OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator. This document is also available as Markdown.

← The Matrix Trust

2024-08-31-accounts

The Matrix Trust (Matrix)

(A company limited by guarantee)

Directors Annual Report and Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 August 2024

Charity Registration No. 1081852 Company Registration number 03977050

Independent Examiners Ltd

2 Broadbridge Business Centre

Delling Lane Bosham West Sussex PO18 8NF

1

Contents

2

Legal and Administrative Information

Charity Name: The Matrix Trust (Matrix)

Charity registration number : 1081852

Company registration number : 03977050

Legal Status: Incorporated Charity

Start of Financial Year : 1[st] September 2023

End of Financial Year: 31[st] August 2024

Registered Office: Allen House Pavilion, Eastgate Gardens, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4AZ

Directors

Simon Slater Chair Matt Davis Neil Fenton Treasurer Kenneth Mead Lindsay Jespersen Jennifer Hall Victoria Gomes

Senior Management Team

Daniel Setterfield Chief Executive Officer Josh Dearden-Howell Head of Youth Work Juliette Milton Head of Finance Timothy Littlewood Head of Operations Shira Moberg Head of Fundraising Appointed February 2024

Governing Document

Memorandum and Articles of Association Dated 6th April 2000 (updated January 2019).

Independent Examiners : Independent Examiners Ltd

2 Broadbridge Business Centre Delling Lane Bosham West Sussex PO18 8NF

Primary Bankers : The Metro Bank 35-37 North Street Guildford GU1 4TE

3

Directors Report

Matrix, established for almost 25 years, remains dedicated to working with young people— helping them to make the most of their lives—and for young people, catalysing change by nurturing, inspiring, connecting, and empowering them.

This last financial year has been one of both progress and challenge. While we have continued to consolidate our work across Guildford Borough and seen encouraging growth in our projects since the pandemic.

Over the year, we worked with 2,114 individuals across 15 projects, dedicating our efforts to supporting 193 of the most vulnerable young people through in-depth, regular one-toone support—making a tangible difference in their lives.

The achievements of this year are detailed in the public benefit and achievements section of this report, but I particularly want to acknowledge the resilience, dedication, and skill of our leadership team and staff. They have managed continued growth and change amidst financial uncertainty, adapting to shifts in staffing, budgets, and partnerships. This has included our SWP work and the continual development of The Hideaway Café (The Pavilion Hub CIC) before its closure on 18th October 2024, all against the backdrop of wider socioeconomic challenges. Their dedication and perseverance have been truly exceptional.

The closure of The Hideaway Café was difficult for us all and we remain grateful for the immense contribution it made to our mission, providing a safe and welcoming space for young people over the years. It also played a vital role in increasing the visibility of Matrix and strengthening its reputation in the community. The continued generosity of individuals and organisations—through both financial and pro bono support—has been invaluable, and we are deeply appreciative of all who have stood by us.

The Matrix Trust finished the year on a firm footing, with strengthened relationships, an expanding team, continued growth of our projects, and a renewed commitment to our mission.

On behalf of the Trustees, I extend my deepest gratitude to all who have supported us during this time. Looking ahead, I am confident that, despite the challenges, we will continue to deliver on our charitable objectives and make a lasting impact on the lives of the incredible young people we serve.

Simon Slater (Chair of Trustees)

4

Aims and Objectives

Purposes and Aims

Our charity’s purposes as set out in the objects contained in the company’s memorandum of association are to:

Matrix aims to catalyse change for vulnerable young people, helping them to make the most of their lives and become active citizens in their community. To achieve this we work in partnership with young people, churches, schools, local organisations and the community to nurture, inspire, connect and empower them. Matrix works from within a Christian ethos which forms the culture within which we work.

Ensuring our work delivers our aims

Each year, we evaluate our aims, objectives, and activities to assess our impact and ensure we remain aligned with our mission. This review examines our achievements over the past 12 months, the outcomes of our work, and the evolving needs of local young people for the year ahead. By doing so, we ensure that our focus continues to reflect our stated purpose.

This year marks the second phase of our five-year strategy—a plan designed to solidify our recent growth while equipping us with new tools and infrastructure to propel us forward. Through this approach, we are ensuring a strong foundation for continued progress and future development. Our second year objectives focussed on the following areas: To embed our new delivery database, expand our Youth Steering Group and young people’s feedback across our projects, broaden the attendance of young people at our Youth Cafe, establish a working pathway for young people to learn transferable skills for the workplace and to identify areas of youth work and organisational structure to reach Advanced Level in the National Youth Agencies (NYA) Quality Mark award.

5

The focus of our work

Our main objectives for the year explicate our focus of supporting young people across Guildford Borough, through preventative and relational support activities:

To help us achieve our 5 year goals, we break these objectives down to achievable aims. Our aims for year 2 are set out as follows:

6

Public Benefit and Achievements

All our charitable activities focus on improving the lives of young people, their families and their communities for the public benefit. Our main activities and beneficiaries are described below.

Who used and benefited from our services?

We are dedicated to providing free, high-quality support for young people across Guildford Borough, ensuring our services align with our mission and effectively meet the needs of our beneficiaries.

Our work spans the entire borough, and this year, we have continued to expand our provision—deepening our support for under-11s, increasing engagement with 16-25 year olds through our traineeship and young volunteering programmes, and maintaining our core focus on 11-18 year olds.

