Kise freedom from abuse & violenc• Trustees, Report and Financial Statements 31st March 2023 R.I.S.E. (Refuge. Information. Support and Education) is a registered charity (No. 1065846) R.I.S.E. (Refuge. Information. Support and Education) is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England No. 3425008. RISE, Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton, BN13XG ## **Contents** |Legal and Administrative Information|3| |---|---| |Trustees’ Report|4| |Significant Activities and Project Areas|4| |General Financial Position|5| |Key Strategic Aims|6| |Key Achievements During the Year|7| |Plans for the Future|14| |Covid Impact and Response|15| |Fundraising|15| |Reserves Policy|16| |Reserves Tiers|17| |Structure, Governance and Management|18| |Auditors|20| |Independent Auditor’s Report|21| |Financial Statements to 31stMarch 2023|26| |Statement of Financial Activities Including Income and Expenditure|26| |Balance Sheet|27| |Cash Flow Statement|28| |Notes to the Financial Statements|29| 2 ## **Contents and Administrative Information** |REGISTERED CHARITY|1065846|COMPANY NUMBER|03425008| |---|---|---|---| |NUMBER|||| ||||| |REGISTERED OFFICE|Community Base||| ||113 Queens Road||| ||Brighton||| ||BN1 3XG||| ||||| |TRUSTEES|Kim Turnbull James|Chair|| ||Patricia Wass|Chair Resigned 11thJune 2022|| ||Angie Uglow|Treasurer|| ||Jean Spray|Resigned 11thJune 2022|| ||Jeanette Ashton|Resigned 10thDecember 2022|| ||Piyali Mendiratta|Resigned 9thSeptember 2023|| ||Dani Ahrens|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Catherine Barker|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Helen Carr|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Louise Leonard|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Chris Magill|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Isobel Montgomery|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Viktorija Zdanoviciute|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Isobel Montgomery|Appointed 11thJune 2022|| ||Kate Goddard|Appointed 17thJune 2023|| ||Alison Simmonds|Appointed 17thJune 2023|| ||||| |CHIEF EXECUTIVE|Jo Gough|SENIOR|Kate Dale| |OFFICER||MANAGEMENT TEAM|Azaria Munro| ||||Alison Gray| ||||| |BANKERS|Santander||CAF| ||Bootle||25 Kings Hill Avenue| ||Merseyside||Kings Hill| ||L30 4GB||West Malling| ||||Kent| ||||ME19 4JQ| ||||| |REGISTERED|Carpenter Box|SOLICITORS|Fitzhugh Gates| |AUDITORS|Amelia House||3 Pavilion Parade| ||Crescent Road||Brighton| ||Worthing||BN2 1RY| ||West Sussex||| ||BN11 1RL||| 3 ## **TRUSTEES REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2023** RISE Board of Trustees are pleased to present their annual trustees’ report, together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ending 31st March 2023. These are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors’ report and accounts for Companies House. ## **Significant Activities and Project Areas** History and Charitable Purpose RISE was established in 1994 as The Women’s Refuge Project and renamed in 2008 to reflect its growth in provision of services. We deliver: - A specialist Housing Team providing crisis and resettlement support in Brighton & Hove, community outreach and a Sanctuary (household security) service. - A Helpline providing access to services, support and advice by phone and email, and online self-directed learning. - Crisis support and casework, including specialist Family and Civil Courts advocacy. - Specialist support for mothers, children and young people, including family work, 1:1 support for mothers, groups for mothers, and recovery groups and therapeutic support for children and young people. - Longer term recovery and social support in the community, including drop-in sessions, adult therapy, our own Recovery and Empowerment group programmes and Wellbeing groups that help people to recover from the effects of domestic abuse, including a Women of Colour Wellbeing Group. - Embedded and assertive outreach support in universal as well as specialist services alongside partners in police, housing, substance misuse and homelessness services. - LGBT dispersed refuge and community services including strong links with other LGBT support locally and nationally. - Training and consultancy services to statutory, voluntary and private sector partners and customers. RISE has grown from focusing on refuge accommodation in its early days to delivering responsive wrap around services that support survivors from crisis and early intervention, through to recovery and onwards into safe and healthy futures. Alongside this we work to prevent domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in new generations through education and awareness with children, young people, their families and other professionals involved in their support. 4 R.I.S.E. stands for Refuge, Information, Support and Education. Our vision is: ‘Freedom from Abuse and Violence’. We are a feminist, women-led and centred domestic violence and abuse charity that has worked for almost 30 years to end all forms of violence and abuse against women, children and LGBT+ people. RISE offers strength-based, trauma-informed services and is committed to providing accessible, fair, and safe services to survivors of violence and abuse, including women of all ages, children, young people, trans and non-binary people, lesbians and bisexual women, gay and bisexual men, black and minoritised women, women with religious affiliations or none, disabled women and other minoritised women. RISE is a key partner in the local Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Domestic and Sexual Violence Strategy in Brighton and Hove and across Sussex, playing a key role in providing expertise, guidance, and response to emerging needs. We receive various grants from government (local and national), charitable trusts such as National Lottery, Children in Need and smaller local or specialist trusts as well as a contract from the local Integrated Care Board (formerly Clinical Commissioning Group - NHS) for delivering therapy services as part of a Trauma Pathway. The organisation is an established specialist partner in the VAWG and Domestic Violence care pathway in the city, providing a first point of contact to survivors, initial assessment, and onward referral to the appropriate internal or external support service to meet their needs. Public Benefit The Trustees have had due regard for the guidance on the public benefit requirement published by the Charities Commission, as required by the Charities Act 2011. ## **General Financial Position** The operating results for the year ended 31st March 2023 show that RISE has maintained financial stability and has achieved results consistent with the previous year and our financial plan. In the year to 31st March 2023, RISE achieved income of £1,080,218 (2022: £1,146,511), while total expenditure was £1,141,636 (2022: 1,038,499). This gave rise to a deficit of £61,418 (2022: surplus £108,012). In 2022-23 there was an in-year surplus on restricted income less expenditure of £89,561 (2022: surplus £124,714). At the same time, general income less expenditure produced an in-year deficit of £150,979 (2022: deficit £16,702). This resulted in a 5 reduction in our unrestricted reserves in line with our plan to use unrestricted reserves to support our core services while seeking more sustainable funding. The closing year balance on reserves show a decrease to £775,924 (2022: £837,342) of which £419,354 (2022: £570,333) is held as general unrestricted reserves, £10,000 (2022: £10,000) as designated reserves and £346,570 (2022: £257,009) as restricted reserves. The fundraising team have had a difficult year and have not achieved the income target set, mainly due to the very tough economic conditions nationally. We were able to make savings within the core and central budgets to mitigate this shortfall, so the in-year reduction in unrestricted reserves of £150,979 was in line with our budgeted unrestricted deficit of £149,735. RISE remains in a strong position to maintain stability while rebuilding and seeking new funding for our services. We were grateful to receive a substantial donation from the Musk Burton Family Trust and are pleased to have secured a promise of an equal amount from them for the next five years which will help us through this period. Our flagship 8k run for women was back on track in October 