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Annual Report 2023/24 ‘

Including the Trustees' Report and Annual Accounts for the year ending 31st August 2024

www.infocus-charity.org.uk

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Introduction

We are proud to celebrate the young people that InFocus Charity exists to support.

Introduction	3
Highlights	4
Report of the Trustees Achievements in 2023/24 Objectives for 2024/25 Finance and Risk	10 18 22 24
Principle risks and uncertainties	28
Structure, governance and management	29
Reference and administrative details	31
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities	32
Independent Auditors Report	33
Accounts and Financial Statements	37
Thank you...	60

InFocus is here to offer the very best lifechanging opportunities and support to a special group of young people. Young adults with vision impairment and complex needs can face huge challenges to living a full and active life. The world can be really hard to navigate and integrate into when taking their place in society as young adults.

At InFocus we know what is possible when the best people, great facilities and clever equipment come together. We have been doing it since 1838. Times are now much different of course, but our purpose remains the same.

During the last twelve months our students in College have continued to make progress in their learning and make real strides towards their next steps into life as young adults. We were all delighted that the quality of our education was recognised by Ofsted at their latest inspection.

InFocus is in demand as a destination for young adults who have finished education.

Pamela Marsden Chair of Trustees

We hold a waiting list for many of our adult care services, and have taken positive steps to expand these to reach more people and their families.

Charities, including InFocus, have been significantly affected by the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis and the residual impact of COVID. Maintaining and developing upto-date specialist facilities, and hiring the best staff to support our young people, continues to be a financial and operational challenge. The fundraising, SEND funding, and wider economic landscapes keep changing, and force us to adapt how we work and how we plan for the future.

Despite this, we ended 2023/24 (and the previous period's Strategic Plan) with a great sense of pride in our organisation and in the young people who have given us a chance to be a part of their lives while at InFocus. As Trustees and staff we are looking forward to the next chapter in the long history of our charity.

Jane Dye Chief Executive Officer

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Highlights:

"Students enjoy their learning... and have le many opportunities to explore their interests and talents"

InFocus College

recognised by Ofsted

InFocus College students and staff celebrated after a 2024 Ofsted inspection awarded a ‘Good’ judgement.

Inspectors commended our specialist further education college for its exemplary work in preparing students with vision impairments and complex needs for their next steps in life.

As a specialist post-16 educational provider, the college focuses on equipping students with the skills and confidence needed for adulthood. In the highly celebrated Ofsted report the inspectors praised the college for developing a positive and open culture that places students at the centre of decision-making.

The report also highlighted the college’s enriching learning experiences that enhance students’ communication and mobility skills, empowering them to make independent choices, form new friendships, and achieve greater independence.

Inspectors also noted the college’s personalised and ambitious curriculum, which offers multidisciplinary support and real-life experiences, helping each student reach their full potential. The college’s high-quality facilities, such as the hydrotherapy pool, sensory rooms, gymnasium, and radio studio, were also recognised for playing a vital role in supporting student development.

College Principal Jason Ryder commented,

“We are delighted with the outcome of the inspection. Our dedicated team of staff works tirelessly to deliver a curriculum and environment that caters to each student’s aspirations for their next stage in life.”

“This outcome is a huge vote of confidence for the college, and one that students, staff, and parents can be proud of.

"It's a great opportunity to show prospective students and their families just how amazing it is to study at InFocus College.”

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InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Spotlight on: Jess (student at InFocus College)

Jess has taken huge steps to develop her independence as she prepares for life after College

She has been managing her finances using a cash tin, saving receipts and keeping track of her spending. Jess has a morning routine written in Braille and kept on her wall, as well as a hearing aid management routine.

Jess also participates in cooking sessions, especially enjoying making packed lunches and evening meals. She shows more awareness of safety and takes time to concentrate and complete kitchen tasks. Jess has also become better at managing her medication herself and is planning some weekend stays to develop her independence further.

Jess is a very determined young lady. She wants to live in a supported living house and do things for herself, so she is taking every opportunity to become more independent, with a very determined spirit!

Celebrating the

wow moments

2023/24 Scrapbook

InFocus College students visited the Houses of Parliament to add their voice to others from the specialist further education sector ahead of the General Election.

Putting independent living skills into practice during a trip to the supermarket.

Trying new things, and becoming more confident in the kitchen, with just enough support.

Fulfilling a dream of becoming a train driver for the day.

Supported Living tenants planned their own trip to Bath and enjoyed visiting a new city.

Ashley wowed the audience at the Natspec National Conference with her stunning piano and saxophone performances. Natspec is the voice of the specialist further education sector.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Working together

Family fun with the Moorvision charity

Accessible bus travel with Stagecoach

We teamed up with Stagecoach South West to offer a chance for the young people we support to explore and become familiar with bus travel.

The Stagecoach team (and bus!) which arrived at the InFocus campus enabled our young people to explore and become familiar with the layout of buses. The interactive session enabled participants to re-enact real-life bus scenarios, offering invaluable insights and practical skills for independent travel.

Alison Heath, Mobility Specialist at InFocus commented: “For individuals with vision impairments, catching public transport can often feel daunting. However, through this session, our young people have practised boarding the bus, scanning a bus pass, communicating with the driver, and finding a seat – enabling them to develop the confidence necessary to live more independently.”

InFocus held two special sensory events in collaboration with Moorvision, a local charity dedicated to supporting families with children who have vision impairments (VI).

These events - a forest school adventure and a sports day - provided engaging and inclusive activities designed to share our facilities and expertise to the wider VI community.

Devon County Show

We were proud to join local sight loss charity Devon Insight in the main tent at the Devon County Show to spread the word about living with vision impairment.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Objectives and Activities

Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31st August 2024

The board of Trustees of InFocus Charity present their annual report and audited accounts for the year ended 31st August 2024 and confirm that they comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102).

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty imposed on them by s17(5) of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance ‘Public benefit: running a charity (PB2)’.

InFocus Charity is a registered charity (registered number 1058937) and company limited by guarantee.

Introduction

The objects of the Charity are:

The relief of persons with a vision impairment and complex needs (whether this is a physical, other sensory or cognitive impairment) by:

supporting the education and training of persons with a vision or other sensory impairment by such means as the Trustees think fit including (but not limited to) the provision of a day and residential education facility
providing care for persons with a vision or other sensory impairment and support for them to live independently in the community
supporting the employment of persons with a vision impairment or other sensory complex impairment

InFocus Charity supports the education, care, health and independence of persons with a vision impairment or other sensory impairment. Income is generated from:

Local Authority fee income
Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
private fee income
charitable activities which include income from our six charity shops, E-Commerce, and fundraising
investment income

Vision, mission and values

Our vision is a world where young people with visual impairment and additional needs are able to take their place in society, where they are valued for their contribution and their rights and independence are supported.

Our mission is to empower children, young people and adults with visual impairment and additional needs to live fulfilling young and adult lives through the delivery of a range of education, care, and support services.

To succeed in our mission we will:

provide outstanding services centred around our young people
make best use of our specialist knowledge about visual impairment and complex needs
work in partnership with others
be a resilient, innovative and ambitious organisation and a great employer.

Our Operational Values as a staff team are:

Together everyone achieves more (T.E.A.M.)
Learning happens everywhere
Even better if…
Celebrate what you want to see more of.

The Community Values (things important to our young people) are:

The right support to learn and develop
A sense of belonging
Enjoyment and fun
Respect and kindness.

During the year we met with our stakeholders to explore our vision, mission and values.

The Trustees agreed to a new purpose and set of values, to be introduced as part of the Strategic Plan 2024 to 2027.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

people enjoying time at Jigsaw, a community service for young adults20

Activities

In 2023/24 the charity supported:

students in education who attend our college

Young people in education attended InFocus College for 38-week, day and residential placements (full or part time). We continued to offer split placements (working in conjunction with other providers) and Supported Internships (combining education, employability skills training and work experience as part of a stepping-stone towards paid employment).

Jigsaw is a place where young adults living in the community can build a peer group and enjoy a range of activities. Specialist staff meet a wide range of complex care needs and support the people accessing the service to develop their own friendships.

young people and family members from outside the InFocus Community20

We organised events, assessments and other opportunities throughout the year, including two partnership days with local sight loss charity Moorvision.

16 young people who thrived in our supported living accommodation

Residents in supported living accommodation are encouraged to be as independent as possible, with just the right amount of support from specialist staff.

2020 young people living their best life in St David’s House residential care

St David’s House is set in beautiful grounds at the edge of Exeter. Young adults live across three small lodges that have been adapted to meet their needs. They have access to the local community (and further afield) and can also use some of the shared facilities provided by InFocus.

Everything we do is made possible by a dedicated team of specialist staff that includes:

professional therapists offering speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, music therapy and psychological support
Rehabilitation Officers of the Visually Impaired (ROVI)
Vision Impairment (VI) advisors and practitioners with a specialist knowledge of VI and Cerebral Vision Impairment (CVI)
nurses and health care assistants, working together with visiting clinicians and GP services
experts in Braille and tactile resources
tutors experienced in teaching vision impaired students, supported by a team of specifically-trained and qualified learning support workers and enablers, in the classroom and in the residential houses
all our staff who support the safe and effective running of the charity.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Achievements and Performance

Strategic Plan

2023/24 was the final year of our five-year Strategic Plan. The 2019-2024 Strategic Plan set out ambitious plans for InFocus Charity (known as WESC Foundation at the time). It detailed how we planned to grow our services and increase the positive impact for our beneficiary group – young people and adults with vision impairment and complex needs.

