OpenCharities

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

2022-06-30-accounts

Company Reg No. [4024938]

Annual Report Trustees’ report and accounts for the year ended 30 June 2022

2

3

Crisis annual report 2021-22

About Crisis

About Crisis

We are the national charity for people experiencing homelessness. We help people out of homelessness and campaign for the changes needed to solve it altogether. Through our services, we support people out of homelessness for good. We do this through education, training, and support with housing, employment and health. We carry out pioneering research into the causes and consequences of homelessness and campaign for the changes needed to end it for everyone, for good.

Contents

2 About Crisis

8 Our year

36 Fundraising

4

5

Crisis annual report 2021-22

About Crisis

Chief Executive’s statement

52 The future

56 Structure, governance and management

67 Accounts

“There is light at the end of the tunnel.” When I hear words like these from our Crisis members, I’m filled with admiration – for them, for our employees, volunteers and supporters, and for what we can achieve together. Such words also make me determined to find ways to end homelessness in Great Britain once and for all.

But throughout the last year finding that light has felt hard for many of us. We’ve experienced new COVID-19 variants spreading rapidly and the longer-term mental and physical health consequences of the pandemic on our lives. Also, the soaring cost of living has forced more and more people closer to the financial brink, as they try to meet even the most basic living costs.

Campaigning success

This year, we also celebrated historic progress towards ending the criminalisation of homelessness as The Vagrancy Act (1824) was repealed in England and Wales. This success was down to the persistence of thousands of Crisis campaigners, including members who were personally affected by this cruel, outdated legislation. They all came together to back our ‘Scrap the Act’ campaign and persuade politicians to act. We will remain diligent against any attempts to re-criminalise homelessness, because we know that this only drives people away from the support they need to end their homelessness.

Returning to face-to-face services

At Crisis, the incredible generosity of our supporters, volunteers and tenacity of our employees, has enabled us to continue to tackle homelessness head on. We’ve worked quickly and safely to offer face-to-face services again – and continued to offer vital support and advice remotely. More than 8,200 people received our services.

Other successes included the Scottish Government committing to legislate for public bodies to help prevent homelessness, and the Welsh Government inviting us to run their homelessness legislation review. Their decisions are the result of our persistent, diligent, and collaborative work at the highest levels. Always central to our efforts and successes are the stories and vital contributions of people with lived experience of homelessness.

During Crisis at Christmas, we provided selfcontained hotel rooms for the second year running and extended the accommodation until the end of January 2022.

Throughout the year, we also gathered information and evidence from our members, Crisis Skylight Centres, volunteers, and partners to improve our ways of working. Their invaluable feedback is helping us shape our services for the future, ensuring they will have the greatest possible impact on ending homelessness for good.

Facing tough times

It’s clear that we have major challenges ahead; homelessness is increasing and will continue to do so without urgent government action. We also know that our incredibly generous supporters are thinking very carefully about

6

7

Crisis annual report 2021-22

About Crisis

Chair of the Board of Trustees’ statement

how they can afford to support us in the future. Raising enough money to fund our work has been very tough this year and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

During our next financial year, we will publish a new long-term strategy for Crisis. We must ensure we are relentlessly focused on making the biggest impact on ending homelessness for our members and across Great Britain for good.

It is a great privilege for me to lead this organisation; I took over as Crisis CEO from Jon Sparkes in January 2022. I know you will want to join me in saying a heartfelt thank you to Jon for his brilliant work. I would also like to thank our amazing Crisis family of employees, volunteers, partners, members and supporters for welcoming me to this wonderful role. Together, we will end homelessness.

Matt Downie MBE Chief Executive

Following the departure of Crisis CEO Jon Sparkes, one of my most important tasks of 2021–2022 was leading the search for our new Chief Executive. I am delighted that Matt Downie, our former Director of Policy and External Affairs, made it through our rigorous selection process and an exceptional field of candidates. It has been inspiring to work with Matt in his role as Chief Executive since January 2022 and to back his vision for the future of Crisis.

On 1 July 2021, Crisis merged with leading homeless healthcare charity, Pathway. Together we will tackle the inequalities affecting people who are homeless and ensure the healthcare system can play its part in ending homelessness across Great Britain. Read about how we worked with Pathway to build political awareness and support for inclusion health on page 13 of this report.

As Matt outlined in his foreword, this year has posed many domestic and global challenges. The news agenda has at times felt overwhelmingly bleak, and the mounting pressures on everyone’s lives impossible to ignore. However, I have been amazed by the positivity and determination of Crisis staff and volunteers who have continued to deliver an outstanding service to our members. Despite undeniable external pressures including the growing shortfall in affordable housing amidst the cost of living crisis, our frontline teams still managed to help thousands of people end their homelessness.

I have been most impressed by the progress made this year to cement the involvement of people with lived experience of homelessness across the organisations at all levels. This is central to our new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, and I’m delighted that we will soon be recruiting more people with lived experience of homelessness on to our Board. I am really looking forward to working with them in the year ahead to help shape how our organisation moves forward.

This year, we have built on the successes of the last. We have broadened our impact through our grants programme, supporting smaller, more specialist homeless organisations operating in areas without a Crisis Skylight. We’ve achieved policy successes across England, Scotland and Wales, and taken our work to end homelessness in local areas into an exciting new direction. Our pioneering research projects have explored new areas and built on existing ones, as we pursue powerful solutions to end homelessness. We’ve also strengthened our commitment to innovation and enterprise across the organisation, expanding our network of fashionable charity shops in London and investing in more homelessness-ending initiatives through our Venture Studio. None of this could have been achieved without the generosity of our supporters.

Powerfully putting the voices of people with lived experience at the heart of what we do is essential to truly ending homelessness for good.

Tristia Harrison Chair of the Board of Trustees

8

9

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

----- Start of picture text -----
Supported
----- End of picture text -----

Our year in numbers –

8,252 people with help and advice

Thank you so much for your support. With your help we…

Supported

176 people

Responded to

leaving prison in South Wales and Merseyside with accommodation, employment and training

6,473 phone calls and emails from people seeking help and advice from our frontline team at Crisis Skylight London

Enabled our partners at

Pathway to work alongside specialist homeless hospital teams. Together, they provided over

Celebrated Combatted the isolation of

51

461

people whose hard work with us resulted in recognised qualifications

2,300

people experiencing homelessness by distributing smartphones funded by Tesco Mobile

people with support, including help finding accommodation, accessing a GP, and addressing mental health issues

Worked with

2,985

volunteers who generously supported us during Christmas, in our shops, our services and more

Gave our intensive, one-to-one support to

Helped

Sustainably ended the homelessness of 278 people to 1,581 successfully people find jobs

6,580

people 1,581

Found settled housing

for 355 people Enabled through our joint work 231

through our joint work with the local authority in Brent people to complete accredited courses

Launched a new grants programme to fund

Published

10[local homelessness ] organisations across Great Britain, for supporting an anticipated

6

research reports exploring our powerful solutions to end homelessness for good

597 people

Reached

8,000

people experiencing homelessness every two months through the distribution of The Pavement Magazine (funded by Crisis) created by and for people with lived experience of homelessness

10

11

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Billie-Jo’s story

“I wanted to volunteer. Jemma, my Crisis coach, helped me with that. She was a good role model for me to have. I never really had a good one growing up.”

“In 2017 I tried to throw myself off a bridge. I didn’t want to be alive. I was forced to sofa surf for about a year and a half and then I got put in a hostel. I had a miscarriage and a mental breakdown.”

Jemma supported Billie-Jo to volunteer at #HealthNow, set up by the homelessness organisation Groundswell, to help improve the confidence of people facing homelessness in using health services. And Crisis helped her move on from homelessness and to apply for a job with the Crisis Skylight Newcastle team as a Housing First peer support worker.

Billie-Jo then spent weeks sleeping on the streets after leaving an unsafe hostel. Thankfully, one of her friends got her an appointment with Crisis and Billie-Jo was assigned a coach – Jemma.

“First, I volunteered as a health advocate for #HealthNow which I loved. I did that for about six to eight months. Then I applied for this job at Crisis and got it. I do a bit of everything. I can be taking people to health appointments or a walk and a catch up or try something new. I encourage people to go to the beach on the Metro, or go to the cinema, get a haircut or even help them clean.”

“Crisis gave me a phone and Jemma called straight away. I gave her my life story. I told her I was staying on the street. She called me back the same day and she said she’d booked me into a hotel for a couple of nights. It was mad, I couldn’t believe it. She helped me get into another hostel and after two months she helped me get my own flat.

Settled into her flat and a career, Billie-Jo has a clear new path. But life has dealt her some heavy blows. Her mum died by suicide when she was an infant, and she was cared for by her grief-stricken, alcohol dependent grandparents. A disrupted childhood led to a turbulent adolescence.

“I was speaking to Jemma nearly every day. She referred me to the Crisis psychologist team as I wanted Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) to help with my anxiety. She also got me vouchers for food. Jemma was like a guardian angel. I didn’t have anyone else I could trust. I felt like I could rely on her, and she did everything she said she would. She was honest. I couldn’t fault her.”

“I was so angry for years and years. I started hating my mum because I could see how it [her suicide] affected my grandparents, with their drinking. I started doing really badly at school. I was taking loads of party drugs and drinking to make me feel better.”

Billie-Jo has found a new direction and purpose since connecting with Crisis.

“My aim for this year was to find a job and get my flat done up and next year is to learn to drive. I couldn’t have done any of this without my coach Jemma!”

Billie-Jo lost her home after a relationship breakdown, which led to serious mental health problems.

Our strategy Goal 1 –

Ensure that the policy changes needed to end homelessness are adopted

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021 –

What we did

In England we focused on influencing immediate Government priorities by campaigning for policy changes for groups of people who were left out of Government support and therefore most likely to be at risk of rough sleeping. We also expanded our influencing agenda into health for the first time, working with Pathway. In Scotland and Wales, we focused on making the case for the changes in homelessness law needed to prevent and end homelessness.

2022

12

13

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

of the year. Without a national roll out of Housing First, the government will not meet its manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024.

Housing First is a key innovation in tackling homelessness and has an 80 per cent success rate regarding those it aims to help. It is targeted at people with a history of homelessness, and particularly rough sleeping, with a range of support needs including mental health, substance and alcohol use. Central to Housing First is the principle of providing someone with somewhere to live first and then unconditional and individual support to help them rebuild their lives.

• Lobbied these local authorities to bid for funding to address the problem through the Government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative funding. To help them bid we conducted informative online sessions based on our research and provided a bidding template. We also convinced the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to clarify government guidance relating to people judged as having ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF). Lack of clarity had prevented some Local Authorities from entering bids, but thanks to our work most of those we approached applied for funding.

• Managed the APPG for Ending Homelessness’ inquiry into whether the UK Government is on track to end rough sleeping in England. We organised three Parliamentary inquiry events where the APPG heard evidence from people with lived experience, sector representatives, and politicians. We also had written testimony from organisations and people with lived experience. The report revealed that while the initiatives from the Rough Sleeping Strategy were welcome, they failed to tackle the drivers of rough sleeping. Further, the cost of living crisis is placing increased financial burden on people, which threatens to undermine progress made towards reducing rough sleeping numbers. The key recommendations include Government urgently delivering improved access to genuinely affordable housing; for Government to strengthen preventative welfare policies to help more people keep their homes as the cost of living crisis worsens; and for Government to ensure that the right support is available to sustain an end to someone’s homelessness. For people with multiple, entrenched needs, this is Housing First.

14

15

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

What challenged us

Securing the funding and structural changes needed for a national roll out of Housing First proved difficult. While we shifted the dial in a positive direction, with further funding made available and Government encouraging bids for Housing First provision, it falls short of the level of ambition and cross-departmental working needed to make this a genuine success.

It was also a challenge to create awareness and cut-through publicly of the issue of EU nationals and homelessness. While the campaign was successful in getting local authorities bidding for funding, and interested MPs pushing the cause in Parliament, this was against a divided public narrative about wider UK Government policies that make homelessness more likely amongst EU nationals and people born outside the UK.

Despite these challenges, we will continue to work with local authorities to apply for funding to make sure that EU citizens in their local area get the support they need. We will continue to work with organisations like Praxis to support calls for wider reform so people are not restricted from support for housing due to their immigration status.

Looking further ahead, as we develop thinking on legal reform and housing, we will consider any further policy changes needed to ensure no one is made homeless because of where they are born.

Regulating the Rogues Ensuring people who are homeless have safe housing and support

“I was in... a large hostel managed by what could be possibly called gangsters who would scare tenants at various times for various reasons often for no reason. They were sometimes drunk and they were untrained for their roles. They were abusive intimidating and preyed on the vulnerable...”

Testimony from individual living in poor exempt accommodation.

Through our frontline services in Birmingham, we became aware of the horrific conditions some people facing homelessness were being forced to live in due to rogue landlords exploiting exempt accommodation.

for an inquiry into this growing national scandal from the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee. The committee launched an inquiry, and our Chief Executive gave evidence of the scale of the problem we are seeing.

Exempt accommodation is housing for people who need additional support because they may have experienced trauma, fled domestic abuse, left prison, or experienced homelessness before. It is called exempt accommodation because it is exempt from caps in housing benefit, to recognise additional costs landlords will incur by providing accommodation for people who need support.

Taking action

We are now working with Bob Blackman MP, who sits on the Select Committee, and who was selected to introduce a Private Members Bill in Parliament. After hearing of the unscrupulous behaviour by some exempt accommodation landlords, he resolved to introduce strengthened regulation to root out the rogue landlords.

There are many good providers offering safe accommodation and support under these rules. But we’ve recently seen a huge growth in this type of accommodation where rogue landlords have entered the market, exploiting weak regulation, to profit off housing benefit while accommodating people in appalling conditions, with little to no support.

We launched our Regulate the Rogues campaign in support of the Bill, to highlight the horrific conditions thousands of people are living in right now. We worked with Ian and Wayne, Crisis members who have lived in exempt accommodation of awful quality with no support. They’ve written a letter to the Government calling for it to support new laws to tackle the problems in this sector.

We shone a light on this issue through an urgent meeting of the APPG for Ending Homelessness in October 2021, and called

16

17

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Pushing for change

We’re supporting Bob Blackman to finalise the draft Bill, consulting with a range of stakeholders and working with Government. We’ll continue to raise awareness of the problems with politicians and the public, and build support for when the bill is read in Parliament in November 2022.

Scrapping the Act Turning a corner on a shameful part of history

“The Vagrancy Act being repealed gives people a chance to get the services that they need or get the help that they need. It stops them being criminalised. It will help people right across the country. It will save lives.”

Karl, Crisis member

Through the persistence of thousands of Crisis campaigners – including members personally affected by this cruel, outdated legislation – the Vagrancy Act (1824) was repealed in England and Wales in February.

The Act made it a criminal offence to beg or be homeless on the street and was an extremely hostile response to rough sleeping. It placed the sole burden of action on the police rather than encouraging effective joined-up support from a range of services and agencies to help people experiencing homelessness. The Vagrancy Act (1824) was repealed in Scotland in the 1980s.

To get the Act repealed in England and Wales, we joined forces with seven organisations – Homeless Link, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Liberty, Shelter Cymru, Cymorth Cymru and The Wallich. Together we launched the Scrap the Act campaign in June 2019.

We made the Act’s repeal a headline grabbing, key political issue. And in October 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “No one should be criminalised simply for having nowhere to live and I think the time has come to reconsider the Vagrancy Act .”

Inspiring action

During 2021–2022 we inspired:

Our concentrated work with a cross-party group of Peers to make the repeal part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in the House of Lords was instrumental to the campaign’s success.

