# **Annual Report and Financial Statements**
**For the year ended 31 March 2024**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Contents**
|**Contents**||
|---|---|
||**Page No.**|
|**Welcome from the Chair**|**2**|
|**Our Vision, Mission and Values**|**3**|
|**What is Advocacy?**|**4 - 5**|
|**Strategic Report**|**6 - 11**|
|Our Strategy|6|
|Areas of Focus|7|
|Outcomes and Achievements|8 - 11|
|Plans, Objectives and Challenges 2024/2025|11|
|Governance, Structure and Management|12 - 15|
|Financial Review|16|
|**Statement of Trustee Responsibilities**|**17**|
|**Independent Auditor’s Report**|**18 - 20**|
|**Financial Statements**|**21 - 36**|
|Statement of Financial Activities|21|
|Balance Sheet|22|
|Cash Flow Statement|23 - 24|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|25 - 36|
|**Corporate Information**|**37**|
**1**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Welcome from the Chair**
The past year has been one of continued change and economic uncertainty, with the most challenging cost of living crisis in decades, rising geopolitical tensions and declining health and social care provision. Local Authorities, faced with severe budget constraints and difficult choices over dwindling discretionary spending, are also reducing their spend on non-statutory activities to adjust for cost pressures elsewhere.
Although in real terms, funding for adult social care by local authorities and the NHS increased in 2023-2024, while this is beneficial, it is still unlikely to be sufficient to address the systemic problems in social care and comes at the expense of long-awaited charging reforms.
Throughout this period, POhWER has stayed focused on supporting our clients to navigate complex challenges, and we have used our expertise and resources to help make a positive impact to their lives.
We continue to work closely with the local authorities that commission our services to ensure that we are meeting all our obligations, and importantly we are achieving good outcomes for the people we are working with.
Our former Chief Executive, Helen Moulinos, left us during the year. With almost four years of service, Helen successfully steered POhWER through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and promoted Human Rights through successful campaigning. We appointed Vicky Browning OBE as our interim Chief Executive and, through her calm and professional leadership, she has maintained a clear focus on the organisation’s strategic priorities and brought strength to influence and motivate.
This year we were proud to provide advocacy support to over 60,000 people, often requiring multiple interventions per client. We saw a significant rise in the complexity of cases our advocates manage, reflecting the difficulty of supporting people to navigate services under severe financial pressure. As POhWER enters into the final year of its Strategy 2020-2025, our Trustees and Executive Team will be working on the development of our new Strategy with a new CEO to lead its delivery. This Strategy will provide direction and scope over the longer-term to create value and opportunity for the organisation and staff, and growth for our service users and colleagues.
Our dedicated staff are key to our success and the team continues to work tirelessly to ensure that people who have requested our support receive it and have their views and voices heard. We are especially conscious of the need to support our colleagues in the context of cost-of-living increases. That’s why we took the decision to make a one-off payment in March 2024 in recognition of their hard work and contribution to delivering POhWER’s mission over the year. Meanwhile, we are reviewing our pay, reward and recognition to enable us to continue to recruit and retain a talented, values-driven workforce.
Finally, I would like to record my heartfelt appreciation for the hard work and dedication of our colleagues, including volunteers; to our Board of Trustees, who generously donate their time, skills and wisdom, and to our supporters and partners, without whom we could not continue with our vital work: upholding rights and tackling inequalities for those who need to have their voice heard.
**Antony Kildare** Chair of Board of Trustees
**2**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Our Vision, Mission and Values**
## **Our Vision**
Upholding rights and tackling inequalities for those who need to have their voice heard.
## **Our Mission**
To deliver high quality advocacy, information and advice services empowering people to have a voice and to make a real difference to their lives.
## **Our Values**
- **P** rofessional – We are committed to working in a confidential and person-centred way. Being professional, respectful, reliable, honest and independent.
**Our values are our core principles, the qualities and beliefs that drive all of our work. We put people at the heart of everything we do in the way we work with our beneficiaries, partners and stakeholders and, equally importantly, with each other.**
- **E** mpowering – We will empower people to develop their skills and confidence, stand up for their rights and regain control. Thus creating a culture of enablement, not dependency.
- **O** pen, free and fair – We will deliver services that are free to use and accessible to all members of the community while encouraging and valuing differences and diversity and always working in a fair and open way.
- **P** ositive difference – We will ensure that our
- passion for our work results in a positive difference to people’s lives and use the learning from our casework to have a positive impact on the delivery of services in the future.
- **L** ocal – We will engage with local communities in the areas that we serve, understanding their specific needs and determining the best way to meet these.
- **E** ngaging – We will meaningfully listen and engage with people and groups to ensure they are involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of our services, ensuring we are a pioneering client and needs led organisation.
**3**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **What is Advocacy?**
POhWER’s mission is to empower people through advocacy, information, advice and guidance to give people the tools, help and support they need to allow them to be involved and make their own choices and decisions about their lives.
Any person at a point in their life may need support to navigate their own path and be supported to have choice and an independent voice.
Advocacy supports you to understand your rights and entitlements as given to us in the Human Rights Act 1998.
POhWER’s advocates seek to empower people, not to create dependency but to promote independence. They walk alongside you to navigate life challenges at a particularly challenging time when anyone can need support regardless of their lived experience or situation.
POhWER shapes its services around the needs of each individual, supporting them as a whole person not as a label, issue or problem statement.
## **How can POhWER staff or volunteers help you?**
Our POhWER colleagues can help a person to speak up for themselves and understand the process they are going through. They can support them to understand what their rights are and what choices are available to them to ensure that they are central to important decisions being made about them. Advocates can also speak up for people when they are unable to do this for themselves.
They can support you to prepare for and take part in meetings and tribunals, raise queries or concerns and access information in the format which is most suitable for you. Advocates can also provide information and signpost people to other helpful services.
## **Types of advocacy**
## **Instructed Advocacy**
## **Statutory Advocacy**
Instructed Advocacy is when a person is able to tell the advocate what their needs and wishes are and what support they need. They are able to ask the advocate for support and tell them what actions they would like to be taken on their behalf.
In certain circumstances a person has the legal right to an advocate including under the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act.
## **Non-Statutory Advocacy**
Non-statutory advocacy services help those who fall outside the eligibility criteria for statutory services.
## **Non-Instructed Advocacy**
When a person is unable to communicate their **Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)** wishes and needs for reasons such as temporary An IMHA is an independent advocate who is unconsciousness, brain injury, dementia etc., an trained in the Mental Health Act and supports advocate will use techniques such as observing people who are being treated under the Act the person, speaking to people who know them to understand their rights and participate in well or care for them to build a profile of the decisions about their care and treatment. IMHAs person’s needs and wishes and use this can support people who are detained in hospital, to make sure their best interests are and people living in the community who are represented. receiving Supervised Community @ es @ fe Treatment or are subject to **Care Act Advocacy** Guardianship under the Act.
The Care Act says that local councils must involve people in decisions about their care and support needs. If it would be difficult for someone to be involved without support, the council must make sure they get the help they need. If the person doesn’t have someone who can help them they have the right to have an independent Care Act Advocate.
## **NHS Complaints Advocacy**
This is also called Independent Health Complaints Advocacy (IHCA). NHS Complaints Advocates help people to use the complaints process to raise a complaint about NHS funded treatment or care.
**4**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Culturally Appropriate Advocacy**
Advocates who ensure access to culturally appropriate IMHA and other forms of advocacy aiming to create an increased say and involvement in care and treatment during detention under the Mental Health Act for ethnic minority groups.
## **Regulatory - Fitness to Practice Advocacy**
## **Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA)**
An IMCA is an advocate who has been specially trained to support people who are not able to make certain decisions for themselves (they lack the capacity) and do not have family or friends who are able to speak for them. IMCAs do not make decisions and they are independent of the people who do make the decisions.
Advocacy that can support people who are involved in complaints about the fitness to practice cases of a registered health or social care professional, overseen by the professions regulatory body.
