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2023-03-31-accounts

Registered number: 03995686 Charity number: 1084300

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

UNAUDITED

TRUSTEES' REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

STAGETEXT

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CONTENTS

Page
Reference and Administrative Details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisers 1 - 2
Chairman's Statement 3
Trustees' Report 4 - 16
Independent Examiner's Report 17
Statement of Financial Activities 18
Balance Sheet 19 - 20
Statement of Cash Flows 21
Notes to the Financial Statements 22 - 42

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STAGETEXT

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF THE CHARITY, ITS TRUSTEES AND ADVISERS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Trustees Robin Saphra, Chair
Sarah Bradley, Treasurer
Benjamin Glover (appointed 15 February 2023)
Timothy Hardy
Christopher Reid
Jessica Ryan-Ndegwa
Nina Thomas
Sally Yarwood (appointed 15 February 2023)
Charlotte Bayley (resigned 31 October 2022)
Jacqueline Elliman (resigned 31 October 2022)
Rachel Jele (resigned 30 June 2023)
Matthew Johnston (resigned 31 October 2022)
Rebecca Morris (resigned 24 May 2023)
Company registered
number
03995686
Charity registered
number
1084300
Registered office
Mercury Theatre
Balkerne Gate
Colchester
CO1 1PT
Country of incorporation England and Wales
Company secretary
Elizabeth Hilder
Chief executive officer
Melanie Sharpe
Accountants
Peters Elworthy & Moore
Chartered Accountants
Salisbury House
Station Road
Cambridge
CB1 2LA
Bankers
CAF Bank Ltd
25 Kings Hill Avenue
Kings Hill
West Malling
Kent
ME19 4JQ

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF THE CHARITY, ITS TRUSTEES AND ADVISERS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Solicitors

Solicitors Harold Benjamin Hill House 67-71 Lowlands Road Harrow Middlesex HA1 3EQ Independent examiner Fleur Holden FCA Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered Accountants Invicta House 108-114 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TL Insurance brokers Gordon & Co. 2 Sekforde Court 217 St John Street London EC1V 4LY

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CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

With additional support from the Arts Council England (ACE) Culture Recovery Fund in 2021/22, Stagetext embraced a valuable opportunity to refresh and focus our strategy. The result was that in 2022/23, we have been well positioned to navigate the legacy of the pandemic in the cultural sector, this having been further deepened by global and national economic, political and climate crises.

We began the year prepared and willing to over invest in our people and infrastructure to drive our vision forwards. That investment has equipped us to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead and to operate with confidence in a cultural sector that continues to experience unprecedented challenges.

Our live theatre captioning service is now back operating at full strength following the return of in person events. We have, as predicted, experienced a marked decrease in demand everywhere for our online subtitling services, which had grown encouragingly during the lockdown. While we may not see the 2020 boom in online culture again soon, there is a newfound awareness among arts organisations of the opportunities for delivering enhanced digital access. We are excited by the new audiences that have emerged through the growth of more accessible online content, and are exploring how to stimulate support and develop them further.

Our new advocacy, training and delivery capabilities are beginning to yield real benefits for our advocacy programme. For example, in November 2022 we published our Captioning Display Standards, sharing for the first time our deep experience and knowledge of what makes theatre captions most accessible. We completed the national tour of our archive and exhibition project Captions Speak Louder in January 2023, and our twenty one year archive now has a permanent home in the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, where academic researchers can study it.

Our management team worked incredibly hard to secure refreshed funding from ACE for 2023/24 and 2024/25. We successfully applied to join the new Transfer Programme, benefitting from an increase in annual funding from 2023. We are now fully committed to supporting the Levelling Up for Culture Places initiative by moving our office out of London and creating new and deeper regional partnerships, whilst continuing to serve existing relationships in London. We’re excited by the opportunity the transfer initiative will present for driving more frequent and ubiquitous access to culture across the whole of the UK.

Our thanks go, as ever, to ACE as our major funder; to the Garfield Weston Foundation for their generous support; and to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting Captions Speak Louder and our Ambassador Panel respectively.

We are proud to be living our vision of equal access to culture for all with enthusiasm and courage. Thanks to you, our committed and engaged audiences, employees, captioners, supporters, partners, stakeholders and friends for travelling with us on our journey.

................................................ Robin Saphra Chair

Date: 6 December 2023

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TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The Trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements of the Charity for the year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. The Annual Report serves the purposes of both a Trustees' report and a directors' report under company law. The Trustees confirm that the Annual Report and financial statements of the charitable company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the charitable company's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019).

Since the Charity qualifies as small under section 382 of the Companies Act 2006, the Strategic Report required of medium and large companies under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors' Report) Regulations 2013 has been omitted.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The charity’s objects are to relieve the needs of people by promoting access to arts and entertainment and, in particular but not exclusively, to relieve the needs of people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing by the provision of text generation systems.

Our vision is of a society where deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people have equal access to culture. Our mission is to advocate for and deliver equal access to culture for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people, in particular (but not exclusively) through high quality captions, live subtitles and digital subtitles.

We use technology to provide deaf audiences with access to arts and culture, and train arts and cultural professionals to welcome deaf audiences to their venues. We advocate for equality of access, and support organisations to make their work accessible through the use of:

OUR ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS DURING 2022/23

2022/23 was the second year of a five year refreshed business planning strategy. The current business plan, “Advocacy for Quality & Equality (part 1)” focuses on 2021/22 – 2022/23. This two year plan is based on a revised strategy, delivering the same outcomes as the previous plan (“Captions Speak Louder”), with a renewed emphasis on advocacy, research and technology.

Within this plan we grouped our activities under four priorities:

  1. Widening access provision.

  2. Developing and understanding our audiences. 3. Underpinning our work.

  3. Growing our resources.

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

UNDER OUR FIRST PRIORITY – WIDENING ACCESS PROVISION

In 2022/23 we made 1,101 performances, talks, tours and films accessible and worked directly with 238 cultural organisations. This is a 33% decrease on works made accessible in comparison to 2021/22, which was a record year for live subtitling.

Theatre

2022/23 was the first full year that theatres were open since the start of the pandemic. We captioned 366 theatre performances, a welcome return to pre-pandemic levels of demand. We worked with 107 venues, including 15 that were new to us. 64 captioned performances were staged by touring companies. 41% of performances took place outside of London.

