DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
**Business Disability Forum**
**Annual Report and Financial Statements**
30 June 2021
Company Limited by Guarantee Registration Number: 02603700 (England and Wales) Charity Registration Number: 1018463
DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Contents**
## **Reports**
|**Reports**||
|---|---|
|Reference and administrative||
|information|1|
|Trustees’ report|2|
|Independent auditor’s report|29|
|**Financial Statements**||
|Statement of financial activities|35|
|Balance sheet|36|
|Statement of cash flows|37|
|Principal accounting policies|38|
|Notes to the financial statements|43|
Business Disability Forum
DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Reference and administrative information**
|**Trustees**|Jacqueline Beer|
|---|---|
|**as at 16 December 2021**|Ian Callaghan|
||Victoria Cleland|
||Paulette Cohen|
||Dr Shaun Davis|
||Rachel Ann Gray|
||Janet Hill CBE|
||Rebecca Hitchings|
||Stephen Miller (Chair)|
||Hari Sundaresan|
||Angela Whitty|
||Iain Wilkie|
|**Company Secretary**|Ben Kelly|
|**Chief Executive Officer**|Diane Lightfoot|
|**Registered and Principal office**|Nutmeg House|
||60 Gainsford Street|
||London|
||SE1 2NY|
|Telephone|020-7403-3020|
|Facsimile|020-7403-0404|
|Website|www.businessdisabilityforum.org.uk|
|E-mail|enquiries@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk|
|**Company registration number**|02603700 (England and Wales)|
|**Charity registration number**|1018463|
|**Auditor**|Buzzacott LLP|
||130 Wood Street|
||London|
||EC2V 6DL|
|**Bankers**|HSBC Bank plc|
||69 Pall Mall|
||London|
||SW1 5EY|
|**Solicitors**|Bates Wells & Braithwaite|
||10 Queen Street Place|
||London|
||EC4R 1BE|
Business Disability Forum
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
The trustees are pleased to present their statutory report together with the financial statements of Business Disability Forum for the year ended 30 June 2021.
The report has been prepared in accordance with Part 8 of the Charities Act 2011 and constitutes the directors’ report for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set-out therein and comply with Business Disability Forum’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
## **Statement of trustees’ responsibilities**
The trustees (who are also directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements, for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing the accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS102);
- make judgements 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; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
Business Disability Forum
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Statement of trustees’ responsibilities (continued)**
The trustees are responsible for maintaining adequate accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Each of the trustees confirms that:
- So far as the trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charity’s auditor is unaware; and
- The trustee has taken all steps that he/she ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditor is aware of that information.
This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Trustees**
The trustees constitute directors of the charity and company for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006. The board of trustees is known as the Council of Management (the Council).
Trustees take responsibility for monitoring the charity’s activities and care is taken to ensure that members of the Council have the necessary skills required to contribute fully to the charity’s development.
The following trustees served throughout the year and remain in office, except where shown.
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## **Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
|**Trustee**
**Appointed/resigned**
**Date**|**Trustee**
**Appointed/resigned**
**Date**|
|---|---|
|Jacqueline Beer
Ian Callaghan
Victoria Cleland
Paulette Cohen
Dr Shaun Davis
Rachel Ann Gray
Janet Hill CBE
Rebecca Hitchings
Stephen Miller
Jonathan Millidge OBE
Melissa Ocampo
Dr Hari Sundaresan
Iain Wilkie
Angela Whitty|Appointed 11 March 2021
Appointed 10 December 2020
Appointed 10 December 2020
Resigned 16 November 2021
Resigned 11 March 2021
Appointed 11 March 2021|
New trustees may be appointed by the Council either to fill a vacancy or as an additional trustee. At each Annual Retirement Meeting (ARM) any trustees who have been appointed by a decision of the Council since the last Annual Retirement Meeting shall retire along with those trustees whose three-year term of office has concluded; they may offer themselves for re-election.
No trustee received any remuneration or expenses from the charity during the year (2020 - £nil). No trustee had any beneficial interest in any contract with the charity during the year (2020 – nil).
## **Other officers**
**Company Secretary** Ben Kelly
## **Senior executives**
|**Senior executives**||
|---|---|
|**Name**|**Position**|
|Diane Lightfoot|Chief Executive Officer (CEO)|
## **Members**
The members of the charitable company, who are guarantors, are:
Barclays Bank plc. British Telecommunications plc. Cisco Systems. Royal Mail Group. Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd.
Business Disability Forum
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Organisation and management of Business Disability Forum**
Business Disability Forum is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association, most recently amended on 29 June 2020.
In order to achieve both Business Disability Forum’s vision and mission, a formal management structure is in place.
The Council is responsible for the general control and management of the organisation. At 16 December 2021, the Council comprises senior figures from business and the public sector some of whom have extensive experience of the not-for-profit sector. Underneath the Council four committees provide additional oversight on the strategic direction and operations of the organisation. Those committees are: Commercial, Finance and Audit, People, and Policy.
The Council meets regularly to review financial and other management information and longer-term strategic priorities for the organisation, corporate governance issues and other relevant matters. The committees meet prior to each Council meeting and update the Council. Further ad hoc meetings are convened as required.
An induction programme and governance manual is in place to ensure new trustees understand the vision, mission and management of the organisation as well as their responsibilities as trustees and company directors in accordance with the relevant guidelines issued by the Charity Commission and Companies House. The recruitment process for new trustees includes interviews with the Chair or another nominated trustee, CEO and Company Secretary with final approval by the Council. Appropriate guidelines and information on the organisation’s governance, activities, products and services are also provided. The new trustee is also introduced to members of the Leadership Team and, where appropriate, to the membership and disabled associates and ambassadors. In addition, ongoing training is offered in the form of external courses and presentations to the Council.
The trustees appoint and employ a CEO to provide vision and leadership, achieve their strategic and charitable aims and manage the organisation.
Business Disability Forum produces an annual Business Plan. This year that plan formed the fifth year of our five-year strategy (now revised to six years as a result of Covid-19) to analyse, stabilise, revise, consolidate, **grow** and “reinvent” Business Disability Forum. The plan is submitted to the Council for approval. The Business Plan sets out the vision and mission, reviews progress, achievements and the financial outcomes in the current year and sets out the action plan and budget for the forthcoming year.
Business Disability Forum
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
Progress against the Business Plan is reviewed at Council meetings and, where appropriate at committee meetings. The Council and committees receive brief, formal written reports covering Policy & Research (Advice Service, Research & Insight, the Disability Standard and Policy and associated research), Disability Partnerships (Membership Recruitment & Retention, Sponsorship, Professional Consultancy, Learning & Development and Supplier relationships), Legal and Content (Development of our best practice guidance, design, legal and training & events), Communications and Marketing (Communications, Marketing, PR & media, Digital communications) and Finance & Resources (HR, ICT, Administration, Finance, and Corporate Governance). In addition, the CEO and members of the Leadership Team attend Council meetings to provide further verbal reports and more information, for example on new projects or strategic items. Other employees attend these meetings as required.
## **Key management personnel**
In the reporting period there was a designated Leadership Team which included the Chief Executive Officer, Head of Disability Partnerships, Head of Policy & Research, Head of Legal & Content, and Head of Finance. A new role of Head of Communications has been recruited for the new financial period. The Leadership Team is accountable to the Council and is responsible for the day to day running of the organisation. It has agreed objectives that correspond to the organisation’s vision and mission. Formal performance & development reviews are carried out annually, with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) reviewed regularly, to ensure that objectives are met and that members of the Leadership Team have appropriate development opportunities.
The senior executives who formed the Leadership Team in the period were: Diane Lightfoot, Bela Gor, Angela Mathews, Adrian Ward and Ben Kelly (Company Secretary).