## **Community Advocacy**
Community Advocates can support people who find it difficult to put their views across or feel they aren’t being listened to and help deal with an issue they are facing.
## **Citizen Advocacy**
## **Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)/ Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS)**
Citizen Advocates are trained volunteers. They provide one-to-one support to help people tackle the issues they are facing. Citizen Advocates may provide support in person, by telephone or by email and help people to access information, speak up and get their
If a person is deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act, an IMCA will be appointed to protect their human rights and make sure the deprivation is lawful, reasonable and in their best interests. The IMCA supports the person and collects information about them including their beliefs, values and previous behaviour in order to represent their wishes.
voice heard.
**Peer Advocacy** e Peer Advocates are volunteers with lived experience of using public authority services. i They share their experience and provide practical support and encouragement. Peer Advocates are matched with someone who has similar needs and issues to support them to develop new skills and gain confidence.
## **Relevant Person’s Paid Representative Service (RPPR)**
Everyone who is deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act must have a representative. This could be a family member or a friend, but if there is no one suitable it could be a Paid Representative also known as an RPPR. RPPRs are qualified advocates who have specialist knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards legislation.
## **Self-Advocacy**
Self-Advocacy is representing your own views and wishes and asking for what you need or want. It gives you the ability to make your voice heard and take part in important decisions which are being made about you including how and where you live.
## **Children’s and Young People’s Advocacy including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)**
## **Group Advocacy**
Group Advocacy brings people with similar needs and issues together to support each other. These groups give people the opportunity to work together, share their experiences and raise joint concerns. Sometimes the group has a facilitator who supports the running of the group and sometimes these groups are self-supporting.
CAMHS advocacy support is provided within both private and NHS hospitals across the country. Advocates provide drop-in services for the young people to access advocacy on a regular basis. Advocates support individuals to have their voice heard or work with groups of young people to raise issues they have identified.
**5**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Strategic Report**
This has been a year of both change and consolidation for POhWER.
Our former CEO, Helen Moulinos, left POhWER in December 2023 after nearly four years at the helm. We’d like to express our thanks for all she achieved in that time, particularly in campaigning for a fairer and more equal society, for meaningful change to tackle inequalities and to uphold the vital importance of human rights.
Our interim CEO, Vicky Browning, joined in January 2024 to offer stability and a continued push for progress towards our strategic objectives as POhWER looks for its next permanent executive leader to take us into a new strategic period beyond 2025.
What hasn’t changed is our commitment to supporting people who engage with public services and, because of disability, illness, social exclusion and other marginalising challenges, find it difficult to express their views or get the support they need. This year we have focused on consolidating our core offer to ensure we maintain a quality service in the face of significant challenges.
Our mission to empower people to have a voice and make a real difference to their lives remains as vital as ever. We deliver it through providing a range of statutory and non-statutory advocacy, advice and guidance services to over 60,000 clients each year, many of whom have multiple needs, resulting in over 100,000 interventions on our clients’ behalf. We ensure each person that we support has their views and wishes heard in a way that empowers and promotes choice and control.
POhWER is now in year four of our current five year strategy, which you can read here: https://www.pohwer.net/strategy-2020-2025. Once appointed, our next Chief Executive will be working with the Board and staff team to set the ambition and direction for the charity beyond 2025. In the meantime, we have continued to drive progress against our strategic targets.
**6**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Areas of focus 2023-2024**
Like many charities, POhWER has been operating in a difficult financial and social environment which has brought many challenges.
Our advocacy and advice services operate at the confluence of adult social care, the NHS and mental health provision, all of which are facing unprecedented pressures. The majority of our work is in providing statutory services to local authorities across England and some parts of Scotland, with councils also facing severe financial restrictions. In turn, our advocates are facing both huge levels of demand and a significant rise in the complexity of the cases they manage.
The ultimate aim of POhWER’s advocacy is to try to support the whole person as opposed to merely addressing the legislative issues contained in contracts. Sometimes the biggest challenge for our advocates is the complex need of the client, which is often difficult to address due to funding issues. We have therefore paid particular attention to our contract performance this year, including successfully challenging commissioners regarding under-funding on some contracts, and exiting loss-making contracts or contracts where we have felt unable to maintain the full independence of our advocacy service.
Within this challenging climate of financial constraint and increased complexity, our focus this year has been on delivering high quality services to our beneficiaries, technology enablement, leveraging partnerships and developing our people. Following a period of rapid change and innovation, we have chosen this year to consolidate and improve the quality of what we already have in place. This approach has included:
- Doing more with digital technology
- Delivering improved quality in services
- Driving better value from partners and suppliers
- Delivering impact creatively
- Developing and retaining our people.
**7**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Outcomes and Achievements**
## **Financial performance**
Advocacy services in 66 units. We spot purchase on behalf of 48 additional areas across England and Wales, supporting individuals in an area outside of their usual funded local authority.
POhWER’s income for 2023-2024 was £16.1m, with costs of £15.9m, yielding a surplus of £150k after awarding staff a one-off year end payment in thanks for all their hard work and commitment to the people we support.
## **Beneficiary reach**
This year we have reviewed the way we calculate our reach to be clear about the distinction between the number of beneficiaries we support, the number of cases that represents, and the volume of interventions this entails. Our updated figures represent this and we will continue to report in this way in future years. In 2023-24, we gave advocacy support to 61,439 people who faced extensive and often multiple challenges in securing their rights and entitlements within public services, including 33,926 new clients. Our Help Hub handled 127,871 requests for information and advice, and we had 31,787 downloads of information, selfhelp and referral documents from the POhWER website.
People contacted POhWER for help with a range of issues including aspects of clinical treatment, attitude of staff, complaints handling, safeguarding, needs assessment and more.
91% of the people we helped gave our services a rating of five out of five.
## **Raising awareness**
Broadcasting key messages and amplifying our beneficiary’s experiences are important to POhWER with an aim to raise awareness, tell stories and educate others promoting a fairer and more equal society.
In the past year, POhWER received 25 pieces of media coverage with an estimated 618k views and a potential audience of 1.62m.
## **External engagement and digital activity**
This year we produced two new short informational videos attracting 29,200 views. We had 494 engagements with our podcasts, and 332,408 webpage views. We routinely capture information about the outcomes that we help people achieve to ensure we are delivering benefits to the beneficiaries we serve. Our Impact Report can be found on our website: - https://www.pohwer.net/our impact
## **Geographical reach**
POhWER holds 71 contracts delivering information, advice, and advocacy services across the UK.
We hold 11 contracts with NHS or private providers to deliver Secure and Complex
## **Campaigning and influencing**
Our aim is to change or uphold as necessary laws which are important to our beneficiaries, enabling them to live as equal people. We achieve this through evidence-led submissions to powerful people and institutions, ministerial engagement, external awareness raising and
**8**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
through telling the stories of our beneficiaries’ circumstances.
As a charity we have now found our public voice, through our campaigning, relationship building, community engagement and public affairs efforts and have more firmly established our identity.
This year, following an invitation from civil society umbrella body NCVO, POhWER participated in the UK’s first Power & Integrity Lab with four other charities. This was a new initiative launched to examine the negative impact power structures can have in the sector, and help voluntary organisations develop approaches that embody integrity.
positive indication that our policies, procedures, continuous improvement, and monitoring systems across all directorates of the charity are operating according to an industry recognised quality standard.
In 2023-2024 we raised 1,356 safeguarding alerts, of which 1,001 were raised to:
- Client Settings 276
- • CQC 98 • a Local Authority 544 • Police 52 • Other 31
## **Safeguarding**
At POhWER, we believe everyone who comes into contact with our organisation, including beneficiaries, staff and volunteers, should be safe from bullying, harassment and abuse and should be treated with dignity and respect. As a result, safeguarding is at the heart of our work.