Shows captioned included:

The vast majority of performances were captioned in person, with 3 performances captioned online.

Live subtitling

Following a record year in 2021/22, demand for Live Subtitling contracted significantly in 2022/23. We are working with a similar number of organisations year on year, but the organisations are not live subtitling as many events. In 2022/23 we worked with 93 organisations, including 26 new clients, to live subtitle 503 talks and conferences. This includes 123 museum-related events by 18 organisations including National Museums Scotland, People’s History Museum and The British Museum, and 127 talks at conferences hosted by various organisations including Arts Marketing Association, Theatres Trust and Music Mark.

We worked on a wide range of literary events such as providing live subtitles for Edinburgh International Book Festival, Durham Book Festival and Write Idea. We worked with theatres to provide live subtitles for events throughout the year including for the London Symphony Orchestra, and at Hampstead Theatre and the Barbican Centre. We also worked with a number of film-related venues/organisations to provide live subtitles for screenings and live Q&As, such as Birds Eye View Films, Emerging Film Makers Night Short Film Festival, and Edinburgh International Film Festival, as well as galleries including the National Gallery, Drawing Room and Royal Academy of Arts.

During 2022/23, the majority of live subtitled events remained online, with around 100 having a hybrid element. In person talks included the Tour De Moon Festival talks, the People’s History Month exhibition launch, and Pride at Trafalgar Square. Some larger scale conferences and festivals, such as Durham Book Festival, the ITC Conference and the WoW Foundation events, were both in-person and livestreamed (hybrid). All of our live subtitling services were delivered using remote speech-to-text. We continued providing some live subtitles for tablet tours at the V&A and the British Library.

We continue to work with and develop our live speech-to-text services with MyClearText to deliver live subtitles across the arts and cultural sector. This allows Stagetext to focus on securing new clients, raising awareness of our services and advocating for better access in more venues.

Although demand has decreased in 2022/23, we are still subtitling over three times as many talks as before the pandemic.

Digital

We actively encourage cultural organisations to make their digital work accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people. We offer support and advice including producing “top tip” guides and freely available training to

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

enable venues to subtitle their own short videos on YouTube. Digital work ensures that neither cost nor location present a barrier and can greatly increase reach, as we saw at the height of the pandemic.

Our Digital Programme worked with 38 organisations in 2022/23, to ensure their digital content was accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing viewers. 16 of these organisations were new. We made a total of 232 digital works accessible, comprising 7,455 minutes – a significant decrease on the previous year. The demand for digital subtitling has decreased across all sectors, and we surmise that cultural organisations are focusing on access in person events, and are offering less recorded work to the public.

Among others, we worked with Oily Cart, Artangel, National Theatre, British Library and Freedom Festival.

Client feedback

Feedback from arts and cultural venues helps us to improve and develop our services.

Feedback from cultural professionals in 2022/23:

UNDER OUR SECOND PRIORITY – DEVELOPING AND UNDERSTANDING OUR AUDIENCES

Audience Figures

Our audience figures are captured after year end, through collecting information from venues we have worked with during the year. The data is owned by the venues we work with, and we do not always have access to that data. For example, at a captioned performance, not all caption users sit in the allocated seats or book through an access scheme, so while a theatre can supply us with data, it may not reflect the full picture. At the other extreme, one digital video can have millions of subtitled views, and if we receive that data, it will have a significant impact on our audience figures. This year we received data on 74% of captioned theatre performances, 73% of live subtitled events, and 44% of digital videos.

In 2022/23, numbers of caption users at theatre performances increased by 30%, reflecting both the increase in captioned performances year on year and higher average audience sizes. Although it is difficult to draw solid conclusions because the amount of data we receive from venues varies each year, these audience figures are approaching pre pandemic levels.

Audience figures for live subtitled events decreased by 30%, however the average audience numbers for each subtitled event were higher. In addition, we had 60% more known subtitled views, which means our data is more accurate. This is because more venues are displaying subtitles onscreen so the whole audience can view them, rather than offering them as an option.

Audience figures for digitally subtitled content increased by 84% year on year, in spite of the decrease in works

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

subtitled. This is primarily due to the subtitled content included in the Captions Speak Louder exhibition, which was on tour in public spaces during 2022/23. Without Captions Speak Louder, there was a small decrease in subtitled views when compared to the prior year.

In total, known reach was lower and estimated reach was higher than in 2021/22, however this highlights the difficulty of data collection more than anything else. The total reach was over a million caption users, a welcome 45% increase. Much of this increase was due to the Captions Speak Louder exhibition tour.

Total reach: Based on the available data, in 2022/23, work that we captioned or subtitled had a known audience of 119,352, and an estimated audience of 901,646, giving a total reach of 1,020,998. This is broken down as follows:

Theatre: There were 4,471 known caption users attending theatre performances, and an estimated audience of a further 227,596, giving total reach of 232,067.

Live Subtitling: There were 109,289 known subtitled views of live subtitled events, with an estimated further 6,186 subtitled views, giving total reach of 115,475.

Digital: There were 5,592 known subtitled views of pre recorded content, with an estimated further 667,864 subtitled views, giving total reach of 673,456.

Audience Feedback

Our audience sampling helps us to understand the range of our beneficiaries and the quality of their experience.

2022/23 feedback from caption users on Twitter:

Outreach

This year, with the support of the National Lottery Community Fund, we developed our user panel into a more active Ambassador Panel, and began to widen the membership with a recruitment drive.

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Captions Speak Louder: Archive and Exhibition

In 2022/23 we completed the National Lottery Heritage Fund supported project Captions Speak Louder, touring our archive exhibition to nine cultural venues around the UK.

The exhibition toured to Derby Theatre, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Curve Leicester, Hull Truck, Sheffield Theatres, Mercury Theatre Colchester, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton, and the Albany Lounge in Deptford. We estimate the exhibition reached a deaf audience of approximately 67,920 (and a total audience in excess of 339,000).

Venue feedback included:

Stagetext worked with its Ambassadors to arrange ten online outreach sessions to discuss the content of the archive and Stagetext’s history. Although numbers were limited, 76% found the talks informative and learned something new.

