Company no. 3277032 Charity no. 1076346
## **mySociety Report and Audited Financial Statements 31 March 2021**
## **mySociety**
## **Reference and administrative details**
**For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**Company number**|3277032||
|---|---|---|
|**Charity number**|1076346||
|**Registered office and**|483 Green Lanes||
|**operational address**|London||
||N13 4BS||
|**Trustees**|Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during||
||the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:||
||A Adewunmi|appointed 1 April 2021|
||A Brown||
||C Brown|appointed 6 July 2020|
||A J H Burton||
||J P Cronin|resigned 6 July 2020|
||J P I Flowers||
||T Hunt|appointed 1 April 2021|
||M M Hussain|resigned 9 December 2020|
||K L Jones|resigned 27 January 2021|
||J A F Keutgen||
||R E Rank||
||C Ross|appointed 1 April 2021|
||S Skelton|appointed 1 April 2021|
|**Chief executive officer**|M Cridge||
|**Company secretary**|J P Cronin|resigned 6 July 2020|
|**Bankers**|Lloyds Bank||
||27-31 White Hart Street||
||High Wycombe||
||HP11 2HL||
|**Auditors**|Godfrey Wilson Limited||
||Chartered accountants and statutory auditors||
||5th Floor Mariner House||
||62 Prince Street||
||Bristol||
||BS1 4QD||
1
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities (effective from January 2019).
## **Structure, governance and management**
mySociety is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee under a Memorandum & Articles of Association, and is registered as a charity in England and Wales (registered charity no. 1076346).
mySociety is governed by a board of volunteer trustees. Trustees serve three-year terms, and may be reappointed for one further three-year term after completion of their first. Trustees are generally recruited through an open call for applications, or may occasionally be directly appointed following a period of service as an observer of one of the board’s committees. Following their appointment trustees participate in a series of briefings with key staff and fellow trustees as part of their induction; which includes briefings on financial procedures, our priority areas of work, ongoing strategy and organisational setup.
mySociety operates a number of civic and democratic websites, and has a wholly owned commercial subsidiary, SocietyWorks Ltd, governed by its own board of directors comprising a combination of trustees from mySociety, executive directors and independent non-executive directors. Trustees and non-executive directors are not remunerated.
Day-to-day management of mySociety and its subsidiaries is delegated to the Chief Executive except for the following matters which are reserved to the trustees:
- Approval of strategy, values and policy;
- Establishing and disbanding committees of the board;
- The creation, selection and appointment to any post with a total remuneration package of £60,000 p.a. or greater, or FTE equivalent;
- Approval of the group’s annual report and accounts; and
- Significant financial commitments as set out in a delegations policy.
At any one time, mySociety typically employs around 25 permanent members of staff and a small additional number on temporary contracts. SocietyWorks Ltd employs no staff directly, but buys in labour as required from mySociety.
There is an annual review of pay for all staff members, encompassing two elements:
- Cost of living; and
- Performance
The Chief Executive makes recommendations to the board of trustees based on performance, affordability and the financial health of mySociety, and changes in averages of salaries for comparable roles (particularly for technical roles), except for the Chief Executive’s own pay which is discussed by the board of trustees alone. The board of trustees either accepts or amends the recommendations, and makes the revised pay offer to the staff.
Salary ranges for new roles are set using both industry benchmarks and salaries of staff members already employed by the organisation in similar roles.
2
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **Objectives and activities**
## **Aims and goals**
The objectives of mySociety are “to conduct and promote research into the use and effects of information and communication technologies in the context of the operation of any body or bodies which has or have an electorate, and to disseminate the useful results of such research for the benefit of the public”.
mySociety operates under the mission statement “We help people be active citizens”, using its UK websites and the international websites it supports to undertake active research to explore what is effective in delivering on this mission.
The key objectives over the 2019-2022 strategy period are:
- 1) To enhance the ability of people in the UK and around the world to meaningfully participate in democratic processes, make their voices heard and hold governments to account;
- 2) To enable citizens to improve their neighbourhoods, protect places of community value, and engage with local government, thereby helping to promote resilient and flourishing communities;
- 3) To enhance government transparency, in particular through enabling citizens, journalists and campaigners to make greater and more effective use of their right to access information; and
- 4) To enable the global community to make more informed decisions concerning digital solutions for increasing transparency, accountability and public engagement, through growing the evidence base and convening the sector.
In 2020/21, mySociety's 25 permanent UK staff continued to help citizens in the UK and around the world to meaningfully engage with their government and within their communities - through the running of our established services FixMyStreet.com, TheyWorkForYou.com and WhatDoTheyKnow.com, supporting the work of local organisations in over 40 countries worldwide, and researching the efficacy and impact of digital tools on government accountability, transparency and citizen engagement.
## **Public benefit**
We have referred to the guidance in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
## **Social investment policies**
mySociety's ongoing provision of services via its subsidiary trading company, SocietyWorks Ltd, represents a social investment; projects are chosen based on alignment with the charity’s purposes, as well as with the aim of achieving a financial return.
## **Achievements and performance**
Our work is organised under four interlinked practice areas, all underpinned by research and sectorbuilding:
- Democracy;
- Transparency;
- Community; and
- Climate.
3
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
Our communications, fundraising, events and administrative personnel support the activities of these practice areas.
In 2020/21, use of mySociety’s flagship services continued to grow. In 2020/21 there were over 9 million visits to our UK parliamentary monitoring site TheyWorkForYou.com. Around 230,000 of those visits were on the day after the Commons vote on free school meals, an issue highlighted by footballer Marcus Rashford. In June, as people took to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd and systemic racism, we saw 23 times the usual visitors to WriteToThem.com, our service that makes it easy to contact your local or national elected representative. More than 300,000 messages were sent via the service in the course of the year.
Our Freedom of Information site, WhatDoTheyKnow.com, saw a 13% increase in FOI requests sent through the site - and our Pro service for journalists and other professional FOI users was used in several high profile investigations (further information below under Transparency). And we launched a new service: the first searchable database of local council climate action plans in the UK. Our crowdsourced data shows that 322 out of 406 councils (79%) have a current public plan outlining their response to the climate emergency.
