company is a registered charity, registered in England & Wales, registration number 1016532, and in Scotland, registration number SC040779. The financial statements comply with FRS 102.
## **2 Accounting policies**
## a) **Basis of preparation and assessment of going concern**
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of listed investments which are included on a market value basis.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Second Edition) (SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, The Charities Act 2011 and the Companies Act 2006.
The charity meets the definition of public benefit entity under FRS 102.
As detailed in the going concern commentary in the Directors’ Report the trustees have reviewed the charity’s activities, financial position and risks. They perform regular reviews of financial scenarios that incorporate a range of fundraising outcomes and wider economic risks. The going concern basis of accounting continues to be adopted in preparing the financial statements.
The trustees have assessed the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees have considered several factors when forming their conclusion as to whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate when preparing these financial statements, including a review of updated forecasts to 31 March 2025 and a consideration of key risks that could impact the charity and the latest available management information.
Trustees conclude it is appropriate for the financial statements to continue to be prepared on a going concern basis.
## b) **Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement**
In the view of the trustees in applying the accounting policies adopted, no judgements were required that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements, nor do any estimates or assumptions made carry a significant risk of material adjustment in the next financial year. With respect to the next accounting period the most significant area of uncertainty that affects the carrying value of assets held by the charitable company is the performance of the investment market.
## c) **Currencies**
The financial statements are presented in sterling (£).
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the time of the transaction. Monetary items denominated in foreign currencies at the end of the reporting period are translated at the rate of exchange prevailing at that date.
## d) **Group financial statements**
These financial statements consolidate the results of the charity and its subsidiary undertakings. The results of the wholly-owned subsidiaries, NDCS Limited and Friends for Young Deaf People, are consolidated on a line-by-line basis. In the group financial statements the joint venture is accounted for using the equity method under FRS 102 so that the consolidated SOFA includes the group’s net share of profit or loss, while the group’s share of the net assets of the joint venture is shown in the consolidated Balance Sheet. The results included for the joint venture in Childlife are derived from audited accounts.
41
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **2 Accounting policies** (continued)
## d) **Group financial statements** (continued)
No separate Statement of Financial Activities has been presented for the National Deaf Children’s Society as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. The charity has taken advantage of the exemptions in FRS 102 from the requirements to present a charity only Cash Flow Statement and certain disclosures about the charity’s financial instruments.
- e) **Fund accounting**
Unrestricted funds – these are accumulated surpluses and deficits on general funds which can be used in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity at the discretion of the trustees. They include a fixed asset reserve, equivalent in value to the net book value of fixed assets.
Designated funds – these are unrestricted funds which have been set aside by trustees for specific future purposes or projects.
Restricted funds – these are funds that have restrictions imposed by donors and can only be applied for the particular purposes specified by donors. The funds are not available for work performed by the National Deaf Children’s Society other than that specified by the donor.
## f) **Income recognition**
All income is recognised and accounted for in the SOFA when the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. The following specific policies apply to categories of income:
Legacies – legacies are recognised when there is entitlement, it is probable that the legacy will be received and when it can be measured with sufficient reliability. Specifically, residual legacies are recognised when probate has been granted, any conditions pertaining to the legacy over which the charity has control have been met and either cash or estate accounts are received. Pecuniary legacies are recognised when probate has been granted. Legacies received after the year end are reviewed and, where material, are accrued where entitlement had been met at the balance sheet date. Income is not recognised for legacies which remain subject to a life interest.
Income from trading and merchandising – is accounted for when earned. Activity income received in advance is deferred until entitlement to the income has arisen (the activity has taken place) at which time it is credited to the SOFA.
Donated services and facilities – are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers. The Trustees’ Report includes further detail of the contribution from volunteers.
Investment income – is accounted for on a receivable basis.
Grants and contractual payments – are included on a receivable basis. Income received for expenditure in future accounting periods is deferred. Where entitlement occurs before income is received the income is accrued. Capital grants are accounted for as income as soon as they are receivable. Government grants are recognised on the performance model, when the charity has complied with any conditions attaching to the grant and the grant will be received.
## g) **Expenditure recognition**
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and includes irrecoverable VAT where applicable. It is classified under headings in the accounts that aggregate all costs related to the category.
Expenditure on raising funds include the costs incurred in generating voluntary income and fundraising trading costs. These costs are regarded as necessary to generate funds that are needed to finance charitable activities. They do not include the costs of disseminating information.
