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2021-06-30-accounts

The Bromley by Bow Centre Report and financial statements For the year ended 30 June 2021

Company number: 2942840 Charity number: 1041653

The Bromley by Bow Centre Contents

30 Independent auditor’s report

36 Statement of cash flows

37 Notes to the financial statements

50 Reference and administrative details

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

The Trustees present their Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2021.

A Overview

Chair’s Introduction

“I firmly believe Covid-19 has been a torch, shining a light on inequalities, but it has also been a wedge, forcing those inequalities wider.”

Our work at the Bromley by Bow Centre is always very challenging. We are constantly dealing with the unexpected and responding where needs arise. We are a charity focused on supporting human beings when they face a whole range of difficulties in life and that requires us to be fleet of foot and always engaged in the heart of our community. Our founding principle is ‘be compassionate’ and that very simple sounding task is, at its core, something that requires flexibility and demands us to be on the ground where the needs arise.

This past year has seen us responding to fresh layers of challenge, uncertainty and an ever-increasing demand for our life-supporting services. As you read this report you will discover an organisation that has had to be inventive and responsive to ever-changing situations. But it has been a transformation that is not rooted in theory or one that has been handed to us by a government or NHS system. It has been a time when we have had to reinvent the charity using our own team and resources and with the support of loyal friends and funders. The challenge of doing this as an independent charity should not be under-estimated.

In my role as Professor of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College, I have been deeply involved in thinking about Covid-19 and I understand very well the impact it is having on the health of so many people around the world. As a scientist, I can measure the effect the virus is having and predict outcomes. As the Chair of the Centre, I see a wider context to the pandemic. I firmly believe Covid-19 has been a torch, shining a light on inequalities, but it has also been a wedge, forcing those inequalities wider.

This reality makes the work of the Centre more vital than ever. It is important for our community in East London, but I also recognise that our work is pioneering and increasingly our model is seen as a blueprint in other parts of the UK.

It’s remarkable that the charity has improved its financial performance in the past year despite these significant challenges. The team have pulled together strongly and continued to drive the efficiency of the organisation. We have an excellent executive team and I am proud to be Chair of a Board of outstanding Trustees, who bring a tremendous range of skills and diverse experience. It makes for a firm governance base for the charity that is able to provide an excellent balance of challenge and support to the Centre’s team.

In this report we acknowledge the vital support we receive from our funders and partners. This support is increasingly important at this time, as our work becomes more vital and the pressure on funding remains very difficult.

The events of this past year have made us all the more determined to strengthen the charity and its work and expand the depth and range of impact we are making for our community.

Professor Ajit Lalvani Chair

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

The Year in View

The past year has been very tough and we have focused on “thriving not just surviving”. Despite the challenges, we have been successful. As we headed into a new financial year, the Covid-19 pandemic remained with us and with it significant uncertainty. We really had no idea what this would mean for our lives, for communities across the country or indeed for the Centre.

The truth is that the pandemic has meant a huge amount of suffering and sadness and anxiety. The Centre had all but closed overnight and remained closed for the vital face-to-face services so many people rely upon. We continued to transform most of our services so they could be maintained remotely and we had to navigate around the complex challenges that so many people living in our community face.

The re-invention of our projects means we have been able to combine the best of our old ways with our new and innovative ways of working. We are gradually re-opening the Centre, but with fresh tools we can reach more people in need, particularly those in the most desperate and challenging of circumstances living in our community.

Remarkably we have come through the crisis in much better financial shape than we went into it. And we have renewed our ways of working and back office functions and made the whole organisation more efficient. We have a strong base for growing the Centre.

Highlights and Key Achievements

A 48% increase in advice casework was handled by our existing team

Our advice casework has increased by 48% for benefits, housing and debt support and is being dealt with by our existing team. Time spent assisting people with advice has increased by 55%.

Advice workers supported social welfare applications of over £5.5 million

£5,531,000 was generated by our advice team through grants, awards and benefit applications – this is money local people would not otherwise have had access to.

Weekly food was provided for 611 adults and 1,241 children

An average of 611 adults and 1,241 children were supported each week by Bow Foodbank at the Centre with food and other essential items. Many people had never used a food bank before.

86% of vulnerable people proactively contacted in lockdown required support

86% of vulnerable people who were identified and proactively contacted by our rapid response social prescribing team during Covid-19 lockdowns had no other access to help or assistance. Our team provided phone support and connected people to appropriate community services.

There was a 25% increase in demand for energy advice

1,343 energy advice clients were supported; a 25% increase on the previous year. £1,318,000 was gained for our clients in awards, refunds, switched tariffs and debt-management.

130 computer tablets were provided to assist digital access and learning

130 computer tablets, donated from generous funders, were distributed to address digital-exclusion for individuals and families and to transition English classes and digital skills-building online. Each recipient received weekly support calls from our learning team.

972 people had support sessions with social prescribing link workers

58% of these people had between two and six support sessions to address complex needs. A further 981 proactive calls were made to clients identified as vulnerable by link workers.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

1,600 calls and online sessions took place to support people with disabilities

Over 1,600 phone and online sessions took place to continue to help maintain independence and learning for our social care clients who could not attend in person. 2,080 arts and activity packs were sent to homes to maintain engagement and create a sense of connection and fun.

237 resident-led community workshops took place with 2,836 participants

Our Communities Driving Change team supported 22 different volunteer-led projects and initiatives to become established and operational locally, helping to build community capacity.

Over 3,200 practitioners attended online knowledge events

3,229 people attended over 30 online knowledge share and exchange events run by Bromley by Bow Insights including ‘Radical approaches to community health in a post-Covid-19 world’.

£6 million turnover and 375 new jobs have now been created by social enterprises we have incubated 51 social businesses, launched by our Beyond Business programme backed by Investec, support over 3,000 people. Four new businesses were added this year. They are involved in employing people with lived experience of homelessness; martial arts with young people; accessible mobile dentistry; and mindfulness classes.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thank you!

We’re so grateful to our wonderful friends and funders, without whom none of our work would be possible. It is thanks to these individuals and organisations that we have been able to continue to deliver high-quality services despite the challenges presented by Covid-19. We celebrate and acknowledge the enormous contribution of all our supporters.

Our Volunteers

During the year, 59 volunteers made an invaluable contribution to our work, from local people volunteering to support their community and learn new skills to established business people who bring their experience in specific areas. These contributions make a positive difference in various service delivery areas, as identified in this report, and ensuring the effective running of the organisation as a whole. We are very grateful to them all.

Our 280 Challenge

In February 2021, a group of staff and supporters took part in our incredible 280 Challenge. Each one of them ran, walked or cycled 280 kilometres, the equivalent of all the roads in our borough of Tower Hamlets - bringing our motto of ‘Step by Step, it’s Possible’ to life. The team raised over £25,000, which was used to fund essential services for the community during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. We look forward to launching a new bespoke challenge in 2022!

A spotlight on our incredible corporate partnerships

We’re enormously grateful to the longstanding relationships we have built with our corporate partners. Their support over the past year has been even more crucial, as we faced an ever-increasing demand for our services against the challenging backdrop of operating and fundraising during a pandemic. We are so grateful to all the companies who took part in our Christmas Toys Appeal, which enabled us to provide a toy for Christmas to 754 local children. We’d like to extend special thanks to our longstanding friends at OCS, Stephenson Harwood and Vitabiotics, who continued to support us in a multitude of ways during 2020-21, including through generous funding, invaluable pro-bono support, sponsorship pledges and through corporate volunteering.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

A thank you to our Friends

In 2020, we launched the charity’s first ever regular giving programme: Friends of the Bromley by Bow Centre. During 2020-21, we continued to build the programme, and were delighted to welcome more people as Friends of the Centre. The support of our Friends is absolutely invaluable to us, as we look to grow over the coming years. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our Friends for your belief in the Centre and your continued support for our work.

The following individuals and organisations funded our vital work during the year.

29th May 1961 Charitable Trust L&Q Foundation Action for Bow Lightful Baily Thomas Charitable Trust London Borough of Tower Hamlets (“LBTH”) Barking Riverside The Mercers' Company Brewin Dolphin Merchant Taylors’ Charity Bridgepoint Mile End and Bromley by Bow Health (MEEBBB) British Gas Energy Trust Health CIC Bromley by Bow Health Ministry of Housing Communities & Local BT via the Good Things Foundation Government via LBTH City Bridge Trust Modus Analytics City University Morgan Stanley Co-op Foundation - Local Community Fund National Lottery Community Fund Co-op Foundation - Space to Connect New City College DAC Beachcroft NHS England Department for Education via the Good Things NHS Property Services Ltd Foundation NW London STP Drapers’ Charitable Fund OCS EDF Trust via Charis Grants Poplar HARCA East London Foundation (NHS) Trust Postcode Community Trust East End Community Fund Public Health Action Support Team CIC Eastend Homes Quaker Social Action Edward Gosling Foundation (formerly the ACT The Rayne Foundation Foundation) Seoul Metropolitan Government Energy Redress Fund Sir Sam Everington Enable Social Action for Health Gateway Housing Association Social Investment Business Good Things Foundation Sport England Google via the Good Things Foundation Stephenson Harwood Graham Spooner TDS Charitable Foundation Greater London Authority Transport for London The Health Foundation The Tudor Trust Healthwatch Tower Hamlets Tower Hamlets CCG Healthy London Partnership UCL Heritage of London Fund Vitabiotics Foundation HMCTS via the Good Things Foundation Wakefield & Tetley Trust via London Community HMRC via the Good Things Foundation Response Fund Ingeus Well North Enterprises Investec Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants John Ellerman Foundation Livery Company JP Morgan Chase Foundation

In addition, we thank and acknowledge generous donations made anonymously, all those people who have supported us by completing fundraising events and the members of our Friends’ giving programme.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

B Strategy and Operations

BBBC in a nutshell

The Centre’s strategic forward plan for growth ‘Seizing the Future’ was completely revised for 2019 to 2022. The charity has a profound belief that being healthy is fundamentally connected to being part of a vibrant community. This belief is core to our Vision, our Mission Statement and our Active Values.

Our Vision

To transform lives by building a healthy and vibrant local community and to share our blueprint and help others emulate our success.