Our research team’s expertise in digital democracy was in high demand as parliaments around the world sought to improve their digital infrastructure and offering to citizens - a need brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. And while health and travel restrictions meant that we were again unable to hold our annual TICTeC conference in person, we brought the sector together in a series of online conversations around civic tech and open data’s role in global crises.
More examples of key successes and progress over 2020/21 are outlined below, against each of our practice areas:
## **Democracy**
With the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the United Nations Development Programme, we worked with parliaments in Armenia, Bhutan, Morocco and Myanmar to assist them through the process of digitalisation and identify pathways to enhance parliamentary transparency, engagement and accountability. We also worked with the Inter-Parliamentary Union to produce their biannual report on Youth participation in national parliaments — the main global resource on the topic.
We worked with The Content Creatives to produce training modules that will help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to understand more about our democracy — including how to write to your MP effectively and making your voice heard with TheyWorkForYou.
Our report on _Councillor attitudes towards citizen engagement_ explored how elected decision makers can and do influence the result of participatory exercises - through decisions around the scope of the exercise, and the ability to selectively accept or reject recommendations - and showed that councillors attitudes towards participatory exercises are based on a mix of political and practical factors.
4
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **Transparency**
We continued to develop our open source FOI software Alaveteli that now powers 29 active FOI platforms around the world. With funding from the Nesta Future News Fund we built new capabilities into WhatDoTheyKnow Pro, enabling membership-based newsrooms and campaigning organisations to harness help from their supporters in sorting through FOI responses. And with support from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, we provided increased support to WhatDoTheyKnow users in taking the next steps when their requests for information are denied - a problem that has reached record levels in recent years.
With support from Adessium and Swedish Postcode foundations, we worked to increase access to and impactful use of FOI across Europe, including bringing Pro functionality (FOI tools for journalists and campaigners) to platforms in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France and Sweden.
In the UK and Europe, our FOI services were instrumental in uncovering information used in several high profile stories and campaigns, including the Give Them Time campaign to ensure funding for deferred school starters in Scotland; the Million Moments for Democracy anti-corruption campaign in the Czech Republic; an investigation into EU lobbying and the practice of ‘revolving doors’; and numerous stories on how governments across Europe have managed the COVID-19 pandemic.
## **Community**
With support from the Legal Education Foundation, we co-launched the FixMyBlock website in August 2020, in partnership with information and advocacy group Tower Blocks UK. Born from the desire for action after the Grenfell disaster, the site is designed to help social housing tenants get problems resolved, and provides advice and tools for advocacy and activism around fire safety and disrepair.
We continued to work on Keep It In The Community (KIITC), the database of assets of community value and community spaces, with funding from Power to Change. We published a report with recommendations for policymakers to improve the Assets of Community Value process and funding provisions for community spaces, in order to support more assets on the path towards community ownership. To ensure the long term future of KIITC, we made the decision to transition the data to Plunkett and Locality - organisations with members who run/own community spaces and who are embedded in the community ownership ecosystem - who will be able to utilise and update the data more effectively than mySociety.
## **Climate**
In November 2020, we launched the alpha service data.climateemergency.uk – the first site to collect UK council climate action plans in a single database, alongside some data on local authority CO2 emissions estimates. The site allows anyone to quickly and easily find out if their council has a plan, and put those plans into context. We developed the service together with Climate Emergency UK, through a discovery and prototyping process that involved input from a range of council climate officers, climate specialists, researchers, journalists and climate campaigners. It’s the first proof of concept that data can accelerate and facilitate action, and we have ambitious plans to help councils, civil society groups and individual citizens to take faster, more informed and effective action to cut emissions at the local level.
5
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **Financial review**
Income in 2020/21 was £1.966m, an increase of 35% from the £1.462m received in 2019/20. Significantly, donations increased by 38% to £0.883m (2019/20: £0.642m), and other trading activities increased by 30% to £1.016m (2019/20: £0.784m).
Total expenditure in 2020/21 was £1.487m, a decrease of 13% from £1.715m in 2019/20. This has been reduced due to efficiencies made in staff resourcing allocations against trading and charitable activities in the year.
Net income in 2020/21 was £0.480m, an increase of 289% from the net expenditure of £0.254m in 2019/20. This increase is the combination of an increase in donations, and efficiencies made in staff resourcing allocations across trading and charitable activities.
mySociety's major charitable supporters in 2020/21 have included:
- William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the major source of unrestricted funding for mySociety's international and UK charitable endeavours;
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, which provides unrestricted funding for mySociety's charitable work in the UK; and
- ▪ Adessium Foundation and Swedish Postcode Foundation, supporting our FOI work in the UK and Europe.
A number of other funders supported specific projects which, without this support, mySociety would have been unable to undertake. These include:
- The Legal Education Foundation, which continued to fund our work with Tower Blocks UK on digital solutions to empower high rise residents;
- Power to Change, which continued to fund our online open directory of community assets, KeepItInTheCommunity.org; and
- Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Nesta, which funded development work on WhatDoTheyKnow aimed at journalists and citizen users.
We are also grateful to all the individuals and small private foundations who provide one-off or recurring donations to support mySociety's work.
mySociety’s commercial subsidiary, SocietyWorks Ltd, provides sustainable commercial income streams within each of our practice areas, building on and related to the work we do charitably. In particular, our FixMyStreet Pro business brings in substantial commercial income aligned with our overall mySociety mission and work with local government, and generates profits that are passed on to the charity as unrestricted income.
In 2020/21, SocietyWorks Ltd generated a net profit of £0.346m (2019/20: £0.022m) which has contributed significantly to the net income surplus of mySociety in the year.
## **Going concern**
The trustees consider that the charity will continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from the date on which these financial statements are approved for the following reasons:
- The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £625,000+;
- The charity’s key funders for 2021-22 are due to provide grant payments of £500k+ during the first two months of the new financial year; and
6
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
- The trading subsidiary has close to £600,000 of forward commitments from commercial customers, most of which falls in the 2021-22 financial year; and 75% of income against the group’s budgeted expenditure for the upcoming 12 months is secured or highly likely.
