2022-03-31-accounts - The Family Mediation Trust

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FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Registered office at The Charing Cross Centre, St John Maddermarket, Norwich, NR2 1DN The Family Mediation Trust Ltd is a registered Charity No. 1041476. Registered as a company limited by guarantee and registered in England No. 2975404

Report and Accounts

For the Year Ended 31 March 2022

Charity Number 1041476 Company Number 2975404

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FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022 Registered office at The Charing Cross Centre, St John Maddermarket, Norwich, NR2 1DN The Family Mediation Trust Ltd is a registered Charity No. 1041476. Registered as a company limited by guarantee and registered in England No. 2975404

THE FAMILY MEDIATION TRUST LTD ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

CONTENTS Charity Information Principal Activities Financial Review Chief Executive Officer’s Report Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2022 Accountant’s Report Statement of Financial Activities Balance Sheet Notes to the Accounts	PAGE 3 4 5 5-6 7 8 9 10 11-15

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CHARITY NUMBER

COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER

1041476

2975404 (ENGLAND) A company limited by guarantee not having a share capital

TRUSTEES/DIRECTORS

Chair

Treasurer

Trustees

REGISTERED OFFICE

REPORTING ACCOUNTANT

BANKERS

Tracy Sortwell (appointed 13 October 2021) Joanne Preston (resigned 1 September 2021)

Charles Mckie

Elizabeth Lewis Sarah Calder Hilary Perrott Elisabeth Sneade Meryl Hughes Sophie Smith Andrew Stronach

The Charing Cross Centre St John Maddermarket Norwich NR2 1DN

Stuart Arrandale Chartered Accountant 23-25 Gwydir Street Cambridge CB1 2LG

CAFBANK Ltd Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4TA

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the Trust has continued to deliver legacy work under the contract during the financial year.

Principal Activities

The principal activity of The Family Mediation Trust (‘TFMT’ or ‘the Trust’) is to alleviate the hardship and distress of couples and other family members involved in separation or divorce and to preserve and protect the health, both mental and physical, of the adults and children involved.

Parenting Programmes

We continue to deliver the Separated Parenting Information Programmes (SPIPs) aimed at helping parents to maximise their emotional support to children throughout the period of family separation and its aftermath. These are offered under a contract held with the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) with referrals ordered by the Judges of the local family court.

The core values of our service are inclusiveness, acceptance, and accessibility through the empowerment of parents, carers, and children, quality and professionalism of service, and acting as a voice for the well-being of children.

Centre for Excellence

We aim to help those experiencing relationship breakdown by providing accessible information and support for children, parents and carers from all cultures and communities. We have a special concern for listening to the voices of children and young people and supporting children and their parents or carers.

Following the launch of the Centre For Excellence in March 2021 the Trust has continued to invest time and resources in the development of this area of work. The Centre For Excellence has focused on short course development, delivering one off industry level events and the trial of new mediation approaches.

We aim to help separating couples to work together to resolve their financial and/or childcare problems by offering them a safe environment where their feelings are acknowledged and where they are encouraged to discuss and plan the future as constructively as possible.

To further these objectives, we provide a range of services to couples involved in, or considering, separation and divorce, and to their children and other family members. These services consist of:

Information about all aspects of separation and divorce and the most appropriate means of helping children through parental separation.
Mediation with a view to helping couples to make decisions on practical arrangements for themselves and their children; and
Training of mediators and other professionals in the role and delivery of mediation to separating families.

Mediation Service

We employ nine mediators. One of our mediators is also a Professional Practice Consultant and provides in-house supervision, alongside additional Professional Practice Consultancy from an external consultant.

The Trust remains dedicated to supporting new mediators through their training. Over the year we have been supporting three mediators in the development of their portfolios.

As well as providing our core family mediation work, we continue to provide Special Educational Needs and Disability Mediation (SEND) for Cambridgeshire County Council. This contract was re-tendered in 2020 along with 16 other local authorities. Due to the UK-wide nature of the contract TFMT declined to tender for this work. The core contract has ended but

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Financial Review

Income for the year amounted to £320,399 (year ended 31 March 2021: £251,427). Donations gratefully received during the year amounted to £12,262 (year ended 31 March 2021: £31,713).

