2022-03-31-accounts

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

REPORT AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Registered Company No. 03744357

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

C O N T E N T S

	Pages
Reference and Administrative Details	1
Chairman’s Report	2
Report of the Trustees	3 - 20
Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members	21 - 23
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities	24
Consolidated Balance Sheet	25
Charitable Company Balance Sheet	26
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement	27
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements	28 – 39

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Reference and Administrative Details

PRESIDENT	J Inverdale
VICE PRESIDENTS	A Bloom
	A H Lambert
	A Jones
	Baroness Masham
	A Sparkes
	J R Tattersall
CHAIRMAN	Dr S Patel
VICE CHAIRMAN	D Holden
CHIEF EXECUTIVE	B Carlin MBA
TRUSTEES & DIRECTORS	Dr H Agha
	R Burrell
	A Chaplin
	N Flanagan
	S Gardiner
	D Holden
	C J Leach
	H Mehta
	Dr S Patel
	J Sacks
CHARITY NUMBER	1075317 – England & Wales
	SC037482 – Scotland
	20150181 – Ireland
COMPANY NUMBER	03744357
BUSINESS ADDRESS	Aspire National Training Centre
	Wood Lane
	Stanmore
	Middlesex HA7 4AP
REGISTERED OFFICE	2nd Floor, Regis House
	45 King William Street
	London EC4R 9AN
AUDITORS	Azets Audit Services
	2nd Floor, Regis House
	45 King William Street
	London EC4R 9AN
BANKERS	CAF Cash Limited
	Kings Hill
	West Malling
	Kent ME19 4TA
	Metro Bank
	One Southampton Row
	London WC1B 5HA
SOLICITORS	BDB Pitmans LLP
	One Bartholomew Close
	London EC1A 7BL

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Chairman’s Report

It is with great pleasure, pride and gratitude I write the Chair’s report this year. The last financial year saw the slow, but steady, easing of restrictions as people around the world returned to life as close to pre-pandemic existence as possible. Most charities had been fighting for survival during the pandemic. Aspire developed a three-year strategy to rebuild and stabilise our financial position and increase our services in support of spinal cord injured people and their families. However, just as we started to recover from the pandemic, we have all faced the impact of the war in Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation and energy price increases that we have never witnessed before.

The Charity Sector reports of a new ‘Triple Threat’, soaring demand, falling donations and increased costs. The Aspire Welfare Benefits Advice services are experiencing record breaking levels of enquiries, beyond anything we have ever experienced before. This increase in demand has been driven by the cost-of-living crisis, with many of our clients approaching us because they don’t have enough money to live on and are desperately hoping they are entitled to something more than they are already receiving. Our Money Matters Service is also busier than ever in helping clients to establish realistic budgets to manage the money they have better and, in many cases, reduce existing debt.

Hundreds of patients throughout the country faced accelerated discharge from specialist spinal cord injury centres and missed out on valuable rehabilitation and education. The majority of patients were discharged into care homes, with little or no support to ensure that they were rehoused to appropriate and fully accessible accommodation. Aspire is delighted to be working with NHS England to track down as many of these patients as possible with the aim of supporting them to move into appropriate and suitable permanent homes through the reinstatement of our Housing Advice Service. Our project, funded by NHS England, also supports the introduction of a Community Support Officer and an extension of our Patient Education Programme which ensures patients receive the best education to allow them to manage their condition effectively. A National Lottery Grant will also support the expansion of our service over the next three years and help us meet the rising demand for our services.

Our Assistive Technologists have provided patients, with limited or no upper limb function, the capability to access their smart phone, tablet or computer. Established in Salisbury, Stanmore, Stoke Mandeville, Sheffield and Cardiff, we are delighted that Aspire services will soon be available in Oswestry as well. We will be broadening access to our Assistive Technologist to support hospitals and major trauma centres in the London area.

Our Independent Living Advisors have continued to provide vital peer support and critical information to help patients prepare for life after discharge.

Aspire Leisure Centre, like many leisure centres throughout the UK, is facing significantly higher operating costs due to the fuel crisis. Many swimming pools are reducing the temperature of the water, reducing opening hours and in some cases closing. Aspire’s pool is continuing to be maintained at 31 degrees to ensure our most vulnerable customers can continue to benefit from the facility. In November 2022, we also launched a ‘Warm Hub’ in the evenings where members of the local community, who are struggling to heat their own homes, can come and enjoy a warm environment, access free wi-fi, watch TV and have free access to a range of games. Recovering from the impact of the pandemic has been slow with membership of the centre only rebuilding to 87% of pre-pandemic levels.

Fundraising swimming challenges have increased since 2019 by 30% whilst total income generated from such events has reduced by 19%. With swimming pools still working with booked slot access and there being a general decline in swimming activity, we have experienced low levels of participants for our long-established Aspire Channel Swim Challenge. However, our portfolio of open water swim challenges has experienced yet another record fundraising year. Although total fundraising income was £431k lower than the previous year, restricted income from Trusts and Foundations improved by 78%. Overall, a significant improvement on 2019/20 pre-pandemic performance.

Our joint venture law firm, Aspire Law LLP, has now been operating for eight years and continues to secure some of the highest value settlements on behalf of our clients. As the only law firm dedicated to representing spinal cord injury claimants, Aspire Law LLP has now provided over £1.2m in sponsorship support to the spinal cord injury charity sector whilst also contributing £300k in dividend payments to Aspire Charity, since its creation, through Aspire Trading 2014 Ltd. We are extremely grateful to our joint venture partner Moore Barlow LLP for their remarkable support.

A change in working practice during the pandemic has seen the rise in hybrid working. Aspire worked hard during this time to give our staff greater flexible working arrangements and invested in support infrastructure for remote workers. Staff wellbeing is at the core of our management practice with a new Health and Wellbeing policy developed and implemented during the year. We are proud that Aspire has been ranked 18 in the Best Companies to work for in the Charity/Non-Profit category.

Through the incredible work of our staff, we have stabilised our financial position and expanded our vital services. I wish to thank the staff of Aspire for this remarkable achievement and for the ongoing delivery of our many services and continuing to support spinal cord injured people. They have done so selflessly and with remarkable resilience through these difficult times. In addition, I wish to thank all of our funders and fundraisers for their ongoing support which we could not do without.

Dr S Patel – Chair

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

The Trustees, who are also directors of the charitable company for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, have pleasure in presenting their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 in accordance with that Act, the Charities Act 2011 and the governing instrument.

Charitable Objectives

Aspire exists to provide practical help to people paralysed by spinal cord injury, supporting them from injury to independence.

Aspire was founded in 1983 to work with people with spinal cord injury to create opportunity, choice and independence through its activities in rehabilitation, reintegration and research. Its office is in Stanmore in Middlesex, alongside the London Spinal Injury Centre at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust (RNOH).

Aspire fulfils its objectives through three key areas of work, namely, rehabilitation, reintegration and research.

Rehabilitation

Aspire provides practical support to people with spinal cord injuries from the time of their injury through to discharge from a Spinal Injury Centre and onwards for the rest of their lives. Aspire has developed a range of services, which it believes offers individuals a nurturing and rehabilitative environment that will enable them to achieve their full potential. It is Aspire’s aim to deliver and build on these services throughout the UK.

Reintegration

Aspire provides temporary homes for those waiting to be discharged from hospital so that they may be reunited with their family and start living their life again whilst waiting for a permanent home to be made available. Our key aim over the coming years is to expand this provision to support the discharge needs of spinal injury patients through the provision of our Housing Programme and Housing Case Management Services to support those living in unacceptable and inaccessible accommodation.

Aspire provides Independent Living Services that include highly trained spinal cord injured Independent Living Advisors who work in almost all of the specialist Spinal Injury Centres throughout the UK. They are there to support patients from the earliest stages of rehabilitation and to help advise on a wide range of topics to support living independently once discharged from hospital. Our Welfare Benefits Advice Service ensures that spinal cord injured people are receiving the benefits that they are entitled to receive whilst also being offered the support of our Money Matters Service.

The Aspire Assistive Technology Services operate in four of the Spinal Injury Centres and provide patients, with limited or no upper limb function, help to access their smart phone, tablet or computer. Trained with this technology, patients can stay connected with family and friends and develop skills to continue with education or return to work, or just stay connected with the world.

Aspire Your Fund provides a tax efficient method of fundraising in support of spinal cord injured people to help them purchase specialist equipment they would otherwise not be able to afford therefore providing them with greater independence for everyday living.

The Aspire Leisure Centre was Europe’s first fully inclusive leisure centre for disabled and non-disabled people. It was opened in September 1998 and is the showpiece of the Charity’s unique approach to breaking down the barriers between non-disabled and disabled people. As well as state-of-the-art rehabilitation, physiotherapy and occupational therapy suites, the centre offers a large range of sporting, dance and leisure activities, all of which are run on an inclusive basis – where non-disabled and disabled people can take part side-by-side. The centre enjoys approximately 400,000 active visits each year, with 32% of membership and approximately 37% attendance by disabled customers.

Aspire provides a range of practical services to support people with a spinal cord injury to reintegrate into society and lead a fulfilled life.