The trustees do not consider that the COVID-19 pandemic will have any severe impact on the activities of the charity at this time. The trustees continue to assess the emerging situation to ensure that all government restrictions and guidelines are met and that the health and welfare of our staff is continually monitored and supported.
The trustees therefore consider it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of preparation of the accounts, as detailed in note 1(c) to the financial statements.
## **Risk management**
The key risks (and their mitigations) for the organisation are as follows:
- 1) Risk: Failure to acquire sufficient future funding to sustain organisation Mitigation: A key risk - we have not acquired sufficient future funding to sustain the organisation at its current size for any great length of time. Primary focus for Fundraising Manager, supported by Chief Executive and Senior Management Team. As needed, consideration may be given to what reductions need to be made to the cost base.
- 2) Risk: Legal action against WhatDoTheyKnow Mitigation: Legal mailing list exists to discuss and address any issues raised. New User Support Assistant now in place to keep track of and escalate specific risky issues and deadlines.
- 3) Risk: Bytemark (our hosting / data centre) fails Mitigation: We hold multiple onsite and offsite backups and have management software to enable deployment of new servers elsewhere.
- 4) Risk: Climate emergency Mitigation: Developing strategy and opportunities around democracy and climate change as an area of positive contribution.
- 5) Risk: Privilege escalation on a single host leads to wider access Mitigation: Strong password policies; applications run as unprivileged users wherever possible; ongoing review to remove this vulnerability.
- 6) Disaster Recovery Procedures (DR) are complex and may result in loss of up to 24 hours of data Mitigation: we tested DR process for FMS in Q4 2019. We have a broad plan in place that can be followed. We are currently reviewing these plans in order to make them more effective.
## **Reserves policy**
mySociety aims to have sufficient free, unrestricted cash, or known future cash, to cover six months of the group's operational costs. Known future cash includes deferred income from grant monies on hand that will be released within the six-month time frame, and known future grant payments that will be received in the same period.
7
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
At 31 March 2021, 6 months operational costs was estimated at £1.115m. Net current assets (£0.584m) less restricted funds (£0.056m) plus 6 months unrestricted committed income from the 2021/22 budget income pipeline (£0.526m) totalled £1.054m, close to the target unrestricted reserves aim under the current reserves policy.
mySociety has established a separate designated reserves fund which represents a cash fund to be used if a worst case scenario emerged and the charity had to be closed down. These funds would be used to support an orderly close down in this event. These monies are set aside in a ring-fenced bank account, requiring trustee approval to use. At the end of the financial year this designated reserves fund stood at £0.180m (2019/20: £0.180m).
## **Plans for future periods**
We are in the process of developing a new strategy for mySociety to cover the years leading towards 2030. This involves revisiting our vision, mission and theory of change – describing the type of society we want to see and what we need to do to get there. We will set goals that will need to be reached in order to achieve the outcomes we want to see happen, and define the activities that we will undertake to deliver these goals, in each of our core programmes (Climate, Community, Democracy, Transparency).
Alongside this, SocietyWorks Ltd has developed its own three-year impact strategy (2021-2024), setting out how it will increase profitability for reinvestment into mySociety whilst delivering outcomes for clients that are consistent with the charity’s overall aims.
## **Fundraising**
mySociety solicits donations from the public only via its website, and does not engage in any followup activity with donors unless consent has been given for further contact. We do not employ outside fundraisers, and are not bound by any voluntary scheme for regulating fundraising, but will keep this under review as our fundraising work develops. No complaints have been received about our fundraising activity.
## **Statement of responsibilities of the trustees**
The trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
8
## **mySociety**
## **Report of the trustees**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
The trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and the group and the incoming resources and application of resources, including the net income or expenditure, of the charity and the group for the year. In preparing those 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;
- make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and the group and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and the group 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 auditors are 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 auditors are 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.
Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.
## **Auditors**
Godfrey Wilson Limited were re-appointed as auditors to the group and parent charity during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.
Approved by the trustees on 22 October 2021 and signed on their behalf by
Amanda Brown catherine brown A. Brown C. Brown Treasurer Chair
Amanda Brown
9
## **Independent auditors' report**
## **To the members of**
## **mySociety**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of mySociety (the 'parent charity') and its subsidiary (the 'group') for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, consolidated and parent charity balance sheets, consolidated statement of cash flows and the related 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 the 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 and parent charity's affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of the group's incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the 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 group and parent charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the group and parent charity financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the group and parent charity 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.
10
## **Independent auditors' report**
## **To the members of**
## **mySociety**
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinion 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 for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- 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 the parent charity and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in 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 by the parent charity, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us;
- the parent charity financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns;
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not obtained all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit.
## **Responsibilities of the trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out in the trustees’ report, the trustees 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 they 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 charity’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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
11
## **Independent auditors' report**
## **To the members of**
## **mySociety**
## **Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The procedures we carried out and the extent to which they are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, are detailed below:
(1) We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, and assessed the risk of non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Throughout the audit, we remained alert to possible indications of non-compliance.
(2) We reviewed the charity’s policies and procedures in relation to:
- Identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations, and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
- Detecting and responding to the risk of fraud, and whether they were aware of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud; and
- Designing and implementing internal controls to mitigate the risk of non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud.
(3) We inspected the minutes of trustee meetings.
(4) We enquired about any non-routine communication with regulators and reviewed any reports made to them.
(5) We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and assessed their compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
(6) We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected transactions or balances that may indicate a risk of material fraud or error.
- (7) We assessed the risk of fraud through management override of controls and carried out procedures to address this risk. Our procedures included:
- ▪Testing the appropriateness of journal entries;
- ▪Assessing judgements and accounting estimates for potential bias;
- ▪Reviewing related party transactions; and
- ▪Testing transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.
