2025-03-31-accounts

Registered number: 03166037 Charity number: 1062729

This draft produced on 19/11/2025 09:59

New Writing North (A company limited by guarantee)

Annual report

Year ended 31 March 2025

This draft produced on 19/11/2025 09:59

New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Contents

		Page
Reference and administrative details		1
Chairman's statement		2 - 3
Trustees' report		4 - 17
Trustees' responsibilities statement		18
Independent auditor's report to	the members of New Writing North	19 - 22
Statement of financial activities		23
Balance sheet		24
DRAFT Statement of cash flows Notes to the financial statements		25 26 - 42

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Reference and administrative details Year ended 31 March 2025

Trustees	M Antoniou (appointed 4 June 2024)
	L Bird (appointed 11 September 2024)
	I Crow
	H Dalby, Vice Chair (appointed 11 September 2024)
	T Idemudia (appointed 10 September 2025)
	M Forster
	C Greenwood Dower
	C Harington
	T Hodgkinson (appointed 4 June 2024)
	S Lloyd
	C Murphy, Vice Chair (resigned 11 September 2024)
	N Orleans-Amissah (resigned 8 September 2024)
	D Roche, Chair (resigned 11 September 2024)
	D Stone
	K Fan (appointed 10 September 2025)
	H Vidal
	N Warwick, Chair (appointed 4 June 2024)
	G Wright, Treasurer
DRA Company registered number 03166037 Charity registered number 1062729 Registered office 120 Squires Building Northumbria University Sandyford Road Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST Company secretary Fiona Melvin Chief executive officer Claire Malcolm Independent auditor UNW LLP Chartered Accountants Citygate St James' Boulevard Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4JE Bankers Lloyds 102 Grey Street Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 1SL

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(A company limited by guarantee)

New Writing North

Chairman's statement Year ended 31 March 2025

The chairman presents his statement for the year.

As the new Chair, I’ve been impressed this year by the scale and ambition of New Writing North’s work and by the breadth of people and partners that it works with.

The exciting dynamic of New Writing North remains our ability to be equally at home running community activities with groups with low levels of literacy, or with English as an additional language in a community setting one day and awarding the internationally significant literary award, the Gordon Burn Prize to Jenni Fagan the next.

Perhaps most striking is the way New Writing North empowers others. This year the Neela Moon Collective was established. Set up as Brown Girls Write, with support from New Writing North the collective has now produced its first poetry collection and performed at festivals across the North East. The group operates from our new community hub at the John Marley Centre in the West End of Newcastle. At Northern Stage, Callerton Academy pupils staged two performances of The Lost Teenagers. The play was written and devised over time with the support of New Writing North’s team of practitioners that are embedded within the school and explored the challenges young people face in a digital world.

We continue to support outstanding writers. Peter Straughan, one of our most successful alumni, returned to Newcastle to headline our first Screenwriting Weekender, then weeks later won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay Conclave. His success shows what’s possible for emerging talent coming through the Northern Writers’ Awards and our new screen development programmes.

This year a stellar line up of over 80 writers, including Booker Prize winning novelist Pat Barker and Slow Horses writer Mick Herron expressed their support of New Writing North’s call to government to support our capital development project which received national press attention and we are sure that their advocacy helped us to achieve the £5m grant from DCMS’s Cultural Development Fund.

We know investment in New Writing North makes sense. Arts Council England’s Spillover Impact Report highlighted our role in attracting creative industries and jobs to the North East. Of our turnover, £656,974 went directly to writers and freelancers in fees, awards, commissions and residencies. That’s vital for sustaining creative careers and building the region’s cultural infrastructure.

We remain creatively curious and ambitious, and this year established the Sounds Good Audio Studio. This has brought the production of audio books, a burgeoning area of the creative industries - to Newcastle for the first time creating work for producers and actors and widening our work into exciting new areas such as podcast development and production. The studio is now producing audio books for a range of commercial and independent publishers, and we are helping to support the regional audio sector.

The team has delivered an impressive programme across the North while driving forward our capital development plans. They’ve also helped to shape regional cultural strategies for the North East Combined Authority, Tees Valley Combined Authority and the ‘One North’ collaboration led by West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, who was our keynote speaker at the Channel 4 Awards event in Leeds.

Although non-political, the organisation’s series of new commissions that marked the moment of devolution for our region, North East Now, were embraced by local business leadership group the CBI as inspirational storytelling and went on to be published by The Journal.

Our networks of participants and partners are stronger than ever and extend nationally. It was a pleasure to see our chief executive, Claire Malcolm, made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature this year in recognition of her work.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Chairman's statement (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

I was delighted to join as Chair just as New Writing North was named Trustee Board of the Year at the North East Charity Awards. I look forward to working with my fellow trustees to build on these achievements and keep making extraordinary things happen in the North.

Neil Warwick, OBE Chair, New Writing North Date: 10 December 2025

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report Year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees present their annual report together with the audited financial statements of the charitable company for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The annual report serves the purposes of both a trustees' report and a directors' report under company law. The trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the charitable company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the charitable company's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019).

Since the charitable company qualifies as small under section 382 of the Companies Act 2006, the strategic report required of medium and large companies under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors' Report) Regulations 2013 has been omitted.

Objectives and activities

New Writing North is a powerhouse of new writing and a force for developing writers. We bring people and communities together through writing, reading and self-expression.

We lead the growth of literature in the North through a wide range of activities that support individuals and communities to engage with creative reading and writing for both professional development and personal enjoyment. We also run targeted national programmes that make the creative industries more inclusive.

We develop new writers through awards and professional development, enabling many writers to begin and sustain professional writing careers, and we support established writers through commissions and networking opportunities and by employing them to deliver our work, sustaining viable careers for a wide range of creative practitioners. Our alumni and networks include award-winning writers, Oscar-winning screenwriters and many people who have gone on to build successful careers in the arts and creative industries.

Our annual programme of work includes the management of major literary prizes and awards, the commissioning of new writing for publication, performance, and audio, open-access and targeted talent development programmes, the production of festivals and events, a substantial and wide-ranging programme of work with young writers, deep-rooted work within communities, writing-for-wellbeing activities and work with the NHS. We also operate a Writing and Publishing Skills Hub which trains and supports the creative and professional development of a wide range of people.

We are an organisation built on the belief that working in partnership enables high quality work and innovative practice and we are proud to have a wide range of partners, supporters, funders and stakeholders that enable and enrich our work and the impact that we achieve.

Vision

We believe literature is powerful and that it can make a positive difference in society, supporting selfexpression, wellbeing and connection. We aim to make literature accessible to all and position the North as a centre of excellence for writing.

Our work increasingly responds to the rapidly changing landscape of technical advancement and the increasing atmosphere of polarised public discourse and in this context, we seek to prioritise authenticity and human creation and expression.

Mission

We recognise that many talented people, especially those from backgrounds that are not well served by culture, education or economic opportunity struggle to find pathways into creative lives and sustainable careers. Our mission is to find and enable talented writers from all backgrounds and to develop and raise the voices of those whose creative ideas are not yet heard in the mainstream. We use reading and writing to bring people together

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New Writing North

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Objectives and activities (continued)

to deepen mutual understanding and to encourage the positive impact that engagement with literature can have on individuals, communities and society.

Values

We are relationship builders . Whether working one-to-one with people or in partnership with a large institution, relationships are our greatest asset. We pride ourselves on being good partners. We take a humancentred approach and work with everyone in a way that meets their individual needs.

We are a learning organisation . We learn as individuals and as a team. We learn from our experiences, listen, respond, and adapt. We are candid with each other and our partners and courageous in holding each other to account to improve what we do.

Our creativity and leadership are hand in hand . We are creatively curious and energised by new ideas and are not afraid to be bold and to strike ahead of the pack. We are creative leaders, and we encourage all those that we work with to feel the same.

We work transparently and fairly, building trust and delivering on our promises. We recognise that to achieve our mission we may need to take risks, be pre-disposed to action and innovation and, if necessary be confident to disrupt the systems that have perpetuated inequality.