The plan set out five key objectives, underpinned by both a financial strategy and a marketing and communication strategy. It described our aspiration to get the basics right, whilst reaching towards improvement, innovation, and expansion.

Overview of achievements 2019-2024

InFocus faced significant challenges during the period of the 2019-2024 Strategy Plan, notably the COVID-19 pandemic. It stymied many of our aspirations for growth and development.

We kept our young people and staff safe and found innovative ways to continue to operate most of our services through the lockdowns and a myriad of different restrictions for each of our services.

The fundraising and SEND commissioning landscapes have also continued to change over the last five years. Fundraising became much more challenging, especially with our niche area of benefit, the high need for capital investment, and significant statutory fee income. The fees we have received over the last 5 years have not kept up with inflation. They have covered less and less of even the basic provision, let alone all the specialist support and facilities which make our services uniquely effective.

1. Improve Education

~~°°°~~ : ~~ee~~ We will offer a personalised e ~~e~~ e ~~e~~ We will support young people ee Our College operates in a complex SEND sector, where there are many challenges around funding, ~~e~~ e e e ~~eee~~ e commissioning, tribunals and lack of commissioning support for independent provision which is often just seen e preparation towards leading e e and adults to live an independent e eeee ee ee as “too expensive”. The SEND Review Green Paper that was published in 2022 highlighted the real challenges e a fulfilling adult life through ee and fulfilling life in the community e ee e e faced by commissioners and providers, but with little sign of positive change. Despite this uncertainty our eeee e our School and College e e through excellent care and e eeee student numbers are stable, and we are confident that we can continue to grow our College to support more ee e e e provision and education ee support services and community e students in the coming years. ee e e eeee e outreach. e e outreach programmes. e eeee

During the period of the strategic plan we made the significant decision to close our school, after over 180 years. This reflected the changes in policy towards integration into mainstream for disabled students, the increase in complexity of young people funded by local authorities, and changes in parental attitudes towards sending young children away to residential special schools.

1 IMPROVE EDUCATION

2. EXPAND ADULT CARE

We now provide education in our specialist residential College for 16 to 25 year olds, which is now all located in one building following the closure of the school. The focus on the College has enabled us to make significant improvement and progress. We finished the 2019-2024 plan period with the College being judged as Good by Ofsted in all areas, reinforcing the feedback we have always received from our parents and families.

3. USE OUR The vision impairment & KNOWLEDGE complex needs charity 4. DEVELOP g @eeceoeeeeeeeeoeee eceoeeceeeeoeee ~~c~~ e THE SITE ———— . ‘ We will share our ~~°~~ ° ~~e~~ e knowledge and ee eoeodsecceececeececeececeeeeeeoeeeeeee ~~e~~ ee rio | > a P|} - . a We will modernise and resources with our e e e e - “a z= \ . Gi Lag ~ = * % create improved spaces local community, with 5. STRENGTHEN THE on our site which professionals and ORGANISATION ee ee ee ee uw) “4tf < = * i aayJ lh dl _al il , SI promote independence within our sector so and enhance learning ° that more people can ° We will be a well led, e and living at e De Crea a. Ag } benefit from our work InFocus. effective and sustainable and expertise. e ~~eeoeeeeeeeoeoeoeoeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~ organisation and a great @; ~~eeeoeoeeeeeneeoeoeoeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~ ; employer.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

2. Expand Adult services

There continues to be growing demand for our adult services, with Jigsaw (our day service) expanding further in recent years. The pandemic slowed our exploration of expansion of our supported living and residential care services, where we still hold waiting lists. At the very end of the 2019-2024 plan we finally recommenced the development of a new care home when a suitable property in our neighbourhood become available.

3. Use our knowledge

We continued to exert influence and support the development of good practice using our knowledge despite all the restrictions of the pandemic. Our CEO chaired the SW region of NATSPEC for the whole of this strategic period, bringing together and sharing good practice with other specialist colleges across the region. Our Principal took on a governance role with SWALSS representing the specialist FE sector in the south west,

We undertook several training and consultancy projects, offering knowledge and advice to a broad range of organisations from local authority advisory services to the Kier Group.

4. Develop the site

5. Strengthen the organisation

We invested resources in recruiting, rewarding and retaining our staff. Major recruitment campaigns have increased our permanent staffing, and our retention rates have improved. We have been able to make some improvements to pay and conditions, despite not receiving any additional income via fees to meet the near 10% increase in the National Living Wage in April 2024. The results of the 2024 Staff Survey acknowledged the work we have done with an above 4 star satisfaction rating from employees, and also gave plenty to consider as we look forward to the future.

In summary the culmination of our efforts during the period of this strategic plan is that: we were

able to improve our college significantly; we expanded our adult services but to lesser degree than hoped; we continued to make good use of our knowledge within our sector where we could; we developed and improved our site; we strengthened our organisation, notably around staffing. We did not reach all of our ambitious goals, but given the unprecedented period of pandemic, the increase in utility bills, and a cost-of-living crisis, we still made positive and impactful progress.

Most importantly we can look back with pride at the achievements of the young people we have supported during the last five years. We have seen children and young adults move from school into college, with so many then moving out into the world to their next placements at InFocus services or elsewhere. The launch of our InFocus Community will allow us to keep in touch with people who are no longer part of our services, and we look forward to hearing their stories during the coming years.

The charity’s main assets are our facilities and our employees.

Improvements to facilities were made across the campus. These included expanding our college accommodation by converting one building from a disused classroom into a fully accessible two bedroom self contained bungalow (Burrington), and bringing a flat for 5 ambulant students back into use (Slade). We also created a teaching flat to support day students to improve their day to day independent living skills.

These refurbishments and upgrades mean people across InFocus’ services are in an even better position to develop their independent living skills than they were before we embarked on this strategic plan.

Unseen but essential infrastructure improvements including boiler replacements, essential building repairs and upgrading of our IT connection. We have increased our on-site estates team allowing us to deliver much of the planned and preventative maintenance ourselves.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Governance

The Trustees gathered the views of different stakeholders as part of a review of the 2019-2024 Strategic Plan. These helped to shape the 2024-2027 Strategic Plan (agreed by the Board in September 2024).

We launched a campaign to recruit new Trustees during the year. Three new Trustees were appointed to the Board in September 2024. The Trustees wish to appoint at least two further members of the Board during 2024/25 in anticipation of Trustees stepping down at the end of their terms of office.

Services, space and expertise

We welcomed 6 new students to our college in 23/24.

3 additional people joined our community services in Jigsaw.

Achievements in 2023/24

Supported Living at InFocus reached capacity, but we identified some landlords who may partner with us to open new homes in the coming year, subject to demand.

A new property was identified for our second care home.

Our first cohort moved into the refurbished Slade Flat and our first occupant moved into Burrington Bungalow.

Work began on our project to replace the catering building.

Quality and Compliance

The College was inspected by Ofsted during the year and judged to be Good in all areas. Inspectors commended our exemplary work in preparing students with vision impairments and complex needs for their next steps in life. They also noted the personalised and ambitious curriculum, which offers multidisciplinary support and real-life experiences, helping each student reach their full potential.

CQC did not reinspect but continued to uphold our Outstanding grade for our adult and college residential provisions.

People and Culture

A comprehensive Staff Survey was completed during Spring 2024 and a summary of findings shared with the staff and trustees. Staff satisfaction was rated at over 4 stars out of 5, and across all areas feedback was generally very positive

We invested in a new HR and Payroll system which improves self-service access for our staff and will deliver operational efficiencies for the charity in areas such as training and reporting.

The first members of our “InFocus Community” (alumni programme) attended our street party in May 2024. We are looking forward to growing the community in the coming years.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

People and Culture (cont'd)

InFocus was a finalist for “Charity of the Year” in the Exeter Living Awards and Your Partnership Awards during the year.

New staff appreciate the changes made to the induction process, which now prioritises face to face training over online, and gives more opportunities to shadow colleagues in their teams.

The Staff Forum continues to be more effective and open, and now meets 6 times a year instead of 3.

We undertook a restructure of our college staffing, which resulted in changes in roles and shift patterns within the college. This has delivered a stronger middle leadership in the college, strengthened the role of Learning Support Workers, and made our college provision more flexible and adaptive around the needs of students

These changes also created new rota patterns in our residential service which will support a new service called the Life and Living Skills Programme in the future.

We introduced a unified pay scale that made pay more transparent for all.

All staff completed safeguarding training around Challenge and Good Practice as part of the continuing reinforcement of our culture of safeguarding.

We continued to have staff vacancies across our services, despite success in recruitment. We were able to encourage more staff to take up overtime, and recruited more people to our own bank of

relief workers. This delivers more consistency of support to our young people and reduces agency spend. Nonetheless, due to significant price increases by employment agencies, and vacancies in the most expensive shifts, our overall agency cost went up compared to the previous year.

Finance and Resources

Revenue from charity retail and our trading company InFocus Enterprises Ltd increased during the year (both ahead of the budget set at the beginning of 2023/24). A new charity shop site was identified in year.

Technology and Environment

During the year we have continued to improve the ICT infrastructure, streamlining processes, and finding ways to reduce the running costs of our main site.

Much has been done to improve the connectivity across the site over the last year this includes replacing switches, upgrading equipment and software, and we have begun the major upgrade to the fibre data network. This has already resulted in a greater speed of connection and greater reliability for the end users.

During the year we have engaged in external quality assurance including a penetration test to assess the security of our external facing connections, and JISC self-assessment. We have achieved Cyber Essentials again for the seventh consecutive year, which recognises our high standards and culture of cyber security best practice.