When asked “What did finding out about the history of captioning mean to you?”, feedback from attendees included:

The funded part of this project is now complete, but the exhibition remains available to tour to cultural organisations across the country, and the Stagetext archive is preserved indefinitely at University of Bristol Theatre Collection.

Heritage Access Survey 2022

In 2022 we worked with VocalEyes, Autism in Museums and the Centre for Accessible Environments to undertake a survey of access information available for the UK museum and heritage sector.

The report shows:

The report was the result of six months of work by a team of 61 digital volunteer researchers, who were recruited as widely as possible from across the UK. The volunteers received training in heritage and digital accessibility before going on to assess the websites of over 3,000 museum and heritage sites.

You can find the report at https://vocaleyes.co.uk/research/heritage access 2022/.

Heritage Access 2022 was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund through a grant for Digital Volunteering as part of their Digital Skills for Heritage initiative which seeks to raise digital skills and confidence across the UK heritage sector. Stagetext would like to thank VocalEyes for leading the volunteers and driving the project forwards.

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STAGETEXT

TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Children and Young People

We are committed to the provision of captioning and live subtitling, to enable deaf, deafened and hard of hearing children and young people to access arts and culture, alongside their families and peers. Captioning has particular benefits for people for whom English is not their first language, as well as neurodivergent people, and there is evidence of a link between the use of captioning and literacy.

In 2022/23 we captioned 67 theatre shows for children and young people, an increase of 29% year on year. These included The Storm Whale at Marlowe Theatre, Disney’s Frozen at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and School of Rock at the Curve Theatre in Leicester.

We live subtitled 11 talks and events aimed at children and young people, including Young Leaders events for the WoW Foundation, a Kids in Museums event for Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, and the Egyptomania! Event at the British Museum. We also worked with organisations such as the National Gallery, The Royal Society and the Edinburgh International Book Festival on events for children.

We subtitled 3 CYP focused videos, including Sleeping Beauty for the Marlowe Theatre.

UNDER OUR THIRD PRIORITY – UNDERPINNING OUR SERVICES

Captioning Awareness Week 2022

This year our target was engaging with cultural professionals, and Captioning Awareness Week had the theme of quality experiences for deaf audiences, and the aim to offer advice on how to recognise quality access, offer free training events, illustrate how we work with venues, and highlight our expertise and the services we offer.

We launched our Captioning Display Standards in November 2022 during Captioning Awareness Week, sharing for the first time what makes theatre captions accessible. This is a valuable resource for theatres, particularly those considering creative captioning, which is not always accessible.

We held four industry events online during Captioning Awareness Week. Events included a panel discussion with theatre professionals on the panel, a taster of Stagetext’s training offer, a session on deaf audience experience in museums and heritage, and a workshop on digital subtitling.

We had 72 attendees, and participant feedback included:

In addition we had coverage in The Stage, Arts Professional and Limping Chicken on the decline in demand for online subtitling.

We also held a birthday event in our office for key stakeholders during Captioning Awareness Week.

UNDER OUR FOURTH PRIORITY – GROWING OUR RESOURCES

During 2022/23 we implemented a staff restructure in order to expand our advocacy and engagement team to better deliver our refreshed advocacy strategy.

We are committed to supporting professional development by ensuring each member of staff has access to both internal and external training. Staff members have individual training plans, which are collated and monitored to ensure equal engagement. Development tools have included mentorship, external training courses and internal progression routes. All staff are encouraged to attend events that Stagetext supports, in order that staff members can advocate for Stagetext, across the spectrum of arts delivery.

In 2021/22, we secured a grant from Innovate UK (Audience of the Future round 2) for a 3 month project to

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

research how open captions standards for in-person theatre could be applied to hybrid and immersive theatre environments. We worked with Peak Signal, a strategy, delivery and improvement consultancy, to collate existing research and specifications, investigate what existing approaches to theatre captioning could be reproduced in virtual or immersive spaces, and to validate or disprove key concepts. We continued this work in 2022/23.

In 2022/23 we secured regular funding from Arts Council England as an Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO), and as part of the Transfer Programme. This means we have core funding for 2023/24 and 2024/25, and provided we move out of London before October 2024, we will be able to apply for 2025/26 funding as part of the portfolio too. Our role as an IPSO is to support arts organisations with the Inclusion and Relevance Investment Principle i.e. to help them deliver and embed deaf access in their organisations.

During the year we began to make initial enquiries about the move out of London while awaiting the Feasibility Funding from the Arts Council to enable a full independent study to support the Board’s decision on where to move to.

OUR AIMS FOR THE NEXT YEAR 2023/24

Under our first priority – widening access provision – we will:

Under our second priority – developing and understanding our audiences – we will:

Under our third priority – Underpinning our Services – we will:

Under our fourth priority – Growing our Resources – we will:

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Public benefit statement

We have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.

Stagetext’s work benefits people who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing.

The trustees have considered this matter and concluded:

  1. That the aims of the organisation continue to be charitable.

  2. That the aims and the work done give identifiable benefits to the charitable sector and both directly and indirectly to individuals in need.

  3. That the benefits are for the public, are not unreasonably restricted in any way and certainly not by any ability to pay; and

  4. That there is no detriment or harm arising from the aims or activities.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Stagetext reports overall income of £877,786 in 2022/23 compared to £978,690 in 2021/22. The overall result for the year reports net outgoing resources of £37,917 (2021/22 net incoming resources of £22,043) as shown in the charity’s Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA). The overall financial performance reflects the following key aspects:

Fee income in respect of our services of £516,077 decreased in 2022/23 compared to £612,726 in 2021/22.

The financial performance from Theatre captioning and speech-to-text (STTR) services generated income of £283,168 compared to £207,441 in 2021/22.

The financial performance from non-theatre captioning and STTR services (Live Subtitling) generated income of £194,431 compared to £314,678 in 2021/22.

The financial performance from Digital subtitling services generated income of £37,208, a decrease compared to £87,479 in 2021/22.

During the year Stagetext secured a total of £327,980 specific project income grants from trusts and foundations which contributed towards specific projects to improve internal systems and to explore theatre captioning in virtual immersive spaces.