Strategic approach

From Newcastle, we connect writers and organisations locally, nationally and internationally. Our strategy focuses on open access programmes, long-term place-based projects in the North East, and strong networks and partnerships across the creative industries.

Activities undertaken to achieve objectives

We renewed our significant partnership agreement with Northumbria University, which contributes to a range of joint activities including teaching and the sponsorship of the Northern Writers’ Awards, our flagship programme, which celebrated 25 years of achievement in 2024. We are working closely with Northumbria University on our capital ambitions as a key partner, and this close work has deepened our relationship. We work with Newcastle University who support the Gordon Burn Prize, our international book prize, and we are delighted to continue our work with Durham University in support of Durham Book Festival.

We also have a significant and valuable partnership with Hachette UK, with whom we shared office space during the year. We work closely on the delivery of the MA in Publishing that we run with Hachette and Northumbria University. This innovative shared model of work benefits a new generation of young publishers each year and helps to develop the Hachette workforce in the North East.

Our work with Channel 4 renewed this year and continues to grow across the North of England demonstrating the strong networks that New Writing North has across the region.

As an organisation we input into local, regional, and national cultural and creative industries policy development through our work with combined authorities in the North and with national organisations such as Creative UK.

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New Writing North

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Objectives and activities (continued)

Public benefit

As our programmes of work demonstrate, we are driven by the desire to improve access to creative opportunities and good writing for everyone that we work with. All our major talent development programmes, skills-building activities, awards, and community engagement projects are free to participate in and open to all.

Where ticket prices or conference fees are charged, these payments contribute directly to the cost of delivering the event. When ticket prices are charged, we always offer reduced ticket prices for the elderly, disabled people, the unemployed and those on a low wage.

Free tickets for carers are offered where this is in line with the policies of the host venue. We routinely offer free and reduced-cost bursary places for paid courses, conferences, and training events for those on very low levels of income or benefits.

All work with young people is free to access and for many programmes we provide bursaries, travel costs, meals and other pastoral and practical support to enable access. We also provide all materials needed to participate in the activities.

All talent and professional development programmes for writers are free to enter and are open to all in the North. We continue to make available both original digital content and captured content from live events, giving people access to events both virtually and after the fact.

Achievements and performance

Performance

We operate fair pay processes for our freelance employees and work within regional and national industry standards for pay and expenses. We are a major employer of freelance writers and creative practitioners in the North East. During 2024/2025 we paid £656,974 to freelance writers and practitioners. This year fees paid to writers for project delivery increased by 27%, commissions and residencies fees increased by 85%, performance and speaker fees increased by 90% and fund spent on paying writers to mentor others increased by 47%. These advancements are enabled by successful fundraising across our work with notable contributions by our Writing and Publishing Skills Hub, funded by the North East Combined Authority and by the A Writing Chance project. Commercially generated income by our new Sounds Good Audio Studio also introduced a new income stream this year.

Performance and self evaluation

New Writing North continues to produce programmes of work that meet the objectives of private and public funders and supporters. We benefit from a wide body of different partnerships and relationships that enable our work.

Arts Council England remain our core funder, and this year we received £428,234 from them as part of our National Portfolio Organisation grant.

Public funding remains critical for the organisation. This year we received public sector funds from: Arts Council England, North East Combined Authority, County Durham Council, Creative UK, Sunderland City Council and South Tyneside Council.

Major private donors for our project work this year included the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Foyle Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, James Knott Trust, Charlotte Aitken Trust, ALCS, Baring Foundation, Community Foundation for Tyne and Wear, Point North Community Foundation, Garrick

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New Writing North

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Achievements and performance (continued)

Charitable Trust, Idlewild Trust, Michael Marks Charitable Trust and the Rothley Trust.

Commercial sponsors of our work this year included: Audible UK, Amazon UK, Hachette Children’s Group, Hachette UK, Film Nation TV UK and Swinburn Maddison.

Major partnership support was received from Channel Four Television Corporation, Northumbria University, Newcastle University, Durham University, Excelsior Academy, Music Partnership North, Novum Festival, Redhills, and UCL.

Individual giving is a relatively new area of income for New Writing North. This year, a significant donation was received from the actor and philanthropist Michael Sheen, to support A Writing Chance. Two writers, Benjamin Myers and Andrew McMillan, who were successful former winners of the Northern Writers’ Awards, have donated funds to support new writers through the awards. Michael Chaplin and family continue to support the Sid Chaplin Award for working-class writers’, and the Hale family support the Matthew Hale Award for Young Writers. We also benefitted from a donation of £25,000 from a donor who wished to remain anonymous.New Writing North continues to develop and produce programmes of work that meets the objectives of private and public funders and supporters. The organisation benefits from a wide body of different partnerships and relationships that enable our work.

Factors relevant to achieve objectives

At the heart of our business model is our relationships with collaborators, funders and supporters. We achieve regional, national and international funding for our work, and value the funders and partners that we have longterm relationships with. Our team is skilled and are experts in their field, and our strong leadership ensures that our work is abreast of sector and societal developments remaining relevant to funders looking to achieve impactful investment

Summary of the main achievements during the year

This year has been notable in a number of areas of major project delivery and origination. We have made significant progress on our capital ambitions and fundraising whilst continuing to deliver our busy and excellent programme alongside growing and launching major new projects.

New innovations include the Sounds Good Audio Studio, the establishment of which now sees us producing audio books for a range of major publishers in Newcastle, and the launch of The Bee, a new online magazine and home for working class writers and readers which has grown out of the A Writing Chance project. Alongside this we have ventured into new areas of work with the Newcastle Hospital Trust bringing volunteer reading onto hospital wards and supporting NHS staff to develop their creative writing skills.

Significant projects delivered this year include:

Sounds Good Audio Studio and Audio Development with Audio Producer Lucie McNeil. We established the Sounds Good Audio Studio and brand through which we now produce audio books for publishers. We have also undertaken a major audio writing development programme for six writers from the North of Tyne area supported by Creative UK. This supported new audio writers to develop programme ideas which they were then supported to pitch to commissioning platforms including Audible, the BBC and Wondery.

The development of the Sounds Good Audio Studio was supported by Hachette UK who then commissioned a tranche of audio books from us. We are now working with a range of publishers and platforms to produce audio titles. This has supported the development of new opportunities for regional actors to be trained to be readers and this way we have employed 14 actors over the year. We are also offering opportunities to day producers. The studio has also offered audio consultancy to universities and open access training courses in podcast development for writers in the north. It represents a vibrant and exciting new area of our work and significantly

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New Writing North

Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Achievements and performance (continued)

develops the creative industries and employment for actors in the North East.

A Writing Chance and the launch of The Bee supported a cohort of 16 working class writers from across the UK to develop their writing and professional networks. Working with publisher Faber and Faber, Substack, the Daily Mirror and Audible UK writers undertook industry insight events, a residential writing week at Arvon in Shropshire and worked closely with industry and pastoral mentors during the year to develop their work and career prospects. Alongside this delivery we have commissioned and developed a Good Practice Guide for working with working class writers informed by a major research partnership with Northumbria University which will be published in autumn 2025. Working with Editor in Chief, Richard Benson we developed the business case and plan for the creation of a new magazine for working class writers and The Bee successfully launched on May Day 2025 to national press engagement and a positive response from readers which saw 1,500 writers sign up to join our working-class writers’ network. This project is notable within our work for its national reach

and impact which has been helpful in growing our relationships and profile as industry changemakers. Durham Book Festival 2024 was a great success, beginning with the announcement of the Forward Prize for Poetry and closing with a sold-out event with internationally best-selling writer Rebecca F Kuang , talking about her novel Yellowface. We celebrated the publication of Durham author Pat Barker’s much anticipated novel The Voyage Home with a dramatic live reading accompanied by music from local musicians The Shining Levels. Audiences had their expectations met and 98% of attendees rated their experience at the festival positively: “I enjoyed it immensely. The authors I saw were highly informative. It was a fabulous experience”, “One of the best events in the North East”, “This was an extremely enjoyable, interesting and informative event. Very well organised, comfortable, welcoming. Please maintain these festivals. They are a very stimulating day out - thank you!”

, Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass and Poor Artists by

Gordon Burn Prize 2025 . The shortlist for the Gordon Burn Prize was exceptionally strong this year -an experimental mixture of life writing, fiction and art criticism the shortlisted books were Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel , Ootlin by Jenni Fagan , Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass , Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands , The Lasting Harm by Lucia Osborne-Crowley and Poor Artists by The White Pube . The 2025 Gordon Burn Prize, awarded in March at Northern Stage was won by Scottish author Jenni Fagan for Ootlin, her powerful account of growing up in the care system. In her acceptance speech Jenni said of the book: 'Ootlin is a book about connecting humans to each other, it is about questioning the stories we are all told about who we are and in fact,what is possible for the modern world and the human race.'

Northern Bookshelf Live 2024 paired ten northern writers with libraries across the North. The writers were: Jane Claire Bradley, Naomi Kelsey, Jessica Irena Smith, Polly Atkin, Ashleigh Nugent, Kit Fan, Okechukwu Nzelu, Rose Wilding, Karen Powell and Lucy Nichol . 33 author events took place across 13 library authorities with generally positive responses from all.

Skills and Talent Development Activities It has been a busy year for developmental and networking events for writers. Our inaugural Screenwriting Weekender with keynote speaker Peter Straughan sold out Live Theatre with 150 attendees attending a packed weekend of industry talks and professional development. The Newcastle Writing Conference returned in May with headline speaker, bestselling author Janice Hallett sold out the Common Room with 135 attendees. Writers attended from across the North and from Scotland. 75 people completed a Start Writing in Libraries course and 60 people completed an online New Writing North Academy writing course during the year.

MA in Publishing is co-run with Hachette UK at Northumbria University with Will Mackie as Co-Course Leader with the university’s Richard T Kelly . This year the team delivered the People in Publishing module with sessions such as Translation, Writing and Representation, Prize Culture and Audiences and Inclusivity. In March 2025, we took our group of 16 students on a two-day study trip to the London Book Fair at Olympia and to the Hachette UK head office.

First Edition Work Placements Fifteen 18-25 year-olds from Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland completed paid work experience placements in the publishing industry with hosts Curtis Brown, Fitzcarraldo

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New Writing North

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Achievements and performance (continued)

Editions, RR Scouting, Prototype Publishing, Outspoken Press, the Poetry Book Society, Inpress Books, The Braag, Collected Books, 1B Books, Hachette, HarperCollins and Faber and Faber.

North East Novelists Ten writers were part of a professional development group which was described as ‘life changing’ for participants, who continue to meet independently and are planning to co-write an anthology of northern folk horror tales. ALCS has funded the programme to continue in 2025.

Northern Writers’ Awards We celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Northern Writers’ Awards in June 2024. 25 new winners were announced at the ceremony which was hosted by previous winner Andrew McMillan . The event celebrated the work of new and previous winners and included a performance by the Callerton Canteen school choir. Winning writers have been supported through mentoring; bursaries; membership of professional bodies; one-to-ones with the Talent Development team; professional development sessions with agents and publishers; and facilitated peer groups. We hosted the 2024 London Talent Party at Hachette UK, introducing writers to agents in a relaxed networking environment. We delivered a poetry workshop series in Leeds, devised a series of professional development seminars for poets, ran roadshows events online and in Sheffield, created a workshop day for neurodivergent writers in Newcastle and delivered Durham Writes.

Cindy Withjack

Our Awards alumni have achieved many successes this year, including Louise Powell securing a publishing deal with John Murray for her debut novel; the forthcoming publication of Gráinne O’Hare’s amazing debut, Thirst Trap with Picador; Rozie Kelly’s Northbound Award-winning novel, Kingfisher; Amelia Loulli’s poetry collection, Slip, published by Cape, Cindy Withjack , a 2024 fiction winner, secured agent representation at the talent party. We have supported several writers with successful grant applications to Arts Council England.

Screen Development With our Screen Development Associate Roxy McKenna we now run a development slate for both original TV and film projects. Alongside this we have run the ADAPT programme for writers looking to adapt their work for the screen and were delighted that alumni of that programme Adam Bennet-Lea is now in discussions with production company Merman, Rebecca Glendenning-Laycock won our Channel 4 Writing Award in association with RED Productions and Tamsin Rees was selected for Channel 4’s Screenwriting Programme (out of 2,000 applicants). We partnered with Film4 to produce the Genre Feature Lab which saw three North of Tyne based production companies paired with northern writers to develop original feature films. The pairs have been guided by Wild Swim Productions and pitched their ideas to Film4 in April.

Channel 4 Partnership we were delighted to renew our partnership agreement with 4Skillls at Channel 4 for another three years to support an expanded programme of work in the North. The Channel 4 Writing for TV Awards were announced in Leeds in September 2024. Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and Kevin Blancoe from C4 spoke at the event and we showcased previous winners including Jayshree Patel . One of our very first screenwriting award winners, Sharma Walfall , was announced as a new writer on the BBC’s Doctor Who.

This year we have run two Script Development Groups, a workshop programme of Writers’ Rooms and initiated three new Script Hubs in different parts of the region. We also ran a new screenwriting development programme in Sunderland and delivered a series of well-attended open-access Northern Talent Network events in Manchester, Halifax and Sheffield.

Civic Programmes

Our Civic programmes are place-based. We identify the most disadvantaged areas of the north east and work deeply and over the long-term in those communities, developing cultural and social infrastructure, promoting wellbeing, finding talent and supporting pathways into further personal and professional development. Our work is based in the West End of Newcastle, the Outer West – specifically the Newbiggin Hall Estate, and central Gateshead. In each of these areas we have been based in key partner schools for the past five to ten years. In the past three years we have extended our activity to reach the wider community and people of all ages, as well as the young people we work with day to day. Our co-created programmes this year included:

Newbiggin Hall Creates A programme of co-created activity based on the Newbiggin Hall Estate. This year our

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New Writing North

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Achievements and performance (continued)

audio storytelling and celebratory community events have engaged around 250 residents from this estate in the Outer West of Newcastle. The success of this co-created work comes after a long development process involving numerous challenges relating to engaging people in a location that lacks community space and where locals have lost the expectation that there will be community activity to take part in. This year’s work has resulted in more engaged community-led activity, and a desire to create a space on the estate for people to come together.

In Callerton Academy, the school that serves the estate, we have been working weekly to develop the ‘Canteen Choir’ and ‘West End Skies’ theatre group, who have been at the centre of a whole school project exploring the experience of being online for teenagers. The resulting play, The Lost Teenagers was performed at Northern Stage in the summer.

West End Writes In the West End of Newcastle we have been working weekly at Excelsior Academy for the past ten years. This year a group of Roma pupils worked with writer Jamie Tansley on a project that invited them to explore the role of young peoples' voices in the history of ghost stories. This was funded by Worcester University. Out of this process the young people developed an idea for a short speculative horror film that is informed by Roma culture and challenges depictions of young people on screen. We commissioned the group to produce this film, working with a professional filmmaker. It will premiere in late 2025.

Our work in the wider work in the community includes:

Brown Girls Write which began as a community writing programme for South Asian women in the West End. The group went on to publish a professional collection of impressive work with the poetry publisher Butchers Dog, that was launched at Newcastle University to a full audience. Many of the writers involved continue to be awarded national awards and have secured further development opportunities for their work. This includes one member being nominated for the James Berry Poetry Prize. This group became a self-led writing collective in January 2025, just two and a half years after many members joined having not written before or shared their work with others. We are exceptionally proud to have enabled this unique and important organisation to grow.