We achieve this through a diverse range of projects, offering structured one-to-one and group sessions, alongside community-based activities. Participation is always voluntary, with young people leading the way as we shape our services around their aspirations and goals.

Summary

In the 2023-24 academic year 2114 young people accessed our services across 15 different projects. In about 40% of our projects young people are not referred in, but choose to attend. This accounts for 47% of the total different young people we worked with.

This year, we engaged with 1777 young people across 16 schools—an increase that now includes 8 secondary schools and 8 primary schools. Our approach is tailored to each setting, offering a blend of one-to-one support, group sessions, one-off workshops, and lunchtime drop-ins.

Our work in primary schools has continued to grow, particularly through our existing transition project, two lunchtime drop-ins in two primary schools and an expanding number of workshops focused on building friendships and social confidence.

7

In secondary schools each partnership looked different - our team were based in two schools as part of the pastoral team and in the others we provided weekly one-to-one sessions as required, or one-off workshops. Through our youth workers in schools, Early Intervention Coordinator, Community Wellbeing Team and our Schools Transition Coaches we provided individual support through one-to-one sessions to 193 young people.

We also supported 964 through targeted social and emotional wellbeing workshops, that included a series of 10 friendship workshops in 5 primary schools, 17 schools transition workshops in 8 primary schools, a workshop for young carers in George Abbot and a series of prayer and reflective spaces across two days in St Peter’s Catholic school.

By the end of the academic year we had also enabled 1156 young people to feel less lonely or socially isolated through our community-based projects - including our flagship The Youth Hideaway (a drop-in youth café), targeted workshops, lunchtime drop-in sessions and our monthly youth hub in the community.

Speaking to young people, teachers and parents we know that our delivery services help to catalyse change for young people in a broad variety of ways, including: improving mental health and wellbeing, giving them tools and techniques to help themselves in difficult times and build their resilience, building confidence, reducing anxiety, controlling emotions, helping them make friends, reducing social isolation and building confidence in their skills for the future.

However, the impact of our work goes far beyond those we help directly, as change in the lives of young people also has an impact on their parents, families and communities.

Alongside all of our work with young people this year, a total of 28 volunteers joined the team. We had 12 community-based volunteers at both the Youth Hideaway and Bushy Hill Youth Hub, 10 supporting young people in schools one-to-one and at our lunchtime Dropins, 1 providing admin support to our finance team and 5 volunteer baristas in the The Hideaway café. In addition to these brilliant volunteers, there were many others who supported us in governance and back-office support as well.

The main areas of charitable activity were the provision of one-to-one mentoring and signposting; targeted social, emotional and life skills activities; drop-in social activities in both schools and the community and support to find work experience or training.

Some of the activities listed below form part of our ongoing contract with Mindworks Surrey, through the Surrey Wellbeing Partnership.

8

Our model

Our theory of change puts young people at the centre of all we do – we listen to young people in every project and go to where young people are, in schools and in their community. We take a relational approach to all our work and prioritise building genuine connections with young people, through quality, fun, innovative and accessible opportunities.

With Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a starting point, our 4 key strands enable young people to achieve their potential. All of our engagement with young people starts with them and ensures that we nurture, inspire, connect and empower them so they can make the most of their life.

The achievements and impact that flow from our work are described in each of the 4 strands below:

Nurture: We provide personalised support for young people when life gets tough

We provided 193 young people with individual support through one-to-one sessions across 3 projects: Community Wellbeing Team, Youth Support Sessions (including Early Intervention Coordinator) and the School Transition Project. We held a total of 1983 sessions, equating to 1178 hours face-to-face with young people in one-to-one settings.

Youth Support Sessions

49 young people were referred for one-to-one support across 2 secondary schools in Guildford. They were referred for a range of issues, including family dynamics, selfconfidence and anger management, but the majority were referred for mental health, and more specifically some form of anxiety. This could be either about a particular circumstance, the world around them or about how they felt within themselves.

Each young person is assessed in an initial session to ascertain their level of need and then meets with a trained youth worker according to need (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) to talk, learn tools or techniques, and process their situation. Each young person is seen until they no longer require this additional support, however, most are signed off within 12 months.

In addition to these two schools, our Early Intervention Coordinator worked in a further 4 schools as part of our schools team. This SWP partnership role enabled us to continue expanding our offer providing further targeted support across more secondary schools across Guildford Borough. Last year 75 young people were referred to us through this service.

9

“I tell my youth worker everything, she knows more about me than anyone in school, including my friends, because I can be honest with her.” - Young person

Community Wellbeing Team

Our Community Wellbeing Team works with 8 to 18 year olds within both schools and the community, doing 1:1 and group work. This is a needs-led service where young people, alongside their Wellbeing Practitioner, identify the outcomes they wish to achieve. Part of a wider SWP project, these community-based practitioners focus on early intervention and work right across Guildford Borough. By providing this service in community settings, children and young people who were struggling with school attendance were still able to access support.

“I feel like I can cope a lot better now. I feel more confident” - Young person

This service provided advocates for children and young people, making sure their voice was heard. Using a multi-agency approach, the team worked closely with other agencies to ensure that the young people got more help if they needed it (e.g. Education, CAMHS, Children’s services). Despite ongoing challenges within mental health services, this team continued to deliver great work with children and young people enabling them to move forwards.

