EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
CHAIR’S REPORT
This annual report provides an overview of the work undertaken this year and our future plans as we move forward. I, on behalf of the Board, would like to thank all those who have supported the work of the organisation as staff, volunteers and supporters; we could not achieve what we do without you. This year we have been impacted by our inability to return to our existing venue and we have returned some of our activities to in person, but overall we have been restricted whilst we do not have premises fit for purpose. Continuing online has not been easy as we have been aware that for some users, volunteers and staff returning to face-to-face provision would have great benefits. We have looked at a number of properties but have found it difficult to find a venue in the right location, at a price that is affordable longer term and premises that will allow us to grow. We have grown our property reserve this year to support us in being able to afford a property that will be fit for purpose, but we have been disappointed to have not been able to move into a property that we had found and been accepted for.
We have continued to see the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of our community and continue to have high demand for our services. We thank our staff, volunteers, funders and other supporters who have enabled us to continue to provide these vital services. We have also seen the impact of the increasing hostility faced by the community and the increase in hate crimes; the emotional impact of a more hostile environment is felt by many of those who use our services. We have in response to this introduced a new mental health support group for trans and non-binary people, having successfully gained some pilot funding for the group.
We continued to focus most of our funding efforts on trusts and foundation applications and have been successful again in attracting new funding and some longer-term funding that will support us in the next 2-3 years. In addition, this year we have introduced some face to face fundraising events and have grown our team of fundraisers. We have continued to work over the last year to ensure that the organisation is able to meet demand for our services, and to consolidate our sustainability. The board and staff have spent time this year writing the organisation’s business plan and have set out our vision for the next 3-5 years.
Sarah Humphreys - Chair of Board of Trustees.
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TRUSTEES’ REPORT
Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended March 2023
The directors are pleased to present their annual report with the financial statements of East London Out Project (elop) for the year ending 31 March 2023. The statements appear in the format required by the Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities (revised March 2005). The report and statements also comply with the Companies Act 2006 as elop was incorporated by guarantee on 14 April 1997. It has no share capital and is a registered charity. The guarantee of each member is limited to £1. The governing document is the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company and members of the Board of Trustees are the Directors of the Company.
Reference and administrative details
Charity Number: 1067474 Company Number: 03355423 Address: 56-60 Grove Road, Walthamstow, London E17 9BN Bankers: Co-operative Bank PO Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP Solicitor: Russell-Cooke Solicitors 2 Putney Hill, London SW15 6AB
Members of the Board of Trustees who are Directors for the purpose of company law and Trustees for the purposes of charity law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report are:
Sarah Humphreys: Chair David Pearson: Treasurer Victoria Fox Vice Chair Susan Baines Lewis Allett – Fundraising Committee Lead Lee Mavue Patrontasch (resigned 24th October 2022) Matthew Davies – appointed 24th October 2022 Fundraising Committee Co lead Sarah Milne – appointed 16 March 2023 Christine Lehmann – appointed 1 February 2023
Company Secretary and Chief Executive: Teresa Sharpe
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Structure, Governance and Management
The directors of the charitable company (the charity) are its Trustees for the purposes of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as the Trustees.
The Board of elop also constitutes the membership of the charity. The Board has a number of mechanisms in place to consult with key stakeholders, including staff, volunteers and service users to inform its work and decision-making. As set out in the Articles of Association, Trustees are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The Trustees have the power to co-opt further members. When considering Trustees for election or cooption, the Board has a process for recruiting and selecting Board members with the appropriate skills necessary to govern and strategically lead. Board recruitment is reviewed annually and additionally where needed. Trustees are recruited through open recruitment and appointed based upon their skills and experience according to the prevailing needs and aspirations of the Board and organisation. Trustees are appointed for a minimum two-year period, with no limit on the number of times a Trustee can stand for re-election if in the organisation’s best interest. We have successfully recruited to ensure that we now have a full board of Trustees, with three new board members joining during the year to support with event and corporate fundraising and strategic planning, and we had one resignation during the year.
All new Trustees take part in the organisation’s induction training and are provided with support and training to brief them on their legal obligations under charity and company law. All Trustees are provided with the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association and information about the Board, the organisation’s decision-making structures and prevailing issues facing the organisation. All Trustees are offered the opportunity to undertake external training in relation to their role. A Board Management Charter, signed by all Trustees upon co-option and election, sets out how the Board will work together and the commitment required. This Charter is reviewed on an annual basis. Peer buddying is available for Trustees who require this. Full Board meetings are held at a minimum of four times a year, along with two strategic planning days, in addition to other strategic meetings, subcommittees or task and finishing groups as required. This year we have had groups focused on fundraising, premises and a Business Management group.
elop’s Board holds overall responsibility for the organisation’s strategic direction and policy development. Responsibility for strategic implementation and the operational running of the organisation is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer, who reports directly to the Board via Board meetings. The Board’s work programme for the year is overseen by the Chair and reviewed at Board meetings and the work is carried out by individual Board members. The Board holds responsibility for reviewing key areas of financial activity and policy and holds overall responsibility for the organisation’s financial position and procedures.
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Public Benefit
The Trustees, in exercising their powers and duties, have complied with their duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regards to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission. In preparing the report and accounts the Trustees have complied with the requirements set out in relation to the requirement to report on public benefit and have reported on the significant activities and achievements of the charity in 2022/23. They have reported in a way that both sets out the aims and strategies of the charity and demonstrates how the aims and activities of the charity were carried out for the public benefit.