World Writes is a multilingual writing group developed from an international creative writing exchange project and sees participants in the West End collaborating with writers from China, Hungary, Algeria, Nigeria, Italy, Portugal, India, France, Netherlands, Germany and Vietnam. They produced a publication that launched in May 2025. The group produced Voice Notes, a sound installation with poet Sarah Jackson and Sound Artist Hardi Kurda . The piece, featuring the contributions from World Writes writers has since been presented at the South Bank Centre, at Bradford City of Culture, and a version of it was broadcast on BBC R3.

Our creative writing group that meets at St James’ Foodbank produced a publication of their writing, with some participants going on to further training and education and a group of older South Asian women made a film 'Apni Aawaaz', Our Voice about their lives in Newcastle. The film and associated exhibition can currently be seen at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.

Gateshead Writes We are resident in two schools in Gateshead: Kelvin Grove and Larkspur Primaries. In both schools we have been running groups for parents to engage in young people's learning which have proved very popular including amongst parents with low literacy, ESOL or who themselves struggled at school. The children at Larkspur Primary have written songs and made music videos about their aspirations, and at Kelvin Grove children have made podcasts about their own migration journeys. Both projects have been celebrated at local cultural venues.

We also run Safe Space a creative writing group in partnership with Youth Focus North East in Rawlings Road Doctors surgery, for young people who have a range of needs including mental health issues.

Young Writers Summer We run a network of free young writers groups that meeting every Saturday morning in towns across the region. We ran six summer programmes in 2024 in Newcastle, Gateshead, North Shields, Cramlington, South Shields and for young performers from Newbiggin Hall Estate, all of which were fully booked

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Achievements and performance (continued)

and received positive feedback. A number of participants went on to become dedicated members of our yearround young writers group programme.

Young Writers Awards Some amazing young writers were celebrated for their talents at the 2024 Northern Writers’ Awards, including pupils from under-re`presented backgrounds who developed their writing via our Young Writers City programmes in Newcastle. The Canteen Choir we run at Callerton Academy performed their own songs at the ceremony which was a highlight of the event for everyone involved.

Financial review

During 2024/25 we raised income of £1,750,921 and spent £1,772,151 on our work. This resulted in a deficit for the year of (£21,230), represented by an unrestricted deficit of (£39,726) and a restricted surplus of £18,496. The main risks for us remain our ability to achieve fundraising targets to meet our core staffing and cash flowing programme where income is received once expenditure has been defrayed. Our fundraising targets are ambitious, but we feel our track record prepares us for the challenge as does the appointment of a new Director of Communications and Development who has supported fundraising work from Summer 2023. A new 15-month cash flow structure has been implemented which reduces risk.

During FY22 an independent review of our financial procedures, processes and our full-cost recovery methodology was completed with a charity finance specialist. This review was greatly beneficial and found our procedures and processes to be fit for purpose, and we have continued to embed some of the suggestions for improvements throughout 2024/25.

Reserves

Reserves are those funds not invested in fixed assets and designated and restricted funds. In line with best practice and Charity Commission guidance the reserves policy is reviewed annually in line with budget setting. The level of reserves is based on a review of salary and accommodation overheads for a three-month period. The charity’s target reserves were established as £184,269 in March 2024. The trustees believe that this level of reserve would adequately cover the costs for the charitable company if it had to be dissolved.

At the year end the charity held total reserves of £374,928, of which £293,263 are restricted for future projects and £5,000 have been designated by the Trustees for future projects and organisational development. The unrestricted “free” reserves (excluding amounts tied up in fixed assets) amount to £66,303 which is below the target set. However, the Trustees are satisfied with the cash balances held and the flexibility they have over the designated funds.

The organisation now has one designated fund, the Organisational development fund, which stands at £5,000 and is in place to support the replacement of obsolete IT equipment.

Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the accounting policies.

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Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Principal funding

Arts Council England, North East provided a revenue grant of £428,234.

Income is generated through public grants and contracts, sponsorships, and private funding and investment. A small element of our income is generated from earned income from live events and publications. We have a good reputation with many funders and a strong track record for fundraising.

A fundraising plan to support delivery of the targets in the budget exists and progress this year continues to be strong. Our ongoing challenge, however, is always to cover the core costs of our staff and overheads through project grants as many funders are not able to cover these costs to the level that we require to continue to grow and to cover rising overheads. The charitable company works to a Full Cost Recovery process to establish a working system throughout the organisation for reclaiming core costs from funding bids. This enables all staff involved with planning and fundraising to be empowered to build in realistic costs when planning projects and bids.

The context for income generation in 2025/26 remains hard to predict. We are confident that we can continue to be competitive in the challenging environment of securing both public and private grants and awards.

Risk management

Our risk management system is created using the methodology of the Charity Commission's good practice guide for identifying, quantifying and scoring risks. Our system also indicates the direction of travel of risks, to aid board assessment and actions in response.

The Risk Register is reviewed in detail by the Executive Team on a month-by-month basis, and is formally presented, via the Finance and Risk Sub-Committee, to the board twice a year. An annual review of risks is managed through a systematic assessment of the procedures that are in place to mitigate the risks. Our risks are divided into the categories of governance, operational, managerial, financial and compliance. They range from fundraising falling out of step with operational needs, to a failure to meet the legislative requirements of charities.

Our capital development plans bring new financial and operational risks to the charitable company, which we have considered and which remain under review.

We acknowledge the on-going risks around safeguarding, even with good management processes, policies and insurances in place. We operate a coherent framework of training and support for staff and freelancers who work in this area in our policies and procedures and in wider good practice guidance. A nominated Lead Trustee for Safeguarding (Caroline Greenwood Dower), and the People Sub-Committee oversee a detailed review of safeguarding policies and procedures annually.

To mitigate risk and to ensure a responsible operating environment, the charitable company has a suite of policies and policy framework documents that are updated and added to as new priorities and responses to good practice emerge. All policies are monitored and developed by the Executive Team, with input and advice from relevant board sub-committees, and approved and reviewed on a regular basis by the board. We develop new policies when we identify operational gaps or develop new areas of work that require us to do so. The next major policy review is scheduled for spring/summer 2025.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Structure, governance and management

Constitution

New Writing North is registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee and is a registered charity.

Governance

Our board of trustees represents a range of professional skills, lived experience and is inclusive of a range of lived experience and backgrounds. We have developed the board in-line with our business development ambitions. Writers and creatives are represented, as are local advocates and experienced creative industry and business professionals drawn from a range of specialisms. We ensure that the views and ideas of young people are represented in governance via our Youth Voice policy and framework, which brings the views of the older young people that we work with into our planning. We monitor the diversity of trustees, and this benchmarking informs our decision-making on succession to support balanced and representative governance for the organisation.

The role of trustee is unpaid. Trustees are recompensed for travel and, if necessary, accommodation costs associated with attending meetings and for any other costs incurred whilst undertaking duties on behalf of New Writing North. Trustees work to fixed terms of engagement.

Board meetings are run both digitally and in real life, with trustees congregating in Newcastle for two meetings a year, including the away day. This balance of delivery has worked well for the organisation, making an efficient use of people’s time, reducing expenditure on travel, and having a positive impact on our carbon usage.

The new year brought positive changes to our governance, with a recruitment campaign resulting in the appointment of Neil Warwick as our new Chair, Helen Dalby as a new incoming Vice Chair, and the appointment of new trustees Maria Antoniou, Ted Hodgkinson, and Livia Bird. The transition of Chair and Vice Chair took place at the September 2024 board meeting, and we gave a heartfelt goodbye to Chair David Roche and Vice Chair Caroline Murphy, who have both been with New Writing North for their full terms and who have contributed a great deal to the organisation’s strength and resilience. As our former Chair and Vice Chair prepared to leave the board, New Writing North won the Trustee Board of the Year award at the North East Charity Awards, a fitting tribute to the achievements of the year.

In early 2024 the board completed a self-assessment process and trustee appraisals and in spring undertook a two-day strategic away day to consider organisational development and to support team building for the refreshed board.

Trustees are active on a range of sub-committees that support oversight of key areas of work. During the year, we operated groups focusing on Environmental Sustainability, Finance and Risk, Capital (which also has external advisors), Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity, and People. The Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer meet regularly with the Chief Executive and other members of the Leadership Team to discuss strategy and to support the organisation.

