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A Better future www.youthoptions.org.uk

Chair’s Statement

As the Chair of Youth Options, I want to begin by recognising and thanking all those who have supported our work throughout the last year - staff, volunteers, trustees, donors, and partner organisations. Without your commitment we would not be able to support the young people as we do.

As life returns to our new normal, post Covid, never has it been more important to deliver against our vision that every child and young person can achieve a better future, whatever their life circumstances. Supporting children and young people, to engage, develop and become empowered to achieve a better future, is at the very heart of what we do.

The charity is focusing on three key priority areas: prevention services, targeted action with children and young people already at risk and progression opportunities, which the report will expand upon.

We have exciting new plans and projects for the year ahead.

This much is certain, just as the virus has fundamentally changed lives, the needs of young people have not changed. If anything, they have become more acute and at Youth Options, we stand determined to deliver on our promises.

I would like to thank our CEO, Madeleine Durie, her senior management team, and all Youth Option’s staff for their commitment and achievements over the past year.

I also thank the Trustees for helping to ensure the strong financial management of the charity and effective strategic planning, all of which help us to maintain our position as a leading provider of high-quality services that have a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of the young people with whom we come into contact.

In closing, I want to thank our supporters for your generosity in helping us financially to keep providing for children and young people in our local communities.

Thank you for giving them aspirations for the future and I hope that you will continue to support the important work of our charity.

This will be my final report as I sign off as a Trustee of the charity after 16 years. It has been an honour to be involved and I wish the Youth Options family every success in the future.

Caroline Horrill Chair of Trustees

Chief Executive’s Statement

The post-covid world for children and young people continues to be a challenging place: levels of persistent absences from school is two and a half times higher than in 2018/19 with nearly one in four young people missing more than 10% of school [1]; there were 4.36 million children (aged 0 to 15) in the UK living in low income families [2] and, despite a significant fall in children and young people being involved in the criminal justice system, there were still 13,800 children cautioned or sentenced for crime in 2022 and 31.2% of those were reoffending [3].

Surveys show that young people’s measure of personal well-being have declined with increasing levels of anxiety, worries about finances and feeling increasingly disconnected from their community [4].

All of this set against a backdrop of reducing funding for services, culminating in record waiting lists for services such as Children and Adolescent Mental Health service [5]; rising

numbers of children who are looked after (involved with the care system) and more than twice as many care leavers not in education, training or employment compared to young adults the same age [6].

At Youth Options, we do what we can to ensure that we can provide the support for children and young people in Hampshire that is so clearly needed.

We revamped our strategy so that we could focus on three key priority areas: prevention services which reduce the likelihood of children and young people becoming socially excluded; targeted action with children and young people already at risk through one to one and group work and; progression opportunities focusing on social action projects, employability and life skills to empower young people to take responsibility for their own future.

Throughout our work, we put the needs of the child and young person at the centre: in our youth centres, street-based youth work; supporting children and young people in key work and group projects who may be facing difficulties in engaging in learning or with their family and friends, are involved in the care system, are young carers, Ukrainian

refugees, or who have other needs; and through our new progression opportunities focusing on social action projects engaging with the local community and employability programmes.

Of course we can only do this work because of the amazing people who make this happen. I am very proud to lead Youth Options with an inspiring and committed team of staff and volunteers who support children, young people and their families, often through very challenging times. Our generous supporters, individuals, businesses and our partners in Health, Police and Local Government whose funding enables us to continue to reach those children and young people in need.

Together, we can achieve our vision of a better future for every child and young person, whatever their life circumstances.

Madeleine Durie

Chief Executive Officer

[1] Pupil absence in schools in England Autumn term 2022/23 Office of National Statistics (ONS)
[2] Children in low income families: local area statistics, financial year ending 2022 ONS
[3] Youth Justice Statistics 2021 to 2022 Youth Justice Board
[4] Young people’s well-being in the UK 2020 ONS
[5] Waiting time for CAHMS 2020-21 NHS Digital
[6] Children looked after in England 2022 ONS

Our Vision

We believe that every child and young person can achieve a better future, whatever their life circumstances.

Our Mission

We support children and young people, particularly those who need it most, to engage, develop and become empowered to achieve a better future.

Our Values

We are:

Empowering and supporting children and young people

we create a Supportive: supportive environment for children, young people, colleagues and delivery partners.

Committed: we are committed to enabling children and young people to achieve a better future.

Inspiring: we inspire children and young people to achieve their own potential.

Our Year In Numbers

In 2022-23, we continued to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We have embarked on a new strategy that was built on the foundations of great work that had gone before, we have transformed our structure to reflect the priorities in the strategy and, most importantly we have been able to support more children and young people than ever before.

We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved in 2022-23 thanks to our inspiring staff, volunteers and supporters. But most importantly, thanks to the children, young people and families who have worked with Youth Options and who have achieved so much.