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. Irregularities that arise due to fraud can be even harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
12
## **Independent auditors' report**
## **To the members of**
## **mySociety**
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charityʼs 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 charityʼs members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditorʼs 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 charityʼs members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
## Alison Godfrey
Date: 2 November 2021
## **Alison Godfrey FCA**
## **(Senior Statutory Auditor)**
For and on behalf of:
## **GODFREY WILSON LIMITED**
Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD
13
## **mySociety**
**Consolidated statement of financial activities** _(incorporating an income and expenditure account)_
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|Restricted
Unrestricted
Note
£
£
**Income from:**
Donations
3
417,143
465,963
Charitable activities
4
-
65,529
Other trading activities
5
-
1,016,050
Investments
-
82
Other
-
1,428
**Total income**
417,143
1,549,052
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds: raising charitable donations
-
84,050
Raising funds: trading activity
-
670,501
Charitable activities
432,829
299,211
**Total expenditure**
6
432,829
1,053,762
9
(15,686)
495,290
**Reconciliation of funds:**
Total funds brought forward
71,430
135,546
**Total funds carried forward**
55,744
630,836
**Net income / (expenditure) and net**
**movement in funds**|**The group**
**2021**
**Total**
**£**
**883,106**
**65,529**
**1,016,050**
**82**
**1,428**
**1,966,195**
**84,050**
**670,501**
**732,040**
**1,486,591**
**479,604**
**206,976**
**686,580**|The group
2020
Total
£
641,791
34,805
783,622
255
1,040|
|---|---|---|
|||1,461,513|
|||86,049
694,996
934,263|
|||1,715,308|
|||(253,795)
460,771|
|||206,976|
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in note 21 to the accounts.
14
## **mySociety**
**Charity only statement of financial activities** _(incorporating an income and expenditure account)_
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**The Charity**
**2021**
Restricted
Unrestricted
**Total**
Note
£
£
**£**
**Income from:**
Donations
3
417,143
811,511
**1,228,654**
Charitable activities
4
-
65,529
**65,529**
Other trading activities
5
-
-
**-**
Investments
-
82
**82**
Other
-
1,428
**1,428**
**Total income**
417,143
878,550
**1,295,693**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
-
84,050
**84,050**
Charitable activities
432,829
299,210
**732,039**
**Total expenditure**
7
432,829
383,260
**816,089**
(15,686)
495,290
**479,604**
**Reconciliation of funds:**
Total funds brought forward
71,430
132,791
**204,221**
**Total funds carried forward**
55,744
628,081
**683,825**
**Net income / (expenditure) and net**
**movement in funds**|The Charity
2020
Total
£
661,791
34,805
66,523
255
1,040|
|---|---|
||764,414|
||86,049
934,263|
||1,020,312|
||(255,898)
460,119|
||204,221|
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.
15
## **mySociety**
## **Consolidated balance sheets**
## **As at 31 March 2021**
|Note
**Fixed assets**
Tangible assets
12
Intangible assets
13
Investments
14
**Current assets**
Debtors
17
Cash at bank and in hand
**Liabilities**
Creditors: amounts falling due within 1 year 18
**Net current assets**
**Net assets**
20
**Funds**
21
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
General funds
**Total charity funds**|**The group**
**2021**
**£**
**8,262**
**94,498**
**-**
**241,670**
**699,865**
**941,535**
**(357,715)**
**583,820**
**686,580**
**55,744**
**180,004**
**450,832**
**686,580**|The group **The charity**
2020
**2021**
£
**£**
4,468
**8,262**
-
**-**
-
**1**
240,682
**374,053**
253,484
**317,423**
494,166
**691,476**
(291,658)
**(15,913)**
202,508
**675,563**
206,976
**683,825**
71,430
**55,744**
-
**180,004**
135,546
**448,077**
206,976
**683,825**|The charity
2020
£
4,468
-
1|
|---|---|---|---|
||||95,819
150,687|
||||246,506
(46,753)|
||||199,753|
||||204,221|
||||71,430
-
132,791|
||||204,221|
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.
Approved by the trustees on 22 October 2021 and signed on their behalf by
## Amanda Brown
## catherine brown
A. Brown Treasurer
C. Brown Chair
16
## **mySociety**
## **Consolidated statement of cash flows**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**Cash used in operating activities:**
Net movement in funds
_Adjustments for:_
Depreciation charges
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Loss / (profit) on the sale of fixed assets
Decrease / (increase) in debtors
Increase / (decrease) in creditors
**Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities**
**Cash flows from investing activities:**
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Recognition of intangible fixed assets
**Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities**
**Increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year**
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
**Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year**|**The group**
**2021**
**£**
**479,604**
**3,389**
**(82)**
**-**
**(988)**
**66,057**
**547,980**
**82**
**-**
**(7,183)**
**(94,498)**
**(101,599)**
**446,381**
**253,484**
**699,865**|The group
2020
£
(253,795)
4,079
(255)
(38)
(23,746)
57,473|
|---|---|---|
|||(216,282)|
|||255
659
(2,525)
-|
|||(1,611)|
|||(217,893)
471,377|
|||253,484|
The charity has not provided an analysis of changes in net debt as it does not have any long term financing arrangements.
17
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
**1. Accounting policies**
## **a) Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities in preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
mySociety 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 note.
## **b) Group accounts**
These financial statements consolidate the results of the charitable company and its whollyowned (controlled) subsidiary on a line by line basis. Transactions and balances between the charitable company and its subsidiary have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements. Balances between the two companies are disclosed in the notes of the charitable company's balance sheet. A separate statement of financial activities, or income and expenditure account, for the charitable company itself is presented in addition to that of the group by choice.
## **c) Going concern basis of accounting**
The accounts have been prepared on the assumption that the charity is able to continue as a going concern. The trustees have considered the charitable company’s current and future financial position, particularly in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the level of unrestricted, general reserves held at 31 March 2021. The charity also has significant confirmed unrestricted funding for the year ended 31 March 2022. Given the above, the trustees consider that the charitable company has sufficient cash reserves to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from the date on which these financial statements are approved.