2022 after the hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic and met the income target of £25k. The sector continues to experience a challenging economic environment, and there is strong competition from the third sector for available funding. However we have been successful in securing a continuation of the funding from the local authority (via New Burdens) for the LGBT dispersed refuge and refuge in-reach provision; continued funding from the Integrated Care Board (previously the Clinical Commissioning Group) for funding towards the cost of our therapy team; continued funding for our housing team including Sanctuary Scheme and Floating Support, as well as funding for a Housing IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Advisor) from the local authority (via New Burdens). As well as this continued funding we have successfully secured new grants from the Ministry of Justice for a specialist LGBT therapist and wellbeing provision; the Brighton and Hove City Council Community Support programme for Children and Young People (via New Burdens), and from Changing Lives (via New Burdens) to support people with Multiple Complex Disadvantages. ## **Key Strategic Aims** 2022-23 was the charity’s 28th year in operation, and the 4th year of our five-year strategic plan. Our key strategic aims are: - 1) **Excellence:** RISE will be a centre of excellence for domestic violence and abuse knowledge and expertise, building on existing knowledge and creating a new 6 evidence basis for our work and achieving recognised quality standards appropriate to our work and sector. - 2) **Community Focused:** RISE will broaden our reach, take a community approach and increase our role in a community response to domestic violence and abuse by collaborating with professional partners, communities of interest and working in neighbourhoods to make sure DVA is everyone’s business. - 3) **Voice & Leadership:** RISE will be a recognised leading voice on domestic abuse and violence in the context of VAWG and come alongside survivors to amplify their voices to inform provision and bring social change. - 4) **Secure, Sustainable and Future-Proofed:** RISE will diversify and grow income streams to decrease reliance on public funds; commit to good governance principles and practice including robust management of risk; exploit new technology for service delivery, to improve accessibility and modernise our service offer. ## **Key achievements during the year** RISE started the year with a successful Big Give – Women and Girls income generation campaign bringing in just over £23k - £21,470 plus £1,922 Gift Aid. This campaign using The Big Give platform with match funds provided by DCMS Tampon Tax Fund helped RISE provide women-centred counselling sessions, assertive outreach, recovery groups and peer support helping them through their recovery journey to be safer, more confident and able to thrive. Two of our major donors supported this campaign alongside 107 local supporters with 13 donors giving over £100. In October 2022 we brought back our flagship event the RISE 8K Run for Women - 200 runners raised £25k. This was both a celebration of a return to events after Covid-19 restrictions and of the continuing support for RISE in our local community. 7 At the end of this year, we were delighted to be a founding charity partner of Community Wills Sussex, a brand-new community initiative, open to over-55s in Sussex, who would like to leave a legacy gift to us, or one of three other charities. Time Britton solicitors led the legal side of the scheme providing an opportunity to leave a lasting impact for people affected by domestic abuse that we support, by including of a legacy gift from you to us in your will. We set a high target (£310,000) for fundraising in 2022-23 which was not met. A smaller fundraising team that had gaps in posts throughout the year has made some significant progress in establishing new funding streams including corporate giving, crowd funding and legacies but has been less successful in retaining some of the significant successes in the previous two years. This was the second year after the loss of a large contract leaving RISE much smaller but with a continued commitment to our charitable objectives - supporting women, children and LGBT people who have been affected by domestic abuse and violence, making a difference to their lives. During this period until the year end 31st March 2023 our Board of Trustees and management team concentrated on ensuring the sustainability and growth of the charity building on our strong community connections and specialist expertise. The decision by Council, PCC and Health Commissioners two years ago has led to continued community support for our much-needed services. Survivors and local residents continued to campaign for this decision to be reversed and a council working group concluded that there were errors in the process which would be rectified for future commissions. After our strategy day in March 2022, we identified activity for the year which included ‘business as usual’ as well as three strands of activity to change culture and to aspire to better fulfil our charitable aims including: ## 1) Initiatives/projects /aspirations: - Fundraising: building a new team and focussing on new corporate partnerships as well as planning activity for the year ahead - Client services: therapy services moving from periphery to central; focus on specialisms such as BAME; more preventative work with young people/ older women drop in; more (saleable) online materials for self-help/training; capacity building (outside of) Communities Rising; community hubs; helpline; podcast - Refuge and housing: developing new offers for Refuge and safe Housing. 8 2) How we want to work together to achieve them: - Review values and built-in assumptions about our approach: trauma informed; client focussed; intersectionality as an important aspect of our work; self-health care and well-being for all staff. - 3) Processes for achieving our aims: - Management practice: collaborating across teams and externally; keeping different parts of RISE together and connected; streamlining processes; listening; sharing expertise; allowing more room for creativity; getting the balance right between online and in person. At the end of March 2021 RISE had 66 staff in post amounting to almost 46 full-time equivalents. By the end of March 2023, we had 37 staff representing just over 24 fulltime equivalents, which is a decrease of around 50%.The loss of a large contract through a competitive tender in 2021 has continued to impact on key activity making it difficult to secure suitable premise or provide job-security for staff – this has been the focus of the leadership team and Board for the 2022-23 year of operation and remains a key lever for 2023-24. Our second year after losing the large contract saw an increase in referrals and clients in service in comparison to the previous year. 781 adult and 210 children and young people were referred to RISE in this period leading to 1,156 adults and 201 children and young people being helped over the year. In addition, 359 short term work logs were completed of which 54% were from professionals and 29% from survivors. Overall, we supported 1,357 people in 2022-23 a 40% increase on the previous year. Of the adult clients about 50% have on average 2 children each and 23% of our adult clients are disabled. Last year (2021-22) we supported 828 adults and 141 children across our services. This is a total of 969 and a 43% increase to our work with children. For those 369 adult clients exiting RISE services in 2022-23, where we have outcome data: - 200 did not reconcile with perpetrator. - 90 saw a cessation or reduction in physical abuse. - 124 saw a cessation or reduction in emotional/psychological abuse - 209 recorded risk posed to client improved. - 205 clients’ perception of own safety improved. In this year there were considerable changes in legislation and policy that impacted our work positively. 