The Capital sub-committee has been very active overseeing business planning and capital development work. This sub-committee has welcomed external members to support it with skills and experience.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Structure, governance and management (continued)

Induction and training of trustees

Potential trustees are invited to attend a board meeting as an observer prior to being invited to become a trustee. They are provided with an induction pack of information and supporting documents and policies, which introduce them to the role of trusteeship and signpost them to good practice guides produced by the Charity Commission and other organisations. The basis of trusteeship at New Writing North is set out in a trustee job description and a code of conduct.

When appointed, trustees are offered an induction meeting, during which they are briefed on their role and responsibilities, the operating and funding context in which New Writing North operates, and the range of programmes delivered. Trustees are welcomed to events and provided with opportunities to gain direct experience of the work.

Trustees are offered training opportunities to build their governance knowledge, and throughout their term of office they are offered access to professional development activities. We have encouraged and supported many trustees to take their first steps into charity governance. All trustees undertake an annual skills audit and appraisal with the Chair, and outcomes from this are presented and discussed by the Chair and the Chief Executive and brought to the board for discussion, if relevant.

We aim to provide consistency of governance with fixed terms, to ensure governance remains fit for purpose, is representative of the communities that New Writing North serves, and encompasses the strategic knowledge we need to achieve our mission. Trustees are appointed for a term of three years. After this time, they may remain in post for up to a maximum of a further two terms of three years – a total term of nine years – after which they must stand down. Remaining in post after each individual term is not automatic and is awarded subject to a successful performance review conducted by the Chair.

In extraordinary circumstances, identified trustees who have served for nine years may have their term extended by co-option for one year by a majority vote of the board. The term extension can last a maximum of three years (three, additional, one-year terms). This applies to the positions of Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer. Extraordinary circumstances may include:

• The unanticipated resignation of multiple trustees leaving the board with gaps in expertise and knowledge

• An inability to recruit for a replacement Trustee[s] within a specialist skill set within a set time frame

• An urgent or priority business need which the trustee’s skillset is uniquely required to address

• A time-limited period of strategic development e.g., capital development which necessitates continuity and knowledge of existing trustees whilst the planning is active.

Extraordinary circumstances will be defined by the Chair and discussed at a Trustees meeting where a vote will be made with exceptions noted in this report annually.

Organisational structure

The organisation is led by a Leadership Team of five women: Chief Executive Claire Malcolm MBE ; Executive Director (Programme & Impact) Anna Disley , Director of Finance and Operations Fiona Melvin , Director of Communications Jill Read and Development Director Caitrin Innis , and is a female majority company.

The New Writing North team continues to grow and this year we have made new appointments at all levels. The leadership of the organisation is strong, with key people working at a high level of leadership, which is enabling the ambitious stretch that the organisation is now involved in. Our Senior Management Team of Will Mackie , Rebecca Wilkie , Amy Robson , Phaedra Andrew and Tess Denman Cleaver bring a high level of skills, experience and expertise to our work as do the managers who support our operations.

Staff undertake an annual away-day and participate in externally and internally facilitated training and planning workshops to develop operational and creative plans and strategy. Leadership and other training is offered to senior and emerging leaders within the organisation. We undertake annual appraisals, and staff are offered

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Structure, governance and management (continued)

individual development opportunities to grow and develop their professional skills that align with the needs of the business and the changing landscape and challenges of our work.

We operate an open work culture and a supportive working environment that offers staff a great deal of flexibility as to how and where they work. We monitor staff wellbeing and mental health. To build our capacity to respond to need, we have trained a number of staff members to be mental health first aiders and are signed up to a programme for staff support, counselling and wellbeing with the Printing Charity. All staff are now covered by an extended Death in Service and Critical Illness policy which was introduced in 2024.

Pay policy for key management personnel

Membership of a wider network

Regionally we maintain strong working relationships with peer relationships and offer mutual support with a range of other peer arts, culture, charity, and educational organisations which strengthen our work, forge productive collaborations, and widen our knowledge. Executive and Senior staff are active in supporting regional and national networks and giving time to sector and regional developments.

Nationally, New Writing North is part of an informal national network with six other writing agencies in England. We engage with both regional and national and international networks to develop opportunities for writers and to promote writing from the North of England nationally and internationally. We work with many literary organisations across the country and internationally including publishers of all scales, festivals, and event promoters. We have an on-going relationship with arts and culture bodies in the West of Sweden as part of a North East region partnership.

Trustees' indemnities

The charitable company carries Trustee indemnity insurance.

Relationships with other groups, charities and individuals

Our major stakeholder is Arts Council England, and their core funding through our National Portfolio Organisation multi-year agreement is key to our resilience. Arts Council England income represents under a third of our turnover, which benchmarks us as a high-performing organisation in our sector.

Our relationship with the North of Tyne Combined Authority has seen us receive support for our capital development work, and they have granted us significant skills funding.

We have significant financial relationships with Durham County Council and Durham University, who commission and contribute significant funds to the annual Durham Book Festival.

Our continued partnership with Northumbria University is very important to the sustainability and development of our work, enabling, as it does, affordable accommodation and project support alongside opportunities to galvanise and participate in research activities.

We enjoy ongoing relationships with the John S Cohen Foundation and the Kavli Trust, who are two of our largest funders for specific areas of work.

The pay and remuneration of staff is agreed by the board during the annual budgeting process and is linked to both appraisals and an independent survey of relevant market and sector information and considerations alongside our financial performance and affordability. Cost of Living is considered annually, and expectations are built into budget planning.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Structure, governance and management (continued)

We are also grateful for the support of the Newcastle Culture Investment Fund, who are also significant funders of our activities through multi-year grants, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Foundation for their significant grants that support key areas of work.

The New Writing North team continue to contribute leadership to the arts and culture sector nationally through time given to serving on boards. Tess Denman-Cleaver Chairs Book Works, Fiona Melvin serves on the board of Screen Yorkshire, Anna Disley is Chair of Glow Newcastle (formally the Cultural Education Partnership) which delivers access to culture for 0–25-year-olds, and a board member of Threads in the Ground, a climate hope organisation, Hexham Book Festival and the Living Archive, a creative digital start-up. Claire Malcolm sits on the national council of Creative UK, representing literature and the North of England on this body that seeks to influence government policy on the creative industries and this year participated as a member of a reference group for culture and creative industries for the North East Combined Authority. She also serves as a trustee for the Community Foundation for Tyne and Wear and is a trustee of the Deborah Rogers Foundation. Rebecca Wilkie is a member of the steering group of the Durham Energy Institute.

Plans for future periods

Securing funds for core costs

Now that New Writing North has such a wide ranging and expansive programme of work, we are working hard to ensure that we can identify and secure funding to continue to support our efforts. The funding climate both from public and private sources remains exceptionally challenging. We are under pressure to both raise funds for capital development and for our existing programmes of work which represents a unique challenge to staff time and resources. This has been helped this year by new appointments to increase staff capacity enabled by an uplift in our Arts Council England grant. Caitrin Innis is now working to oversee a ‘fundraising at all levels’ approach to resource development across the team and working closely with the Chief Executive to develop scaled bids and to widen new relationships for the charity. The key challenge for 2025-2026 will be to achieve funding to support organisational core costs.

Building reserves

Capital development works including options appraisals, cost assessments and professional surveys and fees have drawn heavily on New Writing North’s reserves over the past two years. It is a priority for us to build up our reserves over the next couple of years. We annually review Full Cost Recovery mechanisms and will continue to attempt to generate enough surplus to build our reserves up to meet our target.

Capital Development

New Writing North has been involved with capital development since 2019 and this year we made excellent progress in terms of partnerships and stakeholder relationships and in successful grant applications. Our aim is to create a new Centre for Writing and Publishing in Newcastle upon Tyne that will serve the North of England and present an opportunity for substantial investment in the creative industries outside of the South East.