“1:1 sessions are a good place to talk and let out my emotions.” - Young person

School Transition Coaching

We worked with 14 Year 6 children one-to-one, who schools identified as needing additional support with the transition to secondary school. Each young person was matched with a trained volunteer who worked through a programme of emotional literacy, supporting the child in building resilience for the move. They continued to work with them for up to 12 months once they moved onto their secondary school. Alongside one-to-one support, we also held Transition Group sessions in eight primary schools. A total of 494 attendances were recorded across both one-to-one and group sessions, helping to successfully support these children with tools needed to make a successful transition into their new school. In total we were able to support 459 young people through this project.

Across all of our nurture strand 98% of young people agreed that they had made a good relationship with a Matrix Youth Worker and 93% of them agreed or strongly agreed that these sessions have helped them improve in the area they specified.

10

Targeted Workshops

We met 519 young people through our targeted social and emotional wellbeing workshops, and our prayer and reflective spaces sessions, all across two secondary and eight primary schools. These covered areas of need, including wellbeing, anxiety and building and maintaining healthy friendships.

Inspire: We build young people’s self-esteem and confidence by giving them a voice and a chance to try new things.

To inspire young people we provided projects that enabled them to be heard and to speak up whilst making a difference in their local community, and through a variety of innovative workshops we gave young people the chance to release their creativity which in turn benefited their emotional wellbeing, mental health and resilience.

Youth Steering Group

Our Youth Steering Group met regularly together, gathering around our 3 values - to Investigate, Influence and Innovate. We had a core group of 11 young people who met each month to discuss various topics and issues affecting their local community and their peers.

This year saw some further development to our group, increasing the representation of young people from a wider number of Matrix projects.. The group has representatives from 8 Matrix projects and is made up of 6 male and 3 female participants and also includes one young person who identifies as non-binary. A couple of the group also identify as being a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Community Workshops

This year we continued offering our community workshops at the Youth Hideaway every Wednesday during term-time, where we hosted a wide range of activities for young people to engage with and learn new skills. Some of these included; quilling, painting, archery, an introduction to book binding, drumming, pyrography art and creative journaling, as well as a 4 week set of social action workshops in the summer term.

11

Case Study

Artem*

Artem is Ukrainian and has not been living here all his life, only recently coming to the UK a couple of years ago. When he started coming to Youth Hideaway he was shy and reserved but arrived with some school friends for the workshop Wednesday doing pyrography. We created a welcoming space for Artem to help him feel comfortable and at ease, providing him with a free milkshake for his first visit. This workshop Wednesday was very exciting and busy! Artem was especially eager to try Pyrography. We made sure to make Artem and his friends feel important and comfortable by finding a space for them to participate. We made sure to welcome the family when they arrived to collect Artem, introducing them to the youth workers and going into detail about what the Youth Hideaway provides. Artem felt so welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, taking the work he made home with him. The following week, during the Easter holidays, Artem felt confident enough to come back on his own. Initially, he played with the youth workers and made a new friend during the club sessions where they began playing games together, teaching one another new tricks and assisting each other when help was needed. Artem’s mum came back and said thank you, and kindly gifted the youth workers cadbury creme eggs!

*Name changed.

Connect: we provide safe spaces for young people to belong where they have fun, relax, meet and make friends, as well as connect with their community.

To connect young people we provided a variety of social settings in both school and the community, ensuring they are welcoming, relevant and safe. These include School Lunchtime Drop-ins, Youth Hideaway (Youth café) and our monthly Youth Hub.

School Lunchtime Drop-ins

We welcomed 640 young people to drop-in sessions. These safe social spaces took place across 4 secondary schools and 2 primary schools and took the form of a lunchtime dropin with games and chat. They provided a space for socialising, reducing stress-levels through game playing, and for speaking to youth workers about life issues and providing them with a safe place to spend break time.

Similar to most years, most of the young people attending drop-ins find that they serve a very practical purpose. Some examples include that they are a safe place to go to at

12

lunchtime and or somewhere to go to meet others and make friends. Other examples include a place to play in the middle of the school day and a good way to let off steam.

One young person who was brought along by a friend for the first time was asked if he would come again and he said " yes, definitely, it was great fun."

Youth Hideaway (Youth Café)

This is a youth designed space where young people aged 10-18 years old can hang out after school. We provide spaces to relax with friends and the chance to chat to a Youth Worker. Young people come to play games, learn a new skill at a workshop, be creative and eat discounted food and drink!

Our flagship project the Youth Hideaway has continued to grow and develop over this last year and we have seen many new additions to the programme.

A key focus for Youth Hideaway this year was to build up repeat attendances of young people coming along to sessions. This year we welcomed 150 different young people to the cafe and through the programme of activities and themed days provided, we saw 1404 total participant attendances, meaning that the average number of sessions attended by each young person was just over 9 sessions across the year.

Since we opened in 2021 it has been great to welcome so many young people to our sessions, however it has been difficult to make sure that they come on a regular basis. However the work that has been done in this last year has been tremendous and it’s good to be able to see the effectiveness of the sessions through repeat attendance.

Young people tell us that:

“I really love this place, there are my favourite things here”

“It’s the place to go!”

"Today was my first day of this club, it was so much. I made some new friends and I loved coming

along and I would love to come back again"

13

Empower: We equip young people for the workplace and adult life

Boost @ The Hideaway Café

The Hideaway Café, a social enterprise asset-locked to Matrix, provides a venue and workplace to engage the community in empowering and inspiring at-risk young people through employment, support & training.