Reserves

The balance on the unrestricted fund account on 31 March 2022 was £150,057 (year ended 31 March 2021: £106,353). The Trustees continue to focus on three primary financial objectives: (1) maintain sufficient cash reserves to enhance organisational resilience to respond to any future economic downturns; (2) further develop the service’s revenue streams to financially support the service’s charitable objectives obviating the need to rely largely on charitable donations to fund capital expenditure and future development; and (3) invest in the future of the sector to promote service quality in a changing society to deliver longterm societal benefit

The balance on the restricted fund account on 31 March 2022 was £11,848 (year ended 31 March 2021: £1,854).

Chief Executive Officer’s Report

This financial year has seen the Trust focus on consolidating the work it had achieved through the merger of the two founding services, including the expansion of delivery across a larger geographic area.

The year has been intermittently affected by Covid. With the uncertainty over the last two years, I have been acutely aware of the importance of building a resilient Trust. Working closely with the Trustees, strategic decisions have been made with thorough consideration to the long-term structure of the Trust.

COVID-19

Following a year of unprecedented COVID-19 issues, 2021 -22 started off with the easing of many of the societal restrictions imposed the year before.

Between April and June 2021 restrictions on the opening of nonessential businesses were lifted. However, by the end of the year we were again experiencing high level Covid rates and restrictions such as the mandatory use of face masks in some settings were reintroduced. On the 24[th] February 2022 the government announced a plan for living with Covid and a roadmap for the removal of all remaining restrictions.

The impact of Covid on the delivery of mediation meant that bookings where often made in peaks and troughs resulting in the income for the Trust being volatile during the period.

few clients requesting face to face delivery, instead preferring the flexibility of remote service delivery.

Delivery Performance

The table below provides the year’s key performance indicators against the previous two years.

	2019/20 Outputs1	2020/21 Outputs	2021/22 Outputs
1stMIAMS	373	880	940
2ndMIAMS	176	338	419
Mediation Sessions	228	266	491

The above table highlights a strong period of growth in both initial MIAMs of 7% year on year growth.

The table shows that we have seen a far greater increase in 2[nd] MIAMs (24% increase) and subsequent mediation sessions (85% increase). Overall, there was a 71.4% increase in positive mediation outcomes from the previous year. The Trust has focused on increasing communication to the second client to achieve a greater conversion rate into mediation.

Delivery of mediation has expanded geographically over the year with substantial growth in Suffolk, Essex and other neighbouring counties to the Trusts heartlands of Cambridge, Peterborough and Norfolk.

During the year the Trust and its sub-contracting partners achieved a total of 937 Separated Parents Information Programme (‘SPIPS’), compared to 788 the year before, an increase of 19%. Of these 76.3% were delivered within 20 working days of referral and 73% completed feedback forms.

Supporting Our Team

The Trust has embraced a home working approach. This has enabled our staff to take a more flexible working approach that aims to improve the work life balance for our people.

The move to home working and the introduction of IT and technical infrastructure in 2020/21 has enabled this move to take place in a seamless way, with very limited implementation challenges.

During the year ended 31 March 2022 the Trustees approved both a full staff pay review and the introduction of the Real Living Wage. Additionally, staff have received an extension to their holiday entitlement and the introduction of sick leave compensation.

The collective impact of the above is that the Trust has retained a very low level of staff turnover.

The perceived desire to return mediation services to face to face delivery has been met with resistance from clients, with very

1 Pre-merger figures

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of the team that has enabled the Trust to have another successful year.

The Centre For Excellence

Following the launch of the Centre for Excellence in March 2020 the Trust has now secure College of Mediators accreditation for the delivery of CPD training. This accreditation enabled the Trust to deliver a range of short courses in topics ranging from Legal Aid Assessments to Dealing with High Conflict mediation.

The Trustees have been able to show guidance and support to decision making while also focusing on ensuring the governance of the charity has been maintained at the highest level.