The centre will be home to New Writing North, Northumbria University’s English programme, commercial and subsidised publishers and literary organisations, and to the screen and media industries. It will be a front door into the writing world for people of all ages with a wide offer of leisure, wellbeing, educational, skills and professional development activities involving reading and writing. It will provide people of all ages with the opportunity to develop their creativity and to connect their ambitions to jobs and opportunities across the writing industries.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) Year ended 31 March 2025

Plans for future periods (continued)

Our key stakeholders for the Centre for Writing and Publishing are Northumbria University, the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council. We have worked with this group to undertake a thorough options appraisal of our plans, to cost the acquisition and refurbishment costs needed to achieve the project and to address State Subsidy regulation, capital valuation and the overall business case. Alongside this we have developed a viable operational plan for the centre.

The stakeholders collectively pledged £5.5M to support the creation of the centre but required substantial matched funding to be unlocked to release the funds. In 2024 we applied for the DCMS/Arts Council England competitive Cultural Development Fund programme with an ask of £5M. We were delighted when this grant was approved and it was announced publicly by Secretary of State for Culture Lisa Nandy at the Glasshouse in Gateshead at a major creative industries conference in January 2025. We are now progressing plans and developing the joint venture vehicle with Northumbria University which will own the capital asset and the plan for how New Writing North will creatively operate the centre. We hope to activate the project in 2025 with the purchase of the building which will become the centre and to open the project by 2028. Achieving the centre will take New Writing North through a period of organisational development and transition which we are planning and beginning to deliver alongside the direct capital development.

Disclosure of information to auditor

• Each of the persons who are trustees at the time when this trustees' report is approved has confirmed that:  so far as that trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charity's auditor is unaware, and

• that trustee has taken all the steps that ought to have been taken as a trustee in order to be aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity's auditor is aware of that information.

Auditor

Pursuant to section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006, the auditor will be deemed to be reappointed and UNW LLP will therefore continue in office.

Approved by order of the members of the board of trustees on 10 December 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

N Warwick, OBE (Chair of Trustees)

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Statement of trustees' responsibilities Year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial . Under company law, the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, 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 of the Charities SORP (FRS 102);

• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards (FRS 102) 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 charitable company will continue in business.

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

Approved by order of the members of the board of trustees on 10 December 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

N Warwick, OBE (Chair of Trustees)

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Independent auditor's report to the members of New Writing North

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of New Writing North ('the charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the related notes, 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 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) ('ISAs (UK)') and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the 'Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements' section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council'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.

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Independent auditor's report to the members of New Writing North (continued)

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

• We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:  the information given in the trustees' report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements; or

• sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees' responsibilities statement, 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

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

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

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.

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Independent auditor's report to the members of New Writing North (continued)

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

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. However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.

We obtain and update our understanding of the company, its activities, its control environment, and likely future developments, including in relation to the legal and regulatory framework applicable and how the company is complying with that framework. Based on this understanding, we identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. This includes consideration of the risk of acts by the entity that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.

Based on our understanding of the company, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting legislation (including related companies legislation), pension legislation and UK tax legislation. In addition, the company is subject to many other laws and regulations where the consequences of noncompliance could have a material effect on amounts or disclosures in the financial statements, for instance through the imposition of fines and litigation. We considered the extent to which non-compliance with laws and regulations might have a material effect on the financial statements and we have assessed the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items.

We also evaluated managements’ incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls) and determined that the principal risks related to posting inappropriate journal entries to manipulate financial results, management bias in accounting estimates, as well as improper revenue recognition which includes fraudulent posting of journal entries to revenue.

Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

• Inquiry of management around actual and potential litigation claims;

• Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

• Reviewing meeting minutes to identify any potential non compliance;

• Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any journal entries with unusual account combinations; and

• Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in their significant 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.

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Independent auditor's report to the members of New Writing North (continued)

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and its members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Anne Hallowell BSc FCA DChA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of UNW LLP, Statutory Auditor

Chartered Accountants Newcastle upon Tyne Date: 10 December 2025

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Statement of financial activities (incorporating income and expenditure account) Year ended 31 March 2025

D Note Income from: Donations and legacies 4 Charitable activities 5 Investments 6 Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds 7 Charitable activities Total expenditure Net (expenditure)/income Transfers between funds 16 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Net movement in funds Total funds carried forward	RAF Unrestricted funds 2025 £ 472,394 130,731 16,665 619,790 104,280 757,649 861,929 (242,139) 202,413 (39,726) 121,391 (39,726) 81,665	T Restricted funds 2025 £ 779,966 351,165 - 1,131,131 - 910,222 910,222 220,909 (202,413) 18,496 274,767 18,496 293,263	Total funds 2025 £ 1,252,360 481,896 16,665 1,750,921 104,280 1,667,871 1,772,151 (21,230) - (21,230) 396,158 (21,230) 374,928	Total funds 2024 £ 1,198,664 312,175 15,469 1,526,308 115,821 1,572,913 1,688,734 (162,426) - (162,426) 558,584 (162,426) 396,158

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

The notes on pages 26 to 42 form part of these financial statements.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Balance sheet At 31 March 2025

DR Note Fixed assets Tangible assets 12 Current assets Debtors 13 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 14 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Total net assets Charity funds Restricted funds 16 Unrestricted funds 16 Total funds	AFT 133,618 512,995 646,613 (282,047)	2025 £ 10,362 10,362 364,566 374,928 374,928 293,263 81,665 374,928	310,010 350,511 660,521 (272,174)	2024 £ 7,811
				7,811 388,347
				396,158
				396,158
				274,767 121,391
				396,158

The entity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

The members have not required the entity to obtain an audit for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006. However, an audit is required in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and preparation of financial statements.

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:

N Warwick (Chair of Trustees) Date: 10 December 2025

Company registered number: 03166037 The notes on pages 26 to 42 form part of these financial statements.

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Statement of cash flows Year ended 31 March 2025

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
Note £ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash used in operating activities 18 172,222 (151,351)
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (10,138) (2,328)
Net cash used in investing activities (10,138) (2,328)
Cash flows from financing activities
- -
Net cash provided by financing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year 162,084 (153,679)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 350,511 504,190
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 19 512,595 350,511
The notes on pages 26 to 42 form part of these financial statements
DRAFT
----- End of picture text -----

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New Writing North

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements Year ended 31 March 2025

1. General information

New Writing North ('the charitable company') is engaged in supporting and developing the performing arts.

The charitable company is a private company limited by guarantee, incorporated in the United Kingdom and registered in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is given in the company information page of this annual report.

2. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all periods presented, unless otherwise stated.

2.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) - 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) (effective 1 January 2019), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

New Writing North meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.

The financial statements are presented in pounds sterling which is the functional currency of the company and are rounded to the nearest £1.

2.2 Company status

The charitable company is a company limited by guarantee. The members of the charitable company are the governors named on page 1. In the event of the charitable company being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charitable company.

2.3 Going concern

The charitable company recorded a small net surplus of expenditure over income in the year ended 31 March 2025 and net assets at the year end of £375k (2024: £396k) with a positive cash position. At the year end there were no loan balances outstanding (2024: £nil).

Management have prepared financial forecasts and projections covering a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements. These show that the charitable company should retain sufficient financial resources to meet its financial liabilities as they fall due.

The trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due for the foreseeable future. Consequently, they continue to believe the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate in preparing these financial statements.

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2. Accounting policies (continued)

2.4 Income

All income is recognised once the charitable company has entitlement to the income, any performance conditions attached to the items of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.

Donations are received by way of grants and donations and are included in full in the statement of financial activities on a receivable basis.

Contract funding and grants are included in the statement of financial activities on a receivable basis. The balance of income received for specific purposes but not expended during the period is shown in the relevant funds on the balance sheet. Where income is received in advance of entitlement of receipt, its recognition is deferred and included in creditors as deferred income. Where entitlement occurs before income is received, the income is accrued.