Our Mission Statement

We know how to radically transform communities where people feel disconnected from each other. We call it the Bromley by Bow Model and it is based on delivering integrated support that empowers people by addressing both their health needs and their wider social needs at the same time. It also contributes to creating stronger communities where people care for each other and celebrate their diversity and common humanity in inspirational and creative spaces. Through delivering this model, the Centre will be instrumental in transforming the lives of 10,000 Londoners by 2023.

Active Values underpinning our approach

----- Start of picture text -----
be assume it’s
be a friend have fun
compassionate possible
----- End of picture text -----

How we work - summary of model and approach

The Centre is a vibrant community charity in the heart of East London. It has a national and international reputation for its highly innovative approach which inspires and empowers local people to transform their lives. The Centre delivers a diverse range of projects based on a unique model that combines social entrepreneurship, the arts, learning, social support, horticulture and holistic and integrated health programmes.

The charity supports families, young people and adults of all ages to learn new skills, improve their health and wellbeing, find employment and develop the confidence needed to achieve positive outcomes they may not have dreamt of.

We work with the most vulnerable people in our community, those who are isolated, facing physical or mental ill health or who are lacking confidence, skills or qualifications. The Centre operates in an area with immense potential and human assets, alongside deep-seated economic and social problems.

Our vision is of a community where everyone benefits from the opportunities the future holds and where no one is ignored, excluded or forgotten. The charity’s mission is to use our empowering social entrepreneurial model to create a cohesive, healthy, successful and vibrant community that becomes a blueprint for others across the UK.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

The year in our community and the effect of Covid-19

This year, we have continued to see the impact of Covid-19 locally with the people in our community who were already in urgent need, now experiencing crisis on a daily basis. We are seeing a significant increase in demand for our services across the board, particularly for employment, social welfare and mental health support. The demand for support that responds to basic needs remains high and the digital divide is increasing. The reasons for this varies from person to person and household to household but statistics provide insight into the causes.

The Centre’s significant experience and trusted position within our community means we are uniquely placed to respond. Together with our GP Partners in Bromley by Bow Health (“BBBH”) we analyse local primary health care data to target people who benefit from a telephone wellbeing check and discussion around further support. Through this new Rapid Response Social Prescribing project we proactively contact people, assess their specific needs and recommend a bespoke package of support services provided by the Centre and our partners. The service is designed to provide practical and holistic support as quickly as possible.

Using extensive and embedded community infrastructure from the Centre, local GP practices and housing provider, Poplar HARCA, a pilot project was set up in 2020 to establish a sensitive and bespoke approach to contact tracing in a diverse community-led setting with up to 50,000 local residents. The Centre’s trusted role in the community provided a backdrop to the project and became a reference point for the whole borough. As test and tracing evolved, the Centre team continued to advise on the project using specialised local knowledge

Alongside our support for people in crisis and those facing very challenging circumstances, we have also seen a demand for and actively promoted arts activities, recognising the value of being creative during a period of change and its positive impact on a person’s adaptability and resilience. The disruption of routine, lack of ritual and the feeling that we are subject to random and chaotic events have all taken their toll on clients and staff alike.

Summary of service delivery and forward plans

The impact of the pandemic has meant continued adaptations to our service delivery model so that we are able to meet demand and continue to support our community. We have gradually brought more services back into the Centre, focused even more on outreach and engagement and supporting clients with their mental health, financial challenges and need for connection after long periods of isolation. Partnerships continue to be central to our delivery including BBBH, Poplar HARCA, Bow Foodbank, City and East London Bereavement Service and the United Reformed Church (“URC”).

ADVICE

Our advice team provides a range of free advice including social welfare, energy, financial and digital inclusion support. We provide our services both at the Centre and in a range of locations across the borough. In the latter part of 2020/21 we gradually reintroduced face-to-face support for our most vulnerable clients, as well as continuing to provide remote support. Our remote services have included wellbeing checks, a digital inclusion project called ‘Up to Speed’ (which was delivered via Zoom and WhatsApp video) and online workshops to support better money management.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

We have a programme of ongoing continuous personal development for team members and some have either obtained or are working towards obtaining further advice-related qualifications. We have also trained our volunteer Energy Champions to achieve the Level 1 Fuel Poverty & Energy Costs accreditation and successfully secured Advice Quality Standard (AQS) re-accreditation, following an AQS audit of our welfare benefits and disability services at casework level.

Social Welfare Advice

The Centre’s social welfare advice service provides support with debt, housing and welfare benefits both at the Centre and in 12 local venues. It is funded through statutory contracts including the LBTH Local Community Fund, Tower Hamlets Health and Advice Links, Information Advice and Advocacy, as well as local housing providers and trust funds. The Centre works in partnership with advice services locally to provide both generalist and specialist support to members of the local community.

Energy Advice

Our energy advice is aimed at reducing and managing fuel debt, maximising income, reducing fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency (East End Energy Fit). Funding for the Energy Advice service was from the British Gas Energy Trust (BGET) and UK Power Partners. We also delivered ‘Empower You Too’, a 6 week accredited energy course delivered online, enabling participants to train as Energy Champions.

Financial resilience and digital inclusion

The Centre’s Getting on with Money project provides people with one-to-one money management support including assistance with debt, income maximisation, managing money effectively and taking control of their finances. It also provides workshops in the community to build financial capability and resilience. A network of volunteers has developed a programme of community activities aimed at improving financial resilience.

Ali’s story Sharing his experience to help others with energy debt

Ali came to the Centre after finding it hard to get the help he needed elsewhere. Normally, Ali was able to keep on top of his bills but, after losing his wife and facing bereavement, he found it hard to focus on all the things that needed doing and the bills that needed paying.

The Energy Advice Team set to work. Firstly, they obtained accurate meter readings and assessed Ali’s bill. They then worked to develop a payment plan to make sure future energy bills are payable in a sustainable, stress-free way. Together they jointly compared tariffs using a price comparison website. Ali was then able to switch to a more affordable tariff.

After this, the team worked with him to make a grant application to the EDF energy trust fund, obtain a Warm Home Discount and install energy-efficient light bulbs and a carbon monoxide alarm.

“The support and kindness I received was a blessing. I would encourage anyone struggling with bills to contact the Centre.”

2021/22 Delivery plans

The pandemic has meant a significant increase in demand for our advice services. In order to help meet demand we will recruit and train volunteers to provide much needed general and specialist support. We will continue with the implementation of the blended advice service which incorporates telephone, email and face-to-face support.

We will build on our partnerships with external stakeholders such as foodbanks, health centres, children’s centres and neighbourhood centres to expand our reach and obtain regular feedback from service users to ensure that the advice programme meets their needs.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

BEYOND BUSINESS

Our award-winning enterprise incubation programme has been supported by Investec since 2011 and assists emerging social enterprises in East London. Successful applicants receive up to £20,000 in funding as well as training and support to help get great business ideas off the ground. Since 2011, we’ve helped set up 50 new social enterprises in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham, 80% of which are still in business. A special mention to our funders Investec who, this year, also supported Bow Foodbank with thousands of pounds’ worth of food donations in partnership with a national supermarket chain. They also provided a generous cash donation.

This year, we sent out 300 application forms to prospective entrepreneurs and then received and processed over 110 completed forms. From this initial group of applicants we shortlisted 23 for in-depth interviews. Ultimately eight candidates were shortlisted to the Dragons’ Den style pitch process and they were all supported by the Beyond Business team, with many hours of individual coaching, training and skills transfer to prepare for their pitch. Four winners emerged following the Dragons’ Den, each focused on a different social outcome including: employment for people with lived experience of homelessness; working with young people through martial arts, mindfulness classes providing access to dental treatment to people who are homeless.

Alongside the recruitment of the new social entrepreneurs we have continued to support the existing and growing alumni, who between them now provide services to over 3000 clients and customers.

Laura’s story

A social entrepreneur with a voice to be heard

Laura has quite a tale to tell. Based in Tower Hamlets, she is the head of a highly successful social enterprise business.

A few years ago, Laura couldn’t have imagined how far she would come. Like many people, Laura has a long-standing fear of speaking in front of groups. It was her determination to overcome this fear, and to remove the same barrier for others, that led to her founding ‘We Speak’ with the support of Beyond Business. Her enterprise runs programmes and workshops for young people from under-represented backgrounds who lack speaking confidence.

As the business started to build, it was hit by the pandemic. This could have stopped the work in its tracks but Laura, with the help of the Beyond Business team, repurposed the business model and launched online courses. This has enabled the business to reach and support many more people at a difficult time.

“It’s amazing how much support is out there when you care enough about something.”

2021/22 Delivery plans

We will provide support to our new candidates as well as continuing to provide support to our existing alumni. The support is provided by the Beyond Business team and our funders Investec in the shape of one-to-one skills transfer training, mentoring and networking opportunities. There will be a blended model of delivery, mixing our successful remote working and in person interaction with our candidates and at the Dragons’ Den.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Community Connections is a programme that aims to promote the cohesion and integration of the local community. Central to it is community outreach and engagement, with projects designed to bring together individuals and families to access and co-design a range of activities and services. Typically, we are engaging with those who have multiple and complex needs, are on a longer journey of support or are becoming involved with the Centre for the first time. The focus is on participation, informal learning, volunteering and encouraging people to come together and use the Centre’s facilities. The aim is to integrate services and resources to have greater impact, operationalise and support resident-led activities so they can be sustainable and support the rebuilding of resident and volunteer confidence to re-engage with their community and services.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Connection Zone

The Connection Zone is an important part of life at the Centre, connecting people to projects and services across the Centre, BBBH and the community. It was a welcoming, physical space and, inevitably impacted by the pandemic, this year it has acted as a virtual hub helping people access vital services and advice and to host faceto-face advice sessions in a “Covid-safe” environment for those who are digitally excluded or social isolated.

Communities Driving Change

We entered our fourth year of delivering Communities Driving Change, a flagship project aimed at empowering communities to take action on local issues. The core principles of the project relate to the wider determinants of health, health creation and social movements for health. It signals a move away from traditional models of service delivery to a model of community empowerment . The team identified and contacted residents who may have needed support through proactive outreach e.g. one-off and on-going wellbeing calls.

Health Champions

Community Health Champions are volunteers who promote healthy lifestyles by supporting others to take a more active role in their health. Local residents complete a 5 week, level 2 accredited, training course to learn about how to stay healthy and support others to lead healthier lives.