9 The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence - also known as the Istanbul Convention, after the city where the first signatures were made - came into force in the United Kingdom on the 1[st] November 2022. Following the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 being passed the Government presented its Domestic Abuse Plan. Domestic abuse has now been recognised as a form of violence against women and girls, and the plan focuses on preventing as well as responding to domestic abuse. A commitment to addressing structural inequality and sex stereotypes is welcomed although we are still unclear on how this will be achieved in the long-term given the minimal funding available. RISE is cautiously hopeful that the plan recognises that domestic abuse is not solely a criminal justice issue but also one that affects all aspects of life including housing, health, family justice, education, employment and financial stability. After wider campaigning from the women’s sector the plan now rightly sits under the wider Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, with a separate plan for men. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognises children as victims of domestic violence instead of witnesses which aligns with RISE practice to working with children. The long-awaited Domestic Abuse Register has been met with some mixed feelings. Whilst this puts offenders of domestic abuse on the same footing as those committing sexual offenses we know the life-changing impacts women face when coming forward to report abuse. Together with shockingly low charging, prosecution and conviction rates any form of register could offer women false reassurances. Following the Act, the NHS has established a public health approach to domestic abuse which has more recently led to the Chief Delivery Officer, Steve Russell at NHS England sending a letter to all Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), asking them to appoint a new Domestic Abuse and Violence lead at the executive level. This letter represents a significant milestone in the tireless advocacy of the VAWG sector. The sector has campaigned relentlessly for years to raise awareness and prioritise domestic abuse as a public health issue. There are potentials for huge cost-savings to public services if this becomes a reality with Women’s Aid’s latest research with ResPublica calculating that domestic abuse costs the health service a staggering £2.7 billion per year. Violence against women and girls has this year been recognised as a strategic policing threat demonstrating the scale of change required – from the training and skills officers need to investigations and protections for women, and of course the glaring issues of sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination within policing. Following the Baroness Casey of Blackstock’s conclusions about the current misconduct system in the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) as set out in her letter of 17th October 2022 to the 10 Met Commissioner and final report in March 2023 it was found that there were severe institutional failings across the organisation that will require radical reform to resolve. One significant change required was to better protect women and children with a dedicated women’s protection service; introducing a new children’s strategy; and reinstating sexual and domestic abuse services as specialist functions. The pressing issue of tackling police perpetrators of violence against women and girls, and the severe problems with vetting and monitoring officers, are an urgent priority for improving trust and confidence. RISE has continued to work with local police - challenging and proactively supporting positive change. The new national Domestic Abuse Commissioner published her mapping data showing what survivors want and what they get. This is presented for each police area or regionally. Accessing help - Domestic Abuse Commissioner . The findings chime with our insight and reflect our priorities. She made 26 key recommendations following her ‘A Patchwork of Provision’ - Domestic Abuse Commissioner Report. RISE has utilised this important data to demonstrate gaps in service and raise new funds. With the above backdrop Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) have been notified by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) that the city council has been awarded two further years New Burdens Funding to support local implementation of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. The funding has been set at £620,128 for 2023-24 and £631,828 for 2024-25. The decision-making on allocation of these funds took longer than expected but eventually RISE was awarded continuation funding for our LGBT+ Dispersed Refuge, Wellbeing service and a new Housing Independent Domestic Violence Advocate project through this route. RISE continued to communicate our plan for establishing new self-funded refuge provision in Brighton and Hove to address gaps in service to meet the local need. We also continued to raise our concerns about the non-specialist nature of commissioning locally to national government through our membership of Women’s Aid including joining a round-table event with the Minister for Safeguarding to review the guidance to the DA Strategy and contributed to the VAWG commissioning update. Towards the end of the year RISE established a partnership with Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) Surviving Economic Abuse: Transforming responses to economic abuse as one of three pilot areas to test a partnership approach to tackling economic abuse. We have agreed with SEA to make a further joint bid to Aviva in October 2023 for staffing to develop the above project. **Communities Rising (Lottery – Community Fund):** Our National Lottery-funded Communities Rising project entered its second year working with marginalised women (older, disabled and multiple disadvantaged women), black and minoritised women. It is 11 building on survivor strengths to create a coordinated community response to domestic abuse. A new Ambassadors programme and greater survivor leadership through the ‘Change maker’ role has been added and once again Dodgson Trust has supplemented this project helping to support a drop-in for older and disabled women. We relaunched our Community Connector and Research projects bringing survivors to the core of our work, as well as a new role working with women experiencing multiple disadvantage linking Communities Rising with a Sussex-wide ‘Changing Futures’ programme. Our ‘Women Rooted’ project started this year taking an ‘eco-feminist’ therapeutic approach. The Women of Colour Wellbeing group that began under Rosa funding continued this year. **RISE Therapy Service:** Throughout the previous year NHS England-funded projects brought extra capacity to our therapy team with a focus on reaching women experiencing sexual abuse in the context of domestic abuse. A 1-year extension was secured allowing additional capacity at a crucial time. Our longstanding funding from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the Trauma Pathway was increased this year through surplus funding which helped to reduce the waiting list and provide new groups. This funding continues to be on a short-term basis despite having seven-years track record of delivering the ‘Trauma Pathway’ in partnership. The Trauma Pathway waiting list had to close to new referrals this year as it reached 2.5 years for adults. This contract is now under review and due to be re-commissioned in 2024. A new LGBT Counselling service started this year, and we continue to provide wellbeing support as in-reach to Brighton Refuge which provides a wide range of support to resident women and children including a mixture of creative, therapeutic, outdoor, group and 1:1, music therapy. RISE also provide professional support to Stonewater (the Refuge Provider) staff and managers through operational meetings. **The Family Team:** The team continues to deliver bespoke ‘Rising Stars’ programmes to children and their mothers to aid safety, recovery and healthy relationships now funded by the local authority as well as Children in Need. High levels of demand from professionals for support as significant safeguarding issues were managed by the lead for this team and training provided to Health Visitors, Social Workers and School Educational Psychologists. Children in Need funding has now ended, so we have been bidding for new funds to protect these roles. Our Family and Civil Court Advocate supported complex cases through civil and family processes following changes in law whilst also providing training to magistrates and law students to bring about culture change. This post is currently funded by RISE reserves while we continue to actively seek alternative, sustainable funding. 