The Trust has been fortunate to have received support from a number of charities and Trusts. We would like to thank the following for their support:

The Centre for Excellence ran two high profile sector leading events during the year ended 31 March 2022.

CAF Bank
ICS

The Family Mediators Conference

The Privy Purse
Norfolk Community Foundation

This event attracted a very impressive line-up of speakers from His Honour Judge Cobb to Professor Gordon Harrold. The conference explored key issues in mediation from the political landscape we work in through to mental health challenges in the children of separated families.

The papers from this event can be found at: https://www.thefamilymediationtrust.org/the-centre-forexcellence-conference

Should Mediation Be Compulsory: The Debate

With raising talk in the industry around mediation becoming a compulsory process in the family courts the Trust held an open date that attracted over 400 attendees and has been used in policy formation by the Judiciary. The debate attracted leading family law professions to present the two sides of the issue to an outstanding panel of judges. Overall, with exceptional chairing by His Honour Judge Wildblood the judges found in favour of mediation remaining a volunteer process.

The Debate can be re watched at: https://youtu.be/D0Rn1ooeFvc

Plans for the Future

While this year has been a successful year for the Trust there is still further work that can and should be undertaken. Over the coming year the Trust will be focusing on:

Increasing the number of families the Trust works with to ensure the impact of our work is felt by more people;
Introduce new projects and ways of working to continue to find ways of working with the increasingly complex nature of family separation, projects such as Parenting Coordination; and
Developing the work of the Centre for Excellence.

Thank You

The team of administrators and mediators at the Trust are not only extremely hard working but also show compassion and commitment to our clients every day. It is this approach from all

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

The trustees (who are also directors of The Family Mediation Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company Law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law they have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with applicable law, United Kingdom Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland” and the Charities SORP 2020.

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

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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 company will continue its activities.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that its financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities SORP 2020. They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the company and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

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

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies and in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charities Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act 2011.

Independent examiners

The directors reappointed Stuart Arrandale, Chartered Certified Accountants as independent examiner to the company.

Reserves Policy

The charity aims to hold sufficient general funds to cover the cost of running the charity for three months.

Post Balance Sheet Events

There are no Post Balance Sheet Events to be reported.

Signed on behalf of the Trustees on.

Charles McKie

Charles McKie (Oct 26, 2022 21:52 GMT+1)

Mr Charles Mckie

Director

26 October 2022

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POR THL. Yi4RENDED31 MARCHJ122 Rwst¢redoffic¢a¢The CharingCrossCen¢re. &JobDMthmwkeLkniwlLNP2 IDN ThL. F¥rnilYmcd]ati TrLLlsaWcjrdckntLty). 1ts11470. Regisreyalas limi by 8uMre¢wN1siq£II UbFJwWNo. 297.4 Fomilv Medlatlon Trust ACCOUNTANT'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS ON THE UNAUDITED ACCOUNTS OF CAMBRIDGE FAMILY MEDIATION SERVICE I Teport oft the ae¢tsunis foi ytaretLded 31 Mah 2022, th1¢h attset onp4es9 ro IS. Respective responsibilities of Trustees and reporting accountants As described on page 7 the TruCeS. are also the 'reo of The Family Mediarion Tn1 Ltd for the puty)ses of compBny law, are rtrp)nsihl¢ for ihe prtparaii()n af th¢ aceouthw thry lder att a11[ 1% JMK required for thi$ year and ihai an ind¢pend¢ni cxorninaliun under sccliun 144 uf Ihc Charities Act )01 l is LY1. Ir restx)nsibility to." examine the ac¢outtts ullder 145 of tkTharitie% A itr follow the prl1res laid down in the gentral thr¢¢iions given by thecharity Commission aNI io state wthether panicuknr Jnattcrs havc J)ry allcntio Basis of statement My WO carried oui in aecordance wilh gewal direc111w giveth by the Charity Commission. An ex111all0Th in¢lude4 a r¢vi¢w of the ccountinu rccord% kcpl by ihc charily llnd a comparison of the 3ccoullis prexcThd Ihosc records. li also includcs considcrali(m of any unu%ual iienb or disclosurcs In the accouthts and sttking cxplanaiians from thc T1¢¢5 conccrning any such iiiallers. The procc4Juro% uniler&d(en ilo noi prthvide all the e¥iden¢t rhar W(1 re4uired in an audir. armi tonscquenily no opinion is gjji'en tss ia wheiliLr the coun14 pr¢%eni a'lrue and fjir. vi¢w and the rcp)rt is limi1 io twncrs sw in ihc SULwnYni 6¢10.. Independent examiner's statement In connectiiin with my examinaiiotL no m8t¢er h&% ¢ome 10 my alleniion which gives me rtawnablc csusc kn bclieve th81 in any maierial rpeCt. the requirements.. 10 ke accounting r¢cords in a¢wTdaN¢ with s¢¢iion 130 ofthc LThan"iics ACL and 10 pJtpar¢ Èccotsnis whi¢h accord with th¢ AC¢OUrttth8 r¢quireJNts of the th]11 A not bccn m¢1, or to which in my iniOn 10n shwld b¢ in ordcr to Cn1¢ a prow undusr8ndin8 of th¢ accounis lo bc rc4i¢hed Stuart Arran<lale STUAK'I. AKiiANDALE Chthereil Accountam 2_3-25 (ldiT S c.1mbridgL CBI 2LO 31 Octr 2022