This academic year our Boost Project has continued to grow, helping support 83 young people into the world of work and employment. 59 of these young people were connected into a work placement to gain experience. We also supported a further 13 through our 12 week Traineeship program where attendees also have the opportunity to complete their food hygiene certificate upon completion. We also supported 11 young people in finding opportunities to volunteer, both with Matrix/The Hideaway café and other external partners.

Traineeships

Through our traineeship program, each young person works as part of our café team, gaining valuable customer service experience and other transferable skills within the hospitality sector. Alongside this practical experience, each participant benefits from oneto-one support from one of the Matrix team, working with them to build their social and emotional literacy, as well as developing their CV helping them to be more confident in making the transition from education into the workplace.

Work Experience Placements

Working closely with local schools we match young people who did not have the confidence or connections to find a meaningful placement with local businesses who could.

For some the experience cemented what they wanted to do for future work. Young people who have taken part in work experience have said: "I really enjoyed work there, and it was a great environment”. Another young person said: “overall really happy and grateful to Matrix for this opportunity.“

14

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

Matrix is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 19th April 2000 and registered as a charity on 4th August 2000. The company was established under a Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The Charity’s objects are:

a) To act a resource for young people, up to the age of 25, living in Surrey and surrounding areas, by providing advice and assistance, and organising programmes of physical, educational and other activities as a means of:

i. Advancing in life and helping young people by developing their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as independent, mature and responsibility individuals;

ii. Advancing education;

iii. Relieving unemployment;

iv. Providing recreational and leisure time activity in the interests of social welfare for people living in the area of benefit who have need by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability, poverty or social and economic circumstances with a view to improving the conditions of life of such persons.

b) To relieve persons who are in conditions or hardship and to relieve the distress caused thereby

c) To advance education by such means as the trustees may consider appropriate including by means of establishing and operating any educational establishment or establishments

d) To provide facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation in the interest of social welfare for young persons who have need of such facilities by reason of their age, infirmity or disablement, poverty or social and economic circumstances with the object of improving the conditions of life for such persons.

e) To advance the Christian faith in accordance with the statement of beliefs appearing in the schedule hereto attached (see full Memorandum and Articles of Association).

15

Organisational Structure

Matrix is overseen by a Board of 7 Trustees who have high levels of experience and expertise in law, safeguarding, tax and financial procedures. It is responsible for the proper running of the charity and meets quarterly. The meetings are fully minuted, with discussions and decisions being recorded.

The daily management of the Charity is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer (Dan Setterfield). He is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the charity and that it delivers the expected services. An operational senior management team is formed with the CEO; Juliette Milton (Head of Finance) who is responsible for accurate management and reporting on all aspects of finance and funds; Josh Dearden-Howell (Head of Youth Work) who is responsible for the delivery team and all the services we provide, Tim Littlewood (EA to the CEO and Head of Operations), he is responsible for Board support and team operations; and Shira Moberg (Head of Fundraising), who is responsible for securing financial support through fundraising activities, cultivating donor relationships, and ensuring sustainable income streams for the charity’s ongoing work.

In addition to the quarterly meetings, the Trustee Board ensures ongoing Governance through committees and Trustees with specific responsibility. The Finance Committee continues to meet quarterly in-between board meetings, run by the Treasurer, to ensure continued diligent oversight of Matrix finances. A Remuneration Committee meets annually to review staff salary bands and the CEO salary and bring a proposal to the Board for approval. A designated safeguarding trustee meets annually with the Matrix Designated Safeguarding Lead to engage in the audit of safeguarding protocols. One Trustee is nominated to conduct bi-annual reviews of all health and safety and food hygiene protocols.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

The directors of the company are also charity trustees for the purposes of charity law. All Board members must be in agreement with the statement of beliefs. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association the members of the Board are elected to serve for a period of 3 years after which they must be re-elected at the next Annual General Meeting.

All members of the Board give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 11 to the accounts.

16

The Board represents a broad range of skills across the community and business sectors, as well as professional bodies. An annual skills audit is undertaken to ensure that this range is maintained, and in the event of particular skills being lost due to retirements, individuals are approached to offer themselves for election to the Board.

The Pavilion Hub CIC (“CIC”)

The Pavilion Hub CIC is a not for profit company with any surplus or assets used principally for the benefit of the community. It is Asset Locked to Matrix, meaning that any surplus is donated to the charity.

The CIC, a subsidiary of Matrix, ran and controlled the Hideaway café.

The CIC was launched to enable us to expand and support our services and make full use of our leased building, Allen House Pavilion.

After continuing trading losses it was with great regret that the Trustees took the decision to discontinue its financial support to the CIC and the board of the CIC subsequently decided the Hideaway café was no longer financially viable. It closed on 18[th] October 2024.

Matrix remains dedicated to fostering a welcoming and supportive environment for young people at Allen House Pavilion and has repurposed the vacated space accordingly.

Surrey Wellbeing Partnership

Matrix has been a member of the Surrey Wellbeing Partnership (SWP) since April 2021. This is a formal joint venture of local and national charities of various sizes with a common goal: to work with children and young people in the community to improve wellbeing and mental health so that they can live full, fun and confident lives.