Risk Management
The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charity, and are satisfied that the systems are in place to mitigate the charity’s exposure to the major risks.
Risk assessment remains a standing item on each Board meeting agenda, to ensure that risks are identified and discussed at Board level. Risks are identified through a number of routes including output from Management Board, via staff Senior Management Team meetings and the annual planning cycle. Risks are recorded in the minutes of each meeting along with steps required to mitigate the risk.
The Board and staff continue to work hard to respond to the financial risks the organisation faces in the current economic climate and the impact this is expected to have on the charity sector. As part of acknowledging the current cost of living crisis and the potential impact of this on staff, elop provided a temporary cost-of-living increment for staff whilst a salary review policy and programme was put in place. This was done to both support staff during a difficult time whilst also recognising the need to ensure we can retain staff and their knowledge and expertise.
The Board are pleased that they again have been able to increase the organisation’s reserves and very pleased that we have continued to achieve meeting the organisation’s reserve policy of 3-6 months of core funding at any one time. We recognise that as income and expenditure increases there continues to be a need to increase the reserves held by the organisation. We have increased our property reserve to be able to meet the relocation and refurbishment costs this will entail without this impacting on our ordinary reserve policy, and potentially to cushion the organisation from additional costs faced by the rises in energy prices.
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Related parties
elop continues to work collaboratively with several other agencies and service providers to advance an awareness of the needs and issues of our service user groups and share best practice. This includes running occasional joint activities and working as part of wider alliances, such as the National LGBT Partnership, and our partnership funding with London Friend and LGBT Hero. We have remained involved in a local equalities’ partnership in Tower Hamlets.
Objectives and activities
The principal objectives for which the company is formed are, by charitable means, to preserve and promote mental health and well-being of members of LGBT communities, in particular by:
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the provision of counselling, support, information and advice services; and
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raising awareness of mental health and well-being issues affecting members of LGBT communities.
elop’s vision is a world in which the mental health and wellbeing needs of the LGBT+ community are met and LGBT+ people can flourish.
elop’s mission is to better the mental health and well-being of LGBT+ people, and to challenge the discrimination and inequalities that our community faces.
Review of activities and impact
Last year we said we would continue to enhance the Board’s capacity by recruiting to the final vacancies on the Board, which we have achieved successfully, and as a result have been able to increase our event fundraising. We have continued to look for premises and were disappointed that the premises we applied for was initially accepted and then withdrawn by the local authority. We have continued to view other premises but to date have not found affordable premises to meet our needs. In the meantime we have housed more than half of counselling in different premises to offer face to face support. We said we would increase our social media presence, which we have done, making more use of Instagram and doubling our followers alongside an overall increased use of X/Twitter and Facebook. The organisation moved to the cloud during the year which whilst not without some challenges has supported our ability to reduce our costs on running events or activities online. We changed the structure of the organisation to bring the counselling and mental health services into one service, which has enabled better co-ordination and support, particularly to those facing crisis. Through doing this one member of staff moved from being head of counselling to becoming director of mental health services. We have been able to expand our training provision in part through enabling head of training to focus solely on training and no longer being responsible for mental health services. We have provided
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training for all staff on being trauma-informed, and written a strategy to embed this approach in all areas of our work.
We have continued our work on applying to new trusts and foundations and have been successful in securing new funding for 2022-23 as well as for 2023-24 onwards. We have continued to diversify our funding streams and have been successful in growing our reserves, building some resilience for the organisation with the tough climate ahead with increased energy and inflationary costs that charities will face.
elop provides support and direct services to up to 200 people a week, and whilst mainly providing these services online, we introduced more face to face support during the year. Despite not being able to find new premises we have been able to maintain our services and to gain continuation funding. We have been able to introduce new services during this year such as our Imago group for trans and non-binary people. We have continued to provide a range of consultation, training, representation and awareness-raising initiatives to advocate and provide an LGBT+ voice.
Counselling services
2022-2023 saw a slight easing on referrals and we took 380 referrals; this was in part due to us having a period of time when we closed to referrals and moved to a system of only accepting a referral when we are able to provide a service. We now operate a waiting list prior to accepting a referral, which we have been able to reduce down slightly from 180 to 150 people. If we had not moved to this system, we would have received the same number of referrals as the previous year. We have during the course of this year increased our return to face-to-face provision and are using a variety of premises to do this from in East London.
It has remained a challenging this year to sustain capacity in the counselling team, as it has taken time to find appropriate spaces to work from. Some counsellors were not able to continue to work online due to the changes in the BACP position on no longer allowing online client hours whilst training. Due to the increased demand on our services this year we have continued to only offer a 14-session service. We were awarded new funding for the counselling service towards the end of this year which will mean we will be able to appoint to a new position of counselling co-ordinator which will increase the capacity of the
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team, and in addition we will be recruiting sessional youth counsellors and will be able to increase our capacity to work with under 18s.
We provided training for the counselling team, which included assessment training, trauma informed practice, relationship counselling and gender non-conforming experiences.
What those who have used our counselling services have had to say:
email from parent following their child's counselling ending: Thank you so much for your help with R. I have noticed a significant improvement in their ability to cope with her/their social anxiety and the need to self-harm has been massively reduced. Thank you for all your amazing support.