The Aspire multi award-winning innovative project, InstructAbility, was developed to train disabled people to become fitness professionals with a twelve-week supported work placement. It works with Sport England and the industry membership organisations to create a lasting change of true equality for disabled employees and customers. Our aim is to create a UK leisure industry where disabled people are made to feel more welcome whether as a professional or service user.

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Research

Aspire has, from its inception, been excited by the possibilities of technology. The Charity is determined that people with spinal cord injuries should benefit from the cutting edge of new developments in this field. To that end, Aspire has invested over £3 million in support of our Aspire Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology (Aspire CREATe) over the past twenty six years through University College London (UCL) and the Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculo-Skeletal Science, based at RNOH Stanmore. This research centre focuses on the development of cost effective and practical technologies that can improve the lives of disabled people and the outcome of treatment through the use of improved technology.

Strategies for achieving those objectives

Aspire will continue to develop new relationships with housing associations in key geographical locations, already identified, to gain new fully accessible properties to add to its existing complement of Aspire Houses. Aspire will work in partnership with the housing associations toward new build projects and present a case to gain access to existing housing stock.

We have forged strong relationships with the occupational therapists at all Spinal Injury Centres where our Assistive Technology facilities have been placed. We continue to work with and report to our funders, who support our programme, to ensure they are kept informed of all developments and benefits to the spinal injury community and maintain an understanding of the latest technological developments. Our programme is delivered by highly skilled professionals in four of the nine spinal centres. We host an annual conference which is attended by representatives from all the Spinal Injury Centres to share our knowledge and demonstrate the latest technological developments.

A national service of Aspire Independent Living Advisors provides practical support and advice on living life with a spinal cord injury. They ensure newly injured patients are informed of all the services available to support them and of the practical solutions to problems that Aspire and other charities and organisations can provide.

Aspire will undertake constant reviews and assessments of our fundraising throughout the year to ensure we achieve the most effective and efficient fundraising results. Aspire is currently working to a fundraising plan to ensure our fundraising can meet the additional services we plan in the future. The Fundraising and Marketing Committee continually monitors this work to ensure compliance with our annual plan and budgets.

Following the impact of the pandemic, we developed a three year strategy that would first focus on re-establishing stability in our financial position and to steadily work to reintroduce our Housing Advice service whilst securing funding to expand our work with patient education. Our current strategic focus is to ensure our services continue to support as many beneficiaries as possible whilst strengthening our financial position to ensure Aspire’s longevity. Recent agreement with NHS England will ensure Aspire can work to identify the hundreds of patients who were discharged from spinal centres throughout the pandemic and missed out on the support provided by spinal injury charities. We will support them to move into permanent accessible accommodation and ensure they are receiving the welfare benefit support they are entitled to.

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

How objectives link to longer term strategies and objectives

Our Aspire Services department is the spearhead of our national outreach programme and takes the Charity out into the community, nationwide. Our objectives are set to ensure that there is an increasing awareness of Aspire and its services by the multidisciplinary spinal cord injury professionals, newly injured patients and the general spinal injury community. Direct links with each and every Spinal Injury Centre will also help Aspire communicate with more people with spinal cord injuries directly. The success of our Aspire Independent Living Advisors provides a familiar face to this increased presence and essential guidance to Aspire Services on the most appropriate support and help needed.

Evidence indicates that one of the greatest issues facing Spinal Injury Centres and patients is the ability to be discharged to an accessible home at the end of the rehabilitation process and for patients to get back on with their life. One in five patients are discharged to care homes. During the course of the pandemic, almost all patients were discharged to care homes. This may be the most appropriate accommodation for a minority of patients, but it is certainly not for the majority. Patients, once discharged to a care home, can face a residency period of one to six years. During this time they will live in a single room and be prevented from being reunited with their family in their own home and not able to enjoy the freedom and independence we all take for granted. For the 59% of patients discharged to their own homes almost all will be attempting to live in an un-adapted home where living conditions can be very limiting and extremely challenging.

Expanding our housing complement will increase the possibility of patients being discharged to a temporary home whilst action is taken to prepare a permanent home. The additional benefits are that our properties promote independence, can accommodate a live-in carer and family, if necessary, whilst this service also ensures a specialist bed in a spinal injury centre can become available for a newly injured patient at the earliest opportunity. Our Housing Case Management Service ensures that those not living in an Aspire House or suitable accessible home can be supported by us to ensure we help them to secure a fully accessible home.

Aspire aims to ensure our Housing Programme supports every Spinal Injury Centre throughout the UK and will continue to expand. Objective 4 (see Performance Summary) will aim to address this and start to provide additional national support.

Our Assistive Technology provides patients with internet access to stay in touch with family and friends worldwide, keep up to date with the outside world and independence activities such as shopping to banking online. This technology embraces our ethos and helps to maintain independence and supports those with limited or no upper limb function. This service is currently provided in five spinal injury centres, and we will aim to expand this service to additional centres in the future as well as through outreach into the community where possible.

Aspire exists to support people from injury to independence. Our work through improving patient education ensures spinal cord injured patients have the best level of understanding of living with and managing their condition, whilst promoting ‘best practice’ throughout all the Specialist Centres.

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

----- Start of picture text -----
Objective Outcome
1 Independent Living
1. Recruit a phone-based Advisor to 1. Funding has been secured for the new phone-based Advisor. However,
engage with newly injured patients NHS England has not yet been able to sign-off on the release of the
referred to Aspire through the NHS data. Aspire has worked closely with Back Up and SIA to ensure that
England data sharing project. Eval- there is a clearly defined process for working with the contact data, and
has continued to maintain close contact with the data controller at NHS
uate gaps in the services and
England so that this project is not forgotten. Recruitment of the Advisor
knowledge that the patients are re-
will commence once we have confirmation of a start date for the data-
ceiving and make recommenda-
sharing.
tions for support that could be put 2. Funding through NHS England has allowed us to plan for a new Ser-
in place.
vices Officer post that will be proactively contacting people following
2. Explore options for engaging with their discharge from hospital. Those contacted first will be people who
individuals who missed out on were injured during the pandemic, allowing us to identify areas where
Charity support during the support is needed. This post is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of
pandemic. the new financial year 2022/23.
2 Patient Education
1. Deliver the postponed Patient Edu- 1. The pandemic, and resulting restrictions, continued longer than we had
cation conference to share best anticipated, so it was not possible for our usual conference to take place
practice with Spinal Centre staff. in 2021. Instead, the Centres were brought together for a virtual event to
2. Develop and deliver training and maintain contact, share ideas and ways of working – particularly
relevant during the lockdown – and to identify areas of development for
support to peer volunteers em-
the service. The event was well attended and well received.
ployed by Spinal Centre Patient
2. With the pandemic restrictions in place, work on the peer project was
Education programmes.
postponed, so there was little point in training people who would be
3. Promote Aspire’s Mind the Gap
unable to visit the hospitals. However, funding was secured from NHS
evaluation and see it in place at
England that will allow us to develop a training programme for peers in
more Spinal Centres. the new financial year 2022/23.
3. Aspire has established Mind the Gap evaluation in all the Centres where
we have an Administrator, and secured funding that will allow us to
place a member of staff, and the Mind the Gap system, into every
Centre in England. The first post under this new funding stream was
recruited at the end of the year, with three others set to be recruited in
the first quarter of the new financial year.
3 Welfare Benefits
1. Recruit a new part-time advisor to 1. A new part-time Advisor was employed in June 2021.
help meet increased demands 2. Aspire’s Welfare Benefits Manager worked closely with the Case
placed on the service. Managers at several Spinal Cord Injury Centres (SCIC) to improve their
2. Support SCIC Case Managers by knowledge of the benefit process and aid their work with their patients.
This included preparing and distributing guidance that they could use.
offering training and advice on
Where cases were likely to be more complex, a referral pathway was
benefit claims and working with pa-
established between the case managers and Aspire’s Welfare Benefits
tients as required.
team to ensure that patients received timely and accurate support.
4 Aspire Housing Programme
1. Recruit a new Housing Advisor to 1. Two new Housing Advisors were recruited in January 2022 and quickly
enable the Housing Advice service re-established Aspire’s Housing Advice service.
to operate effectively. 2. A Tenant Support Officer was recruited in August 2021 and has since
2. Recruit a Tenant Support Officer to been working with our tenants to improve the support that we are able to
improve our support of existing provide to them.
tenants and help speed up their
move on to permanent
accommodation.
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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY - continued