This partnership entered its 4th year by the end of this academic year and has brought much benefit to the young people of Guildford and Surrey. This partnership continues to develop in organisational structure and impact.

Responsibilities of the Board

Company law requires the Board to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company as at the balance sheet date and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, for the financial year. In preparing those financial statements, the Board should follow best practice and:

17

The Board is responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 1985. The Board is 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.

Members of the Board

Members of the Board, who are directors for the purpose of company law and trustees for the purpose of charity law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out on page 3.

In accordance with company law, as the company’s directors, we certify that:

Independent Examiners

Independent Examiners Ltd were re-appointed as the charitable company’s independent examiners during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity. This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (FRS102 effective 1 Jan 2015) and in accordance with the special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small entities.

18

Financial Review

Introduction

The overall income for the last 12 months was £522,382 with expenditure at £545,605. We have increased our income by 4.5% from last year and our expenditure has increased by 4%. In Oct 2025 the decision was made by both the Matrix and Hideaway café board to close the Hideaway café as it was no longer able to contribute towards Matrix core costs as originally planned. The Hideaway café was closed in October 2024 and trustees agreed to put a specific bad debt provision against the costs owed by the Hideaway to Matrix. This 28.9K debt is 5% of Matrix expenditure, this has led to a 7.8K reduction in designated reserves at the end of the year.

Principal funding sources

The principal funding sources for the charity were from grants, forming 39% of the income and service contracts forming 47%. We are very grateful to the following for their funding contributions towards our core costs: The PTL Foundation, The National Lottery, Alchemy Foundation Trust, and match funding from The Big Give Trust. We are also grateful for the funding for our youth projects from: Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, Community Foundation for Surrey, Voluntary Action for SW Surrey, John Freda Coleman, The Hedley Foundation, The Shanley Foundation, Joanies Fund and The High Sherriff.

Community fundraising formed 4% of our income which is the same as year ending 2023. In February 24 we employed a full time Fundraiser in the hope of increasing income from corporate funders and events next year.

Reserves Policy

Matrix recognises the propriety of not building up funds for which there are no clear expenditure plans while retaining funds which are prudent in the light of risk management. Our policy is therefore to allow reserves to accrue to a level of £30,000 or three months average unrestricted expenditure (whichever is the greater), plus funds which may be designated for specific projects in the future. As the charity grows, reserves may exceed this policy level in order to be able to respond positively to new opportunities. This situation is actively monitored using a process of regular budget and management accounting reviews to ensure that reserves do not build up unnecessarily. This year sees us end with unrestricted reserve funds at £52,176 which is just over three months average unrestricted expenditure of £48,117. Although the reserves have dropped since last year

19

our unrestricted expenditure has also dropped and therefore the level of reserves meets our current policy. Our restricted funds are £133,490 of which £127,015 is capitalised expenditure which will be used in the deprecation of the building development and coffee machine over the next 20 years.

Investment Policy

Apart from the reserves set aside by our reserves policy, the majority of funds are spent over a short-term period and so there are few funds for long term investment. The policy of the Trustees is therefore to maximise the investment returns available for funds which are not immediately required for Matrix activities, but having regard to the cash-flow needs of the organisation at any particular time. In practice, this means that a majority of its funds are invested in instant access, interest-bearing accounts.

Risk Management

The Board has considered the risks associated with this charity and consider that the following are those to which appropriate systems and procedures should be put in place:

Financial Risks – The Board has put in place internal controls which minimise the risk to the charity of financial loss through fraudulent activity. There is also the risk of low income that would prevent us from being able to cover our liabilities which our reserves policy aims to help regulate.

Safeguarding – Most of the activities of the charity necessitate contact between paid or voluntary staff and minors. The Trustees have therefore drawn up a Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy which deals in detail with procedures to be followed when employees or volunteers are in contact with children, or when complaints or suspicion about behaviour are raised. There is a safer recruitment procedure in place that all paid or voluntary staff must go through, and all employees and volunteers with significant contact with young people are required to undergo a check through the Disclosure Barring Service. The CEO acts as the Designated Safeguarding Lead and one Trustee has been designated as Safeguarding Lead on the Board. They meet annually to conduct a safeguarding review and update the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy to reflect any new legislation and recommendations.

All staff and volunteers are trained within a reasonable amount of time and are expected to read and understand the policy, this is repeated annually with any additional updates. Safeguarding ‘hot topics’ are also discussed with staff at monthly team meetings.

20

Approved by the Directors on the ……13[th] May 2025………

Signed on their behalf by Director ………………………………………………………………………………………. Print Name: Simon Slater[LLL]

21

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

Report to the trustees/ members of The Matrix Trust on the accounts for the year ended 31st August 2024 set out on pages 23 to 34.

Respective responsibilities of Trustees and examiner

As the charity’s Trustees of The Matrix Trust (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of The Matrix Trust are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

Since The Matrix Trust gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of The Matrix Trust as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view' which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

  4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities [applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)].