When personnel are appointed the salary offered is benchmarked against roles with similar expectations and responsibilities in the not-for-profit sector, mindful that our business model also depends upon complementary skills required in the commercial sector. Key personnel are awarded the same annual cost of living increase that is given to all other employees each July. When the responsibilities of the roles that the key personnel perform are increased, a review of the remuneration offered is undertaken and the salary is again benchmarked against roles with similar expected outcomes to decide if a pay increase is appropriate. Key personnel are awarded our standard range of benefits; these are available to all employees. We use the XpertHR salary benchmarking tool and take part in their annual survey to ensure parity with comparable organisations. In 2020/21 a 2% cost of living salary increase was awarded to our team. This included key management personnel.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Major risks**
The trustees have reviewed the major risks to which the organisation is exposed. During the year the Covid-19 pandemic and its continued economic fallout following the ongoing measures to combat the virus in the UK (and abroad) remained the greatest risk that we face over the short term. Factors that we consider as part of the risk process include: Covid-19 and its impact; Financial performance, position and our status as a going concern; Government attitudes to disability; Competition and demand for our products and services/ market conditions; Staffing and training; Insurances and facilities; Governance and statutory reporting; Internal reporting and other compliance issues; Processes, systems and quality control; Our mission and objectives; Opportunities and innovation; Internal culture, capacity and decision-making processes; Demand for international products and services; Procurement; Theft, fraud and business interruption/ continuity; Failure to protect intellectual property; the immediate and longer-term effects of the UK exiting from the EU; the effects of our recent restructure; and issues / opportunities arising from changing our prices.
Systems have been established to mitigate losses from such events where practical and are reviewed at each council meeting.
The top ten risks for the coming year have been identified as:
- The ongoing effects to the economy of the Covid-19 virus and subsequent waves
- Staff skills not keeping pace with changing customer demand
- Insufficient capacity and capability to deliver what we need to achieve
- Our products and services do not keep up with developing demands from our customers
- Impact and profile insufficiently communicated to make disability a compelling area for business investment with us
- Growth in competitors
- Key personnel leave to work for competitors
- Income does not continue to exceed expenditure, our general fund is low
- Business Disability Forum receives adverse publicity in the media
- We are unable to fulfil our role across the entire organisation and fail to live up to "Business" in "Business Disability Forum".
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## **Major Risks (cont)**
We are fortunate that unlike many not-for-profit organisations we do not carry life-threatening risks such as operating in dangerous countries and infectious areas or with vulnerable individuals in unsafe situations, nor do we rely on statutory grants for our income. As a membership organisation, it is unlikely that any one event would be so impactful as to render us non-existent overnight, nor do we minister directly to vulnerable stakeholders. So necessarily, much of our focus is on our service delivery, income generation and operational effectiveness with further consideration for the social and economic environment in which we operate, guarding against events which will have a long-term debilitating effect on the organisation.
Covid-19 and its continuing fallout presents the greatest risk to most organisations at this time and we are no different. Restrictions in place to mitigate the spread of the disease present operational issues, operating wholly remotely prevents us from collaborating with physical interactions so reduces the efficiency of that collaboration and interaction (networking, for example, is often cited by Members and Partners as a benefit they particularly value). We have moved most of our operations online or by phone but some events benefit from physical presence and we will look to reinstate these as soon as safe and practical. In the interim we have mitigated this by sourcing online conference platforms and by seeking increased sponsorship rather than delegate income. The ongoing economic fallout and therefore our membership’s ability to finance their relationship with us presents a large risk which we can best mitigate by demonstrating the value a membership with us delivers. To date we continue to be successful in achieving this.
Behind the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, our capacity is our most pressing risk. We have grown substantially over 18 months and being nervous about the impact of Covid on our income we delayed recruiting additional staff to cover the increased requirement, preferring to use contractors rather than employing permanent employees. Having sustained our performance, we must now increase our headcount substantially to ensure we have the skills and resource to deliver. There are numerous mitigations in place to minimise the short-term risk and we have budgeted to fill the roles, we have recently onboarded new employees and are continuing to upskill our current employees to the required levels.
Our General Fund is much improved but remains low with income performance encouraging. This is a less immediate risk but, mindful of our desire to use our funds to deliver the mission, income generation (or lack thereof) will always feature as a risk to our operations. Our risk register lists our principal mitigations to ensure that the organisation’s income remains above its expenditure.
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## **Major Risks (cont)**
To further increase our income generating opportunities we need to give business even more compelling reasons to invest in membership and our other products and services. Showcasing the benefits, financial and philanthropic, of getting it right on disability will make the case for its mainstream inclusion in budgets at board and departmental level.
We continue to monitor the effects of the UK leaving the EU. We feel that the risk to our organisation stems from risks to the whole economy rather than any specific impact on our operations.
## **Objectives and activities**
In shaping our objectives and activities for the year, the trustees have complied with their duty in section 17 of the 2011 Charities Act to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
Business Disability Forum is a membership-based charity which promotes, through its Members and Partners, the economic and social inclusion of disabled people. At year-end the organisation had 393 (2020: 331) Members and Partners from the private, public and third sectors and emergency and law enforcement services. The membership employs approximately 18.9% (2020: 17.76%) of the UK workforce in employment i.e. approximately 5.80 million employees (2020: 5.35 million).
There are 4.37 million disabled employees in the UK workforce (an employment rate of 52.3% for disabled people of working age) which is an increase of 20,000 from 4.35 million in the same period last year (employment rate was 53.5%; the number of disabled people of working age has increased by over 200,000 in the same period). The number of non-disabled employees in the UK workforce has reduced by 285,000 since last year and their employment rate has decreased 1.05% to 90.5%%. The disability employment gap, which was closing slowly, increased slightly in this last year. This is likely to be further impacted by any recession post Covid-19. We will continue to push to reduce this gap more rapidly and believe that disabled talent offers an answer to the oft reported skills gap that business is subject to, particularly in those sectors most affected by Brexit and the loss of a migrant workforce.
Business Disability Forum is a registered charity and its charitable objects are the promotion of equality and diversity for the benefit of people with disabilities, in particular, but not exclusively by:
- The provision of advice, assistance and training aimed at increasing employment opportunities in industry and commerce for people with disabilities; and
- The provision of advice, assistance and training aimed at increasing accessibility to goods and services for people with disabilities.
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## **Creating a disability smart world together**
Business Disability Forum is a world-leading membership body mobilising the power of UK and global business behind the economic and social inclusion of disabled people. We are the authoritative voice on disability as it affects business and government. We act as the trusted and impartial adviser to business and government on disability to improve the life chances of disabled people.
Fundamental to our proposition is our longevity and credibility:
- A long history of working with diverse large private and public sector organisations to improve disability performance;
- Specialism and expertise in disability as it affects business as a whole; and
- Impartiality.
We work with organisations to help create a disability-smart world through:
- The provision of high quality advice and guidance.
- In-depth consultancy and learning & development.
- Business to business networking and knowledge-sharing that build greater disability confidence across all areas of an organisation.
Our Disability Standard drives best practice by providing the benchmark against which organisations measure their own performance on disability, as employers and service providers, as well as that of their suppliers and partners. We mobilise UK and global business behind the economic and social inclusion of disabled people. We bring business, government and disabled people together for mutual benefit.
## **Our values:**
- Purposeful: We are focused.
- Respectful: We respect our colleagues and customers.
- Pragmatic: We find solutions and deliver outcomes.
- Empowered: We are empowered and take ownership.
- Evolving: We constantly learn and evolve.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21**
The uncertainties inherent in society and the economy from Covid led us to be circumspect in our plans and intentions for 2020/21. Our five-year plan required us to build on the progress made in 2019/20 and grow, instead we made plans to hold on to the gains made in 2020. We did allow spare capacity to expand if possible while planning to have greater input into government policy and strategy to improve the life chances of disabled people through access to employment and to products and services and to highlight the benefits of being disability-smart for consideration in boardrooms across the globe.
One of the most noticeable impacts of the pandemic, and the immediate move for those who could working remotely, was the increasing awareness that small and simple adjustments could make large productivity and employee satisfaction gains. Our message and assistance in making practical, pragmatic and robust adjustments started to resonate among a wider range of organisations. Coupled with the productivity gains of video and tele conferencing allowing us to serve and engage with more members and potential members, we out performed all previous years for Partner and Member retention and recruitment.
Much of our activity in the year was aimed at making our provision of member services more valuable to the membership and to increase our profile and footprint in boardrooms, across business and in the disabled community for employees and customers. We have a team of Business Disability Partners who can advise our Members and Partners vertically throughout their organisations to deliver mutual benefits to customers, employees and to the organisation.
To enhance our Member and Partner experience (and that of our other stakeholders) we continued to improve our website with its Knowledge Hub and Disability Standard portal. The search engine, site and Knowledge hub have used user feedback to best showcase our first-class resources and increased number of toolkits and still allow us to offer open-source resources for the whole community such as our Covid-19 toolkit which provides practical, disability-specific approaches to the changes (regularly) being updated by Government.
The delivery afforded by our website and other digital platforms (video conferencing for our online events and Conferences, social media) has enabled us to stay in touch with our membership and continue to delight them as we were doing before Covid arrived. Where our contacts have not been furloughed, we have managed to maintain dialogue and engagement and to be rather useful.