Space to Connect

Space to Connect is a service that promotes creative activities and healthy lifestyles. It aims to connect people and help build friendships for anyone over 50. The programme includes art workshops and healthy lifestyles sessions to promote health, encourage exercise and help people develop personal goals.

Bow Foodbank

Throughout the year, the Centre continued to provide a home for this essential community partner, an independent foodbank charity that has served the local community since 2014. This has involved adaption and flexibility of our space and buildings and has presented important opportunities for linking attendees into support services such as advice, employment and learning classes.

Collectively, our community connections programme signposted and shared information with residents to access support services and address urgent needs. Our teams listened to residents’ experiences and learned about the changing local situation in relation to the impact of the pandemic and fed back where relevant (for example, to local Public Health colleagues). We delivered online activities to connect with members of the local community and directly delivered support as part of the emergency response.

Brenda’s story

Softly spoken community activist changing her part of the world

Brenda is a woman not to be underestimated: beneath a gentle exterior sits a steely determination. She first came to the Centre a few years ago to attend courses in money management, mental health awareness and crafting.

She became part of the Centre’s project Communities Driving Change (CDC) from the beginning in 2018. She is East London born and bred, a trusted local resident helping to generate a better environment at the Burdett Estate E3 where she has lived for 50 years.

Her activism has effected change in her local area; traffic schemes to improve road safety, estate security issues, ensuring support for residents shielding during Covid-19, obtaining interpreters to support complex applications and forms for those whose first language isn’t English. She campaigns for health awareness, especially men’s health and is an inspiring advocate.

“The Centre has inspired me to do more of what I’m good at and make a difference where I live”

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

2021/22 Delivery plans

In the coming year we aim to expand community outreach so that it is more data driven and in line with population need and the social determinants of health. We also plan to reach and engage an even more diverse range of local residents and stakeholders. Central to this will be the establishment of a new Welcome Hub at the Centre which will replace and expand the Connection Zone to all areas of entry into the building. The expansion of the space will enable us to extend the involvement of local people in the design and delivery of activities and help build capacity at individual, community and stakeholder level, through active engagement and personal development.

EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS

The aim of our employability programme is to provide vital support for clients experiencing a range of barriers to work. These may include people with limited skills and experience, lack of confidence or caring responsibilities. This year we have focused on supporting clients who are long-term unemployed or have never worked and those who have physical mobility needs and mental health conditions.

Our employability support is orientated toward training, skills improvement and confidence-building. We take a personalised, asset-based approach, with a dedicated advice worker for each client. We work with participants to identify their strengths, interests and what may inspire them before co-creating personal action plans and setting goals. We arrange embedded activities within the programme, including participatory arts, which help to build confidence and enable people to learn new skills. We work with OCS, one of our corporate partners, to provide job opportunities for people who do not traditionally have access to or manage to sustain employment.

This year our employability programme included support for young people through the Young Londoners Capital Talent Project and Creative Futures. Both of these projects included creative skills courses and were aimed at young people with a range of health and mobility barriers via our Central London Works and Health Project.

Our learning programme comprises accredited and non-accredited training to support English language learning and digital skills. The ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learning programme quickly transitioned when the pandemic hit to an online learning platform which, although successful, meant that we had to find different ways to support our learners, many of whom are digitally excluded either through limited language skills, access to hardware or lack of confidence. Many of our learners are vulnerable and face considerable practical and social issues as a result of the crisis. We have a wider duty of care toward these learners and proactively support them across their range of needs. Referrals to other Centre services, such as social prescribing and social welfare advice, have been part of our holistic support. The move to remote learning has brought the need for digital inclusion support into sharp focus and has been a theme of our delivery across all services, especially for those on Universal Credit.

We engaged nearly 300 learners on our projects, including accredited ESOL courses (Speaking & Listening plus Reading & Writing) administered through New City College; a community ESOL programme with Social Mixing Clubs ( 200 learners); a bespoke digital programme that addressed individual needs and provided access to 130 tablets and data, plus weekly support calls.

2021/22 Delivery plans

There has been a significant increase in need and demand for employability support during and post-lockdown, particularly affecting those furthest from work and those made newly vulnerable by the pandemic. We are aware of a local lack of capacity to provide the required support and are developing propositions to work with local partners, including Job Centre Plus. We will build on our programme of job brokerage with employers. We will also continue to engage with the local community in areas of higher deprivation with a focus on those for whom English is not their first language, people with disabilities or mental or physical health problems, those aged 50+ with low or no qualifications and/or transitioning to work or back into work. In addition, our Young Londoners and Creative Futures projects will support young people with a programme of 1:1 coaching, group sessions, modules and short courses tailored to individuals and ongoing wrap-around support and follow up.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

The demand for our ESOL and digital skills projects continues to escalate and therefore our focus will be on developing funding propositions and volunteer cohorts to support the increase. We will be working closely with and managing referrals from across the Centre and BBBH to help embed these skills, which are essential to help clients access support and participate in activities that build connection and resilience.

INSIGHTS

Bromley by Bow Insights was established seven years ago and reports to both the Centre and BBBH. Its aim is to support research, evaluation, learning, innovation and knowledge exchange for both organisations, thereby demonstrating the value of the Bromley by Bow model. We combine high quality research and evaluation of the organisation’s work and apply the findings to the Centre’s own practice, thus keeping it ‘real´ rather than theoretical. The Covid-19 crisis has brought into focus the changing needs and concerns that are affecting our community and what they want and need from us.

2020-21 delivery highlights

2021/22 Delivery plans

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

MY LIFE

Arts and Environment

Our arts programme is based upon the Centre’s founding principles of believing in the benefits of arts and creativity for health and wellbeing and for building a healthy community. Despite the challenges of lockdown we have continued to focus on the role of Centre as a space for artistic, creative and collaborative learning. For the most part, our arts activities are embedded within our service areas but with three consistent and interrelated components of the way we work:

Alongside our resident artists, we have continued to develop our arts programme and establish relationships with organisations such as the National Theatre and English National Opera (ENO) and also with local artists. This year our programme has included:

Our parks team and volunteer gardeners have continued to tend Bob’s Park as a vital community resource, including for use by the local school for exercise activities. We have used the park to deliver activities and bring together small groups to connect and socialise, particularly those who were feeling isolated and alone. One of gardeners has been running therapeutic horticulture sessions to support social care and social prescribing clients.

2021/22 Delivery plans

We will continue to seek funding to support an overarching participatory arts programme, whilst at the same time continuing to deliver embedded arts projects across our services. We are delighted to have entered into a one year partnership with Chickenshed Theatre Company with a programme theme of reconnection and recovery.

Integrated Health and Wellbeing (Social Prescribing)

Our approach to health and wellbeing recognises that the majority of factors affecting mental and physical ill health are social and economic – people need friends and a feeling of belonging, a sense of purpose, financial security, a safe home and hope for their future. Our integrated health team comprises includes BBBH and delivers a range of social prescribing support, including mental health support in partnership with the East London Foundation Trust (“ELFT”). This includes Rapid Social Prescribing, which addresses urgent need. The team supports people by giving time to explore what’s important to them; help them identify issues and challenges they would like to address and then find services and activities to support them in the local community.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen a significant increase in demand for our services from people new to the charity. The main client needs have been for social welfare advice, mental health support and urgent pandemic related help. The Centre is the top referral organisation for social prescribing across the Borough and increasingly we are referring into in house services.

The service conducts outreach using health data to target those most vulnerable to ensure they are connected in to the right community support and activities. This year there has been a focus on capturing data within the integrated team using both NHS (EMIS) and Centre (CRM) systems to measure overarching outcomes.

The team has worked closely with the Insights Team to support Link Worker training and knowledge share.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

2021/22 Delivery plans

We will build on our approach to supporting individuals through the Integrated Health and Wellbeing team and aim to increase referrals directly from the community. We plan to enhance our service to include children and young people and families, introduce social prescribing counselling (addressing the high demand for mental health support), social prescribing with social welfare (addressing the high demand of social welfare related support) and develop a befriending Service (addressing the increase in loneliness and social isolation). We will redesign the service model including professional development of social prescribing link workers and develop funding propositions for the continuation of three Social Prescribing Link Worker roles after March 2022.

We will continue to support knowledge share and the further implementation of our outcomes framework - Evidence Into Practice.

Sports and physical activities

We offer a range of sport and physical activities for families and young people including those with disabilities. Our projects include:

We delivered a six month pilot programme in partnership with ELFT, to provide Level 1 Influencing Health and Wellbeing training jointly to both ELFT staff and service users living with a mental health condition.

Our services included a comprehensive online offer during lockdown that enabled families to continue to be active together and included yoga, dance, aerobic movement, stretching, meditation sessions and delivery of outdoor activity family packs.

Karin’s story

Karin’s story is one of determination and hope

Karin’s story is inspiring. Despite episodes of mental ill-health, she has found creative ways to cope with her condition. The coronavirus lockdowns affected her badly. She became isolated and depressed. Her mood, sleep, diet and motivation were affected. She felt as if her physical and mental health were deteriorating.

Through the Newham Centre for Mental Health, part of ELFT, Karin was referred to our Health Influencers course, a six-week programme that helps people get active and build skills and knowledge to help others become more active and healthy too. In the end, Karin completed the course exam with a score of 91%.

Karin feels clear about what she now needs to keep healthy and well and is considering how else to interact with others, adding; “I’m thinking of trying the Centre’s art-based courses next and I hope to volunteer.”

“The Centre’s support has been life-changing. I’ve had a real boost to my confidence.”

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

2021/22 Delivery plans

Young Londoners

Active Together

ELFT – Influencing Health and Wellbeing Training

Young People

Sports & Physical Activity Hub

Adult social care

A flexible, personalised programme supporting people with a range of learning, physical and complex needs to live as part of the community and as independently as possible. Individuals are funded through local authorities and the service is supplemented with non-statutory income in order to offer a wide range of activities and choice for our clients. The uncertainty and impact of the pandemic has had a significant impact on our most vulnerable clients. We have therefore worked hard to offer as much support as possible to them and their carers and families.

This includes the provision of online activities including physical activities, singing, games and arts and crafts. Our clients were further supported with wellbeing calls, one to one sessions and weekly newsletters. Our Space to Connect project for older people introduced much needed in person coffee mornings, which we also ran for carers as well as clients.