Photocopiers have been replaced across site. After a rigorous tender process we were able to secure a 5-year contract with a circa £2,000 saving on yearly costs (assuming like for like usage).

We have implemented a new electronic medication management system which provides a greater oversight and accuracy in the control of medication and reduces the use of paper documents. This means that we have improved the administration and management of medication for our young people, many of whom have complex health needs.

Work was completed at the beginning of the year on the electric security gates. Upgrades to the CCTV cameras both on-site and in our charity shops have improved security measures for the young people we support, and our staff working onsite and in our retail team.

During the year we have renewed energy tariffs. Whilst still competitive the revised rates has seen significant increases in costs. A reduction in energy consumption remains a priority and we replaced and upgraded aging boilers, thermostats and controller. Lighting is being replaced with energy efficient, sensor lighting where appropriate. During 2024/25 we will continue to explore how we can further insulate buildings and reduce energy use.

We have increased the on-site estates team so we can carry out much of the planned preventative maintenance work in-house. This has enabled us to exit a costly external maintenance contract, allowing us to redirect these funds to on-going site improvements.

A dedicated Access Technology Coordinator was appointed to improve the use and access to assistive technology which we use to support learning and build independence for all students and young people.

Groups from the Deaf Academy, Orchard Manor School, The King’s School and the Moorvision charity (pictured) visited our outdoor learning centre at West Hill. Groups from InFocus’ services also returned and used the site throughout the year.

The Skills Centre was used by young people from across our services and members of the public.

We continue to champion and model financial best-practice.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Objectives for 2024/25

The Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2027 has five areas of focus. In 2024/25 we will be working against the following objectives:

The quality and effectiveness of our provision

Making more of our specialisms

College and Residential Care will be at least Good (Ofsted and CQC)
100% of students will make progress in line with expectations
We will deliver specialist training to professionals within our sector
We will influence quality and policy in our sector through active membership of sector networks and partnership working.

The growth of our services

We will open two new charity shops
We will buy and refurbish a new care home
We will expand our InFocus Community for
people who have used our services

Developing our site and facilities

We will launch the capital appeal to develop our College residential provision
A plan will be agreed for the replacement of our café and kitchen facilities

Supporting and developing our staff and volunteers

All our overtime, rota management and training will be managed through our new HR system
We will design and implement a leadership training programme as part of a wider Training Strategy.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Income and Expenditure

Finance and

Risk

Introduction

The end of year financial statements show a consolidated income for the year of £9,785,382 with expenditure totalling £10,104,439.

The end of year consolidated accounts including net realised and unrealised gains/losses from investments and the revaluation of the investment properties reported a deficit of £246,378. The reported deficit is mainly due to a significant overspend in contract, agency and overtime.

Key areas for consideration are:

Staffing

The National Living Wage increased by nearly 10% in April 2024 to £11.44 per hour. This also affected other roles that were previously set above the National Living Wage (including support workers and other care staff). We introduced a unified payscale and reviewed salaries as a whole due to the impact of the National Living Wage. Staff costs for 2023/24 were £7,594,401 (£6,945,953 in 2022/23).

Recruitment and retention of new staff continues to improve thanks to measures first introduced during 2022/23. More shifts are now being filled by InFocus staff working overtime rather than agency workers (compared to 2022/23).

The number of shift hours worked by agency staff has reduced, but we still have several vacancies across all services. The hourly rates now charged by some care agencies has increased significantly. This, combined with an unexpected rise in the number of premium Waking Nights vacancies in the second half of the year, resulted in a significantly higher than expected overspend on contract and agency staff. Each young person at InFocus requires an agreed level of support hours. Whilst support hours are funded as part of the agreed contract with the local authority, there is no additional financial help provided towards the additional costs of agency or overtime required in the event of vacancies and or sickness cover.

Fees

Commissioning local authorities are still faced with rising budgets for high needs education and adult social care. An inflationary increase was added to the 2023/24 fees to help towards the increasing salary and overhead costs. Some LAs accepted our fee increase request, but many did not, or offered a lesser increase which obviously puts additional pressure on managing funds.

In general, it continues to be the commissioners of adult care placements that best recognise the pressures of providing high needs care.

Total fee income (including Landlord Supported Living) for 2023/24 was £7,634,961 (£6,969,959 in 2022/23)

Charity Retail

Sales across our portfolio of charity shops were once again strong. All shops increased their sales and the overall profitability of the portfolio increased.

The cost of sales for online trading continues to increase, and the demand for textile recycling (of clothes unsuitable for retail) has decreased. We continue to invest in and trial new ways to process unwanted stock.

At the end of the year our charity retail achieved an overall gross income of £712,706 against a budget of £701,808 (including Gift Aid).

Leased properties

As recommended by the Auditors, InFocus instructed Stratton Creber Commercials to carry out a revaluation of the investment properties leased to the University of Plymouth. A combination of factors including concerns around interest rates, the desire for office space and a contract break clause meant that the values were significantly lower than the valuation carried out in August 2022. The re-valuation resulted in an unrealised recognised loss of £55,000.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Fundraising

Fundraising income was again positively impacted by legacy gifts. Other activity for the year was fundraising from trusts and foundations, challenge events and corporate engagement.

Unrestricted fundraising realised an income of £285,817 against a budget of £275,000.

The cost of fundraising for the year is £78,834.

InFocus Enterprises Ltd

At the end of the year the recorded income was £423,516 with expenditure of £306,848 giving an end of year surplus of £116,668.

Sales from the InFocus Café increased in year thanks to new processes, equipment and EPOS till system.

Hire fees for use of our facilities also increased in year. We expect to see modest increases in 2024/25.

The Board of InFocus Enterprises plan to Gift Aid this surplus to InFocus Charity.

Reserves and financial health

The Board of Trustees received monthly management accounts and key performance indicators to ensure the trustees have oversight of the charity's accounts. This includes income & expenditure against the agreed budget, current and predicted cash flow and analysis of debtors and creditors. To ensure the budget is maintained as much as is possible there are two budget re-forecasts in year which allow the Executive team to make the required updates and/or recommendations to the Board. Due to the nature of our service provision and sector it is not uncommon for changes to impact the budget forecast.

Any restricted funds held are reviewed regularly by the Executive team to ensure the funds are used in line with the applied restriction and in ways that will support our young people.

The Trustees review the Reserves Policy annually to ensure it continue to meets the needs of the charity. When reviewing the Reserves Policy, and free reserves, the Trustees take into consideration the increasing running costs of the organisation and the impact this has on the operating reserve level. The Reserves Policy states that the levels of reserves the charity should hold are as follows:

*based on average monthly operating costs, updated monthly.

3 months Operating Reserves* (free reserves) Death or loss of contract for service user (designated Funds) Site improvement (designated Funds) Delay in fee payment (designated Funds)	£2,461,605 £200,000 £500,000 £200,000
Total free reserves required (including designated funds)	£3,361,605

As of 31st August 2024 the total free reserves were just over £2.8 million (see Note 22). The operating reserves on the above calculations were just under 2 months (excluding designated Funds).

The Trustees are mindful that the current reserves do not meet the charity's Reserves Policy and achieving the agreed free reserves remains a priority of the Trustees.

The Trustees continue to be mindful of the ongoing impact the increased cost of living and rising energy prices. The Trustees agree a rolling threeyear budget and will continue to monitor in year performance. Increasing numbers in our education provision remains a priority. We have received a number of enquiries and increased assessments and are predicting an increase in numbers for 2025/26 and 2026/27. This has been reflected in the three-year forecast, along with the proposed expansion in adult services.

A suitable property for the expansion of InFocus’ adult residential services has been located. The property will provide accommodation for an additional 5 young people. As we close the year we are excited to report that an offer has been accepted and we have submitted a planning application for the necessary extension.

The Board monitors financial resilience and currently maintain a reasonable level of reserves. Taking the information available into consideration the Trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties around the ability of InFocus Charity and InFocus Enterprises to continue as a going concern for at least the next 12 months.

Investments

Cash flow continues to be monitored closely and is reported regularly to the Board. Prompt billing and effective management of debtors means that cash flow is healthy. Effective cash flow has meant that we have been able to benefit from the additional interest of a notice account which have been added to our portfolio of deposit accounts.

Sarasin and Partners remain our Investment Managers for our long-term investments. The longterm investments have performed well during the year, ending the year with a gain of just over £127k. The long-term investments held by the charity are included when calculating free reserves.

Pension obligations

Staff are ordinarily enrolled in one of three principal pension arrangements as employees of InFocus Charity. The InFocus Pension schemes are with Aviva (previously Friends Life, now closed to new entrants), NEST and the Teachers’ Pension.

As of 31st August 2024 there are 7 staff in the Teachers’ Pension, 20 are in Aviva, 183 are in NEST pension scheme and 1 employee has individual pension arrangements. All details of the commitments under the pension schemes are contained within note 27 of the financial statements.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Principal risks and uncertainties

Introduction

The Board of Trustees are responsible for the overseeing of risks faced by InFocus. The Risk Register is reviewed three times a year by the Board’s three Advisory Committees with any recommendations for changes being agreed at the Board.

Detailed analysis of the risks is delegated to the Executive team. These are identified, assessed and controls established to mitigate the risk.

The principal risks that the Board of Trustees identified during 2023/24 are:

Student numbers

Total student numbers in College remained unchanged for 2023/24, with a slight drop predicted for 2024/25. Two students sadly passed away during the year.

We continued to engage with schools and prospective parents. Visits to InFocus (or from InFocus staff to other providers) have increased. New case study videos were produced in year to tell the story of our young people through the words of them and their families.