Remaining diligent going forward

Although the repeal is a matter of law, it is unclear when it will start. We are concerned that the government may attempt to replace the Act with new laws that criminalise begging and continue some of the most harmful effects of the Vagrancy Act (1824).

We will press for the final repeal of the Act in England and Wales to happen without delay. We will work to ensure there are no further attempts to criminalise people who are homeless or destitute through new legislation.

18

19

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Our strategy Goal 2 – Ensure that governments in England, Scotland and Wales adopt national plans to end homelessness

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021– 2022

What we did

Welcomed the Welsh Government’s action plan 2021–2026 for ending homelessness which was launched in October 2021. The plan aims to prevent homelessness more effectively so that if people are forced into homelessness, they are supported quickly into a settled home. We are helping the Welsh Government find the best ways to monitor the plan’s progress and to involve more public services in preventing people’s homelessness at an earlier stage.

Continued our valuable relationship with the Welsh Government’s National Advisory Board on Ending Homelessness through the appointment of our CEO Matt Downie as chair. In this role he succeeds our previous CEO Jon Sparkes. This highly influential group provides advice and expertise on fulfilling the Welsh Government’s plan to end homelessness.

Increased our profile amongst politicians in Scotland, leading to every party expressing support for changes to the law to prevent homelessness. Research found that almost half of MSPs found Crisis effective at influencing.

Launched Scotland’s Homelessness Monitor , the most comprehensive, up-to-date report on the state of homelessness in Scotland. It achieved significant media coverage and parliamentary mentions through its estimates on how many people experience the worst forms of homelessness in Scotland and our solutions on tackling the issue. These worst forms include sleeping on the streets, sofa surfing and living in temporary accommodation such as hostels and B&Bs.

Influenced the Scottish Government’s Rented Sector Strategy, highlighting the important role that both the social and private rented sectors play in providing a route out of homelessness. We hope this will feed into the Scottish Government’s housing bill which will go to parliament early in 2023.

What challenged us

It has been a challenge to shift UK Government focus away from solely considering discrete interventions to tackle rough sleeping such as funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative or bed spaces for a limited period of time.

We aimed to make the case for policy change to tackle the wider drivers of homelessness to not only prevent people from having to sleep rough in the first place, but also so any successes in reducing rough sleeping are sustainable. While we were able to make that argument, it hasn’t resulted in the leadership, belief, and ultimately policy change needed from government if we are to truly end rough sleeping and homelessness in England.

Welcomed the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government which sets out their priorities for this parliamentary term. It included a commitment to invest an additional £50m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, and to take forward their Ending Homelessness Together action plan.

20

21

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Our strategy Goal 3 – Demonstrate that homelessness can be ended in local areas

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021–2022

What we did

Agreed to continue to work in close partnership with local authority partners alongside other providers and organisations in local areas to drive change and end homelessness for good.

Focused on developing the most effective approach we should take in our work in local areas to help end homelessness by continuing to explore the Built for Zero initiative. Built for Zero has been pioneered in the USA and is already being developed in Canada and Australia. One hundred and five cities and counties are participating across the three countries. It has successfully ended the homelessness of 147,000 people, and 14 communities have ended homelessness for a specific population, for example the veteran homeless community. We have committed to developing this model for the UK.

accepting there is no one-size-fits-all solution and so a community works together around that list to coordinate services, target resources and properly measure success. Success is defined by whether the overall number of people experiencing homelessness is going down, not by the impact of individual services

sustaining zero homelessness in each population targeted.

Continued to support the partnership between the Berkeley Foundation and Crisis Skylight Brent. An important aspect of this work involves supporting Brent Council to improve its data on homelessness, one of the commitments of its Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy. Because of data’s central role in Built for Zero, we are working with the local authority and local homelessness services to build a by-name list of all single adults experiencing homelessness. We will then support them to work together around that list to drive the numbers down to zero. Brent is therefore close to becoming the first place to sign up to become a Built for Zero community in the UK.

What challenged us

Understanding the role Crisis needs to take when working with local areas to help end homelessness has been a challenge. The learning and insight gained from these challenges, has led us to focus our future approaches to ending homelessness in communities through Built for Zero.

Built for Zero works on the basis of:

building an accurate picture of exactly who is homeless in a community through a comprehensive, real-time, by-name list of all single adults experiencing homelessness; real time is essential because homelessness is constantly changing

22

23

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Our strategy Goal 4 – End the homelessness of more people through our direct services

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021–

What we did

Continued our review of the services we offer to end people’s homelessness. Despite the challenges still posed by COVID-19, our members, volunteers, employees and partners embraced working together to discuss, research and gather the information we needed. They looked at the original purpose of our Crisis Skylights, homelessness locally and what is needed to end it. The review covered all our services which include support with housing, employment, health and wellbeing, education and training.

2022

Identified common themes in the feedback gathered from the review. These are clarity about what we offer and ensuring we have the capacity – enough employees and other resources – to properly help the people who come through our doors. These themes have emerged from a climate where more and more people are turning to us for help. Crisis is experiencing the impact of cuts to other services offered by local authorities and other organisations and the effects of wider economic and policy changes. We have designed and resourced our services to work with 10,435 people in 2022–2023; in 2021-22 we worked with 8,252 people.

The valuable insights and expertise offered during the review are shaping our Client Services Vision Programme – what we must do to end people’s homelessness for good.

About our Client Services Vision Programme

The programme aims:

Returned to mostly working face-toface with the 8,252 people who used our services through our Crisis Skylights. We also continued with our online, remote ways of working established during lockdown. These methods have brought many positives, including breaking down the barriers of geography; they help us connect well and collaborate with colleagues across the regions. Our members also have more choice in how they work with us, whether in person or online. To help people connect with us safely we issued: 461 smartphones; 51 basic phones; 177 tablets; 128 laptops, and accompanying data dongles, SIMs and MiFi devices.

Ran a successful Crisis at Christmas despite the last-minute issues posed by a rise in UK COVID-19 cases. Learning from our first lockdown Christmas we safely supported more than 2,000 people across Britain. This included 511 guests in our hotel accommodation in London. We developed a hybrid approach offering face-to-face and telephone advice and support as well as somewhere safe to stay. Nearly two thirds of our guests in London had an improved housing situation directly following Crisis at Christmas compared to when they arrived at the hotels.

We ended the homelessness of 1,581 of our 6,580 members with whom we worked intensively during the year. This is fewer than our 2021–2022 target. This was due to staff shortages and fewer available homes in many Crisis Skylight areas. The housing market pressures in the areas where many of our services operate, make it particularly challenging to find affordable and settled accommodation for our members.

What challenged us

The continuing pandemic made the review of our services challenging. Gathering the information needed was difficult because we had to react to new and changing COVID-19 restrictions to protect everyone taking part. Employee sickness also had a negative impact on this work and on our ability to offer our usual day-to-day services.

And for the second year running, Crisis at Christmas was a significant challenge. We ensured constant contact with public health officials and adapted our plans almost daily to give our members, volunteers and employees a safe Christmas.

It’s also challenging to accept that we can’t realistically help everyone who comes through the door. But we always do our best to intervene quickly and refer people to other services if we don’t have capacity or are not the right service.

24

25

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Our strategy Goal 5 – End homelessness for more people who are excluded from help or who have complex needs

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021–

What we did

Continued to challenge the way we offer and deliver our services and how we can better support all our members and each other. We did this by working to fulfil our psychologically informed environment strategy, which our lead clinical psychologist began implementing at the beginning of 2020. This strategy is underpinned by the principle of identifying not ‘what’s wrong with this person’ but rather ‘what’s happened to this person’. This has repeatedly resulted in a more sensitive and successful approach to supporting our members. Improved mental health is critical in ending someone’s homelessness. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we have recruited clinical psychologists to all our Crisis Skylights. They ran 772 psychology sessions with our members between December 2021 and June 2022.

2022

Ensured that our employees and volunteers are also supported by our Crisis psychologists who encourage them to reflect on their experiences with our members, identify difficulties, trauma and learn from each other. This approach is key to improving our services and protecting wellbeing.

Worked with our employees, members and partners to gather details of what works and the gaps and possible solutions to help us end

the homelessness of more of our members. This scoping exercise helped us create local approaches for people needing more intensive support. Central to this help is a lead worker who will be their consistent point of contact throughout their time with us. Lead workers will also ensure that members access the support they need from services outside Crisis.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of Housing First in sustainably ending the homelessness of people with complex needs through our projects in London and Newcastle. The projects were launched in 2020–2021 and are supporting 16 members in Newcastle and 41 in London. We are continuing to press for the national adoption of Housing First.

What challenged us

The ongoing pandemic meant we needed to channel all our staff resources into directly helping our members and into our ongoing service transformation work. So, we delayed the modern-day slavery recognition training for our employees until 2022–2023.

We also wanted to develop a Crisis-wide approach to support migrant homelessness and those with no access to public funds. But in this aim we were overambitious. We had to concentrate our resources on our other projects including developing our Christmas service and the transformation work to fulfil our strategy for our services as a whole. However, during our scoping exercise we gained significant information about how and where the Crisis Skylights are supporting the migrant homelessness community, which we will use next year.

“Relaxed atmosphere, learning new skills and how to deal with emotions (not easy). Very hard to get DBT [DialecticalBehavioural Therapy]* on the NHS and certainly not face-to-face. It’s so great that Crisis offers this with two such great psychologists.”

Member who attended our DBT group

“It’s always good to talk through cases with our Crisis psychologist even on an ad hoc basis. I find the psychological focus really helpful as it contextualises a lot of the members’ issues and behaviours so I can support them in the right way or link them up with appropriate health and psychological services.”

Crisis employee – anonymous feedback from staff survey

26

27

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Harnessing the power of research to end homelessness

We pride ourselves on being a leading source for knowledge on homelessness in Great Britain. Our expert research, so generously funded by our supporters, helps us provide critical information about homelessness – the trends, the causes and the impacts. It strongly informs our work and that of other organisations in ending homelessness for good.

This year we published six pieces of research and worked on projects covering topics like homelessness among people with complex health needs and EU citizens. Here are some of our publication highlights.

Our findings, published in May 2022, show that the HRA has improved access to support. However, nearly half (46 per cent) of those who said their contact with the council had now ended, were still homeless. A key reason is the lack of affordable and accessible housing. But we also found that 17 per cent could not access any help at all, not even advice.

“I hoped there’d be more options”: Experiences of the Homelessness Reduction Act , 2018-2021

We’re now calling for an increased supply of social housing, legal reform and improved standards of service.

Making the links – race and homelessness

Thanks to successful campaigning from Crisis and others, the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) was introduced in 2018. The Act means that many more people facing homelessness in England – including most single people – should be able to get help from their local authority.

During 2021–2022 we began our research into race and homelessness. It’s already clear that those of us from Black, Asian, or other minoritised ethnic groups are more likely than others to experience homelessness or insecure housing. We and other organisations have not yet done enough to understand the links between race and homelessness.

To understand its implementation and impact, we carried out an in-depth study, funded by Oak Foundation, between 2018–2021. We spoke to more than 1,400 people facing homelessness to understand their experiences of getting help and accessing housing. We also interviewed local authority staff in six areas.

Our research will be released in early 2023. It will explore the links between experiences of discrimination in other areas – such as education, immigration and poverty – and experiences of housing inequality.

In-work and homeless

Being employed is no guarantee of escaping homelessness. Government statistics show that more than one fifth of households facing homelessness in England include at least one person who’s working.

To shine a light on the issues faced we involved 34 people currently or recently experiencing in-work homelessness in our research. To gather the information, we mixed traditional research interviews with a more innovative, online diary exercise to capture the challenges of people’s day-to-day lives.

Participants told us that the stigma and shame associated with homelessness often forced people to conceal their situation from colleagues. This is not surprising given the results of our research which also explored 250 employers’ perspectives on homelessness via an online survey. Shockingly 42 per cent of employers told us it was likely their organisation would seek to terminate an employee’s contract if they were homeless.

We want others to learn from more supportive employer examples and our expertise and so we are creating a best practice guide for employers which will be released later this year.

We launched this research as part of our 2021 Christmas fundraising appeal; the media coverage received helped us educate people on this important issue.

Monitoring homelessness

Since 2011 we have published a research series, undertaken by Heriot Watt University, called the Homelessness Monitor . This annual, in-depth study is the most comprehensive study into how homelessness stands in Great Britain. It provides an independent analysis of impacts of recent economic and policy developments in the UK on homelessness.

As well as bringing together the most up-todate current evidence on homelessness into one place, it also features interviews with local authorities and others who work in the homelessness support system. Consequently, Homelessness Monitors take us beyond the official statistics to investigate more hidden forms of homelessness.

Each report reveals new data on how many people experience ‘core’ types of homelessness such as sofa surfing and rough sleeping. In the past year Crisis has published reports for England, Scotland and Wales. These allow us to compare levels of homelessness across the three nations.

The reports also indicate what future levels of homelessness may look like. Nearly all local authorities surveyed said they believe there will be an increase in the number of people evicted from the private rented sector and asking for homelessness support. Unless there are changes in homelessness policy, levels of ‘core’ homelessness are estimated to increase by one third in England between 2019 and 2024.

However, such increases can be avoided. The Homelessness Monitors show which government policies, such as increasing social housing and acting earlier to stop homelessness happening, have the biggest impact on core homelessness. They are an essential resource for everyone working in the sector.

28

29

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Our grants programme – changing lives locally

“Each tranche of funding helps decrease levels of homelessness, poverty, mental illness and desperate situations being faced by the young people of West Lothian. A big thank you to Crisis and players of People’s Postcode Lottery from us and the young people using our services.”

Open Door Accommodation Project, West Lothian, Scotland

More than 220 local charities and the thousands of people they support have benefitted from our grants programme, launched in March 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What we’ve funded this year…

Crisis’ grants programme for 2021–2022 was funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and applications for funding were managed by our Best Practice Team. In total we awarded £250,000 to 10 organisations in England, Wales and Scotland. They each received £25,000 and every grant amounted to 12 months of funding.

Since then, we have distributed more than £3.4m to organisations that support people experiencing, or at risk of homelessness in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Our dedicated supporters and organisations, including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Comic Relief, the government Department for Communities, Media and Sport, and players of People’s Postcode Lottery made this possible.

During the process we approached and supported smaller organisations to apply. This is because smaller organisations often miss out on funding for their vital work due to limited time and resources to commit to grant bidding and application processes.

Such great generosity has helped people across Great Britain, beyond areas where we have a Crisis Skylight, broadening our impact as an organisation. In many cases this support has been truly lifesaving. It has ranged from providing food and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), to housing people in temporary and permanent accommodation.

Here are just some examples of what our grants awarded in 2021–2022 are making possible.

Back on the Map is a local charity based in Hendon, Sunderland that buys and renovates properties to rent out to people facing homelessness in the private sector. It also provides crucial support to help tenants keep their homes. Some people renting from private landlords are at increased risk of homelessness if their income – including Universal Credit payments – changes, meaning they can’t afford their rents. Others may have chaotic

lifestyles, fall into arrears with their payments and then lose their homes.

Back on the Map tackles the problem by offering rents that can be affordable to people on low incomes, including benefits. Our grant funds a support worker to help people whose tenancies are at risk and prevent their homelessness.

EYST – Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team works out of Swansea in South Wales. They focus on meeting the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic young people, adults and families – including destitute refugees and asylum seekers. Our grant is funding a dedicated worker to help refugees and asylum seekers categorised in the UK as ‘Appeal Rights Exhausted’ and those with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’.

These terms indicate negative decisions on an asylum claim and mean no help is available from the government or access to any support that would pay for accommodation. Through our grant we estimate that at least 80 people in Wales will be helped to explore options to move their cases through the asylum system and out of destitution.