Jan - Feedback from client: I had clear signs of trauma affecting my daily life and behaviour for many years. At the point I found ELOP I was in a deep depression. I have definitely seen a huge improvement with how my brain processes issues, whilst once I would have automatically gone into a depressive episode or given up on myself my inner monologue is much more positive and willing to solve issues. Also my general mood is much happier. Furthermore my understanding of the complexity of body image have vastly improved, I am much more patient and understanding that I am an ever changing being and don’t have to look a certain way all the time, I am much more comfortable looking at myself without judging the way I look
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Heads Out Service
During this year we have increased our Heads Out Service to also establish Imago, a support group for those who are trans or non-binary. We have continued to run Reclaim and Recharge - Reclaim is a group for LBT women who have experienced domestic violence and sexual abuse, and Recharge focuses on providing group support for those with mental health concerns. We also ran Refocus, delivering mental health workshops for some of the year. Overall 121 group sessions were delivered and we have provided 181 hours of individual support through our mental health plans. We have supported 193 people within our Heads Out Services.
Feedback from client after mental health plan:
Thank you so much for all of your help over the past 6 weeks. It has been invaluable and I really appreciate all of the time you gave me. I will never forget it as you came life a life raft when I felt I was sinking & gave me the strength to build myself up again. Thank you so much
MHP Client: I'd like to feedback how valuable I found the sessions. I think it is a vital service which I really needed to help me feel more confident in managing my mental health issues. I found it very practical, and learnt a lot in a short space of time. I also found the sessions and the activities really engaging, which I needed in order to stay motivated to tackle some of these subjects. I have tried CBT before and haven't found it helpful for my issues, but these sessions were exactly what I needed. I felt like you created a very safe space in a short time. These sessions helped me at my worst moment, and have stopped my mental health from feeling too
difficult to bare and given me a lot of energy to keep supporting myself. Thanks so much!
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Befriending
10 befriending programmes were delivered over the year with 54 referrals to this service, although at times there was dropout from some of the programmes. During the sessions, there was good engagement with people enjoying the mix of focused activities and discussions. Over the year five volunteers have been successfully recruited to support the service . Evening programmes have been more successful than daytime programmes, and at the end of the year some targeted programmes for specific groups were planned to support the connections people make with others. This programme has been more difficult to deliver online and we know would benefit from being held in person.
elop has been very helpful for me and I have found the befriending service very helpful and has given me the courage to be more me and to connect with others.
Youth support services
We undertook a story telling project which produced ‘Our Stories, Loud & Proud' film: The programme commissioned by London Borough of Waltham Forest led to the creation of a video resource put together by the young people with their words and creative artwork.
This year we have continued our youth and family work, including a weekly 12-15s group and a weekly 15-18s group. The numbers in our groups have grown and have worked online, suiting some young people well. We have continued to provide more individual mentoring work with young people and due to the demand of this service have looked for future funding to enable us to expand this support, which is focused on specific needs and often practical in approach, such as activities to support coming out, social transitioning support and managing relationships with peers. Over the course of the year we supported 41 young people within our youth groups or mentoring and eight specifically for counselling only. A high proportion of young people we support identity as non-binary, gender fluid or trans.
We continue to support a proportionally high number of young people with a range of disabilities and mental health concerns, with common issues being generalised anxiety, social anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, low self-esteem and gender dysphoria. We work with young people who are involved in social care, either on child protection plans or children in need, also those who are using CAMHS and early help services. Referrals have come from parents/foster carers, young people, Family therapist, Social Workers, School Counsellor, Family Support, CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Team,
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Teachers, designated safeguarding leads in schools and Colleges, AKT (Albert Kennedy Trust) and GI (Gendered Intelligence).
We have continued to provide work in schools and have run Pride groups in both secondary schools and further education colleges as well as running a programme of activities within a Pupil Referral unit to widen acceptance of LGBT young people.
WellBeing group support programme
This year has continued to be challenging for our group support programme, with some groups finding remaining online difficult. We moved two groups back to in person in Tower Hamlets with our social support group having on average 10-12 people attending a week. Our over 50s group is also in person, with a smaller number of regular attendees. Other groups that we have run this year include an LBT+ women’s group, LGBT Asylum group, Rainbow Families group, a twice-monthly group for young adults (18-25) and other in person support including our men’s dance class and our
walking group. Our activities continue to reach new people. We were successful this year in attracting funding to run these groups for much of the year and have continued two groups which do not have any specified funding - the Asylum group, and 18-25s group. We continue to look for funding to enable us to continue this much needed support.
Overall, our group activities have supported 170 people over the course of the year, despite the difficulties of running many of these online. Our greatest challenge for these groups is to find some ongoing funding so that we can commit additional time and resource to these.
'The trip to the museum was so interesting and so much information about LGBT people. I really enjoyed having the conversation after with the other people and I felt so happy to see them and talk to them. I didn't feel lonely and it was so exciting to see everyone.
Before elop I never knew what to do and was mentally sick and couldn’t do anything. Now I have friends and a job and I feel much happier with my life and much less stress.' Asylum Group Member
December: "It’s really grateful for me to have this group in my life. You guys are awesome. Thanks for understanding me, listening me, and thanks for giving me attention." Asylum Group Member
Nice atmosphere, group is fun and I look forward to Tuesdays at 4pm." - LGBT+ Over 50s Group.