Over this year, we continued to maintain and further strengthen our safeguarding processes and overarching framework by focusing on:
- Reviewing our safeguarding policies and the use of our data to support systemic issue escalation to the CQC. This is in order to effect improvement in systems of care provision and how a local authority discharges its safeguarding responsibilities;
- • Reviewing our mandatory staff training and compliance alongside a focus on staff wellbeing from a safeguarding perspective. This is needed due to the impact this work can have on our staff and to fulfil our duty to safeguard our staff as well as the people we serve;
- Reviewing our recruitment framework and process to put safeguarding at its heart;
- Identifying trends to support escalation of systemic causes of harm and targeted awareness-raising of potentially unreported safeguarding issue types;
- Commissioning an external safeguarding audit due to report in 2024-2025.
Our safeguarding system was reviewed as part of the Quality Performance Mark (QPM) accreditation, and in February 2024 we passed our ISO 9001 accreditation with no non-conformities to the standard. This is a
## **New advocacy services**
POhWER was successful in a one year grant funded application for an Autism Self Advocacy programme in Birmingham. This was a six-week autism self-advocacy program designed to empower individuals on the autism spectrum to take control of their own lives and speak up for themselves.
We also launched two new Culturally Competent Advocate services this year. Advocates for Change in Birmingham and Solihull is a Culturally Appropriate Advocacy Service which is designed and adapted to meet the individual cultural needs of people from racialised communities so that they can access support without encountering barriers, have improved experiences and achieve better outcomes. It is delivered by advocates trained to be aware of cultural and religious requirements and to adapt their practice to meet these needs. Advocates are also trained in understanding the impact of racism on mental health. Wherever possible advocates will have lived experience of the supported person’s circumstances/personal experiences.
**9**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
Our Culturally Appropriate Independent Mental Health Advocacy at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust sees POhWER and Mary Seacole House working in partnership to provide a Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Advocacy Service for those of African and Caribbean descent, who experience unmet cultural needs or discrimination within mental health settings.
## **Community engagement**
- racism, and what are the disproportionate inequalities within the mental health system;
- • Held micro aggressions sessions relating to race and people who identify as LGBTQIA+;
- • Introduced new mandatory EDI and Unconscious Bias Training;
- Participated in Race Equality Week 2024 activities;
- Launched two new Culturally Appropriate Advocacy services with partner organisations.
Educating people to know their rights in public authorities is essential to empowering them. Since the start of the year we have attended over 102 local community engagement events promoting the role of advocacy in upholding people’s rights.
## **Partnerships**
## **Equity, diversity and inclusion**
POhWER aspires to be a leader of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practices within the charity sector by going above and beyond the minimum baseline of equality laws in everything we do. We believe everyone has a human right to be treated with respect and dignity.
In some areas we work in partnership with other organisations to provide services. This year we worked with 45 civil society partners who have enabled us to deliver tailored and relevant advocacy knowledge and skills to local people who benefited from these synergistic relationships. We have been grateful to these organisations for their support and ongoing commitment to collaboration for a more holistic provision.
Following on from a 2-year programme of actively engaging with our workforce and beneficiaries we have formally committed to an EDI strategy and plan which will further transform our organisation. Our 2022-2025 EDI strategy and plan can be found here: www.pohwer.net/edi
This year we:
- Facilitated Anti-Racism Tea Break sessions to explore two topics with our workforce – how do we call out and speak up about
**10**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Support and investment in our staff**
Our new main office in Stevenage became fully operational, offering a professional, spacious and modern location for staff and partners to work and meet. We have strengthened our commitment to our staff with the introduction of several staff “voice” groups representing the diversity of employees and lived experiences. We have empowered our workforce to speak up and out without fear of retribution and strengthened safeguards, keeping them free from harm and abuse.
## **Plans, objectives and challenges 2024/2025**
We will be investing in a new website in order to separate out services from campaigning stakeholders so people can self-help and access the relevant content for their ask. We will look to improve the automation of professional referrals, and we will further develop POhWER’s campaigning capability and capacity on an organisation-wide level through improved data collection via our case management system. This will also ensure that we are able to track and evaluate the impact of our services more effectively across all of our digital platforms.
**• Geographical and sector diversification:** including continuing to widen our geographical reach and developing new models that are transferable across sectors.
2023-2024 saw us take a single lens focus on POhWER’s core operations. However, there is a strong appetite across the organisation to move forward strategically in the year ahead, which has seen the Trustee Board approve two pots of strategic reserves to enable investment in our digital capability and our People team and human resources processes.
Our strategic focus for the year ahead is on the four key areas of people, processes, systems and diversification.
- **People:** working with staff to make POhWER an even better place to work, including revamping our internal communications, developing a collaborative culture with empowered teams and leadership that encourages trust and continuous growth, and ensuring we actively live our values organisationally and as individuals. We are investing in our People team and HR processes through implementation of a dedicated HR Reserve fund.
- **Processes:** reviewing key policies and processes to improve performance and reduce risk.
- **Systems:** focusing on improving the five key platforms that POhWER uses:
- Intranet
- Case management system
- Website
- HR database
- Finance system
**11**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Governance, Structure and Management**
## **Legal Status and Objects**
POhWER is a charity registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales under charity number 1061543 and registered in Scotland by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator under charity number SCO48858 and is also a company limited by guarantee.
Our organisation was established in 1996 and registered as a charity in 1997 and is governed by its Articles of Association which set outs that our charitable objects are to relieve people in need, to promote social inclusion by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, and to promote human rights by raising awareness of human rights, in particular by providing advocacy, information, advice and guidance, to help people speak up and to be heard as well as securing their rights and entitlements.
## **Public Benefit**
The Trustees have a duty to report on how The Trustees have a duty to report on how POhWER’s charitable objects have been carried out for the public benefit and to follow guidance from the Charity Commission on the provision of Public Benefit requirement under the Charities Act 2011.
We demonstrate how we have met our principal objects in our Strategic Report and how POhWER has worked within its charitable objects in 2023/2024. We set out further specific details in our Impact Report, which demonstrates the impact of our work and which compliments this report. Our Impact Report can be found on our website: https://www.pohwer.net/our-impact
Understanding and measuring our impact is vitally important in making sure we achieve our Vision to empower all people to have a voice and make a real difference in their lives. We do this by speaking for them when they can't and supporting them to speak for themselves when they can.
governance and strategic direction of the Charity ensuring that the Charity upholds its values and core principles and delivers it key objectives. The Trustees of the Charity are also the Directors of the company for the purpose of company law, and any reference to Trustees is therefore also to Directors.
Members of the Board of Trustees serve a three-year term, after which they are eligible for a further three-year term. In exceptional circumstances, a trustee may serve an additional year to make sure that appropriate succession is in place.
Trustees are appointed through a transparent and rigorous recruitment and selection process. Newly appointed Trustees are provided with a comprehensive induction programme which includes meeting the Executive team. All relevant documents to their role are provided to them, including a comprehensive Trustee Handbook. A Trustee SharePoint site is regularly updated and all Trustees have private access to the site.
Trustees deploy a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience essential to good governance. The range of expertise held by our Trustees is regularly reviewed to determine that their experience meets POhWER’s requirements. A skills audit is carried out annually and informs the skills required during any recruitment drive. We have dedicated safeguarding trustees who hold extensive experience and knowledge in relation to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.
Operational management is delegated by the Trustees to the Chief Executive who is accountable to the Trustee Board. The Chief Executive and the Executive team normally attend Board and Committee meetings.
Trustees, Chief Executive and Executive team are expected to behave with the utmost integrity and professionalism at all times and to adhere to POhWER’s Code of Conduct and the Nolan Committee’s Seven Principles of Public Life.
## **Structure**
The Trustee Board is responsible for the
All Trustees of POhWER give their time voluntarily and receive no reward or benefit from POhWER.
**12**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
The Trustee Board meets a minimum of four times each year and in addition there is a Board Away Day which allows Trustees to focus, along with the Executive team, on key strategic issues. Trustees who served during the year are listed on page 37 together with information about their membership of Board Committees.