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

NOTESUnrestricted funds INCOME AND EXPENDITURE £ INCOMING RESOURCES Donations 1c 2,268 Incoming resources from operating activities in furtherance of the charity’s objects 308,118 Investment income 19 TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES 310,405 Cost of generating funds - NET INCOMING RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR CHARITABLE APPLICATION 310,405 RESOURCES EXPENDED Direct charitable expenditure 3 304,820 Governance costs 5 1,200 TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED 306,020 NET INCOMING /(OUTGOING) RESOURCES FOR THE YEAR 2 4,385 Assets transferred from Norfolk FMS 39,319 Balances brought forward At 1 April 2021106,353 Balances carried forward At 31 March 2022150,057	Restricted funds £ 9,994 - - 9,994 - 9,994 - - - 9,994 - 1,854 11,848	Total 2022 £ 12,262 308,118 19 320,399 - 320,399 304,820 1,200 306,020 14,379 39,319 108,207 161,905	Total 2021 £ 31,713 219,683 31 251,427 - 251,427 216,570 1,000 217,570 33,857 - 74,350 108,207

The notes on page 11 to 15 form part of these accounts.

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THE FAMILY MEDIATION TRUST LTD BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2022

FIXED ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS Debtors Cash and Bank CURRENT LIABILITIES Creditors falling due within one year NET CURRENT ASSETS TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES INCOME FUNDS Restricted funds Unrestricted funds	NOTES 6 7 8 10	2022 2021 £ £ £ £ 3,325 - 33,807 26,160 148,556 98,444 182,363 124,604 23,783 16,397 158,580 108,207 161,905 108,207 11,848 1,854 150,057 106,353 161,905 108,207

For the financial year in question the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

No members have required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

Approved by the Trustees on 2022 and signed on their behalf. 26 October

Charles McKie

Charles McKie (Oct 26, 2022 21:52 GMT+1)................................................................(Director)

The notes on pages 11 to 15 form part of these accounts.

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

a) BASIS OF PREPARATION OF ACCOUNTS

These financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), “Accounting and Reporting by Charities”, the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and in accordance with the provisions of Section 1A “Small Entities” of Financial Reporting Standard 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (FRS102).

The Family Mediation Trust Ltd meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

The financial statements are presented in pounds sterling (£), rounded to the nearest pound.

b) FUND ACCOUNTING

Unrestricted funds represent accumulated surpluses and deficits in the general fund which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in the furtherance of the charity’s objectives.