Staffing

InFocus does not receive inflationary uplifts in fees from all commissioned local authorities. This means that we must find other ways to fund increases in staff salaries (e.g. to keep up with increases in the National Living Wage).

To remain competitive with others in our sector we are continuing to review the wider benefits offered to our staff. In year we will be reviewing:

pension contributions to staff enrolled in the NEST pension scheme
paternity and maternity pay allowances
health and/or dental care
shift disturbance allowances for antisocial hours (including Waking Nights)
long-service recognition

Staffing (cont'd)

The Trustees will also consider the options for wider staff salary uplift once the increase in National Living Wage is announced later in the year.

The recruitment and retention campaign from 2023/24 will be reviewed and adapted during the first part of 2024/25.

Risk of cyber-attack

There is an ongoing risk of cyber-attack. InFocus continues to mitigate this risk by:

maintaining IASME Cyber Essentials
requiring all staff to undertake annual cyber security training
reviewing our Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans on a regular basis.
holding cyber insurance
protecting our infrastructure with relevant antimalware protection
engaging a third party to carry out penetration testing
effectively training staff that manage the ICT infrastructure and securities.

Our buildings

Unplanned maintenance and repairs to our site continue to challenge us. Work to outline the delivery and funding of our key projects (including replacing the catering provision, and expanding and refurbishing the residential College) began in 2023/24 and will continue over the next three years.

Governance

The Trustee Recruitment Strategy means that we have been able to replace Trustees who stood down from the Board during the year.

A skills audit of the Board in its current composition will ensure that we can direct our Trustee recruitment work accordingly.

Structure, Governance and Management

During 2023/24 the Trustees held four Board meetings, one Extraordinary General Meeting, three sub-committee meetings for each advisory committee, one Annual General Meeting.

Board of Trustees

At the end of August 2024 InFocus Charity had six Trustees. The board was chaired by Pamela Marsden.

Trustees also actively engage in training which includes mandatory safeguarding training.

Three Trustees resigned during the year. We appointed one Trustee to join the Board during 2023/24 and recruited three further Trustees who were appointed in September 2024/25. Trustees are recruited according to gaps in knowledge and expertise that are identified through regular skills audits. The current Trustees skill gap has identified

InFocus Trustees as at 31 August 2024 were:

Pamela Marsden (Chair), Andrew Daniel, Ian Donohue, Derek Fargher, Susan Holt (appointed 18th October 2023), Angus McNicol.

All Trustees give of their time freely and no remuneration was paid in the year.

that we still require Trustees with a strong knowledge of SEND, Adult Support Services and Finance. To continue effective governance oversight in finance matters whilst new Trustees are recruited and onboarded during 2025/26, the Trustees have agreed to extend the term of office of Derek Fargher, Chair of the Business Affairs Committee, and lead trustee for finance, by 12 months. This will be formally approved at the 2024 Annual General Meeting.

Legal Structure

InFocus Charity is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 06928379 and charity number 1058937.

Executive Team

The Board of Trustees delegates the operational management of InFocus Charity to its Chief Executive who works with an Executive team, as of the 31st August 2023 these were:

InFocus uses a range of traditional and digital platforms to recruit trustees, including LinkedIn, voluntary sector job boards, and appropriate networking opportunities.

Jane Dye (was Bell until August 2024), CEO

New Trustees take part in a comprehensive induction programme to get to know the organisation and the young people it supports. They also undertake appropriate mandatory training (including safeguarding).

Jane Nutt, Director of Operations, Company Secretary and Data Protection Officer
Marc Phillips, Director of Care and Support Services
Laurence Blyth, Director of Income Generation and Business Development

The Board has three sub-committees which each met three times during the year. On each committee there are nominated Trustees and each committee is chaired by a Trustee. The committees are:

Jason Ryder, Principal of InFocus College

Staffing

Adult Services Advisory Committee (Chair: Pamela Marsden , Trustee)

On 31st August 2024 InFocus Charity was employing 244 staff (including 21 bank staff) (186.68 FTE). As is the case elsewhere in the care sector recruiting support staff remained a challenge. We continued to dedicate resources for staff recruitment and retention, and have seen the situation improve throughout the year.

Education Advisory Committee (Chair: Andrew Daniel, Trustee)

Business Affairs Advisory Committee (Chair: Derek Fargher, Trustee)

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Staffing (cont'd)

No bonus payments are paid to InFocus employees. We do not operate a performance related pay system. Our principles are to pay our staff a fair salary that is competitive with the charity sector, proportionate to the complexity of each role and responsibility and in line with our charitable objectives.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

InFocus is committed to working towards the vision of a world where people who are blind and partially sighted enjoy the same rights, responsibilities, opportunities, and quality of life as people who are sighted. We also recognise that people are different and have different needs and experiences.

InFocus respects and welcomes the diversity of experience and background of all the people who work for and with us. As part of this commitment InFocus continues to retain its status as a Disability Confident Leader.

The young people who attend InFocus are visually impaired and many have additional disabilities and come from a range of cultural and minority backgrounds. Our prime objective is to enable all our young people to reach their personal potential in a happy, challenging, and caring environment that acknowledges their individual strengths and challenges. Part of how we do this is living out our community values of “a sense of belonging” and “respect and kindness”. We regularly promote and educate our young people about events and customs from other cultures and faiths. Support across our services adapts to meet the needs of our young people (e.g. facilitating access to places of worship, or adapting diets to reflect different cultures).

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy was adopted in June 2023 and was reviewed during the year.

Fundraising

Fundraising was overseen by the Head of Fundraising. Main fundraising activities were applications to charitable trusts and foundations, sponsored challenge events, and approaches to individuals. Legacies were also received within the year.

No fundraising was carried out by commercial participators.

InFocus Charity is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and subscribes to the Code of Fundraising Practice. It sets the standards that apply to fundraising carried out by all charitable institutions and third-party fundraisers in the UK. This includes practice on accepting donations from vulnerable people (including those who may not have the capacity to make an informed decision) and the creation of proper fundraising materials that do not mislead (or are likely to mislead) members of the public.

No complaints about fundraising activity were received during the year.

Trading company

InFocus Charity has a wholly owned subsidiary. All trading that is not aligned with our core objectives is carried out by InFocus Enterprises.

As of the 31 August 2024 the InFocus Enterprises Board consisted of:

Derek Fargher – Company Director (also Trustee, InFocus Charity)

Angus McNicol – Company Director (also Trustee, InFocus Charity)

Laurence Blyth - Company Director (also Director of Income Generation and Business Development, InFocus Charity)

Jane Nutt – Company Secretary (also Director of Operations and Company Secretary for InFocus Charity)

Reference and administrative details

Registered charity name: InFocus Charity

Charity registration number: 1058937 Company registration number: 06938379

Registered office: Topsham Road, Countess Wear, EXETER, EX2 6HA

Trustees:

Pamela Marsden (Chair)
Christopher Harvey (Appointed 24/09/2024)
Briony Barrow (neé Dillon, Resigned 18/10/2023)
Susan Holt (Appointed 18/10/2023)
Alex Clark (Resigned 1/10/2023)
Bradley Horn (Resigned 19/02/2024)
Andrew Daniel
Lisa Maunder (Appointed 24/09/2024)
Ian Donohue
Angus McNicol
Derek Fargher
Justin Wylie (Appointed 24/09/2024)

Sub-committee advisory members:

Briony Barrow (neé Dillon)

Ambassadors: Michael Caines MBE DL • Judi Spiers

Chief Executive Officer: Jane Dye (was Bell until August 2024)

Executive Team:

Jane Nutt, Director of Operations, Company Secretary and Data Protection Officer
Marc Phillips, Director of Care and Support Services
Laurence Blyth, Director of Income Generation and Business Development
Jason Ryder, Principal of InFocus College

Auditors: PKF Francis Clark, Centenary House, Peninsula Park, Rydon Lane, EXETER, EX2 7XE

Legal advisors:

Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP, Ballard House, West Hoe Road, PLYMOUTH, PL1 3AE
Tozers LLP, Broadwalk House, Southernhay West, EXETER, EX1 1UA
Bright (South West) LLP, Studio 5-11, 5 Millbay Road, PLYMOUTH, PL1 3LF

Investment Managers: Sarasin and Partners, Juxon House, 100 St Paul’s Churchyard, LONDON, EC4M 8BU Banking: National Westminster, 59 High Street, EXETER, EX4 3DP

Insurance: Howden, Bank House, Burlington Road, Redland, BRISTOL, BS6 6TJ

This Trustee report is therefore a consolidated Directors’ report relating to InFocus Charity and its subsidiary InFocus Enterprises. However, the greatest emphasis for this report is the activities of InFocus Charity as a charitable organisation.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Charity Trustees (who are also Directors of InFocus Charity for the purposes of Company Law) are responsible for preparing a Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Charity Trustees to prepare Financial Statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charitable Company and the Group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the Income and Expenditure, of the charitable group for that period. In preparing these Financial Statements, the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

Prepare the Financial Statements on the ‘going concern’ basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charitable Company will continue in operation

Independent Auditors Report

to the Members of InFocus Charity for the year ended 31 August 2024 ee 7s Opinion

We have audited the Financial Statements of InFocus Charity (the “Charity”) for the year ended 31 August 2024 which comprise the Group Statement of Financial Activities, Group and Parent Company Balance Sheets, Statement of Consolidated Cash flows and notes to the Financial Statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and charity’s affairs as at 31 August 2024 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended
Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP)

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the Financial Statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and the Group and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware at the time of approving our Trustees’ Annual Report:

There is no relevant audit information, being information needed by the auditor in connection with preparing their report, of which the charity’s auditor is unaware; and

The Trustees, having made enquiries of fellow Directors and the group’s auditor that they ought to have individually made, have each taken all steps that they are obliged to take as a director in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

The Trustees approve the Trustees’ Annual Report, including approval in their capacity as company directors of the Strategic Report contained within it, on 10th December 2024.

Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 200

Date: 10th December 2024

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 Charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the original financial statements were authorised for issue.

Pamela Marsden, Chair of Trustees

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

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InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report other than the Financial Statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the Financial Statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

The information given in the Trustees’ report, (which includes the Strategic Report and Directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law) for the Financial Year for which the Financial Statements are prepared is consistent with the Financial Statements; and

The Strategic Report and Directors’ Report included within the Trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
We have not obtained all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit.

Responsibilities of the Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities set out on page 34, the Trustees (who are also the Directors of the Charity 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 they 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 Charity’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 Charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Mis-statements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

As part of our audit planning, we obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that is applicable to the Charity. We gained an understanding of the Charity and the industry in which the Charity operates as part of this assessment to identify the key laws and regulations affecting the Charity. As part of this, we reviewed the Charity’s website for indication of any regulations and certification in place and discussed these with the relevant individuals responsible for compliance. The key regulations we identified were Charity Legislation, Ofsted, compliance with the Care Quality Commission (“CQC”), safeguarding, health and safety regulations and The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006.

We discussed with management and trustees how the compliance with these laws and regulations in monitored and discussed policies and procedures in place. We also identified the individuals who have responsibility for ensuring that the Charity complies with laws and regulations and deals with reporting any issues if they arise. As part of our planning procedures, we assessed the risk of any non-compliance with laws and regulations on the Charity’s ability to continue trading and the risk of material mis-statement to the accounts.

Based on this understanding we designed our audit procedures to identify non-compliance with such laws and regulations. Our procedures involved the following:

Enquiries of management regarding their knowledge of any non-compliance with laws and regulations that could affect the financial statements. As part of these enquiries we also discussed with management whether there have been any known instances, allegations or suspicions of fraud, of which there were none.
Reviewed filings with the Charity Commission and whether there were any serious incident reports made during the year.
Reviewed audit documentation from the CQC to confirm compliance with standards, and ensuring continued registration with the CQC through the CQC website.
Discussed with the Health and Safety Officer if any incidents have been reported during the year under The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (“RIDDOR”).
Review of the group’s GDPR policy and enquiries to the Data Protection Officer as to the occurrence and outcome of any reportable breaches.
Reviewed legal and professional costs to identify any possible non-compliance or legal costs in respect of non-compliance.
Reviewed Board minutes.

As part of our enquiries we discussed with management whether there have been any known instances, allegations or suspicions of fraud, of which there were none. We evaluated the risk of fraud through management override. The key risks we identified were management bias in accounting judgements and estimates. We also evaluated the risk of fraud through misapplication of grant funding.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

In response to the identified risk, as part of our audit work we:

• Audited the risk of management override of controls, including through testing journal entries and other adjustments or appropriateness, and evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business of which there were none.

Reviewed estimates and judgements made in the accounts for any indication of bias and challenged assumptions used by management in making the estimates.

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. This risk increases the further removed noncompliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements as we are less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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/auditorsresponsibilites .

This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our Report

This report is made solely to the Charity’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 Charity’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 Charity’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Stephanie Henshaw (Senior Statutory Auditor)

Accounts and Financial Statements

For and on behalf of

PKF FRANCIS CLARK, Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditor

Centenary House,

Peninsula Park

Rydon Lane,

Exeter, EX2 7XE

Date: 30th December 2024

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InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities

Balance Sheet

(including Income and Expenditure Account)

31 August 2024

31 August 2024
		Unrestricted	Restricted	2024	2023
		funds	funds	Total funds	Total funds
	Note	£	£	£	£
Income and endowments
Donations and legacies	4	285,817	21,201	307,018	496,661
Charitable activities	5	8,806,858	36,465	8,843,323	8,037,067
Other trading activities	6	423,516	-	423,516	366,919
Investment income	7	65,144	-	65,144	57,993
Other income	8	130,187	16,194	146,381	154,649
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Total income		9,711,522	73,860	9,785,382	9,113,289
		═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
Expenditure
Expenditure on raising funds	9	311,212	-	311,212	252,847
Expenditure on charitable activities	10	9,579,332	213,895	9,793,227	8,969,212
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Total expenditure		9,890,544	213,895	10,104,439	9,222,059
		═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
Net unrealised gain / (loss) on	12	(55,000)	-	(55,000)	-
revaluation of fixed assets
Net realised and unrealised gains /	12	127,679	-	127,679	(25,012)
(losses) on investments
Transfers between funds					-
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Net income/(expenditure) and net		(106,343)	(140,035)	(246,378)	(133,782)
movement in funds
		═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
Reconciliation of funds
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Total funds brought forward (2024)		8,061,759	1,394,815	9,456,574	9,590,356
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Total funds carried forward		7,955,416	1,254,780	9,210,196	9,456,574
		═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Year ended 31 August 2024

Year ended 31 August 2024
	Note	2024	2024	2023	2023
		Group	Charity	Group	Charity
Fixed assets		£	£	£	£
Tangible fixed assets	16	6,259,618	6,259,618	6,232,382	6,232,382
Investments	17a	1,332,597	1,332,697	1,204,917	1,205,017
Investment properties	18	460,000	460,000	515,000	515,000
		───────	───────	───────	───────
		8,052,215	8,052,315	7,952,299	7,952,399
Current assets
Debtors	19	815,575	745,347	971,459	902,996
Investments	17b	9,280	9,280	9,384	9,384
Cash at bank and in hand	25	1,234,529	1,171,787	1,674,104	1,604,572
		───────	───────	───────	───────
		2,059,384	1,926,414	2,654,947	2,516,952
Creditors: amounts falling due within	20	(901,403)	(885,235)	(1,150,672)	(1,134,681)
one year
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Net current assets		1,157,981	1,041,179	1,504,275	1,382,091
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Total assets less current liabilities		9,210,196	9,093,494	9,456,574	9,334,490
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Net assets		9,210,196	9,093,494	9,456,574	9,334,490
		═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
Funds of the charity
Restricted funds		1,254,780	1,254,780	1,394,815	1,394,815
Unrestricted funds		7,955,416	7,838,714	8,061,759	7,939,675
		───────	───────	───────	───────
Total charity funds	21	9,210,196	9,093,494	9,456,574	9,334,490
		═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

As permitted by s.408 Companies Act 2006 the company has not presented its own profit and loss account. The loss in the parent charity’s accounts is £240,996 (2023: £168,847).

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 10th December 2024, and are signed on behalf of the board by:

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

Pamela Marsden, Chair of Trustees Company registered number: 06938379

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InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Statement of cash flows

Notes to the Financial Statements year ended 31 August 2024

1. General information

Year ended 31 August 2024
	Note	2024	2023
Cash fows from operating activities:		£	£
Net cash provided by operating activities		(60,368)	152,344
		───────	───────
Cash fows from investing activities:
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(444,351)	(331,905)
Investment additions		-	-
Investment income		65,144	57,993
Proceeds on disposal of investments		-	-
		───────	───────
Net cash used in investing activities		(379,207)	(273,912)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period		(439,575)	(121,568)
		───────	───────
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period		1,674,104	1,795,672
		───────	───────
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period	25	1,234,529	1,674,104
		═══════	═══════
Net income / (expenditure) for the period		(246,378)	(133,782)
Depreciation		417,115	388,022
(Gain) / loss on investments		(127,679)	25,012
(Gain) / loss on disposal of fxed assets		-	2,803
(Gain) / loss on investment property		55,000	-
Investment income and bank interest		(65,144)	(57,993)
(Increase) / decrease on debtors		155,884	(580,598)
(Increase) / decrease on current asset investments		103	(8,098)
(Decrease) / increase on creditors		(249,269)	516,978
		───────	───────
Net cash provided by operating activities		(60,368)	152,344
		═══════	═══════

The charity is a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales.

The address of the registered office is Topsham Road, Countess Wear, Exeter, Devon, EX2 6HA. The charitable entity is a public benefit entity.

2. Accounting policies

(a) Statement of compliance

These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', the 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 Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011. There were no material departures from FRS 102 or the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

(b) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis except to the extent that certain assets are carried at fair value as explained below.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the entity.

(c) Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements consolidate the financial statements of the company and its subsidiary undertaking drawn up to 31 August 2024.

A subsidiary is an entity controlled by the company. Control is achieved where the company has the power to govern the financial and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities.

No separate SOFA has been presented for the Charity alone as permitted by S.408 of the Companies Act 2006.

(d) Going concern

In making their assessment of going concern the Trustees have considered cashflow forecasts for the next 12 months and beyond. They are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the group's ability to continue. Further details on this assessment are in the Trustees’ Report.

(e) Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported. These estimates and judgements are continually reviewed and are based on experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

The following are the significant judgements that the Trustees have made in the process of applying the Group’s accounting policies and that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Property classifcation

Buildings on the charity’s site have been leased to a third party.

In determining the fair value for the investment properties the trustees have taken into account the existence of potentially significant contractual restrictions on the charity’s entitlement to benefit from the full value of any sale proceeds. They estimate the restriction would limit the charity’s entitlement to some 50% of any proceeds and so have restricted the estimated full open market value of £920,000 to £460,000.