----- Start of picture text -----
2 Pre-schools enabling
150 children to have the
best start in life. 16 Street-based
6,143 (detached)
youth sessions
Children and a week across
Southampton,
Young People 5 Children and Youth Centres Eastleigh and
Supported across Southampton, Eastleigh, New Forest.
New Forest and Andover providing
drop-in youth sessions, holiday and
after school clubs.
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
6 Corporate volunteering
79 Staff
days
3 Social Action Projects
Including Youth on
Youth Violence,
Environmental Project
22 Targeted Projects
and Well-being
Including support for 9 Residential
looked after children, Holidays
for
care leavers, those at
disadvantaged
2 Outdoor Learning Centres
risk of exclusion and children and
using nature-based alternative
their families education provision young people
35 families including 68 children
supported through non-violent 1 Employability 25
resistance (NVR) courses Project Volunteers
----- End of picture text -----

Our Finances

----- Start of picture text -----
2022/2023 2021/2022
Income £1,999,200 £1,606,273
Expenditure (£1,949,935) (£1,713,208)
Net Income £49,265 (£106,935)
----- End of picture text -----

Our Strategy

Youth Options provides activities and services to children, young people and their families in Hampshire. Established in 1937, the charity has grown and developed over the years. Following the challenges of the pandemic and its impact both on the charity, and more importantly on children and young people, we embarked on the development of a new strategy. This builds on the work of previous years and we know that we have the foundations we need to make real impact.

Increasing need for support

There is an increasing need for support for children and young people, but statutory funding has reduced. More than a third of children in the UK are living in poverty and 90% of households have reported an increase in the cost of living. Across Hampshire, 11.6% are living in lowincome families and 17% are eligible for free school meals, 17.4% of school aged children have mental health disorders; 23% are persistently absent from school. There are 1,718 looked after children and 1,982 care leavers [1].

Youth Options exists to help reduce and mitigate these challenges.

Strategic objectives

Prevention: reducing the number of children and young people at risk of social exclusion.
Targeted action : minimising the impact of negative life experiences.
Progression Opportunities : providing positive ways forward for children and young people facing the greatest adversity.

Underpinned by supporting structures that enable us to deliver through:

Our supporters : inspire and expand our community of supporters
Our staff and volunteers : support our staff and volunteers to enable great outcomes for children and young people Our systems and processes : ensure our systems and processes are efficient and support our objectives
Our financial sustainability : create a financially sustainable base including through growth in trading opportunities
Our governance : assure our supporters and funders that we are a well-run charity that maximises their financial support on our beneficiaries

[7] Hampshire Children and Young People’s Plan 2022-25, Hampshire Children’s Trust 2022

Where we work

Prevention Services Targeted Support

Prevention Services

1. Andover - Ofsted registered pre-school, two afterschool clubs and a holiday club

2. Eastleigh Community and centre-based youth work across Eastleigh. Ofsted-registered Little Owls Pre-school operates out of Itchen Valley Country Park

3. Totton Community and centre-based youth work 4. Southampton - Community and centre-based youth work across east and west of the city.

Targeted Action

5. Southampton Key Work, Impact (looked after children project, Step Forward (care leaver programme), Families Together (Non Violent Resistance Programme NVR)

6 . New Forest Knife Crime Awareness, Key work, NVR
7 . Eastleigh Nature Project with SEN, Key work, NVR, Step Forward

8. New Forest Outdoor Learning at New Park Farm 9 . Eastleigh Outdoor Learning Centre, Bishopstoke and Itchen Valley County Park

Progression Opportunities

10 . Totton Environment Social Action Project 11 . Southampton Employability Programme, Care Leaver Programme (Step Forward)

Progression Outdoor Learning

Our Impact and Achievements

Supporting children and young people to achieve a better future

Measuring Impact

We measure the impact of our services through a variety of ways. Across all of our programmes, we ask for feedback from children and young people through Your Views Matter (or age appropriate feedback in other forms) on how we have supported them, any changes in how they feel about their ability to cope with situations and to rate us on the quality of our staff and programmes. In addition, in our targeted work, we ask young people to baseline aspects of their lives at the start of their engagement, and together we monitor progress through the projects. We also seek regular feedback from parents, carers and professionals. Our programmes and activities are co-designed with the children and young people so that we are responding to their needs.

We recognise that measuring the long-term impact of our work can be a challenge. There are many studies that evidence the positive impact of youth work on the lives of children and young people – both universal provision and targeted.

“Universal youth work produces positive outcomes for health and wellbeing, makes a contribution to improving formal educational outcomes, impacts on employability and provides safe yet challenging spaces for personal and social development.” - Understanding the benefits of universal youth work, University of Edinburgh [8]

But we want to be better at evidencing the impact of our programmes and interventions so we can improve our impact. We have been working on a more detailed theory of change, with bespoke elements for our key programmes. This coming year, we will be collecting more data on the types of conversations that young people are having with our youth support workers on our street-based sessions to ensure our staff are better able to meet their needs. In the longer term, we will be reviewing our impact reporting including longitudinal follow up with young people, their parents/carers and schools and colleges.

[8] Understanding the value of universal youth work, Fyfe and McGregor, University of Edinburgh 2015

Objective 1: Prevention

Reducing the number of children and young people at risk of social exclusion

Providing youth services, positive activities, and access to youth workers in local communities is vital to ensure that young people have safe spaces to go and have trusted adults to speak to. Our prevention services work to reduce the risk of young people becoming vulnerable to exploitation, crime (including knife crime) and risky behaviour such as drug and alcohol misuse.

By providing youth centres and street-based youth work, our staff help children and young people to build positive social networks with other children and young people, creating a sense of connection to their local communities and reducing the likelihood of exploitation, risky and antisocial behaviour.