Stagetext received £6,010 from donations and gifts including individual donors compared to £6,410 in 2021/22. We continue to develop this area of fundraising to support our general programme.

Total expenditure attributed to generating new voluntary and charitable funds was £42,142 compared to £15,883 in 2021/22.

Total expenditure attributed to governance costs associated with meeting the charity’s strategic administration and statutory requirements was £10,039 compared to £7,740 in 2021/22.

Overall funds stand at £251,922 at 31 March 2023 which is an increase from £289,839 at 31 March 2022. Restricted reserves stand at £6,330 (£Nil at 31 March 2022).

Overall financial performance comprises separate funds, and further details on the financial position can be

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

gained by reference to the balance and movements on each fund which are described in the reserves policy.

PRINCIPAL FUNDING SOURCES

During the year Stagetext continued to be funded by Arts Council England (ACE) with 2022/23 being an extension year of the ACE NPO funding period 2018 22. As well as ACE funding, we received the final instalment of the previously secured grant for the archive project from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Other successes included securing a core grant from Garfield Weston and a project grant from National Lottery Community Fund.

This year Stagetext was awarded a place in the Arts Council’s portfolio as an ACE Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO) for 2023/24 2024/25, based on its revised vision. This includes a £90k uplift each year.

Stagetext’s income continues to come from a range of sources, including earned income from its captioning, STTR and digital services. This is supported by grants from statutory bodies, charitable trusts and foundations, and donations from individuals and corporate supporters.

INVESTMENT POLICY

The trustees have decided that the current policy of holding funds in UK deposit accounts should continue. The charity has moved its investments into two deposit accounts to improve the rate of interest it receives on some of its reserves whilst also making it easier to be flexible if necessary. Apart from retaining a prudent amount in reserves each year, most of the charity’s funds are required in the short term so there are few funds available for long term investment. As and when funds become available the Board of Trustees will seek professional advice on the most appropriate and financially beneficial policy.

FUNDRAISING

Most of Stagetext’s income comes from statutory and major grants with small amounts coming from Trusts and donations. We undertake very little public fundraising. This year we worked with professional fundraisers Achates Philanthropy on specific applications. Stagetext observes and complies with the relevant fundraising regulations and codes. During the year there was no non compliance with these regulations and codes and Stagetext has received no complaints relating to its fundraising practices.

RESERVES POLICY AND GOING CONCERN

The reserves policy and position are reviewed by the Board on a regular basis. Strategic reviews are developed, and the financial and funding position is monitored to ensure that sufficient reserves are held and sustained on an on going basis.

The Board of Trustees have reviewed the general reserves policy and agreed that the current general reserves policy of three months of key operating costs, £120,000, is sufficient.

The trustees have reviewed financial budgets over the next 12 months and are confident that Stagetext is a going concern and financially viable up to that date and beyond. Budgets are set in advance of the financial year and the forecast is updated periodically.

Restricted funds: these funds represent grants provided to fund specific expenditure in agreed areas of delivery. Restricted funds at 31 March 2023 were £6,330.

Unrestricted funds: it is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to three month’s expenditure. The trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charity’s current activities while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised. This level

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

of reserves has been maintained throughout the year.

Designated funds: these are funds which the Board of Trustees has designated to meet future risks and commitments as part of their strategic vision and risk assessment for sustainability. The funds include a strategic business development fund for development activities to ensure our long-term viability and sustainability and are held as follows: tangible fixed assets (£6,021); intangible fixed assets (£7,330); strategic business development (£27,670); access adaptions (£Nil); delivery support for our talks programme (£20,000); advocacy strategy & implementation (£17,000); and dilapidations £10,000. The balance of these funds at the end of the year was £88,021 (2021/22 £130,923).

General funds: these funds represent the free reserves available to the charity which can be used for any purpose within its charitable objects. These costs can include programme delivery, income generation, management and administration costs as well as any shortfalls in restricted fund activity if required. The balance of these funds at the end of the year was £157,571 (2021/22 £158,916).

RISK MANAGEMENT

The Board is required to assess the major risks to which the charity is exposed and establish systems to mitigate these risks. The Board is also required to ensure the charity complies fully with the law and eliminates all risk of breaching the law. Stagetext has a risk management and legal compliance strategy that comprises identification of risks, evaluation of their potential impact, design of risk management and legal compliance programmes followed by implementation and review points. The Senior Management team reviews progress regularly and a comprehensive risk register is maintained which is reviewed at each meeting of the Board of Trustees. The register includes both strategic and operational risks. The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.

EMPLOYEES

The people employed by Stagetext are the most valuable assets of the organisation and the successful organisation is the one able to secure the maximum potential of its employees. Underpinning the aims which are designed to achieve the vision of Stagetext, there are a number of values we seek to promote.

We want to ensure there is an overriding ethos by which everyone is influenced. This means we want to ensure there are the same standards and expectations of trustees, staff and volunteers.

The ethos of Stagetext is derived from the following characteristics of the organisation:

Both office staff and freelance personnel must demonstrate their commitment to the ethos of Stagetext by being qualified, or by undertaking training in deaf awareness, communication tactics, British Sign Language, Sign Supported English, lip speaking and similar skills as required. Office staff and freelance personnel will similarly be expected to show their commitment to a relationship of mutual respect between hearing and deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people. Stagetext is committed to thinking laterally and imaginatively as to how it may recruit trustees, staff, freelance personnel and volunteers who demonstrate its ethos.

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STAGETEXT

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TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Stagetext is committed to equal opportunities and making it happen in practice. As an example, we advertise posts widely and ask applicants to complete an anonymous equal opportunities form so that we can ensure that our job opportunities are reaching all sectors of our community.

Stagetext believes in continuing professional development for all staff. We endeavour to ensure that all employees receive appropriate training both at the start of their job and during their continuing employment with us. We regularly review the performance of all our employees. They receive supervision from their line manager on a quarterly basis and a formal appraisal once a year. We undertake this exercise to maximise the potential of all employees and to highlight areas for development and training.

None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.

Trustees are recruited through an open application process, with recruitment drives targeted for a specific skill requirement or sector knowledge where needed. Candidates are supplied with a recruitment pack which includes full details on the organisation, what the role of Trustee entails, and the commitment required. Shortlisted candidates are initially interviewed by a small group of Trustees and the CEO, and then recommended to the Board for appointment. All Trustees receive deaf awareness training following appointment.