12 **Helpline, Advocacy and Groups:** The helpline and case work team remains a vital source of first contact and support for survivors working with partners and actively bridging the gaps between the now myriad services provided locally. A new coffee morning has been established and our recovery group - ReGroup - continues to run successfully online alongside well-being and support programmes that survivors can work through independently. New volunteers were inducted and supported this year to expand the service. **Safe Homes:** In this year we expanded our independent housing advocacy support to include floating support and a £40k sanctuary scheme which created a housing support service. This embeds in the council housing team and builds bridges with Refuge and other housing providers to uphold the statutory rights of survivors. We have developed a referral and triage service in order to link with Housing IDVA (crisis work); Outreach support – a combination of support around DVA and housing survivors in any housing situation; and Sanctuary Scheme i.e. security measures to enable survivors to stay in their homes. The LGBT Dispersed Refuge (Formerly MHCLG now New Burdens) continues to work with Southdown Housing to source new lets and provides communitybased LGBT specialist support. **Quality Assurance:** This year we are aiming to complete our Women’s Aid Quality Standards with first submission in March 2023. We have begun to review other quality standards to further establish our ‘trauma informed’ approach. **Property Development – A RISE Refuge:** The Board received the business case at its September 2022 meeting and agreed to receive a full business plan making recommendations for progressing the purchase of a self-funded Refuge based on best practice examples including financial modelling. **Equality and Diversity:** Our equality and diversity work this year has focused on establishing our approach to single-sex services and providing access to services for all our key beneficiaries in the context of gender self-identification. After a consultation an internal working group established an approach including thorough equality impact assessment and seeking preferences from those accessing our services. This has also included a better understanding of key legislation and training for staff on ‘Managing Difference’. We reviewed our Equalities and Diversity Policy to better reflect our approach to single sex and self-ID into services and developed staff confidence in communicating our message as well as ensuring each service is assessed and then eligibility is appropriately communicated. Alongside the above we have also stepped up our commitment to anti-racism in line with the Ending Racism in VAWG commitments: https://www.endingracisminvawg.org/ . We have updated our recruitment policy and changed our adverts and pack to better reflect this. We identified anti-racism (race as a protected characteristic) as our key equality 13 priority and our CEO completed intensive anti-racism training for white leaders as well as agreeing an in-year budget increase to deliver unconscious bias and anti-racism training for staff. RISE is a ‘Disability Confident Employer’ and has been working to expand our support to our disabled staff through Access to Work and flexible policies. On the ground we are also working with key disabled people organisations and groups for example Speak Out, a self-advocacy group for people with learning disabilities, to establish our working relationship and look for further opportunities for partnership. We are continuing to build opportunities for disabled survivors to be influential at RISE and in 2022 supported a visually impaired survivor to share her story with a funder and at a public event. ## **Plans for the Future** - 30th RISE and 50th Brighton Women’s Aid Anniversary celebration in 2024. - New Strategic plan & theory of change for 2024/29. - Survivor involvement established in all levels of RISE. - Women’s Aid Quality Standards completed, and Trauma Award achieved. - Advance our partnership development in fundraising and operational delivery. - RISE self-funded refuge property development in progress. ## **Staffing and Governance Structure** There have been some changes to the RISE Leadership Team (RLT) including the loss of two managers and the restructuring of the F&C team as well as the Central services team to create a new manager role with survivor involvement lead and a new Head of Partnership Development. The RLT is made up of all managers and oversees the strategic plan and the operation of RISE services. We have refreshed our governance and recruited two more new Board members with finance skills to fill identified skill and representation gaps. We are continuing with the development of a stronger structure for survivor involvement and have developed an Expert by Experience volunteer role along with our ‘Get Ready for Volunteering’ assessment process this will enable a safe and supportive expansion of opportunities for survivors to engage more fully in RISE. A new survivor panel and new leadership role for survivor involvement will enable our strong commitment to survivor involvement to manifest in our structures. 14 We want to thank our Board and Subgroup members, in particular those who stood down this year (Jeanette Ashton) for bringing their expertise to RISE and helping us successfully steer through the challenges of the year. ## **COVID-19 impact and response.** Most roles at RISE are now hybrid allowing some homeworking and some office working with occasional meetings that are routinely face to face. We have now moved to a smaller office and adopted flexible working so staff can split their time between home and office. There are fewer cases of COVID-19 affecting delivery but still a small number of absences. The pandemic forced us to transition to remote working and some practices, such as online meetings have become part of our new working style. It has also had a positive impact on the ways we deliver some of our services to survivors as we are now able to offer a combination of in-person and online support options, which has improved our accessibility. Lockdown inevitably saw an increase in demand for support for women suffering from the effects of domestic abuse. The number of calls to the helpline increased and has remained high. Recognising the increase in the need for support for women around sexual violence, we secured funding from NHS England to increase the capacity in the therapy team, which extended to March 2023. Despite this additional funding, waiting times for our therapy service continue to grow. Having been unable to put on our challenge events due to the pandemic restrictions, we ran our signature 8k event with restricted numbers in September 2021, and were back to capacity in September 2022. This was very successful and met our income target of £25k. ## **Fundraising** RISE receives voluntary donations and gifts from individual and corporate donors. As a member of the Institute of Fundraising, we adhere to their guidelines in our fundraising activity as well as following the Charity Commission advice on best practice. We have an Ethical Fundraising policy to ensure clarity and openness to all our stakeholders. All personal data is processed in line with the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018. RISE will only process data of supporters and donors if they have given opt-in consent. 15 RISE organise all our fundraising internally and do not engage third parties to seek donations from individuals. We are mindful of people’s privacy and do not exert undue pressure on potential donors. Our preferred approach is that ‘it is not about making people feel bad for not giving, it is about making people feel good for giving’. There have been no complaints about fundraising. ## **Reserves Policy** In accordance with the advice of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, we aim to hold unrestricted reserves at levels sufficient to ensure the long-term financial stability of the charity. The areas highlighted to meet this requirement are wind up costs, unforeseen emergency, unforeseen running costs to include maternity and sickness, and designated funds for buildings maintenance and furniture renewal, and seed funding to initiate projects for expansion into new areas. The amounts held to cover each financial risk within the tiers are to be defined and reviewed every 2 years or more frequently if the charity's income or liabilities should change drastically. Surplus unrestricted funding should be built into the annual budget where possible to build up the free reserves. As long as these are at the required level, these can be used to support the charitable aims of RISE at the discretion of the CEO and board of trustees. Free reserves should not be allowed to drop below 7% of turnover except in a wind-up situation. 16 ## **Reserve Tiers** |**Reserve Tiers**||||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**FINANCIAL RISKS**|**At March 2022**||**At March 2023**|| |**WIND UP FUNDING**||||| |Redundancy Payments||40,000|40,000|| |Key Staff||30,000|30,000|Wind up costs - 3 months| |Lease Commitments||17,665|15,665|Marina Box 2.5 years,