	Objective	Outcome	Outcome
5	Assistive Technology 1. Increase staffing resources with the addition of a new Assistive Technologist to allow for more work within general hospitals. 2. Deliver an Assistive Technology conference for NHS staff, Aspire representatives and others inter- ested in Assistive Technology. 3. Review training guides and re- sources as a way to provide sup- port to people in the community.	1. 2. 3.	The pandemic, and resulting restrictions, continued longer than we had anticipated and we therefore did not start plans for placing new staff into hospital settings. This is something that will be revisited in the new financial year 2022/23. Again, the restrictions meant that our usual conference could not go ahead. Instead, Aspire’s Assistive Technology team delivered two virtual events, with Centres and Aspire staff presenting case studies and new technology as a way of sharing ideas and ways of working. The events were well attended and well received. Aspire’s Assistive Technology team has continued to see an increase in the number of people within the community approaching them for support. As always, providing this support remotely is incredibly difficult. The team have established guidance that they use for the most frequently asked questions and will continue to develop this area of work.
6	InstructAbility 1. Secure funding to deliver our ‘Em- ployAbility Strategy’ to support training providers and employers to adopt accessible and inclusive policy and practice. 2. Disseminate and promote the Guides across the sector, targeting disabled people, training providers and leisure operators. 3. Start a research programme to evaluate the reach and impact of the guidance. 4. Set-up a new national EmployAbility programme to support disabled people to train and work in the leisure sector.	1. 2. 3. 4.	We have been successful in securing a £269,800 grant from Sport England for 18 months, from January 2022 to June 2023. The three Guides were launched online on our website www.instructability.org.uk on 31 March 2022, along with associated website, social media content and partner promotion. By 31 April 2022, we had 200 digital downloads and disseminated approximately 100 hard copies. A research brief was created and advertised. The contract was awarded to the University of Portsmouth and terms and conditions were agreed in May 2022. We were unable to set up the employer-led work programme due to the criteria of the available grant funding available. We are instead focussing on helping training providers and employers to embed the guidance so more disabled people will find it easier to gain training and jobs in the ab- sence of an intervention programme.
7	Aspire Research 1. Pursue funding to increase/maintain our PhD student and research associate cohorts. 2. Get some of the PhD students expected to complete their research in 2020 but delayed by COVID-19 restrictions to complete by 2021. 3. Maintain the number of active projects and, if possible, increase the current number by actively pursuing new collaborations and submitting new grant proposals. 4. Maintain publication rate. 5. Continue to deliver our MSc programmes. 6. Continue to contribute to outreach activities (talking to schools, public events, open days, etc.). Albeit, we expect these to reduce substantially due to COVID-19, however, we will continue to engage, where possible, through online symposia and webinars.	1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.	Due to COVID-19 we have seen the PhD funding frozen, however two new PhD students started, and two post-doctoral research fellows joined us in the summer. In October 2021, we appointed a new lecturer to the centre, who brings a wealth of experience on wearable multi-modal optical neuroimaging technologies. We have had 6 PhD student completions. We have maintained the current number of projects. We have submitted 14 grant proposals, 3 were successful; for £105k, £748k and £75k, and 4 are under-review. We have published 38 papers, 1 in press and 9 papers are under review. We established the fifth student cohort for our MSc Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology (REAT) with nine students enrolled for 2021-22. Last year’s REAT MSc students wrote a great report Investigating Smartphone Accessibility for People with Spinal Cord Injuries, which we are currently looking at adapting for publication. We have also been re-working the AMIS (Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery) programme for distance learning delivery for the 2022-23 academic year. Student feedback has been very good, praising the quality of the delivery of our courses. Some of the teaching innovations include supporting remote delivery of projects through a specialised kit sent to students for remote self-measurement projects. We have been invited to deliver 17 talks at webinars and conferences and contributed to several outreach activities such as the UCL Stroke Day Forum and the Tomorrow's Home 2050 exhibition, Museum of the Home to name a few and have organised the first Virtual RehabWeek conference.

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY - continued

----- Start of picture text -----
Objective Outcome
8 Fundraising
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Objective Outcome	Objective Outcome	Objective Outcome
8	Fundraising
	1. To achieve an unrestricted income figure of £840k. Profit target will be £322k. 2. Deliver the 2021 Aspire Channel Swim achieving an income of £300k with a profit target of £159k. We aim to reduce the costs of event de- livery by £50k. 3. Open water swim programme to achieve income target of £267k with a net profit of £150k. 4. To develop a mass participation swim in the Western Solent and a Sealand Swim. 5. Deliver another online version of As- pire’s Sports Quiz Dinner to main- tain profile to past supporters. 6. If COVID-19 restrictions allow, de- liver the Sports Quiz Dinner with a net profit of £40k. 7. To secure £364k in restricted funds across all of Aspire’s services. An emphasis on covering salaries for our Housing and Assistive Technol- ogy areas. 8. Maintain a high level of case studies and real-life blogs to support both our Trust Officer and our Fundrais- ing events. Promote the unique Cross-Channel attempt of Paula Craig to national media to raise funds and awareness of Aspire.	1. The department achieved unrestricted income of £1,118k, exceeding the target by £278k. Total profit was £634k, almost double our target figure. 2. Event cost delivery was significantly reduced by over £50k. Unfortunately, the recurrence of COVID-19 restrictions meant that pools were frequently closed. We were unable to sign up swimmers as many had nowhere to swim. Subsequently, we only had half the number of swimmers needed, which meant that the swim only raised £132k. The event just covered its costs. 3. Open water swimming went ahead despite COVID-19 restrictions and has performed very strongly. Total income was £335k, beating the profit target by £65k. 4. The Western Solent test event attracted over 20 swimmers and raised over £25k. It was a difficult event with strong tides, which suggests that it is too technical and hard a swim to become a major event. The Sealand swim sold out and has had a very successful first year. It looks likely to become a challenge in high demand. 5. During the year we were able to deliver three online quizzes with John Inverdale as host. The first two quizzes were extremely well attended with a total of over 300 participants. The three events made a profit of £15k. 6. We were able to deliver the Sports Quiz Dinner in November 2021 as restrictions were eased. It was well supported and combined with the online quizzes have delivered a total profit of £72k. 7. We had a very strong year with many successes in our applications for project funding. We secured £403k of grants across our services in the year. We had a notable success in securing a large Lottery award, which will carry over three years and was worth £239k in total. 8. Case studies have continued to be compiled and have proved highly successful in attracting new funding when making grant applications. We received a great deal of media coverage for the Paula Craig Cross-Channel attempt, particularly from the BBC (Saturday Live on Radio 4 and BBC Wales of note). Although the attempt was unsuccessful, the publicity helped us raise £30k to support the attempt.

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‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY - continued

9	Aspire Law 1. Aspire Law to work to maintain consistent client numbers by acquiring new clients to match the number of cases concluding. 2. Aspire Law to update its three-year strategy by November 2021. 3. Aspire Law website to be refreshed and launched by November 2021. 4. Continue the important sponsorship of charity services and work with Aspire to identify a new possible support role for London Major Trauma Centres.	1. Aspire Law has continued to acquire clients at comparable rates to previous years and has maintained consistent client numbers through- out the year. 2. Aspire Law revised and updated its three-year strategy by November 2021. 3. The new Aspire Law website continued to be developed into 2022 and was launched in April 2022. 4. Aspire Law has continued to fund the sponsorship of all the charitable services at Aspire and the Back Up Trust and continues to explore the possibility of Aspire extending its support to the London Major Trauma Centres.
10	Aspire Leisure Centre 1. To achieve budget. 2. Operate Aspire Leisure Centre in a COVID-19 secure way following government guidance. 3. To maintain QUEST Prime accredi- tation (December 2021). 4. To achieve annual Quality audit score of at least 85% average over the year. 5. To achieve annual Health & Safety audit score of over 90% (December 2021). 6. Maintain ISO14001 and achieve consumption reduction target – Jan- uary 2022. 7. Work with the trusts manager to ap- ply for funding for the sports hall floor, electric car charging points, solar panels, spin studio, gym door entry and lockers. 8. Increase and maintain occupancy levels at; gym 50%, pool 80% and classes 70%, from January 2022. 9. Maintain Swimschool occupancy above 88% across all 3 terms. 10. 80% completion of service improve- ment plan by 31 March 2022.	1. The Aspire Leisure Centre ended the financial year £151k down against budget due to damage to the swimming pool floor costing £153k to repair and an estimated £90k loss of revenue. 2. Complete – we followed all the guidance from UK Active, CIMSPA, NGBs and attended Right Directions clinics. 3. Quest Prime accreditation was completed and passed by December 2021. 4. The quality audit assessment was changed to a support day, so no score was awarded for the year. 5. Health & Safety audit score was 82%. The team continues to work to improve all aspects of health and safety management. 6. ISO14001 – a decision was taken not to renew our accreditation due to cost, but we committed to keeping the environmental policy and reduc- tion in utility consumption targets (Water 7%, Gas 58%, Electricity 38%). 7. Funding applications were successful for the Dance Studio doors and the gym ladies changing room showers. 8. After a challenging second year affected by COVID-19, occupancy lev- els were difficult to rebuild against our targets set before the beginning of the second year of the pandemic. We achieved; gym 39%, pool 74% and classes 40%. 9. The average Swimschool occupancy achieved throughout the year was 88%. 10. The service improvement plan was 70% complete by 31 March 2022.

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY - continued

A significant factor affecting our plans, which is outside of our control, relates to the acquisition of new houses as part of the Aspire Housing Programme. Changes in government policy for housing associations can have a detrimental effect on their interest and ability to offer Aspire any of their housing stock. It can also diminish our opportunities through a reduction in new build projects in which we can participate.