2021/22 Delivery plans

Our day services are now commissioned as part of the new Tower Hamlets learning disabilities activities framework. Whilst this has had an impact on who is able to access the services and the activities available, we will be seeking non statutory income and partnerships to be able to widen our range of support. We are selffunding our horticultural activities and we have recently entered a partnership with theatre company Chickenshed to offer participatory theatre. The focus on the framework contract is personalised activities and support to 30+ adults with a learning disability with:

We plan to expand our community gardening sessions, continue with face to face sessions for Space to Connect clients and increase support for families and carers.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

2021/22 Centre Plan

Our Centre Plan for 2021/22 focuses on strengthening our model and making our work even more effective. It has been driven from the grassroots of the organisation and focuses on eight vital overarching priorities.

1. Outreach and Engagement

5. Integrating Data

6. Partnerships

2. Digital Inclusion

7. People and Culture

3. Volunteering

8. Financial Sustainability

4. Measuring Impact

It is an ambitious plan that will stretch our creativity and imagination. It will require us to work hard and be disciplined. But it’s a plan that sits on much firmer foundations than we have had before and we are confident we can deliver it. Our plan is based on a shared vision and set of common priorities between the Centre and BBBH.

We are optimistic about the future because we have come through so many challenges over the last three decades not just in the last 12 months. The Bromley by Bow model is more relevant today than it has ever been. This plan creates the platform to transform our community and secure our long-term future.

The mission of the Centre is completely tied together with the work of BBBH. For this reason, the charity’s priorities for the coming 12 months are designed to support even closer joint working of the two organisations. The express aim is to ensure that we are as aligned as possible, with a determined focus on responding to the needs of our local communities. This means being even more radical.

The key features of this next phase of joint work will be to ensure that our work is aligned and we plan collaboratively. There will be a renewed focus on meeting local needs and addressing the social determinants of health and an increased volume and range of joint service delivery for local people. This will be underpinned by a shared approach to measuring impact, teaching, research and knowledge share; integrating data systems, joint fundraising and bid development; a common approach to staff wellbeing support, training and development and more co-location and mixing of teams.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

C Structure, Governance and Management

The Bromley by Bow Centre is a registered charity (number 1041653) and is constituted as a company registered in England & Wales (number 2942840) and limited by guarantee. Its objects and powers are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association which were adopted in 1994. The Articles of Association were updated during the year ended 30 June 2018 and at the Annual General Meeting held on 17 September 2020.

Public Benefit and Objects

The objects of the charity, as set out in the Articles of Association, state that “The Centre’s objects are to promote the benefit of the inhabitants of East London and surrounding areas either alone or by associating together the inhabitants and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations to advance education, protect and preserve health, relieve poverty, sickness and distress and provide recreational facilities and any such charitable purposes as the trustees shall from time to time decide.”

We have referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on Public Benefit (PB1) and concluded that the stated objects and the activities of the Centre are beneficial in a way that is identifiable and are of benefit to a sufficient section of the public. This Annual Report explains how the Centre has carried out the charity’s objects in accordance with the guidance on reporting (PB3).

Trustees and their responsibilities

The governing body is the Board of Trustees (“Board”) whose members are elected by the charity’s membership at the Annual General Meeting and are directors for the purpose of company law and trustees for the purpose of charity law. In this report, they are referred to as trustees, to distinguish them from Executive Leadership Group ("ELG") members who are also referred to as directors on page 22 but are not Directors as defined in Company Law. The Board met together via video conference ten times during the 12 months to June 2021. Members of the ELG are invited to attend all Board meetings and the annual general meeting.

The Board comprises a minimum of six and maximum of 15 Trustees and is currently at a level which the Board feels is adequate. The number of seats on the Board available to Nominees was three at the start of the year but increased to four at the Annual General Meeting held on 17 September 2020. There are currently 10 members of the Board. Trustees serve an initial term of three years and can be elected for a maximum of 12 years.

The principal responsibilities of the trustees, as set out in the Statement of Reserved Powers and Delegated Authorities policy, are listed below.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

The Board has developed a skills and diversity matrix which analyses the Board’s composition and also helps identify prospective trustees. The key areas of skill and diversity which have been identified are listed below.

Trustee Training

A structured induction programme has been in place for new trustees supplemented by ad hoc support from the Chair, Vice-Chair and the ELG with external training opportunities provided if appropriate. The Trustee Induction programme will be reviewed and improved at the time when a new Trustee is next appointed.

Before the pandemic, the Board arranged Back to the Floor days for trustees. The purpose of these sessions was to give trustees hands-on experience of the Centre's work, covering a range of the programmes delivered. In the absence of these sessions this year, individual senior managers have been invited to join regular Board meetings to discuss the projects that they are working on and answer questions from the Trustees. For the annual Board Strategy session, several senior managers recorded a summary of their areas of responsibilities before the meeting and answered questions from Trustees on these.

Trustee Biographies

Simon Bevan is a Partner in Grant Thornton UK LLP and is a member of its Partnership Governance Board. Simon is a qualified coach and has over 30 years' experience of auditing, and working with the stakeholders of, successful high growth businesses, especially in the professional services sector. He has been both Managing Partner and Senior Partner of a large accounting firm and therefore brings finance, leadership and governance experience to his role as Treasurer with the Board. Simon became a Trustee on 30 November 2011.

Paul Brickell trained as a scientist and was Professor of Molecular Haematology at the Institute of Child Health at Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London, where he ran a childhood cancer research department. He changed career to focus on the revival of east London, first as Director of Regeneration and Chief Executive of the Centre and then as Chief Executive of Leaside Regeneration. Paul now works for the London Legacy Development Corporation, which leads the development of QE Olympic Park, and is Chair of Poplar HARCA. He became a Trustee on 12 December 2018.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Michael Gould retired as a Lloyd’s insurance broker in 2000 and, since then, has been a volunteer for Thames North Synod of the URC. His main involvement has been in respect of property and finance and he brings this knowledge, along with governance and insurance experience, to the Centre. Mike is the Nominee of the URC and became a Trustee on 29 March 2012.

Professor Ajit Lalvani is Head of Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London, Director of the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit, Founding Director of the Tuberculosis Research Centre and Consultant Physician at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. His research addresses the world’s most serious respiratory infections and spans the pathway from basic and translational science to public health and societal impact. His governance experience includes roles on academic and funding committees at the Wellcome Trust, India Alliance, Medical Research Council, Royal College of Physicians and Royal Society of Medicine. Ajit founded a University of Oxford biotech company based on his innovations and shares the Centre’s mission to improve public health and reverse health inequalities through tackling their social determinants and empowering underprivileged communities. He became a Trustee on 11 March 2014 and chairs the Board.

Dr Savitha Pushparajah is a GP Partner in BBBH, which has a close working relationship with the Centre and operates three GP surgeries and a Walk-in Centre in Tower Hamlets. She has 16 years' experience of providing healthcare to patients and works closely with communities living in Tower Hamlets. Savitha has a good understanding of the health inequalities and social needs of this community and brings this knowledge to the Board, which she joined as a Trustee on 26 March 2009. She is the Safeguarding lead on the Board.

Zenith Rahman has lived and worked in Tower Hamlets for over 35 years and has been involved with the Centre for most of this time, including a spell as an Outreach Project Manager developing activities with different local groups. She has always been passionate about integrating communities and the work of the Centre. Zenith currently serves as a local councillor and is the nominee of LBTH. She is Vice President of the Centre and became a Trustee on 17 September 2020.

Obafemi Shokoya has been a trustee since December 2018. The East End of London is firmly in his blood and he is passionate about the challenges and the potential of local people.

Raised in Newham, Obafemi is a proud child of African immigrants and his family remains local. For his career, he trained as a hospital pharmacist and worked in the NHS for 20 years, the latter ten years as a chief pharmacist specialising in transformative change in Croydon, East Kent and Barts Hospitals. In 2018, he started his own healthcare leadership consultancy.

Through his involvement with INSEAD, the international business school that promotes equality, diversity and inclusion, Obafemi was introduced to the Centre and was astounded by what he experienced. It wasn’t long before he agreed to join the Trustee Board.

He sums up what impresses him most. “It is the basis the Centre operates on, every day. The way the organisation helps transform physical and mental health and communities appears simple; advice for someone in distress, green space to enjoy, work and learning opportunities, a sense of purpose and belonging. Instead of dwelling on barriers, the staff and volunteer team members focus on the potential of local people.”

As a trustee, Obafemi hopes to build wider recognition of the Bromley by Bow model as a radical approach for the health of our nation, needed now more than ever.

David Smeed is an executive level businessman with extensive experience of strategic business development, throughout Europe, in healthcare, property and property services. He is currently a Director at a Public Health Consultancy, PHAST CIC, with a focus on business development and operations. In the past, his roles have included Director of Development at UME Investment Ltd, a specialised Healthcare PFI investor, Managing Director at Bank of America Corporate Finance London and Managing Director of SCIC UK Ltd a French state-

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

owned property services group. David’s key competencies are in finance, business development and management. He became a Trustee on 8 June 2016. David chairs the Board Effectiveness sub-Committee and became Vice Chair in March 2018.

Rachel Smith is co-founder and COO of ExchangeWire, which publishes an advertising and marketing technology publication, and co-founded Wirecorp, which includes two other technology titles, and provides strategic oversight to the company’s global operations. She has provided advice to a number of technology companies. Prior to this, Rachel spent ten years in the public sector working with management and politicians at a local and national level, in the UK and Australia. This included responsibility for corporate customer services, community engagement, public/private partnerships, voluntary and community sector services, media, communications and PR. She became a Trustee on 16 April 2019.

Neil Smith spent a large part of his professional life outside the UK working for Unilever in France, Holland, the Ivory Coast and the USA following which he joined Yoplait in France, participating in the private equity buyout of the Group. Neil is a finance professional, now retired, and is trustee of a group of academies in Thanet and nonexecutive director of a company in the Health and Wellbeing sector. He became a Trustee on 12 December 2018.

Trustees during the period

During the year, there were 10 Board meetings. The membership of the Board from 1 July 2020 to the date of this Trustees' Report is shown in the following table. The table also shows the current membership of the Board sub-committees. All trustees are welcome to attend any sub-committee meeting should they wish.