42
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **2 Accounting policies** (continued)
## g) **Expenditure recognition (continued)**
Charitable activities expenditure includes the costs identified as wholly or mainly attributable to achieving the charitable objects of the charity, including the costs of disseminating information in support of charitable activities. These costs include direct staff costs, wholly or mainly attributable support costs and an apportionment of general overheads allocated on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Grants payable are accounted for when awarded except where future payments are conditional on performance and specific deliverables of the project. In such cases, amounts payable are accounted for as expended when the reporting criteria are satisfactorily met.
Termination payments are recognised on communication of intention to pay and are accounted for as staff costs.
Support costs, including governance costs, are those costs that assist the work of the charity but are not directly on fundraising or charitable activities. Governance costs are associated with the governance arrangements of the charity and include audit, legal advice for trustees and costs associated with meeting constitutional and statutory requirements such as the cost of trustee meetings and the preparation of the statutory accounts. This category also includes costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities. Other support costs include central office functions such as budgeting and accounting, payroll administration, human resources, information systems, communications, property management and legal costs. Support and governance costs have been allocated to an activity cost on a basis consistent with the use of resources. The basis is explained in the notes to the accounts.
- h) **Operating leases**
Expenditure on operating leases is accounted for in the period in which the lease charge arises.
The benefit of lease incentives received to enter an operating lease are recognised as a reduction to the expense on a straight line basis over the period of the lease, except as noted below.
The charity has taken advantage of the transitional exemption for lease incentives in existence on the date of transition to FRS 102 (1 April 2014) and continues to credit such lease incentives to income and expenditure over the period to the first rent review date on which the rent is adjusted to market rates.
- i) **Intangible fixed assets**
Computer software is stated at cost less accumulated amortisation and accumulated impairment losses. Software is amortised on a straight line basis over its estimated useful life of 3 years. Computer software costs of less than £10,000 are not capitalised.
## j) **Tangible fixed assets**
Tangible fixed assets costing less than £10,000 are not capitalised and are written off in the year of purchase. Tangible fixed assets which are capitalised are included at cost, including any incidental expenses of acquisition. They are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, except freehold land, at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset on a straight line basis over its expected useful economic life. The rates are as follows:
Plant, machinery, fixtures and fittings: 3 or 5 years Computers and ancillary equipment: 3 years
A full year’s worth of depreciation is charged in the year of acquisition.
Plant, machinery, fixtures and fittings are eliminated from the accounts when no longer in use.
43
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **2 Accounting policies (continued)**
- k) **Assets in the course of construction**
Payments on account of intangible and tangible fixed assets which are not operational at the balance sheet date are recorded in separate fixed asset categories “Assets in the course of construction”. No depreciation is charged on assets in the course of construction until they are brought into operational use, at which point the asset is transferred into the relevant fixed asset category and depreciated/amortised over their useful economic life.
- l) **Investments**
Investments in subsidiaries are stated in the company accounts at cost less impairment.
Listed investments are initially measured at cost and subsequently at fair value (using market value). The SOFA includes the net gains and losses arising on movements in fair value and disposals throughout the year.
- m) **Stock**
Stocks of publications and Christmas cards are written off in the year of purchase as net realisable value is estimated at nil.
- n) **Taxation**
NDCS is a registered charity and as such is potentially exempt from taxation of its income and gains to the extent that they fall within the exemptions available to charities under the Taxes Act and are applied to its charitable objectives. N.D.C.S. Limited is subject to Corporation Tax but it remits by Gift Aid its taxable profit to the National Deaf Children’s Society.
Tax credits, tax deducted from income and receipts under deed of covenant or Gift Aid are recorded on a receivable basis. They are recorded as part of the income to which they relate.
- o) **Pensions**
The group makes payments into a group defined contribution personal pension scheme. These pension costs are allocated to activities and between restricted/unrestricted funds in proportion to the related staffing costs incurred.
At 31 March 2023 contributions amounting to £65,489 (2022: £57,257) were payable.
- p) **Financial instruments**
The company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Basic financial assets which are receivable within one year, which include trade and other receivables and accrued income were £1,195,000 (2022: £1,814,000) and cash and bank balances of £6,285,000 (2022: £8,502,000) are initially measured at transaction price and subsequently carried at settlement amount.
Basic financial liabilities which are payable within one year, which include trade and other payables and accruals of £1,840,000 (2022: £2,241,000) are initially measured at transaction price and subsequently carried at settlement amount.
- q) **Cash and cash equivalents**
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with bank and other short term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less.