(f) Fund accounting

General unrestricted funds comprise accumulated surpluses and deficits on general funds and the cumulative realised and unrealised gains on revaluations of investments. They are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of general charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are created where material donations are made specifically for a particular area or purpose. Expenditure is charged in the statement of financial activities subject to the conditions imposed by the donors.

Restricted fixed asset funds represent resources applied for specific capital purposes imposed by funders. Depreciation is charged against the fixed asset fund over the life of the asset.

(g) Income

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

Donations

Donations are included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable.

Grants

Grants where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant. Where grants are potentially repayable at the period end, the amount received but unspent has been deferred.

Legacies

Legacies are included when the charity is advised by the personal representative of an estate that payment will be made or property transferred and the amount involved can be quantified.

Donated services

Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included.

Trading income

Trading income comprises amounts receivable in respect of sales from the café, together with the hire of rooms and the swimming pool. Café sales are recognised when the sale is made which is also the point of cash receipt. Room hire and swimming pool income are recognised when used and income is deferred where cash is received in advance.

Property rental income is recognised straight line over the period of the lease.

Income from investments is included in the year in which it is receivable.

(h) Expenditure

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

Costs of raising funds comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income and the costs of trading for fundraising purposes.

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for 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 comprise all costs incurred in running the charity itself as an organisation, and its compliance with regulation and good practice.

(i) Operating leases

Rentals under existing operating leases are charged as the payments are incurred. For new leases rentals will be charged on a straight-line basis over the lease term, even if the payments are not made on such a basis. Benefits received and receivable as an incentive to sign an operating lease are similarly spread on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Rental income from operating leases is recognised on a straight-line basis over the term of the relevant lease, even if the payments are not made on such a basis. Benefits received and receivable as an incentive to sign an operating lease are similarly spread on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

(j) Tangible assets

Tangible assets are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently stated at cost less any accumulated depreciation and impairment losses.

(k) Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset, less its residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:

Charitable activities

Buildings: 3%-10% straight line

Fee income, outreach income and landlords supported living are recognised in the period to which the income relates.

Fees

Fee income comprises amounts receivable from Local Authorities for the provision of education and care (including boarding), and is recognised on a straight line basis over the academic year. Fees received in advance of the academic year are classified as deferred income.

Land: nil
Motor Vehicles: 25% reducing balance
Other fixtures, fittings and equipment: 3-4 years straight line

(l) Investments

Listed investments are measured at fair value with changes in fair value being recognised in income or expenditure.

In the company balance sheet investments in subsidiaries are recorded at cost less impairment.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

(m) Investment property

Investment property is initially recorded at cost, which includes purchase price and any directly attributable expenditure.

Investment property is revalued to fair value at each reporting date and any changes in fair value are recognised in statement of financial activities as a gain or loss on revaluation.

(n) Financial instruments

A financial asset or a financial liability is recognised only when the group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at the amount receivable or payable including any related transaction costs, unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where it is recognised at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest for a similar debt instrument. Current assets and current liabilities are subsequently measured at the cash or other consideration expected to be paid or received and not discounted. Debt instruments are subsequently measured at amortised cost.

Financial assets that are measured at cost or amortised cost are reviewed for evidence of impairment at the end of each reporting date. If there is evidence of impairment, an impairment loss is recognised in the statement of financial activities.

(o) Retirement benefits

The Charity’s employees belong to three principal pension schemes: the Teachers’ Pension Scheme England and Wales (TPS) for academic and related staff; the InFocus Charity pension scheme with Friends Life which is closed to new entrants and a NEST Pension Scheme.

The TPS is an unfunded scheme and contributions are calculated so as to spread the cost of pensions over employees’ working lives with the Charity in such a way that the pension cost is a substantially level percentage of current and future pensionable payroll. The contributions are determined by the Government Actuary on the basis of quinquennial valuations using a prospective benefit method. As stated in the notes to the financial statements, the TPS is a multi-employer scheme and the Charity is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. The TPS is therefore treated as a defined contribution scheme and the contributions recognised as they are paid each year.

The AVIVA (previously Friends Life) and NEST pension schemes are defined contribution schemes and the contributions are recognised as they are paid each year

3. Limited by guarantee

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 £10.

4.Donations and legacies

4.Donations and legacies
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
COVID-related grants	-	-	-	500
Fundraising and donations	60,585	21,201	81,786	142,094
Legacies	225,232	-	225,232	354,067
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	285,817	21,201	307,018	496,661
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the 2024 total of £307,718 (2023: £496,661) is unrestricted income of £307,018 (2023: £493,429) and restricted income of £21,201 (2023: £3,232).

5. Charitable activities

5. Charitable activities
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Educational grants	459,191	36,465	495,656	466,251
Fee income	6,815,227	-	6,815,227	6,229,195
Outreach income	-	-	-	-
Shop income	712,706	-	712,706	600,857
Landlords Supported Living	819,734	-	819,734	740,764
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	8,806,858	36,465	8,843,323	8,037,067
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the total for 2024 of £8,843,323 (2023: £8,037,067) is unrestricted income of £8,806,858 (2023: £7,997,537) and restricted income of £36,465 (2023: £39,530).

6. Other trading activities

6. Other trading activities
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Trading subsidiary income	423,516	-	423,516	366,919
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	423,516	-	423,516	366,919
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the total for 2024 of £423,516 (2023: £366,919) is unrestricted income of £423,516 (2023: £366,919) and restricted income of £nil (2023: £nil).

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

7. Investment income

7. Investment income
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Income from listed investments	37,899	-	37,899	44,235
Bank interest receivable	27,245	-	27,245	13,758
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	65,144	-	65,144	57,993
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the total for 2024 of £65,144 (2023: £57,993) is unrestricted income of £65,144 (2023: £57,993) and restricted income of £nil (2023: £nil).

8. Other income

8. Other income
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Other income	34,582	16,194	50,776	75,938
Premises income	95,605	-	95,605	78,711
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	130,187	16,194	146,381	154,649
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the total for 2024 of £146,381 (2023: £154,649) is unrestricted income of £130,187 (2023: £132,814) and restricted income of £16,194 (2023: £21,835).

9. Raising Funds

9. Raising Funds
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Fundraising costs	78,834	-	78,834	45,014
Marketing costs	83,508	-	83,508	79,920
Commercial trading operations	148,870	-	148,870	127,913
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	311,212	-	311,212	252,847
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the total for 2024 of £311,212 (2023: £252,847) is unrestricted expenditure of £311,212 (2023: £252,847) and restricted expenditure of £nil (2023: £nil).

10. Expenditure on charitable activities by activity type

	Activities	Support	Total funds	Total funds
	undertaken	costs	2024	2023
	directly
	£	£	£	£
Teaching and education	1,127,897	-	1,127,897	1,036,293
Learner support services	5,126,282	-	5,126,282	4,561,159
Charity support services	2,896,383	-	2,896,383	2,779,978
InFocus charity shops	606,780	-	606,780	561,085
Governance costs	-	35,885	35,885	30,697
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	9,757,342	35,885	9,793,227	8,969,212
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Included in the total of £9,793,227 (2023: £8,969,212) is unrestricted expenditure of £9,579,332 (2023: £8,697,997) and restricted expenditure of £213,895 (2023: £271,215).

11. Taxation

The charity's activities fall within the exemptions afforded by the provisions of sections 466 to 493 of the Corporation Taxes Act 2010. Accordingly, there is no taxation charge in these accounts.

12. Net gains and losses on investments and investment property

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£
Realised gains/(losses) on investments	-	-	-	-
Unrealised gains/(losses) on investments	127,679	-	127,679	(25,012)
Unrealised gain/(losses) on investment	(55,000)	-	(55,000)	-
properties
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	72,679	-	72,679	(25,012)
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

The total gain for 2024 of £72,679 (2023: loss of £25,012) is unrestricted.

13. Net income/(expenditure)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

	2024	2023
	Group	Group
	£	£
Depreciation	417,115	388,022
Operating lease rentals	44,685	99,773
Auditors’ remuneration	25,507	23,698

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

14. Staff costs

The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as follows:

	2024	2023
	Group	Group
	£	£
Wages and salaries	5,495,432	4,943,807
Social security costs	469,084	418,390
Employer contributions to pension plans	306,886	278,757
Agency staf	1,322,999	1,304,999
	───────	───────
	7,594,401	6,945,953
	═══════	═══════

Included in staff costs are redundancy payments totalling £7,079 (2023: £nil).

The average head count of employees during the year was 240 (2023: 227). The number of employees whose remuneration for the year (excluding employer pension contributions) fell within the following bands were:

		2024	2023
		Group	Group
		No.	No.
£60,000	to £69,999	3	1
£70,000	to £79,999	-	2
£80,000	to £89,999	-	-
£90,000	to £99,999	1	1
		───────	───────
		4	4
		═══════	═══════

16. Tangible fixed assets (charity and group)

	Land and	Motor	Equipment	Total
	buildings	vehicles
	£	£	£	£
Cost
At 1 September 2023	11,832,107	214,695	768,360	12,815,162
Additions	241,586	20,899	181,866	444,351
Transfers	-	-	-	-
Disposals	-	-	-	-
	───────	───────	───────	───────
At 31 August 2024	12,073,693	235,594	950,226	13,259,513
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
Depreciation
At 1 September 2023	5,804,799	158,097	619,884	6,582,780
Transfers	-	-	-	-
Charge for the year	301,453	18,355	97,307	417,115
Eliminated on disposal	`-`	-	-	-
	───────	───────	───────	───────
At 31 August 2024	6,106,252	176,452	717,191	6,999,895
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
Carrying amount
at 31 August 2024	5,967,441	59,142	233,035	6,259,618
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
At 31 August 2023	6,027,308	56,598	148,476	6,232,382
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Key management personnel are made up of all Executive members (5) and remuneration totalled £426,035 (2023: £422,751).