## **Modern Slavery**
As a human rights charity, POhWER is alert to the problem of modern slavery in society. Modern slavery can take the form of slavery, servitude, forced labour, and human trafficking, all of which severely violate basic human rights and deprive people of their liberty for commercial gain. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all of our relationships by taking every reasonable opportunity to act within our direct operations and wider sphere of influence to make sure that slavery and human trafficking does not take place in the charity’s operations.
## **Delegation and Committees**
The Board maintains a Scheme of Delegation and matters reserved for Board Committees are clearly defined in their Terms of Reference. The Committees report directly to the Board.
|**Finance, Audit and**||**People Committee**||**Fundraising and**||**Nominations**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Risk Committee**||Is primarily||**Income Generation**||**Committee**Is|
|Is primarily responsible||responsible for||**Committee**Is||primarily responsible|
|for all aspects||monitoring the||primarily responsible||for the review and|
|of the charity’s
financial strategy||People Strategy
and key People||for monitoring the
Fundraising and||assessment of the
balance of skills|
|and performance. It||metrics to support||Income Generation||and diversity of|
|oversees the charity’s||an assessment||Strategy and income||the Board and the|
|resources and has the||of employee||generation reporting.||responsibility to|
|responsibility to protect||performance and||To review product||recruit new Trustees|
|the charity’s assets
and reserves. It also||health. To ensure
that significant HR||development
initiatives and||to vacancies. They
are also responsible|
|has the responsibility||policies and practices||monitor Digital||for the review of|
|for ensuring the
effectiveness of the||are legal, up to
date and reflect||Strategy
Development and||Executive salaries.|
|audit function and||best practice. To||projects.|||
|adequacy of risk||ensure provision||To review proposals|||
|management process||of an inclusive and||from the Chief|||
|and internal control.||equal opportunities||Executive for the|||
|||environment, and
positive progress||appointment of
Honorary Officers.|||
|||on equality and|||||
|||diversity.|||||
**13**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **People**
Providing an efficient and effective HR function is key to POhWER being able to support all our hard-working staff in the delivery of our mission. This year we restructured our People Team and expanded our HR capacity by recruiting additional team members.
This included adding an additional HR Business Partner to oversee our central services and increasing the capability and capacity in our administration function by recruiting two new HR Administrators.
We have updated the new Sage HR database implemented in 2022 to capture training statistics. We have also spent time significantly upskilling the People Team to maximise our knowledge base and increase the effective use of Sage HR across the organisation.
Further progress of our EDI Strategy had been made during the year and our focus areas and achievements can be found on page 10.
Our training schedule was expanded to start building comprehensive training programmes for all colleagues in the organisation, ensuring that the entire employment lifecycle with POhWER supports and develops them.
We created a standard induction and onboarding presentation in a collaboration with our Community Managers and Heads of Service. Our recruitment policy was refreshed to bolster our safeguarding requirements, by including safer recruitment processes. All hiring managers are now required to undertake this mandatory training to ensure that our recruitment practices meet best practice moving forward.
Wellbeing continues to feature high in our priorities. Our first Mental Health First Aid programme was rolled out and generated considerable interest among colleagues wanting to know more about the support that has been put in place for them if/when needed, and colleagues continue to benefit from our extensive Employee Assistance Programme. We also ran a Men’s Mental Health Forum where male colleagues were invited to a drop in session held during lunch to discuss issues they may have and to support each other’s mental health.
## **Remuneration**
Our pay structure is benchmarked against other charities as part of our commitment to having a fair and equitable pay structure. The pay structure is underpinned by the Living Wage Foundation. The Trustee Board oversees the pay and benefits of the Chief Executive and the Executive Team through the work of its Nominations Committee. Pay and Benefits for all staff is underpinned by our Reward and Remuneration Strategy and decisions regarding remuneration are agreed by the Board of Trustees.
Thanks to a solid financial performance, we were able to make a one-off payment during the year in recognition of the contribution of our colleagues to the delivery of POhWER’s mission, which was welcomed by staff.
## **Fundraising and Income Generation**
Like many charities during the tough economic climate of 2023-2024, POhWER faced a challenging fundraising environment. We continued to build on our legacy work and donations from the public, receiving several donations from beneficiaries who were delighted with our service and grateful to be supported by our amazing staff and volunteers.
Social media, films and stories about our work continue to drive awareness about the need and impact of advocacy at a beneficiary, community and national level.
During the financial year we did not work with any fundraising agencies or commercial participators. No complaints were received in respect of our fundraising activity.
**14**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
POhWER is grateful to our commissioners for their contract funding of our services and to all the other individuals and organisations who have donated or fundraised. We continue to work with funders as we identify unmet needs and together develop and implement pilot schemes to address gaps in services, further supporting the growing numbers of people who need our help.
POhWER is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and is committed to responsible and ethical fundraising practices. POhWER complies with the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise.
## **GDPR**
We are committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of the people we support, those we work with, those who support us and those we come into contact with in other ways. We do this in line with POhWER's values and with the law.
## **Risk Management**
The Trustees have a responsibility for ensuring that the charity maintains a comprehensive risk management system and that appropriate actions are taken to manage and mitigate risks. The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee monitors and reviews these reports and reports to the Board on their effectiveness.
The principal risks identified through their likelihood and impact on the Charity are:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Risk Examples of mitigating actions
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**Risk**|**Examples of mitigating actions**|
|---|---|
|||
|A safeguarding failure results
in harm to a benefciary or staf
member|•
Continuous reviewing, strengthening and embedding of
Safeguarding policies, process and practice
•
Independent External Safeguarding Audit of Safeguarding
practices and procedures
•
Mandatory safeguarding training and reinforcement for all
staf, volunteers and trustees
•
Focus on identifcation of trends to support escalation of
systemic causes of harm|
|Threat of Local Authorities’ s114
Notices having an impact on
income|•
Tight cost control mechanisms in place
•
Rigorous contract retention and tender scoping processes
in place
•
Diversifcation of funding to reduce dependence on local
authority statutory advocacy services
•
Investigate in more detail,volunteer model|
|Economic climate|•
Monitoring business plans and budget for robustness and
ensuringefciencyin all departments.|
**15**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Financial Review**
Despite the challenges of the current economic climate, POhWER can report another year of surplus and increased financial sustainability.
Total income for 2023/2024 decreased by 5% to £16,086,520 (2022/2023: £16,911,291). The decrease relates to a structured exit from activities which did not generate a surplus. POhWER has continued to pursue a strategy of bidding for financially viable contracts with public and private institutions, whilst also working to diversify income streams.
Costs have decreased proportionately to income reduction, despite significant inflationary pressures, which were offset by carefully structured cost reductions. The overall effects were a decrease in surplus to £149,837 (2022/2023: £267,949).
In accordance with the surplus reported, cash balances held, including on short-notice deposit accounts, totalled £3,132,987 (2022/2023: £3,238,682).
POhWER operates with disciplined debtor and supplier management to ensure that working capital is tightly controlled.
## **Reserves Policy and Going Concern**
In September 2023, the Trustees reviewed the Charity’s reserves policy and given there had been no change in circumstance, a light touch review of the designated reserves was undertaken. Reserves are held, in summary, to provide working capital, ensure continuation of services and/or to ensure that the Charity can wind down in an orderly fashion and/or retain an essential administrative function in case of a crisis. The current reserves policy is to hold free reserves representing between 1.5 and 4 months of operating expenditure.
At the reporting date, the Charity held reserves totalling £4,492,251 of which £3,369,196 were free from restriction and were not designated for specific purposes (2022/2023: £4,342,414 of which £3,981,041 were free). Free reserves represent 2.5 months of operating expenditure (2022/2023: 2.9 months) so the Trustees are satisfied that free reserves are within the confines of the policy.
Our position post-year end is that we can meet all our financial commitments on time and POhWER remains a going concern. The Charity has a strong record of both winning and retaining contracts, against a backdrop of a financial position that has strengthened through reserves growth over the past few financial years. The Trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period one year from the date of approval of these accounts.