'Had a great session fun and loads of information. Thanks family ELOP' - Social Group member
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Great facilitator with plenty time of resources available. Friendly and approachable. Very supportive by the participants at all times. Especial thanks to ELOP for all the support through the pandemic. It helps to keep my well being and mental health in place." - Social Support & Over 50s Group Member
Consultation and representational activities
elop continues to attend community and statutory forums to ensure an LGBT voice is represented and heard and, recognising the value in partnership working, has formed excellent working relationships with other organisations and networks. elop has also provided consultancy services and training to a wide range of personnel and organisations and continued its involvement in The National LGBT Partnership. As part of our work we were involved in a number of projects, including leading on the National Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Health week. As part of this work this year we were a panellist at the launch event, ran a social media takeover and ran a Red Badge of Courage workshop focused on periods.
elop has run the Tower Hamlets LGBT Community Forum, providing a monthly forum, and the five aims of the forum are Connector & Agent of Change, Nothing About Us, Without Us, LGBT Voices Are Heard, Improving Access To Services and Creating Safe Spaces. The forum has actively been involved in raising community concerns in relation to hate crime and has been working with the Tower Hamlets Together Board, raising knowledge of the health inequalities experienced by the LGBT+ community.
elop continues to be involved in a partnership bid in Tower Hamlets bringing together userled equality organisations to foster intersectional work, and is now the representative from the Tower Hamlets Mental Health Alliance at the Tower Hamlets Partnership Board
Other activities and events
elop has again this year provided a range of LGBT events in Tower Hamlets and beyond. These events have been well received and have included the annual pride picnic and bandstand event, IDAHOBIT event, annual peace walk, LGBT history fayre and an event focused on bisexual mental health. We were able to attract over 2000 people to the events held. In addition, elop walked in London Pride, attended Waltham Forest Pride, ran two events for World
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Mental Health Day (one for Professionals and one for community members) and an event for Black History Month.
“I loved the Barberfellas - they were so talented and the song about bears was so funny!"
“The event was great. The performances were brilliant and I loved meeting people in person!” (ReCharge Member)
“When I came to the UK I wasn't expecting to feel uncomfortable but I experienced insults and stares and hate crime which made me very depressed and suicidal. elop has been a big part of me feeling better and more positive to be
in such a supportive space. It was such a fantastic event and loved the quiz - I won a prize! These kinds of events and services are so important." (Asylum group & LGBT+ Forum member about elop & 10th October Event )
Training and Education
During this year we have continued to run our foundation course in LGBT+ affirmative counselling. We ran two courses with 23 people attending and 21 people successfully completing and passing. We have continued to work towards establishing the Advanced Diploma in affirmative counselling and are looking to start this in October 2024. We have
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increased the amount of training we have delivered which has meant that our earned income through our training has increased by £12,000 this year.
August - Thank you once again for yet another excellent session (Nelft LGBT+ allies)
November - I thought our trainer was excellent. He was very funny, confident and put us at ease. He addressed tricky questions and made me feel included. (Buttle UK)
December, FC evaluation: A transformative environment for learning and reflection was created between the group members and tutors. This nurtured a group dynamic that allowed vulnerability, personal experience and deep learning. I was constantly surprised by how much personal experience combined with learning has already impacted positively on my own personal life, relationships, and career perspectives. This course is transformational – thank you so much!
January, city and Hackney IAPT: Thank you for a wonderful training and hope to see you back at Talk Changes again.
I added my pronouns to my signature after this training, and am going to be mindful of using gender-neutral language with clients and being more conscious of the struggles someone who doesn't identify as male/female or heteronormative terms can have experienced
Fundraising
Much of elop’s efforts for fundraising this year have focused on applications to trusts and foundations to support our diversifying of funding streams, and we have achieved good successes with this. In addition, we have increased our fundraising efforts through putting on some new events such as drag bingo, our established Exercise4elop campaign and participated in the Red Run for the first time. In addition, we have been supported by Walthamstow Trades Hall and Trapped Events, who have supported elop through their fundraising events held, and the Depressed Baker has continued to support elop through their comedy nights. We have raised £13,000 through fundraising (which was an increase of £4,000) and £19,700 through donations. We raised less money through
donations than the previous year as we had been supported through Google’s employer giving, which was stopped this year. We have spent this year growing our fundraising team so that we can increase our capacity to run fundraising events in the future. During this year elop again successfully increased its earned income and were able to increase the amount
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raised through providing training and consultation to others. We will look to build on our learning from online fundraising and will continue this in the forthcoming year alongside running in-person fundraising events.
Corporate & Other Partners
During the year we formed a partnership with Compare the Market and have continued links with the Google LGBT network.
New funding
elop has continued to be successful in attracting new funding during the course of the year, and funding for the future. During this year we have attracted new funding from Arnold Clark, DWF Foundation and the Ford Trust, as well as further funding from London Boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets. We are especially pleased to announce three-year funding was granted from the National Lottery Community Fund.
We want to thank all our funders who have supported our work during this year and going forwards.