15. Related party transactions

The charity trustees were not paid and did not receive any other benefits from employment with the charity (2023: £nil). There were reimbursements of expenses to trustees of £3,089 (2023: reimbursements of expenses to trustees of £661). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2023: £nil).

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

17. (a) Fixed asset investments

7. (a) Fixed asset investments
	2024	2024	2023	2023
	Group	Charity	Group	Charity
	£	£	£	£
Investments in subsidiaries	-	100	-	100
Other investments	1,332,597	1,332,597	1,204,917	1,204,917
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	1,332,597	1,332,697	1,204,917	1,205,017
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

Investments in subsidiaries (charity)

The company owns the entire issued share capital of InFocus Enterprises Limited. InFocus Enterprises Limited, which is incorporated in England and Wales, gift aids its taxable profit to the charity. The registration number of InFocus Enterprises Limited is 10535508. The registered office is the same as that of InFocus Charity, as disclosed in the administrative section of the trustee’s annual report. The principal activity of the company is running catering services and provision of premises hire.

	2024	2023
Summary proft and loss account	£	£
Turnover	423,516	366,919
Cost of sales	(140,002)	(125,262)
	───────	───────
	283,514	241,657
Administration expenses	(166,846)	(119,473)
	───────	───────
Operating proft	116,668	122,184
Taxation	-	-
	───────	───────
Proft for the year	116,668	122,184
	═══════	═══════
The assets and liabilities of the subsidiary were:
Current assets	145,789	140,242
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	(28,987)	(18,058)
Total assets less current liabilities	116,802	122,184
	───────	───────
Aggregate share capital and reserves	116,802	122,184
	═══════	═══════

InFocus Enterprises Limited will Gift Aid all taxable profits to its parent charity within 9 months of the year end, therefore there is no requirement to make a provision for taxation in the financial statements.

17. (a) Fixed asset investments (continued)

Other Investments (Charity and Group)

Other Investments (Charity and Group)
	2024	2023
	Listed	Listed
	investments	investments
Cost or valuation	£	£
At 1 September 2023	1,204,918	1,229,929
Additions	-	-
Disposals	-	-
Realised gain on disposal	-	-
Fair value movements	127,679	(25,012)
	───────	───────
At 31 August 2024	1,332,597	1,204,917
	═══════	═══════

Financial assets held at fair value

All investments are valued at their open market rate at the balance sheet date using readily available market data..

17. (b) Investments: Current

7. (b) Investments: Current
	2024	2024	2023	2023
	Group	Charity	Group	Charity
	£	£	£	£
Cash held on deposit	9,280	9,280	9,384	9,384
	══════	══════	══════	══════
8. Investment Properties
	2024	2024	2023	2023
	Group	Charity	Group	Charity
	£	£	£	£
Cost or valuation
At 1 September	515,000	515,000	515,000	515,000
Fair value movement	(55,000)	(55,000)	-	-
	───────	───────	───────	───────
Carrying value at 31 August 2023	460,000	460,000	515,000	515,000
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

18. Investment Properties

The properties were externally valued at 31 August 2024 after taking appropriate professional advice. The properties are accessed via a private road. The limitations due to the ownership of the access roads and services to both properties mean that the charity could only expect to realise an estimated 50% of any disposal proceeds. The fair value therefore reflects this restriction.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

19. Debtors

9. Debtors
	2024	2024	2023	2023
	Group	Charity	Group	Charity
	£	£	£	£
Trade debtors	671,781	590,203	811,691	743,285
Amounts owed by group undertakings	-	12,819	-	2,347
Other debtors	7,745	6,276	6,392	3,988
VAT recoverable	3,674	3,674	1,450	1,450
Prepayments and accrued income	132,375	132,375	151,926	151,926
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	815,575	745,347	971,459	902,996
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════
20. Creditors: amounts falling due	within one year
	2024	2024	2023	2023
	Group	Charity	Group	Charity
	£	£	£	£
Trade creditors	174,892	172,672	330,146	326,446
Social security and other taxes	119,632	106,465	151,254	139,143
Other creditors	69,283	69,383	34,516	34,516
Accruals and deferred income	537,596	536,715	634,756	634,756
	───────	───────	───────	───────
	901,403	885,235	1,150,672	1,134,861
	═══════	═══════	═══════	═══════

20. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Deferred income comprises grant and fee income that relates to future periods which has been received in advance.

Deferred income comprises the following:

Deferred income comprises the following:
	Charitable	Total
	activities
	£	£
At 1 September 2023	530,201	530,201
Deferred in current period	426,040	426,040
Released to Statement of Financial Activities	(530,201)	(530,201)
	───────	───────
At 31 August 2024	426,040	426,040
	═══════	═══════

21. Analysis of charitable funds (group)

	At 1	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	At 31
	September				August 2024
	2023
Restricted fxed asset funds	£	£	£		£
St David's House Appeal	744,481	-	(71,115)	-	673,366
Water Therapy Pool	267,387	-	(24,801)	-	242,586
Topsham Road	204,457	-	(10,856)	-	193,601
Other	9,838	-	(973)	-	8,865
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total	1,226,163	-	(107,745)	-	1,118,418
Restricted general funds
Day services	3,680	346	-	-	4,026
Site development	6,372	2,030	(8,809)	2,471	2,064
Activities for young people	34,584	10	(2,250)	113	32,457
Supporting independence	54,658	18,816	(21,774)	(2,471)	49,229
Family fund	520	-	-	-	520
Research	8,757	-	-	-	8,757
Grants
Bursaries and grants	19,860	5,085	(2,316)	-	22,629
Access to work	4,715	1,713	(2,882)	-	3,546
Student purchases	6,518	14,480	(7,864)	-	13,134
Talking tills	76	-	-	(76)	-
ESFA/DFC/SCA	28,912	31,380	(60,255)	(37)	-
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total	168,652	73,860	(106,150)	-	136,362
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total restricted funds	1,394,815	73,860	(213,895)	-	1,254,780
Designated funds –	500,000	-	-	-	500,000
site improvement
Designated funds –	200,000	-	-	-	200,000
death or loss of contract for
service users
Designated funds –	200,000	-	-	-	200,000
delay in fee payment
General unrestricted funds	7,161,759	9,711,522	(9,817,865)	-	7,055,416
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total unrestricted funds	8,061,759	9,711,522	(9,817,865)	-	7,955,416
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total funds	9,456,574	9,785,382	(10,031,760)	-	9,210,196

Notes: Expenditure for general and restricted funds includes the net realised and unrealised gains/(losses) on investments. Transfers include Capital Items and Adjustments.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

21. Analysis of charitable funds (group) (continued)

The St David’s House appeal was towards the building of a home for young people with more complex needs.

The Water Therapy Pool fund was established to create a new pool for therapeutic, sporting and recreation purposes.

Topsham Road fund was used to help purchase a property which is used as a supported living house.

Other fixed asset funds comprise donations received to purchase specific equipment which has been capitalised.

Pupil Premium: Additional funding received from local authorities target those students from low income families who need the most in order to raise attainment.

Bursary & grants: Funds received from the ESFA to support young people in College in need of financial support meet additional costs to help them remain in full time education.

22. Analysis of net assets between funds (group)

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds
	funds	funds	2024
	£	£	£
Tangible fxed assets	5,141,200	1,118,418	6,259,618
Investments	1,332,597	-	1,332,597
Investment properties	460,000	-	460,000
Current assets	1,923,022	136,362	2,059,384
Creditors less than 1 year	(901,403)	-	(901,403)
	───────	───────	───────
Net assets	7,955,416	1,254,780	9,210,196
	═══════	═══════	═══════

Day Services: Funds used for the benefit of young adults attending Adult Day Services now called Jigsaw at InFocus Charity.

Activities for young people: To fund interactive activities for students and young adults at InFocus Charity.

Supporting Independence: Funds used to provide equipment and opportunities in all areas of InFocus Charity to help enable the engagement and independence of students and young adults in daily activities.

Site Development: Funds used for the improvement and renovations of the InFocus Charity site for the benefit of the students and young adults.

Research: Restricted funds used for specific research projects at InFocus Charity specifically around visual impairment and multi-sensory disability. Examples have been the Comic Relief funding of the development of the Eyelander Game.

Free reserves are calculated as follows;

ree reserves are calculated as follows;
	Free reserves
	2024
	£
Total unrestricted funds	7,955,416
Less unrestricted tangible fxed assets	(5,141,200)
	───────
Free Reserves	2,814,216
	═══════

Talking tills (EPOS/Till System): Funds used to create a specialised talking till system for people with vision impairment

ESFA / DFC / SCA: Annual grants and/or bursaries received from the Department for Education, ESFA or SCA to help maintain and improve the condition of education buildings and grounds.

Access to work: Monies received to support individuals in the workplace and those requiring reasonable adjustments.

Student purchases: Money received from LAs as part of a services user’s package designated for specific specialist equipment.