CommunityBase 6 months| |||**87,665**|**85,665**|| |**DESIGNATED FUNDS**||||| |Buildings Maintenance||**10,000**|**10,000**|| |**UNFORESEEN EMERGENCY**||||| |||**10,000**|**10,000**|| |**UNFORESEEN RUNNING COSTS**||||| |Short term capacity issues in
Central Services||5,000|5,000|| |Disability support, sickness or
maternity cover||10,000|10,000|Based on 12 weeks pay + 6
months SSP for a frontline
worker| |||**15,000**|**15,000**|| |**PLANNED COMMITMENT**||||| |Use of reserves to support
budgetplans||163,000|155,000|To support deficit budget
2023-24| |Free Reserve||294,668|153,689|Held to support deficit
budget in 2024-25| |||457,668|308,689|| |**GRAND TOTAL**||**£580,333**|**£429,354**|| |17
**General Reserve held at 31st**
**March**
**Designated fund held at 31st**
**March**
**Restricted Reserve held at 31st**
**March**
**Total Reserves**||**2022**
**2023**
**£570,333**
**£419,354**
**£10,000**
**£10,000**
**£580,333**
**£429,354**
**£257,009**
**£346,570**
**£837,342**
**£775,924**||| ## **Structure, Governance and Management** Incorporation RISE is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. It was first registered as a charity on 9th May 1994, and then re-registered on 17th November 1997, having been incorporated as a company on 26th August 1997. On 28th October 2008, the company changed its name to R.I.S.E. (Refuge, Information, Support and Education). The charitable company is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association which were updated in July 2014. RISE is governed by a board of trustees, whose principal responsibilities are the setting and monitoring of the strategic direction of the organisation and the establishment of policy. The trustees are also directors for the purposes of company law. The board meets formally once every 3 months. The board delegates the day-to-day operation of the organisation to the CEO who in turn delegates to managers. ## Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities The trustees, who are also the directors of RISE 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 year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year. In preparing financial statements giving a true and fair view the trustees should: - 1) follow best practice and select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; - 2) make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; - 3) state whether applicable United Kingdom accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and - 4) prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume that the company will continue its operation. 18 The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. ## Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees We aim to have between 10 and 15 board members to ensure a quorum at meetings of 5. Recruitment is based on diversity of experience. We carry out regular skills audits to identify any existing or possible gaps in the knowledge and expertise on the Board, and to fill these gaps appropriately. Candidates for Board membership will be recruited either through recommendation as defined in RISE Articles of Association, or through open recruitment in line with our Governance Board Recruitment, Selection and Review Policy. ## Trustee Induction and Training All new board members are introduced to current board members, and receive an induction pack, which includes a Statement of Aims, and Management Committee Ground Rules. Visits to RISE Services and open mornings are coordinated when appropriate. Free training is available for roles and responsibilities, and governance. The CEO is the permanent representative of the staff on the board and other senior staff members of RISE management team and the service teams attend board meetings where possible. All board members are required to attend board meetings, the annual strategic planning day, team building days, staff meetings and other social events with staff as coordinated. The board is undergoing on-going development and attend a number of governance training days throughout the year. ## Trustee Working Groups The board has set up specific sub-groups to undertake detailed work in the following areas, Income Generation, Human Resources and Equalities, Finance and Risk Management, Clinical Governance and Strategic Management. ## Risk Management The trustees review the major risks that the charity faces on a regular basis and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of policies and procedures for authorisation of all transactions and projects, and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the charitable company. These procedures are periodically reviewed to 19 ensure that they still meet the needs of the charity. A working group consisting of staff and trustees has been set up to monitor risk and to review and prepare business recovery processes. There is a Business Continuity Plan for crisis management. The key risks are: - 1) Risk of death of a service user or client on waiting list due to restrictions in levels of service. - 2) Risk of loss of key staff, to include staff burn out, sickness and loss due to restrictions in remuneration packages. - 3) Risk of loss of key income streams and associated services reducing our needsled and trauma-focused holistic service model. - 4) Risk of fraud/theft of charity funds. - 5) Risk of a health pandemic causing disruption to the service. ## **Auditors** Each of the trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditors are aware of such information. A resolution proposing that Carpenter Box be reappointed as auditors of the company will be put to the members. The trustees have paid due regard to the public benefit guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake. The trustees have complied with their duty under section 17(5) of the 2011 Charities Act to have due regard to guidance published by the charitable commission. The trustees have prepared this report in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The trustees present their report for the year in compliance with the Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities. At the time of approving the accounts, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the accounts. Going concern is considered further at note 1(a). Approved by the trustees on 2nd December 2023 And signed on their behalf by **Dani Ahrens Angie Uglow** 20 Vice Chair Treasurer ## **Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of R.I.S.E. (Refuge, Information, Support and Education) for the year ended 31 March 2023** ## **Opinion** We have audited the financial statements of R.I.S.E. (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion, the financial statements: - give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at - 31 March 2023 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended; - have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and - have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. ## **Basis for opinion** We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. ## **Conclusions relating to going concern** 21 In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report. ## **Other information** The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard. ## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006** In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit: - the information given in the trustees' report, which includes the directors' report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and - the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements. ## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception** 22 In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors' report included within the trustees' report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: - adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or - the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or - certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or - we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or - the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemptions in preparing the trustees' report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report. ## **Responsibilities of trustees** As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. ## **Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements** Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. 