Public benefit statement

The purposes and activities of Aspire include the advancement of health among those who have incurred a spinal cord injury, academic research designed to assist such persons, the provision of recreational facilities for people in special need because of their disability and the provision of financial help and specialised housing, training, advice and other facilities for those in need of them for the same reasons. The Trustees take the view that the purposes and activities fully comply with the public benefit requirement as set out in the Charities Act 2011 and explained in the Charity Commission’s guidance on Public Benefit. Aspire’s services are open to all spinally injured persons regardless of age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, place of residence, financial circumstances, social class, political opinions and religious belief. So Aspire’s main beneficiaries, of whom there are potentially a significant number, can properly be regarded as a ‘section of the public’ in charity law. In addition, as part of the activities which benefit spinal injured people, Aspire also provides help and support for their families and members of the public generally. The Trustees strongly believe that assisting spinally injured people to become independent and reintegrate into the community provides social enrichment for the community itself and helps it to be more cohesive.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Principal Funding Sources of the Charity

Aspire’s total income increased by £26k in the last year to just over £3.4m. The furlough scheme contributed £117k, in comparison to £596k the previous year. Donations and Trust income fell by £198k but with most of our charitable services being less affected by the impact of COVID-19, our charitable income increased by £632k, but still £500k below prepandemic levels. The Aspire Leisure Centre continued to be affected by the pandemic with restrictions remaining in place for the first half of the financial year. Aspire Housing Rental income returned to 2018/19 levels as we managed to maintain housing occupancy at our normal percentage. Other Trading comprises Aspire Fundraising Limited and with the pandemic no longer affecting face to face fundraising, income increased by 59%, an increase of just under £250k on the previous year. The Joint Venture (Aspire Law LLP) contributed a total of £426k this year, slightly less than last year. Aspire Law LLP made a £100k dividend payment during the year shown in ‘Other Income’, below.

----- Start of picture text -----
Principle Funding Sources
2020/21
2021/22
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500
£'000
Donations and Trusts Charitable Activities Other Trading Joint Venture Furlough Scheme Other Income
----- End of picture text -----

Figure 1 Principal Funding Sources for the year ended 31 March 2022

10

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Fundraising Income

Total fundraising income reduced by £431k, to a total of £1.4m. General fundraising actually improved as the figures in the chart includes the total furlough claim of £596k in the previous financial year and only £117k in the current year. Trust and Foundation income was £60k less than the previous year. With less emergency grant funding being made available, this was a strong performance and 78% increase on pre-pandemic performance for Trusts and Foundation income.

----- Start of picture text -----
Fundraising Income
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
£'000
2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
----- End of picture text -----

Figure 2 Fundraising Income for the year ended 31 March 2022

Charitable Income

Our income from Charitable Activities recovered over the course of the year following the adverse impact of the pandemic. Although Aspire Leisure Services income grew £620k on the previous year, this is still over £350k lower than pre-pandemic income levels due to the Aspire Leisure Centre restrictions continuing for the first half of the year and almost 300 members continuing to freeze their membership and not return. Aspire Housing rental income returned to pre-pandemic levels as we managed to regain our normal occupancy percentages throughout the year.

Charitable Income

----- Start of picture text -----
Aspire Housing
Aspire Leisure Services
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
£'000
2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
----- End of picture text -----

Figure 3 Total Charitable Income for the year ended 31 March 2022

11

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Total Cost of Fundraising

The increase in total cost of fundraising was a direct result of staff returning to work from the furlough scheme and the reintroduction of face to face fundraising. Total costs remained 30% less than 2019/20 expenditure.

----- Start of picture text -----
Total Cost of Fundraising
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
£'000
2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
----- End of picture text -----

Figure 4 Total Cost of Fundraising for the year ended 31 March 2022

Charitable Expenditure

Our total charitable expenditure increased by £413k to £2.99m. Almost all of our services were able to operate free from COVID-19 restrictions. We increased our capacity within Welfare Benefits Advice to match increasing levels of demand. Our policy and campaigning work ceased in April 2020 as we were unable to secure restricted funding to support this work. Our Assistive Technology, Housing Programme and Independent Living Advisor services returned to pre-pandemic capacity, whilst the Aspire Leisure Centre returned with restrictions continuing for the first six months of the financial year.

----- Start of picture text -----
Charitable Expenditure
Wefare Benefits
Campaigning
Assistive Technology
Independent Living
Aspire Grants
Aspire Housing
Research
Aspire Leisure Services
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
£'000
2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
----- End of picture text -----

Figure 5 Charitable Expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2022

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Aspire Law LLP

Aspire invested in a Joint Venture with the legal firm, Moore Barlow LLP, to create Aspire Law LLP – a unique social enterprise that represents spinal cord injury claimants only. This highly specialist legal firm places its clients at the heart of the business. It provides a comprehensive service that aims to secure the highest value settlement for their claim in the most appropriate timeframe, therefore allowing them to get on with their life. This service is provided on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ basis. Aspire owns 50% of Aspire Law LLP, through the trading subsidiary Aspire Trading 2014 Limited, and contributes 50% of the operating cost. In line with the agreement, in this financial year Aspire Law LLP has donated 50% of all its operating profits to Aspire to allow us to provide a wealth of services to benefit the vast majority of spinal cord injured people who do not benefit from the support of a compensation claim. Aspire Law contributed £426k (2021: £451k) profit share to Aspire this year as well as providing over £100k sponsorship to Aspire Services. A report is included in the earlier section under Performance Summary Objective 9.

Aspire + Wealth Management Limited

Aspire has worked in partnership with Independent Financial Advisor Frenkel Topping to form a new joint venture, Aspire + Wealth Management Limited, launched in April 2020. This is a highly specialist financial service providing spinal cord injured clients with an expert service to invest the compensation settlement amounts to provide for clients’ needs throughout their lives. Aspire owns 50% of Aspire + Wealth Management Limited, through the trading subsidiary Aspire Trading 2020 Limited, and will receive a share of operating profits in future years. Aspire + Wealth Management Limited profits to March 2022 were immaterial and therefore not included in Aspire’s consolidated financial statements, however, its expected profits will be material in the next financial year and a dividend will be considered by its board of directors. Aspire + Wealth Management is the current corporate sponsor of Aspire’s Money Matters service.

Investment policy and returns

Aspire operates an investment policy to achieve the maximum possible return at the lowest level of risk. We aim to ensure that investments grow in value, in line with the rate of inflation, whilst providing a modest return on the original capital invested whilst also meeting our ethical investment policy. Due to the reduction in cash being held by the Charity, we currently only hold £13k and are invested in the CCLA Investment Fund.

Reserves Policy

Aspire reserves available for use or designation by Aspire are the Total Unrestricted Funds of £1,432k (see note 13 of the Notes to the Financial Statements), less the value of our Fixed Assets of £308k. The Charity’s Unrestricted Funds are lower at £456k (see note 13 of the Notes to the Financial Statements), as the Aspire Law LLP’s reserves of £975k are not included. The Trustees have reviewed the general reserves policy for the Charity and have considered the financial requirements needed to support the work of the Charity and to protect against future potential risks.

	**2021/22 **	2020/21	2019/20	2018/19	2017/18
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Group - Total Unrestricted Funds	1,432	1,315	651	497	714
Charity - Total Unrestricted Funds	456	765	552	647	986

The Trustees have established a policy whereby the unrestricted funds held by the Charity are sufficient to support the planned activities and approximate budgeted expenditure of £3.5m throughout 2022/23. This, in the opinion of the Trustees, will provide sufficient protection against any potential drop in funding income to ensure Aspire’s services remain unaffected. The Trustees aim to maintain the reserves at a level of £500k to support approximately six months of core management and administration, fundraising and service costs, which are not covered by donations from Restricted Funds. Aspire will aim to rebuild its reserves through 2022/23 financial year.

13

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Risk Management

The Trustees have examined the major risks which the Charity faces and confirm that systems have been established so that the necessary steps can be taken to manage those risks.

The systems of internal control are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss. They include:

• Accreditation to recognised national standards including Quest and Best Companies.

• External auditing of Quality Management and Health & Safety Systems.

• A full risk register and risk policy, which is reviewed every six months.

• Full competitor and external threat analysis for all services.

• An annual budget with full supporting business plans approved by the Trustees.

• Regular consideration by the Trustees of financial results and forecasts, variances from budgets and non-financial performance.

• Quarterly reporting and assessment of operational plans and objectives that have been agreed and set for the year.

• Delegation of authority and segregation of duties.

• On-going investment in the development of the professional knowledge and capability of staff.

• A 3-Year Strategic Recovery/Rebuild plan 2022/24.

The key risks identified by Aspire in 2021/22 were:

• Pandemic Risk – the pandemic impacted on face-to-face fundraising events and the delivery of services. On-going risk is also to the health and well-being of staff.

• Financial Risk – demand for our services continues to grow and this will place even greater demand on our finances in the future. The war in Ukraine had an impact on gas wholesale prices, which will directly impact on the cost of operating the Aspire Leisure Centre. Rising inflation and cost of living crisis can all impact our staff, fundraising and Aspire Leisure Centre customers.

• Government Policy Changes – changes in social housing and welfare benefits have a major impact on our beneficiary group and as a result an increase in demand for our services. Tight budgets for care provision can affect the amount and quality of care provided to spinal cord injured people.

The above risks will be considered by the Trustees and the leadership team throughout the next financial year but the risks presented by the cost of living crisis, rising inflation and increased utility costs, will be the major focus for 2022 onwards. A comprehensive risk register, quality systems, policies and controls have already been established to mitigate any such risks.