Over the last year, our prevention projects have:

3,453 16 9 children and street-based centre-based young people youth sessions youth sessions a supported every week in week in through Southampton, Southampton, prevention Eastleigh and Eastleigh and the services the New Forest New Forest

----- Start of picture text -----
295
Years 6/7 young Distributed
people attended £10,240 hardship
knife crime funds to local
awareness families
programmes
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Objective 1: Prevention

The major growth in prevention youth services was due to our success in a five-year contract in Eastleigh where, alongside existing delivery of three nights a week in Bursledon, Hamble and Hound, we started delivery of centre and street-based work (detached) in Eastleigh town centre, Chandlers Ford , Hiltingbury, Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and Horton Heath.

We continue to run successful youth work in Southampton (Lordshill, Daisy Dip, Redbridge and Millbrook) including in partnership with Lordshill Youth Project. Our strategy aims to increase our activities in Southampton over the coming year, particularly in areas reporting high anti-social behaviour.

We are in the second year of our contract with Totton and Eling Town Council with provision of youth services from The Garage Youth Centre. We have been able to use our presence in the area to be successful in securing additional grants including being able to take a group of young people on a residential, thanks to the generosity of Allegra’s Ambition, and to distribute hardship packages and support to families in need over the winter period.

Thanks to funding from the Office and Police and Crime Commissioner, we were able to deliver focused knife crime awareness workshops in schools and youth groups across the New Forest. Reaching 295 children aged 10 to 13, the course focused on raising awareness about knife crime, the laws around carrying knives and how to access help and support if they had concerns.

Case Study

Liam* started coming to one of our Youth Centres when it was first opened. He was often abusive to staff, damaging equipment and deliberately pushing the boundaries around use of drugs and alcohol while at the centre. He was suspicious of staff and refused to engage in any of the more structured sessions, actively disrupting others to do the same.

Despite this outward dislike of the provision, he kept returning each week and slowly, because the youth support workers remained a constant support, he began to open up. He admitted he struggled managing his anger and often got into fights when he got frustrated. His youth support workers supported him with finding coping strategies and where to get additional help.

Slowly he has started to engage more positively with the activities and whilst he still has outbursts, he quickly recognises this and the team can challenge his behaviour without him getting aggressive.

There is still a long way to go, but the team are looking forward to supporting him to make more positive life choices.

*not his real name; photo is illustrative of our work

Objective 2: Targeted Action

Minimising the impact of negative life experiences on children and young people

Our targeted action projects focus on providing activities that support individuals and groups of children and young people who need additional, focused support.

The needs of children and young people who benefit from targeted support can be for a variety of reasons including children and young people who have been affected by adverse childhood experiences (ACE), have special educational needs, are struggling to engage in school or college, are from under-resourced backgrounds, have poor mental health and well being or have experience of the care system.

689

children and young people have benefitted from targeted outdoor learning opportunities

Young People supported with intensive one to one key work focusing on building confidence, resilience and wellbeing

33 looked after children and 45 care leavers supported in dedicated projects for looked after children and young people

children and young people on residential holidays including care leavers and their families

Objective 2: Targeted Action

We have now had two full years of our second outdoor learning provision based in Bishopstoke in Eastleigh, Hampshire alongside our existing provision at Itchen Valley Country Park, Eastleigh. Through the development of positive relationships and using nature-based activities such as bushcraft and horticulture to engage children and young people, we focus on developing social and emotional capabilities, well-being and building confidence and resilience.

We have also run projects aimed at specific groups of children and young people, including working with primary school aged children from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, working with older young people aged 14 to 16 who are at risk of dropping out of education, and working with Ukrainian families who have been displaced due to war.

We were successful in National Lottery Reaching Communities Funding to provide Key Work to children and young people particularly focused on helping build confidence, resilience and support children who are struggling to engage in education. Many of the young people on the programme have been bullied, experienced childhood trauma and have disengaged from learning – and often from friends and family.

We continued to provide support to looked after children and care leavers through our Impact and Step Forward programmes. These projects provide much needed support to children and young people who, through no fault of their own, have not been able to stay living with their birth families.

For younger children it is about providing a safe, fun space to play and share experiences with other children who have been through what they have experienced and build confidence. For care leavers, our programme focuses as much on helping make the transition to independent living as it does on continuing to provide support and build confidence. Many of the care leavers we work with have children of their own, so our projects reach beyond the individuals into the wider family.

Case Study

Jane* was referred to our key work programme because she was struggling at home and school. She and her siblings had been in and out of the care system due to neglect. Because of her family history and vulnerability she was at a strong risk of child exploitation and sexual abuse.

She struggled to make friends and had little home support for learning despite her being due to take GCSEs. Over the course of nine months, she met her Key Worker initially weekly, then fortnightly and together they developed a plan focusing on safe relationships; improving confidence and planning for her future.

Using a range of techniques and support, Jane and her key worker developed a strong relationship which enabled difficult conversations around appropriate relationships, building her confidence and focusing on future life plans. Together they put in place strategies to address these and her Key Worker used a variety of techniques to build her trust, introducing her to positive ideas and actions to address these issues.

Now Jane is at college studying, she has made new friends and is able to recognise and respond when relationships and advances from others are risky.