23 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. In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following: - Obtaining an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework in which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the financial statements and operations; - Obtaining an understanding of the charitable company’s policies and procedures on fraud risks, including knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud; - Discussing among the engagement team how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements, and any potential indicators of fraud through our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and our sector-specific experience. As a result of these procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. We are also required to perform specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override. As a result of performing the above, we identified the following areas as those most likely to have an impact on the financial statements: health & safety, employment law, compliance with the UK Companies Act and the Charities Act. In addition to the above, our procedures to respond to risks identified included the following: - Making enquiries of management about any known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations and fraud; - Reviewing minutes of meetings of the Board and senior management; - Assessment of matters recorded on the charitable company’s incident reporting register; - Reading correspondence with regulators; - Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their significant accounting estimates; and - Auditing the risk of management override of controls, including through testing journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness. Due to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that some material misstatements in the financial statements may not be detected, even though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs (UK). For instance, the further removed non-compliance is from the vents and transactions reflected in the 24 financial statements, the less likely the auditor is to become aware of it or to recognise the non-compliance. A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report. ## **Use of our report** This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. **Robin Evans BA FCA CTA DChA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Carpenter Box Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor** Amelia House Crescent Road Worthing West Sussex BN11 1RL ## **Carpenter Box is a trading name of Carpenter Box Limited** 25 ## **Statements of Financial Activities Including Income and Expenditure Accounts 31[st] March 2023** |**Notes**
**INCOME AND**
**ENDOWMENTS**
**Donations and Legacies**
**4**
**Other Trading Activities**
**4**
**Income from Investments**
**Incoming from charitable**
**activities**
**Residential, Casework and**
**Group Work**
**Therapeutic**
**Other Incoming**
**Resources**
**Total Income and**
**Endowments**
**RESOURCES EXPENDED**
**Expenditure on Raising**
**Funds**
**5**
**Expenditure on Charitable**
**Activities**
**6**
**Residential, Casework**
**and Group Work**
**Therapeutic**
**Sub-total**
**Total Expenditure**|**General**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Total**
**General**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Total**
**Fund**
**Funds**
**Funds**
**Fund**
**Funds**
**Funds**|**General**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Total**
**General**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Total**
**Fund**
**Funds**
**Funds**
**Fund**
**Funds**
**Funds**| |---|---|---| ||**2023**|**2022**| ||**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
133,950
133,950
316,160
316,160
40,242
40,242
38,878
38,878
9,647
9,647
595
595
657,988
657,988
7,608
598,659
606,267
3,710
230,946
234,656
5,145
171,152
176,297
3,735
3,735
8,314
8,314|| ||191,284
888,934
1,080,218
376,700
769,811
1,146,511
110,030
110,030
113,006
113,006
173,157
608,514
781,671
208,891
490,524
699,415
59,076
190,859
249,935
71,505
154,573
226,078
232,233
799,373
1,031,606
280,396
645,097
925,493|| ||342,263
799,373
1,141,636
393,402
645,097
1,038,499|| 26 |(150,979)
**Net income/ (expenditure)**
**3**||89,561|(61,418)
(16,702)||124,714|108,012| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**for the year**||||||| |**RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS**||||||| |**Total funds brought forward**
570,333|10,000|257,009|837,342
587,035|10,000|132,295|729,330| |**Total funds carried forward**
419,354|10,000|346,570|775,924
570,333|10,000|257,009|837,342| |**The statement of financial activities has been prepared on the**|||**basis that all activities are continuing.**|||| |**Balance Sheet at 31st March 2023**||||||| ||||**2023**
|**2022**||| |||**Notes**|**£**|**£**||| |**TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS**||10|10,154|14,194||| |**CURRENT ASSETS**||||||| |Debtors||11|61,584|26,705||| |Cash at bank and in hand|||790,452|873,040||| |**TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS**|||852,036|899,745||| |Creditors: Amounts falling due||||||| |within one year||12|86,266|76,597||| |**NET CURRENT ASSETS**|||765,770|823,148||| |**NET ASSETS**|||775,924|837,342||| |**ACCUMULATED FUNDS**||||||| |Unrestricted funds||||||| |General fund||15|419,354|570,333||| |Designated funds||15|10,000|10,000||| |Restricted funds||15|346,570|257,009||| ||||775,924|837,342||| **_______________________________________________________________________** Approved by the trustees on 2nd December 2023 27 ## **Dani Ahrens** ## **Angie Uglow** Vice Chair Treasurer ## **Cash Flow Statement Accounts Ending 31[st] March 2023** |**Notes**
**CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES**
**Net cash (used in) / provided by operating**
**activities**
16
**CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:**
Interest received
Purchase of Tangible Fixed Assets
**Net cash provided by investing activities**
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the
reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of
the reporting period
**Cash and cash equivalents at the end of**
**the reporting period**|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**| |---|---| ||**(91,371)**
**64,735**
9,647
595
(864)
-| ||**8,783**
**595**
(82,588)
65,330
873,040
807,710| ||**790,452**