Where the donated good is a fixed asset, it is measured at fair value, unless it is impractical to measure this reliably, in which case the cost of the item to the donor should be used. The gain is recognised as income from donations and a corresponding amount is included in the appropriate fixed asset class and depreciated over the useful economic life in accordance with the charitable company's accounting policies.

On receipt, donated professional services and facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charitable company which is the amount it would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

2.5 Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been included under expense categories that aggregate all costs for allocation to activities. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular activities they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of the resources.

Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charitable company. They include governance costs, which are incurred in connection with the administration of the charitable company and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit 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. Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.

Expenditure on raising funds includes all expenditure incurred by the charitable company to raise funds for its charitable purposes and includes costs of all fundraising activities events and noncharitable trading.

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2. Accounting policies (continued)

2.5 Expenditure (continued)

Expenditure on charitable activities is incurred on directly undertaking the activities which further the charitable company's objectives, as well as any associated support costs.

All expenditure is inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.

2.6 Leases

All of the company's leasing arrangements are operating leases. Rental payments under operating leases are charged to the profit and loss account on a straight-line basis over the lease term, even if payments are not made on such a basis.

2.7 Employee benefits

Short-term benefits

Short-term benefits, including holiday pay and other similar non-monetary benefits are recognised as an expense in the period in which the employee’s entitlement to the benefit accrues.

Defined contribution pension plan

The company operates a defined contribution pension plan for its employees. Contributions are recognised as an expense when they fall due. Amounts due but not yet paid are included within creditors on the balance sheet. The assets of the plan are held separately from the company in independently administered funds.

2.8 Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charitable company; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the institution with whom the funds are deposited.

2.9 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets costing £750 or more are capitalised and recognised when future economic benefits are probable and the cost or value of the asset can be measured reliably.

Tangible fixed assets are initially recognised at cost. After recognition, under the cost model, tangible fixed assets are measured at cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. All costs incurred to bring a tangible fixed asset into its intended working condition should be included in the measurement of cost.

Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of fixed assets over their expected useful lives as follows:

Fixtures and fittings - 20% straight line Computer equipment - 33% straight line

Asset residual values and useful lives are reviewed at the end of each reporting period, and adjusted if appropriate. The effect of any change is accounted for prospectively.

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2. Accounting policies (continued)

2.10 Debtors

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

2.11 Cash at bank and in hand

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

2.12 Liabilities and provisions

Liabilities are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result 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.

Liabilities are recognised at the amount that the charitable company anticipates it will pay to settle the debt or the amount it has received as advanced payments for the goods or services it must provide.

Provisions are measured at the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation. Where the effect of the time value of money is material, the provision is based on the present value of those amounts, discounted at the pre-tax discount rate that reflects the risks specific to the liability. The unwinding of the discount is recognised in the statement of financial activities as a finance cost.

2.13 Financial instruments

The charitable company only enters into financial instruments transactions that result in the recognition of basic debt financial assets and liabilities, such as trade and other debtors and creditors, cash and bank balances and loans to or from related parties.

All financial instruments are due within one year at inception and are measured, initially and subsequently, at the transaction price.

At the end of each reporting period debt financial assets are assessed for impairment, and their carrying value reduced if necessary. Any impairment charge is recognised in the profit and loss account.

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2. Accounting policies (continued)

2.14 Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charitable company and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charitable company for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

3. Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgment

Estimates and judgments are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Significant judgments in applying the charitable company's accounting policies In preparing these financial statements, the trustees do not consider there to have been any other significant judgments that were required in the process of applying the charitiable company's accounting policies.

Key sources of estimation and uncertainty

Estimates included within these financial statements include the depreciation rates and asset impairments. None of the estimates made in the preparation of these financial statements are considered to carry significant estimation uncertainty, nor to bear a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.

4. Income from donations and legacies

Donations Grants	Unrestricted funds 2025 £ 84,151 388,243 472,394	Restricted funds 2025 £ - 779,966 779,966	Total funds 2025 £ 84,151 1,168,209
			1,252,360

Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.

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4. Income from donations and legacies (continued)

DRAFT Donations and in kind support Grants 5. Income from charitable activities Contract income Trading activities in furtherance of objects Contract income Trading activities in furtherance of objects	Unrestricted funds 2024 £ 24,165 483,923 508,088 Unrestricted funds 2025 £ - 130,731 130,731 Unrestricted funds 2024 £ 4,800 71,878 76,678	Restricted funds 2024 £ - 690,576 690,576 Restricted funds 2025 £ 351,165 - 351,165 Restricted funds 2024 £ 235,497 - 235,497	Total funds 2024 £ 24,165 1,174,499
			1,198,664
			Total funds 2025 £ 351,165 130,731
			481,896
			Total funds 2024 £ 240,297 71,878
			312,175

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6. Investment income

DRAFT Unrestricted funds 2025 £ Rental income - Interest receivable 16,665 16,665 7. Expenditure on raising funds Costs of raising voluntary income Unrestricted funds 2025 £ Fundraising costs 216 Fundraising salaries 104,064 104,280	Total funds 2025 £ - 16,665 16,665 Total funds 2025 £ 216 104,064 104,280	Total funds 2024 £ 13,750 1,719
		15,469
		Total funds 2024 £ 3,939 111,882
		115,821

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8. Analysis of expenditure by activities

DRAFT Project delivery Project delivery Analysis of support costs Staff costs Depreciation General administration Rent Capital project fees Legal and professional IT and website Governance costs	Activities undertaken directly 2025 £ 1,073,227 Activities undertaken directly 2024 £ 957,709 Activities 2025 £ 425,366 7,587 52,970 18,333 6,390 7,447 14,089 62,462 594,644	Support costs 2025 £ 594,644 Support costs 2024 £ 615,204 Total funds 2025 £ 425,366 7,587 52,970 18,333 6,390 7,447 14,089 62,462 594,644	Total funds 2025 £ 1,667,871
			Total funds 2024 £ 1,572,913
			Total funds 2024 £ 441,295 7,485 41,928 23,333 21,905 14,111 11,966 53,181
			615,204

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9. Auditor's remuneration

	2025	2025	2024
	£		£
Fees payable to the charitable company's auditor for the audit of the
charitable company's annual accounts	13,375		12,500
Staff costs
	2025		2024
DRAFT £ £ Wages and salaries 651,308 637,964 Social security costs 59,202 57,182 Contribution to defined contribution pension schemes 19,043 19,174 729,553 714,320 The average number of persons employed by the charitable company during the year was as follows: 2025 2024 No. No. Engaged on charitable activities 15 17 Engaged on management and administrative 5 4 20 21

10. Staff costs

The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was:

		2025	2024
		No.	No.
In the band £60,001	- £70,000	1	1

11. Trustees' remuneration and expenses

No trustees gain from their role as trustees. However, see note 24 for related party transactions, including those with trustees.

During the year ended 31 March 2025, expenses totalling £2,475 were reimbursed or paid directly to 5 trustees (2024: £1,544 to 4 trustees). These expenses were reimbursements of travelling costs.

The charity considers its key management personnel comprise the trustees, the Chief Executive, the Executive Director (Programme and Impact) and the Director of Finance and Operations. The total employment benefits of the key management personnel were £162,281 (2024: £159,099).