Individual donors
We would like to thank all the individuals who have made one-off or regular donations to the charity over the course of the year. We have again been successful this year in raising additional money through individual donations. We would like to thank the Depressed Baker, who had raised money for elop through putting on comedy events in his back garden and other venues for elop, and has raised over £1,500.
Organisational change
During this year we have had limited changes to the staff team, but we were not able to maintain the mental health team with two full-time workers, as expected funding did not materialise. Over the course of the year three people left the organisation and three people joined. All staff during this year undertook safeguarding training and trauma-informed practice, having introduced new mandatory training for all staff. We have moved forward with the organisation becoming trauma-informed and this is now being embedded in all areas within the organisation. The Director of Wellbeing Services has become the Designated lead for Safeguarding supported by a safeguarding lead on the board, who meet quarterly to ensure that we continually work to strengthen safeguarding within the organisation. The staff and Board and have worked to implement the trauma-informed strategy, with all staff taking part in training and the Board agreeing a trauma-informed policy statement.
The demand for support has continued to be unrelenting, and the ability to provide much needed mental health support during this time would not have been possible without the dedication of our staff team. The Trustees would like to take this opportunity to thank the
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whole staff team for their enormous and continued commitment and ongoing support. We would like to recognise the leadership of the CEO, who has been able to support and steer the organisation to be in a good position for the years ahead.
Contribution by volunteers
Many of elop’s activities are carried out and supported by the skills, dedication and commitment of our volunteer teams. elop had more than 110 volunteers involved during the year and generally maintained a core team of around 70-75 volunteers at any one time. We have been successful this year in recruiting new counsellors, group facilitators, befriending and fundraising volunteers.
During this year we also had five socialwork students undertaking 70-day placements at elop. Our volunteer counsellor team continues to be our largest single volunteer team, and whilst numbers fluctuate during the year we have worked hard to maintain the team between 36-40 counsellors at any one time. Our group facilitators continue to do a great job of supporting our groups and have supported online delivery, in person-support and outdoor sessions.
elop recognises that we need to continue to recruit and retain volunteers to help us deliver the wide range of services we have. elop’s Board would like to sincerely thank all volunteers for their continued hard work, loyalty and achievements; without their support elop could not successfully provide the range of activities on offer nor support as many individuals as we do.
“Thank you so much for today's induction. I found the induction very exciting and brought everyone together, which made me feel like I belong to a warm community”
Feedback from a counsellor leaving elop: “I just wanted to email to say a huge thank you for your support and encouragement over the last two and a bit years. I've learned so much in my time here, and feel like the service is really well run. I've heard some horror stories from peers in placements elsewhere and been very glad I was here! I also think elop provides an invaluable service to the queer community - particularly with the groups and other sessions that clients can access alongside their counselling - and I'm proud to have been a part of that.”
“This has been an amazingly supportive environment, it is now time for me to start seeing private clients. I really have loved working at ELOP and I'm looking forward to a time when I'll be able to afford doing some work with you guys again”
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Financial review and reserves policy
Our reserves policy is that we should be working towards holding 3-6 months of reserves to demonstrate our sustainability and be able to cover the equivalent of 3-6 months of core funding at any one time. We have achieved this but are aware that we face particularly significant expenditure next year in relation to moving premises, and have been preparing for this in order to not impact on our ability to cover core expenditure. We will remain vigilant about our expenditure to ensure stability and sustainability for the future.
The charity made a surplus of £73,653 (2022 - £104,882) and has unrestricted reserves totalling £511,489 (2022 - £437,836) of which £220,000 (2022 - £180,000) has been designated towards the relocation and expansion of the Charity’s premises.
The future
During 2023/24 we will look to find suitable premises in East London and return to running our services from a community centre whilst retaining some online support for those that need it. Having moved to the cloud, we will enhance the organisation’s ability to work more smartly, and will enable all volunteers to have online access to their relevant documentation. We will be looking to ensure more of our administration is cloud-based for easier access for all. We will establish an Operations Manager role to strengthen the administration functions of the organisation and to support the work of the CEO. We will look at enhancing our therapeutic offer to include more support for young people as well as enhance our mentoring work. We will work on expanding our training provision so that we will be able to enlarge our training team. We will look to expand the roles volunteers can take in the organisation and increase our volunteer teams so we have two volunteers supporting each group, and a larger fundraising and events team. Our plans beyond this will be laid out in our business plan but will include consolidating our position as a leading LGBT+ mental health service and expansion of our schools and family work.
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Statement of Trustee’s Responsibility in relation to Financial Statements
The charity’s Trustees (Directors) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the 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 period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
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Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
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Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
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Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy, at any time, the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. 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 as well as exercising proper financial controls.
By order of the trustees
Sarah Humphreys (Chair)
25-01-2024 Date
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
Independent Examiner's Report
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31st March 2023.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).
Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your company’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Independent examiner's statement
Since the company’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of Institute of Chartered Accounts of Scotland which is one of the listed bodies.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
-accounting records were not kept in respect of the company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
-the accounts do not accord with those records; or
-the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
-the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached
M J Laughton CA MUNRO BROWN LTD Chartered Accountants
Scots House, Scots Lane, Salisbury SP1 3TR
Date: 29-01-2024
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
(including summary income and expenditure account)
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
| Notes INCOME Donations and Gifts 5 Charitable Activities 6 Other trading activities 5 TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES 9 EXPENDITURE ON Charitable Activities 7 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 9 NET INCOMING RESOURCES FOR YEAR BEFORE TRANSFERS TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS 9 NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS FUNDS BROUGHT FORWARD AT 1ST APRIL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD AT 31ST MARCH |
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL TOTAL FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2023 2023 2023 2022 |
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL TOTAL FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2023 2023 2023 2022 |
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL TOTAL FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2023 2023 2023 2022 |
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL TOTAL FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2023 2023 2023 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ £ £ £ 94,408 - 94,408 125,130 94,525 234,905 329,430 332,859 48,091 - 48,091 29,831 |
||||
| 237,024 | 234,905 | 471,929 | 487,820 | |
| 163,371 234,905 398,276 382,938 |
||||
| 163,371 | 234,905 | 398,276 | 382,938 | |
| 73,653 - 73,653 104,882 - - - - |
||||
| 73,653 - 73,653 104,882 437,836 - 437,836 332,954 |
||||
| 511,489 - 511,489 437,836 |
The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses in the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
BALANCE SHEET
AT 31ST MARCH 2023
| Notes FIXED ASSETS 10 CURRENT ASSETS Debtors & prepayments 11 Cash at bank and in hand CREDITORS, AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 12 NET CURRENT ASSETS TOTAL NET ASSETS FUNDS Unrestricted Funds General Funds 9 Designated Funds 9 Restricted Funds 9 TOTAL FUNDS |
2023 £ £ - 21,775 601,562 623,337 111,848 511,489 £ 511,489 291,489 220,000 - £ 511,489 |
2022 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £ 21,775 601,562 |
£ 23,513 533,265 |
£ - 437,836 |
|
| 623,337 111,848 |
556,778 118,942 |
||
| £ £ |
£ £ |
||
| 437,836 | |||
| 257,836 180,000 - |
|||
| 437,836 |
The directors are satisfied that the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 and that members have not required an audit in accordance with section 476.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for:
i) ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with section 386; and
ii) preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of the financial year and of its profit or loss for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of section 396 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of this Act relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the charitable company.
25-01-2024 Approved by the Trustee Directors and signed on their behalf on :
S Humphreys
Company Number : 03355423
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
1) ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements are set out below, and have been consistently applied within the accounts.
- a) The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS 102), the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), "Accounting and Reporting by Charities" published in 2015 and applicable charity and company law. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.
The charity adopted SORP (FRS 102) in the current year and and there were no transition adjustments
-
b) The charity is a company limited by guarantee. The members of the company are the trustees named on page 1. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charity.
-
c) Incoming resources are recognised on an accruals basis, except that donations and legacies are recognised only upon receipt unless the donor advises otherwise. Grants are treated as income for the period to which the grantor assigns the grant and the stipulated period of service provision and deferred as necessary. Service contracts or grants where the grantor stipulates performance targets and does not specify that a surplus is retrievable, are regarded as unrestricted once the targets are achieved. The value of services provided by volunteers is not incorporated into these financial statements. Donated assets are valued at fair market value. During the year no assets were donated.
-
d) Resources Expended/ Expenditure
Charitable activities relate to the costs incurred in providing the company's charitable services. These include expenses to provide training to counsellors and education for relevant groups as well as the majority of staff costs. They include all materials and literature provided to run the projects and support costs like telephone, postage and stationery. Costs are shown inclusive on non-recoverable VAT.
e) Fixed assets are capitalised at cost and depreciation is provided to write off the cost of the assets over their expected useful economic lives. Office equipment (General Fund) is written off at a rate of 33.3% per annum on a reducing balance basis. Leasehold improvements (General Fund) are written off at a rate of 20% per annum on a straight line basis. The length of the orginal lease was 5 years and these costs have now been fully amortised. The cost of subsequent refurbishments has been written off as incurred. Office equipment (restricted funds) is written off over the length of the funding. The estimated residual value of the fixed assets is nil.
- f) Stocks of safe sex literature relating to the Charity's services & general information are written off as incurred.
g) The value of services provided by volunteers is not included within these financial statements.
-
h) The Charity operates a defined contributions pension scheme
-
i) The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.
-
j) Unrestricted funds are available for the use in the furtherance of the charity's objectives. Restricted funds are subject to restrictions imposed by the donors as set out in the notes to the accounts.
-
k) Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any trade discounts due.
- l) Creditors Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
2) FUNDS & FUNDING
General Fund
The General Fund includes all grant income from Local Authorities or other statutory bodies who support the main objectives and services provided by the East London Out Project in their areas..
The General Fund also accounts for unrestricted charitable trusts and foundation funding, donations, fundraising and investment income.
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets provided funding for the provision & delivery of an LGBT community forum for engaging local LGBT communities, representation & consultation, the provision, and delivery of LGBT community events, plus the delivery of LGBT mental health crisis prevention plans, support groups and awareness training to local providers.
DH (National LGB&T Partnership) an England-wide consortia of LGBT voluntary & community organisations who are committed to reducing health inequalities & challenging homophobia, biphobia & transphobia in public services. elop is one of the partners. The Partnership is currently funded by the Department of Health to support & enable the partnerships strategic engagement & consultation with Government & statutory bodies.
Postcode Society Trust provided 12 months funding contributing towards costs for running the counselling service.