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## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
We at Business Disability Forum talk a lot about the adapting to the “new normal”. Usually this is in the context of when someone becomes disabled or is diagnosed with a new long-term condition but there have been many similarities as we have shifted to a new normal in our way of working. As when someone becomes disabled, we have proved that most of what we do can be done with the appropriate adjustments, in our case with remote working and delivering our services via video, telephone and email. Our Advice Service and our Business Partners remain on the end of a phone or email. Our resources are digital and our many events can be held remotely.
Our flagship events, two conferences (one delayed from last year), three CEO roundtables, our Global Symposium and the Technology Taskforce Showcase, were held remotely which allowed more delegates to attend and a wider, more international field of presenters. The content of these events was challenging, thought provoking and fun. We want our attendees to go away with ideas to consider having been entertained. Our new conference platform with some live and some pre-recorded content delivered on our wishes. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Our CEO and Head of Policy & Research became co-Chairs of their respective Disability Charities Consortium committees, where we were able to bring our experience of working with business to promote practical change to bear within the consortium and to propose fair and workable solutions for all stakeholders in the disability arena to Government. We are prepared to speak up when Government falls short of our expectations but value our role as trusted advisors in engaging to change policy and outcomes where possible.
We continued to run regular full team Microsoft Teams meetings as an opportunity for everyone to check in, catch up with their colleagues and share news on a given topic. We also ran monthly Policy updates and other regular internal idea-exchange forums to upskill our employees, particularly around their knowledge and their soft persuasion skills. Our dialogue with members informed us how they responded to their own changes and we are encouraged by the number who enacted lasting change in how they work. We are pleased to observe that one positive legacy of the pandemic is a much deeper acceptance and appreciation of the role of flexible working, home working and the use of technology for all. We must keep showing that these remain productive adjustments to aid employees with disabilities and continue to promote the value of different ways of working and of making adjustments in enabling everyone to perform to their full potential.
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## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
There are many big challenges; Covid has had a disproportionate impact on disabled people. Disability is also too often the one aspect of diversity that is put in the “too difficult” box and we need to ensure this narrative is not used as an excuse to park disability as a priority when businesses have to make tough decisions. We must keep raising awareness and to make the point that disability isn’t – and mustn’t be – an either/ or in the diversity realm and to continue to position ourselves as the go to organisation to advise on disability.
For many years we have operated with the Council comprising few but dedicated members which has lent itself to a limited number of committees, a remuneration committee and a nominations committee. Our Council now has twelve fully involved members which supports wider committee membership. The Council undertook a governance review led by our longest serving Council member, Jon Millidge. Jon’s in-depth review culminated in new attendance and meeting guidelines and recommended a new Committee structure. The report was adopted by the Council in December, Terms of Reference were drawn up and agreed for the new committees and our four new Committees met for the first time in March and appointed their Chairs. The Commercial committee, the Finance committee, the People committee and the Policy committee have already had an impact on the Council’s ability to provide support and challenge to the Leadership Team and have contributed to more effective and productive full Council meetings. Our thanks go to Jon Millidge for his drive and input in making this happen.
## **Policy & Research**
Covid-19 showcased how our advice and thought leadership can support business to work and respond to the rapidly changing landscape. It also brought a wealth of urgent and unplanned projects to the Policy & Research team that forced the postponing of previously planned projects. Our members experienced a similar shift in priorities and interest so this has been received well. The interest in and workload for our engagement in the policy arena required us to increase our capacity late in the year and we have been able to make greater headway and publicise our work even more in the second half.
Notable successes include being invited to speak at the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on disability and giving evidence on the disability employment gap to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
We have responded to the following inquiries and consultations:
- Assistive technology in higher education and employment (inquiry by APPG on Assistive Technology). The report s not yet has been published, but we have been contacted to say they would like to and “heavily quotes” our submission. Our CEO was also asked to speak at the official launch of the report.
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## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
- Carer’s leave (consultation held by BEIS). The Government has not yet responded. The Disability Law Service said our submission was “first rate” and contacted us to work with them to provide further evidence to influence an amendment to the Equality Act to give working carers the right to have reasonable adjustments.
- In work progression (consultation held by DWP). The Government have published their response and have quoted our submission.
- Statutory Sick Pay rebates for SMEs (targeted and confidential call for evidence led by DWP). The response has now been published, which we were disappointed with, but we will continue this topic in our new work and health project. Head of Policy and Research is due to be a keynote speaker at health conference on this topic in September 2021.
- The unequal impact of coronavirus on disabled people (inquiry held by the Women and Equalities Committee), an ongoing inquiry.
- Transforming public procurement (consultation held by Cabinet Office). The Procurement Bill has now been announced and falls far below the standard we and our members wanted to see.
- The role of the Government Equalities Office (inquiry held by the Women and Equalities Committee), we are waiting for the inquiry to end.
## **Collaborations**
- Future for London: A pan-inclusion project to help London recover from the impact of the pandemic on the built environment, businesses, and jobs.
- Manifesto for the National Disability Strategy – led by us and developed in partnership with the Disability Charities Consortium in our role as coChairs.
- We are co-applicants with Cardiff University for research funding on what prevents disabled employees from sharing information about their disability or conditions with their employer. We have been successful in getting through to the next stage of the application.
- Our CEO, in her role as member of the Disability Commission, helped develop the “Now is the time” report sponsored by Lord Kevin Shinkwin, which received much publicity.
## **Other projects:**
- We are collecting evidence from our members on the use and effectiveness of Disability Confident and Access to Work schemes, and we are also monitoring attitudes to mandatory workforce data monitoring which we will feed into the Government’s own consultation on disability reporting in the workforce, announced in the National Disability Strategy. A paper will emerge shortly.
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## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
- Having produced initial research on how members had responded to the first lockdown. We are now working on a follow up to see how trends and business planning have changed, over a year after the first lockdown.
- Our Grant funded City Bridge Trust, Smarter London SME project commenced in August 2020. It aims to demystify the adjustments process for SME’s and to improve their ability to become Disability Confident. The research phase is complete and we have moved on to the provision of advice and are developing a benchmark assessment specifically for small businesses.
- The Tech for Life project is in development, this is a complex undertaking and is waiting on input from the various external stakeholders involved. We are currently looking at how this can feed into the Government’s plans for a Centre for Accessible Technology, announced in the National Disability Strategy.
## **Advice Service**
- The Advice Service continued to be busy, particularly as this was Year 3 in the Disability Confident Leader cycle, meaning many members needed to be (successfully) revalidated for their Leader status.
- We have launched a Peer Learning Network to support members with the knowledge they need to move from Disability Confident Levels 1-3 to BDF’s Disability Smart Assessment. The first meeting was in September.
We responded to 1,002 queries in the year (2020; 800). The increase reflects our contacts returning from furlough and the complex and changing employment environment we experienced this year; the complexity of the queries was certainly greater than the previous year. Other than Covid interventions, data monitoring and managing workplace adjustments processes continue to be the main ‘broad’ topics we are being asked about.
To reflect the customer service provision of the Advice service it has now been moved into our Business Disability Partnerships Team to ensure it remains best able to support and advise our members and to ensure there is a seamless link between the Advice Service and our Business Partners.
## **Legal & Content**
## **Content and resources**
Following on from the launch of our first toolkit (the Mental Health toolkit), available as part of the membership offers in 2019/20 and our open source Covid-19 toolkit, and in response to demand from our membership we launched five more toolkits in 2020/21:
- Neurodiversity Toolkit
Supported by Microsoft, the Toolkit contains practical guidance for People Managers, in-depth material for HR & D& Professionals and best practice case studies.
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## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
- Inclusive Communications Toolkit
Created in response to demand from and sponsored by Skipton Building Society this Toolkit is aimed at all who write business correspondence.
## Getting Started Toolkit
Using the experience of onboarding our numerous new Members, to help them navigate the comprehensive content on our Knowledge Hub and to complement the relationship with their Business Partner, this welcomed toolkit has been sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group.
- Redundancy and Redeployment toolkit.
Developed at pace to anticipate the end of the first national lockdown this toolkit will be useful as the extended furlough scheme unwinds and will protect disabled employees and their employers from ill-informed decisions.
- People Manager Toolkit
Sponsored by Microlink and comprising 61 resources repurposed and updated from our long running Line manager guide series, this toolkit provides practical guidance from entry level to expert practitioner managers.