44
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **3 Results of subsidiaries**
## a) **N.D.C.S. Limited**
The charity has a wholly owned trading subsidiary, N.D.C.S. Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 00893232. The registered address of N.D.C.S. Limited is 37-45 Paul Street, Ground Floor South, Castle House, London, EC2A 4LS. The principal activity of the company is the sale of advertising, cards, and other goods and services and the company pays all of its profits to the charity under the Gift Aid scheme. A summary of its results is shown below:
||**2023**|**2022**|
|---|---|---|
||**£000s**|**£000s**|
|Turnover|44|57|
|Cost of sales|(9)|(14)|
|Gross profit|35|43|
|Administrative expenses|(8)|(7)|
|Net income|27|36|
|Amount Gift Aided to the National Deaf Children’s Society|(27)|(36)|
||-|-|
|The assets and liabilities of the subsidiary were:|||
|Current assets|72|57|
|Creditors: amounts falling due within one year|(72)|(57)|
|**Total net assets**|-|-|
|**Equity shareholders’ funds**|-|-|
At the end of the year, N.D.C.S. Limited paid £27,069 (2022: £36,427) to the charity by Gift Aid.
In these consolidated accounts, turnover consolidated in activities for generating funds is £43,965 (2022: £56,840) and investment income is £209 (2022: £6) with the associated costs included under fundraising expenditure.
## b) **Friends for Young Deaf People**
The charity has a wholly owned charity, Friends for Young Deaf People, a charitable company registered in England and Wales (company number 3029501, registered charity number 1045011). The registered address of Friends for Young Deaf People is 37–45 Paul Street, Ground Floor South, Castle House, London, EC2A 4LS. Friends for Young Deaf People was dormant throughout the year ended 31 March 2023, as well as the year ended 31 March 2022.
At the end of the year, no amounts were due between the National Deaf Children’s Society and Friends for Young Deaf People.
## c) **Fundacion Ninos Sordos del Mundo**
Throughout the year, the National Deaf Children’s Society had one other wholly owned subsidiary, Fundacion Ninos Sordos del Mundo, a charity registered in Spain, which was dormant for the year ended 31 March 2023. The registered address of Fundacion Ninos Sordos del Mundo is Torre Europa, Paseo de la Castellana 95-18[o] , 28046, Madrid, Spain.
45
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **4 Share in joint venture**
## **Childlife**
The National Deaf Children’s Society has a 25% share in Childlife, a company limited by guarantee. The registered office of Childlife is Westmead House, Westmead, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7LP. This is accounted for in the consolidated accounts of the National Deaf Children’s Society as a joint venture.
|The 25% share of Childlife’s results for the year is shown below:
**Income from:**
Voluntary income
Investment income
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
Charitable activities
Other expenditure
**Net income / (expenditure)**
Funds balances brought forward
**Fund balances carried forward**|**2023**
**£000s**
322
1||**2022**
**£000s**
293
-|
|---|---|---|---|
||323||293|
||229
100
2||234
80
2|
||331||316|
||(8)
106||(23)
129|
||98||106|
Income receivable from Childlife for the year of £100,000 (2022: £80,000) is included in investment income (see note 5d).
|The 25% share of assets and liabilities of Childlife were:
Fixed assets
Current assets
Gross assets
Gross liabilities
**Total assets less total liabilities – share of net assets**
**Unrestricted funds**
Other charitable funds|**2023**
**£000s**
1
125
126
(28)
98
98|**2022**
**£000s**
1
118|
|---|---|---|
|||119
(13)|
|||106
106|
## **5 Income**
## a) **Legacy income**
At 31 March 2023 the charity had been notified of legacies amounting to an estimated £662,004 (2022: £1,012,981) which have not been included within the accounts as the recognition criteria had not been met at the year end date.
46
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **5 Income (continued)**
## b) **Income from charitable activities**
|**Grants**
**£000s**
Overcoming barriers in local and national services
26
Overcoming barriers in the early years
52
Overcoming barriers to independence
366
Other charitable activities
26
**Total 2023**
470
**Total 2022**
459
Further information about the above grant income is provided in note 13.
Other government grants, included in other income, are detailed in note 5e.