*not her real name, photo is illustrative of our projects

Objective 3: Progression Opportunities

Providing positive ways forward for children and young people facing the greatest adversity

Progression Opportunities is the newest part of our strategy and is focused on supporting sustainable change for children and young people so that they can take personal responsibility for their future.

Our main part of the programme was the creation of an Employability Programme, co-funded by KFC and UK Youth. The main project started at the very end of the financial year but aims to reach 30 young adults not in education, training or employment (NEET) over the course of the programme. It provides employability skills training and paid work placements.

We also began a new pilot project focusing on well-being for older young people who were NEET including supporting them to develop volunteering opportunities. At the end of the financial year we were regularly supporting seven young people on this pilot.

Case Study

Lou was referred to Youth Options by her teacher when she was six because she had been bullied at school and was struggling to cope. She found the support from the project a safe haven to be herself and learn coping strategies.

She remained involved with Youth Options over the years and eventually became involved in the Step Forward Programme for care leavers as a volunteer, supporting other young adults coping with change. After the Covid lockdown, she joined Wellbeing Wednesday sessions aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing. “I was encouraged to meet new people and felt comfortable talking through things you don’t normally get the opportunity to discuss openly”.

She signed up to our employability programme, attending sessions with a job mentor to build employability skills, finding coping strategies and building her personal resilience. There followed a four week paid placement as a Youth Options’ Young Ambassador organising and talking to young people in our projects and representing their views at meetings with the local council and NHS.

Having experienced the benefit of youth work in her own life, Lou applied and was successful for a permanent job at Youth Options as Youth Support Worker and is now delivering youth sessions and making that difference to others.

Supporting Families

We recognise that supporting families and their children helps to provide the best start in life. We therefore made the decision to move our early years provision and after school and holiday club from our Limited Company into the charity. Whilst still meeting our charitable aims, it has enabled us to extend our support for families.

We have continued to support families with children who are violent through our innovative Families Together Programme using Non-violent Resistance (NVR). Our 10-week NVR programmes support parents/carers to break the cycle of challenging behaviours whilst building positive relationships. Participants develop skills which allow them to engage and encourage children and young people, enable supportive relationships within the wider community, and reduce frequency and severity of violent incidents. Alongside NVR our Family Support Worker and Youth Support Workers provide additional wrap-around support for the whole family.

Last year, we worked with 63 families on the programme, an increase from 45 the year before.

Moving early years and childcare provision into the charity means we continued providing affordable childcare with our two preschools and holiday and after school clubs. But it has also enabled us to access grants to improve the provision to the children and their families including distribution of cost of living hardship funds and support to families in need particularly over the winter months. This included providing food vouchers, paying for energy bills and buying warm clothing. We had 150 children attend our pre-schools (Little Owls in Eastleigh and Scott Centre Pre-School in Andover) and 663 older children attend our after school and holiday clubs in Andover.

Case Study Families Together Non Violent Resistance programme

A parent was five weeks in to the ten week NVR programme with Youth Options. They needed to address a challenging topic with their son which would normally have resulted in hours of violence and aggression followed by refusal to attend school. Having applied what she had learnt from the programme so far, there was no violence or aggression at all. They spent positive time together and he went to school. When we asked her what was different, she replied “I felt empowered to cope with him when I’ve felt like I couldn’t before”.

Supporting Structures

Our new strategy also focused on creating the right structures and systems to enable us to succeed. Internally, the new strategic plan required us to review our staffing structure and much of the year was focused on designing and implementing a new model and reviewing our systems so that we could meet our delivery objectives.

Objective: We will inspire and expand our community of supporters

We are reliant on the support of individual and grant funders to continue to reach more children and young people. Our strategy recognised that this area of our work needed more investment and towards the end of the financial year, we recruited a Corporate Fundraiser and Marketing Officer, increasing the fundraising and marketing team to 2.8 full time equivalents.

We also invested in a new website which better promotes our work, enables young people to easily see what support is available to them and better demonstrates to our supporters the work we do.

Supporting Structures

Objective: We will support our staff and volunteers to enable great outcome for children and young people

Our Staff

Our staff are key to our success as a charity - in their professionalism, skills and can-do approach to all of our work. We restructured our senior leadership and management team to ensure senior managers led each of the areas of our strategy and introduced team leader roles which both enabled better focus on quality and delivery in the key areas but also provided career progression opportunities for existing staff.

We continue to invest in our staff to ensure that they are able to provide the best possible support to the children and young people with whom we work.

Our staff undergo a comprehensive induction and ongoing training programme including paediatric First Aid, Emergency First Aid, restorative practice and outdoor leader training alongside our online training programme and induction into health and safety, safeguarding, youth work and early years and childcare.

We believe that we have a responsibility as an employer to pay our staff a real living wage and have aligned ourselves with the Living Wage Foundation national minimum wage rate, regardless of the age and experience of our staff. We brought forward the pay review, implementing it five months’ early to ensure that our staff were supported through the energy and cost of living crisis over the winter.

We retained our Investors in People status, with feedback across all measures equalling or exceeding the high scores in our previous attainment.

Supporting Structures

Our Volunteers

Our regular volunteers averaged 25 over the year, though this number has fluctuated as the cost of living crisis limited the amount of time some volunteers were able to give. We are indebted to those people who give the gift of their time to support our work.