Going Concern

The Trustees have considered the impact of the cost of living crisis, rising inflation and increases in utility costs on the future viability of the charitable company and the expected level of income and expenditure for the 12 months from the date of authorising these financial statements. The projected income and expenditure of the charitable company together with the level of its resources is sufficient for the charitable company to be able to continue as a going concern.

The Trustees continue to take all the available steps to maintain sufficient resources in order that the charitable company can continue and, based on projections and available information, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company will have sufficient funds to continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due for the foreseeable future and therefore have prepared the financial statements on a going concern basis.

14

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Plans for 2022/23

	Objective
1	Independent Living 1. Recruit a phone-based Advisor to engage with newly injured patients referred to Aspire through the NHS England data sharing project. 2. Evaluate gaps in the services and knowledge that the patients are receiving and make recommendations for support that could be put in place.
2	Patient Education 1. Establish a Patient Education Working Group, with representatives from all Spinal Centres, to help steer projects taken on by Aspire, to provide clinical input into work carried out and to ensure buy-in from the Centres for future work. 2. Develop and deliver training and support to peer volunteers employed by Spinal Centre Patient Education Programmes. 3. Recruit a Services Officer to contact people post-discharge from Spinal Centres, establishing a monitoring and evaluation system that will aid our understanding of peoples’ experiences in the community and help identify changesthatcanbemadetoPatient Educationprogrammestoimprove outcomes
3	Welfare Benefits 1. Produce at least four Money Matters information blogs for the Aspire website, concentrating on issues around the cost of living crisis. 2. Seek funding for accreditation of the Welfare Benefits Service. If funding is secured, undertake all works required to complete the accreditation process.
4	Aspire Housing Programme 1. Introduce training sessions for Spinal Centre staff to improve their knowledge of Housing pathways and the work that they need to do to secure timely, appropriate accommodation for their patients. Host sessions with at least three Spinal Centres. 2. Improve referral mechanisms so that referrals coming into the service are timely, accurate and provide all necessary information.
5	Assistive Technology 1. Subject to funding, recruit and train an Assistive Technologist for the Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries. 2. Increase staffing resources with the addition of a new Assistive Technologist to allow for more work within general hospitals.
6	InstructAbility 1. Aim to conclude the current funded project by June 30th 2023. In agreement with Sport England the research will conclude with a final report in October 2023. 2. Achieve a total of 500 digital downloads of the Guides by June 2023 and disseminate 500 hard copies. 3. Deliver online workshops to 50 people from training provider or sport/leisure organisations. Undertake an in depth 6-month engagement with 4 organisations to embed guidance at all levels within their organisation. 4. Research: Aim 1 (Guide dissemination) Research Aim 2 (Guide impact) Research Aim 3 (COVID-19 impact)  Survey all willing individuals who have accessed the guidance and collate responses. Complete two weeks and four weeks follow up surveys. Recruit and interview 30 participants from subsample of ‘downloaders/Guide takers’.  For Research Aims 2 and 3, conduct initial 30 interviews and six observations with second follow up by February 2023.  Conduct final interviews and observations by September 2023 5. Analyse all remaining data, complete final report and other output documentation by October 2023.

15

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Plans for 2022/23 - continued

7	Aspire Research 1. Pursue funding to increase/maintain our PhD student and research associate cohorts. 2. Fourth set PhD students expected to complete their research in 2022 3. Maintain the number of active projects and, if possible, increase the current number by actively pursuing new collaborations and submitting new grant proposals. 4. Maintain publication rate. 5. Continue to deliver our MSc programmes. 6. Continue to contribute to outreach activities (talking to schools, public events, open days, etc.).
8	Fundraising 1. To improve on pre-pandemic performance and raise a total of £977k in unrestricted income delivering a total profit of £471k. 2. Re-establish The Aspire Channel Swim as a profitable mass participation event. To sign up 2,500 swimmers, raising a total of £250k and delivering a profit of £111k. 3. To beat all previous records for open water swimming income by raising a total of £400k, delivering a profit of £265k. 4. To continue to develop swimming events, building on Sealand Swim, The Solent, Scilly Isles and new swims in the Thames estuary. Swims, other than the Relay Channel, delivering another £100k to income. 5. To research and plan to deliver complimentary events to the London Sports Quiz Dinner with John Inverdale as host. 6. London Sports Quiz Dinner for April 2022 to raise £120k and deliver a profit of £57k. 7. To deliver a total of £362k in grant funding income across all Aspire Services.
9	Aspire Law 1. Aspire Law to work to maintain consistent client numbers by acquiring new clients to match the number of cases concluding. 2. Aspire Law to fulfil the objectives of the three-year strategy launched November 2021. 3. Aspire Law website rebuild and relaunch to be completed by April 2022. 4. Establish Aspire Law main office at the London City location. 5. Continue our important sponsorship of charity services and work with Aspire to identify a new possible support role for the London Major Trauma Centres.
10	Aspire Leisure Centre 1. To achieve budget. 2. To maintain QUEST Prime accreditation (December 2022). 3. To achieve annual Mystery Visit score of at least 80% average over the year. 4. To achieve annual Health & Safety audit score of over 90% (December 2022). 5. Work with trusts manager to apply for funding for sports hall floor, energy saving items, gym door entry and lock- ers. 6. Increase and maintain occupancy levels at; gym 50%, pool 80% and classes 70%, from April 2022. 7. Maintain Swimschool occupancy above 90% across all 3 terms. 8. Reduce utility consumption (Gas 10%, Electricity 10%, Water 7%). 9. Re-start the leisure service committee meetings. 10. Use marketing budget and measure return on investment.

16

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Aspire would like to thank the following trusts and foundations for their support of our work during the last year:

Aspire would like to thank the following trusts last year:	and foundations for their support of our work duri
Blakemore Foundation	The Eveson Charitable Trust
Bruce Wake Charitable Trust	The Grace Trust
CA Redfern Charitable Foundation	The Hodge Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation	The Hospital Saturday Fund
James Tudor Foundation	The John Apthorp Charity
John Coates Charitable Trust	The Moondance Foundation
P F Charitable Trust	The National Lottery Community Fund
Pilkington Charities' Fund	The Percy Bilton Charity
Screwfix Foundation	The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust
The Arnold Clark Community Fund	The Souter Charitable Trust
The Barbour Foundation	Volant Charitable Trust
The Childwick Trust	Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights
The Christopher Laing Foundation

Aspire would also like to thank the following people and organisations for their support:

Aspire Law LLP John Inverdale Zoggs International Ltd Rob Nothman EY Parthenon Alan Bloom Frenkel Topping Wellspect Healthcare Coloplast Active Assistance Cyclone Mobility Fittleworths R3

GOVERNANCE Constitution

Aspire is a registered charity, number 1075317 and is also a company limited by guarantee, registered company number 03744357. The Charity is also registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator ‘OSCR’ with registered charity number SC037482 and registered with the Charities Regulator, Ireland’s national statutory regulator, with registered charity number 20150181.

Trustees

The Trustees who served during the year were as follows:

Dr H Agha R Burrell (appointed 29 April 2022) A Chaplin R Coote (resigned 3 August 2021) N Flanagan S Gardiner (appointed 29 April 2022) D Holden C J Leach (appointed 29 April 2022) H Mehta Dr S Patel J Sacks

None of the Trustees had an interest in any contract or arrangement of a material nature during the year under review.

17

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Methods for recruiting and appointing Trustees

The Trustees select members to join the Trustee Board that will complement and strengthen the existing professional expertise and competencies of the board. A ‘Key Skills’ analysis is undertaken to identify any skills/experience/knowledge gaps on the Trustee Board before undertaking a specific recruitment process. The Trustees also welcome expressions of interest from candidates who have served a minimum of one year as a committee member supporting the work of the Charity.

Policies and procedures for inducting and training Trustees

During the recruitment process, a new Trustee receives a full induction to the organisation including Aspire’s history, ethos, culture and vision for the future. Further to this a meeting is arranged with the Chief Executive Officer and Directors of the Charity at the Aspire Leisure Centre, when a tour of the facilities is given, and a more detailed explanation is provided regarding the Charity’s activities. Trustees are provided with necessary information about support and advice prepared by the Charity Commission. Trustees are also invited to attend seminars and conferences that may be deemed appropriate and where they are not able to attend, one Trustee will provide an update and feedback to the Board from any events attended.

Organisational structure and how decisions are made

The Aspire Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for ensuring the Charity’s strategic direction and the actions of its employees. This responsibility is discharged through the Chief Executive Officer. The Trustee Board meet every three months to review performance against agreed operational and financial targets and, in addition to this, attend exceptional meetings to review and develop the Charity’s strategy. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings were held fortnightly to ensure increased levels of engagement by the Trustee Board at a time of uncertainty. Each activity area of Aspire’s work is closely monitored by committees that include at least one Trustee who will chair the committee. Each committee will invite external experts and advisors to assist in the monitoring and evaluation of these activities and to help in the longer-term development. The committees all meet prior to each and every Trustee meeting when reports are presented. Issues that require Trustee decisions are presented at the meeting where the Board will debate and agree what action is appropriate. Each decision is communicated through the Chief Executive Officer and recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

In addition to this, monthly meetings are held by the Vice-Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer to monitor the Charity’s performance and governance. Monthly meetings are held between the Chair and the Chief Executive Officer.