**Other trading activities**
Gross income from trading
**Investment income**
Interest on cash deposits
Income from listed investments
Income receivable from joint venture
**Other income**
UK Government Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme|**Fees from**
**non-statutory**
**sources**
**£000s**
36
6
5
1
48
54
**2023**
**£000s**
51|**Fees from**
**non-statutory**
**sources**
**£000s**
36
6
5
1
48
54
**2023**
**£000s**
51||**Total**
**£000s**
62
58
371
27|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||518|
|||||513|
|||||**2022**
**£000s**
54
**2022**
**£000s**
10
128
80
218
**2022**
**£000s**
3|
||**2023**
**£000s**
39
151
100
290|
|||
||||||
||**2023**
**£000s**
-||||
## c) **Other trading activities**
## d) **Investment income**
e) **Other income**
47
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
- **6 Staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses and costs of key management personnel**
- a) Staff costs comprise:
|Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs|**2023**
**£000s**
9,280
992
498
10,770|**2022**
**£000s**
8,041
813
431|
|---|---|---|
|||9,285|
|The average number of employees during the year was as follows:|**2023**
**No.**|**2023**
**(FTE)**|**2022**
**No.**|**2022**
**(FTE)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Charitable activities|205|176|180|156|
|Fundraising|27|26|27|26|
|Administration and support services|50|48|47|45|
||282|250|254|227|
The above staff numbers include an average of 13 (2022: 11) casual workers who primarily worked on our events programme.
- b) During the year, redundancy and termination payments totalling £31,471 (2022: £77,614) were payable. All payments were settled at the year end. These related to redundancy payable at the end of the fixed term contracts for specific projects and restructures within departments.
- c) Employee benefits, excluding employer pension costs and employer’s NI, of higher paid staff within the following scales were:
|were:|||
|---|---|---|
||**2023**|**2022**|
||**No.**|**No.**|
|£60,000**–**£69,999|5|3|
|£70,000**–**£79,999|2|-|
|£80,000 – £89,999|1|1|
|£90,000 – £99,999|2|2|
|£100,000 – £109,999|-|1|
|£110,000 – £119,999|1|-|
- d) The charity trustees were not paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity or its subsidiary in the year (2022: £nil). Reasonable expenses for travel, subsistence and incidentals reimbursed to 1 trustee (2022: 5 trustees) during the year totalled £94 (2022: £538) are included in note 7(e) below.
- e) The key management personnel of the group, other than the trustees, comprised the Chief Executive, the Deputy CEO and Director People, Finance and Business Solutions, the Director Services and Innovation, the Director Children, Young People and Families (2023 only), the Director Policy and Campaigns and the Director Fundraising and Communications. Their total employee benefits, including employer pension costs and employer’s NI, for the year ended 31 March 2023 was £616,706 (2022: £512,876).
48
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **7 Analysis of expenditure**
|a) **Expenditure on:**
_Raising funds_
Regular donations and subscriptions
from individuals
Legacies
Other fundraising costs *
Investment management fees
_Charitable activities_
Overcoming barriers in local and
national services
Overcoming barriers in the early years
Overcoming barriers to independence
Other charitable activities
_Net share of loss in joint venture_
**Total expenditure 2023**
Total expenditure 2022|**Direct**
**costs**
**£000s**
13,407
307
468
14,182
29
14,211
8,705
2,390
2,168
1,499
14,762
8
28,981
24,065|**Grants**
**payable**
**£000s**
-
-
-
-
-
-
259
204
113
-
576
-
576
388|**Support**
**costs**
**£000s**
321
36
184
541
-
541
1,305
801
773
567
3,446
-
3,987
3,429|**Total**
**2023**
**£000s**
13,728
343
652
14,723
29
14,752
10,269
3,395
3,054
2,066
18,784
8
33,544|**Total**
**2022**
**£000s**
11,472
329
629|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||12,430
33|
||||||12,463|
||||||8,157
2,699
2,903
1,637|
||||||15,396|
||||||23|
||||||27,882|
||||||27,882|
* Other fundraising costs includes costs of challenge events, community and corporate fundraising and other trading activities
## b) **Analysis of grants payable**
|**UK grants**
Grants to University of Manchester (2 research grants)
Grant to University of Birmingham
Grant to University College London
Grant to Education Policy Institute
Grants to affiliated local registered Deaf Children’s Societies *
Other UK grants|**2023**
**£000s**
60
33
28
19
23
18|
|---|---|
||181|
***** Each grant was for a maximum of £500, while the maximum received by any one local Deaf Children’s Society was £500.