Each Toolkit has been designed to be distinctive on the Knowledge Hub and consists of accessible PDFs as well as downloadable Word documents and fully captioned videos. We continued to update our open source Covid-19 toolkit and received many hits for our guidance on the vaccine status of employees.
## **Events**
Our events team had a busy year, and although we expected a return to in person events at some point during the year, this proved impossible. However, we now have extensive experience in delivering webinars and have adapted delivery platforms to suit the type of event and to ensure that accessibility was available to all.
We delivered our delayed annual conference in October using sponsorship from HSBC to cover costs as there was no delegate income. "Disability Today & Tomorrow – living in a post pandemic world” was delivered on a novel platform created for online conferences and incorporated Slido to obtain intime delegate feedback. Attended by nearly 500 delegates the event was extremely well received and HSBC were keen to sponsor a follow up conference in June: “Disability: What’s New What’s Next” attended by a similar number of delegates using the same platform.
Building from the success of the conference in October we ran a week-long Global Symposium of sessions in May, again sponsored by HSBC bringing a “Fresh Perspective to Global Disability” and an online Technology Taskforce Showcase, supported by Microsoft discussing “Tech for Life”.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
Our speed and agility in putting on remote events meant we could present many more sessions than would be possible in a physical world and we averaged six online webinars and gatherings each month in the year which was double the previous year.
## **Business Disability Forum in the Press**
We generated a total of 105 pieces of press coverage in 2020-21 with exposure in the local, national and trade press. We secured articles and features in some of the UK’s most popular national and local papers throughout the year, including:
- Forbes
- Evening Standard
- Personnel Today
- Sunday Times
- Financial Times
- Radio Four Women’s Hour
- The Guardian; and
- The Caterer
## **Speaking and profile raising appearances**
This year, our CEO, Diane Lightfoot has spoken at:
**Open or invite-only external events:**
- Cabinet Office roundtable
- No. 10 Business and Disability Roundtable
- Labour Party Disability Charities Roundtable
- APPG on STEM and launch of STEM and disability report Includability jobs board launch
- Advance HE Disability Colloquium
- Nuance Assistive Tech Leadership Series
- Texthelp D&I Roundtable
- Chat with Nish (United States)
- The Caterer People Summit
- MemCom People Academy
- Dod’s Managing Disability At Work conference
- APPG Inquiry into housing and employment
- Future of London Roundtable
- RIDI Awards
- DIAL Summit
- Purple Light up
- Lord Holmes Review of Public Appointments
## **Events for Members and Partners including:**
- Microsoft
- Bloomberg
- Burberry
- Shell
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
- Surrey County Council
- BBC (News)
- Oliver James
- Ministry of Defence
- Metropolitan Police
- Tata Consulting
- GfK
- Freshfields
## **Events for non members (speculative)**
- Page Group roundtable
In July 2020, she also became co-Chair of the Disability Charities Consortium, alongside the CEO of Scope throughout the year. This role has involved convening DCC CEOs and agreeing policy positions for a joint manifesto, monthly meetings with the Disability Unit at the Cabinet Office and regular meetings with the Minister for Disabled People with influencing the content and the delivery of the National Disability Strategy as a major priority for discussions. Both the Minister and officials have expressed their thanks for our input and supportive challenge, and we continue to work with them to influence the Strategy’s delivery and the imminent Spending Review which will be critical to achieving it. In her role as DCC Co-Chair she is also now a member of the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group.
Diane is also the Chair of the Disabled Students Stakeholder Group, a member of the Institute of Coding Diversity and Inclusion Board and has been asked by the Bar Standards Board to help set up and to co-Chair a new Taskforce aimed at improving disability awareness and working practises for the Bar. She is also on the Advisory Board for the new Centre for Neurodiversity Research at Work at Birkbeck University and a member of the Review Committee for the MacKenzie-Delis Packer Review.
## **Taskforces and Networks**
Our taskforces and networks continued to remotely support the membership with existing groups going from strength to strength and new gatherings taking advantage of the ease of getting together using video technology. Taskforces are included in the Partner offer with Members who have an interest in the area invited to join for an additional fee, Networks are open to the whole membership. The list of regular support network meetings includes:
- Technology Taskforce
- Customer Taskforce
- Global Taskforce
- Northern England Network
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Review of activities and impact in 2020-21 (cont)**
- Construction Round Table
- Government Network
- Scottish Round Table
- NHS Network
- Higher Education Network
- Neurodiversity Network
- SME Network
- Emergency and Law Enforcement Network
- Customer Retail Network
- Career Development Network
- Communications Network
## **Celebrating best practice**
It was inappropriate to run Our Disability-smart awards this year as, although we exist to celebrate and share best practice, the impact of Covid on the disabled community and the mood within the community was not open to overt celebration. We did continue to highlight feel good anecdotes and good practice on our website through our Disability-smart stories section which was open to all visitors to the website https://businessdisabilityforum.org.uk/disability-smart-stories-2020/. This page had nearly three thousand hits in the year with the most popular story being about NatWest’s Banking My Way, followed closely by Auntie Val’s Ability Centre and the Dyslexic Poet, proving that being disability-smart requires the right attitude and approach and is not dependant on size.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Financial review 2020-21**
Business Disability Forum began the year with a positive general fund of £126,689 (2020: £17,085). The target for the year was to generate £51,779 additional funds with the income generated in the year to further our mission (2020: we budgeted to increase the fund, by £1,816).
Revenue generation made good progress in the period despite the nationwide measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 and our income continued to grow while our expenditure remained well controlled. Consequently, and exceeding our most optimistic expectations, the general fund increased by £618,669 (2020: the fund increased by £109,604) to £745,358 (2020: £126,669).
All income strands performed well in the year considering constraints imposed by the lockdowns, with Membership recruitment and retention particularly notable and our Income growing 18.5% in the year to £2,057,654 (2020: £1,736,367). That growth was supported by robust income delivery from Publications, Seminars & events and Other projects. Overall income from charitable activities increased by £229,410; 9.0% (2019: £221,663 increase; (10.9%)).
Throughout the year Membership continued to generate strong income as we delivered the services our membership expects remotely and digitally but opportunities to deliver and charge for our additional products and services were diminished without face to face contact, especially our events programme.
Our expenditure decreased in the year by £249,698; (11.6%), (2020: increased by £87,838; 4.3%). The one-off restructuring and moving costs incurred in 2020 contributed to the fall year on year as did reduced overhead from not travelling to clients and working remotely. We intend to continue to spend wisely in the coming year, investing in capacity to deliver and changed working practices to support our business plan and focus on keeping our profile high and to champion the awareness of disability as a business priority.
Our customer service ethos, aiming to delight our Members and Partners, led us to continue to upskill our team to deliver even better service to the membership. There is more to do on this and while we were able to use the budget allocated during the year, we continue to have our designated training fund totalling £15,901 (2020: £20,000) to spend on larger ticket and longer term staff training and upskilling in 2021/22.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Reserves policy**
The trustees have agreed the target level of reserves for the end of the 2020/21 financial year should be £570,000. This represents the level of funds needed for an orderly closure of the charitable company but also covers approximately four months’ overheads. Reserves for this purpose include deferred membership income (£980,396: note 11) and the balance of the general fund (£745,358). The trustees can report that reserves at the financial year end exceeded this target at £1,725,754 (2020: £848,623) while not preventing opportunities to deliver our mission. The level of reserves is less than the amount of cash Business Disability Forum has in the bank to meet liabilities as they fall due as a result of other deferred income received for advance memberships, events sponsorship and projects.
## **Gender pay and other equality and inclusion metrics**
At year-end 2020/21 we had 17 female employees and 17 male employees. Our median gender gap was negative with women paid on average per hour 11.28% more than men. Our disability pay gap is also negative with our 19 disabled employees being paid on average 3.29% higher than our 15 nondisabled employees. Our ethnic minority pay shows that our 24 non-ethnic minority employees are paid 8.68% higher than our 10 ethnic minority employees.
Our other equal opportunity statistics for the full year are:
- Percentage of employees with a disability or long-term condition: 53.22%;
- Percentage of Leadership Team with a disability or long-term condition: 40.00%;
- Percentage of employees from an ethnic minority: 27.87%;
- Percentage of Leadership Team from an ethnic minority: 20.00%;
- Percentage of female employees: 49.39%; and
- Percentage of female employees, Leadership Team: 60.00%.