----- Start of picture text -----
Aspire Organisational Aspire Board of Trustees
Structure March 2022
Aspire Law LLP
CEO Aspire Research
Aspire + Wealth Management Ltd
Finance & Services Fundraising & Aspire Leisure
HR Marketing Services
Independent Housing Assistive Welfare Patient
Living Technology Benefits Education
----- End of picture text -----

A 3-year strategy was developed and launched at the beginning of 2022 to set out how Aspire will rebuild, following the impact of the pandemic, and then stabilise and return to growth in the following two years. This plan is supported by twoyear cashflow forecasting, which is updated and reviewed each month.

18

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Report of the Trustees

Wider network and/or relationship with affiliated organisations

To communicate and advance the work of Aspire we work with other charities and organisations to ensure the most effective means of operating and delivering our services. Aspire has signed a memorandum of understanding with the two other major Spinal Injury Charities. This memorandum was launched in 2019 and aims to: ensure each of the charities know what they are working to achieve, give support where necessary, seek opportunities for collaboration and avoid any duplication of service activity.

Aspire is a member of the European Spinal Cord Injury Federation and a member of MASCIP (Multidisciplinary Association of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals).

Personnel and Staff Movements

The Trustees and the leadership team comprise the key management personnel of the Charity in charge of directing and controlling and operating the Charity on a day-to-day basis. The leadership team consists of the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Fundraising and Marketing, Director of Services, Director of Operations, Finance Manager and Leisure Centre Manager. All Trustees give of their time freely. No remuneration was paid to any of the Trustees, neither were any expenses claimed.

No key management personnel resigned during the financial year. The Charity uses charity sector benchmarks to assess and set the remuneration of the key management personnel and always aims to pay median market rates.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees 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 charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charitable company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP (FRS 102);

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

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

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation

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

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

• there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and

• the Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

19

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABIUTATION AND REINTEGRATION 'ASPIRE' Report ofthe Trustse$ Auditors A resolution for the re-appointment of Azets Audit Services as a￿1110￿ lo the charitabte company wll b8 submitted to the Annual General Meetrng. This report has been prepared in ac(x)rdance with the Statement of Recommended Pracb"ce'. 'AcCK￿￿ting and Reporb"ng by Charilie5' and in a￿danCE wfth the $pe(ial provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2(I)6 relating to smaller entities. By Order ofthe Board Nl¢k Fla an, TruBtee & Treasurer 20

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Association for Spinal Injury Research Rehabilitation and Reintegration (the ‘charitable parent company’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheet, Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the charitable parent company’s affairs as at 31 March 2022 and of the group’s 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 parent 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

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

21

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the Trustees’ Report, which includes the directors’ report and strategic report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the Trustees’ Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable parent 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 directors’ report included within the trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable parent company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and the charitable parent 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 parent 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.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

22

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above and on the Financial Reporting Council’s website, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.

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

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud, we designed procedures which included:

• Enquiry of management and those charged with governance around actual and potential litigation and claims as well as actual, suspected and alleged fraud;

• Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;

• Assessing the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations considered to have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charitable parent company through enquiry and inspection;

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

• Performing audit work over the risk of management bias and override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for indicators of potential bias.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of noncompliance. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable parent 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 parent company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable parent company and the charitable parent company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

John Howard FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Azets Audit Services Statutory Auditor 2nd Floor, Regis House 45 King William Street London EC4R 9AN

Date… 31 January 2023 ………………

23

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Unrestricted Restricted Funds Funds Notes £’000 £’000 INCOME FROM: Donations and Legacies 2 564 192 Charitable activities Aspire Leisure Services 988 97 Aspire Housing 357 43 Other trading activities 3 661 - Share of surplus from joint venture 426 - Other income 2.2 100 - __ _ Total income 3,096 332 _ __ EXPENDITURE ON: Raising funds Cost of generating voluntary income 170 - Costs of trading subsidiary 3 309 - Charitable activities Aspire Leisure Services 1,643 88 Research - 135 Aspire Housing 591 47 Aspire Grants 229 - Promoting Independent Living - 87 Assistive Technology - 90 Welfare Benefits 38 44 Capital grants funding - 1 Campaigning - - _ _ Total expenditure 4 2,980 492 __ _ NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) AND NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS BEFORE GAINS AND LOSSES ON INVESTMENTS 116 (160) Gains on revaluation of investments 7.2 1 - _ __ NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 117 (160) RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS Total funds brought forward 1,315 816 _ _ Total funds carried forward 12,13 1,432 656	Total 2022 £’000 756 1,085 400 661 426 100 __ 3,428 _ 170 309 1,731 135 638 229 87 90 82 1 - _ 3,472 __ (44) 1 _ (43) 2,131 _ 2,088	Total 2021 £’000 1,433 465 388 415 451 250 __ 3,402 _ 97 180 1,572 99 620 121 44 57 66 1 - _ 2,857 __ 545 1 _ 546 1,585 _ 2,131

CONTINUING OPERATIONS

All income and expenditure has arisen from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 28 to 39 form part of these financial statements.

24

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABIUTATK)N AND REINTEGRATION 'ASPIRE' Consoltdated ealance Sheet A$ •t 31 M¥r¢h 2022 2022 2021 £'ooo eooo Flx•d assets Tangible fixed assets Investments 357 611 1,039 1.347 968 Curr•nt •$sots Stock Debtors falling due after more than one year Debtors falling due wthin one year Cash and cash equivalents 7CMJ 285 700 195 741 1.431 1,639 CrtditoTs: Amounts falling due Ih1n one year 10 14911 13761 Net current assets 1,263 Total as8ets less current Ilabllltles 2,287 2,231 Crgdltorn: Amounts falling due after More than one year 11 11991 11001 2,088 2.131 Funds Restricted funds Uniestiicted funds 12 13 656 1,432 816 1,315 1088 2,131 The financial statements have been prepared in acc￿￿￿nce with special prow'sions of Part 15 oflhe Companies Act 20( relaling to srnall entities. The finanual st*ments were approved by the Board on 31 January 2023 and signed on their behalf by.. Ni¢k Flo n. Trustee & Treasurer So>S The notes on pages 28 to 39 forrn part ofthese finanaal statements. 25

ASSOCIA TION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHA81UTATION AND REINTEGRATION 'ASPIRE' Charltable Company Balance Sheet As at 31 March 2022 2022 2021 £'ooo Notes £'ooo £'ooo Fixed assets Tangible fixed assets Investments 308 63 357 82 371 419 Cur￿At assets Debtors Cash and cash equivalents 1,110 1,010 1,248 1,474 Creditors.. Amounts falling due within one year 10 13081 12121 Net current assets 940 1.262 Totsl •$$et8 less current liabilities 1.311 1.681 Creditors: Amounts faS1ing due after more than one year 11 11991 11001 1,112 I,S81 Funds Resthcted funds Unrestricted funds 12 13 6S6 456 816 765 1,112 1,581 The finanoal statements have been prepared in ac£ordan￿ with the sperial provisions of Part 15 ofthe Companies Ad 2006 relating to small entrties. The finan￿81 slalernents were approved by the Board on 31 January 2023 and signed on their behalf by.. Nick Fla an. Trustee & TreaSu￿r loLL The note$ on p8ge$ 28 10 39 form part of these financkil statements. 26

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Reconciliation of net expenditure to net cash flow from operating activities Net (expenditure)/income for the reporting period Adjustments for: Gain on investments Share of surplus from joint venture Depreciation Decrease in stocks (Increase)/Decrease in debtors Increase/(decrease) in creditors Net cash flow from operating activities	2022 £’000		£’000 (43) (1) (426) 69 - (91) 214 (278)	2021 £’000	£’000 546 (1) (451) 76 1 96 (124) 143
Cash flow statement Net cash flow from operating activities Cash flow from investing activities Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets Proceeds from sale of investments Net cash flow from investing activities (Decrease)/increase in cash Reconciliation of changes in cash Balance at 1 April 2021 (Decrease)/increase in cash Balance at 31 March 2022	(20) -		(278) (20) (298) 741 (298) 443	(2) -	143 (2) 141 600 141 741

The notes on pages 28 to 39 form part of these financial statements.

27

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

a) Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.

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

The financial statements are presented in sterling (£) which is also the functional currency for the Charity.

b) Consolidation

Where control is exercised by the parent charity over another entity, those entities are consolidated as subsidiaries on a line-by-line basis in accordance with FRS 102 – section 9 and the Charities SORP (FRS 102). Details of these entities are given in note 7 to the financial statements.

The Charity’s interest in joint ventures and joint arrangements are accounted for in accordance with FRS 102. The investments in Aspire Law LLP and Aspire + Wealth Management Limited are treated as joint ventures within the consolidated financial statements and are accounted for using the gross equity method. Details of these interests are given in note 7 to the financial statements.