Coventry Haven provides women fleeing domestic violence and their children with support and refuge spaces. Our grant is funding a worker who will specifically help children prepare for leaving the refuge and adjust to living in a new settled home with their mothers.

This support is urgently needed. There is currently no service or help specifically for children who leave abusive situations in Coventry, and this can put a family at risk of homelessness. If children do not settle well the family may leave, move to other temporary accommodation or even back to the abuser. We expect our grant will help Coventry Haven support children in 82 families annually.

Open Door Accommodation Project based in West Lothian was formed in 1986 by local people concerned about the numbers of young people sleeping rough in West Lothian. Today, the charity still offers temporary accommodation, but gives much wider support to young people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming so.

They focus on helping them work towards long-term independent living, improved life chances and positively contributing to the community. Our grant will help Open Door extend their employment service to around 100 young people annually.

The Booth Centre is a large community-based centre run by and for people who are rough sleeping or threatened with homelessness. Through our grant, this Manchester-based charity is helping destitute women from the EU find safe accommodation. The grant is funding deposits, rent and living costs and support in other areas such as employment, immigration, finance and language skills. The aim is to help each woman successfully maintain their housing and enjoy a much better quality of life. Those being supported by the grant have either applied to the government for help or are awaiting the outcome of their application.

“This project is an invaluable extension to our existing award-winning Greater Manchester EU Homelessness Prevention Service [for men only], delivered with partners across the City. Thank you so much for your support.”

The Booth Centre Manchester

Measuring our success

To ensure that we are effectively ending homelessness and using our donors’ money wisely, our grant-making processes and their impact must always be transparent, effective and informed. So, during 2021–2022 we worked with our in-house Research and Evaluation team to establish a framework for monitoring the grants and to help those receiving them measure their successes.

Our results will be regularly sent to 360 Giving – the national charity that publishes open and standardised grants data. Their information is widely used by individuals and organisations when making decisions about which charities to support.

30

31

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Volunteering for Crisis all year round

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021–

What we did

Launched our exciting pilot project of Volunteer Action Networks in Oxford and South Wales. Through the networks, volunteers will support their local Crisis Skylight with events and fundraising and by involving communities in our work to end homelessness in a planned and comprehensive way. If the pilot is successful, we expect to launch the networks across all our Crisis Skylight areas.

2022

Started our recruitment of community engagement volunteers, who will talk to groups and the wider public about our work throughout England, Wales and Scotland. By the end of the year 45 volunteers were speaking on our behalf and inspiring people to join us in ending homelessness.

Developed our plan, recruitment processes and training materials for our Crisis volunteer fundraising groups which are vital to our fundraising strategy. They will build on the success of our existing groups in Oxford and Bristol and become a key part of our supporter networks in areas without Crisis Skylights.

We’ll support the groups to develop their own community fundraising events which will widen our supporter network. Volunteer recruitment for the groups will begin in August.

Explored with our volunteers the best ways to approach them online. Thanks to their feedback we have reduced the general emails they receive from us.

that will be ready for Crisis at Christmas 2022. We expect this system will be easier and more enjoyable for our volunteers to use. The information it holds will also give us a better understanding of our volunteers, their abilities and the time they give us.

Highlighted the issues around and effects of unconscious bias in volunteering by running training to address it across our organisation and by reworking the volunteering section of the Crisis website. Unconscious bias is defined as prejudice in favour of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. It’s critical that potential and existing volunteers feel we are an organisation that values everyone, that they can thrive with us and that with their inclusion, we can end homelessness.

Shared our volunteering policies, training and supporting materials and consulted with other homelessness organisations including St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and Connection Support in Oxford. We know that collaboration is essential in finding the best ways to inspire volunteers to work to end people’s homelessness for good.

What challenged us

Throughout the year our organisation was strongly focused on the research associated with our Client Services Vision programme. We needed to complete this work before recruiting volunteers to the clear and planned roles the programme would define.

Ensuring that Crisis is a truly inclusive organisation for volunteers is also a challenge. We have struggled to piece together our data to gain an accurate picture of our volunteers’ protected characteristics. This is information which covers gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age. We now have the data. However, it needs to be analysed to understand in detail who is volunteering for us. We must then plan how to ensure that all volunteers (including prospective volunteers) feel that Crisis is a place they belong and can thrive in.

Finally, most charities are reporting a job and volunteer market that has changed since COVID-19; we are experiencing fewer people wanting to volunteer in our shops. We are re-evaluating our recruitment plans and responding vigorously.

Scoped potential systems and tools with a view to appointing a supplier to develop our new online volunteer management system

32

33

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Rob’s story

“Doing something physical, manual, meaningful lifts your spirits big time, and it does with me. Knowing that I was helping people – they were being given food, activity packs, that sort of thing – it’s just a feeling inside, knowing that I was giving to them – even though I didn’t pay for it – but I was helping to give those people a bit of joy at Christmas.”

Rob volunteered at Crisis Skylight Oxford to help with Crisis at Christmas in December 2021. The fifty-one-year-old is a former member, who we supported to find somewhere to live when he faced homelessness after leaving prison.

him’– but during my volunteering there were no trust issues. And basically, just having something to do and giving back, that’s what I really liked.”

“One day before Christmas, I went home after finishing my shift – we’d done quite a lot of orders. I had a shower, had my dinner, and I just sat on the bed, having a beer, and I thought, ‘I feel great’. And I actually sent the Volunteering Manager a message just saying, ‘Thank you for having me doing this voluntary work because I feel a better person for it’.”

When Rob heard about our volunteering opportunities, he was keen to give it a try. So, he cleared it with Probation Services and then rang his Crisis coach to offer his help.

“I came in two to three days a week helping pack food parcels, sorting out the shelves and just helping where I could. It was actually nice to do something constructive because I was unemployed.

“I started doing either a morning or an afternoon, and that was just for two hours in the morning or two hours in the afternoon. By the end, I would go in all day because it’s something that I wanted to do, and the more orders we got out, the more fulfilment you get because you know that you’re giving somebody else a bit of joy.”

“I would get the tickets with people’s names and addresses on and sort through their order. Then we’d put it in a box and organise sending it to them.”

Rob explains that in volunteering he wanted to ensure that as many people as possible could be supported by Crisis, just as he had been.

For Rob, volunteering was key in rebuilding his confidence and developing skills.

“I feel like I used a lot of skills while volunteering. Communication, definitely. I came out of prison not trusting anybody. I used to feel vulnerable. I thought, ‘I’m keeping my mouth shut now because the less people know the better.’ But during my volunteering it became a case of: ‘I’m Rob, I’m available, what can I do?’ I opened up a lot more.”

“I was so happy that I was giving something back and to Crisis members – that means more to me than anything. I got a sense of wellbeing and pride. It felt like I was part of a team, part of a community. There were three of us packing the orders. Us all pulling together, it was real teamwork.”

“I found everybody really friendly, and they trusted me because they knew me already. Without that, a lot of people might have thought ex-criminal – ‘Oh, keep an eye on

“My hopes for this year are to find full-time employment, and to continue to help Crisis where I can.”

Crisis at Christmas What we said we’d do – 2021–2022

Our Crisis Skylights in England, Scotland and Wales also offered a wealth of support, advice, meals and much more. Eighty-two per cent of guests surveyed in London said that they felt attending Crisis at Christmas was a meaningful use of their time.

During mid-December 2021 to early January 2022, we provided a wide range of services including:

What we did

Planned for a Christmas that we could safely and effectively deliver amidst a number of scenarios, including during a full lockdown. Thankfully, our planning paid off. By working with Directors of Public Health, we were able to quickly adapt our 2021–2022 plans when COVID-19 cases rose rapidly in the days before Christmas.

Harnessed the support of 1,860 dedicated volunteers to deliver our Christmas services. Thanks to their help, thousands of people facing homelessness across Great Britain were provided with warmth, companionship and support to leave homelessness behind for good.

Improved the way we work with partners to help end our guests’ homelessness. We did this by connecting with other charities to ensure our guests could continue to receive support after Christmas.

Provided 511 people with emergency hotel accommodation in London, which had a significant impact on reducing rough sleeping in the Capital, along with advice and wellbeing support. Overall, 1,100 people in London received our health and wellbeing support.

34

35

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Our year

Worked much more closely with local and national government and charity partners. These relationships enabled the hotels to remain open for a further three weeks from 6-26 January, accommodating 253 people. We received funding from DLUHC, and support from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to keep the hotels open. We also partnered with St Mungo’s to provide move-on options for guests. Of the guests accommodated during the extension, 76 per cent either improved their housing situation, were referred to external organisations for further support, or were supported to reconnect with family or friends. Managing the hotel and supporting our guests would not have been possible if not for our London staff offering their time and the support of Crisis at Christmas volunteers who stepped in to cover shifts for the whole extension period.

What challenged us

Our biggest challenge was anticipating the restrictions that would affect our work during Christmas. We had hoped for a return to a full face-to-face service. But by autumn it was clear that we would still be working with restrictions. We remained in constant contact with public health officials.

As COVID-19 cases grew just the week before we were due to launch the service, we had to change our plans. This had a clear impact on our volunteers. We had to quickly adapt what they would do to support Crisis at Christmas within the relevant restrictions. We also had to prepare for both volunteer sickness and how COVID-19 isolation would affect the number of volunteers who could help.

Overall, 1,860 volunteers supported our guests, and we are greatly indebted to their flexibility and determination.

Steve’s story

“The hotel is part of the reason that I am still alive. I don’t know what would have happened to me without it… With Crisis it’s not what they say – you feel the sincerity. They have always delivered what they promised…”

Steve’s life turned upside down four years ago. A back injury at work, causing a slipped disc and other spinal problems, meant he could no longer work as an electrical contractor.

“When I went into my room I had a shower – it was great. I hadn’t had one for a long time. After my shower I was going to go down and get something to eat but I was so tired that I fell asleep. The warm water must have relaxed me.”

Fearful of not earning for the first time in his career, Steve visited his local authority and the job centre desperate for assistance. Instead, he found mixed messages and a benefits application system he couldn’t easily navigate.

“By the second day, I was adjusting, and Crisis said they would help me with housing and my feet. It was nice to talk to somebody because sleeping in my van I was on my own. The volunteers didn’t seem to be judgemental – we talked about all sorts of stuff.”

“The council said they wouldn’t help me because I am a single male. The job centre said I was too qualified, that I should apply for Universal Credit. Then the council told me I wasn’t homeless and that my driving licence wasn’t good enough identification.”

“They helped me see a doctor and get the medical help I needed. The Crisis worker called the council to ask why they weren’t accepting my driving licence as ID. Suddenly the council had to respond. I knew I had a direction forward and I had a big brother to back me up…Crisis helped me get accepted for benefits.”

Steve tried to earn some money through cash in hand work, but it wasn’t enough to pay his rent. He was evicted and sofa surfed with friends until he felt he was no longer welcome. He then started sleeping in his van.

To ensure Steve had a safe place to live after Crisis at Christmas, he was assigned a Coach called David who found him a space in a hostel. From there the council moved him to temporary accommodation in Leytonstone.

“It was really cold, and I was diabetic – I had neuropathy (numbness in the legs and feet). I felt like I was snowballing into hell.”

Thankfully, a member of the public saw him and contacted StreetLink, the organisation that connects people sleeping rough with local services. From there Steve was referred to Crisis at Christmas.

“At the moment I am looking for work. If I had had to do this on my own, there is no way. Every day I thank David. He is like a rock… my shield to protect me. I think he is fantastic. I tell him every time I speak to him. I think everything Crisis does is done properly.”

“The next night, I found the place [one of the hotels Crisis commissions at Christmas to house rough sleepers]. I went to the front door, and they knew my name. They sat me at reception and I was gobsmacked. I couldn’t talk… I could hear their voices, but I couldn’t answer.

36

37

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Fundraising

Working together – in challenging times

Over the last year our wonderful supporters – individuals, corporate partners, trusts, foundations, national and local government, community groups and legators – helped us raise more than £57m. It was inspiring to receive such amazing support at a time when many were affected by COVID-19 and rising costs of energy and inflation.

Such challenges meant we missed our 2021–2022 net income target by £5m. Yet despite this shortfall, income from some areas of support significantly increased. These areas include legacies and larger gifts from individuals. Their generosity in these difficult times has been truly humbling.

not just at Christmas, but all year round. And despite the challenges our supporters faced, this was still one of the most successful Christmas fundraising campaigns in our history. We were also greatly helped by a generous donor who matched a proportion of donations from other supporters.

We are incredibly grateful for every gift we receive to end people’s homelessness. We would like to specially mention players of People’s Postcode Lottery, The Berkeley Foundation, hush, Watches of Switzerland Group Foundation, Tesco Mobile, GSK, Wimbledon Foundation and Comic Relief. It was also inspiring that so many people still participated in our events despite the COVID-19 challenges. Our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you.

Thank you to our fundraising team and our supporters. Together, their incredible resilience and tenacity has ensured Crisis, which is almost entirely reliant on donations, is there for people affected by homelessness.

What challenged us

The past year was incredibly challenging for our supporters, which in turn had an impact on our ability to raise funds. As well as the shadow of COVID-19, there was a significant increase in energy prices and then warnings of much worse to come.

We were very fortunate to receive advice, insights, support and gifts from organisations including Microsoft, Zoopla and Tesco Mobile. They have helped us improve our internal ways of working, build and develop our policy work, and provide gifts, including mobile phones, to our members. These phones and other technological donations had an immediate impact on people affected by homelessness, especially when COVID-19 was isolating them even further.

Worrying global events such as the war in Ukraine understandably dominated the news agenda, diverting public attention from issues such as homelessness. We also had to deal with significant price rises in digital media advertising. Price increases in paper and printing in the second half of the financial year also raised the costs of direct mail fundraising campaigns.

Our Christmas fundraising campaign raised less than we had hoped. But still hundreds of thousands of people chose to support us to help people affected by homelessness,

Ending homelessness in Brent with The Berkeley Foundation

“I participated in the Brent Homelessness Forum [supported by The Berkeley Foundation] as Lead Member for Housing until 2022. I found it a hugely important way for getting support out to people during the pandemic. This kind of partnershipbuilding, especially between the local authority and the voluntary, community and social sector will be critical to future efforts to address homelessness in the borough. I look forward to seeing the Forum go from strength to strength.”

Councillor Eleanor Southwood

The Berkeley Foundation is helping us tackle homelessness in the London Borough of Brent. Since 2019 they have generously contributed more than £400k annually to our work in the area.

People in Brent are particularly vulnerable to homelessness. One in six Brent households (17%) live below the poverty line and this increases to (33%) after housing costs are deducted. And there has been a 17% increase in rough sleeping in the borough between 2019–2020 and 2020–2021, from 320 rough sleepers to 374.

This life-changing funding supports our frontline, face-to-face work with our members and also our ‘place-based’ approach where we work to gain an in-depth picture of homelessness in an area.

As an outer London borough, Brent tends to have a lower incidence of rough sleeping as compared to inner London boroughs. However, like most of London, there is a shortage of affordable homes. Consequently, other forms of homelessness such as temporary accommodation or ‘hidden homelessness’ are rife.

Place-based work involves improving a community’s understanding of the circumstances of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. It considers the roles of local authorities and other organisations, and barriers to success. Aiming to bring the community together to look at what is actually needed to end people’s homelessness and then working to find solutions together is key. The approach and solutions often involve going beyond requirements and standards set out in legislation, policy, and guidance. The Foundation’s support of this way of working has been vital in moving place-based working forward effectively.