As of 1 July 2023, we have amended the staffing structure slightly. The CEO is supported by the Head of Insight and Development (Deputy CEO), the Head of Advocacy and Engagement, the Head of Theatre and Training, and the Head of Systems and Services. The CEO manages this senior management team, and the Head of Advocacy and Engagement manages the Marketing and Administration Coordinator. The Head of Systems and Services manages the Live Subtitling Manager. Each programme manager manages a pool of highly experienced and specialist freelancers to deliver our programme of work. Our finances are outsourced to PEM.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Stagetext is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association, incorporated on 17 May 2000 and amended by special resolution on 30 November 2000, 31 July 2006 and 29 April 2009.

Stagetext was founded to increase access to the arts for people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing. The founding trustees were Peter Pullan, Merfyn Williams and Geoff Brown and despite none of its founding Trustees still serving on its board, Stagetext remains a deaf led organisation with five of its eight trustees having a hearing loss.

The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

Robin Saphra, Chair Sarah Bradley, Treasurer Benjamin Glover (appointed 15 February 2023) Timothy Hardy Christopher Reid Jessica Ryan Ndegwa Nina Thomas Sally Yarwood (appointed 15 February 2023) Charlotte Bayley (resigned 31 October 2022) Jacqueline Elliman (resigned 31 October 2022) Rachel Jele (resigned 30 June 2023) Matthew Johnston (resigned 31 October 2022) Rebecca Morris (resigned 24 May 2023)

Page 14

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Stagetext aims to comply with the Charity Governance Code as endorsed by the National Hub of Expertise in Governance. We aim to ensure that Stagetext policy, practice and procedures satisfy the principles that underpin the Code. The trustees regularly review the make up of the Board to identify skills that are needed. New trustees undergo an induction and training programme which includes experience of Stagetext service delivery in action and written information designed to prepare them for effective participation on the Board.

The Finance & General Purposes Committee is a formal committee of the Board of Trustees of Stagetext set up to advise the Chief Executive and the Board of Trustees on financial, personnel and legal matters and to ensure that Stagetext is run on a sound and business like basis. The committee meets quarterly.

The Chief Executive is responsible for the day to day management of Stagetext’s operations and for the implementation of policies agreed by the Board. A working group of trustees is responsible for the evaluation of the Chief Executive’s performance.

All staff are paid above the London living wage. Any salary increases for staff, including the Chief Executive are reviewed and set by the Board on an annual basis. All increases are in line with inflation rates and cultural sector salaries.

STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES

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

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

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

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.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

Page 15

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Approved by order of the members of the board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

................................................ Robin Saphra Chair

Date: 6 December 2023

Page 16

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF STAGETEXT ('the Charity')

I report to the charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31 March 2023.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND BASIS OF REPORT

As the Trustees of the Charity (and its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').

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

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S STATEMENT

Since the Charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.

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

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

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

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

  4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities.

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

This report is made solely to the Charity's Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. My work has been undertaken so that I might state to the Charity's Trustees those matters I am required to state to them in an Independent Examiner's Report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charity and the Charity's Trustees as a body, for my work or for this report.

Signed: Dated: 13 December 2023

Fleur Holden FCA

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

Page 17

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note
INCOME FROM:
Grants and donations
3
Charitable activities
4
Investments
5
Other income
6
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds
8
Charitable activities
7,8
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS:
Total funds brought forward
Net movement in funds
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 Restricted
funds
2023
£
34,262
-
-
-
34,262
-
27,932
27,932
6,330
-
6,330
6,330		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
309,728
516,077
2,165
15,554
843,524
42,142
845,629
887,771
(44,247)
289,839
(44,247)
245,592		 Total
funds
2023
£
343,990
516,077
2,165
15,554
877,786
42,142
873,561
915,703
(37,917)
289,839
(37,917)
251,922		 Total
funds
2022
£
363,734
612,726
595
1,635
978,690
15,883
940,764
956,647
22,043
267,796
22,043
289,839

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

The notes on pages 22 to 42 form part of these financial statements.

Page 18

STAGETEXT (A Company Limited by Guarantee) REGISTERED NUMBER: 03995686

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2023

Note
FIXED ASSETS
Intangible assets
12
Tangible assets
13
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors
14
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due within one
year
15
NET CURRENT ASSETS
TOTAL NET ASSETS
CHARITY FUNDS
Restricted funds
16
Unrestricted funds
16
TOTAL FUNDS		 106,187
208,450
314,637
(76,066)		 2023
£
7,330
6,021
13,351
238,571
251,922
6,330
245,592
251,922		 125,831
282,393
408,224
(129,308)		 2022
£
-
10,923
10,923
278,916
289,839
-
289,839
289,839

The Charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and preparation of financial statements.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to entities subject to the small companies regime.

Page 19

STAGETEXT (A Company Limited by Guarantee) REGISTERED NUMBER: 03995686

BALANCE SHEET (CONTINUED) AS AT 31 MARCH 2023

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

................................................ ................................................ Robin Saphra Sarah Bradley Chair Treasurer

Date: 6 December 2023

The notes on pages 22 to 42 form part of these financial statements.

Page 20

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net cash (used in)/generated from operating activities
18
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Interest from investments
Purchase of intangible assets
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES
CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS IN THE YEAR
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE END OF THE YEAR
19		 2023
£
(65,554)
2,165
(7,330)
(3,224)
(8,389)
(73,943)
282,393
208,450		 2022
£
38,315
595
-
(6,137)
(5,542)
32,773
249,620
282,393

The notes on pages 22 to 42 form part of these financial statements

Page 21

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

Stagetext is a private company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office address is 81 County Street, London, SE1 4AD, England. The liability of each member in the event of a winding up is limited to £1.

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

2.1 BASIS OF PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) - 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) (effective 1 January 2019), 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.

In applying the financial reporting framework, the trustees have made a number of subjective judgements, for example in respect of significant accounting estimates. Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The nature of the estimation means the actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. Any significant estimates and judgements affecting these financial statements are detailed within the relevant accounting policy below.