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## **Membership**
Our Advice Service and Disability Business Partnerships teams comprise: Senior Disability Business Partners and Disability Business Partners. These Business Partners each have specialist knowledge and experience of disability best practice for productive workplace adjustments aimed at disabled employees and customers, but which can also benefit all employees and customers.
A strong membership base, with committed and engaged Members and Partners, is necessary to fulfil our mission to promote the economic and social inclusion of disabled people by ensuring our membership is equipped to recruit and retain disabled people and serve disabled customers. In 2020/21 we were able to improve our retention rates for all levels of membership, improve recruitment of Members and Partners and increase our total engagement with our members through, events, account management, consultancy, Disability-Smart product suite, online resources, policy and campaigns activity and advice.
Business Disability Forum wishes to enhance and develop our membership base. In 2020/21 we challenged ourselves to maintain our membership numbers at 331. This was not only achieved but we outperformed our expectations by far, and membership increased from 331 to 393. The target of five new Partners was exceeded (twelve were recruited) and only two of our Partners left in the year.
The recruitment target of 40 new Members was exceeded by a factor of two; at year-end 82 new Members and four Emergency Services and Law Enforcement Network (ELEN) Members had joined, which was an outstanding performance. The retention rate achieved in 2020/21 was 90.03% (2020: 87.75%); targeted retention rate was 73.79%. The total number of Members and Partners at year-end was 393 (target 331).
Membership income (£2,057,654) was £321,287 greater than 2020 (£1,736,367) and £421,537 greater than the target, £1,636,117. These results reflect over performance in recruitment of Partners and Members and member satisfaction resulting in retaining 15% more of our Members than we had hoped we could achieve in difficult circumstances.
A realistic yet stretching target has been set for 2021/22 given the uncertainties arising in the UK and Global economy from the fallout from Covid 19. That target is five new Partners and 40 new Members with an overall retention rate of 78.89%. This would result in 367 Members and Partners at year end, a reduction of 28 (7.1%) which would consolidate our gains from this year and ensure a strong base from which to recover in the following year. As always, we will seek to over-achieve on these figures; our past performance shows that we are not constrained by prudent targets in seeking to exceed them.
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## **Membership (continued)**
Business Disability Forum’s Disability Business Partner framework allows each Partner to work with one of our experienced Senior Disability Business Partners to assist in developing their overall approach to becoming disabilitysmart and sharing best practice. Our wider membership is served by our sector specific Disability Business Partners. This combined approach has seen improved Member and Partner engagement giving the membership the support they need to drive change.
Support has continued for sector specific networks, including the Emergency Services and Law Enforcement Network (ELEN), Construction Sector Network, HEI Network and new NHS and retail networks. We have also increased activity in regional (Scotland and North of England) and sector networks in 2020/21 with regular online meetings scheduled. The member offer is further enhanced by four more taskforces; our Technology Taskforce: the Global Taskforce, Access to Employment Taskforce and Customer Taskforce which are all included in the Partner offer and available to Members to join for an additional fee.
To further support our membership offer and improve membership retention rates, we continued with a series of podcasts and webinars making Business Disability Forum accessible on a national and international basis through our contacts’ desktops and browsers (33% of our contacts within membership organisations change every year). New contacts each have an introductory telephone or video conference meeting to share the latest “best practice” guidance on disability management and to discuss how the Member or Partner can best use our guidance to achieve their objectives.
The Disability-Smart Framework, our assessment and accreditation framework measuring how disability-smart an organisation is, continued to be available free as an online self-assessment exercise . All our members have access to the self-assessment process, a simplified, less evidence-based solution than our full Disability Smart audit, assessing ten criteria across business areas using a binary scale to measure their performance. At the end of the self-assessment a report is produced suggesting potential improvements (including legal risk) and highlighting areas of excellence.
The ‘Advice Service’, our service for best practice guidance on managing disability in the workplace and to welcoming disabled customers, has been widely used by our membership in 2021 with an average of 83 calls per month being fielded (2020: 66). Many queries are ever more complex indicating the evolution of our membership’s knowledge of disability in the workplace and their subsequent requirements from this service.
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## **Membership (continued)**
Although the ‘Advice Service’ is essentially a service offered to fee paying companies from within the membership, non-member companies are provided with basic advice, invited to join the organisation or directed to other organisations that can provide them with more detailed advice. Disabled people or other stakeholders who call the ‘Advice Service’ are also able to take advantage of the “connect service” free of charge where they are put in touch with either the relevant company from the membership or other suitable organisations to provide them with assistance.
Further advice and information is provided to the membership through our monthly newsletter; legal update bulletin; weekly e-communications regarding our online flagship events; products and services; online networking and webinar events and our website. This year our membership also benefited from our online Covid toolkit which was regularly updated, focussing on relevant hot topics and legislation changes. It remains an open-source product and available to all employers of disabled people.
As part of our drive to improve membership engagement and value we launched five other toolkits in the year which were mostly included in the member offer: our “Getting Started” toolkit sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group; the Neurodiversity toolkit supported by Microsoft; the “Accessible Communications” toolkit sponsored by Skipton building society; the “People Manager” toolkit sponsored by Microlink and the “Redundancy and Redeployment” toolkit. Feedback and access of these resources suggest they are vital tools for our membership.
We will continue to respond to the membership’s needs through active communication with them: anticipating any non-renewals; the needs of disabled stakeholders; and ensure the whole team is actively involved in membership retention. Member and Partner numbers and retention rates are key performance indicators that reflect the organisation’s ability to achieve its vision and mission. We are confident that the retention rates we have budgeted are achievable and realistic and that our membership will continue to thrive. In times of uncertainty, shared purpose and a sense of belonging can bring comfort.
## **Seminars & events**
Our expectations for this year, reflected by our budget, included a return to inperson events and delegate sales. Circumstances and general attitudes precluded this so we became wholly reliant on sponsorship to provide funding for our, expanded, online programme. Delivering our events, webinars and roundtables online allowed us to deliver many more events than previous years and welcome more delegates from a broader range of locations.
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## **Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Seminars and Events (cont)**
We still expect an appetite for large set piece events in the future but will retain the online meetings which allow for agile and better attended routine gatherings. During the year our Legal & Content team delivered flagship events alongside professional development workshops, seminars, podcasts, round table discussions, Covid webinars, Business Disability podcasts and events tailored specifically for individual Members’ and Partners’ needs. We hosted 3,467 delegates in 2021, our previous record for a single year was 1,800.
This year we expected to deliver six (2020: eight) income generating events which would be complemented by 24 (2020: 27) events that were free to the membership to inform and engage. We actually delivered five (2020: 9) income generating events alongside 67 (2020: 36) engage events and network or Taskforce meetings generating income of £99,736 (2020: £134,866) which was slightly less than the target of £109,400 (2019: £186,815) but was generated at significantly lower costs than previous years.
In previous years our in-person events have been hosted by our Members and Partners. This immensely valuable contribution has been recognised in previous years in the financial statements as intangible income. In 2021 this amounted to £0 (2020: £44,742) and again the impact of the Covid measures is noticeable as events were held entirely remotely.
## **Publications**
We have described the huge increase in online toolkits available to our membership through our new look Knowledge Hub. Access to these resources, while contributing to the large increase in memberships and membership income, has diminished the appetite for sales of resources for our memberships’ intranets and Learning Management Systems. Toolkits do provide great opportunities to raise sponsorship income which has resulted in this income stream increasing in the year, despite lower unit sales.
We continued to offer our Partners all our guidance as part of their membership which reduced the licence renewal potential by as much as £50,000 in the year (though adding significant value to the Partner offer and anecdotally contributing much to Partner recruitment and retention).
Turnover was £126,107, an increase on the previous year (£116,836) of £9,271. Renewal rates for existing licences decreased from 50% in 2020 to 28%. This trend is likely to continue in the future.
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## **Publications (continued)**
Publications income increased to £126,107 (2020: £116,836). This was much lower than the target of £144,599 (2020: £144,200) and much below levels achieved prior to 2011 where sales were closer to £250K. Sales, excluding sponsorships, of new guidance to the public sector decreased by £49,946 to £13,125 (2020: £63,071) and sales to the private sector decreased by £8,695 to £20,318 (2020: £29,013). We made sales totalling £10,000 to the voluntary sector.
We continue to have an extensive range of publications with 57 titles including the new toolkits (2020: 52) covering a comprehensive range of topics which promote and facilitate the recruitment and retention of disabled people and value disabled people as customers and stakeholders in the UK and now globally. Our distribution model has become almost wholly electronic although we do provide hard copy for accessibility purposes.