49
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **7 Analysis of expenditure** (continued)
## b) **Analysis of grants payable** (continued)
|**Analysis of grants payable**(continued)||
|---|---|
|**International grants**
Cini Asha Deaf Way
Khagenhat Welfare Organisation
Samuha – Deaf children and families
Centre for Disability in Development
Citizens Association for Rural Development
Lipica
Graham Bell Centre for the Deaf
Deaf Empowerment Kenya
Action for Children with Disabilities Society
VSO Kenya
National Association of Parents of Deaf Children
**Tl**|**2023**
**£000s**
36
49
3
119
39
32
8
31
7
38
33|
||395|
||576|
## **Total grants**
There are no grant commitments.
## c) **Allocation of support costs**
|**Allocation of support costs**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|_Raising funds_
_Charitable activities_
Overcoming barriers in
local and national services
Overcoming barriers in
the early years
Overcoming barriers to
independence
Other charitable
activities
**Total support costs 2023**
Total support costs 2022|**Governance**
**£000s**
-
137
39
35
23
234
220|**Finance**
**and**
**legal**
**£000s**
74
181
121
117
85
578
573|**Human**
**resources**
**£000s**
81
196
131
127
92
627
591|**IT**
**£000s**
207
503
335
324
236
1,605
1,066|**Facilities**
**management**
**and shared**
**premises**
**£000s**
179
288
175
170
131
943
979|**Total**
**£000s**
541
1,305
801
773
567|
|||||||3,987|
|||||||3,429|
Costs directly attributable to fundraising and charitable activities are allocated to direct costs. Those costs not directly attributable are included in support costs. Finance and legal costs, human resources and IT costs are allocated on the basis of full time equivalent staff. Facilities management and shared premises costs are allocated based on floor area. Governance costs are allocated to charitable activity categories in proportion to their direct costs.
50
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **7 Analysis of expenditure** (continued)
## d) **Governance costs**
|Audit fees
Trustee costs
Other costs supporting governance activities|**2023**
**£000s**
25
23
186
234|**2022**
**£000s**
19
15
186|
|---|---|---|
|||220|
## e) **Net income/expenditure for the year**
|Net income/expenditure for the year is stated after charging:
Auditor’s remuneration
Statutory audit
Other
Amortisation
Depreciation
Operating lease rentals|**2023**
**£000s**
25
8
30
24
772|**2022**
**£000s**
19
5
8
17
778|
|---|---|---|
## **8 Intangible fixed assets**
|**Charity and group**
**Cost**
As at 1 April 2022
Additions
Disposals
As at 31 March 2023
**Amortisation**
As at 1 April 2022
Charge for the year
Adjustment for disposals
As at 31 March 2023
**Net book value**
As at 31 March 2023
As at 31 March 2022|**Computer**
**software**
**£000s**
1,238
78
(177)
1,139
1,234
30
(177)
1,087
52
4|**Total**
**£000s**
1,238
78
(177)|
|---|---|---|
|||1,139|
|||1,234
30
(177)|
|||1,087|
|||52|
|||4|
51
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **Tangible fixed assets**
|**Tangible fixed assets**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Charity and group**
**Cost**
As at April 2022
Additions
Disposals
As at 31 March 2023
**Depreciation**
As at April 2022
Charge for the year
Adjustment for disposal
As at 31 March 2023
**Net book value**
As at 31 March 2023
As at 31 March 2022|**Plant and**
**machinery**
**£000s**
222
-
-
222
222
-
-
222
-
-|**Fixtures,**
**fittings and**
**equipment**
**£000s**
1,322
23
(157)
1,188
1,289
24
(157)
1,156
32
33|**Total**
**£000s**
1,544
23
(157)|
||||1,410|
||||1,511
24
(157)|
||||1,378|
||||32|
||||33|
## **10 Fixed assets investments**
## a)
## **Childlife**
The National Deaf Children’s Society has a 25% share in Childlife, a company limited by guarantee whose object is to promote the relief of children who are in need, by enabling the member charities to meet their respective charitable purposes, through the provision of grant payments. This is accounted for in the consolidated accounts of the National Deaf Children’s Society as a joint venture. See note 4 for details of the National Deaf Children’s Society share of Childlife’s results for the year.