## **d) Income**
Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
Income from the government and other grants, whether 'capital' grants or 'revenue' grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.
Income received in advance of provision of invoiced consultancy and software services is deferred until criteria for income recognition are met.
Recharges of staff costs between the charitable company and its subsidiary SocietyWorks Ltd have not been recognised as income in the charitable company's statement of financial activities, and are instead netted off against expenditure. This has no impact upon the consolidated figures, in which intercompany transactions are eliminated.
18
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
**1. Accounting policies (continued)**
## **e) Donated services and facilities**
Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item, is probable and the economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), general volunteer time is not recognised.
On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
## **f) Interest receivable**
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity: this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
## **g) Funds accounting**
Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity's work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.
## **h) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT**
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.
## **i) Allocation of support and governance costs**
Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity, including the costs of complying with constitutional and statutory requirements and any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on the basis of direct costs, as follows:
||**2021**|2020|
|---|---|---|
|Raising funds: raising charitable donations|**10.3%**|8.4%|
|Charitable activities|**89.7%**|91.6%|
19
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
**1. Accounting policies (continued)**
## **j) Tangible fixed assets**
Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:
Computer equipment
3 - 5 years straight line basis
## **k) Intangible fixed assets**
Amortisation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The amortisation rates in use are as follows:
Software development
3 years straight line basis
## **l) Investments**
Investments in subsidiaries are held at cost less impairment.
## **m) Debtors**
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
## **n) Cash at bank and in hand**
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.
## **o) Creditors**
Creditors and provisions are recognised where there is a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
## **p) Financial instruments**
The charitable company only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently recognised at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
## **q) Pension costs**
The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for its employees. There are no further liabilities other than that already recognised in the SOFA.
## **r) Foreign currency transactions**
Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at rates prevailing at the date of the transaction. Balances denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the year end.
20
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **1. Accounting policies (continued)**
## **s) Accounting estimates and key judgements**
In the application of the charity's accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods.
The key sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements are described below.
## **Depreciation**
As described in note 1j to the financial statements, depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life.
## **Amortisation**
As described in note 1k to the financial statements, amortisation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life.
## **Work in progress**
Work in progress is calculated by comparing progress on a project against the budgeted cost. The work in progress element of trade debtors in these accounts in relation to the group figures is £3,075 (2020: £28,065).
21
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **2. Prior period comparatives: statement of financial activities**
|**Income from:**
Donations
Charitable activities
Other trading activities
Investments
Other income
**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds: raising charitable donations
Raising funds: trading activity
Charitable activities
**Total expenditure**
**Net income / (expenditure) and net**
**movement in funds**|Restricted
£
£
471,452
170,339
-
34,805
-
783,622
-
255
-
1,040
471,452
990,061
-
86,049
-
694,996
464,646
469,617
464,646
1,250,662
6,806
(260,601)
Unrestricted|**2020**
**Total**
**£**
**641,791**
**34,805**
**783,622**
**255**
**1,040**
**The group**|
|---|---|---|
|||**1,461,513**|
|||**86,049**
**694,996**
**934,263**|
|||**1,715,308**|
|||**(253,795)**|
22
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**3.**
**Income from donations**
**_The group_**
Adessium Foundation
Columbia University
The Legal Education Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
Nesta Future News Fund
The Paragon Trust
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Other donations
**Total income from donations**
**_The charity_**
Total income from donations as above:
Add: gift aid distribution from SocietyWorks Ltd
**Total income from donations**|**2021**
Restricted
**Total**
£
£
**£**
157,880
-
**157,880**
71,703
-
**71,703**
90,000
-
**90,000**
56,560
-
**56,560**
41,000
-
**41,000**
-
733
**733**
-
100,000
**100,000**
-
320,892
**320,892**
-
44,338
**44,338**
417,143
465,963
**883,106**
**2021**
Restricted
**Total**
£
£
**£**
417,143
465,963
**883,106**
-
345,548
**345,548**
417,143
811,511
**1,228,654**
**The group**
**The charity**
Unrestricted
Unrestricted|**2021**
**Total**
**£**
**157,880**
**71,703**
**90,000**
**56,560**
**41,000**
**733**
**100,000**
**320,892**
**44,338**
**The group**|
|---|---|---|
|||**883,106**|
23
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
**3. Income from donations (continued) Prior period comparative:** _**The group**_
|Adessium Foundation
Columbia University
The Democratic Society
Indigo Trust
The Involve Foundation
The Legal Education Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Nesta Future News Fund
Norwegian Unix User Group Foundation
Power to Change Trust
Access - The Foundation for Social Investment
TheyWorkForYou crowdfunding donations
The Paragon Trust
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
The David Family Foundation
Nesta
Other donations
**Total income from donations**
**_The charity_**
Income from donations as above:
Add: gift aid distribution from SocietyWorks Ltd
**Total income from donations**|Restricted
£
£
128,792
-
72,119
-
45,585
-
19,250
-
36,600
-
51,315
-
3,089
-
29,000
-
1,450
-
40,000
-
26,777
-
17,475
-
-
6,500
-
100,000
-
10,000
-
10,000
-
43,839
471,452
170,339
Restricted
£
£
471,452
170,339
-
20,000
471,452
190,339
Unrestricted
Unrestricted|2020
Total
£
128,792
72,119
45,585
19,250
36,600
51,315
3,089
29,000
1,450
40,000
26,777
17,475
6,500
100,000
10,000
10,000
43,839|
|---|---|---|
|||641,791|
|||2020
Total
£
641,791
20,000|
|||661,791|
24
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **4. Income from charitable activities**
|**Income from charitable activities**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Charitable consultancy
Event ticket sales
**Total income from charitable activities**|Restricted
£
£
-
65,529
-
-
-
65,529
Unrestricted|**2021**
2020
**Total**
Total
**£**
£
**65,529**
30,430
**-**
4,375
**65,529**
34,805
**The group and charity**||
||||34,805|
All income from charitable activities in the prior period was unrestricted.