We have alliances with five companies to promote their accessibility products to our membership who pay us commission at varying rates for introductions. The purpose of these alliances is primarily to ensure we can offer our membership a fuller range of solutions. These strategic alliances delivered £16,085 (2020: £6,553) income in 2021.
The Publications projects delivered in the year were Microsoft supported Neurodiversity toolkit, HSBC Global Guides, Accessible Communications toolkit sponsored by Skipton Building Society, Getting Started toolkit sponsored by Lloyds Banking group and the People Manager toolkit sponsored by Microlink which together raised £60,275 revenue (2020: £43,295) at a cost of £14,875 (2020: £28,703).
Business Disability Forum continued to offer discounted rates on its publications for all charities and non-profit making organisations as well as its range of free publications and toolkits.
## **Disability Smart Framework, consultancy and other projects**
The Disability Smart framework (formerly the Disability Standard) is the basis for all that Business Disability Forum does. Grounded in a long history of B2B work, the Disability Smart framework uses an organisation-wide approach to disability in a way that differentiates Business Disability Forum from other organisations working with employers and service providers on disability.
We have been undertaking a thorough review of the questions and methodology of the Disability Smart framework in 2021, migrating it to the a new Disability-smart assessment and audit launched in September 2021. The next online iteration of the Disability Smart framework will stretch the boundaries of best practice and further reinforce the importance of a structured approach to planning for, and making improvements to, disability management as it affects all functional areas within an organisation.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Disability Smart framework, consultancy and other projects (cont)**
The Disability Standard (as was) has generated interest around the globe and has provided a framework for much of our international consulting work and ongoing discussions. We anticipate the new Framework to continue this.
The Disability Smart framework provides an evaluation tool with participants answering a comprehensive on-line questionnaire on how disability is addressed and managed within their organisation. It has been licenced for use in Australia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and South Korea and used in the States of Guernsey, Dubai and Ireland to inform consultancy projects.
We continue to use a third party to deliver some of our consultancy services, which allows us to concentrate our efforts on delighting the membership while providing the ideal solutions to those of our membership that need additional services. This has allowed us to deliver many internal and external projects and to continue to provide in house Learning and Development interventions. Interest in our product range continues to be encouraging and we have adapted to the new ways of working well.
Income generation of £256,382 (2020: £264,900) in 2021 exceeded our expectation at £200,480, although our direct costs were similarly increased over expectation at £349,371 (budget: £301,178).
## **Strategic priorities**
Our aim is to be the go-to organisation for guidance and advice on all aspects of disability as it affects business whilst striving to protect our core income streams post Covid.
2020/21 was a very productive year for Business Disability Forum. We expanded our reach nationally and internationally and vastly improved our profile and reputation while harnessing improved opportunities to generate new members and income generating opportunities.
In this time of economic uncertainty and while the disabled stakeholders who we serve are more disadvantaged by the situation than most, Business Disability Forum’s main focus will be to consolidate the gains made in 2020/21 while increasing our capability and capacity to deliver the services for which our membership pays.
Strategic priorities for 2021/22, driven by the final year of our five-year plan are:
- Succession planning for Member recruitment.
- Continue as forerunners in thought leadership and optimise our press positioning.
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**Trustees’ report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Strategic Priorities**
- Refresh, re-use and propagate existing electronic resources and ensure new content is demand-led.
- “Go big” on the Disability-smart audit and self-assessment.
- Add further capacity to delight Partners and Members to maintain recruitment and retention.
- Develop our next five-year plan for 2022-27.
To this end we will increase our capacity through careful employee recruitment, train our existing employees and develop new ways of working for the current environment. New products will be introduced, and a Head of Communications has been recruited to streamline our marketing and response to demand.
To judge how we are performing against these priorities we will use a range of measures including anecdotal feedback, qualitative and quantitative research and keep our CRM, which is the central repository of stakeholder data and feedback, up to date with relevant information upon which we can report.
The ultimate OKR for our relevance is member numbers and the disability employment gap.
## **Financial objectives 2021-22**
- To release sufficient funding to enable recruitment of enough new employees to provide services paid for by the membership, but to ensure this remains sustainable.
- To improve the sustainability of Business Disability Forum’s business model. Increasing the volume and predictability of income and reducing expenditure and to protect cashflow and working capital required to run the organisation.
- Further develop OKRs and real time reporting to monitor progress against budget and the five-year plan.
- Monitor and control expenditure ensuring a “value for money” approach to resources expended.
- Report on income and expenditure in real time and provide sufficient information for management to make timely and informed decisions.
- Carefully monitor membership renewals which are essential for cash flow.
Approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
12/22/2021
Stephen Miller, Chair 16 December 2021 Approved by the trustees on:
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**Independent auditor’s report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Independent auditor’s report to the members of Business Disability Forum**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Business Disability Forum (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 30 June 2021, which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 30 June 2021 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
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.
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**Independent auditor’s report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Conclusions relating to going concern (continued)**
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report and Financial Statements, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the information given in the Trustees’ report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the Trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
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**Independent auditor’s report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
- the Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the Trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
## **Statement of trustees’ responsibilities**
As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Independent auditor’s report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
- the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
- we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charitable company through discussions with management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector;
- the identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of noncompliance throughout the audit;
- We focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the accounts or the activities of the charity. These included but were not limited to the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (Charities SORP FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102); and
- we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management, inspecting legal correspondence and reviewing Trustee meeting minutes.
We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Independent auditor’s report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (continued)**
- making enquiries of management and those charged with governance as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
- considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:
- performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
- tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
- tested the authorisation of expenditure as part of our substantive testing thereon;
- assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in the accounting policies were indicative of potential bias; and
- used data analytics to identify any significant or unusual transactions and identify the rationale for them.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
- agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
- reading the minutes of Trustee meetings;
- enquiring of management and those charged with governance as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
- reviewing any available correspondence with HMRC and the Charity Commission.
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
**Independent auditor’s report:** Year to 30 June 2021
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (continued)**
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.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
12/30/2021
**----- End of picture text -----**
Edward Finch, Senior Statutory Auditor for and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP, Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Statement of financial activities incorporating income and expenditure account:** Year to 30 June 2021
|Notes|Unrestricted
funds
£|Restricted
funds
£|**2021**
**Total funds**
**£**|2020
Total funds
£|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Income and expenditure
Income from:
Investments
Donations
Charitable activities
1
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
2
Total expenditure
Net income and
net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought
forward at 1 July 2020
Total funds carried
forward at 30 June 2021|-
-
2,514,879|-
-
25,000|**-**
**-**
**2,539,879**|2,468
75
2,310,469|
||2,514,879|25,000|**2,539,879**|2,313,012|
||1,896,210|58,099|**1,954,309**|2,145,908|
||1,896,210|58,099|**1,954,309**|2,145,908|
||618,669
126,689|(33,099)
57,500|**585,570**
**184,189**|167,104
17,085|
||745,358|24,401|**769,759**|184,189|
All of the charity’s activities derived from continuing operations during the above two financial periods.
The charity has no recognised gains and losses other than those shown above.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Balance Sheet:** Year to 30 June 2021
|Notes|
**2021**
**£**|**2021**
**£**|2020
£|2020
£
32,271
1,302,085
(1,150,167)
184,189
126,689
20,000
37,500
184,189|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Fixed assets**
Tangible assets
8
**Current assets**
Debtors
9
Cash at bank and in hand
**Creditors**: amounts falling due
within one year
10
**Net current assets**
**Deferred income**
11
**Total net assets**
**Represented by:**
**Funds and reserves**
Unrestricted Funds
General Fund
Designated Fund
12
Restricted Fund
13|
281,920
2,122,377|
21,439
2,081,816
(1,333,496)|
154,338
1,448,670||
||2,404,297
(322,481)||1,603,008
(300,923)||
||
||
||
|||**769,759**|||
|||745,358
15,901
8,500|||
|||**769,759**|||
Approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
12/22/2021
Chair Stephen Miller
16 December 2021 Approved on:
Company Number 02603700
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Statement of Cashflows:** 30 June 2021
|**A**
**B**|Notes|
**2021**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
||**Cash flows from operating activities:**
Net cash provided by operating activities
A
**Cash flows from investing activities:**
Dividends and interest from investments
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
**Net cash used in investing activities**
**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year**
**Cash and cash equivalents at 1 July 2020**
B
**Cash and cash equivalents at 30 June 2021**
B|
675,307|
|||-
(1.600)|
|||(1,600)|
|||673,707
1,448,670|
|||2,122,377|
||**Net income for the year (as per the statement of financial**
**activities)**
**Adjustments for:**
Depreciation charge
Dividends and interest from investments
(Increase) / Decrease in debtors
Increase in creditors
**Net cashprovided by operating activities**|585,570
12,432
-
(127,582)
204,887|
|||675,307|
||**Analysis of cash and cash equivalents**|**2021**
**£**|
||Cash at bank and in hand
**Total cash and cash equivalents**|2,122,377|
|||2,122,377|
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
**Principal accounting policies:** 30 June 2021
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are laid out below.