## b) **Other investments**
|Listed investments at market value (see note 10c)
Investments in subsidiary (NDCS Limited) £100 – see note 3|**Group**
**2023**
**£000s**
**2022**
**£000s**
4,788
5,006|**Charity**
**2023**
**£000s**
**2022**
**£000s**
4,788
5,006|
|---|---|---|
## c) **Listed investments**
|Market value at 1 April 2022
Reinvested income
Management fees paid
Realised loss/(gain) on investments
Market value as at 31 March 2023
**Listed investments at historic cost**|**2023**
**£000s**
5,006
151
(31)
(338)
4,788
4,314|**2022**
**£000s**
4,643
128
(33)
268
5,006
4,209|
|---|---|---|
52
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
- **10 Fixed asset investments** (continued)
## d) **Listed investments by type**
|Equities
Alternative investments
Fixed interest
Cash
Market value as at 31 March 2023
**Debtors**
Due within one year:
Trade debtors
Due from subsidiary undertaking
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income|**Group**
**2023**
**£000s**
37
-
1,676
921
2,634|**Group**
**2022**
**£000s**
32
-
1,843
1,589|||**2023**
**£000s**
3,328
674
685
101||**2022**
**£000s**
3,551
804
549
102|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||4,788||5,006|
||||||**Charity**
**2023**
**£000s**
18
60
1,676
921
2,675||**Charity**
**2022**
**£000s**
14
47
1,843
1,587|
|||3,464|||||3,491|
## **11 Debtors**
- **12 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
|Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred income|**Group**
**2023**
**£000s**
696
264
100
1,048
62
2,170|**Group**
**2022**
**£000s**
1,104
226
97
1,040
6
2,473|**Charity**
**2023**
**£000s**
696
264
100
1,036
62
2,158|**Charity**
**2022**
**£000s**
1,104
226
97
1,029
6
2,462|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Deferred income mainly consists of deposits for events taken in advance and funds raised for challenge events which will take place in future years. All amounts at the year end related to new deferrals in the year.
|**Deferred income reconciliation**
At 1 April 2022
Recognised in the year
Deferred in the year
At 31 March 2023|**2023**
**£000s**
6
(6)
62||**2022**
**£000s**
18
(18)
6|
|---|---|---|---|
||62||6|
53
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **13 Restricted funds**
The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations, gifts and grants to be applied for restricted purposes.
|National Lottery Community Fund (England) –_#iWill Fund_
Dept. for Communities Northern Ireland, Sign Language
Partnership Group –_Family Sign Online_
Scottish Government –_CYPFEIF & ALEC_
Scottish Government –_Equality Funding, Sign of the_
_Future_
Deaf Child Worldwide
Dr A Evans Trust Fund
Eveson Charitable Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
The P F Charitable Trust
The P F Charitable Trust
Richard Lumley Charitable Trust
Legacy for work in Bristol and the surrounding area
Other restricted funds|**Balance at**
**1 April**
**2022**
**£000s**
218
5
-
1
224
-
42
20
23
1
-
3
68
168
549|**Income**
**£000s**
340
27
103
-
470
298
-
-
-
-
10
-
-
117
895|**Expenditure**
**£000s**
(318)
(29)
(103)
-
(450)
(298)
(2)
(20)
(23)
-
-
(3)
(3)
(102)
(901)|**Balance at**
**31 March**
**2023**
**£000s**
240
3
-
1|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||244
-
40
-
-
1
10
-
65
183|
|||||543|
Other restricted funds comprise a number of funds, each of which are immaterial for disclosure purposes but further details are available on request.
The restricted funds are held for the following purposes:
**The National Lottery Community Fund** – _#iWill Fund –_ The #iWill fund is an initiative of The National Lottery Community fund, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Cabinet Office. Match funding from the #iWill fund will allow the National Deaf Children’s Society to:
- i) Expand the Young Campaigner’s programme into regional campaign groups.
- ii) Increase the number and size of the grants NDCS provide to Make a Change grantees – allowing for more ambitious projects.
- iii) Continue and expand the Young Inspectors programme beyond what has been done as a reaction to the pandemic.
- iv) Continue to expand the Buzz website’s content to include more deaf role models.
- v) Significantly expand the Deaf Works Everywhere campaign’s reach.
- vi) Continue additional rounds of the Pen Pals and Mentors programmes.
**Department for Communities Northern Ireland – Sign Language Partnership Group** _–_ a grant to support the ‘Family Sign Online’ project for 2022/23. This is a model of remote delivery in NI in that we will provide a mostly online programme to increase the use of and awareness of British Sign Language (BSL) as a family-friendly, inclusive means of communicating with deaf children and young people.
54
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **13 Restricted funds** (continued)
**Scottish Government CYPFEIF and ALEC Fund** – _Children Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund_ – grant contributes towards infrastructure costs of NDCS Scotland to ensure deaf children, young people and their families have access to high quality services and support that address the attainment gap and improve life outcomes for deaf children.