## **5. Income from other trading activities**
|Sponsorship
Sale of software and IT consultancy
**Total other trading activities**|Restricted
£
£
-
-
-
1,016,050
-
1,016,050
Unrestricted|**2021**
**Total**
**£**
**-**
**1,016,050**
**1,016,050**
**The group**|2020
Total
£
66,523
717,099
The group|
|---|---|---|---|
||||783,622|
All income from other trading activities in the prior period was unrestricted. Income from other trading activities in the charity (only) in the prior period comprise £66,523 relating to sponsorship.
25
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **6. Total expenditure (the group)**
|**Total expenditure (the group)**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|£
£
Staff costs (note 10)
68,714
617,909
Servers and subscriptions
-
24,493
Team meetings and retreats
-
3,391
Legal, financial and insurance
-
7,479
General administration costs
-
1,691
Partner payments (note 8)
-
-
TICTeC and TICTeC local events
-
-
UK travel and subsistence
-
99
Desk rentals and meeting rooms
-
3,957
Depreciation
-
-
Training
-
-
Marketing
-
11,482
**Sub-total**
68,714
670,501
15,336
-
**Total expenditure**
**84,050**
**670,501**
**Prior period comparative:**
£
£
Staff costs (note 10)
66,858
616,010
Servers and subscriptions
-
19,886
Team meetings and retreats
-
6,380
Legal, financial and insurance
-
11,062
General administration costs
-
2,905
Partner payments (note 8)
-
-
TICTeC and TICTeC local events
-
-
AlaveteliCon event
-
-
Other events
-
-
UK travel and subsistence
-
16,941
International travel
-
-
Desk rentals and meeting rooms
-
7,289
Depreciation
-
-
Marketing
5,085
14,523
**Sub-total**
71,943
694,996
14,106
-
**Total expenditure**
**86,049**
**694,996**
Raising funds:
trading
activity
Raising funds:
trading
activity
Allocation of support and
governance costs
Allocation of support and
governance costs
Raising
funds: raising
charitable
donations
Raising
funds: raising
charitable
donations|Charitable
activities
£
517,458
21,621
-
-
-
63,013
(3,620)
-
-
-
-
-
598,472
133,568
**732,040**
Charitable
activities
£
686,376
25,708
-
-
-
27,042
21,272
14,279
2,500
-
3,934
-
-
-
781,111
153,152
**934,263**|Support
and
governance
costs
£
113,400
-
3,391
12,156
6,786
-
-
98
3,957
3,389
5,727
-
148,904
(148,904)
**-**
Support
and
governance
costs
£
96,013
-
8,526
38,710
2,288
-
-
-
-
10,367
-
7,275
4,079
-
167,258
(167,258)
**-**|**The group**
**2021 Total**
**£**
**1,317,481**
**46,114**
**6,782**
**19,635**
**8,477**
**63,013**
**(3,620)**
**197**
**7,914**
**3,389**
**5,727**
**11,482**|
||||**1,486,591**
-|
||||**1,486,591**|
||||**The group**
**2020 Total**
**£**
**1,465,257**
**45,594**
**14,906**
**49,772**
**5,193**
**27,042**
**21,272**
**14,279**
**2,500**
**27,308**
**3,934**
**14,564**
**4,079**
**19,608**|
||||**1,715,308**
-|
||||**1,715,308**|
Total governance costs were £9,660 (2020: £9,300).
26
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **7. Total expenditure (the charity)**
|**Total expenditure (the charity)**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Staff costs
Servers and subscriptions
Team meetings and retreats
Legal, financial and insurance
General administration costs
Partner payments (note 8)
TICTeC and TICTeC local events
UK travel and subsistence
Desk rentals and meeting rooms
Depreciation
Training
**Sub-total**
Allocation of support and governance costs
**Total expenditure**
**Prior period comparative:**
Staff costs
Servers and subscriptions
Team meetings and retreats
Legal, financial and insurance
General administration costs
Partner payments (note 8)
TICTeC and TICTeC local events
AlaveteliCon event
Other events
UK travel and subsistence
International travel
Desk rentals and meeting rooms
Depreciation
Marketing
**Sub-total**
Allocation of support and governance costs
**Total expenditure**|Raising
funds
£
68,714
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
68,714
15,336
**84,050**
Raising
funds
£
66,858
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
5,085
71,943
14,106
**86,049**|Charitable
activities
£
517,459
21,619
-
-
-
63,013
(3,620)
-
-
-
-
598,471
133,568
**732,039**
Charitable
activities
£
686,376
25,708
-
-
-
27,042
21,272
14,279
2,500
-
3,934
-
-
-
781,111
153,152
**934,263**|Support and
governance
costs
£
113,400
-
3,391
12,156
6,786
-
-
98
3,957
3,389
5,727
148,904
(148,904)
**-**
Support and
governance
costs
£
96,013
-
8,526
38,710
2,288
-
-
-
-
10,367
-
7,275
4,079
-
167,258
(167,258)
**-**|**The charity**
**2021 Total**
**£**
**699,573**
**21,619**
**3,391**
**12,156**
**6,786**
**63,013**
**(3,620)**
**98**
**3,957**
**3,389**
**5,727**|
|||||**816,089**
-|
|||||**816,089**|
|||||**The charity**
**2020 Total**
**£**
**849,247**
**25,708**
**8,526**
**38,710**
**2,288**
**27,042**
**21,272**
**14,279**
**2,500**
**10,367**
**3,934**
**7,275**
**4,079**
**5,085**|
|||||**1,020,312**
-|
|||||**1,020,312**|
27
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **8. Grants payable**
Included within 'partner payments' in notes 6 and 7 are sub-grant 'partner payments' made to the following institutions:
|Shift Foundation
Association Open Knowledge Foundation France ('OKF France')
Informace pro Všechny, o.s.