A separate statement of financial activities for the charitable company has not been presented because the charitable company has taken advantage of the exemption afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.

c) Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The Trustees have considered the impact of the cost of living crisis, rising inflation and increases in utility costs on the future viability of the charitable company and the expected level of income and expenditure for the 12 months from the date of authorising these financial statements. The projected income and expenditure of the charitable company together with the level of its resources is sufficient for the charitable company to be able to continue as a going concern.

The Trustees continue to take all the available steps to maintain sufficient resources in order that the charitable company can continue and, based on projections and available information, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company will have sufficient funds to continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due for the foreseeable future and therefore have prepared the financial statements on a going concern basis.

d) Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

• Accounting estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have been made in the process of applying the above accounting policies that have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements are:

Useful economic lives of tangible assets and the annual depreciation charge for tangible assets are sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual values of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are re-assessed annually. They are amended when necessary to reflect current estimates, based on technological advancement, future investments, economic utilisation and the physical condition of the assets. See note 6 for the carrying amount of the property plant and equipment together with note 1 for the useful economic lives for each class of assets. There are no key assumptions concerning the future and other key sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.

28

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

e) Legal status

• Aspire is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of a winding up is limited to £1.

• f) Funds accounting Restricted funds – these are funds that can only be used for specific restricted purposes within the objects of the Charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Designated funds – these are funds set aside by the Trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.

Unrestricted general funds – these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Trustees.

• g) Income All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the Charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

• Voluntary income including core grants, sponsorship, donations and gifts is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable. Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the Charity, are recognised when the Charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.

• Incoming resources from charitable activities comprises income from carrying out the Charity’s activities, including the operation of the National Training Centre and the supported housing.

• Investment income is included when receivable.

h) Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. The irrecoverable element of VAT is included with the item of expense to which it relates.

• Costs of generating funds are those costs incurred in attracting voluntary income.

• Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the Charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

• Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of the Charity and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements.

i) Support costs allocation

Support costs are those that assist the work of the Charity but do not directly represent charitable activities and include office costs, governance costs and administrative payroll costs. They are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the Charity. Where support costs cannot be directly attributed to particular departments, they have been allocated to cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources.

j) Government grants

Government grants are recognised at the fair value of the asset received or receivable when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and the grants will be received.

A grant that specifies performance conditions is recognised in income when the performance conditions are met. Where a grant does not specify performance conditions it is recognised in income when the proceeds are received or receivable. A grant received before the recognition criteria are satisfied is recognised as a liability.

29

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

k) Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation on all tangible fixed assets is calculated to write-off their cost over their estimated useful lives at the following annual rates:

Leasehold improvements 3 - 20 years Office fixtures & fittings 10 - 33% per annum on cost Computer equipment 33% per annum on cost

l) Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments are included at market value at the balance sheet date. Any gain or loss on revaluation is taken to the Statement of Financial Activities.

Investments in subsidiaries and programme related investments are measured at cost less impairment. Such investments are subject to review with any diminution in value is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities.

Programme related investments are social investments made directly in pursuit of the Charity’s charitable purposes.

m) Stock

Stock is stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

n) Debtors and creditors receivable/payable within one year and after one year

• Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year and after one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

o) Cash and cash equivalents.

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

p) Financial Instruments

• The Charity has only 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.

q) Foreign Currency

• Foreign currency transactions are initially recognised by applying the foreign currency amount at the spot exchange rate between the functional currency and the foreign currency at the date of the transaction.

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in a foreign currency at the balance sheet date are translated using the closing rate.

r) Employee benefits

Short term employee benefits, including holiday entitlement and other non-monetary benefits, and contributions to defined contribution plans are recognised as an expense in the period in which they are incurred.

s) Taxation

The Charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of Schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

30

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

2. VOLUNTARY INCOME Donations and Legacies

Unrestricted Restricted Funds Funds Donations 447 79 Grants received - 113 Job retention scheme 117 - __ ____ 564 192	2022 £’000 526 113 117 ______ 756	2021 £’000 649 188 596 ______ 1,433

The amounts receivable from the job retention scheme was claimed by the charitable company for staff that were furloughed due to COVID-19.

2.2. OTHER INCOME

Unrestricted Restricted Funds Funds Dividend receivable from Aspire Law LLP 100 - Business interruption claim - - __ ____ 100 -	2022 £’000 100 - ______ 100	2021 £’000 - 250 ______ 250

In the prior year, the business interruption claim was in relation to COVID-19.

3. OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES - SUBSIDIARY UNDERTAKING OF ASPIRE FUNDRAISING LIMITED

The profit of the subsidiary undertaking, Aspire Fundraising Limited, is gifted to the Charity so that there is no liability to Corporation Tax for that entity. Aspire Fundraising Limited produces audited accounts annually to 31 March and a summary of the company’s transactions and financial position is set out below:

Turnover Cost of sales Operating costs Operating profit Interest received Net income of trading subsidiary Distributions to parent made under gift aid Retained in subsidiary	2022 £’000 661 (110) __ 551 (199) _ 352 - ___ 352 (352) ______ -	2021 £’000 415 (77) __ 338 (103) _ 235 - ___ 235 (235) ______ -

31

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

4. EXPENDITURE Raising funds: Cost of generating voluntary income Costs of trading subsidiary Charitable expenditure: Aspire Leisure Services Research Aspire Housing Aspire Grants Promoting Independent Living Assistive Technology Welfare Benefits Capital grant fund	Staff costs £’000 126 74 991 135 135 - 82 89 81 - ______ 1,713	Direct costs £’000 26 235 486 - 487 229 3 - 1 - ______ 1,467	Support £’000 18 - 254 - 16 - 2 1 - 1 ______ 292	Total £’000 170 309 1,731 135 638 229 87 90 82 1
				______ 3,472

All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories noted above on a basis designed to reflect the use of the resource. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly, others are apportioned on an appropriate basis, for example, time spent, per capita or floor area.

Grants paid to individuals during the year totalled £230,354 (2021: £120,893).

Included in support costs are governance costs of: Auditor’s remuneration: - For audit - For other services 5. STAFF COSTS Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension contributions Recruitment	___	2022 £’000 10 15 2022 £’000 1,558 96 55 4 ___ 1,713	_	2021 £’000 9 14 2021 £’000 1,495 82 47 - _____ 1,624

None of the Trustees received any remuneration or benefits during the year (2021: None). Expenses totalling £nil were reimbursed to Trustees during the year (2021: £nil).

The number of employees whose annual emoluments were £60,000 or more were: 90,001 – 100,000 1 1 _ _

Total contributions in the year for the provision of money purchase benefits for higher paid staff were:

Number of staff to whom retirement benefits are accruing Total contributions in the year	1 £16,012	1 £16,220

The total aggregate remuneration paid to key management personnel during the year was £278,153 (2021: £294,976).

32

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

5. STAFF COSTS - continued

The average number of employees during the year was as follows:

6.

Group Charity 2022 2021 2022 Aspire Leisure Centre 55 57 55 Other 31 27 31 Trading subsidiary 6 5 - _ _ _ _ 92 89 84 __ _ _ TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS Leasehold Fixtures, Fittings and Group and Charity Improvements Computers £’000 £’000 Cost At 1 April 2021 774 551 Additions - 20 __ _ At 31 March 2022 774 571 _ __ Depreciation At 1 April 2021 488 480 Charge for the year 51 18 _ _ At 31 March 2022 539 498 __ _ Net Book Value At 31 March 2022 235 73 _ ______ At 31 March 2021 286 71	Group Charity 2022 2021 2022 Aspire Leisure Centre 55 57 55 Other 31 27 31 Trading subsidiary 6 5 - _ _ _ _ 92 89 84 __ _ _ TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS Leasehold Fixtures, Fittings and Group and Charity Improvements Computers £’000 £’000 Cost At 1 April 2021 774 551 Additions - 20 __ _ At 31 March 2022 774 571 _ __ Depreciation At 1 April 2021 488 480 Charge for the year 51 18 _ _ At 31 March 2022 539 498 __ _ Net Book Value At 31 March 2022 235 73 _ ______ At 31 March 2021 286 71	2021 57 27 - _ 84 _ Total £’000 1,325 20
	__
		______ 1,345
		__ 968 69 ____ 1,037
		______ 308
		______ 357

In the opinion of the Trustees the building comprising the Aspire Leisure Centre has a £nil value due to it being sited on land leased from the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and hence subject to certain restrictions. On this basis the building and certain associated equipment have been shown in the accounts of Aspire at a cost of £nil, being depreciated cost less capital grants received.

33

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

7. INVESTMENTS Group 2022 2021 £’000 £’000 Shares in subsidiary undertakings - - Programme related investment (note 7.1) 50 50 Other investments (note 7.2) 13 12 __ _ 63 62 Investment in joint venture: Share of net assets in Joint Venture 976 549 _ __ 1,039 611 _ _	Charity 2022 2021 £’000 £’000 - - 50 50 13 12 __ _ 63 62 - - _ __ 63 62 _ _

Aspire is the beneficial owner of 10 ordinary shares of £1 each being the whole of the issued share capital of Aspire Fundraising Limited, a company incorporated in England, company registration number is 02448398, registered office is 2nd Floor Regis House, 45 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AN.