Volunteers work in many of our settings from early years provision, to a gardening group at Outdoor Learning to volunteering in our youth centres. Without their generosity, we would not be able to provide the quality of support to children and young people that we do.

All regular volunteers undergo the same safer recruitment and induction training as our paid staff including attending one day induction which focuses on the ethos of the charity, safeguarding and health and safety.

We have also welcomed several corporate volunteer groups carrying out corporate volunteer days: Studio4 Architects, Zurich, Drapers Tools, Southampton Airport and Aviva and are thankful for their support.

Case Study: Patrick

“ I joined Youth Options to help prepare the Outdoor Learning Centre during lockdown. I wanted to do something positive with my love of horticulture and helping Youth Options get the centre ready for young people was great.

Early on, much of the work was hard graft clearing the site, but when it opened, I could use my horticultural knowledge in the garden area. I began doing some short videos about what we were teaching the young people.

I donated some giant pumpkin seeds and the young people are now growing enormous pumpkins this year. Thanks to my time at Youth Options, I got a permanent job as a gardener in a care home.

I still come and volunteer when I can as I love what I do, it is great to be part of a team with other volunteers but most of all knowing that it makes a difference to the lives of young people. “

Supporting Structures

We will ensure our Objective: systems and processes are efficient and support our objectives

Much of the year has been embedding a series of new systems that were introduced in the prior year. We continue to look for ways to streamline our systems, particularly IT and completed an IT Strategy Review.

We implemented a cloud-based accounting system which has improved our financial reporting.

Plans for the coming year include introducing a new file sharing structure to improve efficiencies and investing in an updated, online safeguarding reporting system that will replace our current reporting system. This will streamline our staff‘s ability to record incidents and safeguarding concerns and help us track trends more efficiently.

Financial Review

Objective: We will create a sustainable financial base including growth through trading opportunities.

Summary

Youth Options consolidated accounts show a net income of £1,999,200, an increase of 24% compared to 21-22 with a surplus of £49,265 compared to a deficit of £106,935 in the prior year. This is a reflection of expanding our provision as part of our strategy and also continued Covid recovery. As a result of the growth, post-covid recovery and movement of early years provision and rising costs of inflation, our charitable activity expenditure increased by 30% on the prior year.

Financial Review

The increase in income was a result of the commencement of two contracts with Eastleigh Borough Council and Totton and Eling Town Council, expansion in our outdoor learning provision, growth in our grants and post-covid recovery of our early years, childcare and trading income. In the prior year we had a number of Covid recovery grants that had cushioned the impact of Covid on our trading provision (other income) which has returned to pre-covid levels. This financial year, we transferred the Early Years and Childcare activities from the trading subsidiary to the charity, in line with the Charity’s objects and supporting our strategic vision.

Our donations and non-grant fundraising have increased by 41% from £43,478 to £61,327 in 2022-23 achieved through a mixture of our own fundraising events and the generous support of others. We have invested in modest growth in our fundraising and marketing team as part of our financial strategy to diversify our income which will better enable us to continue to provide support to children and young people even when grant funding for a specific project ends.

Youth Options’ free reserves at the end of the reporting period stood at £608,904, an increase from £583,436 the prior year and remains within our reserve policy of three to six months of running costs. We have identified the need to invest in the refurbishment of a number of existing properties (many of which are on long leases) and have put in place a £40,000 designated fund to support that in the coming financial year.

Key Highlights

Income

Restricted grants were £524,856 and accounted for 26% of income (£398,000 in 2021-22). We carried over £89,221 of restricted grants into the new financial year. This was due to the timing of grants and delivery with a number of grants being awarded late in the financial year for delivery in 2023-24. We are very grateful for the funding from grant funders, without whom we would not be able to provide services to children and young people. Details of the grant funders and the programmes they funded can be found in Notes 17.

Non-restricted programmes for children and young people are sourced through fees to schools and other providers in return for our services, particularly around targeted key work and outdoor learning. Income from those services totalled £1,270,147 compared with £610,621 the prior year, accounting for 63% of income. This year, we moved the early years and childcare provision into the charity which changed the classification from trading income to training and educational activities income accounting for £461,933.The remaining increase in income is a result of the growth in use of our outdoor learning centres with full year of provision at both Itchen Valley Country Park and Bishopstoke.

Donations, legacies and fundraising events raised £61,327 compared to £43,478 in the prior year which is a 41% increase and is a result of the increased investment in the fundraising and marketing team. Whilst this a second year of growth, it is still slightly behind the level of donations in 2019-20. Many charities are reporting a slower recovery in donations citing the cost-of-living crisis as further challenge on people’s ability to give.

Key Highlights

Expenditure

Staffing costs continue to be the biggest expenditure, with £1.43m of direct staff costs in the financial year compared to £1.27m the prior year, an increase of 13% for both the charity and the trading company. This growth reflects the growth of our work and is demonstrated by the increase in the number of children and young people we have been able to support.

It is right, as a charity that works with disadvantaged children and families, that we ourselves pay a reasonable wage for our staff. We have aligned our starting salaries with the Living Wage Foundation level and will continue to aspire to meeting that where funds allow.

Other main charitable expenditure relates to property and office-related costs of £153k compared to £138k in 2021-2. Despite the increase in staff and delivery, we have managed to keep that increase at just 11% which is in line with inflation by consolidating our property use including moving head office towards the end of the financial year to reduce costs.