Orrudden Konsult AB
Liset Hamming
Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten
Access Info Europe
Other grants payable <£1,000|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**50,010**
13,465
**4,048**
-
**2,273**
-
**1,883**
-
**1,500**
-
**-**
7,246
**-**
5,403
**3,299**
928
**63,013**
27,042
**The group and charity**|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**50,010**
13,465
**4,048**
-
**2,273**
-
**1,883**
-
**1,500**
-
**-**
7,246
**-**
5,403
**3,299**
928
**63,013**
27,042
**The group and charity**|
|---|---|---|
|||27,042|
No grants were paid to individuals in the current or prior period, and no support costs have been allocated to grant-making activities.
|**9.**
**Net movement in funds**
This is stated after charging:
Depreciation
Trustees' remuneration
Trustees' reimbursed expenses
Foreign exchange gains / (losses)
Auditors' remuneration:
▪Statutory audit (including VAT)
▪Other services (including VAT)|**The group**
**2021**
**£**
**3,389**
**Nil**
**Nil**
**1,428**
**9,360**
**300**|The group
2020
£
4,079
Nil
484
1,265
8,700
600|
|---|---|---|
In the prior year, trustees' reimbursed expenses comprised payments to 2 trustees for travel costs.
28
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**10.**
**Staff costs and numbers**
Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension costs
Contractors
Less: capitalised product development within SocietyWorks Ltd
The number of employees whose annual emoluments were £60,000 or more
£60,001 to £65,000
£65,001 to £70,000
£70,001 to £75,000
£80,001 to £85,000
£85,001 to £90,000|**The group**
**2021**
**£**
**1,232,511**
**145,665**
**25,936**
**7,868**
**(94,498)**
**1,317,482**
were:
**The group**
**2021**
**No.**
**1**
**2**
**2**
**-**
**1**|The group
2020
£
1,277,286
140,538
27,251
20,182
-|
|---|---|---|
|||1,465,257|
|||The group
2020
No.
-
2
1
-
1|
The key management personnel of the charitable company comprise the Trustees and the Chief Executive Officer. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel were £99,765 (2020: £96,284).
|Average number of employees (full-time equivalent)|**The group**
**2021**
**No.**
**25**|The group
2020
No.
25|
|---|---|---|
In the prior year, redundancy and termination payments relating to three employees were paid amounting to £33,530. This figure included both statutory and ex gratia elements. No further amounts were owed as of 31 March 2020.
## **11. Taxation**
The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. The charity's trading subsidiary, SocietyWorks Ltd, has gift aided its available profits to the charity.
29
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**12.**|**Tangible fixed assets**||
|---|---|---|
||**Group and charity**|**Computer**|
|||**equipment**|
|||**£**|
||**Cost**||
||At 1 April 2020|**8,992**|
||Additions in year|**7,183**|
||Disposals in year|**(1,331)**|
||At 31 March 2021|**14,844**|
||**Depreciation**||
||At 1 April 2020|**4,524**|
||Charge for the year|**3,389**|
||On disposal|**(1,331)**|
||At 31 March 2021|**6,582**|
||**Net book value**||
||**At 31 March 2021**|**8,262**|
||At 31 March 2020|4,468|
|**13.**|**Intangible fixed assets**||
||**The group (only)**|**Software**|
|||**development**|
|||**£**|
||**Cost**||
||At 1 April 2020|**-**|
||Additions in year|**94,498**|
||At 31 March 2021|**94,498**|
||**Amortisation**||
||At 1 April 2020|**-**|
||Charge for the year|**-**|
||At 31 March 2021|**-**|
||**Net book value**||
||**At 31 March 2021**|**94,498**|
||At 31 March 2020|-|
Software development costs relating to three software projects have been recognised as intangible assets during the year. Amortisation will begin on 1 April 2021.
30
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **14. Investments**
|Investment in subsidiary company|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
-
**The group**|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**1**
1
**The charity**|
|---|---|---|
The investment represents 100% of the ordinary share capital of SocietyWorks Ltd, whose principal activity is to carry out trading activities in support of the charity. A summary of the financial results and position of SocietyWorks Ltd is given below (see note 15).
## **15. Subsidiary undertakings**
## _SocietyWorks Ltd_
SocietyWorks Ltd (company number 05798215) is a wholly owned trading subsidiary of mySociety. It trades in software and IT consultancy.
|Turnover
Cost of sales
Gross profit
Administrative expenses
Profit on ordinary activities
Corporation tax
Profit for financial year after taxation
_Changes in equity_
Total retained profit brought forward
Total comprehensive income for the year
Gift aid distribution to parent charity
**Total retained profit carried forward**
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Assets
Liabilities
Funds|**2021**
**£**
**1,016,050**
**-**
**1,016,050**
**(670,501)**
**345,549**
**-**
**345,549**
**2,755**
**345,549**
**(345,549)**
**2,755**
**2021**
**£**
**709,741**
**(706,985)**
**2,756**|2020
£
717,099
-|
|---|---|---|
|||717,099
(694,995)|
|||22,104
-|
|||22,104|
|||651
22,104
(20,000)|
|||2,755|
|||2020
£
270,638
(267,882)|
|||2,756|
31
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **16. Parent charity**
The parent charity's gross income and results for the year are disclosed in the charity only Statement of Financial Activities.
## **17. Debtors**
|Trade debtors
Prepayments
Amounts owing by group undertakings
Other debtors|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**232,800**
220,980
**4,782**
14,677
**-**
-
**4,088**
5,025
**241,670**
240,682
**The group**|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
82,725
**4,782**
8,069
**365,183**
-
**4,088**
5,025
**374,053**
95,819
**The charity**|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
82,725
**4,782**
8,069
**365,183**
-
**4,088**
5,025
**374,053**
95,819
**The charity**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||95,819|
## **18. Creditors : amounts due within 1 year**
|Trade creditors
Accruals
Other taxation and social security
Amounts owed to group undertakings
Other creditors
Deferred income (see note 19)
**Deferred income**
At 1 April 2020
Deferred during the year
Released during the year
At 31 March 2021|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
9,639
**9,180**
10,092
**75,199**
56,065
**-**
-
**7,721**
3,658
**265,615**
212,204
**357,715**
291,658
**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**212,204**
117,016
**265,615**
212,204
**(212,204)**
(117,016)
**265,615**
212,204
**The group**
**The group**|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
7,119
**6,780**
8,042
**1,412**
4,956
**-**
22,978
**7,721**
3,658
**-**
-
**15,913**
46,753
**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**The charity**
**The charity**|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
7,119
**6,780**
8,042
**1,412**
4,956
**-**
22,978
**7,721**
3,658
**-**
-
**15,913**
46,753
**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**The charity**
**The charity**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||-|
## **19. Deferred income**
Deferred income relates to contract income invoiced by SocietyWorks Ltd in advance of provision of services.