Restricted funds are created when income is received for a specific purpose and use is restricted to that purpose.

c) INCOMING RESOURCES

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

i. Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable. Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.
ii. Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included in these accounts.
iii. Investment income is included when receivable.
iv. Income from fees is accounted for on a receipts basis.
v. Incoming resources from grants, where related to performance and specific deliverables, are accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its performance.

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022 (continued)

d) RESOURCES EXPENDED

Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates.

i. Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries.
ii. Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include professional fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity.

iii. All costs are allocated directly between the expenditure categories of the Statement of Financial Activities.

e) DEPRECIATION

Tangible fixed assets costing less than £1,500 are written off in the year that they are acquired.

Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets so as to write off the cost of assets, including the value of donated assets, less estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives, on a straight-line basis. It is calculated at the following rate:

Office equipment: 25%

f) TAXATION

The activities of the company qualify as charitable activities for corporation tax and therefore the company claims the charitable exemption provisions on any surplus arising from its primary trading activities. During the year the company did not undertake any non-charitable trading activities.

g) LEASES

Rentals under operating leases and hire agreements are charged to the income and expenditure account as incurred.

2. NET INCOMING/(OUTGOING) RESOURCES

The net incoming/(outgoing) resources before transfers for the year is arrived at after:

	2022 2021
	£ £
Reporting Accountant’s fee	1,200 1,000
Combined liability insurance	1,460 1, 328
Depreciation	- =

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022 (continued)

3. DIRECT CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE

Unrestricted Restricted Total
hm funds funds 2022 2021
All Services £ £ £ £
Mediators salaries 126,323 - 126,323 90,960
Non-Mediators salaries 82,361 - 82,361 68,558
Establishment and admin costs 94,618 - 94,618 55,552
Training, affiliation and travel1,518-1,518 1,500
304,820-304,820 216,570

4. ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

	Unrestricted Restricted Total
	funds funds 2022 2021
Establishment	£ £ £ £
Rent and rates*	12,358 - 12,358 (18,199)
Telephone	4,850 - 4,850 4,457
Printing, post & stationery	5,668 - 5,668 3,106
Administration
Bookkeeping	5,569 - 5,269 4,225
Insurance	1,460 - 1,460 1,328
Consultancy expenses**	50,000 - 50,000 41,315
Cost of merger and removal	- - - 9,375
Depreciation office equipment	- - - -
Sundry	14,712 - 14,712 9,945
	94,618-94,618 55,552

*On 30[th] June 2020 the Trust surrendered its lease at Essex House in Cambridge to facilitate redevelopment of the site. The Trust secured a one-off early termination compensation payment of £36,500 reflected in rent and rates above.

** The consultancy expenses cover the fees for The Rural Consultant Ltd to provide Management Services to the Family Mediation Trust throughout the year.

5. GOVERNANCE COSTS

Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2022 Financial and professional £ £ £ Independent examination 1,200 - 1,200 Total Administration 1,200-1,200	2021 £ 1,000 1,000

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022 (continued)

6. FIXED ASSETS Cost At 1 April 2021 Additions At 31 March 2022 Depreciation At 1 April 2021 Charge for year At 31 March 2022 Net 31 March 2022 Net 31 March 2021 7. DEBTORS Trade debtors Other debtors and prepayments 8. CREDITORS: Amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Other taxation and social security	Leasehold Improvements £ 11,163 - 11,163 11,163 - 11,163 - -	Leasehold Improvements £ 11,163 - 11,163 11,163 - 11,163 - -	Office Equipment £ 24,027 3,325 27,352 24,027 - 24,027 3,325	Office Equipment £ 24,027 3,325 27,352 24,027 - 24,027 3,325
			-
		2022 £ 30,626 3,181 33,807 2022 £ 5,151 18,632 23,783

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

9.	RESTRICTED FUNDS	2022 2021
		£ £
	Law Services Commission	1,854 1,854
	Norfolk Community Foundation	9,994 -
		11,848 1,854

10. TRUSTEES AND EMPLOYEES

There were 14 employees during the year (2021: 14) each earning less than £40,000 p.a. There were no transactions with the Trustees who receive no emoluments.

11. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

The charity has no contingent liabilities.

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