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

2.2 GOING CONCERN

After making appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the accounting policies.

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

Page 22

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

2.3 INCOME

All income is recognised once the Charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable 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.

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

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 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.

2.4 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 institution with whom the funds are deposited.

2.5 FUND ACCOUNTING

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the Charity for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.

Page 23

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

2.6 EXPENDITURE

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:

Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the Charity in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of delivering services, exhibitions and other educational activities undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.

Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading.

All expenditure is inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.

2.7 ALLOCATION OF SUPPORT COSTS

Resources expended are assigned to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity.

Support and governance costs that cannot be directly attributed to a particular activity are allocated in proportion to the income generated by that activity, as follows:

Theatre captioning & STT services 54.9% Non-theatre captioning & STT services 37.7% Digital subtitling 7.2% Training & consultancy 0.2%

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.

Where such information about the aims, objectives and projects of the Charity is also provided to potential donors, activity costs are apportioned between fundraising and charitable activities on the basis of area of literature occupied by each activity.

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.

2.8 OPERATING LEASES

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

Page 24

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

2.9 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS AND DEPRECIATION

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. 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.

Where fixed assets have been revalued, any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life.

Depreciation is provided on the following bases:

2.10 INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND AMORTISATION

Intangible assets costing £500 or more are capitalised and recognised when future economic benefits are probable and the cost or value of the asset can be measured reliably.

Intangible assets are initially recognised at cost. After recognition, under the cost model, intangible assets are measured at cost less any accumulated amortisation and any accumulated impairment losses.

Amortisation is provided on intangible assets at rates calculated to write off the cost of each asset on a straight-line basis over its expected useful life.

Amortisation is provided on the following basis:

2.11 DEBTORS

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

2.12 CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND

Cash at bank and 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.

Page 25

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

2.13 LIABILITIES AND PROVISIONS

Liabilities are recognised when there is an obligation at the Balance Sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably.

Liabilities are recognised at the amount that the Charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt or the amount it has received as advanced payments for the goods or services it must provide.

Provisions are measured at the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation. Where the effect of the time value of money is material, the provision is based on the present value of those amounts, discounted at the pre-tax discount rate that reflects the risks specific to the liability. The unwinding of the discount is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities as a finance cost.

2.14 FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

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 with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

2.15 PENSIONS

The charity makes payments to defined contribution pension schemes on behalf of employees. The assets of the schemes are held separately from those of the charitable company in independently administered funds. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable to the funds during the year. The charity has no liability under the schemes other than the payment of those contributions.

3. INCOME FROM GRANTS, DONATIONS & GIFTS

Arts Council England
Garfield Weston Foundation
National Lottery Heritage Fund
National Lottery Community Fund
ACE Cultural Recovery Fund
Donations and gifts
Donated services		 Restricted
funds
2023
Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
£
-
273,718
-
30,000
23,455
-
10,000
-
807
-
-
5,110
-
900
34,262
309,728		 Total
funds
2023
£
273,718
30,000
23,455
10,000
807
5,110
900
343,990

Page 26

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

4.

Restricted
funds
2022
£
Arts Council England
-
National Lottery Heritage Fund
19,118
ACE Cultural Recovery Fund
33,277
Innovate UK
31,211
Donations and gifts
-
83,606
INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
Theatre captioning & STT services
283,168
Non-theatre captioning & STT services
194,431
Digital subtitling
37,208
Training & consultancy
1,270
516,077		 Unrestricted
funds
2022
£
273,718
-
-
-
6,410
280,128
Total
funds
2023
£
283,168
194,431
37,208
1,270
516,077		 Total
funds
2022
£
273,718
19,118
33,277
31,211
6,410
363,734
Total
funds
2022
£
207,441
314,678
87,479
3,128
612,726

In the prior year, all income from charitable activities was unrestricted.

5. INVESTMENT INCOME

Unrestricted Total Total
funds funds funds
2023 2023 2022
£ £ £
Interest receivable 2,165 2,165 595

In the prior year, all investment income was unrestricted.

Page 27

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

6. OTHER INCOMING RESOURCES

Insurance claim for damaged equipment
Management fees
Honorarium attendee fees		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
-
15,421
133
15,554		 Total
funds
2023
£
-
15,421
133
15,554		 Total
funds
2022
£
1,635
-
-
1,635

In the prior year, all other incoming resources was unrestricted.

7. ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Theatre captioning & STT services
Non-theatre captioning & STT services
Digital subtitling
Training & consultancy
Equipment sales, hires & maintenance
Theatre captioning & STT services
Non-theatre captioning & STT services
Digital subtitling
Training & consultancy
Equipment sales, hires & maintenance		 Restricted
funds
2023
Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
£
17,841
401,448
8,172
301,488
1,872
134,613
47
7,455
-
625
27,932
845,629
Restricted
funds
2022
Unrestricted
funds
2022
£
£
47,824
291,982
26,412
410,180
10,204
145,259
222
8,381
-
300
84,662
856,102		 Total
funds
2023
£
419,289
309,660
136,485
7,502
625
873,561
Total
funds
2022
£
339,806
436,592
155,463
8,603
300
940,764

Page 28

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

8. ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE (CURRENT YEAR)

Theatre Non-theatre Equipment
captioning captioning sales, hires
& STT & STT Digital Training & & Raising Support
services services subtitling consultancy maintenance **funds ** Governance costs 2023 total 2022 total
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
Staff costs 65,717 64,698 89,752 6,669 - 36,092 - 96,893 359,821 279,751
Captioner fees &
expenses 164,365 - - - 625 - - - 164,990 113,636
Technical fees &
expenses 72,139 1,243 - - - - - - 73,382 12,295
Speech-to-text fees
& expenses 3,830 165,070 - - - - - - 168,900 305,280
Digital subtitling - - 27,551 - - - - - 27,551 69,611
Marketing,
advocacy &
promotions - - - - - - - 36,845 36,845 36,747
Training &
consultancy 192 34 34 362 - - - - 622 53,571
Equipment - - - - - - - 407 407 752
Development costs 1,765 - - - - - - - 1,765 4,824
Premises & office
running costs 5,473 5,662 4,907 - - - - 16,524 32,566 30,385
Other staff related
costs - - - - - - 451 6,417 6,868 18,277
IT support - - - - - - - 4,649 4,649 2,704