Sub-Committee Membership Sub-Committee Membership Sub-Committee Membership
Finance Property Board
Effectiveness
Monjur Ali Resigned 30/06/21
Simon Bevan Chair Member
Paul Brickell Chair
Michael Gould Member
Ajit Lalvani
Savitha Pushparajah Member Member
Zenith Rahman
Obafemi Shokoya Member
David Smeed Member Member Chair
Rachel Smith
Neil Smith Member

The Board considers that it currently has an appropriate mix of skills and background experience. The current Board has 10 Trustees and includes three female members; four members from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and four members with strong connections with the local community.

The charity’s insurance cover includes Indemnity Insurance for Trustees.

Board Sub-Committees

There are three Board sub-committees, which are important for the effectiveness of the Board as a whole. The Board makes every effort to ensure all sub-committees comprise the right balance of appropriately skilled trustees and ELG members. In order to ensure there is a consistency of approach across the sub-committees, the ViceChair attends all the meetings.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Trustee Board
Finance
Property
Board Effectiveness		 Trustee Board
Finance
Property
Board Effectiveness
Finance Board Effectiveness
Provides guidance
concerning the financial
management of the Centre
and monitors risk
management and the
production and audit of the
financial statements
Manages property issues,
which are important for the
Centre as expansion plans
are reviewed and discussed
Reviews the recruitment of
Trustees, succession
planning for the Board,
Board effectiveness, CEO’s
remuneration and appraisal
and other governance
matters

Whilst the Trustees are responsible for oversight over the work of the charity, day-to-day operations and decisionmaking continue to be delegated to Rob Trimble, the Chief Executive, who reports directly to the Board. Rob, now in his nineteenth year as Chief Executive, leads the organisation and chairs the ELG. The members of the ELG are Dr Julia Davis (Honorary Director), Elly de Decker (Executive Director) and Michael Barnett (Director of Finance and Operations).

The Board has established appropriate controls and reporting mechanisms to ensure that the ELG operates within the scope of the powers delegated to it. The Board has determined Reserved Powers (as listed on page 18) which only it can ultimately exercise.

All matters not specifically reserved to the Board and necessary for the day-to-day operations of the charity are delegated to management. The specific responsibilities of management are listed below.

The members of the ELG are not directors for the purposes of company law.

Fundraising Strategy

The primary aim of the charity’s fundraising strategy is to maximise income generation in support of the mission and forward strategy. This ensures we can continue to change more lives for the better, grow our services to meet community needs more effectively, become increasingly financially resilient and build unrestricted reserves.

The fundraising task falls into two broad categories: restricted income that is directly connected to service delivery programmes; and unrestricted income, including from trading activities that can be used flexibly to support hardto-fund projects and underpin the running costs of the charity. During the past year our restricted income was £2,761k (£2,239k in 2020), including a one-off £144k grant from the Resilience and Recovery Grant Fund. Total unrestricted income was steady at £1,262k (£1,291k in 2020). Of this, £619k (£590k in 2019) came from donations, a good result given the absence of events and other fundraising activities due to the pandemic. The largest single donation was from BBBH as a result of our long standing partnership.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

There has been encouraging growth in income from individual donors, including through the continuing expansion of our Friends of the Bromley by Bow Centre programme. In spite of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, an imaginative campaign saw 12 volunteers participate in the 280 Challenge which raised £25k.

Expenditure on raising funds was unchanged at £397k (£397k in 2020).

Forward plans

Looking forward, the 2022 targets show realistic levels of growth in total income and income from donations. Our plans require a shift in funding patterns to enable us to better meet community needs. There is a necessity to move further away from some of the more constrained statutory funding arrangements to those that can support more flexibility and acknowledge the need for longer client journeys. The aim is to diversify funding and look to achieve growth in all the main service delivery priority areas.

Within the area of philanthropy and unrestricted income, we are focusing on the considerable networks of senior leaders from across sectors who are already aligned with the Centre’s work. We are also driving our approach with corporate businesses and developing new relationships that can provide long-term support year on year.

Framework of good practice

The Centre relies on voluntary contributions from donors and funders. Donations fund every aspect of our work, i.e., the delivery of vital frontline projects and also the support services needed for the charity to fulfil its objectives.

We are committed to fundraising best practice and abide by the Fundraising Regulator’s key principles and behaviours that are enshrined in the Code of Fundraising Practice. There is a clear commitment to be legal, open, honest and respectful in all aspects of our fundraising activity. We undertake to comply with relevant law and regulations, including the Proceeds of Crime Act, Data Protection, Tax and Gift Aid legislation and Charity Commission guidance, as well as the Centre’s own internal policies.

The development team monitors potential donations and corporate partnerships for compliance and risk. Final decisions regarding the appropriateness of gifts can be escalated to the Executive Leadership Group and the Board of Trustees. It is our Board’s legal obligation to act in the best long-term interests of the charity and act prudently when deciding to accept or refuse voluntary donations. The charity will refuse a gift if it can reasonably conclude that its acceptance would be more detrimental to the organisation than its refusal.

All fundraising is done directly by employees as we do not utilise external professional fundraisers or commercial participators. There is very limited direct public fundraising undertaken but, at all times, we are cognisant of the need to protect members of the public and especially those who are vulnerable. We also abide by all regulations associated with avoiding unreasonable intrusion or persistent approaches and not exerting undue pressure on potential donors. The charity has never received a complaint relating to any of its fundraising activities.

People and Culture Strategy

The Centre developed a new People and Culture Strategy that was agreed in May 2021. The purpose of the strategy is to cultivate an environment which inspires and empowers people to deliver the Centre’s Vision.

The strategy was formulated based on an extensive exercise to gather the input of employees and drafted by a task group that included members from multiple teams and with different responsibilities. The result included a clear articulation of where we want to be and how we will get there under four areas:

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Delivering the strategy starts with implementing the actions agreed. A wide range of employees have volunteered to take the lead on delivering these actions and oversight is provided by a separate task group.

In addition to developing the new strategy, initiatives that were continued during the last year or launched include:

Diversity and Inclusivity

The Centre has a strong commitment to developing the diversity of its staff and volunteers through equal opportunity policies, training, targets and practical action. The Centre is a very diverse organisation. We pride ourselves that our delivery and support teams comprise individuals with many backgrounds and cultures and represent over 30 different nationalities. Between us, we speak more than 25 different languages.

We are equally committed to having an inclusive workplace culture where everyone can reach their full potential and have an equal say in what matters to them. Being transparent and accountable for pay gap reporting is crucial in driving equality and inclusivity. Presented below are the gender and ethnicity pay figures. We will publish these figures every year and monitor them every six months in order to track our performance. We also monitor pay figures across other dimensions.

The graphics below shows our gender and ethnicity pay figures for September 2020 and 2021.

Average Pay Gaps

----- Start of picture text -----
Gender Ethnicity
Relative % Difference between Male and Female employees Relative % Difference between White and BAME employees
(Female employees = 100) (BAME employees = 100)
Mean Median Mean Median
132
125
119 119
112 113
108
104
100 100 100 100
0 0 0 0
Sept. '20 Sept. '21 Sept. '20 Sept. '21 Sept. '20 Sept. '21 Sept. '20 Sept. '21
----- End of picture text -----

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Proportion of employees in each pay quartile

----- Start of picture text -----
Gender
Ethnicity
----- End of picture text -----

We recognise that we have a gender pay gap and an ethnicity pay gap as, on average, males are paid more than females and white employees are paid more than employees from ethnic minorities. These gaps are entirely driven by a lack of representation in senior roles due to a skew towards males and white employees in higher paid positions. The independently conducted Equal Pay Audit confirmed that the gaps are not due to systemic pay differences between employees doing work of equal value. We are seeking to address these gaps and have set targets of reducing them progressively over time.

To drive our Diversity and Inclusivity agenda, a new Task Group has been instigated and led by our CEO. The Group will undertake a series of initiatives to ensure that there are no systemic barriers preventing female and minority ethnic employees from realising their full potential.

Remuneration Policy

Salaries for all posts are banded within a range commensurate with the job role. Pay increases are awarded on promotion and in line with cost of living increases. Salaries for new roles are benchmarked using a consistent job evaluation approach with existing roles. We are a London Living Wage employer.

The CEO’s performance appraisal and remuneration review is managed by the Board Effectiveness subcommittee which makes recommendations on setting the salary of the CEO to the Board for approval.

Related Parties

The Centre has a number of strong relationships with various organisations. Those considered as related parties are BBBH, LBTH, Poplar HARCA and the United Reformed Church, as the four organisations that nominate a representative as a Trustee, plus the Vitabiotics Foundation as our Chair, Ajit Lalvani, is a non-executive director of Vitabiotics Limited. The income received during the year from these parties is disclosed in note 9 to the Accounts and the loan balances and facilities in notes 14 and 16.

We work closely with BBBH to provide better health and wellbeing outcomes for the local community. We obtain funding from LBTH to deliver services, including some which are the subject of competitive tendering processes. Many of the services that we deliver provide a direct benefit to the residents living in properties managed by Poplar HARCA. We support the local congregation of the URC and maintain the church building for use by the Centre and the community. The Vitabiotics Foundation shares our long standing commitment to tackling health inequalities and social determinants of health.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

D. Principal Risks and Uncertainties

Risk Management

As part of its ongoing responsibility for ensuring the identification and management of risk, the Board adopts a rolling assessment of strategic and operational risk at three levels, i.e., strategic, operational and project.

This process of risk assessment is reviewed on a regular basis by the Finance sub-committee which in turn reports into the Board. On an annual basis, the ELG report to the Board on the highest level risks and their mitigating actions. The severity of a risk is assessed in two ways:

The Board is particularly interested in:

Key Risks

There are currently a total of 15 risks on the Centre’s Risk Register. The key risks after mitigation that the Board is currently focusing on are listed below, alongside a summary of how likely it is that the risk will crystallise in what timeframe, the potential impact, our plans for managing these risks and recent changes in the risk profile.

Key risks, and their potential impact on income and the use of the charity’s services, are monitored continually by senior managers. The formal Risk Register is reviewed on a regular basis by the ELG, the Finance subcommittee and the Board, the latter most recently in February 2021.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

E Review of Financial Position

The Centre's business model

The Centre derives its income from a number of sources. Almost all our restricted income results from the delivery of services from our different programmes (see “Income from Charitable Activities” in the SOFA) and comes from a range of sources as shown in the table in the following section. In addition, the Centre generates unrestricted income principally from fundraising, from the support of local community partners and from its property assets.