With the Foundation’s support, we’ve forged vital new links over the past year with other services in Brent, to ensure that people experiencing homelessness get the help they need. Central to this work is the management and steering of the Brent Homelessness Forum. We run this important meeting of 30 local organisations working together to prevent and address homelessness in the Borough. The forum also regularly connects with frontline services who share their knowledge, identify challenges and learn from each other regarding homelessness issues.

38

39

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Fundraising

The forum meets every other month. Successes include ensuring that services worked together during the pandemic to support people experiencing homelessness. Thanks to their efforts, people who might have missed out otherwise, were vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Berkeley Foundation funding has also enabled us to work hard with Brent Council to help them achieve the commitments in their homelessness strategy. A key focus is improving how the Council captures and reports on who exactly is sleeping rough in their community and how they use that data to deliver services more effectively. We will have a key role in supporting this work. With better data, the Council and its partners will be able to move people off the streets and into accommodation a lot more swiftly.

In addition to funding, The Berkeley Foundation works with Crisis to find job opportunities in construction for members within the business. And Berkeley Group employees are keen Crisis supporters. They act as ambassadors for us by attending Crisis Homelessness Awareness Training and volunteer in our London based shops. Many have joined our annual Race to End Homelessness event, raising £7,000 in 2022.

“We are so proud of our partnership with The Berkeley Foundation and how it has developed over the years. Funding from the Foundation enables Crisis to support individuals in the locations The Berkeley Group operate and helps support people with skills and access to employment. Our frontline services are vital to helping people on their journeys out of homelessness and our place-based partnership in Brent means that we can influence wider systems change.”

Matt Downie, Crisis CEO

Journeys Home Fund – making specialist, focused help possible…

The Journeys Home Fund, launched in spring 2021, is helping people find routes out of homelessness. This unique fund, which supports our Structured Coaching Team in Crisis Skylight London, is backed by a group of committed philanthropists. Together, they have already pledged to give more than £450,000 by 2024 to support this vital front-line work.

The team includes 12 coaches. Each one offers one-to-one, specialist and structured support to our members, focusing on their individual needs and strengths. The help they give is expert and diverse. It can include supporting someone to get vocational skills and qualifications, helping with access to health services and benefits, and resolving immigration issues.

moving, I lost some documents, and it was difficult to keep up communication with the Home Office. I tried to get a solicitor to get legal advice, but I got scammed.

“In 2020, I finally got my paperwork and my legal right to remain in the UK. It had been very difficult before that. Everything was so unstable, and I felt like everyone in this country looked down on me because I didn’t have status here. I felt ashamed.”

Despite officially being allowed to stay in the UK, Carolina had a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition attached to her status. This meant she couldn’t receive any help from the government. With no obvious safety net in sight, Carolina was unable to secure a safe and stable place to live and continued to be at risk of homelessness. Thankfully, a friend contacted Crisis on her behalf.

Carolina’s story

Carolina is just one of the 653 people helped by the Structured Coaching Team in 2021– 2022. Until coming to Crisis she had been continually at risk of homelessness since fleeing an abusive relationship in Ecuador 23 years ago.

“My mother realised I was in danger and bought me a ticket [to the UK]. I had to leave my three children behind. If not, I would have been dead by now.

“If it wasn’t for Crisis, god knows where I would be. I had a dedicated coach – Hanne – who helped me with everything. She referred me to an immigration adviser and my NRPF condition was overturned. I was then able to make a homelessness application and was provided with temporary accommodation. From there, Hanne helped move me into social housing.

“I was 37 years old when I came. I worked very hard to send money back to my children. I applied for asylum but didn’t realise my documents would take so long to come through. I was sleeping on people’s sofas and kept having to move. Because of all the

40

41

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Fundraising

“I hadn’t been to a doctor in ten years, and I had some physical and mental health problems. I was suffering with depression. Crisis helped me access the healthcare I needed.”

Today, Carolina is in social housing provided by a Housing Association. With the safety and security of her new accommodation, she is doing much better. She wants to improve her English and gain employment skills, with our help. She has also started volunteering at a Crisis shop.

“Crisis is my first home and this flat is my second home. Crisis always told me the truth. They never lied to me. Crisis are like angels falling from heaven. Thank you very much for your help. Because of Crisis I am here in my own house and am still alive.”

“Knowing that we have the dedicated donors of the Journeys Home Fund backing our work is so motivating. Their commitment means that I know I’ll be able to give the sustained support that our members urgently need to prevent or end their homelessness.”

Hanne, Carolina’s coach

If you would like to learn more about the Journeys Home Fund, please contact philanthropy@crisis.org.uk

Leaving a lasting gift

“When Louis told me he was leaving both his properties to charities, I was not surprised, especially when he mentioned Crisis. He shared my view that it was shameful for the country to see so many homeless people on the streets. It’s good to know that his legacy will make a difference to the valuable work Crisis does.”

Mike MacDonald, close friend of Crisis legator Louis Kling (1937–2021).

We are so grateful to Louis, a dedicated volunteer in his community, who generously left Crisis the home he owned in Wimborne, Dorset valued at £300,000.

When someone leaves a gift in their Will, it’s an expression of the values and beliefs they share with us.

Whatever the amount, we’re always honoured when a supporter has chosen to include Crisis among the people and causes that mean the most to them.

Thank you to everyone who chose to remember Crisis in their Will this year. Your support is invaluable in helping us end homelessness once and for all.

To find out more about how you and your family can make a lasting difference, as well as useful information about writing your Will, please visit www.crisis.org.uk/legacy.

42

43

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Fundraising

National Lottery Community Fund – providing vital mental health support to members and front-line teams

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players and has generously supported our front-line work with more than £4.5m since 2004. Since October 2019 it has supported our plan to ensure our 11 Crisis Skylights each have a clinical psychologist by funding them in two areas – Edinburgh and South Wales.

Working one to one

The psychologists support our members and our employees that work with them.

“My job is about supporting the psychological and emotional wellbeing of our members and supporting colleagues to work in psychologically informed ways. That includes working one to one with members to support them, to understand the experiences they’ve had in their lives, the impact of these and to explore ways forward.”

Clinical psychologist Joelle Cowie, at Crisis Skylight Edinburgh, is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund Scotland. She explains why psychological support is so important in a person’s journey out of homelessness…

“Often, when people think about mental health, they think about statutory mental health services and treatments, such as medication and therapy. These play a role, but wellbeing is about much more than treating problems. To thrive, we need to feel connected to others, we need a home, food, warmth and we need to have opportunities to do things that give us a sense of meaning. That’s why our holistic and psychologicallyinformed approach at Crisis is so valuable in supporting member wellbeing.”

“Mental health support can be challenging to access for people who have experienced homelessness. They may have experienced trauma, exclusion and marginalisation. Because of these experiences, it can be difficult to trust others, and attending appointments and sharing personal information can feel really threatening. This can mean people struggle to attend regularly, or at all, which can result in them being discharged from services and not getting the support they need.

“Members often share with me that they’ve tried to access therapy before and have never been able to. Here at Crisis, we put relationships at the centre of our work. By developing trusting, empowering relationships and working flexibly, we enable members to step out of a place of survival, to pause, reflect and move forward.”

Joelle and the team of clinical psychologists also support our frontline staff to develop their understanding of members’ emotional and psychological needs so that they can be more effective in their work with our members.

“As psychologists we work with Crisis colleagues to ensure that we are always working in psychologically-informed ways. We might hold workshops encouraging colleagues to explore psychological concepts and how these relate to our work. We also hold ‘reflective practice groups’, spaces where colleagues can take a step back and think about their work, the impact it has on them and members, and why we do what we do.”

“Crisis staff are so busy working to end homelessness and bring so much commitment and compassion to their work. My team’s purpose is to support them to keep that compassion at the forefront of everything we do. Being embedded in the Skylights allows us to work alongside colleagues to continue to build on staff skills and confidence in working in psychologically informed ways. But really, the most important thing is being human with our members.”

44

45

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Valuing people and tehnology, sparking innovation and sustainability

Valuing our people

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021–

What we did

Grasped the opportunity provided by the pandemic to further develop our culture of wellbeing. We created bespoke guidance for employees on issues ranging from supporting our members while working safely at home, to dealing with anxieties and isolation. And when restrictions lifted, we did the same for our managers who were supporting their teams to move back to their workplaces.

2022

Continued our work to develop an approach to staff wellbeing that is inclusive, representative and addresses the issues Crisis staff face. We are focusing on six key areas and what managers, individuals and teams need to do within them to truly foster the wellbeing of Crisis employees. The areas are: mental health; physical health; relationships; financial wellbeing; workplace and work/life balance.

Launched a new Mental Health First Aid training programme to support colleagues experiencing ill mental health, and to promote wellbeing at work. By the end of the year 100 employees had been trained through the programme.

Challenged ourselves to think about what sort of organisation we need to be to enable our people to thrive and have the greatest impact on ending homelessness. As part of this challenge, we are reviewing our organisational values and behaviours. We ran 28 workshops for employees, people with lived experience of homelessness and volunteers. We focused on the values people demonstrate at Crisis, the qualities of a great organisation and the values we should aspire to. Our refreshed set of values will be shared with employees, members, volunteers and supporters early 2023.

Developed our strategy to involve people with lived experience of homelessness across the organisation. Only with their inclusion can our mission of ending homelessness be fulfilled. The strategy defines our organisational approach, goals and the priorities which guide our work.

Invited the five members involved in our Experts by Experience panel to join a training programme to increase their confidence and influencing skills. Through the panel, people with lived experience of homelessness use their insight to shape our work and direction and attend committee and board meetings. Feedback from the training showed that members felt their confidence had grown considerably and that they would develop it even more by contributing to Experts by Experience.

Thanks to the training, one panel member formally joined the Client Services Governance Committee. And the whole panel now meets regularly with our CEO Matt Downie to offer their input on Board meeting agenda items.

Overall, we ensured there were 32 separate opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness to get involved with and influence our work during the year.

What challenged us

A major challenge was the unpredictability of COVID-19 and the associated changes to lockdown guidance. COVID-19 also resulted in changing attitudes about how and where people can work. We have responded by enabling a mix of working either from a Crisis building or elsewhere and using technology to bring people together to collaborate and connect. We are also configuring our buildings to make sure they maximise opportunities for working with members, collaboration and social connection.

Like many organisations, in the last 12 months, we have experienced some challenges with a highly competitive jobs market. This has made it hard to attract the right calibre of candidates particularly for technical roles in IT and HR and has slowed progress on some important pieces of work.

Fortunately, we continued to attract good candidates for most roles that involve working directly with our members to end their homelessness.

46

47

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Valuing people and tehnology, sparking innovation and sustainability

Ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion is key to our organisational success. We recognise and celebrate diversity and value the differences and unique insights of all staff, volunteers, and members. We must also address the fact that homelessness discriminates and disproportionately affects people from particular groups and backgrounds, with routes out of homelessness harder for some people because of systemic discrimination.

Inspiring enterprise and innovation

“It is fantastic having the Venture Studio from Crisis as one of GoodPAYE’s shareholders. Not only do they add credibility and trust to our start-up, but also the insights and support that the Venture Studio are able to offer has been useful, especially in these early stages...Together, we’ll be able to use technology to be a force for good and create impactful change in the world.”

Richard Packman, Managing Director of GoodPAYE

Our EDI strategy will help us to embed equality, diversity and inclusion into our core purpose. This comes alongside research and influencing work, including an important programme about anti-racism and homelessness.

We have:

“I can’t wait to start my business. Thanks for the mentoring, thanks for the money and I do hope to make other people happy through my business.”

Changing Lives grant recipient

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021– 2022

What we did

Opened Crisis’ first standalone online shop selling a range of pre-loved goods including new items donated by our corporate partners including Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Gap and hush. Fantastic support from our corporate and community volunteers helped us establish the business.

Launched our first West London shop in Hammersmith and identified three additional London shop sites. When these sites are complete, we will have a retail network in London of 13 shops. We are very grateful to Accenture Retail. Their advice, given freely, is helping us explore how we can grow our network outside of London.

Offered new training and volunteering opportunities for 25 Crisis members across our retail network. These included a new coffee barista training programme through our Croydon Crisis Skylight and Croydon shop, and ‘Stitch and Fix’ at our Finsbury Park Store. Through this project members and volunteers learn to repair their own and pre-loved clothing which we then sell in the shop.

48

49

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Valuing people and tehnology, sparking innovation and sustainability

Celebrated our first anniversary of the Venture Studio from Crisis. Through this innovative new team, we collaborate with business leaders, experts, funders, researchers and start-ups. The Venture Studio enables Crisis members to start their own businesses and end their homelessness sustainably. During the year, nine members were supported in this way in businesses including a vegan Caribbean food stall and a kitchen fitter.

Invested in external businesses to tackle the causes or consequences of homelessness and increase housing supply through the Venture Studio. Our investments are funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and generous philanthropists. This year our investment approach resulted in nominations for two prestigious awards – ‘Investor of the Year’ and ‘Social Impact Awards’ – by the UK Proptech Association, the leading organisation representing property technology businesses in the UK. PropTech (property technology) is the use of information technology to help individuals and companies research, buy, sell and manage real estate.

Continued to support our Venture Studio investment with Agile Homes, the low-carbon, modular homes builder based in Bristol, working in 2020. Since our investment, the company has been commissioned to build 89 homes. Most – 77.5% – of these homes will be delivered on behalf of Registered Social Housing Providers, local authorities and charities. Future projects for Agile include building 172 homes over the next few years, more than 97% will be public sector homes.

We also continued to support our investment in Lanu, an organisation that uses groundbreaking technology to determine planning and development possibilities. With our help, they have developed a tool that gives a clear idea of proposed developments through 3D models, floor space and value calculations, costings and local planning rules. Over the past months, the team secured a project for a local council, using their 3D models to improve the community consultation process for planned developments.

Launched our investment GoodPAYE https:// goodpaye.com/ to charities and employers in collaboration with the Royal British Legion, RNIB, WaterAid and Barnardo’s. GoodPAYE is an online payroll giving platform that makes it easy for people to support charities while they work. The service will be launched in August 2022 and also made available to Crisis employees. GoodPAYE’s mission is to generate more than £150m in additional revenue for charities via payroll giving by 2030.

Awarded 41 grants through our Changing Lives programme which supports Crisis members in a variety of ways. The grants can fund buying tools and equipment, training and qualifications and setting up businesses. Grants range from £250–£5,000. We made our members aware of the funding through roadshows we ran at our Crisis Skylights throughout the year.

Researched how innovative Crisis is as a culture by conducting an ‘innovation diagnostic’. We asked our employees and members how receptive we are as an organisation to new ideas and working in new ways. Encouraging innovative ways of thinking and working is essential in devising powerful solutions to end homelessness. The diagnostic showed that as managers and employees we need to do more to inspire and implement innovation. We are investing in the time and practical work needed to make this happen.

What challenged us

We made two difficult decisions during the year because we had to prioritise our resources to make the maximum impact in ending homelessness. These involved closing our London café, which had operated from 66 Commercial Street for 18 years, and closing our Liverpool furniture refurbishing business.

Sustainability

What we said we’d do in the financial year 2021– 2022

What challenged us

Environmental sustainability is a clear organisational priority, and a focus of the work of our Facilities Management team. Unfortunately, we made less progress than we had hoped to during the year. This is because continuing COVID-19 restrictions meant that we had to divert our time and resources to ensuring that our critical face-to-face work to end people’s homelessness could be delivered safely.

What we did

Appointed a sustainability consultant to provide us with an independent assessment that will give an updated Carbon Footprint for our organisation (see our Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) on page 60). We will use the results to come up with a Crisiswide carbon reduction plan within the first half of our new financial year.

Implemented practical sustainability measures within our Crisis Skylight Centres, shops and warehouses. These included continuing to install environmentally friendly lighting and reducing the amount of material we print. We also re-used and repaired equipment, furniture and other assets rather than buying new wherever we could.