Page 29

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023		 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023		 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023		 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Legal & professional
fees		 - - - - - - 240 501 741 9,457
Accountancy
services		 - - - - - - 2,500 10,000 12,500 400
Insurance - - - - - - - 2,918 2,918 2,403
Independent
examiner		 - - - - - - 4,150 - 4,150 3,800
Board expenses,
access &
recruitment		 - - - - - - 2,698 - 2,698 3,540
Fundraising costs - - - - - 6,050 - - 6,050 3,375
Depreciation 961 961 464 - - - - 5,740 8,126 5,752
Miscellaneous - - - - - - - 154 154 87
314,442 237,668 122,708 7,031 625 42,142 10,039 181,048 915,703 956,647
Support costs 99,339 68,209 13,053 447 - - - (181,048) - -
Governance costs 5,508 3,782 724 25 - - (10,039) - - -
Total expenditure
2023		 419,289 309,659 136,485 7,503 625 42,142 - - 915,703 956,647

Page 30

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Theatre Non-theatre Equipment
captioning captioning sales, hires
& STT & STT Digital Training & & Raising Support
services services subtitling consultancy maintenance **funds ** Governance costs 2022 total
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
Staff costs 57,861 60,298 48,480 6,254 - 12,508 - 94,350 279,751
Captioner fees & expenses 113,336 - - - 300 - - - 113,636
Technical fees & expenses 10,696 1,599 - - - - - - 12,295
Speech-to-text fees & expenses 45,047 260,233 - - - - - - 305,280
Digital subtitling - - 69,611 - - - - - 69,611
Marketing, advocacy & promotions - - - - - - - 36,747 36,747
Training & consultancy 39,273 6,899 6,899 500 - - - - 53,571
Equipment 594 - - - - - - 158 752
Development costs 4,824 - - - - - - - 4,824
Premises & office running costs 4,892 5,061 4,386 - - - - 16,046 30,385
Other staff related costs - 7,780 - - - - - 10,497 18,277
IT support - - - - - - - 2,704 2,704
Legal & professional fees - - - - - - - 9,457 9,457
Accountancy services - - - - - - 400 - 400
Insurance - - - - - - - 2,403 2,403
Independent examiner - - - - - - 3,800 - 3,800
Board expenses, access &
recruitment - - - - - - 3,540 - 3,540
Fundraising costs - - - - - 3,375 - - 3,375
Depreciation 403 403 195 - - - - 4,751 5,752

Page 31

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023		 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023		 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023		 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Miscellaneous - - - - - - - 87 87
276,926 342,273 129,571 6,754 300 15,883 7,740 177,200 956,647
Support costs 60,248 90,372 24,808 1,772 - - - (177,200) -
Governance costs 2,632 3,947 1,084 77 - - (7,740) - -
Total expenditure 2022 339,806 436,592 155,463 8,603 300 15,883 - - 956,647

Page 32

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

9. INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REMUNERATION

The independent examiner's remuneration amounts to an independent examiner fee of £4,150 (2022 - £3,800).

10. STAFF COSTS

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Contribution to defined contribution pension schemes		 2023
£
306,087
28,268
25,466
359,821		 2022
£
248,409
21,412
9,930
279,751

The average number of persons employed by the Charity during the year was as follows:

2023 2022
No. No.
Employees 8 8

No employee received remuneration amounting to more than £60,000 in either year.

The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £117,478 (2022: £108,356).

11. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

During the year, no Trustees received any remuneration or other benefits (2022 - £NIL).

During the year ended 31 March 2023, no Trustee expenses have been incurred (2022 - £NIL).

Page 33

STAGETEXT

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

12. INTANGIBLE ASSETS

COST
Additions
At 31 March 2023
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2023
At 31 March 2022		 Computer
software
£
7,330
7,330
7,330
-

Intangible assets comprise computer software under development. As the software was not ready for use during the financial year, no amortisation has been charged.

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(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

13. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Leasehold
improvements
£
COST
At 1 April 2022
9,713
Additions
-
Disposals
-
At 31 March 2023
9,713
DEPRECIATION
At 1 April 2022
6,314
Charge for the year
1,942
On disposals
-
At 31 March 2023
8,256
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2023
1,457
At 31 March 2022
3,399
14.
DEBTORS
DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 Office &
computer
equipment
£
30,751
3,224
(3,150)
30,825
23,227
4,697
(1,663)
26,261
4,564
7,524
2023
£
47,912
10,972
47,303
106,187		 Total
£
40,464
3,224
(3,150)
40,538
29,541
6,639
(1,663)
34,517
6,021
10,923
2022
£
64,827
8,013
52,991
125,831

Page 35

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

15. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Trade creditors
Other taxation and social security
Accruals and deferred income
Deferred income at 1 April 2022
Resources deferred during the year
Amounts released from previous periods		 2023
£
38,815
22,956
14,295
76,066
2023
£
14,089
-
(13,654)
435		 2022
£
67,806
20,180
41,322
129,308
2022
£
33,984
3,150
(23,045)
14,089

Deferred income comprises grant income received in advance and is recognised as income in the period to which it relates.

Page 36

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

16. STATEMENT OF FUNDS

STATEMENT OF FUNDS
STATEMENT OF FUNDS - CURRENT YEAR
Balance at 1
April 2022
£
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
DESIGNATED FUNDS
Tangible fixed assets
10,923
Intangible fixed assets
-
Strategic business
development
30,000
Talks programme
20,000
Access adaptations
15,000
Advocacy strategy &
implementation
55,000
Dilapidations fund
-
130,923
GENERAL FUNDS
General Fund
158,916
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED
FUNDS
289,839
RESTRICTED FUNDS
National Lottery Heritage Fund
-
National Lottery Community
Fund
-
ACE Cultural Recovery Fund
-
-
TOTAL OF FUNDS
289,839		 Income
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
843,524
843,524
23,455
10,000
807
34,262
877,786		 Expenditure
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(887,771)
(887,771)
(23,455)
(3,670)
(807)
(27,932)
(915,703)		 Transfers
in/out
£
(4,902)
7,330
(2,330)
-
(15,000)
(38,000)
10,000
(42,902)
42,902
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Balance at
31 March
2023
£
6,021
7,330
27,670
20,000
-
17,000
10,000
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
DESIGNATED FUNDS
Tangible fixed assets
Intangible fixed assets
Strategic business
development
Talks programme
Access adaptations
Advocacy strategy &
implementation
Dilapidations fund
GENERAL FUNDS
General Fund
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED
FUNDS
RESTRICTED FUNDS
National Lottery Heritage Fund
National Lottery Community
Fund
ACE Cultural Recovery Fund
TOTAL OF FUNDS
88,021
157,571
245,592
-
6,330
-
6,330
251,922