**16**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities**
The charity trustees (who are also the directors of POhWER for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) including FRS 102, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
Company law requires the 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 of the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the 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);
- 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;
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
Each of the trustees confirms that:
- so far as the Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware;
- the Trustee has taken all steps that he or she ought to have taken, as a trustee, in order to be aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable company’s auditor is aware of that information.
This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s148 of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees had no beneficial interests in, or contracts with, the charitable company during the year. Trustees may reclaim the expenses incurred in fulfilling their duties as trustees, and these are disclosed in notes 7 and 18 of the financial statements. All the trustees are required to be Members of the charitable company, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charitable company.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
The Trustees’ Annual Report, incorporating the Strategic Report, was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## any Mes
**Antony Kildare** Chair of Board of Trustees
11th July 2024
**17**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of POhWER**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of POhWER for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of 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, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of the charitable company’s net movement in funds, including the income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the 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 charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Annual Report and the Welcome from our Chair. 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.
**18**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **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’ Annual Report (which includes the strategic report and the 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 the directors’ report included within the Trustees’ Annual 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 charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report (which incorporates the strategic report and the directors’ report).
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept by the charitable company; or
- the charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 17, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine
is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
Based on our understanding of the charitable company and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to safeguarding and fundraising regulations, GDPR and company law in England and Wales, and charity law in England and Wales and in Scotland, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act
**19**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
2006, the Charities Act 2011, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and payroll taxes.
We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to management override of controls. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:
- Inspecting correspondence with regulators and tax authorities;
- Discussions with management including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulation and fraud;
- Evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities;
- Identifying and testing journals; and
- Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their critical accounting 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 or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Lee Stokes (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of haysmacintyre LLP, Statutory Auditors 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG Date: 19th July 2024
**20**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Statement of Financial Activities**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2024**
(Including an Income & Expenditure Account)
||**Note**|**Restricted**|**Unrestricted**||**Total**|Restricted|Unrestricted|Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**2024**|**2024**||**2024**|2023|2023|2023|
|||**£**|**£**||**£**|£|£|£|
|**Income from:**|||||||||
|Donations & Legacies|2|-|4,015||4,015|28,742|6,436|35,178|
|Charitable Activities:|||||||||
|- Contract Income|3|-|15,599,094||15,599,094|60,000|16,209,601|16,269,601|
|- Grants|3|414,629|-||414,629|558,949|8,000|566,949|
|Investment Income|4|-|67,602||67,602|-|33,625|33,625|
|Other Income|5|-|1,180||1,180|-|5,938|5,938|
|**Total income**||**414,629**|**15,671,891**||**16,086,520**|647,691|16,263,600|16,911,291|
|**Expenditure on:**|||||||||
|Cost of raising funds||-|(499)||(499)|-|(2,986)|(2,986)|
|Charitable Activities:|6||||||||
|-Statutory services||-|(12,081,490)||(12,081,490)|-|(11,130,729)|(11,130,729)|
|-Non Statutory Services||(457,451)|(1,996,448)||(2,453,899)|(654,858)|(3,494,522)|(4,149,380)|
|-Secure services||-|(1,400,795)||(1,400,795)|-|(1,360,247)|(1,360,247)|
|Subtotal – Charitable||(457,451)|(15,478,733)||(15,936,184)|(654,858)|(15,985,498)|(16,640,356)|
|Activities|||||||||
|**Total expenditure**||**(457,451)**|**(15,479,232)**|**(15,936,683)**||(654,858)|(15,988,484)|(16,643,342)|
|||**Restricted**|**Unrestricted**||**Total**|Restricted|Unrestricted|Total|
|||**2024**|**2024**||**2024**|2023|2023|2023|
|||**£**||**£**|**£**|£|£|£|
|Net income/(expenditure)|7|(42,822)|192,659||149,837|(7,167)|275,116|267,949|
|Transfers between funds||(4,127)|4,127||-|(4,335)|4,335|-|
|Net movement between funds||(46,949)|196,786||149,837|(11,502)|279,451|267,949|
|Reconciliation of Funds|||||||||
|Total funds brought forward||46,949|4,295,465||4,342,414|58,451|4,016,014|4,074,465|
|**Total funds carried forward**|**15**|**-**|**4,492,251**||**4,492,251**|46,949|4,295,465|4,342,414|
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. All recognised gains and losses are included in the above statement of financial activities.
The notes on pages 25 - 36 form part of these financial statements.
**21**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Balance Sheet**
## **As at 31 March 2024**
||**Note**|**Total**|Total|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**2024**|2023|
|||**£**|£|
|Fixed assets||||
|Intangible fixed assets|10|165,720|-|
|Tangible fixed assets|11|261,335|284,424|
|||427,055|284,424|
|Current assets||||
|Debtors|12|1,862,329|2,021,194|
|Cash at bank and in hand||3,132,987|3,238,682|
|||4,995,316|5,259,876|
|Current liabilities||||
|Creditors: amounts due within one year|13|(922,620)|(1,201,886)|
|Net current assets||4,072,696|4,057,990|
|Total assets less current liabilities||4,499,751|4,342,414|
|Provisions for liabilities and charges||(7,500)|-|
|Net assets||**4,492,251**|4,342,414|
|Restricted funds||-|46,949|
|Unrestricted funds||||
|Designated funds|15|696,000|30,000|
|Fixed asset funds|15|427,055|284,424|
|General funds|15|3,369,196|3,981,041|
|Total funds||**4,492,251**|4,342,414|
Approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
## any Mas
## **Antony Kildare**
Chair of Board of Trustees
11 July 2024 Registered number: 03323040
The notes on pages 25 - 36 form part of these financial statements.
**22**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Statement of Cash Flows**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2024**
|**For the year ended 31 March 2024**||
|---|---|
|**Cash fow from operating activities**
**A**
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities
**Cash fows from investing activities**
Purchase of tangible and intangible fxed assets
Interest income
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities
**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year**
**Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 2023**
**Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2024 B**|**Total**
**2024**
**£**
Total
2023
£
**105,290**
(168,842)|
||**(278,587)**
(194,520)
**67,602**
33,802|
||**(210,985)**
(160,718)
**(105,695)**
(329,560)|
||**3,238,682**
3,568,242|
||**3,132,987**
3,238,682|
**23**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Notes to the Statement of Cash Flows for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
|**2024**|||
|---|---|---|
|**A. Reconciliation of net income (expenditure) to**|**2024**|2023|
|**net cash provided by operating activities**|**£**|£|
|**Net income (expenditure)**
**(as per the statement of fnancial activities)**|149,837|267,949|
|**Adjustments for:**|||
|Depreciation charge|135,889|144,082|
|Amortisation charge|-|1,605|
|Loss on disposal of assets|67|2,318|
|Interest income|(67,602)|(33,802)|
|Decrease (Increase) in debtors|158,865|(466,296)|
|(Decrease)in creditors andprovisions|(271,766)|(84,698)|
|Net cashprovided by/(used in)operatingactivities|105,290|(168,842)|
|**B. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents**|||
|Cash in hand|404|419|
|Cash at bank|698,350|432,602|
|Cash on instant access deposit accounts|684,233|1,014,233|
|Cash in notice accounts|1,750,000|1,750,000|
|Cash held in supplier client accounts|-|41,428|
|Total cash and cash equivalents|3,132,987|3,238,682|
The notes on pages 25 - 36 form part of these financial statements.
**24**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Notes to the Financial Statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2024**
## **1. Accounting Policies**
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are laid out below.
## **Basis of Preparation**
## **Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement**
Preparation of the accounts requires the trustees and management to make significant judgements and estimates.
The items in the accounts where these judgements and estimates have been made include:
- the useful economic lives attributed to tangible and intangible fixed assets to determine the appropriate depreciation and amortisation charges;
- the basis on which support costs have been allocated across expenditure headings;
- the estimated value of provisions for liabilities;
- the estimated value of accrued income;
The financial statements have been prepared for the year to 31 March 2024 with comparative information provided in respect of the year to 31 March 2023. They are presented in sterling and rounded to the nearest whole pound.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items initially recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy and note(s).