Worked with the media to raise awareness of the dangers faced by people sleeping rough during extreme weather conditions. This summer, we experienced record breaking temperatures of 40°C. We called on local authorities to trigger their arrangements to offer emergency shelter, as is done when the weather is extremely cold. We also delivered public messaging with guidance on how members of the public can help people sleeping rough in the hot weather.

50

51

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Valuing people and tehnology, sparking innovation and sustainability

Thank you

Adint Charitable Trust

Adrian Swire Charitable Trust Alauddin Rahman Alex & William de Winton Alexander and Anne Carson Anthony Edwards

Artemis Charitable Foundation

Betty Webster

Bradley and Katherine Wickens

Bryan Thomas Catherine Phillips Christine Usher

Comic Relief

Croydon Borough Council D G Charitable Settlement

Dilys Overnell

Doreen Chignell

Dorothy Jex

Dorothy Kenwright Douglas Mason Edinburgh City Council Elisabeth Russell-Taylor

Elizabeth Grenfell

Emilio Arias

Erminia, Margaret and Antonio Barilone

Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation

Frances Webb GMSP Foundation

Good-Loop

GSK

Guido Barzini

The Disrupt Foundation Hauser & Wirth Helga Spring hush

Ian Cosh J Davy Foundation Jacqueline Latham Jane Jewell Janet Wolf Jill Austin

John Silk

JTI UK

Kathleen Redfern Kenny Ives & Patricia Otero

Laura Wollen Lena Gohara

Linbury Trust

London Borough of Brent

Louis Kling

Margaret Kerr

Margaret Wade

Marguerite McMahon

Marie Helen Luen Charitable Trust

Marjorie Holdsworth Marjorie Williams Mary Eldridge Michael Lewis

Mill Charitable Trust

Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC (trading name Novuna)

Mrs E Lacey

National Lottery Community Fund Scotland

National Lottery Community Fund Wales

Nicholas Filbee

Oak Foundation Papa John’s GB Patricia Aston Paul Smee Pauline Meredith Charitable Trust

People’s Postcode Lottery

Poor Servants of the Mother of God

PwC Foundation QBE Foundation R U B White Charitable Trust Ralph Aird Rita Burt

Rita Clayden Rita Finlay

Rob and Vanessa Perrins

Ruth Luka

Sachs Foundation Schutz Engel Trust Southampton Row Trust Ltd Stella Simmons Stephen Weddle

Taylor Wimpey Plc

Terry Cann

Tesco Mobile

The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust

The Berkeley Foundation

The Constance Travis Charitable Trust

The Ireland Family

The Trustees of the John Rawding Trust

The Vertex Foundation

The Watches of Switzerland Group Foundation

The Wimbledon Foundation

Tracey Pickin and National Association of Tangent Clubs

Valentine Sanders Bowers

Veronika Beddows

Vida Homeloans Work for Good

52

53

Crisis annual report 2021-22

The future

The future

2022-23 will be the final year of our current strategy and during the year, we will be developing a new long-term strategy for Crisis.

What we’ll do next – 2022–2023

Goal 2

Convene a review into homelessness law in Wales to support the Welsh Government’s ending homelessness action plan. This review will recommend changes to the law by summer 2023. The changes will help more people access the vital support they need to avoid or end their homelessness and will focus on a ‘no one left out’ approach to being offered help.

Goal 1

Lead work with the Scottish government and other charities to agree what needs to happen to make sure new laws on preventing homelessness are effective. This will be achieved through practice and culture change and by learning lessons from prevention laws in Wales and England. We will work with politicians across the political spectrum to make sure this is a priority across government.

Support the Ending Homelessness National Advisory Board for the Welsh Government in a range of ways, including through expert analysis, chairing the board, and bringing comparative lessons from efforts to end homelessness across Britain and further afield.

Collaborate with the sector, local authorities and other stakeholders to draft a Bill for Bob Blackman MP to introduce to Parliament to strengthen the regulatory oversight of exempt accommodation. We will continue to run a campaign supporting the Bill, and work with Government to draft it. Our aim will be to get support for the Bill from Government and politicians from all parties so that it is successfully passed into law, preventing unscrupulous landlords from exploiting people in need of supported accommodation.

Make sure that the Scottish Government’s plan

to end homelessness is delivered as effectively as possible. We will measure progress made and put in plans so that fewer people need to rely on temporary accommodation. We will work to make sure that ending homelessness is built into the Scottish Government’s overall National Performance Framework so that it is a priority across public services, and encourage adequate funding to make all of this happen.

Hold the Westminster Government to account on their commitment to end rough sleeping in England by 2024, by highlighting the policy changes they need to implement to achieve it. We’ll develop a political campaign through the APPG for Ending Homelessness following publication of the recommendations from the inquiry into whether the Government is on track to meet this manifesto commitment.

Launch a new campaign focused on the main political parties and the next general election. Our aim will be to secure new manifesto commitments on ending all forms of homelessness. We will press for policy proposals that go beyond the government’s existing commitment to end rough sleeping, and that instead tackle the main drivers of homelessness that will prevent it from happening in the first place. We’ll mobilise the general public to put pressure on all parties to have this level of ambition and commitment.

Goal 3

Launch Built for Zero UK by working closely with three to four communities committed to ending homelessness locally.

Ensure we establish our role in Built for Zero UK as the independent organisation helping communities to carry out this work. We will act as a coach that supports, convenes and facilitates communities as they commit and work towards achieving zero homelessness.

Our role will help to ensure the long-term progress of each community. As part of the project communities will commit to:

Fund and allocate a Built for Zero UK coach for each of the communities involved. Coaches will help them to create high-quality real time data to give an accurate picture of who is flowing in and out of homelessness. They will also work on establishing the project’s governance structure and encourage communities to work together. Sharing information, successes and developments across Built for Zero UK locations is also part of their role.

Goal 4

Ensure that the services we offer our members all reflect the aims of our Client Services Vision Programme and the review and research work we carried out. We will recognise that we cannot support everyone and will focus on what we can do and where we can have the most impact.

Test and learn approaches to preventing and ending homelessness through our more focused services. We will then share our successes as powerful examples of solutions that work so that they can become part of everyday practice to benefit anyone facing homelessness.

Goal 5

Run the deferred training regarding modernday slavery in 2022–23 so that all employees who work with our members can identify the signs of modern-day slavery.

Complete our transformation of the way our Crisis Skylights work. We will ensure our teams have the capacity and expertise to support people who are excluded from help or who have complex needs. Each person who needs intensive support will be assigned a lead worker from that skilled team.

Year-round volunteering

Attract more volunteers to our fundraising and campaigning work by building on what we have learned this year from our existing volunteers and community action groups in South Wales and Oxford. We’ll also launch an exciting new approach by training volunteers to deliver events previously only delivered by our employees, and build volunteer support for our campaigns team.

Ensure our new volunteer management system is embedded throughout Crisis. This will help us be more in touch with our volunteers, understand what they want from Crisis and how we can provide them with the right information, training and support.

Test the volunteer roles we developed as part of the Client Services Vision Programme and evaluate them in terms of which ones are the most effective at supporting our members.

Roll out our specialist volunteering project that will meet our own needs for specialist support and those of our existing and future corporate partners. Teams and individuals from partners such as Microsoft and Accenture have already helped with our digital and data transformation project, and the development of our e-commerce offer.

54

55

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Structure, governance and management

Crisis at Christmas

Focus on what has the greatest impact in ending homelessness via Crisis at Christmas. Although expensive, hotels have provided breathing space for our teams, partners and statutory services to work with our guests in a positive way. This way of working led to a reduction of rough sleeping in London during Christmas 2021– 2022. Our hotel approach was first introduced in 2020–2021 in response to the full lockdown over that Christmas.

Continue to help our Crisis at Christmas guests into stable housing after Christmas. We’ll do this by ensuring they get direct support through our case management approach and the other services offered by our Crisis Skylight centres.

Build on what we learn every year to push forward our life-changing Christmas purpose. This is to raise awareness and support for the injustice of homelessness, provide temporary respite, encourage our guests to join our yearround services and seek sustainable solutions that end their homelessness. As always, we will share our successes and solutions with policy makers and supporters.

Fundraising

Respond positively to the challenges before us and work with our supporters to deliver strong results. We’ll work hard to learn lessons from the previous 12 months to ensure we are as effective as we can be. We want our messages to resonate with our supporters and the general public to show how Crisis is even more important during these incredibly challenging times.

Ensure our digital capability and environment meet the expectations of supporters so that they can donate and communicate efficiently with us online.

Increase the ways people can support us by offering more year-round opportunities, in addition to Christmas, to be part of the Crisis family and our solutions to end homelessness.

Launch a strategic partnerships approach. This will involve working with businesses and organisations that want to have a key role in ending homelessness. Such partnerships

will not be based on cash gifts, but instead on joint ways of working that can impact on helping to end homelessness. This could involve exploring provision of suitable accommodation, employment opportunities, training provision and many other areas where businesses can have a direct impact.

Our people

Implement a new Wellbeing Advisory Group that will be responsible for embedding the wellbeing framework and leading Crisis’ wellbeing agenda. The group will bring together leads from each directorate with senior colleagues from Human Resources, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Safety and Wellbeing. It will be an effective decision-making body that can make changes happen more quickly.

Roll out our new organisational values and ensure they are embedded into our ways of working throughout Crisis.

Make sure that lived experiences of homelessness truly inform and improve the work we do. To facilitate this, our Organisational Development department and Client Services will conduct a joint project to gather and analyse our members’ insights and ideas.

Work closely with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team to ensure the opportunities we offer members reach people with lived experience from a wide range of communities and backgrounds.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Improve the diversity of our Board of Trustees to ensure best practice in the governance of the organisation.

Embed equality, diversity and inclusion throughout Crisis through a system of Equality Impact Assessments. These assessments will help us thoroughly examine new proposals regarding the work we do and ensure our decisions are informed by their impact on equality, diversity and inclusion.

Continue to improve the quality of our equalities data and use this information to support the changes we need to make.

Implement an effective and empathetic procedure for our employees to safely report incidents of harassment, bullying and victimisation, and ensure they are investigated fairly. It is vital Crisis employees can safely raise concerns and get the advice they need to help them make decisions about the best ways forward.

Ensure that everyone who works with us, our employees and our volunteers, are clear regarding our values and their responsibilities regarding equality, diversity and inclusion. We’ll help make this happen through the training, development and other learning opportunities needed to achieve our aims.

Listen to the voices and experiences of our diverse members, and complete our report on the findings of our research into the relationship between race, ethnicity and homelessness. We will use these findings to support our work to end homelessness.

Enterprise and innovation

Enhance our new online shop by developing it into a one-stop shop for both buying items and making donations. We will launch a range of gifts including jewellery, candles, soap and wherever possible from social enterprises that offer Crisis members development and training opportunities. We will also open three new stores, refurbish our flagship Finsbury Park store and set up even more Crisis pop ups.

Update the retail training we offer our members and work with Volcano Coffee and other hospitality training partners to increase the amount of barista training we do.

Build our philanthropic investment fund to £0.5m through our Venture Studio so we can secure up to five further investments that will have a significant impact on ending homelessness. We will support our investments in their growth through the highly skilled business experts and partners who volunteer their mentorship and other support to Crisis. We will continue to build our philanthropic investment fund beyond 2022–2023.

Award more Changing Lives grants in 2022– 2023 and secure independent funding for the programme. Forty-one grants were awarded in 2021–2022.

Sustainability

Agree a new environmental policy for our organisation. It will cover how we’ll reduce our Carbon Footprint through our objectives for the next three years and will also spell out how we’ll implement organisation-wide standards.

Start work with FEANTSA (European Federation of National Homelessness Organisations) to get a clear picture of on how climate change affects people experiencing homelessness.

56

57

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Structure, governance and management

Structure, governance, and management (including strategic report)

Section 172 statement – Trustees’ duty to promote the success of the charity

The trustees have a duty to promote the success of the charity and in doing so are required by section 172 (1) of the Companies Act 2006 to have a regard to:

Crisis developed its current strategy with its mission and purpose that “Together we will end homelessness” with five strategic goals built on our activities as a direct service provider for thousands of people facing homelessness and our growing profile and impact as a research and policy organisation. The context for the strategic goals was, and remains, the document Everybody In: How to end homelessness in Great Britain – the plan to end homelessness developed by Crisis to mark our 50th anniversary in 2017 and published in 2018. This ground-breaking document sets out how homelessness can be ended with the necessary political will and provides the context for all our work to end homelessness. This plan was developed after wide consultation of stakeholders of members, staff, partner organisations in the wider sector. The trustees understand the importance of fostering good relationships with stakeholders.

Structure

Crisis UK is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles. The charity has two wholly owned subsidiary undertakings,

Crisis at Christmas Limited and The London Pathway.

Crisis Christmas Ltd is a trading company. The principal activities of the trading company are sponsorship and miscellaneous trading activities.

The London Pathway (Pathway) is a charitable company transforming health services for homeless people.

Trustees

At the time of approval of this report, the Crisis UK’s Board of Trustees comprised 11 members who meet at least four times a year to review strategy, business plans and operations. In addition, trustees meet for an in-depth review of Crisis’ past performance and future strategic direction.

Trustees are appointed on a three-year term and are eligible for re-election for a second term. A trustee holds office for a maximum of six years unless the Nominations Committee recommends otherwise, and a majority of the Board of Trustees agrees. Terms of Office may be extended up to three more years if appropriate.

Trustees are recruited through national recruitment campaigns, although personal recommendations are also used where specific skill sets are required. All successful candidates are selected through a rigorous interview process involving the Nominations Committee and the Chief Executive.

All new trustees take part in an induction programme designed to ensure they fully understand their roles and responsibilities, and Crisis’ objects, activities, and ethos.

The results of a review against the Charity Governance Code, considered by the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee, show we achieve a high level of compliance with the standards set out in the Governance Code.

Trustee sub-committees

The Board has established five committees with delegated authority for certain matters and to ensure key matters are given increased time and scrutiny.

The Finance and Investment Committee , comprising a minimum of three trustees and a maximum of two co-opted members with

specialist financial expertise. This committee is responsible to the board for:

provide this assurance to the Board

The Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee , comprising a minimum of three trustees and a maximum of two co-opted members with specialist financial expertise. This committee is responsible to the board for:

The Nominations Committee comprises two trustees, including the Chair, and the Chief Executive, and has delegated responsibility for:

Crisis at Christmas Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, manages trading activities associated with the charity. The company gifts any surplus to Crisis.

The London Pathway (Pathway) is a wholly owned charitable subsidiary. Crisis and Pathway have an operating agreement setting the terms of operations and Crisis governance of Pathway’s operations.

Senior Management Team

The trustees delegate the day-to-day operations of the charity to the Senior Management Team (SMT). The SMT comprises the Chief Executive and other members with clear lines of responsibility for specific areas of the organisation. The trustees have worked with the SMT to develop the longer-term strategic plans for the charity. Responsibility

The Client Services Governance Committee comprises a minimum of three trustees and was established to:

58

59

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Structure, governance and management

for the implementation of the plans is delegated to the SMT through agreed annual business plans.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

Crisis’ remuneration policy is designed to ensure the organisation continues to be a leading charity within the homelessness sector, providing high quality services for homeless people. This includes ensuring remuneration levels are sufficient both to attract high calibre staff and maintain our human resource across the organisation.

We are committed to the following principles in determining pay for all our employees.

The remuneration of members of the senior management team is determined by the Remuneration Committee which gives due consideration to the above framework.

We are also proud to have been committed to paying the minimum hourly rates recommended by the Living Wage Foundation for many years.