**873,040**| ## **Notes to the financial statements** For the year ending 31[st] March 2023 ## **1. Accounting Policies** 28 ## a) Basis of Preparation RISE is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XG. The charity has no share capital. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £10 per member of the charity. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with “Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” issued on 16 July 2014, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006. The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 12. The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £1. The accounts have been prepared under historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below. ## Going Concern The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The trustees have considered relevant information, including the annual budget, forecast future cash flows and the impact of subsequent events in making their assessment. Following the loss of our VAWG commissioned contract in March 2021 we are now established as a smaller organisation with a restructured staff team, keeping a smaller central and management team, and moved to smaller offices practising flexible working to reduce costs. We had significant reserves, having benefited during 2020-21 from short term funding opportunities relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a good response from the community which boosted our fundraising. We were able to use these unrestricted reserves to put a 3-year budget plan in place which allows us to continue to provide our core services, which include Helpline and specialist case worker functions. In 2021-22 we did not need to use unrestricted reserves as planned, as we were successful in securing new funding, so we have extended the 3-year plan to 2024-25. Statutory funding from the Local Authority for Housing, Children and Families support and LGBT+ support has been secured until March 2025. We also have our Therapy and Wellbeing teams which are funded by both local commissioners (health and police and crime commissioner), and trusts and funds. Our Communities Project which supports disadvantaged communities and survivors to build on their strengths and grow beyond their experiences has received continuation funding from The National Lottery. Based on these assessments and having regard to the resources available to the entity, the trustees have concluded that there is no material uncertainty in relation to the 29 appropriateness of continuing to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the annual report and accounts. b) Tangible fixed assets and depreciation Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of each asset over its expected useful life at the following rate: Fixtures and fittings 20% straight line basis per annum Purchase of tangible fixed assets to a value of less than £500 are not capitalized. ## c) Donations Donations are accounted for on a received basis and are grossed up for any income tax recoverable. Donated items are accounted for when received and are accounted for at a reasonable estimate of their value. ## d) Grants receivable Grants received are treated in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice "Accounting Reporting by Charities". Grant income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that the income will be received. In the event that a grant is subject to the fulfilment of performance conditions before the charity is entitled to the funds, the income is deferred and not recognised until it is probable that these conditions will be fulfilled in the reporting period. ## e) Legacies Pecuniary legacies are recognised as receivable once probate has been granted and notification has been received. Residuary legacies are recognised as receivable once probate has been granted, provided that sufficient information has been received to enable valuation of the Charity’s entitlement. Amounts receivable are included at 90% of their valuation to reflect uncertainty inherent in the administration of estates. Residuary legacies are subject to further reduction to reflect the impact on the valuation of unrealised estate assets of subsequent adverse movements in property and investment markets. Reversionary interests involving a life tenant are not recognised due to the intrinsic uncertainties in valuing them. ## f) Trustees All the trustees donate their time spent running the charity on a voluntary basis and do not receive any remuneration. Indemnity Insurance is provided for the trustees. 30 ## g) Allocation of expenditure Resources are analysed as follows: Costs of generating funds includes fundraising and publicity costs as well as a proportion of salaries and staff costs based on allocation of staff time spent raising and funding applications. Charitable activities expenditure includes the direct running costs of the charity’s projects together with the support costs incurred that enable these activities to be undertaken. Governance costs relate to statutory costs in connection with the general running of the charity, such as audit fees, AGM and trustee expenses and legal and professional fees. They also include an allocation of staff salaries. All resources expended are inclusive of irrecoverable VAT. ## h) Taxation The charitable company is registered as a charity and is exempt from taxation (except for Value Added Tax) on its income and capital gains applied for charitable purposes. ## i) Employee Benefits The charity operates a defined contribution group personal pension scheme, which is available to all employees. The amount charged against expenditure represents the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of the year. The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee's services are received. Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits. j) Leasing Rental charges are charged on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease. ## k) Fund Accounting Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. 31 Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with a specific purpose, as explained in note 15. ## l) Designated Funds Designated funds are set up in order to put aside funds for future large expenditure. As laid out in the reserves policy, a designated fund for building maintenance is defined. Any transfers from general to designated reserves is agreed by the Board of Trustees and minuted. The reserves policy is to be reviewed every two years. ## m) Financial Instruments The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value. ## **2. Critical accounting estimates and judgements** In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates. The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods. ## **3. Net Incoming Resources** Net incoming resources for the year are stated after charging: 32 ||**2023**
|**2022**| |---|---|---| ||**£**
|**£**| |Auditors’ remuneration - audit services|7,980
|10,764| |Trustees’ expenses|-
|24| |Operating lease payments|23,536
|10,888| ## **4. Voluntary Income** |**CORE GRANTS, DONATIONS AND**
**LEGACIES**
B&HCC core grant
Major donors
Unrestricted donations
Legacies
Gift Aid
**OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES**
Training and student fees income
Membership
**Fundraising Events**
Race income
Collections and events
**TOTAL VOLUNTARY INCOME**|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**
-
45,000
61,035
158,048
64,842
99,165
1,751
-
6,322
13,947| |---|---| ||133,950
316,160
2,900
6,870
70
70
25,747
28,121
11,525
3,817| ||40,242
38,878| ||174,192
355,038| ## **5. Expenditure on Raising Funds** |**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Total**|**2023**|**Total**|**2022**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Funds**|**Fund**|**Funds**||||| |**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**||**£**| 33 |Salaries and staff|||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |costs|62,666|-|-|62,666|72,304| |Fundraising||-|-||| ||29,771|||29,771|22,503| |Support costs
|17,|||17,
|18,| |and overheads|593|-|-|593|199| |**TOTAL**
|110,030|-|-|110,030
|113,006| ## **6. Expenditure on Charitable Activities** |Residential
Casework/ group
work
Therapeutic
**TOTAL**|**Staff Costs**
**Direct**
**Service**
**Costs**
**Support and**
**Governance**
**Costs**
**Total 2023**
**Total 2022**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
400,5
30
97,333
283,80
8
781,671
699,415
132,410
26,59
4
90,93
1
249,93
5
226,07
8| |---|---| ||532,940
123,927
374,739
1,031,606
925,493| ## **7. Analysis of Support and Governance Costs** |Salaries and staff costs
Audit and accountancy fees
Management Committee and
AGM
Support overheads
**TOTAL**|**Support**
**Governance**
**Total 2023**
**Total 2022**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
260,696
11,363
272,059
257,811
-
7,980
7,980
10,764
-
578
578
13
94,122
-
94,122
115,813| |---|---| ||354,818
19,921
374,739
384,401| ## **8. Employees and Trustees** During the year there were no reimbursements to trustees (2022: £24). There was no remuneration paid to any of the trustees or any persons connected to them. 34 |Salary costs:
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pensions - Employer contribution|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**
786,325