Equalities Partnership in Tower Hamlets (Cornerstone) provided funding to ensure LGBT representation in partnership project.
London Community Foundation: GVC provided a 12-month grant for GBT men’s health work.
LB Waltham Forest (Early Help Project): a one-off grant to support LGBTQ+ youth story-telling project.
Arnold Clark: a one-off small grant to contribute to support work with LGBT people seeking asylum.
DWF Foundation: a one-off small grant to set-up and pilot new Trans & Non-binary support group.
QMUL: a one-off small grant to support participation in Festival of Communities event.
Ford Trust: a one-off small grant to contribute to LGBTQ+ youth activities.
BBC Children in Need - part of a 3-year grant to deliver a dedicated LGBT children’s and young people’s project including weekly youth support groups, one-to-one support, and counselling.
City Bridge Trust Continuation Funding – final part of a 2-year grant contributing funding to the organisations counselling service costs.
The National Lottery Community Fund (Partnership Grant) – part of a 3-year grant in partnership with London Friend & LGBT Hero funding mental health and befriending support.
London Community Foundation: MOPAC VAWG Grassroots Fund – part of 2-year grant for dedicated support services for LBT+ survivors of domestic abuse & sexual violence.
Tudor Trust - part of a 3-year grant for Director of Wellbeing Services post.
LB Waltham Forest (Vulnerable Resident Fund) – one-off grant to contribute to provision of mental health support for LGBT residents.
LB Waltham Forest (Health Inequalities Impact Fund) – one year grant to provide LGBT health project for LGBT residents.
LB Hackney – one-off grant to provide mental health support for LGBT residents.
The National Lottery Community Fund – part of a 3-year grant to support LGBT counselling.
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
| **3) ** | OPERATING SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | ||
| The net operating surplus/(deficit) of income over expenditure is stated after charging: | |||
| Staff costs (note 4) | 319,224 | 293,516 | |
| Depreciation of equipment & loss on disposal | - | - |
| 4) STAFF COSTS Staff costs for the year were as follows: Salaries Social security costs Pensions Costs |
2023 £ 284,142 23,950 11,132 |
2022 £ 264,738 20,475 8,303 |
|---|---|---|
| 319,224 | 293,516 |
The average number of persons employed by the charitable company in the year was 10 persons. (2022 - 11). No members of staff was paid more than £60,000.
The key management personnel of the charity comprises the trustees and the Chief Executive, to whom responsibility for the day-to-day activities of the charity is delegated. The total employee benefits received by key management personnel during the year (excluding employer pension costs) were £59,385 (2022: £55,980).
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
| 5) INCOMING RESOURCES FROM GENERATED FUNDS UNRESTRICTED FUNDS GENERAL FUND Donations and Gifts Donations from individuals COVID - JRS User Contributions Other trading activities Fund-raising activities Training & Placement fees Investment Income Interest receivable TOTAL RESOURCES FROM GENERATED FUNDS |
£ £ 19,703 - 74,705 94,408 13,601 32,356 45,957 140,365 2,134 142,499 TOTAL 2023 |
£ £ 19,703 - 74,705 94,408 13,601 32,356 45,957 140,365 2,134 142,499 TOTAL 2023 |
£ £ 30,305 - 94,825 125,130 9,361 20,382 29,743 154,873 88 154,961 TOTAL 2022 |
£ £ 30,305 - 94,825 125,130 9,361 20,382 29,743 154,873 88 154,961 TOTAL 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,601 32,356 |
9,361 20,382 |
|||
| 140,365 2,134 |
154,873 88 |
|||
| 142,499 | 154,961 |
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
| 6) ANALYSIS OF GRANTS UNRESTRICTED FUNDS GENERAL FUND London Borough Tower Hamlets London Borough Waltham Forest Postcode Society Trust Tudor Trust - other Kickstart Scheme Arnold Clark Auto DWF Charitable Foundation Queen Marys University FORD Trust LB Waltham Forest (Early Help Project) Alpkit Foundation Students’ Union UCL Volunteering Service Equalities Partnership in Tower Hamlets (Cornerstone) East London Community Foundation (LBTH Cohesion Events Fund) Groundwork UK: Tesco Bags of Help London Community Foundation: GVC LB Tower Hamlets - LCF London Community Foundation: Wave 5 DH (National LGBT Partnership) TOTAL GENERAL FUND RESTRICTED FUNDS BBC Children in Need The National Lottery Community Fund (Partnership Grant) The National Lottery Community Fund LB Waltham Forest (Health Inequalites Impact Fund) London Community Foundation: GVC LB Waltham Forest (Vulnerable Resident Fund) LB Hackney (LBH) Tides Foundation Google Community Fund London Community Foundation: MOPAC VAWG Grassroots Fund London Community Foundation: MOPAC Victims Fund Round 6 Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales Tudor Trust City Bridge Trust( 2 year continuation) Mind - Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund Groundwork UK - Thrive London LGBT+ Futures National Emergencies Trust Fund TOTAL RESTRICTED FUNDS TOTAL UNRESTRICTED & RESTRICTED |