Staff and volunteers

Our staff and volunteers are vital to our organisation’s ongoing success. They dedicate time, skill, and passion to delivering the best possible services for homeless people. We are extremely fortunate in that we can call on the support of thousands of volunteers each year to support our services. Their contributions are invaluable to our work and help shape the unique character of our charity.

Policy for employment of disabled persons

We welcome applications for employment from all prospective employees regardless of disabilities. Crisis is committed to developing practices which not only meet the requirements of equalities legislation, but which promote equality of opportunity and maximise the abilities, skills and experience of all employees. This includes ensuring that employees are managed in an inclusive way, accounting for individual differences, and giving employees the confidence to disclose a disability if they wish.

If an employee discloses their disability, we discuss with them what they need to be successful in their role and seek to make adjustments to facilitate this. For example, adjustments could include training, specialist technology or equipment. In deciding what is reasonable, the practicalities and resources available to Crisis UK are considered.

Our disability leave policy ensures understanding of the separation of disabilityrelated absence from sickness absence, so that time-off related to disability is not seen as ‘sickness’ ensuring that an individual’s entitlement to sick pay is not affected by absence related to their disability.

Diversity

As part of our commitment to becoming a truly inclusive organisation, Crisis has established staff diversity networks for:

The networks:

Employee information

We place great importance on ensuring employees are regularly updated and have appropriate opportunities to engage with senior management. The Chief Executive holds all staff gathering on a quarterly basis where he celebrates achievements and discusses important topics including future plans, finances and the external environment. He also travels to Crisis locations several times a month to meet with staff and members. We conduct an annual staff survey; the results and proposed actions are discussed with staff and with the Board. The results of the survey are an important indicator of the health of the organisation. With remote working being a significant way of working since lockdown, we also introduced “Tea and Talk” zoom meetings on a range of topics to disseminate information to staff as well as an opportunity for staff feedback.

Crisis has a union recognition agreement with Unite. Senior management meet with Unite representatives on a regular basis.

Public benefit statement

In accordance with the Charities Act 2006, we must confirm that the activities we undertake to achieve our objectives are all carried out for the public benefit as described by the Charity Commission. The beneficiaries of the charity are members of the public who are in need because of homelessness and associated issues. Through our activities, we seek an end to homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change. Crisis’ trustees have described in this report the charitable public benefit of our activities; they regularly review our progress against our aims and objectives. They confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.

Fundraising

Whilst the pandemic has undoubtedly set new challenges and meant we had to change our plans and communication approaches, this did not detract from our supporter focus and indeed in several areas actually helped us to consider new, improved ways of engaging and supporting our supporters. At Crisis we have set out to ensure we always listen to our supporters and put them at the heart of our work. We’ve gone so far as to instigate a Supporter in the Room policy, where in every meeting across Crisis we behave as though there is a supporter present. It ensures we treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve.

In 2021/22 we have continued to focus on delivering our Supporter in the Room pledges, striving to deliver supporter care excellence. We have focused on making sure we understand what our supporters want and worked hard to not only meet but exceed their expectations. We will continue to work hard on this in the coming 12 months, delighting supporters at every opportunity and making sure they feel an intrinsic part of the community to end homelessness.

As well as placing supporters at the heart of our culture, we have worked closely with our partners and suppliers to ensure they display the same ethos. We dedicate time at the most senior levels of the organisation to ensure they understand who we are and how we treat our supporters. We constantly monitor the performance of our telephone agencies and provide feedback on a regular basis to ensure performance is both maintained and actively improved. The agency often acknowledges that Crisis goes the extra mile to ensure together we give supporters great experiences.

In the year to June 2022 we communicated with millions of people across GB and received 186 complaints (2020: 274 complaints). While this number is low, this still represents people who had a bad experience, and we will work to reduce this number going forward.

We have continued to monitor and update our privacy policy, constantly reviewed our communication and have launched a preference centre to allow supporters to

60

61

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Structure, governance and management

choose what they receive from us. However, that is just part of the process. We want to go beyond compliance with regulation. We want to revisit the roots of communicating with our supporters, ensuring that every single communication a Crisis supporter receives is relevant, meaningful and inspirational.

In addition, we are committed to ensuring that no vulnerable person feels subject to unreasonable intrusion of privacy or persistent or undue pressure to donate. We have continued to work hard to comply with the Fundraising Regulator’s voluntary regulation scheme, ensure our suppliers and agents do the same, and will continue to ensure we meet the high standards we expect of ourselves, the Regulator expects of us and that our supporters rightly deserve.

Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR)

Under the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018, Crisis is mandated to disclose our UK energy use and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a minimum, Crisis is required to report those GHG emissions relating to natural gas, electricity and transport fuel, as well as an intensity ratio under the Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) Regulations.

In the year 2020-21 Crisis created a baseline and will be using the data collated for that year’s report as the base year for future reporting. As and when Crisis can improve on the collection of data relating to GHG emissions, the base year will be amended to include new data.

Quantification and reporting methodology:

Crisis has previously complied with ESOS Phase 2 and has established internal methodology for collating energy and transport usage data. In assessing which GHG emissions to report on for the purposes of SECR, Crisis has followed the 2013 (updated 2019) UK Government environmental reporting guidance and has used the 2022 UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting in the calculation of reported figures.

Energy efficiency actions and targets

Crisis has previously taken part in ESOS Phases 1 & 2, the latter of which was submitted May 2019 and has started to collect data for the upcoming ESOS Phase 3 scheme. The first 2 phases identified opportunities for energy savings across the business which Crisis has implemented over the past couple of years such as the continued replacement of lifeexpired light fittings with new LED systems. Where appropriate these lighting systems are monitored by passive infrared sensors and energy saving software has been deployed to turn off computer devices at the end of each day.

Throughout the last year Crisis has continued to make use of digital meeting tools by enabling all staff to work in an effective manner in our digital workspace. In addition, we have begun work on a new Environmental policy which will help us set targets in reducing our carbon emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions

----- Start of picture text -----
2021-2022 2020-2021
Element
(tCO2e) (tCO2e)
----- End of picture text -----

Gas consumption– at premises where Crisis holds control over 62.86 57.43
metering and invoicing
(SCOPE 1)
Owned transport– for vehicles rented by Crisis for work purposes 20.65 19.04
(SCOPE 1)
UK Electricity– at premises where Crisis holds control over metering 150.62 144.34
and invoicing
Total (tCO2e) SCOPE 1 & 2 234.13 220.81
Transmission & Distribution of UK Electricity– at premises where 13.78 12.77
Crisis holds control over metering and invoicing
(SCOPE 3)
Business travel (land)– Private staf and volunteer mileage 13.57 8.26
(SCOPE 3)
TOTAL (tCO2e) SCOPE 3 27.35 21.03
TOTAL EMISSIONS (tCO2e) 261.48 241.84
Intensity metric tonnes of CO2e per full-time employee 0.38 0.40

Scope of report:

The scope covered under this report includes:

62

63

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Structure, governance and management

Summary and next steps

Crisis has taken a considered approach over the past two years as to its priorities as a charity with mission to end homelessness and has maintained existing environmental standards within its premises. Our intensity metric shows a small reduction in the tonnes CO2e per full-time employee which is attributed by our higher average headcount over the past year. Whilst we have increased Carbon emissions from gas, electricity and business travel, this is not unexpected given the resumption of more of our services, and the increased numbers of staff and volunteers returning to our premises.

Crisis has begun to explore further carbon foot-printing in areas not covered under the current scope in this report

To aid our new Environmental policy this we are currently completing a new overall Carbon Footprint for the organisation which will be used to help set targets on our environmental impact in the years ahead.

Crisis is pleased to report that despite increases in the cost of utilities purchasing, electricity for all Crisis premises continues to be allocated to renewable energy sources.

Financial review

Our principal activities are providing a range of life-changing services to homeless people and campaigning on their behalf. Our annual planning and budgeting cycle aims to prioritise our delivery and development plans and allocate the financial resources to these to ensure that they can be achieved. Our fundraising targets are set to enable us to finance our planned activities and developmental work. Any surpluses that we generate are used to build up funding for investments that we need to make in the future, to maximise our reach and impact.

In setting our 2021/22 budgets, we were cognisant of the period of financial uncertainty so tempered our income growth assumptions but recognising the need to invest in areas which will support future impact and effectiveness. Our strong financial position meant we were able to set a deficit budget of £1.7m. The charity merged with London Pathway on 1st July 2022 with Pathway remaining as a separate entity.

The financial result for the year is a deficit of (£1.5m). Total income was relatively flat, slightly increasing from £64.6m to £64.8m (0.3%) while expenditure increased from £58.7m to £66.2m (13%). The fundraising environment has been challenging with income from donations and legacies falling by £3.6m (7 %). Our retail shops recovered from covid lockdowns with income increasing from £1.9m to £3.5m.

Despite the decreased income, we were able to increase our expenditure on charitable activities from £36.1m to £41.3m (14%). We continued to invest in our services purchasing a building in London for £10.2m which will be our London Skylight centre after some refurbishment work, new premises in Swansea and in the process of completing our Skylight in Brent.

The overall effect of our financial performance for the year is a deficit of £1.5m, represented by an increase of £1.4m on our restricted reserves, and a decrease of £2.9m on our unrestricted reserves, bringing our total reserves to £40.7m as at 30 June 2022.

Future viability consideration

As part of our planning process, we have looked ahead at the next three financial years to set out our indicative budgets over this period. Over this time, we anticipate some fundraising growth based on new strategies and activities, and we expect a steady increase in our general expenditure. We also have planned investment as designated in our reserves, in our data and digital capabilities as well as in our estate, where we have a forward plan based on the end of our current lease arrangements for both our Skylights and our offices. Taking these considerations into account, we are expecting to generate small deficits for the first two of the next three years, with a return to break even or a small surplus in year three.

We have budgeted for a deficit revenue budget in 2022/23, of £1.7m. We have assessed the risks in our assumptions relating to this budget, and for plans relating to future years.

We recognise that there are inherent risks around our fundraising assumptions, and that these are harder to evaluate in the current

economic climate. We also recognise risks around our expenditure plans, as well as the opportunity to generate efficiencies through more effective and aligned processes and procurement activities.

As part of our assessment, we have identified several mitigations to our financial risks. Our strong historic financial performance, coupled with our robust internal reporting and review processes, give us confidence that our financial controls are robust and help us to proactively manage our financial position throughout the year. We have identified some specific areas where we can delay lower priority work and reallocate resources should we need to do so. Our reserves position, and our flexibility to manage the deployment of designated reserves, serves to mitigate any remaining financial risks over the coming period and beyond.

Our plans for future periods

We have planned for investments that provide for future effectiveness and sustainability, and to build our capability in and capacity in both resources and infrastructure in place to accelerate our mission to end homelessness.

While we have been prudent in our planning, which does not assume significant general growth in the near-term, we have determined some specific areas for investment in 2022/23 and beyond. These are:

Crisis’ reserves policy

Our reserves policy is designed to reflect the underlying risks facing us and ensure we have an appropriate level of reserves to safeguard our operations and services to homeless people. We hold restricted funds to meet donors’ requirements. The tangible fixed asset reserve represents the net book value of tangible fixed assets in use by the charity (excluding those items which are included within restricted reserves).

We are investing in infrastructure as well as securing and building the financial position. The Board decided in the last financial year to set aside funds in designated reserves for the latter two categories to ensure that, over the medium term, we can commit to these essential initiatives. Designated reserves of £24 million were held at June 2022 as follows:

Skylight Refurbishment £2.7m
Data & Digital
Transformation		 £5.5m
Tangible fxed asset £15.8m
Total £24.0m

(See Note 21a in the financial statements for a movement in the year)

The trustees consider the minimum level of free reserves annually – i.e. excluding restricted and designated reserves, required to support our operations. Relevant factors include projected financial performance including cash flow requirements, the findings from our risk management processes and an assessment of risks to our income streams.

Following this review, the trustees have determined that the minimum required level of free reserves on 30th June 2022 is £13.8 million. The actual level of free reserves at this date was £14m meeting the minimum threshold. The requirement and underlying factors are considered annually, and the minimum reserves requirement is, therefore, expected to change over time.

64

65

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Structure, governance and management

Investment management

Under Crisis’ investment policy, the organisation holds a balanced portfolio of investments. Funds equivalent to the lower of 10% of budgeted expenditure (excluding non-cash items, gifts in kind and expenditure for which restricted funding has already been secured) or 25% of actual free reserves may be held in common investment funds. This is subject to ensuring we have sufficient cash to operate throughout the subsequent two years. Most of our funds continue to be held in cash or cash equivalents and the investment portfolio and its performance are scrutinised four times a year by the Finance Committee. There was an unrealised loss on investment holdings of £57,000 during the year, in addition to investment distributions. Investments are held in the anticipation that the total return from the investment portfolio will prove satisfactory over a ten-year timescale.

Socially responsible investment

The trustees have considered the implications of using ethical and socially responsible criteria alongside financial criteria in decisions relating to fixed asset investments. For example, they have considered whether we should explicitly exclude certain business activities from our investment portfolio.

The trustees believe that the charity’s interests are best served by investing in well diversified portfolios, seeking the maximum expected financial returns within an acceptable level of risk. In addition, the trustees are mindful of the non-financial considerations of selecting any fund and will select portfolios that do not hold investments that conflict with the mission of Crisis. The investment at the year-end was held in an ethical charity investment fund.

This policy is reviewed regularly by the trustees.

Risk management

No system of internal control can give absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss. However, we believe we have appropriate procedures and controls to adequately mitigate against risks to which we are exposed.

Systems include:

Crisis’ approach to risk management includes the identification of risks on both ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ bases. This involves considering internal and external factors affecting our strategic goals and specific risks attributable to detailed operations. Identified risks are rated according to the likelihood and impact of the risk occurring. We overlay on this a review of the risks to delivery of the business plan for the current and subsequent years.

Mitigating controls have been identified and, where further action is required, deadlines and responsibilities assigned. Those activities with higher risk ratings are prioritised.

SMT reviews strategic and escalated operational risks monthly. These risks are also routinely reviewed by the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee, as well as specific risks and related mitigations and actions being reviewed by the other committees of the Board. The strategic risk assessment is reviewed annually by the Board of

Trustees, who also receive updates on risks and risk management through our regular management information reporting, which is a standing agenda item.

The most significant overarching risk facing Crisis for the year ahead is economic uncertainty, decline and high inflation. This poses the following risks for Crisis:

Mitigations include financial scenario planning to assess strategic options, utilising our reserves to mitigate fundraising risks and increasing our efforts to diversify our income.

A key element of our control framework is comprehensive reporting of incidents, accidents and near-misses. This reporting includes any safeguarding or information governance breaches that occur. These are considered by the appropriate governance committees. They also consider the decisions of whether any such occurrences should be reported to a regulatory body. Crisis maintains a strong culture of reporting of incidents etc. across our work. During the year, five incidents occurred which were reported to a regulator.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of Crisis UK for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report including the strategic report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application

of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company or group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and 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:

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.

66

67

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

Members of Crisis guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 each 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

Sayer Vincent LLP were re-appointed as the charitable company’s auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

The trustees’ annual report, which includes the strategic report, has been approved by the trustees on 24th November 2022 and signed on their behalf by Tristia Harrison Chair of Trustees.