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date :15.5.25

K Gomes MAAT FCIE Independent Examiners Ltd 2 Broadbridge Business Centre Delling Lane Bosham West Sussex PO18 8NF

22

Statement of Financial Activities

For the Year Ended 31[st] August 2024

(Incorporating Income & Expenditure Account) (Incorporating Income & Expenditure Account) (Incorporating Income & Expenditure Account)
Unrestricted Restricted TOTAL TOTAL
Funds Funds 2023/24 2022/23
Notes £ £ £ £
INCOMING RESOURCES
Incoming Resources from Generated Funds
Donations and Legacies 3a 134,042 111,080 245,122 230,942
Charitable Activities 3b 14,420 239,556 253,976 247,381
Other Trading Activities 3c 21,572 0 21,572 19,957
Investment Income 3d 1,711 0 1,711 1,352
171,746 350,636 522,382 499,631
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Cost of Generating Funds
Raising Funds 4a 7,902 7,500 15,402 16,850
Charitable Activities 4b 182,132 343,185 525,317 501,052
Other 4c 2,436 2,450 4,886 5,010
TOTAL RESOURCES USED 192,470 353,135 545,605 522,913
NET INCOMING (OUTGOING)
RESOURCES (20,724) (2,498) (23,223) (23,281)
Total Funds Brought Forward 69,899 138,989 208,888 234,451
Transfer between funds 3,001 (3,001) 0 2,281
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 52,176 133,489 185,665 208,888

Movements on all reserves and all recognised gains and losses are shown above. All the charity’s operations are classed as continuing. The notes on pages 28 to 36 form part of these financial statements.

23

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31[st] AUGUST 2024

Note
Fixed Assets
Tangible assets
2
Current Assets
Debtors & Prepayments
7
Cash at Bank and in hand
6
Total Current Assets
Creditors:
due within one year
8
NET CURRENT ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETSless current liabilities
NET ASSETS
Funds of the Charity
Unrestricted Funds
5
Restricted Funds
5		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
31/08/24
Total
31/08/23
Total
£
£
£
£
1,361
132,075
133,436
142,184
455
129,612
130,067
68,248
54,435
63,834
118,270
233,022
54,890
192,446
248,336
301,270
4,075
192,032
196,107
234,566
50,816
1,414
52,230
66,704
52,176
133,489
185,665
208,888
52,176
133,489
185,665
208,888
52,176
0
52,176
69,899
0
133,489
133,489
138,989
52,176
133,489
185,665
208,888

24

Directors’ Responsibilities

The directors are satisfied that for the period ended on 31[st] August 2024 the charitable company was entitled to exemption from the requirement to obtain an audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 and that no member or members have required the company to obtain an audit of the accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Act. However in accordance with section 145 of the Charities Act 2011, the accounts have been examined by an Independent Examiner whose report appears on page 31.

The directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provision in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime and in accordance with the Financial Reporting standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008).

The directors acknowledge their responsibility for ensuring that the company keep proper accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and if its profit and loss for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of the sections 394 and 395 an which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the Company.

Approved by the Directors on the ………13[th] May 2025………………………………………………

Signed on their behalf by Director ………………………………………………………………………………………. LLL

Print Name: Simon Slater

25

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Preparation & Assessment of Going Concern

Basis of Preparation

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant notes. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP - FRS102) and the Charities Act 2011.

The Charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

Assessment of Going Concern

Preparation of the accounts is on a going concern basis. The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Incoming Resources

Recognition of Incoming Resources

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when:

Incoming Resources with Related Expenditure

Where incoming resources have related expenditure (as with fundraising or contract income) the incoming resource and related expenditure are reported gross in the SOFA.

Grants and Donations

Grants and Donations are only included in the SOFA when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the resources.

Tax Reclaims on Donations and Gifts

Incoming resources from tax reclaims are included in the SOFA at the same time as the gift to which they relate.

Contractual Income and Performance Related Grants

This is only included in the SOFA once the related goods or services has been delivered.

Gifts in Kind

Gifts in kind are accounted for at a reasonable estimate of their value to the charity or the amount actually realised. Gifts in kind for sale or distribution are included in the accounts as gifts only when sold or distributed by the charity. Gifts in kind for use by the charity are included in the SOFA as incoming resources when receivable.

26

Donated Services and Facilities

These are only included in incoming resources (with an equivalent amount in resources expended) where the benefit to the charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material. The value placed on these resources is the estimated value to the charity of the service or facility received.

Volunteer Help

The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees' annual report.

Investment Income

This is included in the accounts when receivable.

Investment Gains and Losses

This included any gain or loss on the sale of investments and any gain or loss resulting from revaluing investments to market value at the end of the year.

Expenditure and Liabilities

Liability Recognition

Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources.

Governance Costs

Include costs of the preparation and examination of statutory accounts, the costs of the trustees' meetings and cost of any legal advice to trustees on governance or constitutional matters.

Grants with Performance Conditions

Where the charity gives a grant with conditions for its payment being a specific level of service or output to be provided, such grants are only recognised in the SOFA once the recipient of the grant has provided the specified service or output.

Grants Payable without Performance Conditions

These are only recognised in the accounts when a commitment has been made and there are no conditions to be met relating to a grant which remain in control of the charity.

Support Costs

Support costs include central functions and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of the resources, eg allocating property costs by floor areas, or per capital, staff costs by the time spent and other costs by their usage.

Fixed Assets

Tangible fixed assets for use by the charity, are capitalised if they can be used for more than one year, and cost at least £1,000. They are valued at cost or, if gifted, at the value to the charity on receipt.

27

Investments

Investments quoted on a recognised stock exchange are valued at market value at the year end. Other investment assets are included at trustees' best estimate of market value.

There has been no change to the accounting policies (Valuation rules and methods of accounting) since last year.