691,434
68,569
55,777
18,690
15,736| |---|---| ||873,584
762,947| No employee earned at a rate of greater than £60,000 per annum. Key management personnel remuneration: ||**2023**|**2022**| |---|---|---| ||**£**|**£**| |Senior Managers|161,191|155,703| The average number of employees, analysed by function, was: |Raising funds
Charitable activities
Management and administration of the
charity|**2023**
**2022**
3
4
27
25
6
6| |---|---| ||36
35| ## **9. Related Party Transactions** There were no related party transactions in the period. 35 The aggregate donations received from trustees during the period was £90 (2022: £190). ## **10. Tangible Fixed Assets** ## **Fixtures, fittings and equipment** |**COST**
At 1 April 2022
Additions
At 31 March 2023
**DEPRECIATION**
At 1 April 2022
Charge for year
At 31 March 2023
**NET BOOK VALUE**
At 31 March 2022
At 31 March 2023|**£**
38,812
864| |---|---| ||39,676| ||24,618
4,904| ||29,522| ||14,194
10,154| ## **11. Debtors** |Trade debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**
34,664
4,125
19,962
12,848
6,958
9,732| |---|---| ||61,584
26,705| 36 ## **12. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year** |Trade creditors
Deferred income
Accruals
Accrued annual leave
Taxation/pensions|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**
25,152
15,083
26,606
23,333
11,312
29,156
5,229
6,026
17,967
2,999| |---|---| ||86,266
76,597| ## **13. Pensions** The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions made by the company amounted to £18,690 (2022: £15,736) and there were no contributions owing at the year end of the year (2022: £2,999). ## **14. Operating Lease Commitments** The following operating lease payments are committed to be paid: |**Land and buildings**
Expiring:
Within one year
In two to five
years|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**
12,665
12,665
3,000
5,000| |---|---| ||15,665
17,665| 37 ## **15. Funds** ## **ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS** |Restricted funds
General funds
Designated Funds|**Tangible Fixed**
**Assets**
**Net Current**
**Assets**
**Total 2023**
**Total 2022**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
-
346,570
346,570
257,009
10,154
409,200
419,354
570,333
-
10,000
10,000
10,000| |---|---| ||10,154
765,770
775,924
837,342| ## **RESTRICTED FUNDS** |Children In Need
Clinical Commissioning Group
National Foundation for Youth Music
NHS via OPCC
BHCC Housing IDVA
BHCC Third Sector Investment
Programme
Charles Hayward
Dodgson Foundation
Ernest Hecht Charitable Trust
DLUHC Wellbeing & LGBT Refuge
National Lottery Community Fund
OPCC Safe Space
Rosa Fund: Women Thrive
Volant Trust
BHCC Sanctuary Scheme and
Floating Support
Ministry of Justice via OPCC
BHCC Changing Futures
Asda Small Grant
Another Way Women’s Foundation
Arnold Clark Community Grant
BHCC Children & Young People
Community Programme
**Total Restricted Funds**|**Balance at**
**31/03/2022**
**Incoming**
**Resources**
**Resources**
**Expended**
**Transfers**
**between**
**funds**
**Balance at**
**31/03/2023**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
10,825
38,105
38,887
-
10,043
46,063
114,100
106,486
-
53,677
-
2,678
2,678
-
-
-
72,767
57,403
-
15,364
13,342
35,000
49,085 17,769
17,026
-
50,000 50,000
-
-
6,812
8,333
15,145
-
-
-
3,050
1,784
-
1,266
24,851
-
20,750
-
4,101
15,159
99,962
90,303
(17,769)
7,049
64,526
265,161
205,241
-
124,446
537
20,000
18,927
-
1,610
34,947
-
34,947
-
-
39,947
-
23,821
-
16,126
-
130,000
54,526
-
75,474
-
40,495
23,385
-
17,110
-
2,247
1,376
-
871
-
1,300
1,300
-
-
-
1,284
1,284
-
-
-
1,000
1,000
-
-
-
3,452
1,045
-
2,407| |---|---| ||257,009 888,934
799,373
-
346,570| 38 ## **Restricted Funds 21-22 for comparison** |**Balance at**|**Balance at**|**Incoming**|**Resources**|**Transfers**|**Balance at**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |**31/03/2021**||**Resources**|**Expended**|**between**|**31/03/2022**| |||||**funds**|| ||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**| |BHCC Assertive Outreach|5,081|-|5,081|-|-| |Children In Need|7,122|31,994|28,291|-|10,825| |Clinical Commissioning Group
|540|171,151|125,628|-|46,063| |MHCLG Complex Need Refuge|19,759|24,962|44,721|-|-| |National Foundation for Youth
Music|14,038|-|14,038|-|-| |National Lottery Women & Girls|49,341|-|49,341|-|-| |NHS SV Covid Emergency|28,945|-|28,945|-|-| |Postcode Community Trust|469|-|469|-|-| |Small Covid Emergency Grants|7,000|-|7,000|-|-| |BHCC Housing IDVA|-|15,000|1,658|-|13,342| |BHCC Third Sector Investment||5|||| |Programme|-|0,000|50,000|-|-| |BHCC: LGBT Contain Outbreak|-|11,910|11,910|-|-| |Charles Hayward|-|16,667|9,855|-|6,812| |Dodgson Foundation|-|1,500|1,500|-|-| |Ernest Hecht Charitable Trust|-|50,000|25,149|-|24,851| |MHCLG / DLUHC Wellbeing &|||||| |LGBT Refuge|-|49,981|34,822|-|15,159| |National Lottery Community Fund|-|189,147|124,621|-|64,526| |OPCC Safe Space|-|51,438|50,901|-|537| |Rosa Fund: Women Thrive|-|49,081|14,134|-|34,947| |Surviving Economic Abuse|-|11,980|11,980|-|-| |Volant Trust|-|45,000|5,053||39,947| ||132,295|769,811|645,097|-|257,009| ## **DESIGNATED FUNDS** |Buildings maintenance
**Total Designated Funds**
**UNRESTRICTED FUNDS**
**Total Unrestricted Funds**|**Balance at**
**31/03/2022**
**Incoming**
**Resources**
**Resources**
**Expended**
**Transfers**
**between**
**Funds**
**Balance at**
**31/03/2023**
£
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
10,000
-
-
-
10,000| |---|---| ||10,000
-
-
-
10,000| ||| ||570,333
191,284
342,263
-
419,354| 39 |TOTAL FUND BALANCES|837,342|1,080,218|1,141,636|-|775,924| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |**RESTRICTED FUNDS -**|**PROVIDER AND**|**PURPOSE**|||| ## **Provider Purpose** Asda Small Grant Art and Wellbeing therapy group Another Way Women’s Foundation Art and Wellbeing therapy group Arnold Clark Community Grant Art and Wellbeing therapy group Sanctuary Scheme, Floating Support and Housing IDVA Brighton & Hove City Council (Independent Domestic Violence Advisor) Brighton & Hove City Council Assertive Outreach to the homeless community BHCC Children & Young People CYP Rising Stars groups Community Programme BHCC: LGBT Contain Outbreak Additional LGBT refuge service BHCC Changing Futures DV support to people with Multiple Disadvantages BHCC Third Sector Investment Family, Children and Young People Service Programme Charles Hayward Family Court Advocacy Children In Need Children's worker Clinical Commissioning Group Therapy service Department of Levelling Up Housing Wellbeing and LGBT dispersed refuge and Communities Dodgson Foundation Older person support Ernest Hecht Charitable Trust Housing Support Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Continuation of Complex Need dispersed refuge Ministry of Justice via Office of the LGBT specialist therapy and wellbeing Police & Crime Commissioner National Foundation for Youth Music Music therapy for young people National Lottery – Community Fund Community engagement and development National Lottery – Women & Girls Outreach and therapeutic work NHS via the Office of the Police and Uplift to sexual violence support services during COVID-19 Crime Commissioner & ESCC pandemic 40 Office of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Safe Space Sussex, Regroup and Economic Abuse workers Postcode Community Trust Therapeutic gardening project Rosa Fund: Women Thrive BME Specialist Support Various small grants to aid setting up home working at the start Small Covid Emergency Grants of the pandemic, and emergency support for clients Surviving Economic Abuse Secondment of worker Volant Trust Helpline and Casework ## **16. Notes to the Cash Flow Statement** ## **Reconciliation of Net Movement in Funds to Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities** ||**2023**|**2022**| |---|---|---| ||**£**|**£**| |Net surplus (deficit)|(61,418)|108,012| |Depreciation charges|4,904|4,732| |Interest|(9,647)|(595)| |(Increase)/decrease in debtors|(34,879)|168,654| |Increase/(decrease) in creditors|9,669|(178,163)| |Increase/(decrease) in provisions|-|(37,905)| |Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities|(91,371)|64,735| ## **Analysis of changes in net funds** |Cash at bank and in hand
TOTAL FUND BALANCES|**At 1 April 2022**
**Cash flows**
**At 31 March 2023**
**£**
**£**
**£**
873,040
(82,588)
790,452| |---|---| ||873,040
(82,588)
790,452| 41 i