Results for the year

The results for the year to 30 June 2021 were extremely pleasing and show the outcomes of a three year turnaround plan that came through strongly in spite of the challenges arising from the impact of Covid-19. Improvements were made across all of the key performance indicators used to track performance.

Total income grew 14% (10% decrease in 2020) to £4,023k (£3,530k in 2020). Income from charitable activities rose 14% with good growth in Advice, Insights and Employment & Skills as well two new projects that supported multiple areas of delivery. Income from donations and legacies excluding income derived from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme improved by 26% (20% in 2020) to £785k (£621k in 2020) as efforts to increase funding from this area yielded results. Expenditure increased by just 3% (8% decrease in 2020) from the previous year to £3,962k (£3,837 in 2020), an impressive result given the growth in charitable activities and due to a continued focus on reducing costs, especially in support functions, and improving margins.

Overall, the surplus for the year was £61k (£307k deficit in 2020). As a consequence of this and financing activities covered below, net current liabilities improved by £574k to £315k (£889k in 2020). These results provide a solid platform for a strengthened financial position for the future.

The broad sources of the Centre’s funding in recent years are shown below.

Nature Source 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17
Restricted Statutory 41% 36% 40% 46% 42%
Corporate 11% 16% 18% 19% 18%
Housing Associations and Social Landlords 2% 2% 3% 2% 2%
Trusts 15% 11% 10% 11% 12%
Total 69% 65% 71% 78% 74%
Unrestricted Income from hire of space 8% 11% 9% 8% 8%
Other activities 23% 24% 20% 14% 16%
Total 31% 35% 29% 22% 26%

Reserves

At 30 June 2021, the charity’s unrestricted funds were in surplus by £1,453k (2020: £1,392k) of which £2,609k represents the Centre’s fixed assets. Restricted funds at 30 June 2021 stood at zero (2020: zero). Total reserves increased to £1,453k (2019: £1,392k), mainly represented by tangible assets with a net book value of £2,609k (2020: £2,751k).

The charity's Reserves Policy seeks to protect its clients and staff by ensuring that services can continue to operate should unforeseen fluctuations in income or expenditure occur. The Board has established a Reserves Policy to protect and safeguard the assets of the Centre.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre Trustees’ annual report

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The Board reviewed the Reserves policy in September 2021 and retained the definition of Free Reserves as Undesignated Net Current Assets, which is effectively working capital available. Under this definition, Free Reserves at 30 June 2021 were in deficit by £315k (2020: £889k in deficit) and can be seen in note 18. These negative reserves had built up over four years of financial deficits, a sequence that has now ended and with the Centre being in a situation where annual surpluses are now expected. The delivery of future surpluses remains partly dependent on the continued generation of income in a challenging funding environment.

The Reserves policy seeks to return Free Reserves to a positive position and this is one of the Board's key priorities. Trustees and management are focussed on achieving this. The agreed budget for the new financial year shows a surplus and steps to deliver this include:

Cash and Cash Flow

Cash, which has been tightly managed this year, remains adequate with a balance of £250k (2020: £274k) as at 30 June 2021. During the year, the total cash fell by £24k (2020: fall of £161k) as the repayment of creditor balances, notably for taxation and social security was mostly offset by new loan financing of £360k under the Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund, the positive effect of depreciation charges being higher than fixed asset additions and tighter control of debtors’ balances.

As some of the charity's income is received in large, irregular amounts, the funds held by the charity fluctuates during the year. To ensure that these fluctuations do not cause short term cash flow difficulties, two loans at zero interest totalling £175k remain outstanding as at 30 June 2021 (2020: £175k). Of these, one was repayable in September 2021 at the year-end but now is repayable in September 2022 at the same time as the second loan. The charity’s Investment Policy seeks to produce the best financial return for uncommitted funds within an acceptable level of risk.

The Board has considered the cash flow forecast to December 2022. This shows that, based on reasonable estimates of inflows, the charity can pay trade creditors and loan payments when amounts fall due without recourse to new funding. If required, a funding facility of up to £500k secured in February 2021, after the Board considered proper advice under Section 124 of the Charities Act 2011, could be utilised. This will provide a flexible source of funds to cover any unexpected liquidity issues.

The funding facility will enable the Centre to maintain the current level of impact and underpin other activities that are required by the local community. In extreme circumstances, the Centre holds significant assets and these could be monetised to ensure that all financial obligations are met. Some of these assets have been professionally valued at amounts significantly higher than shown on the Balance Sheet. For example, the Health Centre is shown in the Balance Sheet at 30 June 2021 at £1.9m and was professionally valued at £2.8m in October 2019 and an indicative offer of £4.0m was received from a prospective purchaser in April 2021.

The Board has reviewed the uncertainties surrounding the cash flow forecast, notably the generation of unrestricted income, but judge that these are not material given the good start to the new financial year, the funding facilities already in place and the value that could be realised from the fixed assets that the charity holds. As such, the trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties for the charity to be a going concern.

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The Bromley by Bow Centre

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2021

F Statement of the Responsibilities of the Trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of The Bromley by Bow Centre for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (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 charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

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

In so far as the trustees are aware:

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

Auditor

Sayer Vincent LLP acted as the charitable company's auditor during the year and has expressed its willingness to continue in that capacity.

The trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.

The trustees’ annual report has been approved by the trustees on 18 November 2021jj and signed on their behalf by

Ajit Lalvani Chair

29

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of The Bromley by Bow Centre

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Independent auditor’s report to the members of Bromley by Bow Centre

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Bromley by Bow Centre (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 30 June 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 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:

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.

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 Bromley by Bow Centre'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 other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. 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

30

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of The Bromley by Bow Centre

For the year ended 30 June 2021

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

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’ annual 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:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

31

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of The Bromley by Bow Centre

For the year ended 30 June 2021

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 are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

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

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

32

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of The Bromley by Bow Centre

For the year ended 30 June 2021

A further description of our responsibilities is available 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.

Joanna Pittman (Senior statutory auditor) 24 November 2021

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL

33

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 30 June 2021

2021 2020
Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Note £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Income from:
Donations and legacies 2 757 166 923 671 31 702
Charitable activities 4
Employment & Skills - 451 451 - 397 397
My Life - 944 944 - 958 958
Community Connections - 75 75 14 106 120
Beyond Business - 126 126 - 116 116
Action for Bow 18 - 18 18 - 18
Advice Centre - 594 594 15 524 539
Insights 161 230 391 180 107 287
Cross Area Projects - 175 175 - - -
Other trading activities 3 326 - 326 392 - 392
Investment income - - - 1 - 1
Total income 1,262 2,761 4,023 1,291 2,239 3,530
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 397 - 397 397 - 397
Charitable activities
Employment & Skills 20 581 601 17 613 630
My Life 38 1,127 1,165 23 1,144 1,167
Community Connections 18 105 123 14 202 216
Beyond Business - 154 154 - 148 148
Action for Bow 18 - 18 17 - 17
Advice Centre 24 677 701 10 710 720
Insights 181 258 439 218 130 348
Cross Area Projects - 208 208 - - -
Other trading activities 156 - 156 194 - 194
Total expenditure 5 852 3,110 3,962 890 2,947 3,837
Net income / (expenditure) for the year 6 410 (349) 61 401 (708) (307)
Transfers between funds (349) 349 - (708) 708 -
Net movement in funds 61 - 61 (307) (307)
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward 1,392 - 1,392 1,699 - 1,699
Total funds carried forward 1,453 - 1,453 1,392 - 1,392

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 19 to the financial statements.

34

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Company no. 2942840

Balance sheet

As at 30 June 2021

Note
Fixed assets:
11
Current assets:
13
Liabilities:
14
16
19
Total unrestricted funds
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Debtors
Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Total net assets
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
The funds of the charity:
Total assets less current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current liabilities
General funds
Total charity funds
Restricted income funds		 £'000
671
250		 2021
£'000
£'000
2,609
2,609
759
274
1,033
(1,922)
(315)
2,294
(841)
1,453
-
14
1,378
1,453
1,453		 2020
£'000
2,751
2,751
(889)
921
(1,236)
14
1,439
1,862
(470)
1,392
-
1,392
1,392

Approved by the trustees on 18 November 2021 and signed on their behalf by

Ajit Lalvani Chair

35

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Depreciation charges
Investment Income
Interest Paid
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Repayments of borrowing
Cash flows from financing activities:
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Bank interest received
Interest paid
Purchase of fixed assets
Resilience & Recovery Loan Fund
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Net cash provided by / (used in) financing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)		 £'000
£'000
61
142
-
41
88
(616)
(284)
-
(41)
-
(41)
(59)
360
301
(24)
274
250
2021		 £'000
£'000
61
142
-
41
88
(616)
(284)
-
(41)
-
(41)
(59)
360
301
(24)
274
250
2021		 £'000
£'000
(307)
140
(1)
45
(230)
315
(38)
1
(45)
(24)
(68)
(55)
-
(55)
(161)
435
274
2020		 £'000
£'000
(307)
140
(1)
45
(230)
315
(38)
1
(45)
(24)
(68)
(55)
-
(55)
(161)
435
274
2020
(284)
(41)
301		 (38)
(68)
(55)
(59)
360		 (55)
-
(24)
274		 (161)
435
250 274

36

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

1 Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

The Bromley by Bow Centre is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in the UK. The registered office address is St Leonards Street, Bromley by Bow, London, E3 3BT.

b) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

During the year, the charity produced a net income of £61k, a substantial improvement on the prior year in spite of the ongoing impact of Covid-19. At year end, there was a deficit on free reserves of £315k. At the balance sheet date, the charity had bank balances totalling £250k and net current liabilities of £315k.

The Board has considered the cash flow forecast to December 2022. This shows that, based on reasonable estimates of inflows, the charity can pay trade creditors and loan payments when amounts fall due without recourse to new funding. If required, a funding facility of up to £500k secured in February 2021, after the Board considered proper advice under Section 124 of the Charities Act 2011, could be utilised. This will provide a flexible source of funds to cover any unexpected liquidity issues.