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (‘Charities SORP FRS 102’) (Second Edition, effective 1 January 2019) and the Companies Act 2006.
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.
## **Entity Status**
POhWER is a company limited by guarantee registered in England Wales (company number 03323040). It is a registered charity, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (registered charity number 1061543), and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (registered charity number SC048858). Its registered address is Suite 4, Middlesex House, Meadway Corporate Centre, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2EF.
- and the recoverability of trade debtors.
## **Assessment of going concern**
The trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these accounts. The trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of one year from the date of approval of these accounts, taking into account the expected commercial effects of the current economic climate.
The trustees of the charity have concluded that there are no material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern.
## **Income**
All types of income are recognised in the period in which the charity has entitlement to the income, the amount of income can be measured reliably, and it is probable that the income will be received. Income comprises contract income receivable for the delivery of charitable activities, supplemented by grant income, voluntary donations, investment and other miscellaneous income.
Income from voluntary donations comprises donations, legacies and gifts which are recognised in the statement of financial activities when received. Gift Aid is recognised and claimed where the eligibility criteria are met.
**25**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
‘In kind’ donations are measured at the lower of arms-length valuation or value to the charity should the goods or services have been procured at market rates.
Contract income arises from the provision of advocacy services according to the terms of contracts and service level agreements with contract commissioners which comprise local authorities and other organisations. Contract income is recognised in the statement of financial activities over the period for which advocacy services are provided. Where contract income is subject to service level agreements and subject to the quantity of services provided, it is recognised to the extent that chargeable services have been provided.
management and administration, human resources, business development, finance and IT.
Direct costs are allocated to the particular activity to which the cost relates. Support costs are apportioned on the basis of income for each category of charitable activity.
Governance costs are the costs associated with the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charitable company. Such costs include trustees’ meetings, including specialist access and support costs to enable our volunteer trustees from our service users/members groups to participate and any costs associated with risk management and compliance.
## **Volunteers**
Grant income is recognised in the statement of financial activities when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. Performance-related grants that are conditional upon the delivery of a specific level of service are deferred where the conditions have not yet been met.
Investment income is recognised where the charity has entitlement and the amount can be reliably measured.
## **Expenditure**
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the expenditure category for the charitable activities for which it was incurred.
Expenditure comprises direct costs, support costs and fundraising costs. All direct costs and support costs are allocated or apportioned to the main categories of charitable activity, these are non-statutory advocacy, statutory advocacy, secure and complex services, and other. Costs of raising funds are shown on the Statement of Financial Activities.
Support costs are those costs that, whilst necessary to enable the charity to deliver charitable services, do not themselves produce charitable outputs. These support costs include
POhWER deeply values the contribution from those who volunteer their time, commitment and expertise for POhWER. Our current volunteers include current and former service users who use their experience and skills to help others.
In accordance with the guidance in the Charities SORP FRS 102, the value of volunteers is not included in the statement of financial activities.
## **Taxation**
The charitable company is a registered charity and is exempt from the taxation of income falling within chapter 3 part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 and section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that this income is used to achieve its charitable objectives. No charge to taxation for the year has arisen as a result of the activities of the charity.
The charity is VAT registered (since 1 May 2023) and charges output VAT on eligible income and is able to reclaim input VAT incurred on eligible expenditure.
## **Operating Leases**
Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged to the statement of financial activities in equal annual amounts over the lease term.
## **Defined Contribution Pension Scheme**
The defined contribution pension scheme costs
**26**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
charged in the statement of financial activities represent the employer’s pension contributions payable by the charitable company during the financial year.
## **Intangible Fixed Assets**
Intangible fixed assets represent the cost of developing bespoke advocacy case management software. Intangible assets costing more than £1,000 are capitalised. The cost of intangible assets includes incidental acquisition costs. Intangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated amortisation. Amortisation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost or valuation of each intangible fixed asset, once brought into use, on a straight-line basis to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The amortisation rate is as follows:
Bespoke software 25.00%
Intangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.
## **Tangible Fixed Assets**
Tangible fixed assets costing more than £1,000 are capitalised. The cost of tangible assets includes incidental acquisition costs. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost or valuation of each tangible fixed asset, once brought into use, on a straight-line basis to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates are as follows:-
|
depreciation rates are as|
follows:-|
|---|---|
|Ofce Equipment:|33.33%|
|Fixtures and Fittings:
Computer Equipment:|20.00%
33.33%|
Tangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.
## **Debtors**
## **Cash at Bank and in Hand**
Cash at bank and in hand represents such accounts and instruments that are available on demand or available on notice accounts of no more than 95 days.
## **Creditors and Provisions**
Creditors and provisions are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a results of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.
## **Financial Instruments**
Financial instruments are classed as basic, including debtors and creditors. If arrangement with the debtor or creditor constitutes a financing transaction, it is measured at the net present value of future payments, discounted at market rates to the extent where such discounting is material.
## **Fund Accounting**
Unrestricted funds comprise accumulated surpluses and deficits on the general fund which are available for use in furtherance of the objectives of the Charity and which have not been restricted by the donor or designated by the Trustees for a specific purpose.
Designated funds are funds transferred from unrestricted funds that the trustees have set aside for a specific purpose.
Restricted funds are those where income has been received from a donor who places specific restrictions on how the funds must be spent. Restricted funds are only expendable in relation to the purposes set out by the donor.
Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for nonrecoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. Debtors are discounted to the present value of the future cash receipt where such discounting is material.
**27**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **2. Income from Donations**
||**2024**|**2024**|**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Restricted**|**Unrestricted**|**Total**|Total|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|£|
|Donations andgifts|-|4,015|4,015|35,178|
|**Total**|**-**|**4,015**|**4,015**|35,178|
2023: Restricted income from donations and gifts was £28,742. All other income was unrestricted.
## **3. Income from Charitable Activities**
||**2024**|**2024**|**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Restricted**|**Unrestricted**|**Total**|Total|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|£|
|Statutory Services|-|11,690,185|11,690,185|11,260,363|
|Non Statutory Services|414,629|2,249,778|2,664,407|3,693,898|
|Secure & Complex Services|-|1,659,131|1,659,131|1,882,289|
|**Total**|**414,629**|**15,599,094**|**16,013,723**|16,836,550|
2023: Restricted income from non statutory services was £608,949 and from statutory services was £10,000. All other income was unrestricted.
## **4. Investment Income**
|**4. Investment Income**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2024**|2023|
||**Unrestricted**|Unrestricted|
||**£**|£|
|Bank Interest Receivable|**67,602**|33,625|
|**5. Other Income**|||
||**2024**|2023|
||**Unrestricted**|Unrestricted|
||**£**|£|
|Other fees & recharged services|**1,180**|5,938|
## **5. Other Income**
**28**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **6. Expenditure on Charitable Activities**
|**Current year:**|**2024**|**2024**|**2024**|**2024**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Statutory**|**Non**|**Secure**|**Total**|
||**services**|**Statutory**|**services**||
|||**services**|||
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Direct operating costs**|10,501,710|2,093,837|1,176,585|13,772,132|
|**Support costs**|||||
|Management and Administration|453,847|103,440|64,413|621,700|
|Human Resources|427,310|97,392|60,646|585,348|
|Business Development|268,832|61,272|38,154|368,258|
|Finance|308,872|70,398|43,836|423,106|
|IT|67,229|15,323|9,541|92,093|
|Governance|53,690|12,237|7,620|73,547|
||1,579,780|360,062|224,210|2,164,052|
|**Total Costs**|12,081,490|2,453,899|1,400,795|**15,936,184**|
|Prior Year Comparison:|2023|2023|2023|2023|
||Statutory|Non Statutory|Secure|Total|
||services|services|services||
||£|£|£|£|
|Direct operating costs|9,815,449|3,712,974|1,137,869|14,666,292|
|**Support costs**|||||
|Management and Administration|425,265|141,102|71,901|638,268|
|Human Resources|367,221|121,843|62,086|551,150|
|Business Development|286,840|95,173|48,497|430,510|
|Finance|120,034|39,827|20,295|180,156|
|IT|63,156|20,955|10,678|94,789|
|Governance|52,764|17,506|8,921|79,191|
||1,315,280|436,406|222,378|1,974,064|
|**Total Costs**|11,130,729|4,149,380|1,360,247|16,640,356|
**29**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **7. Net Income / (Expenditure) for the Year**
Net income / (expenditure) is stated after charging:
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Depreciation and amortisation|135,889|145,687|
|Operating lease rentals|133,749|132,450|
|Auditor's remuneration|||
|- Audit provision for current year|24,720|22,500|
|Trustees’ remuneration|-|-|
|Trustees’ reimbursed expenses|667|415|
## **8. Staff Costs and Remuneration of Key Management Personnel**
Staff costs were as follows:
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||£|£|
|Salaries and wages|9,507,504|9,277,917|
|Severance payments|88,331|14,748|
|(including payments in lieu of notice)|||
|Social security costs|806,883|819,980|
|Pension contributions|255,231|256,502|
|**Total Staf Costs**|**10,657,949**|10,369,147|
The number of employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000 was as follows:
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**Number**|Number|
|£60,000 to £70,000|**2**|-|
|£70,000 to £80,000|**2**|3|
|£80,000 to £90,000|**-**|-|
|£100,000 to £110,000|**-**|1|
The company made contributions to the pension plans of 4 employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000 in 2023/24 of £8,241 (2022/23 £8,456, 4 employees).