Key Highlights

Reserves

The Trustees have established a policy whereby the unrestricted funds not committed or invested in tangible fixed assets (‘the free reserves’) held by the charity should be between 3 and 6 months of the resources expended, which equates to between £350,000 and £700,000 in general funds. At this level, the Board feel that they would be able to continue the current activities of the charity in the event of a significant drop in funding.

If this happens, it would obviously then be necessary to consider how the funding would be replaced or activities changed. Currently free reserves amount to £ 608,904 (2022: £583,436).

We have a designated fund totalling £40,000 to cover the costs of the refurbishment of our buildings and vehicles. In particular, this is to fund the refurbishment of the Scott Centre in Andover, which will have a series of works including new kitchen, drainage and redecoration.

Key Highlights

Investments

Some of the Charity’s funds are invested into an investment portfolio in order to generate returns to support the work of the Charity over the long term. Funds are invested to give a combination of income and growth and the Trustees have a strategy of focusing on the total return. The Board and Finance Committee review performance regularly.

The Trustees believe the Charity’s funds should be invested in Investment funds that serve the Charitable sector and are widely diversified, providing a way to balance risk, flexibility and return. The Trustees target a long-term rate of return of 5% but recognize that investment markets can go down as well as up so can live with the resulting short-term volatility.

Youth Options Centres Limited (Trading Company)

Our Trading Company, Youth Options Centres Ltd, consists of The Hub in Eastleigh and MP3 in Millbrook, Southampton. The Hub is a small sports facility in Eastleigh which Youth Options manages on behalf of Eastleigh Borough Council. MP3 is a community facility in Millbrook Park in Southampton. As well as using it to deliver our own youth provision, we also manage bookings to other organisations including sports clubs.

As a result of the decision to transfer the early years and childcare provision into our charitable activities, the turnover for Youth Options Ltd therefore shows a significant decrease in income of £142k compared to £510k in the prior year.

The stock market experienced significant fluctuations over the course of the year and ended with a net loss of £5,143 compared to an unrealised gain of £87,710 in 2021-22. The overall market value of the investments was £844,038 compared to £793,280 in the prior year.

Governance and Management

Objective: We will assure our supporters and funders that we are a well-run charity that maximises their financial support on our beneficiaries

Our Governance Structure

Public benefit

Youth Options was established in 1935 and became incorporated in 1996 as a charity and company limited by Guarantee and registered in England and Wales.

Charitable objects

Charity Trustees have a duty to report on their charity’s public benefit. They should demonstrate that:

There is an identified benefit or benefits.
The benefit must be to the public or section of the public.

Our charitable objects are:

“ The improvement of life opportunities for children and young people including the advancement of citizenship and development of community involvement, provided such object is charitable. The young people with whom the charity works include those who are in need by reason of financial hardship or other disadvantage or vulnerability .”

This report sets out the activities that Youth Options carried out in order to carry out its public benefit and the Trustees confirm that our activities meet the requirement of Public Benefit of our charity. All of our work supports the needs of children and young people and particularly includes those who need additional support.

Governance and Management

Board of Trustees

The Trustees have ultimate responsibility for directing the work of our charity, ensuring that it is solvent, well-run and delivering against our charitable objects and public benefit.

The Trustees of Youth Options are Directors of Youth Options for the purposes of company law. No Trustee has any financial interest in the charity. No Trustee received any remuneration for their services as Trustee, but they may be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses.

The Board of Trustees appoints the Chief Executive Officer who is accountable to the Trustees for the day to day running of the charity and for implementing the strategic business plan approved ty the Trustees. The Board set out the delegated responsibilities of the CEO, including financial delegation, on an annual basis.

The Board meet at least four times a year and this year included a number of strategic planning days to focus on the development of the new strategy. All Trustees sit on at least one Committee which convene several times of year depending on the specific terms of reference.

The committees are:

Finance and Audit Committee

Quality and Delivery Committee Remuneration and Appointments Committee

The Board elects a Chair and Vice Chair who ordinarily fulfil that role for a period relating to their term as Trustees.

Governance and Management

Trustee recruitment, training and induction

The Board seeks to ensure a good mix of experience and expertise to help ensure good governance including finance, working with children and young people and governance. The Trustees have completed a skills audit and will be actively looking to recruit new trustees to help maintain the right balance of experience.

All Trustees receive induction training by the senior management team and are expected to complete Safeguarding training for Trustees.

As with all staff and volunteers, Trustees are subject to our Safer Recruitment Policy. Safeguarding training for trustees must be refreshed every three years.

Risk Management

The Board oversee the strategic risks and delegate operational risks to the senior leadership team. The key risks that the Board have identified are:

Safeguarding Health and Safety Financial sustainability Maintaining quality services

Governance and Management

Decision making and management of the charity

Having agreed the annual budget which is linked to the strategy, the Board delegate policy implementation and day to day management to the CEO and through them to the senior leadership team. The delegated powers are agreed annually by the Board. Outcomes and key performance indicators are monitored through the committee structure and through the quarterly Balanced Scorecard.