Aspire is the beneficial owner of 1 ordinary share of £1 each of Aspire Trading 2014 Limited, a company incorporated in England on 27 January 2014, company registration number is 08863046, registered office is 2nd Floor Regis House, 45 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AN. Aspire Trading 2014 Limited is a holding company which holds an investment in a joint venture consisting of 50% control in Aspire Law LLP.

Aspire is the beneficial owner of 1 ordinary share of £1 each of Aspire Trading 2021 Limited, a company incorporated in England on 13 January 2021, company registration number is 12398051, registered office is 2nd Floor Regis House, 45 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AN.

7.1 PROGRAMME RELATED INVESTMENTS Group and Charity Cost as at 1 April Additions at cost Cost as at 31 March	2022 £’000 50 - ______ 50	2021 £’000 50 - ______ 50

The programme related investment relates to initial funding required in the set-up of Aspire Law LLP. The value of the programme related investment at the year end is shown at cost. Aspire Law LLP furthers the objectives of Aspire by providing a specialist service to people with spinal cord injuries.

34

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

7.2 OTHER INVESTMENTS Group and Charity Market value at 1 April Additions at cost Proceeds on disposal Gain on revaluation Market value at 31 March Historical cost at 31 March CCLA	2022 £’000 12 - - 1 __ 13 _ 10 ___ 13 ______	2021 £’000 11 - - 1 __ 12 _ 10 ___ 12 ______

Other investments are held by CCLA Investment fund.

8. STOCK Goods for sale 9. DEBTORS Amounts falling due within one year: Trade debtors Other debtors Amounts owed by subsidiary Amounts owed by joint venture – Aspire Law LLP Amounts owed by joint venture – Aspire + Wealth Management Ltd Prepayments and accrued income	Group 2022 £’000 3 Group 2022 £’000 11 26 - - 11 237 285	2021 £’000 3 2021 £’000 7 28 - 17 11 132 195	Charity 2022 2021 £’000 £’000 - - Charity 2022 2021 £’000 £‘000 - - 26 28 922 894 - - - - 162 88 1,110 1,010

35

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

9.	DEBTORS - continued		Group	Group		Charity
		2022		2021	2022		2021
		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000
	Amounts falling due after more than one year:
	Amounts owed by joint venture	700		700	-			-
		700		700	-			-
	Total debtors	985		895	1,110		1,010
	In July 2019 it was agreed with the Aspire Law LLP’s joint venture partners that £700,000 would					be converted
	into capital. As a result, £700,000 was re-designated in July 2019			from debtors falling due with within one			year
	to debtors falling due after more than one year.
10.	CREDITORS:Amounts falling due		Group			Charity
	within one year	2022		2021	2022		2021
		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000
	Trade creditors	85		96	71		76
	Other creditors	2		16	2		16
	Other taxes and social security costs	33		31	33		31
	Accruals and deferred income	371		233	202		89
		491		376	308		212
11.	CREDITORS:Amounts falling due after more			Group		Charity
	than one year	2022		2021	2022		2021
		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000
	Other creditors	199		100	199			100
		199		100	199			100

Other creditors due after more than one year represents loan notes which mature in 2024. There are two loans; one for £100,000 and one for £99,000. If the £100,000 loan is not paid when due, interest on the unpaid amount shall start to accrue at the rate of 6% per annum. The £99,000 loan has an interest rate of 2% per annum. If this loan is not paid when due, interest on the unpaid amount shall start to accrue at the rate of 4% per annum.

12. RESTRICTED FUNDS Group and Charity Aspire Research Fund Aspire Housing Fund Wheelchair Basketball Independent Living Fund Welfare Benefits Assistive Technology Fund Capital Grants Fund InstructAbility Programme (Sports England) Patient Education Fund NHS England REX Bionix Fund	Balance 1 April 2021 £’000 128 584 1 74 - - 4 - 24 - 1 ______ 816	Income Expenditure £’000 £’000 - (128) 30 (33) - (1) 37 (86) 44 (44) 90 (90) - (1) 86 (68) 7 (19) 38 (22) - - __ ____ 332 492	Investment Gain and Transfers £’000 - - - - - - - - - - ______ -	Balance 31 March 2022 £’000 - 581 - 25 - - 3 18 12 16 1 ______ 656

36

ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

12. RESTRICTED FUNDS - continued

• (i) The Aspire Research Fund has been established to support research in disability and technology through the Aspire Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (Aspire CREATe), University College London Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Sciences, based at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. The purpose of the research undertaken through the centre is to demonstrate, by using internationally recognised best practice, how marked improvement in function and quality of life can be achieved in a cost-effective manner. The value of this research will benefit some of the most disadvantaged members of our society who have physical disabilities.

• (ii) Aspire Housing provides temporary homes in the local community in key locations in England, Wales and Scotland for newly discharged patients. Spinally injured individuals can temporarily live in a specially adapted and fully accessible comfortable environment on their own or with their family whilst arrangements are made to meet their long-term housing needs. The Charity is extremely grateful to Thomas Gibson and supporters of the Harebell Appeal; The Monday Charitable Trust, The Bruce Wake Charitable Trust, The Irving Memorial Trust, The P F Charitable Trust, The Sinclair Charity, and The Souter Charitable Trust for their financial support over the year.

• (iii) Aspire provides financial support to cover some of the expenses of Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby based at the Aspire Leisure Centre and nationally.

• (iv) The Independent Living Fund has been supported by grants from the Childwick Trust; The Moondance Foundation; The Eveson Charitable Trust, The National Lottery Community Fund (Awards for All); The James Tudor Foundation; The Samuel William Farmer Trust; and sponsorship from Aspire Law LLP. This money is given in support of employing Independent Living Advisors who provide direct practical support, information and guidance to new spinally injured patients and for the management of the team of Independent Living Advisors.

• (v) The Welfare Benefits Fund has been supported by The Garfield Weston Foundation, for the second year of a two-year period. The Charity is extremely grateful to Frenkel Topping for supporting the new Money Management Service.

• (vi) The Assistive Technology programme provides specialist computer equipment, software and training support to teach people with a spinal cord injury with limited or no upper limb function to operate a computer. This service is provided through occupational therapy departments and dedicated rooms to give patients valuable access to the internet and permits communication with family, friends and work colleagues worldwide. The Charity is extremely grateful to have been supported by generous grants from the Ian Karten Charitable Trust, The Grace Trust, The Shanly Foundation, The Moondance Foundation, The John Coates Charitable Trust and Aspire Law LLP.

• (vii) The Capital Grants Fund represents grants received for the purchase of tangible fixed assets and is released at a rate consistent with the depreciation charged on these assets.

• (viii) The Charity is extremely grateful to the National Lottery Sport England Fund for their continued support of the InstructAbility Programme throughout the pandemic when the next phase of the programme was unable to progress. The InstructAbility Programme supports the training of disabled people to become fitness professionals throughout England. The new phase of the programme will move to launch guidance for the sector owners/managers, training providers and disabled people.

• (ix) The Patient Education Fund provides support funding for the Aspire Patient Education Administrators who support the spinal cord injury centres in the management of their patient education programmes. The Charity is extremely grateful to the Moondance Foundation for supporting the Charity’s work in Cardiff and to the Hospital Saturday Fund for their support in England.

• (x) NHS England grant of £450k over a three year period has been awarded to Aspire to support the NHS Improvements Spinal Cord Injury Services work. This funding will support our Aspire Housing Advice Service, Community Support and Patient Education.

• (xi) The REX Bionix Fund was set up to help raise funds in support of purchasing a REX Bionix Exoskeleton Robotic Unit.

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

13. UNRESTRICTED FUNDS Group Designated Funds Your Fund Other Aspire – other reserves Aspire Law LLP Charity Designated Funds Your Fund Other Aspire – other reserves	Balance 1 April 2021 £’000 118 __ 118 648 549 _ 1,315 ___ 118 __ 118 647 ____ 765	Income £’000 244 __ 244 2,426 426 _ 3,096 ___ 244 __ 244 2,117 ____ 2,361	Expenditure £’000 (228) __ (228) (2,752) - _ (2,980) ___ (228) __ (228) (2,443) ____ (2,671)	Investment Gain and Transfers £’000 - __ - 1 - _ 1 ___ - __ - 1 ____ 1	Balance 31 March 2022 £’000 134 __ 134 323 975 ____ 1,432
					__ 134 _ 134 322 ___ 456

Designated Funds form part of Unrestricted Funds and are amounts set aside by the Trustees to meet specific future requirements of the organisation. Further details of the funds are shown below:

(i) Your Fund delivers the same function as Aspire Grants but allows benefactors to raise money and donate for specific purposes.

14. ALLOCATION OF NET ASSETS

The net assets of the Group are held for the various funds as follows:

Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds	Fixed Assets £’000 - 308 ______ 308	Investments £’000 1,038 1 ______ 1,039	Current Assets £’000 (382) 1,813 ______ 1,431	Current Liabilities £’000 - (491) ______ (491)	Long term Liabilities £’000 - (199) ______ (199)	Total 2022 £’000 656 1,432
						______ 2,088

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ASSOCIATION FOR SPINAL INJURY RESEARCH REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

‘ASPIRE’

Notes to the Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

15. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

There are no (2021: none) related party transactions that require disclosure in the financial statements.

16. ULTIMATE CONTROLLING PARTY

The charitable company is considered to have no ultimate controlling party.

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