_–_ – **Scottish Government Equalities Funding** _**Equality Funding, Sign of the Future**_ grant funding contributes towards the costs of delivering our Sign of the Future project to support families in developing effective communication and language skills with their deaf child. The Scottish Government has agreed that NDCS can use the remaining funding to deliver Family Sign Language Level 2 and create signed vocabulary videos.
**Deaf Child Worldwide** is the international arm of the National Deaf Children’s Society. Supporter income and other donations are generated for Deaf Child Worldwide specifically and this is used to fund a sustainable international programme.
**Dr A Evans Trust Fund** – funding provides for costs associated with the delivery of Family Sign Language training in Wales.
**Eveson Charitable Trust** – a grant to support our Helpline, Advice and Guidance Officers and Appeals Specialists across the West Midlands.
**Garfield Weston Foundation** – a grant to support deaf children and young people through the work of our Positive Futures Programme. Positive Futures helps young people navigate the road to become happy, independent adults. From digital workshops, mentoring, recreational activities and activism, we support young people to discover their ambition, make friends and find their voice as they transition to adulthood.
**The P F Charitable Trust** – funding contributes to the purchase of software for a project to research the impact that radio aids have on language development in pre-school deaf children.
**The P F Charitable Trust** – a £10,000 grant towards a Research Priority Setting Exercise with the James Lind Alliance in collaboration with Manchester University. It will bring together patients, carers, clinicians and other key stakeholders to determine the top 10 evidence gaps in improving the health, education and wellbeing of children and young adults with deafness and hearing loss.
**Richard Lumley Charitable Trust** – Active and Ready to Learn project in Wales to support the development of communication and language skills to help increase the provision and support for deaf babies and young children.
**Estate of Sylvia Whitby** – bequest to be applied to a variety of activities in Bristol and the surrounding area, in accordance with the terms of the legacy.
## **14 Movement on unrestricted funds**
|Balance at 1 April 2022
Income
Expenditure
Losses/gains on investments
**Balance at 31 March 2023**|**Fixed asset**
**reserve**
**£000s**
37
-
47
-
84|**General**
**funds**
**£000s**
14,094
30,026
(32,690)
(338)
11,092|**Total**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
14,131
30,026
(32,643)
(338)|
|---|---|---|---|
||||11,176|
55
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **15 Analysis of group net assets between funds at 31 March 2023**
|Intangible and tangible fixed assets
Investments
Current assets
Current liabilities|Intangible and tangible fixed assets
Investments
Current assets
Current liabilities|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£000s**||**Fixed asset**
**funds**
**£000s**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**£000s**||**Total funds**
**£000s**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||-
4,886
8,376
(2,170)||84
-
-
-||-
-
543
-||84
4,886
8,919
(2,170)|
|||11,092||84||543||11,719|
## **16 Parent undertaking’s income and expenditure**
As permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the income and expenditure account of the parent undertaking is not presented as part of these accounts. The consolidated Income and Expenditure Account includes a deficit of £2,953,012 (2022: deficit of £2,165,285) which is dealt with in the accounts of the parent undertaking.
## **17 Share capital**
The National Deaf Children’s Society is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. Every member of the company guarantees to contribute a maximum of £1 on winding up, including up to one year after ceasing to be a member.
## **18 Financial commitments**
The future minimum payments under non-cancellable operating leases are payable as follows:
|Within one year
Between two and five years|**2023**
**£000s**
728
814||**2022**
**£000s**
761
1,533|
|---|---|---|---|
||1,542||2,294|
## **19 Capital and other commitments**
At 31 March 2023 there were no capital commitments (2022: none).
## **20 Related party transactions**
Expenses paid to trustees in their capacity as directors of the charity are disclosed in Note 6 to the accounts. Other than transactions with subsidiaries and the joint ventures are disclosed in Notes 3 and 4, there were no other related party transactions.
56
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
The following pages represent comparative figures for the year ended 31 March 2022, in accordance with paragraph 2.29 of the SORP.