The Chief Executive is supported by a senior leadership team consisting of:

Director of Development Director of Finance and Central Services Director of Services

Fundraising practices

Pay and Remuneration Policy

Staff remuneration is reviewed on an annual basis, based on job evaluation, comparable market benchmarking, inflation and the charity’s financial parameters. The charity operates within pay bands and intends to review the pay band structure and determinants in 2022-23. Our main objective is to be a responsible employer and we align ourselves with the Living Wage Foundation minimum wage.

The pay review process is presented to the Appointments and Remuneration Committee and agreed by the Board based on recommendations from the Committee and input from Finance and Audit committee. The Remuneration Committee also review the recommendations for the Senior Leadership pay. The CEO pay award is agreed by the Board of Trustees following recommendations from the Appointments and Remuneration Committee.

Youth Options has a diversified approach to fundraising, generating voluntary income from individual donors, fundraising events, corporate supporters, trusts and foundations.

Our fundraising and communications team consists of three staff (including a Marketing Officer) overseen by the Director of Development. Youth Options does not employ any agencies to carry out fundraising on our behalf. We received no complaints related to fundraising in the last year.

Honorary Offices

Youth Options is proud that Nigel Atkinson Esq, HM Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire is our President. He kindly supports the charity on a voluntary basis and regularly hosts events on our behalf.

We thank our President for his ongoing support and involvement in Youth Options.

Key volunteers, staff and advisors

President: Nigel Atkinson Esq, HM Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire

Trustees

The Directors of the charitable company are its Trustees for the purposes of charity law and through out this report are collectively referred to as Trustees or the Board

Senior Leadership Team

Chief Executive Officer and Company Secretary: Madeleine Durie Director of Development: Louise Pears Director of Finance and Central Services: Michael Smith Director of Services: Becky Pollard

Caroline Horrill, Chair of Trustees James Fillingham, Vice Chair Richard Coleman Karen Dagwell Roy Perry Sue de Salis Hayley Straker Peter North (appointed March 2023) Lucy Varcoe

Charity Number: 1056464

Company Number: 3184237

Registered Offices: 3 Crescent House, Yonge Close, Eastleigh, SO50 9SX

Auditors: Hopper Williams and Bell Ltd, Highland House, Mayflower Close, Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, SO53 4AR

Youth Options Centres Ltd (Trading Company) Directors

Bankers: Nat West Bank Plc, 105 The High Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9AW

Caroline Horrill Roy Perry Ian Stickland

Investments: M&G Securities Ltd, PO Box 9038, Chelmsford CM99 2XF

Statement of the Trustees Responsibilities

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 those financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
Observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to 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:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware; and
As Trustees and Directors of the Company, we have taken all steps that we ought to have taken to make ourselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are of that information.

The Trustees report under the Charities Act 2011 and in accordance with the Special Provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 was approved by the Board of Trustees on 16 October 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Caroline Horrill Chair of Trustees Date 16 October 2023

Report of the Independent Auditors to the

Trustees of Youth Options

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Youth Options (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiary (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31st March 2023, which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Statement of Cash Flows, and the 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:

give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31st March 2022 and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended; have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent 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.

Report of the Independent Auditors to the

Trustees of Youth Options

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s or parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 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 annual report, including the trustees’ 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 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 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.

Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Youth Options

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Responsibilities of trustees

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the group and parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports)

Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement set out on page 12, 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.

adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and parent 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 group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Report of the Independent Auditors to the

Trustees of Youth Options

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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. Due to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities even though the audit has been properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs (UK). The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the parent charitable company and group, and the sector in which it operates. These include but are not limited to compliance with the Companies Act 2006, UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and the relevant tax compliance regulations for the parent charitable company and group.

We obtained an understanding of how the parent charitable company and group is complying with these frameworks through discussions with management.

Report of the Independent Auditors to the

Trustees of Youth Options

We enquired with management whether there were any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations or whether they had knowledge of actual or suspected fraud. These enquiries are corroborated through follow-up audit procedures including but not limited to a review of legal and professional costs and correspondence.
We assessed the susceptibility of the parent charitable company’s and group's financial statements to material misstatement, including the risk of fraud and management override of controls. We designed our audit procedures to respond to this assessment, including the identification and testing of any related party transactions and the testing of journal transactions that arise from management estimates, that are determined to be of significant value or unusual in their nature.
We assessed the appropriateness of the collective competence and capabilities of the engagement team, including consideration of the engagement team's knowledge and understanding of the sector in which the parent charitable company and group operates in, and their practical experience through training and participation with audit engagements of a similar nature.

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

This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Hopper Williams & Bell Limited is eligible for appointment as auditor of the parent charitable company and group by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Report of the Independent Auditors to the

Trustees of Youth Options

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an 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 charity and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Michaela Johns FCCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of Hopper Williams & Bell Limited Statutory Auditor

Highland House, Mayflower Close, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 4AR Date: 16th October 2023

Youth Options Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2022

The notes on pages 52 to 73 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Youth Options Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2022

All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities. The notes on pages 52 to 73 form an integral part of these financial statements

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Youth Options Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2022

The notes on pages 52 to 73 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Youth Options Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2022

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime under the Companies Act 2006 and in accordance with FRS 102 SORP. The trustees have prepared group accounts in accordance with section 222A of the Companies Act and the Charities Act 2011. The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of these Acts in respect of accounting records and preparation of accounts.