32
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **20. Analysis of group net assets between funds**
|Tangible fixed assets
Intangible fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
**Net assets at 31 March 2021**
**Prior period comparative:**
Tangible fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
**Net assets at 31 March 2020**|£
-
-
55,744
-
**55,744**
£
-
71,430
-
**71,430**
Restricted
funds
Restricted
funds|Designated
funds
£
-
-
180,004
-
**180,004**
Designated
funds
£
-
-
-
**-**|£
8,262
94,498
705,787
(357,715)
**450,832**
£
4,468
422,736
(291,658)
**135,546**
General
funds
General
funds|**Total**
**funds**
**£**
**8,262**
**94,498**
**941,535**
**(357,715)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**686,580**|
|||||**Total**
**funds**
**£**
**4,468**
**494,166**
**(291,658)**|
|||||**206,976**|
33
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **21. Movements in funds**
|**Restricted funds**
Columbia University
The Legal Education Foundation
Nesta Future News Fund
Power to Change Trust
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
**Total restricted funds**
_Designated fund:_Reserve fund
General funds
**Total unrestricted funds**
**Total funds**
Adessium Foundation / Swedish
Postcode Foundation
**Unrestricted funds**|At 1 April
2020
£
41,893
7,939
-
-
21,598
-
71,430
-
135,546
135,546
206,976|Income
£
157,880
71,703
90,000
41,000
-
56,560
417,143
-
1,549,052
1,549,052
1,966,195|£
(155,313)
(79,642)
(78,716)
(41,000)
(21,598)
(56,560)
(432,829)
-
(1,053,762)
(1,053,762)
(1,486,591)
Expenditure|£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
180,004
(180,004)
-
-
Transfers
between
funds|**£**
**44,460**
**-**
**11,284**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**At 31**
**March**
**2021**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||**55,744**|
||||||**180,004**
**450,832**|
||||||**630,836**|
||||||**686,580**|
## **Purposes of restricted funds**
**Adessium Foundation** Grant to launch new FOI services across Europe, and provide support to **/ Swedish Postcode** investigative journalists to use FOI in their stories. Also funds the general **Foundation** administration and support of our UK FOI service WhatDoTheyKnow.com. Cofunded.
**Columbia University**
Grant to cover the costs of a seconded employee.
**The Legal Education** “FixMyBlock” - a collaboration with advocacy group Tower Blocks UK, looking **Foundation** into the potential for an online tool to help residents address safety and maintenance concerns in their buildings.
**Nesta Future News** Grant to develop a new ‘Projects’ feature in WhatDoTheyKnow, which will allow **Fund** teams of journalists, citizen investigators and others to collaborate on FOI requests and analyse the information released.
**Power to Change** Grant towards the development and piloting of an online open directory of **Trust** community assets - “Keep It In The Community”.
**The Joseph Rowntree** Grant to add context-specific advice and guidance to WhatDoTheyKnow **Charitable Trust** (including the Pro service used by journalists, researchers and campaigners) to support users to more effectively challenge FOI refusals.
34
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **21. Movements in funds (continued)**
## **Purposes of designated funds**
**Reserve fund** A target level of unrestricted funds to enable mySociety to: cover emergency cash flow shortfalls; respond to an extraordinary event, campaign or project; or wind down the organisation in an orderly fashion should this become necessary.
|**Prior period comparative**
**Restricted funds**
Adessium Foundation
Columbia University
The Democratic Society
Indigo Trust
The Involve Foundation
The Legal Education Foundation
MacArthur
Nesta Future News Fund
The NUUG Foundation
Open Society Foundation London
Power to Change Trust
Reach Fund
TheyWorkForYou crowdfunder
**Total restricted funds**
General funds
**Total unrestricted funds**
**Total funds**
**Unrestricted funds**|At 1 April
2019
£
-
6,909
51,155
-
-
3,300
-
-
-
2,843
417
-
-
64,624
396,147
396,147
460,771|Income
£
128,792
72,119
45,585
19,250
36,600
51,315
3,089
29,000
1,450
-
40,000
26,777
17,475
471,452
990,061
990,061
1,461,513|£
(86,899)
(71,089)
(96,740)
(19,250)
(36,600)
(54,615)
(3,089)
(29,000)
(1,450)
(2,843)
(18,819)
(26,777)
(17,475)
(464,646)
(1,250,662)
(1,250,662)
(1,715,308)
Expenditure|£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Transfers
between
funds|**£**
**41,893**
**7,939**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**21,598**
**-**
**-**
**At 31**
**March**
**2020**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||**71,430**|
||||||**135,546**|
||||||**135,546**|
||||||**206,976**|
## **22. Operating lease commitments**
The group and charity had operating leases at the year end with total future minimum lease payments as follows:
|Amount falling due:
Within 1 year
Within 1 - 5 years|**2021**
2020
**£**
£
**360**
13,829
**-**
360
**360**
14,189
**Group and charity**|
|---|---|
35
## **mySociety**
## **Notes to the financial statements**
## **For the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **23. Related party transactions**
mySociety has a wholly owned subsidiary SocietyWorks Ltd, a company limited by shares (company no. 05798215). At 31 March 2021, SocietyWorks Ltd owed mySociety £365,183 (2020: £22,978 owed to Societyworks Ltd from mySociety).
There were no other related party transactions in the current or prior reporting period.
36