Depreciation

Depreciation has been calculated on a reducing balance basis. The rates applied per annum are as follows:

Fixtures and Fittings 25%

Equipment 25%

Computer Equipment 25%

Depreciation for Building developments are calculated on a straight line basis over the lease period of the building (20 years).

Depreciation for high cost equipment for the café (for example the coffee machine) are calculated on a straight line bases over 10 years.

2. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Cost
01-Sep-23
Additions
Cost at
31-Aug-24
Depreciation
01-Sep-23
Charge
Charge
Depreciation at
31-Aug-24
Net Book Value
31-Aug-24
Net Book Value
31-Aug-23		 Total
Unrestricted
Equipment
Restricted
Equipment
2023/24
£
£
£
1,701
166,388
168,089
0
0
0
1,701
166,388
168,089
170
25,735
25,905
170
8,578
8,748
340
34,313
34,653
1,361
132,075
133,436
1,531
140,653
142,184

The annual commitments under non-cancelling operating leases, capital commitments, and contingent liabilities are as follows:

31st August 2024: None 31st August 2023: None

28

3. INCOMING RESOURCES
Note
a) Donations, Legacies and Similar Income
Churches & Organisations
Gift Aid Refunds
Gifts from Individuals
Grants received
b) Charitable Activities
Office Rental
Outreach & Projects
Schools & Youth projects
c) Other Trading
Fundraising & Training
c) Investment Income
Bank Interest
4. RESOURCES EXPENDED
Note
a) Expenditure on Raising Funds
Gifts and General Expenditure
CIC – Pavilion Hub
Fundraising Activities
b) Cost of Charitable Activities
Advertising & Publicity
Office & Administration Costs
Recruitment & Training
Rent & Rates
Salaries, Tax & NI
9
Project Costs
Communication
Depreciation Expense
CIC Specific Debt		 Unrestricted
Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
Funds
2023/24
2022/23
£
£
£
£
11,396
360
11,756
17,850
4,515
0
4,515
4,430
22,816
450
23,266
23,701
95,316
110,270
205,586
184,961
134,042
111,080
245,122
230,942
1,841
907
2,748
7,520
2,229
1,111
3,339
820
10,350
23,539
247,889
239,041
14,420
239,556
253,976
**247,381 **
21,572
0
21,572
19,957
21,572
0
21,572
**19,957 **
1,711
0
1,711
1,352
1,711
0
1,711
1,352
Unrestricted
Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
£
Funds
£
2023/24
£
2022/23
£
0
7,500
7,500
10,000
7902
0
7,902
6,850
7,902
7,500
15,402
16,850
1,136
3,613
4,748
7,096
960
15,602
16,562
22,344
8,186
5,964
14,150
7,809
16
29,413
29,429
26,337
140,828
268,023
408,851
414,717
147
9,293
9,440
12,029
920
3,511
4,431
3,971
983
7,765
8,749
8,749
28,957
0
28,957
0
182,132
343,185
525,317
501,052

29

4. RESOURCES EXPENDED
Note
c) Governance Costs
Accountancy Fees
Legal & Professional Fees		 Unrestricted
Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
£
Funds
£
2023/24
£
2022/23
£
1,290
0
1,290
1,589
1,146
2,450
3,396
3,421
2,436
2,450
4,886
5,010
5. FUNDS
Unrestricted Funds
General Funds
Designated Funds		 Balance
Balance
01/09/23
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
31/08/24
£
£
£
£
60,000
171,746
192,470
12,900
52,176
9,899
0
0
(9,889)
0
69,899
171,746
192,470
3,001
52,176

Designated Funds comprising of £9,899 towards specific projects has been moved into General Funds to support the reserves. £3,001 of funds donated to help with the CIC have also been moved into General Funds for reserved after closure of the CIC and with agreement with the original donor.

Restricted Funds
Ready 4 Action
CIC running Fund
CIC Depreciation Fund
Youth Café
Community Youth Work
Transition Coaching
Allen House Development
Secondary Schools
Primary Schools
Primary EIP
Boost
Well-being Team
GASP
Workshops		 Balance
Balance
01/09/23
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
31/08/24
£
£
£
£
0
1,000
1,000
0
0
0
6,907
3,906
(3,001)
0
3,628
0
518
0
3,110
131
65,517
65,648
0
0
1,314
24,201
25,515
0
0
709
10,536
10,536
0
709
131,263
0
7,247
0
124,015
750
58,249
58,249
0
750
0
14,533
14,533
0
0
0
15,085
15,085
0
0
0
35,401
35,401
0
0
0
110,807
110,807
0
0
1,194
4,694
984
0
4,905
0
3,707
3,707
0
0
138,989
350,636
353,134
(3,001)
133,489

30

Ready 4 Action: Social Action workshops for Young people to help in the Community. This was funded by Voluntary Action for SW Surrey.

Boost: Developing apprentices and arranging work experience placements for young people. Funded by grants from Community Foundation for Surre and awards from John Freda Coleman, The Hedley Foundation, The Shanley Foundation and Joanies Fund. We also used funds from our PTL Foundation grant.

CIC Running funds : Funds donated to Matrix for the Hideaway Café and also income and expenditure incurred by Matrix on behalf of the Hideaway café.

CIC Depreciation Fund : This is the capitalised money from the original purchase of the Hideaway Coffee machine reserved for it’s yearly depreciation.