The funding facility will enable the Centre to maintain the current level of impact and underpin other activities that are required by the local community. In extreme circumstances, the Centre holds significant assets and these could be monetised to ensure that all financial obligations are met. Some of these assets have been professionally valued at amounts significantly higher than shown on the Balance Sheet. For example, the Health Centre is shown in the Balance Sheet at 30 June 2021 at £1.9m and was professionally valued at £2.8m in October 2019 while an indicative offer of £4.0m was received from a prospective purchaser in April 2021.

e) Income

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

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred; else the income is deferred until the above criteria is fulfilled, normally as per the funder's written conditions.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

Claims made through the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention and Support Schemes are recognised as income in the period during which the associated staff were furloughed. This income is considered to be unrestricted.

37

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Cash donations are recognised as income upon entitlement.

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

g) Interest receivable

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

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

j) Allocation of support costs

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. Other costs, which are attributable to more than one activity, are apportioned across cost categories. The basis of allocation reflects the staff resources absorbed by that activity.

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

Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

k) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

l) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. Land is not depreciated. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

38

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

m) Debtors

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

n) Cash at bank and in hand

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

o) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

p) Pensions

Contributions payable to employees' private defined contribution pension plans are charged to the statement of financial activities in the period to which they relate.

q) Financial Instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Income from donations and legacies
Resilience & Recovery Grant Fund
Government Grants Income
Other Trading Income
Rent and service charge income
Other Trading Income
Total Other Trading Income
Donations		 Unrestricted
£'000
619
-
138		 £'000
22
144
-
Restricted		 2021
Total
£'000
641
144
138		 Unrestricted
£'000
590
-
81		 £'000
31
-
-
Restricted		 2020
Total
£'000
621
-
81
757 166 923 671 31 702
Unrestricted
£'000
325
1		 Restricted
£'000
-
-		 2021
Total
£'000
325
1		 Unrestricted
£'000
368
24		 Restricted
£'000
-
-		 2020
Total
£'000
368
24
326 - 326 392 - 392

39

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Total funding from Government sources is £1.0M (2019: £1.3M).

Unrestricted
£'000
Aim4Work
-
Create Your Future
-
ESOL for Integration
-
ESOL New City College
-
Ingeus Central London Works
-
LCF Creative Communities
-
Work routes 50+
-
Others(Employment & Skills)
-
-
Active Health
-
Active Together
-
Cancer Prescribing
-
Communities Driving Change
-
Crisis Social Prescribing Bridge Point
-
East London Foundation Trust
-
Healthy Cities
-
Social Care
-
Social Prescribing
-
Young Londoners
-
Others(My Life)
-
-
Bow Foodbank
-
Connection Zone
-
Space to Connect
-
Time Bank
-
Others(Community Connections)
-
-
Investec
-
-
Action for Bow
18
18
BGET - East End Energy Fit 1
-
City Bridge Trust
-
East End Energy Fit
-
Eastend Homes
-
Energy Redress (Empower You Too)
-
Energy Redress - East End Energy Fit 2
-
Getting on with money
-
IAA Real
-
LCF Advice & Information
-
Others(Advice Centre)
-
-
Insights
(formerly School of Integrated Solutions)
-
21
-
Regional Facilitator
-
Research, Evaluation and Training
133
7
161
Cross Area Projects
-
-
-
Total Charitable Activities
179
Beyond Business
Advice Centre
Action for Bow
Community Connections
Employment & Skills
My Life
Tours
Act Early
Consultancy
Evidence Into Practice
National Lottery Community Fund
East End Community Fund
Charitable Activities		 Unrestricted
£'000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Restricted
£'000
-
-
103
104
137
50
-
57		 2021
Total
£'000
-
-
103
104
137
50
-
57		 Unrestricted
£'000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Restricted
£'000
42
53
-
85
25
29
61
102		 2020
Total
£'000
42
53
-
85
25
29
61
102
- 451 451 - 397 397
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 42
110
-
211
69
49
31
188
86
42
116		 42
110
-
211
69
49
31
188
86
42
116		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 33
96
64
216
-
-
60
248
70
43
128		 33
96
64
216
-
-
60
248
70
43
128
- 944 944 - 958 958
-
-
-
-
-		 33
19
6
3
14		 33
19
6
3
14		 -
-
-
-
14		 -
14
39
34
19		 -
14
39
34
33
- 75 75 14 106 120
- 126 126 - 116 116
- 126 126 - 116 116
18 - 18 18 - 18
18 - 18 18 - 18
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 32
46
114
56
94
22
-
32
52
146		 32
46
114
56
94
22
-
32
52
146		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
15		 -
43
142
49
-
-
99
31
39
121		 -
43
142
49
-
-
99
31
39
136
- 594 594 15 524 539
65
-
45
111
9
-		 65
21
45
111
142
7		 -
18
-
-
112
50		 31
-
5
71
-
-		 31
18
5
71
112
50
161 230 391 180 107 287
-
-		 100
75		 100
75		 -
-		 -
-		 -
-
- 175 175 - - -
179 2,595 2,774 227 2,208 2,435

40

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

5a Analysis of expenditure (current year)

Analysis of expenditure (current year)
Staff costs (Note 7)
Service Delivery Costs
Centre Delivery Costs
Facilities, Property, Health and Safety
Finance and Accounting
General Management, Other
HR, Wellbeing and Hospitality
Information and Communications
Governance costs
Support costs
Total expenditure 2021
Total expenditure 2020		 Raising
funds
£'000
240
39
-
-
-
-
-		 Charitable activities Other
trading
activities
£'000
84
-
31
-
-
-
-		 Governance
costs
£'000
-
-
-
21
-
-
-		 Support
costs
£'000
597
-
94
305
15
44
24		 2021
Total
£'000
2,851
577
125
326
15
44
24		 2020
Total
£'000
2,855
480
152
256
17
35
42
Employ-
ment &
Skills
£'000
360
66
-
-
-
-
-		 My Life
£'000
640
213
-
-
-
-
-		 Community
Connections
£'000
78
7
-
-
-
-
-		 Beyond
Business
£'000
93
15
-
-
-
-
-		 Action for
Bow
£'000
12
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Advice
Centre
£'000
403
101
-
-
-
-
-		 Insights
£'000
220
112
-
-
-
-
-		 Cross
Area
Projects
£'000
124
24
-
-
-
-
-
279
2
116		 426
3
172		 853
6
306		 85
1
37		 108
1
45		 12
-
6		 504
4
193		 332
2
105		 148
1
59		 115
1
40		 21
(21)
-		 1,079
-
(1,079)		 3,962
-
-		 3,837
-
-
397 601 1,165 123 154 18 701 439 208 156 - - 3,962 3,837
397 630 1,167 216 148 17 720 348 - 194 - - 3,837

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. Certain expenditure is directly attributable to, and therefore allocated to, Charitable Activities. Certain other costs, which are attributable to more than one activity, are apportioned across cost categories. The basis of allocation reflects the staff resources absorbed by that activity.

41

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2020

5b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Analysis of expenditure (prior year)
Staff costs (Note 7)
Service Delivery Costs
Centre Delivery Costs
Facilities, Property, Health and Safety
Finance and Accounting
General Management, Other
Human Resources and Hospitality
Information and Communications
Governance costs
Support costs
Total expenditure 2020		 Raising
funds
£'000
216
64
-
-
-
-
-		 Charitable activities Other
trading
activities
£'000
94
-
49
-
-
-
-		 Governance
costs
£'000
-
-
-
17
-
-
-		 Support
costs
£'000
708
-
103
239
17
35
42		 2020
Total
£'000
2,855
480
152
256
17
35
42
Employ-
ment &
Skills
£'000
382
41
-
-
-
-
-		 My Life
£'000
618
215
-
-
-
-
-		 Community
Connections
£'000
117
36
-
-
-
-
-		 Beyond
Business
£'000
90
9
-
-
-
-
-		 Action for
Bow
£'000
11
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Advice
Centre
£'000
434
52
-
-
-
-
-		 Insights
£'000
185
63
-
-
-
-
-
280
2
115		 423
3
204		 833
5
329		 153
1
62		 99
1
48		 11
-
6		 486
3
231		 248
1
99		 143
1
50		 17
(17)
-		 1,144
-
(1,144)		 3,837
-
-
397 630 1,167 216 148 17 720 348 194 - - 3,837

42

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

This is stated after charging / (crediting):
2021 2020
£'000 £'000
Depreciation 142 140
Operating lease rentals: Property 17 17
Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit 14 14
Under accrual from prior year 3 2

7 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
£70,000 - £79,999
Redundancy and termination costs
The following number of employees received employee benefits during the year between:
£60,000 - £69,999
£80,000 - £89,999
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Salaries and wages
Social security costs		 2021
£'000
2,524
39
225
63		 2020
£'000
2,549
19
220
67
2,851 2,855
2021
No.
2
1
-		 2020
No.
2
1
-

The total employee benefits including pension contributions and employer's NIC of the key management personnel were £243,027 (2020: £271,135).

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2020: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2020: £nil).

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £nil (2020: £nil).

8 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

Costs of raising funds
Employment & Skills
My Life
Community Connections
Beyond Business
Advice Centre
Insights
Support		 2021
No.
4
14
24
7
2
13
8
24		 2020
No.
5
15
27
7
2
16
4
25
96 101

43

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

9 Related party transactions

The charity encourages each of its major local partnership organisations, i.e., Bromley by Bow Health ("BBBH"), the London Borough of Tower Hamlets ("LBTH"), Poplar HARCA and the United Reformed Church ("URC"), to nominate a representative as a Trustee. In the normal course of its operation, the charity transacts financially, on an arms’ length basis, with all of these organisations. Their representative on the Board of Trustees (see Biographies of the Trustees in the Trustees’ Report) has no direct interest in any of these transactions.

During the year, the Charity received grants and donations of £250,000 (2020: £Nil) from the BBBH. One of the Charity's Trustees, Dr Savitha Pushparajah, and the Chief Executive Officer, Robert Trimble, are Partners of BBBH.

During the year, the Charity received grants and contract income totalling £328,236 (2020: £382,240) from LBTH. Zenith Rahman, a Trustee, and Helal Uddin, the charity's Director of Community Engagement and Regeneration are LBTH Councillors.

During the year, the Charity received grants and donations of £211,500 (2020: £211,500) from Poplar HARCA. One of the charity's Trustees, Mr Paul Brickell, is the chair of Poplar HARCA and one Trustee, Monjur Ali, held a position on a Poplar HARCA Estate Board.

During the year, the Charity paid rent of £16,500 (2020: £16,500) to URC. One of the Charity's Trustees, Michael Gould, is a volunteer for Thmaes North Synod of URC.