Independent auditor’s report to the members of Crisis UK

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Crisis UK (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 30 June 2022 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the group and parent charitable company balance sheets, the consolidated statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

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 group financial statements section of our

report. We are independent of the group and parent charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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 Crisis UK’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other Information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, other than the group financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the group financial statements does not cover the other information, and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the group financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required

68

69

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the group financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

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

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and the parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

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.

material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those 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. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Joanna Pittman (Senior statutory auditor) 11 January 2023

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

70

71

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

Trustees, senior

management, and advisers

Patron

HRH Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, KG, GCVO

Vice Presidents

Lord Alton of Liverpool

The Most Rev. and the Rt Hon. Justin Welby, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury

The Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster

David Gilmour CBE

Trustees who served during the year and up until the date of approval of this report

Tristia Harrison ^ ~ Chair of Trustees

Terrie Alafat, CBE ^~

Martin Cheeseman, CBE *#

Victoria Fox #

Ann Gee # (resigned 30th September 2022)

Julia Goldsworthy *

Rob Perrins $

Geetha Rabindrakumar $

Damien Régent * Tamsin Stirling $# Alison Wallace * Robert Weston $

Sarka Dedkova, Expert by Experience, appointed to serve as a non-Trustee on the Client Services Governance Committee

Company Secretary

Sujata McNab (resigned 23 September 2022)

Rebecca Escott-New (appointed 30 September 2022)

Senior management team at the time of approval of this report

Matt Downie, MBE Chief Executive

Kiran Ramchandani Director of Policy and External Affairs

Kate Jenkins Interim Director of People & Organisational Development

Rebecca Escott- New Interim Co-Director of Corporate Services

Maluzo Mkwananzi Interim Co-Director of Corporate Services

Richard Lee Director of Fundraising Juliet Mountford Director of Client Services

Bankers

The Royal Bank of Scotland

London Drummonds 49 Charring Cross Admiralty Arch London SW1A 2DX

Senior Statutory Auditor

Address of charity and registered office

Crisis UK

66 Commercial Street

London E1 6LT Telephone: 0300 636 1967

Email: enquiries@crisis.org.uk Website: www.crisis.org.uk Company registration no: 4024938

Charity registration no: England and Wales 1082947; Scotland SC040094

Joanna Pittman

$ member of the Finance and Investment Committee

^ member of the Nomination Committee

~ member of the Remuneration Committee

Auditors

Sayer Vincent LLP Invicta House 108-114 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TL

member of the Client Services Governance Committee

72

73

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

Consolidated statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 30 June 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
Note
Income from:
Donations and legacies
2
Charitable activities
3
Other trading activities
4
Investments
Other
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Christmas
Campaigning and
infuencing
Education,employment,
health & wellbeing
Housing
Volunteering
Social enterprise
Total expenditure on
charitable activities
Raising funds
5
Retail
Total expenditure		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
45,911
4,349
50,260
51,237
2,674
53,911
194
9,308
9,502
156
5,175
5,331
4,606
88
4,694
5,121
126
5,247
67
-
67
59
-
59
120
192
312
64
19
83
50,898
13,937
64,835
56,638
7,994
64,631
2,887
1,343
4,230
2,095
629
2,724
2,904
171
3,075
3,117
115
3,232
19,541
7,252
26,693
16,155
6,591
22,746
3,406
2,354
5,760
5,191
924
6,115
495
-
495
384
-
384
364
695
1,059
914
-
914
29,597
11,715
41,312
27,856
8,259
36,115
20,877
477
21,354
19,913
77
19,990
3,571
-
3,571
2,643
-
2,643
54,045
12,192
66,237
50,411
8,336
58,748
Net income / (expenditure)
before net gains on investments
Net gains/(losses) on investments
14
Net income / (expenditure) for
the year and net movement in
funds
7
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 (3,148)
1,745
(1,403)
6,225
(342)
5,883
(57)
-
(57)
117
-
117
(3,205)
1,745
(1,460)
6,342
(342)
6,000
302
(302)
-
-
-
-
(2,903)
1,443
(1,460)
6,342
(342)
6,000
40,936
1,188
42,124
34,594
1,530
36,124
38,033
2,631
40,664
40,936
1,188
42,124

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 21a to the financial statements.

74

75

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

Balance sheets

As at 30 June 2022

Consolidated statement of cash flows

For the year ended 30 June 2022

Company Reg No. [4024938]

----- Start of picture text -----
The group The charity
----- End of picture text -----

Note
Fixed assets:
Intangible assets
12
Tangible assets
13
Investments
14
Current assets:
Stock
Debtors
17
Short term deposits
Cash at bank and in hand
Liabilities:
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
18
Total net assets
Funds:
21a
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 2022
2021
2022
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
194
321
194
321
16,388
5,019
16,388
5,019
1,238
1,088
1,238
1,088
17,820
6,428
17,820
6,428
4
4
4
4
5,019
4,278
4,908
4,278
7,001
12,001
7,001
12,001
15,682
22,427
14,411
22,412
27,706
38,710
26,324
38,695
(4,862)
(3,014)
(4,694)
(2,999)
40,664
42,124
39,450
42,124
2,631
1,188
2,102
1,188
24,034
15,472
24,034
15,472
13,999
25,464
13,314
25,464
38,033
40,936
37,348
40,936
40,664
42,124
39,450
42,124
Note
Cash fows from operating activities
22
Net cash provided by operating
activities
Cash fows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from
investments
Purchase of fxed assets
Purchase of investments
Net cash used in investing activities
Change in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the
beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end
of the year		 2022
£000
67
(12,294)
(206)		 £000
688
(12,433)		 2021
£000
£000
5,019
59
(889)
(82)
(912)
(11,745)
34,428		 4,107
30,321
22,683 34,428

Approved by the trustees on 24th November 2022 and signed on their behalf by

Tristia Harrison Chair of Trustees

76

77

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2022

1. Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

Crisis is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office address (and principal place of business) is 66 Commercial St., London, E1 6LT.

b) Basis of preparation

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

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

These financial statements consolidate the results of the charitable company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries Crisis at Christmas Limited and London Pathway 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 not presented because the charitable company has taken advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.

Key judgements that the charitable company has made which have a significant effect on the accounts include reviewing and carrying out a risk analysis of the factors affecting the charity’s ability to continue to fundraise income.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern. As indicated in the trustees report, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity will be able to continue operating, meeting its liabilities as they fall due and expect the charity will continue its existence for the next 12 months.

e) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from 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.

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

Lottery income: Crisis received in the previous financial year ,proceeds of lotteries held by People’s Postcode Lottery (PPL). Crisis had no ability to alter the price of tickets, determine the prizes or reduce the management fee. As such, PPL was treated as acting as the principal. Net proceeds due to Crisis UK were recognised under lottery income in the statement of financial activities. The analysis of the proceeds is detailed in note 5. Where lotteries are run by Crisis , the proceeds from these are reported gross of any prize monies or other expenditure. The agreement between Crisis and PPL was terminated in the year and now Crisis receives the income in the form of a grant.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report and note 9 for more information about their contribution.

On receipt, donated gifts, 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.

g) 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.

h) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor.

Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund. Crisis acts as a custodian of these funds and consequently they are not available for general use.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes. These funds can be used at trustees’ discretion in furtherance of the charity’s objectives.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use for each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements

i) 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. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

j) Grants payable

Grants payable are made to third parties in furtherance of the charity’s objects. Single or multi-year grants are accounted for when either the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and the trustees have agreed to pay the grant without condition, or the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and that any condition attaching to the grant is outside of the control of the charity.

Provisions for grants are made when the intention to make a grant has been communicated to the recipient but there is uncertainty about either the timing of the grant or the amount of grant payable.

78

79

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

k) Allocation of support costs

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the following basis which are an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity.

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is provided to potential beneficiaries, the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expenditure.

Support and governance costs are reallocated to each of the activities on the following basis which is an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity

Basis of allocation

Management Time spent and headcount

Finance & Information Headcount Governance

Data & Technology Headcount Facilities Floor space and headcount HR, Learning & Headcount Development

Organisational Headcount Development

Planning, Governance Headcount & Assurance

Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

l) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

m) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £5,000. Depreciation

costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

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:

n) Intangible fixed assets

Intangible fixed assets are stated at cost, net of amortisation and any provision for impairment. Amortisation is calculated to write off the cost of intangible fixed assets by equal annual instalments over their expected useful lives which is expected to be 4 years. Previously, intangible assets (mostly software development costs) has been classed as tangible assets.

Amortisation is not charged on assets in the course of construction until they are complete and in use. Intangible fixed assets costing £5,000 or more and where it is probable they will create future economic benefit are capitalised.

o) Listed investments

Investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. Any change in fair value will be recognised in the statement of financial activities. Investment gains and losses, whether realised or unrealised, are combined and shown in the heading “Net gains/(losses) on investments” in the statement of financial activities. The charity does not acquire put options, derivatives or other complex financial instruments.

Investments in subsidiaries

Investments in subsidiaries are at cost.

p) Stocks

Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. In general, cost is determined on a first in first out basis and includes transport and handling costs. Net realisable value is the price at which stocks can be sold in the normal course of business after allowing for the costs of realisation. Provision is made where necessary for obsolete, slow moving and defective stocks. Donated items of stock, held for distribution or resale, are recognised at fair value which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay for the items on the open market.

q) 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.

r) Cash and cash equivalents

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. Balances with maturity greater than three months are included as short term deposits.

s) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

t) Financial instruments

With the exception of the listed investments described above, the charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

u) Pensions

Crisis operates a defined contribution group personal pension scheme for employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity. The annual contributions payable by the charity are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities.

80

81

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

2. Income from donations and legacies

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
Individuals
Legacies
Trusts
Corporates
Community Groups
Statutory
London Pathway net assets
Donated services and
facilities		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
38,854
2,489
41,343
43,674
2,346
46,020
3,351
89
3,440
1,972
72
2,044
1,000
-
1,000
1,042
-
1,042
1,402
-
1,402
2,522
100
2,622
1,304
85
1,389
1,356
83
1,439
-
790
790
671
-
671
816
816
-
-
-
-
80
80
-
73
73
45,911
4,349
50,260
51,237
2,074
53,911

The charity has been notified of legacies with an estimated value of £1,279,000 (2021: £682,000) which have not been recognised as income at 30 June 2022 because no confirmation of impending distribution or notification of estate accounts being finalised has been received.

3. Income from charitable activities

2022
2021
Christmas
Campaigning and
infuencing
Education, health and
wellbeing
Housing
Employment
Social Enterprise
Total income from
charitable activities		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
-
821
821
-
839
839
-
150
150
-
50
50
18
7,933
7,951
113
3,528
3,642
-
359
359
-
714
714
-
40
40
-
40
40
176
5
181
43
4
47
194
9,308
9,502
156
5,175
5,332

4. Income from other trading activities

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
Events
Rental
Retail
Lottery / Rafe
Commercial trading
operations		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
475
88
563
736
126
862
413
-
413
64
-
64
3,545
-
3,545
1,901
-
1,901
48
-
48
2,214
-
2,214
125
-
125
206
-
206
4,606
88
4,694
5,121
126
5,247

Where lotteries are run by Crisis and it acts as the principal, the proceeds are recorded as gross of prizes and other expenditure. In the case of Crisis UK lotteries managed by People’s Postcode Lottery (PPL), Crisis has no ability to alter the ticket price, prizes, nor management charges and therefore does not act as the principal for these draws. Proceeds have therefore been recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities as net of prizes and other expenditure. All net income raised from ticket proceeds is wholly spent in the pursuit of the aims of the charity.

The relationship with People’s Postcode Lottery is no longer based on Crisis running lotteries on behalf of PPL. Crisis received funding from the Postcode Support Trust included in note 3.

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
PPL ticket proceeds
PPL prize fund
PPL management fund
PPL prize indemnity
insurance
PPL net income
Other Crisis lotteries		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
-
-
-
-
6,264
-
6,264
-
-
-
(2,506)
-
(2,506)
-
-
-
(1,754)
-
(1,754)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,004
-
2,004
48
-
48
209
-
209
48
-
48
2,213
-
2,213

Income from charitable activities includes gifts in kind and donated services of £497,000 ( 2021: £459,000). Grants received from Government and Government related bodies to support the charity’s activities in the year were £1,910,000 (2021: £2,246,000).

82

83

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

5a. Analysis of expenditure

5b. Analysis of expenditure- Prior year

----- Start of picture text -----
Grants Staff Other Gifts in Allocation 2022 2021 Grants Staff Other Gifts in Allocation 2021 2020
payable costs direct kind and of support Total Total payable costs direct kind and of support Total Total
(Note 6) (Note 8) costs donated and (Note 6) (Note 8) costs donated and
services governance services governance
costs costs
----- End of picture text -----

Christmas
Campaigning and
infuencing
Education, health and
wellbeing
Housing
Volunteering
Social enterprise
Cost of raising funds
Retail costs
Support costs
Total expenditure 2022
Total expenditure 2021		 Christmas
Campaigning and
infuencing
Education, health and
wellbeing
Housing
Volunteering
Social enterprise
Cost of raising funds
Retail costs
Support costs
Total expenditure 2021
Total expenditure 2020
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
-
902
2,971
98
260
4,231
2,724
-
1,573
1,028
-
473
3,074
3,232
58
14,376
6,447
319
5,491
26,691
22,746
279
3,586
928
-
969
5,762
6,115
-
286
119
-
90
495
384
-
522
376
-
161
1,059
914
-
3,836
16,164
80
1,274
21,354
19,990
-
1,585
1,686
-
300
3,571
2,643
337
26,666
29,719
497
9,018
66,237
58,748
-
7,345
1,673
-
(9,018)
-
-
337
34,011
31,392
497
-
66,237
58,748
1,482
30,203
26,603
460
-
-
58,748		 £000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
-
738
1,680
85
221
2,724
2,322
-
1,319
1,316
-
597
3,232
2,995
534
13,039
3,960
298
4,915
22,746
19,690
948
3,294
791
-
1,082
6,115
7,013
-
218
99
-
67
384
263
-
503
238
-
173
914
977
-
3,557
14,820
77
1,536
19,990
18,174
-
1,225
1,218
-
200
2,643
2,566
1,482
23,893
24,122
460
8,791
58,748
54,000
-
6,310
2,481
-
(8,791)
-
-
1,482
30,203
26,603
460
-
58,748
54,000
3,714
24,925
24,578
783
-
-
54,000

Of the total expenditure, £54,767,000 was unrestricted (2021: £50,412,000) and £11,471,000 was restricted (2021: £8,336,000).

Of the total expenditure, £50,412,000 was unrestricted (2020: £44,421,000) and £8,336,000 was restricted (2020: £9,579,000).

Breakdown of support costs across departments 2022
2021
Management
Finance & information governance
Data & Technology
Facilities
People services and Learning & development
Planning, Governance & Assurance
Innovation, Enterprise & Innovation
Organisational development
Internal communications		 £000
£000
252
448
1,054
964
3,400
3,639
586
723
2,261
1,796
497
588
407
191
393
284
168
156
9,018
8,791

84

85

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

6. Grant making

----- Start of picture text -----
Grants to Grants to 2022 2021
institutions individuals
----- End of picture text -----

Grants to
institutions
Grants to
individuals
2022
2021
Crisis Changing Lives
Best Practice Peole Postcode Lottery
programme
Tackling homelessness for women survivors
of modern day slavery
European union settlement scheme
Home for All
Other		 £000
£000
£000
£000
-
58
58
65
249
249
-
-
-
-
347
-
-
-
95
-
-
-
794
30
-
30
181
279
58
337
1,482

Crisis Changing Lives is a grants programme providing financial awards to people who are or have been homeless so that they may achieve their vocational goals, fulfil their potential and become independent. Grant applications can be made by individuals who are supported by a coach working at a Crisis Skylight centre to access training, buy tools for work or set up a business where a robust business plan is presented. Grants were made to 41 members with an average grant of £1,407.