57
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **21 Comparative SOFA**
|**Income and expenditure**
**Income and endowments from**:
Donations and legacies
Regular donations and subscriptions from individuals
Legacy income
Other donations and gifts
Charitable activities
Other trading activities
Investments
Other income
**Total**
Share of net gain in joint venture
**Total**
**Expenditure on**:
Raising funds
Charitable activities:
Overcoming barriers in local and national services
Overcoming barriers in the early years
Overcoming barriers to independence
Other charitable activities
Total charitable activities
Net share of loss in joint venture
**Total**
Net gain on investments
**Net income / (expenditure)**
Transfer of funds
**Net income / (expenditure)**
Fund balances brought forward
**Fund balances carried forward**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
22,242
1,429
1,003
24,674
54
54
218
3
25,003
-
**25,003**
12,463
7,993
2,521
2,592
1,604
14,710
23
**27,196**
268
**(1,925)**
-
**(1,925)**
16,056
**14,131**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
239
15
140||**Total**
**2022**
**£000s**
22,481
1,444
1,143|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||394
459
-
-
-||25,068
513
54
218
3|
|||853
-||25,856
-|
|||**853**||**25,856**|
|||-
164
178
311
33||12,463
8,157
2,699
2,903
1,637|
|||686||15,396|
|||-||23|
|||**686**||**27,882**|
|||-||268|
|||**167**
-||**(1,758)**
-|
|||**167**
382||**(1,758)**
16,438|
|||**549**||**14,680**|
58
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## 22 **Comparative restricted funds**
The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations, gifts and grants to be applied for restricted purposes.
|National Lottery Community Fund (England) –_#iWill Fund_
Dept. for Communities Northern Ireland, Sign Language
Partnership Group –_Family Sign Online_
Scottish Government –_Managed Clinical Networks_
Scottish Government –_CYPFEIF & ALEC_
Scottish Government –_Equality Funding, Sign of the_
_Future_
Scottish Government – PECF,_Deaf Sector Partnership_
Deaf Child Worldwide
Dr A Evans Trust Fund
Eveson Charitable Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
Estate of David Griffith
Ovingdean Hall Foundation
The P F Charitable Trust
Richard Lumley Charitable Trust
Legacy for work in Bristol and the surrounding area
Other restricted funds|National Lottery Community Fund (England) –_#iWill Fund_
Dept. for Communities Northern Ireland, Sign Language
Partnership Group –_Family Sign Online_
Scottish Government –_Managed Clinical Networks_
Scottish Government –_CYPFEIF & ALEC_
Scottish Government –_Equality Funding, Sign of the_
_Future_
Scottish Government – PECF,_Deaf Sector Partnership_
Deaf Child Worldwide
Dr A Evans Trust Fund
Eveson Charitable Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
Estate of David Griffith
Ovingdean Hall Foundation
The P F Charitable Trust
Richard Lumley Charitable Trust
Legacy for work in Bristol and the surrounding area
Other restricted funds|**Balance at**
**1 April**
**2021**
**£000s**
-
-
8
-
1
32
41
-
42
-
-
3
-
10
3
69
214|**Balance at**
**1 April**
**2021**
**£000s**
-
-
8
-
1
32
41
-
42
-
-
3
-
10
3
69
214|**Income**
**£000s**
340
22
-
98
-
-
460
243
-
35
30
-
7
-
-
-
78|**Income**
**£000s**
340
22
-
98
-
-
460
243
-
35
30
-
7
-
-
-
78|**Expenditure**
**£000s**
(122)
(17)
(8)
(98)
-
(32)
(277)
(243)
-
(15)
(7)
(3)
(7)
(9)
-
(1)
(124)|**Expenditure**
**£000s**
(122)
(17)
(8)
(98)
-
(32)
(277)
(243)
-
(15)
(7)
(3)
(7)
(9)
-
(1)
(124)|**Balance at**
**31 March**
**2022**
**£000s**
218
5
-
-
1
-|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||224
-
42
20
23
-
-
1
3
68
168|
|||382||853||(686)||549|
## **23 Comparative movement on unrestricted funds**
|Balance at 1 April 2021
Income
Expenditure
Gains / (losses) on investments
**Balance at 31 March 2022**|**Fixed asset**
**reserve**
**£000s**
55
-
(18)
-
37|**General**
**funds**
**£000s**
16,001
25,003
(27,178)
268
14,094|**Total**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
16,056
25,003
(27,196)
268|
|---|---|---|---|
||||14,131|
59
## **The National Deaf Children’s Society Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023**
## **24 Comparative analysis of group net assets between funds at 31 March 2022**
|Intangible and tangible fixed assets
Investments
Current assets
Current liabilities|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
-
5,112
11,455
(2,473)||**Fixed asset**
**funds**
**£000s**
37
-
-
-||**Restricted**
**funds**
**£000s**
-
-
549
-||**Total funds**
**£000s**
37
5,112
12,004
(2,473)|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||14,094||37||549||14,680|
60