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees and the Executive Team.
None of the trustees receive any remuneration in connection with their services to the charity (2022/23: £nil). The total remuneration including employer’s pension contributions of the Executive Team for the year was £412,411 (2022/23: £371,942).
**30**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:**
|
**follows:**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2024**|2023|
||**Number**|Number|
|Charitable activities|413|395|
|Management,support services and administration|30|33|
|**Total**|**443**|428|
In accordance with the relevant accounting standards, employee numbers are counted irrespective of hours worked. POhWER benefits from the services of part time employees, and the headcount expressed in full time equivalents would be 331 for charitable activities (2022/23: 328) and 28 in management, support services and administration (2022/23: 30).
## **9. Defined Contribution Pension Schemes**
The charitable company opened a defined contribution pension scheme provided by the NOW: Pensions Trust effective from the staging date of 1 April 2014, we subsequently moved to The Peoples Pension on 1 April 2019, both schemes satisfy the requirements of automatic enrolment pension legislation. The charitable company pays employer’s contributions of 3% of pensionable salary into this defined contribution pension scheme provided that an employee pays employee contributions of at least 5% of pensionable salary. The charitable company pays employer’s contributions exceeding 3% in a limited number of cases in order to comply with contractual obligations. At the year end, amounts of £55,751 were due to the pension scheme provider (2022/23: £56,335).
## **10. Intangible Fixed Assets**
|**10. Intangible Fixed Assets**||
|---|---|
||**Bespoke Software**|
||**£**|
|**Cost or valuation**||
|At the start of the year|141,364|
|Additions in theyear|165,720|
|At the end of theyear|307,084|
|**Depreciation**||
|At the start of the year|(141,364)|
|Charge for theyear|-|
|At the end of theyear|(141,364)|
|**Net book value**||
|At the end of the year|165,720|
|At the start of theyear|-|
**31**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **11. Tangible Fixed Assets**
|**11. Tangible Fixed**|**Assets**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Ofce**|**Fixtures and**|**Computer**||
||**Equipment**|**Fittings**|**Equipment**|**Total**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Cost or valuation**|||||
|At the start of the year|7,372|102,683|543,841|653,896|
|Additions in the year|-|-|112,867|112,867|
|Disposals in theyear|(7,372)|-|(12,868)|(20,240)|
|**At the end of theyear**|**-**|**102,683**|**643,840**|**746,523**|
|**Depreciation**|||||
|At the start of the year|(7,372)|(3,263)|(358,837)|(369,472)|
|Charge for the year|-|(6,140)|(129,749)|(135,889)|
|Disposals in theyear|7,372|-|12,801|20,173|
|**At the end of theyear**|**-**|**(9,403)**|**(475,785)**|**(485,188)**|
|**Net book value**|||||
|**At the end of the year**|**-**|**93,280**|**168,055**|**261,335**|
|At the start of the year|-|99,420|185,004|284,424|
|**12. Debtors**|||||
|||**2024**||2023|
|||**£**||£|
|Trade debtors||1,662,315||1,839,903|
|Accrued income||31,166||31,615|
|Prepayments||153,606||129,454|
|Other debtors||15,242||20,222|
|**Total Debtors**||**1,862,329**||2,021,194|
## **13. Creditors: Amounts Due Within One Year**
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Trade creditors|214,321|281,599|
|Taxation and social security|192,589|185,215|
|Accrued expenses|298,410|237,718|
|Other creditors|58,430|124,303|
|Deferred income|158,870|373,051|
|**Total Creditors**|**922,620**|1,201,886|
**32**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
Income received in advance of the provision of services is deferred. Deferred income recognised during the year is as follows:
||**£**|
|---|---|
|Deferred income brought forward|373,051|
|Deferred income released during the year|(338,447)|
|Income deferred duringtheyear|124,266|
|Deferred income carried forward|158,870|
## **14. Movement in Restricted Funds**
||**Start**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Transfers**|**End of year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**of year**|||**between**|**31.03.2024**|
||**01.04.2023**|||**funds**||
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Restricted funds**||||||
|- Birmingham NNS Grants|9,264|170,254|(193,485)|13,967|**-**|
|- Birmingham NNS|25,837|173,166|(165,824)|(33,179)|**-**|
|- Herts Community|-|65,460|(68,019)|2,559|**-**|
|Navigator Service||||||
|- Oxfordshire Community|11,848|-|(11,848)|-|**-**|
|Advocacy||||||
|- Birmingham All Age|-|5,749|(18,275)|12,526|**-**|
|Autism||||||
|**Total Funds**|**46,949**|**414,629**|**(457,451)**|**(4,127)**|**-**|
Prior Year Comparison
||**Start**|**Income **|**Expenditure**|**Transfers**|**End of year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**of year**|||**between**|**31.03.2023**|
||**01.04.2022**|||**funds**||
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Restricted funds**||||||
|- Birmingham NNS Grants|39,974|175,000|(205,710)|-|**9,264**|
|- Birmingham NNS|-|179,598|(153,761)|-|**25,837**|
|- Herts Community Navigator|-|159,350|(152,155)|(7,195)|**-**|
|Service||||||
|- Oxfordshire Community|12,151|-|(303)|-|**11,848**|
|Advocacy||||||
|- Heart of England Food Bank|-|10,000|(10,000)|-|**-**|
|- NHS Bristol Members Event|-|50,000|(50,000)|-|**-**|
|- Family Action Birmingham|-|35,000|(35,000)|-|**-**|
|Household Support||||||
|- Shout About It|-|1,150|(1,150)|-|**-**|
|- Training grant Luton|-|10,001|(10,018)|17|**-**|
|- Hertfordshire Suicide|-|3,000|(3,000)|-|**-**|
|Prevention Podcast||||||
|- Allen & Overy|6,326|-|(6,326)|-|**-**|
|- Kickstart|-|24,592|(27,435)|2,843|**-**|
|**Total Funds**|**58,451**|**647,691**|**(654,858)**|**(4,335)**|**46,949**|
**33**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **Restricted Funds**
## **Birmingham NNS (Neighbourhood Network Scheme)**
Working on behalf of Birmingham City Council to support citizens over 50 in the community to live healthy, independent lives. The Neighbourhood Network Scheme helps connect older people to individuals, groups, organisations, activities, services and places in their neighbourhoods.
## **Hertfordshire Navigator Service**
A grant for a Community Navigator who provides face to face support to help with a variety of issues including practical support to help arrange bill payments, sorting domestic paperwork and reviewing benefit entitlement in Hertfordshire.