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12. Tangible fixed assets

DRAF Cost At 1 April 2024 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2025 Depreciation At 1 April 2024 Charge for the year On disposals At 31 March 2025 Net book value At 31 March 2025 At 31 March 2024 Debtors Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income	T Fixtures and fittings £ 5,039 - - 5,039 5,039 - - 5,039 - -		Computer equipment £ 48,513 10,138 (4,615) 54,036 40,702 7,587 (4,615) 43,674 10,362 7,811 2025 £ 58,533 1,605 73,480		Total £ 53,552 10,138 (4,615) 59,075 45,741 7,587 (4,615) 48,713 10,362 7,811 2024 £ 86,968 4,605 218,437
			133,618		310,010

13. Debtors

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14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

DRAFT Trade creditors Other taxation and social security Other creditors Accruals and deferred income Deferred income at 1 April 2024 Resources deferred during the year Amounts released from previous periods	2025 £ 43,419 25,691 13,780 199,157 282,047 2025 £ 147,974 132,693 (147,974) 132,693	2024 £ 29,070 17,289 12,665 213,150
		272,174
		2024 £ - 147,974 -
		147,974

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15. Summary of funds

Summary of funds - current year

								Balance at
	Balance at 1						Transfers	31 March
		April 2024		Income		Expenditure	in/out	2025
		£		£		£	£	£
Designated funds		40,000		-		(7,036)	(27,964)	5,000
General funds		81,391		619,790		(854,893)	230,377	76,665
Restricted funds		274,767		1,131,131		(910,222)	(202,413)	293,263
DRAFT 396,158 1,750,921 (1,772,151) Summary of funds - prior year Balance at 1 April 2023 £ Income £ Expenditure £ Designated funds 40,000 4,800 (25,685) General funds 177,503 595,435 (840,515) Restricted funds 341,081 926,073 (822,534) 558,584 1,526,308 (1,688,734)							- Transfers in/out £ 20,885 148,968 (169,853) -	374,928 Balance at 31 March 2024 £ 40,000 81,391 274,767 396,158

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16. Statement of funds

Statement of funds - current year

Unrestricted funds Designated funds Core projects contingency Organisational Development Capital Development Staffing General funds General funds Total Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Writing and enterprise High Notes Project Northern Writers Awards Young Writers Newcastle Communities Skills and Engagement Young Writers City - Newcastle Young Writers Development programme Proud Words Gateshead Young Writers Young Writers City - Durham Community and Callerton A Writing Chance Sunderland New Screenwriters Durham Book Festival Podcasts	DR Balance at 1 April 2024 £ 10,000 5,000 15,000 10,000 40,000 81,391 121,391 (1,288) - 35,307 102,578 47,064 (3,094) 2,082 5,557 9,436 (8,654) 508 6,883 34,400 - (195) 18,495	AFT Income £ - - - - - 619,790 619,790 - 17,422 19,621 145,177 - 306,173 - 1,710 - 47 - - 248,520 10,380 156,471 84,933	Expenditure £ - - (7,036) - (7,036) (854,893) (861,929) - (7,230) (74,807) (17,060) (71,321) (255,618) (29,590) (13,713) - (32,150) - (24,398) (114,975) (8,529) (63,018) (83,796)	Transfers in/out £ (10,000) - (7,964) (10,000) (27,964) 230,377 202,413 1,288 1,600 34,453 (250,464) 64,629 (79,840) 27,508 6,446 (9,436) 40,757 (508) 27,750 24,973 (850) (89,108) (12,318)	Balance at 31 March 2025 £ - 5,000 - - 5,000 76,665 81,665 - 11,792 14,574 (19,769) 40,372 (32,379) - - - - - 10,235 192,918 1,001 4,150 7,314

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16. Statement of funds (continued)

Statement of funds - current year (continued)

								Balance at
		Balance at 1					Transfers	31 March
		April 2024		Income		Expenditure	in/out	2025
		£		£		£	£	£
Gordon Burn Prize		(1,858)		43,886		(33,396)	(6,843)	1,789
Channel Four Partnership		22,871		83,600		(50,745)	284	56,010
Hospital Residency		8,695		-		(8,784)	89	-
DRAFT Other small restricted funds (4,020) 13,191 (21,092) 274,767 1,131,131 (910,222) Total of funds 396,158 1,750,921 (1,772,151) Statement of funds - prior year Balance at 1 April 2023 £ Income £ Expenditure £ Unrestricted funds Designated funds Core projects contingency 15,000 - -							17,177 (202,413) - Transfers in/out £ (5,000)	5,256 293,263 374,928 Balance at 31 March 2024 £ 10,000
Organisational Development		15,000		-		-	(10,000)	5,000
Capital Development		10,000		4,800		(25,685)	25,885	15,000
Staffing		-		-		-	10,000	10,000
		40,000		4,800		(25,685)	20,885	40,000
General funds
General funds		177,503		595,435		(840,515)	148,968	81,391
Total Unrestricted funds		217,503		600,235		(866,200)	169,853	121,391

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16. Statement of funds (continued)

DRAFT Restricted funds Writing and enterprise 5,755 - (676) High Notes Project 7,523 - (723) Northern Writers Awards 4,875 44,561 (79,162) Young Writers 134,647 149,115 (28,904) Newcastle Communities 61,236 91,940 (99,812) Skills and Engagement (28,100) 229,377 (159,765) Young Writers City - Newcastle 18,469 5,000 (34,387) Young Writers Development programme 6,894 210 (4,047) Proud Words 604 - - Gateshead Young Writers 6,087 - (59,933) Young Writers City - Durham 12,177 - (3,213) Community and Callerton 21,703 2,000 (31,820) A Writing Chance - 67,789 (29,828) Durham Book Festival 5,363 136,341 (63,200) Podcasts 32,617 10,390 (42,067) Gordon Burn Prize - 35,831 (32,689) Channel Four Partnership 38,407 33,972 (36,627) Hospital Residency - 25,000 (13,405) Other small restricted funds 12,824 94,547 (102,276) 341,081 926,073 (822,534) Total of funds 558,584 1,526,308 (1,688,734)	(6,367) (6,800) 65,033 (152,280) (6,300) (44,606) 13,000 2,500 8,832 45,192 (8,456) 15,000 (3,561) (78,699) 17,555 (5,000) (12,881) (2,900) (9,115) (169,853) -	(1,288) - 35,307 102,578 47,064 (3,094) 2,082 5,557 9,436 (8,654) 508 6,883 34,400 (195) 18,495 (1,858) 22,871 8,695 (4,020) 274,767 396,158

All restricted funds relate to specific project delivery, as indicated by the fund title.

Transfers between funds during the year relate to projects where restricted funds have been spent as agreed with the funding partner on staff time, or where unrestricted funds have been used in delivery of a restricted activity.

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17. Analysis of net assets between funds Analysis of net assets between funds - current year

DRAFT Unrestricted funds 2025 Restricted funds 2025 £ £ Tangible fixed assets 10,362 - Current assets 197,180 449,433 Creditors due within one year (149,354) (132,693) Difference 23,477 (23,477) Total 81,665 293,263 Analysis of net assets between funds - prior year Unrestricted funds 2024 Restricted funds 2024 £ £ Tangible fixed assets 7,811 - Current assets 288,728 371,793 Creditors due within one year (175,148) (97,026) Total 121,391 274,767 18. Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities 2025 £ Net expenditure for the year (as per statement of financial activities) (21,230) Adjustments for: Depreciation charges 7,587 Decrease/(increase) in debtors 176,392 (Decrease)/increase in creditors (11,377) Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities 151,372

Total funds 2025 £ 10,362 646,613 (282,047) - 374,928 Total funds 2024 £ 7,811 660,521 (272,174) 396,158 2024 £ (162,426) 7,485 (156,513) 160,103 (151,351)

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19. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

Cash at bank and in hand Total cash and cash equivalents 20. Analysis of changes in net debt	2025 £ 512,595 512,595	2024 £ 350,511
		350,511

DRAFT At 1 April 2024 £ Cash at bank and in hand 350,511 Operating lease commitments At 31 March 2025 the charitable company had future minimum lease cancellable operating leases for each of the following periods: Not later than 1 year		Cash flows At 31 March 2025 £ £ 162,484 512,995 payments due under non 2025 2024 £ £ 1,946 1,946	Cash flows At 31 March 2025 £ £ 162,484 512,995 payments due under non 2025 2024 £ £ 1,946 1,946

21. Operating lease commitments

At 31 March 2025 the charitable company had future minimum lease payments due under noncancellable operating leases for each of the following periods:

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
£ £
Not later than 1 year 1,946 1,946
----- End of picture text -----

22. Related party transactions

During the year one trustee, D Stone, was paid £600 for services as part of the North East poets professional development group as part of project delivery for the charity.

In the prior year one trustee, D Stone, was paid £175 for mentoring as part of project delivery for the charity.

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