Youth Café : After school café within the Hideaway. Funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey and Surrey Wellbeing Partnership (SWP) contract.

Community Youth Work : Detached youth work, after school clubs and weekly school drops ins. Funded by The High Sheriff, Community Foundation for Surrey grant and PTL Foundation grant.

Secondary Schools : 1:1 support sessions in schools funded by schools contracts and SWP.

Primary Schools : 1:1 support sessions in schools & Primary drops in funded by money from our PTL Foundation grant.

Primary EIP: This funds Early Intervention Practioners who work with Primary age young people in schools and in the community. This is funded via a grant through SWP.

Transition Coaching: Mentoring and other activities to support young people moving from Year 6 to Year 7. Funded by the SWP contract.

Wellbeing Team: 1:1 Mentoring in the community. Funded by the SWP contract.

GASP: Funded by the Gasp project to give their Young People 1:1 sessions with a youth worker.

Allen House Development: The costs for developing the Pavilion into an office and community space have been capitalised and this fund will be used to meet the depreciation costs.

Restricted funds are represented by the charity’s cash reserves and fixed assets investments held and are to be expended as specified above.

31

6. CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND
Current Account
Savings Account
Equals
Inventory
Petty Cash		 Unrestricted
Fund
Restricted
Fund
Total
31/08/2024
Total
31/08/2023
£
£
£
£
31,294
0
31,294
4,001
22,033
63,788
85,821
227,797
61
0
0
0
1,035
0
1,035
1,166
12
46
58
58
54,435
63,834
118,270
233,022
7. DEBTORS
Tax Recoverable
Sundry Debtors
CIC Invoices
Prepayments
Specific Debt		 Unrestricted
Fund
Restricted
Fund
Total
31/08/2024
Total
31/08/2023
£
£
£
£
1,014
0
1,014
1,327
0
125,388
125,388
52,370
25,909
25,909
12,254
2,489
4,224
6,713
2,298
(28,957)
0
(28,957)
0
455
129,612
130,067
68,248

The Specific Debt includes the current and expected debt up to the closure of the café in October 2025.

8. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Accountancy fees
Salaries and NI
Sundry Creditors
Deferred Income
9. STAFF COSTS AND
NUMBERS
Gross Wages and Salaries
Employer's NI Costs
Pension Contributions		 Unrestricted
Fund
Restricted
Fund
Total
31/08/2024
Total
31/08/2023
£
£
£
£
1,400
0
1,400
1,400
1,295
5,761
7,056
9,620
1,380
0
1,380
42,481
0
186,271
186,271
181,064		 Unrestricted
Fund
Restricted
Fund
Total
31/08/2024
Total
31/08/2023
£
£
£
£
1,400
0
1,400
1,400
1,295
5,761
7,056
9,620
1,380
0
1,380
42,481
0
186,271
186,271
181,064		 Unrestricted
Fund
Restricted
Fund
Total
31/08/2024
Total
31/08/2023
£
£
£
£
1,400
0
1,400
1,400
1,295
5,761
7,056
9,620
1,380
0
1,380
42,481
0
186,271
186,271
181,064
4,075
192,032
196,107
234,566
2023/24
£
374,645
24,010
10,196
**408,851 **		 2022/23
£
380,512
25,238
8,967
414,717

32

Employees who were engaged in each of the following activities:

2023/24 2022/23
TOTAL TOTAL
Activities in furtherance of organisation's objects:
Total number of full-time and
part-time employees 18 19
Equivalent number of full time
employees 13.1 13.5

The charity operates a PAYE scheme to pay all employed members of staff, and no employees received emoluments above £60,000 (2022/23 None).

10. RECONCILLIATION OF MOVEMENT IN CAPITAL AND RESERVES

The Company is Limited by Guarantee, and is a Charity registered with the Charity Commission number 1081852. The Charity does not have a Share capital and has no income subject to Corporation Tax.

Note
Surplus/Deficit for the financial year
Balance brought forward
Transfer of Restricted funds
Closing Funds at 31st August		 2023/24
£
(23,223)
(23,223)
208,888
185,665		 2022/23
£
(23,281)
(23,281)
234,451
(2,281)
208,888

11. PAYMENTS TO DIRECTORS AND RELATED PARTIES

No payments were made to any Director or any persons connected with them during this financial period. No transaction took place between the charity and the Directors or any person connected with them.

33

12. RISK ASSESSMENT

The Directors actively review the major risks which the charity faces on a regular basis, and believe that maintaining the free reserves stated combined with the annual review of the controls over key financial systems will provide sufficient resources in adverse conditions. The Directors have also examined other operational and business risks which they face, and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the significant risks.

13. RESERVES POLICY

Matrix recognises the propriety of not building up funds for which there are no clear expenditure plans. Matrix’s policy is to allow reserves to accrue to a level of three months' average expenditure, plus funds which may be earmarked for specific projects in the future. As Matrix is still growing, reserves may only exceed this policy level in order to be able to respond positively to new opportunities. This situation is actively monitored to ensure that reserves do not build up unnecessarily.

14. PUBLIC BENEFIT

The charity acknowledges its requirement to demonstrate clearly that it must have charitable purposes or 'aims' that are for the public benefit. Details of how the charity has achieved this are provided in the Trustees' report. The Trustees confirm that they have paid due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit before deciding which activities the charity should undertake.

34