Best Practice grants programme – There is an increasing focus in our work on the prevention of homelessness and this year’s grant programme focused on supporting organisations who worked with those who were threatened with homelessness. 10 Grant awards were funded through a donation by the People’s Postcode Lottery with an average award of £25,000 for a 12-month period. Organisations across England, Wales and Scotland benefited from these awards, with projects giving early help and interventions through employment and benefits advice, tenancy support and the provision of accommodation.

Tackling homelessness for women survivors of modern day slavery is a project funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport through the Tampon tax fund. The project aims include enabling homelessness charities to identify, protect and support female victims of modern day slavery as well as developing the national understanding of homelessness and modern day slavery affecting women through development of a national database. This will ensure women affected by homelessness and modern day slavery are supported and protected to break out of the cycle of exploitation and destitution. Crisis, alongside its partners on the project, will develop a new model of supported housing for women who have experience of homelessness and modern slavery. The average grant was £nil (2021: £173,458). The programme was completed in March 2021.

Crisis is leading a pan-London partnership project funded by the Home Office to deliver a coordinated approach supporting vulnerable and at-risk EU citizens to make EU Settlement Scheme applications. The partnership is formed of expert organisations working with EU citizens across the homelessness and migration sectors in 12 London boroughs. The average grant was £nil (2021: £13,537). The programme was completed in November 2020. The project works with people who are currently homeless, at risk of being homeless or who have been homeless in the last two years – including victims of domestic abuse, modern slavery and/or trafficking through some of the partners’ specialist projects. The partnership offers multiple access points – at day centre services, referrals from commissioned rough sleeping services across London, and referrals from other agencies working in the homelessness and migration sectors. Crisis received £nil (2021: £117,000) from the Home office and this was fully expended in the financial year.

Crisis launched the “home for all” grant programme to help organisations transition to a housing led approach. This grant programme encouraged organisations to transition out of the emergency response into one which provided homes for people along with the support to sustain them. The average grant was £nil (2021: £66,168), across Scotland, Wales and England. These 2-year grants will help establish what works in adopting a housing led approach to ending homelessness.

7. Net expenditure for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

£000 £000
Depreciation and amortisation 1,052 931
Loss or proft on disposal of fxed assets - -
Operating lease rentals:
Property 3,061 2,690
Auditors’ remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit 26 24
Other services 3 3

8. Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
Salaries and wages
Redundancy and termination costs
Social security costs
Pension costs		 £000
£000
28,000
24,950
109
210
3,175
2,693
2,727
2,350
34,011
30,203

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) during the year between:

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

£60,000 - £69,999
£70,000 - £79,999
£80,000 - £89,999
£90,000 - £99,999
£100,000 - £109,999
£110,000 - £119,999
£130,000 - £139,999		 No.
No.
22
17
4
5
2
1
3
3
1
-
1
-
-
1
33
27

86

87

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

The total employee benefits including pension contributions of the key management personnel were £754,000 (2021: £698,000). The key management personnel is the senior management team listed on page 70.

The charity trustees were not paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year £nil (2021: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity £nil (2021: £nil).

Trustees’ expenses represents the payment of travel , subsistence costs totalling £4,129 (2021: £nil) relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees and meeting venue costs. The numbers of trustees incurring expenses during the year was 2 (2021: nil).

9. Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

Charitable activities
Fundraising and trading
Support services		 No.
No.
515
494
115
122
105
98
735
714

Volunteer Contribution:

Crisis is extremely fortunate to receive the generous support of our volunteers.

2022 2021
No. No.
Average number of volunteers 2,985 2,106

10. Related party transactions

Tamsin Stirling, a trustee of Crisis, is a trustee of Bevan Foundation to whom Crisis paid an annual subscription of £360 (2021: £330)

Rob Perrins, a trustee of Crisis, is Chair/trustee of The Berkeley Foundation. Crisis received grants of £444,584 (2021: £437,286) from the Foundation. Rob is also Managing Director of Berkeley Group from which Crisis received donations of £3,087 (2021: £3,011))

The charity received donations from trustees of £22,445 (2021: £73,381).

11. Taxation

The company is registered as a charity and is entitled to the exemptions under the Corporation Tax Act 2011.

Corporation tax charge at 19% (2021: 19%) for Crisis at Christmas Limited is £ nil (2021: £nil).

12. Intangible fixed assets

The group and charity

----- Start of picture text -----
Intangible
----- End of picture text -----

Intangible
Cost
At the start of the year
Additions in year
Disposals in year
At the end of the year
Amortisation
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
Eliminated on disposal
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year		 £000
1,143
42
(59)
1,126
823
168
(59)
932
194
321

88

89

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

13. Tangible fixed assets

The group and charity

----- Start of picture text -----
Motor Freehold Leasehold Office Total
Vehicles property improvements equipment
----- End of picture text -----

Motor
Vehicles
Freehold
property
Leasehold
improvements
Ofce
equipment
Total
Cost
At the start of the year
Additions in year
Disposals in year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
Eliminated on disposal
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year		 £000
£000
£000
£000
21
2,400
7,211
621
10,253
-
10,340
1,912
-
12,252
-
-
-
(95)
(95)
21
12,740
9,123
526
22,410
3
1,358
3,382
490
5,233
5
210
602
67
884
-
-
-
(95)
(95)
8
1,568
3,984
462
6,022
13
11,172
5,139
64
16,388
18
1,041
3,829
132
5,020

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

The value of the land on the freehold property cannot be determined hence the whole cost of the freehold property is depreciated over fifty years.

The freehold land and building in Newcastle was purchased using a grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government (via the Council of the City of Newcastle Upon Tyne). A 15 years legal charge was placed on the building in August 2006. At 30 June 2022, the legal charge on the building was £Nil (2021: £260,000)

The freehold property addition in the year relates to the purchase of No 50 Commercial Street which is intended to be our main skylight centre in London.

14. Investments

The group and charity

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
Fair value at the start of the year
Additions in the year
Net gain / (loss) on change in fair value
Investments comprise:
UK Common investment funds
Other
Investments from Venture Studio
WeareGoodGiving Ltd
Agile Homes
Lanu Ltd		 £000
£000
1,089
889
206
82
(57)
117
1,238
1,088
2022
2021
£000
£000
950
1,006
11
-
82
82
125
-
70
-
1,238
1,088

At the year end, the value of fixed asset investments held in a common investment fund amounted to £949,000 (2021: £1,007,000). The fund at 30th June 2022 was invested in UK and foreign equities (71%), infrastructure and property (13%) , cash and near cash (11%). The historical cost of this investment was £569,000.

The charity created The Venture Studio from Crisis whose mission is to accelerate the end of homelessness for good through entrepreneurship. The Studio invests in, build, and scale ventures that end homelessness for those experiencing it or prevent homelessness from happening in the first place.

The charity has 20% equity stake in We are goodgiving Ltd alongside other four charitities ( RNIB, RSPCA, Barnados, WaterAid). This multi charity start up will focus on growing payroll market. This investment has been reflected at cost.

90

91

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

15. Subsidiary undertakings

The charitable company had two wholly owned subsidiaries - Crisis at Christmas Limited and the London Pathway. Crisis at Christmas Limited is a company limited by guarantee and incorporated in England. The subsidiary is used for non-primary purpose trading activities. All activities have been consolidated on a line by line basis in the statement of financial activities. Crisis at Christmas Limited does not have a tax liability and available profits are gift aided to the charitable company. A summary of the results of the subsidiary is shown below:

2022
2021
Turnover
Cost of sales
Gross proft
Administrative expenses
Management charge due to parent undertaking
Proft / (loss) for the fnancial year
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Assets
Liabilities
Funds		 £000
£000
125
206
-
-
125
206
(5)
(2)
(21)
(15)
99
189
14
15
(14)
(15)
-
-

16. Parent charity

The parent charity’s gross income and the results for the year are disclosed as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

£000 £000
Gross income 63,047 64,748
Result for the year (2,677) 6,000

17. Debtors

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Charity
----- End of picture text -----

Income tax (gift aid) recoverable
Sundry debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 2022
2021
2022
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
311
1,375
311
1,375
1,643
773
1,532
773
3,065
2,130
3,065
2,130
5,019
4,278
4,908
4,278

18. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

The London Pathway (operating as Pathway), a charitable company limited by guarantee and incorporated in England. The subsidiary is used for charitable activities. All activities have been consolidated on a line by line basis in the statement of financial activities. A summary of the results of the subsidiary is shown below:

2022
2021
Income
Expenditure
Surplus
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Assets
Liabilities
Funds		 £000
£000
1,409
1,347
(1,009)
(1,062)
400
285
1,367
961
(151)
(145)
1,216
816

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Charity
----- End of picture text -----

Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred Income
Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings		 2022
2021
2022
2021
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,328
648
1,303
636
906
743
879
740
1,167
267
1,143
267
1,384
1,356
1,368
1,356
77
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
4,862
3,014
4,694
2,999

92

93

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

19. Pension scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the charity to the fund and amounted to £2,727,000 (2021: £2,350,000).

20a. Analysis of group net assets between funds

General
unrestricted
Designated
funds
Restricted
funds
Total funds
Tangible fxed assets
Intangible fxed assets
Fixed asset Investment
Current assets
Current and long term liabilities
Net assets at the end of the year		 £000
£000
£000
£000
-
15,640
748
16,388
-
194
-
194
1,238
-
-
1,238
17,623
8,200
1,883
27,706
(4,862)
-
-
(4,862)
13,999
24,034
2,631
40,664

21a. Movements in funds

----- Start of picture text -----
At the Incoming Outgoing Transfers At the end
start of resources resources of the year
the year & gains & losses
----- End of picture text -----

£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Restricted funds:
Cost of generating funds - 477 (477) - -
Crisis at Christmas - 1,343 (1,343) - -
Education, health and wellbeing
Crisis Skylight Newcastle (capital) 770 - (22) - 748
London Crisis Skylight (revenue) - 3,096 (2,570) - 526
The National Lottery Community 95 120 (127) - 88
Fund- Edinburgh Skylight
The National Lottery Community 54 117 (171) - -
Fund- South Wales Skylight
Client Sevices 68 277 (258) - 87
Skylight Newcastle 43 113 (156) - -
Skylight Birmingham 60 215 (275) - -
Skylight Oxford - 297 (297) - -
Skylight Edinburgh - 619 (469) - 150
Skylight Merseyside 14 352 (284) - 82
Skylight South Yorkshire - 84 (84) - -
Skylight Croydon - 232 (232) - -
Skylight Brent - 1,197 (775) (302) 120
Skylight South Wales - 54 (54) - -
Tackling inactivity and economic 4 - (4) - -
disadvantage programme (Sport
England)
Skylight Café (revenue) - 5 (5) - -
Employment opportunities - 360 (360) - -

94

95

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

Purposes of restricted funds

Crisis Skylight Newcastle (capital): In previous years the Department for Communities and Local Government (via Newcastle City Council) agreed to fund the capital costs of the development of a Skylight Centre in Newcastle to provide further activities and facilities for homeless people. Costs are now being depreciated in accordance with the depreciation policy. A legal charge was placed on the building (Note 13) hence the continuing restriction.

Campaigning and Influencing

Policy and Campaign
Communications (Comic Relief)
Housing
Housing (Housing Reduction Act)
Other Housing
Social Enterprise
Venture Studio
Pathway
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Skylights refurbishment
Data & Digital transformation
Fixed asset reserve
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 -
21
(21)
-
-
-
150
(150)
-
-
18
-
(18)
-
-
-
2,382
(2,336)
-
46
62
701
(695)
-
68
-
1,725
(1,009)
-
716
1,188
13,937
(12,192)
(302)
2,631
4,681
-
-
(1,981)
2,700
6,220
-
-
(720)
5,500
4,571
-
-
11,263
15,834
15,472
-
-
8,562
24,034
25,464
50,843
(54,047)
(8,260)
13,999
40,936
50,843
(54,047)
302
38,033
42,124
64,779
(66,239)
-
40,664

The National Lottery Community Fund - ESF Building Better Opportunities: The Tackling Multiple Disadvantage project is funded by European Social Fund to support homeless people with complex or multiple needs into training or employment in London. Homeless people with needs relating to mental health, substance misuse or a history of offending can now access free, personalised support to improve their skills, resilience and job prospects. The TMD partnership of Crisis, Thames Reach, St Mungo’s and Mind in the City, Hackney & Waltham Forest will engage and support 600 people by the end of 2019.

Learning Zone: The Learning Zone within Skylight London provides educational opportunities for Crisis members and funds were received restricted for this purpose and the funds have been spent according to funder requirement.

The National Lottery Community Fund Skylight funds: The Big Lottery funds costs within various Crisis Skylights. The balances at the year-end represent unspent funds to be expended in the following year.

Other Skylight funds: These funds are specific funds received towards areas of our work within our Skylights; the balance carried forward represents unspent funds at the year-end to be expended in the following year.

Other Housing: The Oak Foundation agreed to fund our work on the Housing Reduction Act. The project commenced in February 2018 and the balance represents unspent funds at the year end.

Roots out of homelessness: The Islamic relief funds the project with an aim of improving the financial security and welfare of homeless and vulnerable housed people in East London. The balance at the year represents unspent funds to be expended in the following.

Tackling inactivity and economic disadvantage programme: Sports England fund this programme aiming to support inactive people from lower socio economic groups to fit activity into their lives.

Venture Studio: This fund is for third party investments in start ups in which Crisis will provide investment, support the ventures to end homelessness. The balance at the year represents unspent funds to be expended in the following.

Purposes of designated funds

Skylights refurbishment: This reserve has been designated by the trustees to be used for the refurbishment of Skylights as some of our Skylights move into new premises or undergo significant reconfiguration work to enable us to provide a better service for our members.

Data and digital transformation: This reserve has been designated by the trustees, recognising the need to invest in core systems to ensure that we continue to deliver excellent services to our members and supporters. This fund will enable us to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our operations, reflecting the significant growth in the charity over recent years, as well as increasing volume and complexity of demands on our services. We have developed a data and digital strategy, and now in the process of developing systems of which the new ways of working as a result of the pandemic will mean an acceleration of some of this work.

Tangible fixed asset reserve: This reserve represents the net book value of tangible fixed assets (excluding those items which are included within restricted reserve) in continuing use by the charity which are not by the nature of tangible fixed assets , readily available for use for other purposes.

96

97

Crisis annual report 2021-22

Accounts

22. Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2021
----- End of picture text -----

2022
2021
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of fnancial activities)
Depreciation and amortisation charges
(Gains) / losses on investments
Dividends, interest and rent from investments
(Increase) / decrease in debtors
Increase / (decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities		 £000
£000
(1,460)
6,000
1,052
931
57
(117)
(67)
(59)
(741)
(477)
1,848
(1,259)
688
5,019

24. Operating lease commitments

The group’s total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods:

----- Start of picture text -----
Property
----- End of picture text -----

Property
Less than one year
One to fve years
Over fve years		 2022
2021
£000
£000
3,061
2,690
9,805
6,417
12,984
6,460
25,850
15,567

25. Financial commitments

23. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

At 1 July 2021
Cash fows
At 30 June 2022
Cash at bank and in hand
Short term deposit
Total cash and cash equivalents		 £000
£000
£000
22,427
(6,745)
15,682
12,001
(5,000)
7,001
34,428
(11,745)
22,683

At the balance sheet date, the group had committed to £216,000 (2021: £600,000) towards the refurbishment of new skylight premises.

26. Legal status of the charity

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

Crisis Head Office 66 Commercial Street London E1 6LT Tel. 0300 636 1967 enquiries@crisis.org.uk www.crisis.org.uk

Copyright Crisis 2022

Crisis UK (trading as Crisis). Registered charity numbers: E&W1082947, SC040094. Company No: 4024938.