## **Oxfordshire Community Advocacy**
A grant from Oxfordshire Advocacy, known as Getting Heard, to deliver community advocacy in Oxfordshire.
## **Birmingham All Age Autism**
A grant to support autistic people learn selfadvocacy skills.
## **NHS Bristol Members Event**
Training grant ring fenced to south west used to upskill advocates in courage leadership.
## **Family Action Household Support Fund**
A funding programme to support households in most need in Birmingham with food, energy, water bills and other essential costs.
## **Shout About It**
Network event, fees, grants and donations received as part of the annual event to fund future network events.
## **Luton Training Grant**
Training grant to upskill advocates.
## **Hertfordshire Suicide Prevention Podcast**
A grant to produce a suicide awareness & prevention podcast.
## **Allen & Overy**
A grant to advance parents’ advocacy to help navigate child protection proceedings, either through 1-2-1 support or through the development of self-advocacy tools.
## **Heart of England Food Bank**
Hertfordshire crisis funding for a beneficiary.
## **Kickstart**
A government grant towards the cost of workers employed on the Kickstart scheme.
## **15. Movement in Unrestricted Funds**
||**Start of year**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Transfers**|**End of year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**01.04.2023**|||**between**|**31.03.2024**|
|||||**funds**||
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Unrestricted funds**||||||
|- General fund|3,981,041|15,671,891|(15,479,232)|(804,504)|**3,369,196**|
|Designated funds||||||
|- Arthur Bate fund|30,000|-|-|-|**30,000**|
|- People & Culture fund|-|-|-|166,000|**166,000**|
|- Strategic fund|-|-|-|500,000|**500,000**|
|- Fixed assets fund|284,424|-|-|142,631|**427,055**|
|**Total Funds**|**4,295,465**|**15,671,891**|**(15,479,232)**|**4,127**|**4,492,251**|
**34**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## Prior Year Comparison
||**Start of year**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Transfers**|**End of year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**01.04.2022**|||**between**|**31.03.2023**|
|||||**funds**||
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Unrestricted funds**||||||
|- General fund|3,729,109|16,263,600|(15,988,484)|(23,184)|3,981,041|
|Designated funds||||||
|- Arthur Bate fund|36,530|-|-|(6,530)|30,000|
|-Community fund|12,466|-|-|(12,466)|-|
|Fixed assets fund|237,909|-|-|46,515|284,424|
|**Total Funds**|**4,016,014**|**16,263,600**|**(15,988,484)**|**4,335**|**4,295,465**|
## **Unrestricted Funds**
## **General fund**
The General Fund comprises the accumulated surpluses and deficits which have neither been restricted by conditions imposed by donors, nor have been designated by the trustees for specific purposes.
## **Designated funds**
## **The Arthur Bate fund**
In memory of Arthur Bate, a founding trustee of POhWER and campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities, the Arthur Bate fund was created to provide support for people who:
- wish to become trustees of charities
- seek to set up self-advocacy groups
- want to set up peer support groups
- want to set up advocacy groups
- seek to start other kinds of advocacy activity
## **People & Culture fund**
The people and culture fund has been designated to fund additional HR resources and people related projects, including training.
## **Strategic fund**
The strategic fund has been designated to fund internal projects as well as externally facing work ensuring POhWER has the appropriate building blocks in place to facilitate future direction.
## **Fixed assets fund**
The fixed assets fund reflects the carrying net book value of the charity’s tangible and intangible fixed assets and has been separated from the charity’s general unrestricted funds in recognition of the fact that these assets are essential to the day-to-day operations of the charity and should not be considered realisable to meet future commitments.
## **Community Fund**
A fund to develop community advocacy and engagement.
**35**
POhWER Annual Report 2023/24
## **16. Analysis of Net Assets between Funds**
|**Current Year**|**General**|**Designated**|**Fixed assets**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**funds**|**funds**|**fund**|**Funds**|**2024**|
|Intangible Assets|-|-|165,720|-|165,720|
|Tangible Assets|-|-|261,335|-|261,335|
|Debtors|1,862,329|-|-|-|1,862,329|
|Cash|2,436,987|696,000|-|-|3,132,987|
|Creditors|(922,620)|-|-|-|(922,620)|
|Provisions|(7,500)|-|-|-|(7,500)|
|**Total**|**3,369,196**|**696,000**|**427,055**|**-**|**4,492,251**|
|Prior Year|**General**|**Designated**|**Fixed assets**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|Comparison|**funds**|**funds**|**fund**|**Funds**|**2023**|
|Intangible Assets|-|-|-|-|-|
|Tangible Assets|-|-|284,424|-|284,424|
|Debtors|2,021,194|-|-|-|2,021,194|
|Cash|3,161,733|30,000|-|46,949|3,238,682|
|Creditors|(1,201,886)|-|-|-|(1,201,886)|
|**Total**|**3,981,041**|**30,000**|**284,424**|**46,949**|**4,342,414**|
## **17. Operating Lease Commitments**
The total commitment under non-cancellable operating leases at 31 March 2024 is analysed according to the periods in which the leases expire:-
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**Land & Buildings**|Land & Buildings|
||**£**|£|
|Less than 1 year|124,995|126,549|
|2-5years|186,512|292,902|
|**Total**|**311,507**|419,451|
Lease costs expensed during the year amounted to £133,749 (2022/23: £132,450).
## **18. Related Party Transactions**
During the financial year 3 trustees were reimbursed £667 (2022/23: 3 trustees reimbursed £415) for travel and incidental expenses which related to carrying out their duties as Trustees of the charitable company. Trustees are based in a wide geographical area in a reflection of the areas we work in.
Trustees made no voluntary donations in the financial year (2022/23 £nil).
There were no other related party transactions during the financial year (2022/23: none).
Expenditure includes £3,118 (2022/23: £3,118) in respect of trustees’ indemnity insurance which provides cover of up to a maximum of £5,000,000.
**36**
## **Corporate Information**
## **POhWER**
A company limited by guarantee
## **Registered Office**
Suite 4, Middlesex House Meadway Corporate Centre Stevenage Hertfordshire SG1 2EF
Registered in England and Wales with the Charity Commission under charity number 1061543
Registered in Scotland by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator under charity number SCO48858
Registered company number 03323040
## **www.pohwer.net**
## **Auditors**
haysmacintyre LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG
## **Trustees**
Antony Kildare (Chair) (d) Abdi Mohamed (d) Alex Cisneros (d) Andrew McGrath (a)(d) Corinne Mils (b)(d) Gemma Hope (c) Ian Holland (a) Jackie Kinsey (b)
Mitch Miller (b) (retired 31 March 2024) Paul Robinson (a) Rachael Gilthorpe (c) Sandra Harding (a)(c) (retired 31 March 2024)
- a. Member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee
- b. Member of the People Committee
- c. Member of the Fundraising and Income Generation Committee
- d. Member of the Nominations Committee
## **Executive Team**
## **Chief Executive**
Helen Moulinos (resigned 31 December 2023)
## **Legal Advisors**
Stone King Boundary House 91 Charterhouse Street Barbican, London EC1M 6HR
## **Bankers**
The Co-operative Bank plc PO Box 101 1 Balloon Street Manchester M60 4EP
**Interim Chief Executive** Vicky Browning (from 2 January 2024)
**Deputy Chief Executive** Elyzabeth Hawkes
**Director of Finance and Resources** Vicky Hilpert (resigned 1 March 2024) Marie Perry (from 19 February 2024)
**Director of Fundraising and Engagement** Fiona McArthur-Worbey
## **Patrons**
Lord Michael Cashman CBE Peter Duncan Nitu Shah Samantha Lee Howe Dr Melrose Stewart
## **People Director**
Julie Born (resigned 15 December 2023)
## **Head of People**
Karen Williams (from 18 December 2023)
## **Vice Presidents**
Aruna Patel Carol Lee MBE Gary Blaker Iris Lusack Judith Smart Phil Lawrence Steven Rathbone Tim Anfilogoff
**Company Secretary** Janet Douglas
**37**