During the prior year, the charity received an unrestricted donation of £20,000 from the Vitabiotics Foundation (2021: £nil). The Charity's chair, Ajit Lalvani, is a non-executive director of Vitabiotics Limited.

The total value of donations from 11 Trustees during the year were £1,784 (2020: from 10 Trustees were £47,797). There are no other donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business.

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

11 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
Land and Buildings
Cost or valuation
At the start of the year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
At the start of the year
At the end of the year
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
Depreciation
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Cost or valuation		 Land
£'000
235
235		 Land and
Buildings
£'000
4,190
4,190		 Plant and
Machinery
£'000
134
134		 Fixtures and
fittings
£'000
63
63		 Computer
Equipment
£'000
197
197		 Total
£'000
4,584
4,584
1,490
112		 121
4		 56
1		 166
25		 1,833
142
1,602 125 57 191 1,975
2,588 9 6 6 2,609
2,700 13 7 31 2,751
Park
Development
£'000
212
212		 Mary Buss
House
£'000
24
24		 Health
Centre
£'000
3,296
3,296		 Enterprise
Barn
£'000
423
423		 Total
£'000
4,190
4,190
-
-		 63
9		 10
-		 1,307
94		 110
9		 1,490
112
- 72 10 1,401 119 1,602
235 140 14 1,895 304 2,588
235 149 14 1,989 313 2,700

All fixed assets held are for the use of the charity, with the exception of Mary Buss House which is occupied by another charity on a long term lease; this property was gifted to the charity and was valued by the Trustees at that time. Mary Buss House is subject to a charge as security for a loan facility from URC Thames North Trust which is detailed in note 16. The Health Centre is subject to a charge as security for the loan from AVIVA which is shown in note 16. Land with a value of £235,000 (2020: £235,000) is included within freehold property and not depreciated. All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

44

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

12 Investments

Through the charity's Beyond Business programme, which identifies potential new social enterprises and then guides and supports their launch, BBBC currently has a 5% shareholding in Appt Ltd, Fat Macy’s Ltd, Grassroot Workshop CIC, Carmen's Family Coffee House Ltd, Imagen Ltd, InCommon Ltd, InDent Ltd, Juta Shoes Ltd, Lemonade Ltd, Performance Ready Strength & Conditioning Ltd, Supply Change Ltd, Wayfinders 2018 CIC (Trading as "The Visionaries"), We Speak Ltd and Yarrow Films Ltd. It has not been possible to arrive at a market value of these shareholdings at 30 June 2021, which in any event is not judged to be material.

13 Debtors

Debtors
Bromley by Bow Health Loan
Vitabiotics Foundation Loan
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred income (note 15)
AVIVA loan
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income		 2021
£'000
421
4
11
235		 2020
£'000
443
4
32
280
671 759
2021
£'000
64
-
100
95
153
287
75
462		 2020
£'000
59
75
100
162
564
281
83
598
1,236 1,922

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

The Vitabiotics Foundation loan of £100,000 is interest free. At the Balance Sheet date it was due to be repaid by 30 September 2021 but the term has since between extended to 30 September 2022.

15 Deferred income

Deferred income comprises grants and other funding to be used in future accounting periods together with rent and other contractual income received in advance.

contractual income received in advance.
Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year		 2021
£'000
598
(598)
462		 2020
£'000
432
(432)
598
462 598

45

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Resilience & Recovery Loan Fund
Bromley by Bow Health Loan
AVIVA Loan		 2021
£'000
406
360
75		 2020
£'000
470
-
-
841 470

The AVIVA loan is secured by a first legal charge on the freehold land and buildings registered at HM Land Registry under the Title Number EGL332867. The original loan of £600,000 is repayable by amortised instalments of capital and interest over a thirty year period from September 1997; interest is repayable at 9.75%. An additional loan of £500,000 is repayable by amortised instalments of capital and interest over a twenty two year period from September 2005; interest is repayable at 5.73%. The remaining term of both loans is 6 years (June 2027).

The Resilience & Recovery Loan Fund was obtained through Social Investment Business under the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and is subject to a debenture security over the Centre's assets. Interest for the first year, at 9%, will be paid by the UK Government. Interest for the remaining two years is 6.5% per annum. The loan must be repaid from 1 July 2022 to 1 June 2024.

Bromley by Bow Health have made interest free loans totalling £150,000. £75,000 has been repaid. The balance of £75,000 is repayable on 30th September 2022.

On 22 February 2021, the Centre entered into a facility agreement for up to £500,000 with URC Thames North Trust. Funding is available to February 2026 with all drawdowns repayable 60 months after the date of the first drawdown. Any drawdowns will be secured on the property known as Mary Buss House registered at HM Land Registry under the Title Number 269161. Interest on drawdowns is 3% per annum.

17 Pension scheme

On 1 August 2014, and in compliance with workplace pension legislation, the company introduced a Group Personal Pension Plan arranged though Scottish Widows. The company contributes up to 6% of gross pay for all entitled employees depending on seniority, service and the employee's own contribution. At 30 June 2021, there were 62 (2020: 67) employees who chose to take advantage of this benefit. During the period the amount payable by the charity in respect of these post-retirement benefits amounted to £63,842 (2020: £66,994).

18a Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)
Unrestricted Funds
Net assets at the end of the year
General Fund
Designated Fund		 Fixed
Assets
£'000
14
2,595		 £'000
-
(315)
Net Current
Assets		 Long Term
Liabilities
£'000
-
(841)		 Total
funds
£'000
14
1,439
2,609 (315) (841) 1,453

18b Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)
Net assets at the end of the year
General Fund
Designated Fund
Unrestricted Funds		 Fixed
Assets
£'000
14
2,737		 £'000
-
(889)
Net Current
Assets		 Long Term
Liabilities
£'000
-
(470)		 Total
funds
£'000
14
1,378
2,751 (889) (470) 1,392

46

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

19a Movements in funds (current year)

At the start At the end
of the year Income Expenditure Transfers of the year
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Restricted funds:
Charitable Activities
Employment & Skills - 451 (581) 130 -
My Life - 944 (1,127) 183 -
Community Connections - 75 (105) 30 -
Beyond Business - 126 (154) 28 -
Action for Bow - - - - -
Advice Centre - 594 (677) 83 -
Insights - 230 (258) 28 -
Cross Area Projects - 175 (208) 33 -
Other
Donations and Legacies - 166 - (166) -
Total restricted funds - 2,761 (3,110) 349 -
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Mary Buss House 14 - - - 14
Total designated funds 14 - - - 14
General funds 1,378 1,262 (852) (349) 1,439
Total unrestricted funds 1,392 1,262 (852) (349) 1,453
Total funds 1,392 4,023 (3,962) - 1,453

Expenditure on Restricted Donations

Expenditure has been incurred to fulfil the obligations of the Restricted Donations of £166k. The relevant amounts are reported within Support Costs which are then allocated across the cost categories as shown in Note 5a so are included in the Expenditure figures for Charitable Activities in the table above.

47

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

19b Movements in funds (prior year)

Employment & Skills
My Life
Action for Bow
Insights
Total restricted funds
Total designated funds
General funds
Charitable Activities
Other
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Mary Buss House
Total unrestricted funds
Community Connections
Beyond Business
Total funds
Capital Programme
Restricted funds:
Advice Centre		 At the start
of the year
£'000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Income
£'000
397
958
106
116
-
524
107
31		 Expenditure
£'000
(613)
(1,144)
(202)
(148)
-
(710)
(130)
-		 Transfers
£'000
216
186
96
32
-
186
23
(31)		 At the end
of the year
£'000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 2,239 (2,947) 708 -
14 - - - 14
14 - - - 14
1,685 1,291 (890) (708) 1,378
1,699 1,291 (890) (708) 1,392
1,699 3,530 (3,837) () 1,392

Purposes of designated funds

The Charity was gifted, in 1997, the property Mary Buss House. In line with the lease in place, the use of this property is designated for the benefit of MIND Tower Hamlets.

20 Operating lease commitments

At 30 June 2021, the Charity had annual commitments under operating leases as follows:

At 30 June 2021, the Charity had annual commitments under operating leases as follows:
One to five years
Less than one year
Expiry Date:		 2021
2020
£'000
£'000
17
17
33
66
Land and Buildings
50 83

The company occupies part of the premises of Bromley by Bow United Reformed Church at 1 Bruce Road, Bromley by Bow, London, E3 3HN. The rent charged for the period was £16,500.

21 Operating lease commitments (lessor)

At 30 June 2021, the Charity had amounts receivable under non-cancellable operating leases for each of the following periods:

Expiry Date:
Less than one year
One to five years
Over five years		 2021
2020
£'000
£'000
185
185
706
724
184
352
Land and Buildings		 2021
2020
£'000
£'000
185
185
706
724
184
352
Land and Buildings
1,075 1,261

48

The Bromley by Bow Centre

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2021

24 Capital commitments

The Charity does not have any capital commitments to report at the balance sheet date.

25 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

26 Funds held on behalf of other organisations

At 30 June 2021, the Charity held the following amounts as a conduit for the Beyond Business Programme sponsored by Investec. These amounts will be paid to the winning social enterprises when they are ready to draw down the funds available to them.

2021 2020
£'000 £'000
Investec (Beyond Business Programme) 75 49

49

The Bromley by Bow Centre Reference and administrative details

For the year ended 30 June 2021

Company number 2942840
Charity number 1041653
Registered office and St Leonards Street
operational address Bromley by Bow
London E3 3BT
Directors Trustees, who are also directors under company law, at the date of this report are:
Simon Bevan Treasurer
Paul Brickell
Michael Gould
Ajit Lalvani Chair
Savitha Pushparajah
Zenith Rahman
Obafemi Shokoya
David Smeed Vice-Chair
Neil Smith
Rachel Smith
Company Secretary Graham Rowbotham
Chief Executive Officer Robert Trimble
Solicitors Stephenson Harwood LLP
1 Finsbury Circus
London EC2M 7SH
Bankers Barclays Bank plc
36–38 South Street
Romford
Essex RM1 1RH
Auditors Sayer Vincent LLP
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
Invicta House
8-114 Golden Lane
London EC1Y 0TL

50

Bromley by Bow Centre © Frank Creber

Contact

Registered office and operational address St Leonards Street Bromley by Bow London E3 3BT

bbbc.org.uk

51