Whilst the company is exempt from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 and the members have not required an audit under Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006, the company is subject to audit under the Charities Act 2011.

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 16 October 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

Caroline Horrill, Trustee

James Fillingham, Trustee

The notes on pages 52 to 73 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Youth Options Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows as at 31 March 2022

The notes on pages 52 to 73 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2022

1. General Information

Youth Options is a company, limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales under the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011. The address of the registered office is provided in Reference and administrative details. Details of the charity’s operations are provided in the Report of the Trustees.

2. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

Statement of compliance and basis of preparation

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and includes the results of the charity's operations which are described in the Trustees' Report and all of which are continuing. The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £1.

The financial statements consolidate the results of Youth Options Centres Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary undertaking of the Charity, on a line by line basis. The accounting year ends are co-terminus. The company has used the exemption under section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 not to include an individual income and expenditure account for the parent charitable company.

Income

All incoming resources are included on the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. Income from grants is accounted for on an accruals basis. All voluntary income and donations are accounted for on receipt by the charity. The income from fund raising events is shown gross, with the associated costs included in fundraising costs.

Government grants

The following Government grants were received the prior year:

Business Support Grant Funds: the accrual model has been used to recognise the grant when it is received or becomes receivable as there is no future related costs or performance conditions.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2022

2. Accounting policies (Continued)

C lassification of expendi ture

Expenditure is included when a liability is incurred. All expenditure has been classified as costs of raising funds, charitable activities (which includes operational programmes, support costs and governance costs) and other costs.

Operational Programme Expenditure relates directly to carrying out the objects of the charity. Support costs are expenditure incurred directly in supporting charitable activities and projects

Cost of raising funds include the costs of all fundraising events. Governance costs are those relating to the charity‘s compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements to the charity‘s compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

An apportionment of staff costs and overheads has been carried out on the basis of the income generated by the projects.

T angible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Assets costing less than £500 are written off in the year of purchase. Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life:

Leasehold land and buildings: buildings over period of lease; land not depreciated

Minibuses: 25% on reducing balance.

Intangible assets

Intangible assets are initially measured at cost. After initial recognition, intangible assets are measured at cost less any accumulated amortisation and any accumulated impairment losses.

I nvestments

Investments are stated at market value. Realised and unrealised gains and losses on investments are dealt with in the Statement of Financial Activities. Investment income is credited to income on an accruals basis, using dates of payment for dividends, and daily accrual for interest.

Funds

All the funds have been analysed between restricted and unrestricted funds. Restricted funds are those where the donor has imposed restrictions on how the fund may be used, but which do not prevent the fund being spent. Unrestricted funds are those which are not subject to any special restrictions and they can be used as the trustees decide. Designated funds are allocated out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes. The use of such funds is at the trustees' discretion.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2022

Accounting policies (continued)

Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.

Financial assets

The Charitable Company has elected to apply the provision of Section 11 'Basic Financial Instruments' and Section 12 'Other Financial Instruments Issues' of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial assets are recognised in the charitable company's statement of financial position when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Basic financial assets, which include trade and other receivables and cash and bank balances are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method, unless the arrangement constitutes a financial transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest.

Financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities which include trade and other payables, are initially measured at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost, unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2022

3. Financial performance of the charity

The consolidated statement of financial activities includes the results of the charity’s wholly owned subsidiary Youth Options Centres Ltd. The summary performance of the parent charity alone is:

4. Incoming resources from activities generating funds

The wholly owned subsidiary Youth Options Centres Limited is incorporated in England and Wales (No 02898083). The subsidiary operates the recreational and leisure centres owned by the charity. The company owns the whole of the £3 issued share capital. A summary of the trading results is shown on the next page.

The costs shown overleaf include the full costs of the subsidiary. There is a small difference when compared to 'Costs from operating Centres' on the SOFA, as audit remuneration has been reallocated to support costs in the Group accounts so that full audit remuneration is disclosed on a Group level in notes 8 & 10.

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

6. Other income

There is no other income for the 2022-23 period. 2021-22 income represents internal recharges of £17,309 and COVID related support of £26,667.

7. Other costs of raising funds

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

8. Charitable activities

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

9. Staff costs

No remuneration or expenses were paid to trustees during the year. The costs of staff were:

One employee had earnings in the band £70,001 to £80,000 during the year (2022: One had earnings in the band £60,001 to £70,000). Contributions of £2,225 (2022: £1,980) were made to the defined contribution pension scheme for this staff member in the year. Staff costs are shown under the following items of expenditure:

Included in staff costs in 2022 is an ex-gratia payment of £2,104 for redundancy due to cancellation in a service contract with a customer. No such costs were incurred in 2023.

The total amount of employee benefits (including employee pension contributions) received by key management personnel for their services to the charity was £233,537 (2022 £199,781).

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

9. Staff costs (continued)

The average monthly number of staff employed by the group during the year was as follows:

10. Auditors remuneration

The auditors remuneration for the group in the year consisted of the following costs. The auditors remuneration is inclusive of VAT as the Group is not VAT registered.

11 Net income for the year

This is stated after charging:

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

12. Intangible fixed assets (Group and Charity)

13. Tangible fixed assets (Group and Charity)

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

14. Investments

15. Debtors

Youth Options is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Company No: 3184237. Registered Charity No: 1056463

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 (continued)

16. Creditors