## **Basis of preparation**
These financial statements have been prepared for the year to 30 June 2021.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies below or the notes to these accounts.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest pound.
## **Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement**
Preparation of the accounts requires the trustees and management to make significant judgements and estimates.
The items in the financial statements where these judgements and estimates have been made include:
- Our year end membership figure of 393 assumes that 25 Members and Partners (2020: 34) who have not yet confirmed they will continue in membership will do so. This has no effect on income which is not booked until confirmation is received.
## **Assessment of going concern**
The trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these financial statements. The trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of one year from the date of approval of these financial statements.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Principal accounting policies:** 30 June 2021
## **Assessment of going concern (continued)**
The trustees of the charity have concluded that there are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The trustees are of the opinion that the charity will have sufficient resources to meet its liabilities as they fall due. The most significant areas of judgement that affect items in the financial statements are detailed above. With regard to the next accounting period, the year ending 30 June 2022, the most significant areas that affect Business Disability Forum continuing as a going concern have been raised in the note on Major Risks in the Trustees Report namely:
- The ongoing effects to the economy of the Covid-19 virus and subsequent waves.
- Staff skills not keeping pace with changing customer demand
- Insufficient capacity and capability to deliver what we need to achieve
- Our products and services do not keep up with developing demands from our customers
- Impact and profile insufficiently communicated to make disability a compelling area for business investment with us.
The continuing uncertainty over the effects on the economy of the fallout from Covid cast a shadow over all companies’ assessments of going concern at this time however our stock of deferred income as reported in these pages (£1.3 million; note 11) provides over half of the working capital and cashflow to fund us in the year to come. Our free reserves, totalling £745,358, have also increased from just £17,085 in 2019 and are budgeted to increase again in 2022. We have begun 2022 performing ahead of budget expectations.
Comfort is provided across our core membership income by the historically high rates of member retention and recruitment that we achieve, the proposition and approach that delivers these high retention rates is continually reviewed and monitored using feedback from the membership, market conditions, advances in disability best practice and knowledge and perceived value.
We are working with #valuable and others to raise the recognition and awareness of disability in the board room and this is an ongoing theme in our communications.
Our budget for 2021/22, as written above, has been designed to consolidate our current performance and has taken account of the likely recession that will come from the Government financial support to mitigate Covid 19 restrictions being withdrawn. We have assumed greater attrition rates for the membership than we have seen in previous years, and used experience
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
**Principal accounting policies:** 30 June 2021
## **Assessment of going concern (continued)**
gained in 2008-2011 during the great recession. Without this caution we might have expected to again increase our income substantially in 2021/22. We anticipate still having a small surplus in the coming year but not the large one achieved this year.
Our healthy cash position resulting from deferred membership, sponsorship and project income means that we will be able to meet all foreseen liabilities as they fall due. Our General Fund has been improved by this year’s sterling performance and our fixed costs are very manageable for an organisation of our size and income.
## **Income recognition**
Income is recognised in the period in which the charity has entitlement to the income and the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received. Income is deferred only when the charity has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it or where the donor or funder has specified that the income is to be expended in a future accounting period.
Income comprises membership fees, income from seminars and events, income from publications and training, consultancy and bank interest.
Income from membership fees is recognised over the membership year with the unexpired portion of membership fees being included in the balance sheet as deferred income.
Income from seminars and events, income from publications and training, consultancy, disability standard and from the provision of training and workshops is recognised to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the company and the revenue can be reliably measured. It is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, excluding discounts, rebates, value added tax and other sales taxes.
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
## **Expenditure recognition**
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure comprises the costs of charitable activities in respect to the charity’s primary charitable purposes as described in the Trustees’ report. Such costs include:
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Principal accounting policies:** 30 June 2021
## **Expenditure recognition (continued)**
- Events and seminar expenses;
- Publication costs; and
- External supplier delivery costs.
All expenditure is stated inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.
## **Allocation of support and governance costs**
Support costs represent indirect charitable expenditure. In order to carry out the primary purposes of the charity it is necessary to provide support in the form of personnel development, financial procedures, provision of office services and equipment and a suitable working environment.
Governance costs comprise the costs involving the public accountability of the charity (including audit costs) and costs in respect to its compliance with regulation and good practice.
Support costs and governance costs are apportioned using staff numbers.
## **Tangible fixed assets**
All assets costing more than £1,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised.
Tangible fixed assets are depreciated at the following annual rates in order to write them off over their estimated useful lives:
- Furniture and general office 25% per annum based on cost equipment
- Computer and similar 33% per annum based on cost equipment
## **Debtors**
Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for non-recoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash receipt where such discounting is material.
## **Cash at bank and in hand**
Cash at bank and in hand represents such accounts and instruments that are available on demand or have a maturity of less than three months from the date of acquisition. Deposits for more than three months but less than one year have been disclosed as short term deposits. Cash placed on deposit for more than one year is disclosed as a fixed asset investment.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
**Principal accounting policies:** 30 June 2021
## **Creditors and provisions**
Creditors and provisions are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.
## **Pension costs**
Contributions by the charity in respect of the group money purchase pension scheme (workplace pension scheme) are included in the statement of financial activities when they are payable.
## **Fund accounting**
Designated funds comprise monies set aside out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.
General funds represent those monies which are freely available for application towards achieving any charitable purpose that falls within the charity’s charitable objects.
Restricted funds are monies raised for a specific purpose.
## **Leased assets**
Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged on a straight-line basis over the lease term.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **1 Income from charitable activities**
||2021
Unrestricted
£|2021
Restricted
£|**2021**
**Total**
**£**
2020
Total
£
**2,057,654**1,736,367
**99,736**
134,866
**126,107**
116,836
**215,298**
205,192
**41,084**
82,708
**-**
34,500
**2,539,879**2,310,469|
|---|---|---|---|
|Membership fee income
Seminars and events
Publications and training
packages
Consultancy
Other projects
Disability Smart-Framework|2,057,654
99,736
126,107
215,298
16,084
-|-
-
-
-
25,000
-||
||2,514,879|25,000||
Included within seminars and events is intangible income of £0 (2020: £44,742) being the provision of event venues at no cost to the charity. (These intangible income lines are accounted for in note 2 as corresponding intangible costs).
## **2 Charitable activities**
## **(a) Analysis of costs of charitable activities**
||Costs
allocated
directly
£|Support
costs
£|**Total**
**2021**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|
|Membership
Seminars and events
Publications and training packages
Consultancy, Disability Smart Framework and
other projects|509,266
154,843
57,593
349,371|607,033
72,828
63,297
81,979|**1,116,299**
**227,671**
**120,890**
**431,350**|
||1,071,073|825,137|**1,896,210**|
||Costs
allocated
directly
£|Support
costs
£|Total
2020
£|
|Membership
Seminars and events
Publications and training packages
Consultancy, Disability Smart Framework and
other projects|506,927
225,868
82,119
263,734|696,721
114,814
140,911
114,814|1,203,648
340,682
223,030
378,548|
||1,078,648|1,067,260|2,145,908|
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **2 Charitable activities** (continued)
## **(b) Analysis of support costs**
||Staff
costs
£
414,326
49,709
43,202
55,955
563,192|Office
expenses
£|Depreciation
£|Professional
and legal
£|
**2021**
**Total**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Membership
Seminars and events
Publications and training
packages
Consultancy, Disability
Smart Framework and other
projects||144,761
17,367
15,095
19,549|9,146
1,097
954
1,235|38,800
4,655
4,046
5,240|**607,033**
**72,828**
**63,297**
**81,979**|
|||196,772|12,432|52,741|**825,137**|
Support costs are allocated to charitable activities on the basis of staff numbers. In 2020/21 We outsourced our Disability Standard and Consultancy delivery to allow us to focus on deliver Membership services.