GRANTS Opening Closing Deferred Rec'd in year Debtors Debtors Income TOTAL & Creditors movement 2023 2022 £ £ £ £ £ £ 25,000 (8,333) 8,333 - 25,000 27,000 - - - - 2,825 - - - 12,977 12,977 4,326 - - - - 2,000 - - - - 7,565 1,000 - - - 1,000 - 1,500 - - - 1,500 - 200 - - - 200 - 2,260 - - - 2,260 - 5,000 - - - 5,000 - - - - - - 300 - - - - - 250 8,542 - - - 8,542 3,000 - - - - - 500 - - - - - 500 - - - 8,250 8,250 1,750 27,618 - - - 27,618 27,617 - - - - - 9,863 2,688 - - (510) 2,178 2,843 |
|---|---|
| 73,808 (8,333) 8,333 20,717 94,525 90,339 |
|
| 32,295 - - (500) 31,795 29,498 54,464 - - - 54,464 13,616 81,125 - - (55,993) 25,132 - 6,790 - - (2,600) 4,190 - 15,000 - - (15,000) - - - - - 9,762 9,762 - 19,880 - - - 19,880 - - - - - - 22,599 37,307 - - - 37,307 38,705 - - - - - 28,769 - - - - - 5,500 - - - 40,000 40,000 32,001 - - - 12,375 12,375 49,500 - - - - - 15,244 - - - - - 1,000 - - - - - 6,088 |
|
| 246,861 - - (11,956) 234,905 242,520 |
|
| 320,669 (8,333) 8,333 8,761 329,430 332,859 |
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
7) TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED
TOTAL
| SERVICE AREA Core Service activities TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED |
Core Services Governance Support £ £ £ 378,430 10,873 8,973 378,430 10,873 8,973 |
2023 2022 £ £ 398,276 382,938 |
|---|---|---|
| 398,276 382,938 |
Where not directly attributable, costs are allocated on a basis of estimated time associated with specific activities.
8) GOVERNANCE & SUPPORT COSTS
| GOVERNANCE & SUPPORT COSTS Staff salaries Apportioned office running costs and resources Accountancy |
2023 2023 £ £ Governance Support 6,649 6,649 2,324 2,324 1,900 - |
|---|---|
| 10,873 8,973 |
9) MOVEMENT ON FUNDS IN YEAR
| Note UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 2 General Fund Designated Funds: Property Reserve RESTRICTED FUNDS 2 BBC Children in Need The National Lottery Community Fund (Partnership Grant) The National Lottery Community Fund LB Waltham Forest (Health Inequalites Impact Fund) LB Waltham Forest (Vulnerable Resident Fund) LB Hackney (LBH) London Community Foundation: MOPAC VAWG Grassroots Fun Tudor Trust City Bridge Trust( 2 year continuation) TOTAL RESTRICTED FUNDS TOTAL UNRESTRICTED & RESTRICTED |
Opening Incoming Outgoing Transfers Closing Balance Resources Resources between Balance at 1/4/2022 (notes 5 & 6) (note 7) funds at 31/3/2023 £ £ £ £ £ 257,836 237,024 163,371 (40,000) 291,489 180,000 - - 40,000 220,000 |
|---|---|
| 437,836 237,024 163,371 - 511,489 |
|
| - 31,795 31,795 - - - 54,464 54,464 - - - 25,132 25,132 - - - 4,190 4,190 - - - 9,762 9,762 - - - 19,880 19,880 - - d - 37,307 37,307 - - - 40,000 40,000 - - - 12,375 12,375 - - |
|
| - 234,905 234,905 - - |
|
| 437,836 471,929 398,276 - 511,489 |
The Trustees have designated £40,000 in the year towards the relocation and expansion of the charity's premises
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
FIXED ASSETS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
| 10) FIXED ASSETS Cost Brought forward Additions Disposals AT 31ST MARCH 2023 Depreciation Brought forward Charge for year On disposals Transfers between funds AT 31ST MARCH 2023 Net Book Value AT 31ST MARCH 2023 AT 31ST MARCH 2022 11) DEBTORS, amounts falling due within one year Grants receivable Other debtors & prepayments 12) CREDITORS, amounts falling due within one year Other taxation & social security Deferred income Other creditors & accruals |
Leasehold General Fund £ 7,116 - - |
Office Equipment General Fund £ 30,037 - - 30,037 30,037 - - - 30,037 - - 2023 £ 8,333 13,442 21,775 2023 £ 9,504 88,219 14,125 111,848 |
TOTAL £ 37,153 - - |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7,116 | 37,153 | ||
| 7,116 - - - |
37,153 - - - |
||
| 7,116 | 37,153 | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| 2022 £ - 23,513 |
|||
| 23,513 | |||
| 2022 £ 6,997 96,980 14,965 |
|||
| 118,942 |
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EAST LONDON OUT PROJECT
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
13) ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS
| ALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS | |
|---|---|
| Tangible Fixed Assets Current Assets Current Liabilities |
Restricted Unrestricted Total £ £ £ - - - 87,709 535,628 623,337 (87,709) (24,139) (111,848) |
| - 511,489 511,489 |
14) TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION & EXPENSES
In the year there were no payments to Trustees, . (2022- nil.)
15) TAXATION
The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.
16) STATUS, CONNECTED CHARITIES & RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The company is incorporated by charitable means and is limited by guarantee without share capital. The company is not part of any group.
No payments were made to any related party.
17) COMMITMENTS
The lease on the ELOP centre premises has expired. The charity is currently renting the same property on an annual basis.
29