Family Fund: Used to support families with one-off incidental expenditure outside the scope of Local Authority and bursary funding.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

23. Prior year restricted funds note and analysis of net assets between funds

	At 1	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	At 31
	September				August
	2022				2023
Restricted fxed asset funds	£	£	£		£
St David's House Appeal	815,596	-	(71,115)	-	744,481
Water Therapy Pool	292,188	-	(24,801)	-	267,387
Topsham Road	215,313	-	(10,856)	-	204,457
Other	10,811	-	(973)	-	9,838
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total	1,333,908	-	(107,745)	-	1,226,163
Restricted general funds
Day services	3,680	-	-	-	3,680
Site development	1,027	67	(839)	6,117	6,372
Activities for young people	68,977	6,532	(40,925)	-	34,584
Supporting independence	33,061	-	(8,826)	30,423	54,658
Vehicle & transport	28	-	-	(28)	-
Family fund	520	-	-	-	520
Research	8,787	-	(30)	-	8,757
Miscellaneous	37,570	-	-	(37,570)	-
Grants				-
Pupil premium	4,618	1,237	(5,855)	-	-
Bursaries and grants	30,971	9,397	(21,566)	1,058	19,860
Access to work	9,082	1,405	(5,772)	-	4,715
Student purchases	18,428	17,063	(28,973)	-	6,518
Talking tills	76	-	-	-	76
ESFA/DFC/SCA	50,700	28,896	(50,684)	-	28,912
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total	267,525	64,597	(163,470)	-	168,652
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total restricted funds	1,601,433	64,597	(271,215)	-	1,394,815
Designated funds – site	500,000	-	-	-	500,000
improvement
Designated funds – death	200,000	-	-	-	200,000
or loss of contract for
service users
Designated funds – delay in	-	-	-	200,000	200,000
fee payment
General unrestricted funds	7,288,923	9,048,692	(8,975,856)	(200,000)	7,161,759
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total unrestricted funds	7,988,923	9,048,692	(8,975,856)	-	8,061,759
	───────	───────	───────	───────	───────
Total funds	9,590,356	9,113,289	(9,247,071)	-	9,456,574

23. Prior year restricted funds note and analysis of net assets between funds (continued)

Notes: Income for general and restricted funds includes the net unrealised gain on investments. Transfers include Capital Items and Adjustments

Notes:Income for general and restricted fu Capital Items and Adjustments	nds includes the net unrealised g	ain on investme	nts. Transfers
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds
	funds	funds	2023
	£	£	£
Tangible fxed assets	5,006,219	1,226,163	6,232,382
Investments	1,204,917	-	1,204,917
Investment properties	515,000	-	515,000
Current assets	2,486,295	168,652	2,654,947
Creditors less than 1 year	(1,150,672)	-	(1,150,672)
	───────	───────	───────
Net assets	8,061,759	1,394,815	9,456,574
	═══════	═══════	═══════

24. Operating lease commitments (Group)

The total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

	2024	2023
	£	£
Not later than 1 year	78,846	78,825
Later than 1 year and not later than 5 years	212,913	213,211
Later than 5 years	-	19,685
	───────	───────
	291,759	311,721
	═══════	═══════

Operating leases - lessor (Group)

The total future minimum lease receipts under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

	2024	2023
	£	£
Not later than 1 year	78,164	90,860
Later than 1 year and not later than 5 years	-	78,224
Later than 5 years	-	-
	───────	───────
	78,164	169,084
	═══════	═══════

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

25. Analysis of changes in net debt (Group)

25. Analysis of changes in net debt (Group)
	At 1 Sept	Cash fow	At 31 Aug
	2023		2024
	£	£	£
Cash at bank and on hand	1,674,104	(439,575)	1,234,529
	───────	───────	───────
	1,674,104	(439,575)	1,234,529
	═══════	═══════	═══════
26. Financial instruments
Categorisation of fnancial instruments
		2024	2023
		£	£
Financial assets:
Measured at fair value		1,792,597	1,719,917
		═══════	═══════

26. Financial instruments

27. Pensions and other post-retirement benefits

The Charity’s employees belong to three principal pension schemes: the Teachers’ Pension Scheme England and Wales (TPS) for academic and related staff; the InFocus Charity pension scheme with Aviva (previously Friends Life) which is closed to new entrants and a NEST Pension Scheme.

Contributions amounting to £40,779 (2023 - £39,922) were payable to the schemes at 31 August and are included within creditors. The amounts recognised in income or expenditure as an expense in relation to defined contribution plans was £306,886 (2023: £278,757

27. Pensions and other post-retirement benefits (continued)

The key elements of the valuation and subsequent consultation are:

• Employer contribution rates set at 28.6% of pensionable pay from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027 (previously 23.68% of pensionable pay which included an additional 0.8% following agreement between the Department for Education and HM Treasury to delay the increase in employer contribution rates until 1 September 2019, and also an additional 0.08% employer administration charge).

• Total scheme liabilities (pensions currently in payment and the estimated cost of future benefits) for service to the effective date of £262,000 million, and notional assets (estimated future contributions together with the notional investments held at the valuation date) of £222,200 million giving a notional past service deficit of £39,800 million.

• The key financial assumptions are:

39,800 million. key fnancial assumptions are:
Discount rate, net of assumed pension in-creases	1.7% - 2.4%
Rates of pension increases	0.0% - 4.1%
Rates of CARE revaluation	1.6% - 5.7%
Rates of salary increases	1.6% - 3.8%

Under the definitions set out in Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS 102), the TPS is a multi-employer pension scheme. InFocus Charity has accounted for its contributions to the scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme. InFocus Charity has set out above the information available on the scheme.

28. Post balance sheet events

After 31st August 2024, InFocus Charity received confirmation of legacies to the value of just over £440,000.

InFocus has made appropriate enquiries to determine that any decision to make payment was taken after 31st August 2024. Therefore the receipt of these legacies will be included in the 2024/25 accounts.

Teachers' Pension Scheme

The Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) is a statutory, contributory, defined benefit scheme, governed by the Teachers’ Pension Scheme Regulations (2010) and, from 1 April 2014, by the Teachers’ Pension Scheme Regulations 2014. Membership is automatic for full-time teachers and, from 1 January 2007, automatic for teachers in parttime employment following appointment or a change of contract, although they are able to opt out.

The TPS is an unfunded scheme and members contribute on a ‘pay as you go’ basis - these contributions along with those made by employers are credited to the Exchequer. Retirement and other pension benefits are paid by public funds provided by Parliament

Valuation of the Teachers' Pension Scheme

Not less than every four years the Government Actuary, using normal actuarial principles, conducts a formal actuarial review of the TPS in accordance with the Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) Directions 2014 published by HM Treasury. The aim of the review is to specify the level of future contributions. Actuarial scheme valuations are dependent on assumptions about the value of future costs, design of benefits and many other factors.

The latest actuarial valuation of the TPS was carried out as at 31 March 2020 and in accordance with the Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) Directions 2014. The valuation report was published by the Department for Education on 26 October 2023.

InFocus Charity Annual Report 2023/24

Thank you...

InFocus Charity would like to thank:

All the young people we support, for inspiring all of us with their achievements The parents, carers and families of our young people. Our amazing and dedicated staff team.

Volunteers across charity retail (our e-commerce project, together with shops in Honiton, Sidmouth, Ottery St Mary, Exeter Heavitree, Exeter Sidwell Street and Exeter Cowick Street), our horticulture projects at the West Hill Outdoor Learning Centre and Topsham Road, and everyone else who gives their time and talents for our charity.

The Trustees and advisory members who give their time and expertise so generously.

Our Ambassadors Michael Caines MBE DL and Judi Spiers.

Jacqui Taylor of Otter Garden Centres for her continued generosity and support to our West Hill Outdoor Learning Centre.

All our partner work placement employers.

Former pupils and users of our services, their families, members of the West of England School Association (WESA), and all who are supporting us as part of the InFocus Community.

Generous donations from The W K Hutchings Charitable Trust, The Sterling Charity, The Claire Milne Trust and The Birkdale Trust.

All our donors and supporters.

2024-08-31-accounts

Annual Report 2023/24 ‘

Contents

Introduction

We are proud to celebrate the young people that InFocus Charity exists to support.

Highlights:

InFocus College

recognised by Ofsted

Spotlight on: Jess (student at InFocus College)

Jess has taken huge steps to develop her independence as she prepares for life after College

Celebrating the

wow moments

2023/24 Scrapbook

Working together

Family fun with the Moorvision charity

Accessible bus travel with Stagecoach

Devon County Show

Objectives and Activities

Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31st August 2024

Introduction

Vision, mission and values

students in education who attend our college

young people and family members from outside the InFocus Community20

16 young people who thrived in our supported living accommodation

2020 young people living their best life in St David’s House residential care

Everything we do is made possible by a dedicated team of specialist staff that includes:

Achievements and Performance

Strategic Plan

Overview of achievements 2019-2024

1. Improve Education

1 IMPROVE EDUCATION

2. EXPAND ADULT CARE

2. Expand Adult services

3. Use our knowledge

4. Develop the site

5. Strengthen the organisation

Governance

Services, space and expertise

Achievements in 2023/24

Quality and Compliance

People and Culture

People and Culture (cont'd)

Finance and Resources

Technology and Environment

Objectives for 2024/25

The quality and effectiveness of our provision

Making more of our specialisms

The growth of our services

Developing our site and facilities

Supporting and developing our staff and volunteers

Income and Expenditure

Finance and

Risk

Introduction

Staffing

Fees

Charity Retail

Leased properties

Fundraising

InFocus Enterprises Ltd

Reserves and financial health

Investments

Pension obligations

Principal risks and uncertainties

Introduction

Student numbers

Staffing

Staffing (cont'd)

Risk of cyber-attack

Our buildings

Governance

Structure, Governance and Management

Board of Trustees

Legal Structure

Executive Team

Staffing

Staffing (cont'd)

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Fundraising

Trading company