||Staff
costs
£
397,552
65,514
80,404
65,514
608,984|Office
expenses
£|Depreciation
£|Professional
and legal
£|
2020
Total
£|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Membership
Seminars and events
Publications and training
packages
Consultancy, Disability
Smart Framework and other
projects||233,122
38,417
47,149
38,416|12,840
2,115
2,597
2,116|53,207
8,768
10,761
8,768|696,721
114,814
140,911
114,814|
|||357,104|19,668|81,504|1,067,260|
## **3 Governance costs**
|**Governance costs**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2021**
**Total**
**£**|2020
Total
£
23,316
31,203
1,731
56,250|
|Staff costs
Legal and professional fees
Other|**24,229**
**17,069**
**2,291**||
||**43,589**||
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **4 Net income (expenditure) and movement in funds**
This is stated after charging:
||**2021**
**Total**
**£**|2020
Total
£|
|---|---|---|
|Staff costs (note 5)
Auditor’s remuneration
Statutory audit services
Other services
Depreciation
Operatinglease rentals|1,500,486
11,800
5,230
12,432
95,780|1,479,825
11,600
4,900
19,668
122,678|
## **5 Employees and staff costs**
Staff costs during the year were as follows:
||**2021**
**£**|2020
£|
|---|---|---|
|Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs
Payments to agency staff
Staff training
Other payments/benefits|1,143,776
132,556
115,944|1,109,285
112,264
108,045|
||1,392,276
64,127
12,909
31,174|1,329,594
89,153
32,283
28,794|
||1,500,486|1,479,824|
The average number of employees during the year was 31 (2020:27).
The number of employees who earned £60,000 or more (including taxable benefits but excluding employer pension contributions or termination charges) during the year was as follows:
||**2021**
**Number**|2020
Number|
|---|---|---|
|£60,001 - £70,000
£70,001 - £80,000
£80,001 - £90,000
£90,001 - £100,000|**1**
**1**
**1**
**-**|-
1
-
1|
||**3**|2|
Total employer contributions to the group money purchase schemes in respect of the above employees during the year amounted to £ 30,346 (2020: £8,917). The increase in contributions in 2021 is due to some of these employees taking advantage of the salary exchange option for pension contributions that is open to all of our team.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **5 Employees and staff costs (continued)**
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the Leadership Team of five members (2020 five members). The total remuneration (including taxable benefits and termination charges but excluding employer's pension contributions) of the key management personnel for the year was £415,242 (2020: £398,637).
No posts were deleted in the year (2020: three posts). There were no termination costs (2020 £31,382 which included pay in lieu of notice and a payment for loss of office).
## **6 Trustees**
None of the trustees received any remuneration in respect of their services during the year (2020: £nil).
During the year travelling expenses were incurred by the trustees in the course of their duties. Such expenses were not reimbursed to trustees during the year as a matter of policy. Our policies do allow for expense for any adjustments to be reimbursed but this has not been necessary in the year.
Business Disability Forum has indemnity insurance which covers actual or alleged breach of duty, breach of trust, neglect, error, misstatement, omission, breach of warranty of authority, libel and slander or any other act committed by trustees, officers and employees in the course of the organisation’s activities (subject to specified exclusions). The cost of this insurance was £2,923 (2020: £2,542).
## **7 Taxation**
Business Disability Forum is a registered charity and therefore is not liable to corporation tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as it falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities.
Business Disability Forum
**46**
DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **8 Tangible fixed assets**
|**9**||**Fixtures,**
**fittings and**
**equipment**
**£**|**Fixtures,**
**fittings and**
**equipment**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**Cost**
At 1 July 2020
Additions
At 30 June 2021
**Depreciation**
At 1 July 2020
Charge for the year
At 30 June 2021
**Net book values**
At 30 June 2021
At 30 June 2020||**84,518**
**1,600**|
||||**86,119**|
||||**52,247**
**12,432**|
||||**64,679**|
||||**21,439**|
||||**32,271**|
|||||
||Cost
At 1 July 2019
Additions
Disposals
At 30 June 2020
Depreciation
At 1 July 2019
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 30 June 2020
Net book values
At 30 June 2020
At 30 June 2019||77,146
41,046
(33,674)|
||||84,518|
||||66,253
19,668
(33,674)|
||||52,247|
||||32,271|
||||10,893|
||**Debtors**
**Due within oneyear**|**2021**
**£**|2020
£|
||Fees receivable
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income|**246,313**
**184**
**35,424**|127,848
1,165
25,325|
|||**281,921**|154,338|
Business Disability Forum
**47**
DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **10 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
|**10**|**Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**11**|||**2021**
**£**|
|2020
£
52,881
95,212
152,830
300,923
2020
£|
||Expense creditors
Payroll and VAT creditors
Accruals and other creditors||**41,958**
**164,618**
**115,905**|
||
||||**322,481**|||
||**Deferred income**||**2021**
**£**|||
||At 1 July 2020
Invoiced in the year
Released in the year
At 30 June 2021|**1,150,167**
**3,299,691**
**(3,116,362) **||958,843
2,525,061
(2,333,737)||
|||**1,333,496**||1,150,167||
Deferred membership income included within the reserves calculation totals £980,396 (2020: £721,936). The remainder of deferred income, which is not included within the reserves calculation, relates to the second year of certain Partners’ or Members' two year membership fees and also income due from projects, publications and events to be delivered post year-end.
## **12 Designated Funds**
Training Fund
The Trustees recognised that following the restructure in 2020 it was vital that Business Disability Forum’s employees retain, share and improve their business and disability skills and knowledge. To ensure that was possible they designated £20,000 of funds to be used for training and development of employees in 2020/21 and 2021/22.
||**2021**
**£**|2020
£|
|---|---|---|
|At 1 July 2020
Transferred from General Fund
Expenses incurred
At 30 June 2021|**20,000**
**-**
**(4,099) **|-
20,000
-|
||**15,901**|20,000|
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **13 Restricted Funds**
City Bridge London SME project
City Bridge Trust has committed to a five-year grant funded programme to improve the disability confidence of London’s SMEs. The grant is worth circa £50,000 per calendar year commencing January 2020. Administrative delays resulted in half of this year’s award being received after year end.
||**2021**
**£**|2020
£|
|---|---|---|
|At 1 July 2020
Grants received in the year
Expenditure in the year
At 30 June 2021|**37,500**
**25,000**
**(54,000) **|-
37,500
-|
||**8,500**|37,500|
## **14 Leasing commitments**
## **Operating leases**
At 30 June 2021 the charity had the following total minimum commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as follows:
||**2021**
2020
**Land &**
**buildings**
**£**
**Equipment**
**£**
Land &
buildings
£
Equipment
£
**95,000**
**780**
95,000
780
**95,000**
**780**
95,000
780
**114,950**
**195**
209,950
975
**-**
**-**
-
-|
|---|---|
|Operating leases:
Less than one year
Between one and two years
Between two and five years
More than fiveyears||
## **15 Related party transactions**
Nine organisations by which trustees are employed or who are members of the company paid to the charity £297,450 during the year in respect of membership fees and other services, (2020 - nine organisations paid £270,784). These organisations also provided services to the value of £0 free of charge (2020: £9,708).
Of the 2021 related party transactions £0 was outstanding for payment at 30 June 2021. (2020: £8,560 outstanding).
## **16 Liability of members**
The charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee. In the event of the charity being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 8A980887-3168-4851-9FAF-59E6DE04E08D
## **Notes to the financial statements:** 30 June 2021
## **17 Prior year statement of Financial Affairs**
|Notes|Unrestricted
funds
£|Restricted
funds
£|**2020**
**Total funds**
**£**|2019
Total funds
£|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Income and expenditure
Income from:
Investments
Donations
Charitable activities
1
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
2
Total expenditure
Net income / (expenditure) and
net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought
forward at 1 July 2019
Total funds carried
forward at 30 June 2020|2,468
75
2,272,969|-
-
37,500|**2,468**
**75**
**2,310,469**|2,364
-
2,031,305|
||2,275,512|37,500|**2,313,012**|2,033,669|
||2,145,908|-|**2,145,908**|2,058,069|
||2,145,908|-|**2,145,908**|2,058,069|
||129,604
17,085|37,500
-|**167,104**
**17,085**|(24,400)
41,485|
||146,669|37,500|**184,189**|17,085|
## **Accessibility Statement**
Business Disability Forum is committed to ensuring that all its information, products and services are as accessible as possible to everyone. If you wish to discuss anything in regards to the accessibility of the information provided in our Annual Report and Financial Statements please contact us as follows: telephone: 020-7403-3020 or by email: enquiries@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk
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