Page 37

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

16. STATEMENT OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)

ACE Culture Recovery Fund

This Government fund, distributed by Arts Council England, supported Stagetext to return staffing to full capacity and cover some core costs during the pandemic, as well as reflating reserves that allowed us to invest in research and consultancy, leading to our refreshed strategy.

National Lottery Heritage Fund

This fund supports the “Captions Speak Louder” project , a two year archive project which has been extended by one year due to the pandemic. It will preserve Stagetext’s history, culminating in an engaging touring exhibition to mark Stagetext’s 21st anniversary.

National Lottery Community Fund

This funding is for a project to expand and upskill our user engagement panel. The goal was to double the panel’s membership over 12 months, particularly focusing on recruiting members outside London, and to upskill existing and new members to be able to raise awareness of captioned culture.

Tangible and intangible fixed assets

Funds to support the net book value of fixed assets. Transfers reflect movements in the net book value of these assets.

Strategic business development

Funds of £27,670 have been designated to explore new ventures and activities to improve Stagetext's resilience and ensure its long-term viability.

Talks programme

Funds of £20,000 have been designated to support this area as required.

Access adaptations

Funds of £15,000 were designated to cover access adaptations to premises (County Street). As the office is to be vacated, £10,000 has been reallocated to a dilapidations fund and £5,000 has been reallocated to the strategic business development fund.

Advocacy Strategy & Implementation

Funds of £17,000 have been designated to support the development of an advocacy strategy and its implementation together with additional consultancy or staff requirements as necessary.

Dilapidations fund

Funds of £10,000 to cover the cost of dilapidations.

Page 38

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

16. STATEMENT OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)

STATEMENT OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)
STATEMENT OF FUNDS - PRIOR YEAR
Balance at
1 January
2021
£
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
DESIGNATED FUNDS
Tangible fixed assets
10,538
Strategic business
development
30,000
Talks programme
20,000
Access adaptations
15,000
Advocacy strategy &
implementation
55,000
130,538
GENERAL FUNDS
General Fund
136,202
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED
FUNDS
266,740
RESTRICTED FUNDS
Awards for All (Engaging Older
People)
1,056
National Lottery Heritage Fund
-
Innovate UK
-
ACE Cultural Recovery Fund
-
1,056
TOTAL OF FUNDS
267,796		 Income
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
895,084
895,084
-
19,118
31,211
33,277
83,606
978,690		 Expenditure
£
(5,752)
-
-
-
-
(5,752)
(866,233)
(871,985)
(1,056)
(19,118)
(31,211)
(33,277)
(84,662)
(956,647)		 Transfers
in/out
£
6,137
-
-
-
-
6,137
(6,137)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Balance at
31 March
2022
£
10,923
30,000
20,000
15,000
55,000
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
DESIGNATED FUNDS
Tangible fixed assets
Strategic business
development
Talks programme
Access adaptations
Advocacy strategy &
implementation
GENERAL FUNDS
General Fund
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED
FUNDS
RESTRICTED FUNDS
Awards for All (Engaging Older
People)
National Lottery Heritage Fund
Innovate UK
ACE Cultural Recovery Fund
TOTAL OF FUNDS
130,923
158,916
289,839
-
-
-
-
-
289,839

Page 39

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

17. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS - CURRENT YEAR

Tangible fixed assets
Intangible fixed assets
Current assets
Creditors due within one year
TOTAL		 Restricted
funds
2023
Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
£
-
6,021
-
7,330
6,330
308,307
-
(76,066)
6,330
245,592		 Total
funds
2023
£
6,021
7,330
314,637
(76,066)
251,922

ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS - PRIOR YEAR

Tangible fixed assets
Current assets
Creditors due within one year
TOTAL		 Unrestricted
funds
2022
£
10,923
408,224
(129,308)
289,839		 Total
funds
2022
£
10,923
408,224
(129,308)
289,839

Page 40

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

18. RECONCILIATION OF NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Net (expenditure)/income for the year (as per Statement of Financial
Activities)
ADJUSTMENTS FOR:
Depreciation charges
Interest from investments
Loss on the sale of fixed assets
Decrease in debtors
(Decrease)/increase in creditors
NET CASH PROVIDED BY/(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES
19.
ANALYSIS OF CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
Cash in hand
TOTAL CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
20.
ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET DEBT
At 1 April
2022
£
Cash at bank and in hand
282,393
282,393		 2023
£
(37,917)
6,639
(2,165)
1,487
19,644
(53,242)
(65,554)
2023
£
208,450
208,450
Cash flows
£
(73,943)
(73,943)		 2022
£
22,043
5,752
(595)
-
648
10,467
38,315
2022
£
282,393
282,393
At 31 March
2023
£
208,450
208,450

Page 41

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STAGETEXT

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

21. PENSION COMMITMENTS

The assets of the Scheme are held separately from those of the Charity in a fund independently administered by Aviva. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the Charity to the Scheme and amounted to £25,466 (2022: £9,930). At the year end, contributions amounting to £3,016 were owed to the Scheme (2022: £nil).

22. OPERATING LEASE COMMITMENTS

At 31 March 2023 the Charity had commitments to make future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases as follows:

Not later than 1 year
Later than 1 year and not later than 5 years		 2023
£
17,985
-
17,985		 2022
£
24,960
17,985
42,945

The following lease payments have been recognised as an expense in the Statement of Financial Activities:

2023 2022
£ £
Operating lease rentals 24,960 24,960

23. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The Charity has not entered into any related party transaction during the year, nor are there any outstanding balances owing between related parties and the Charity at 31 March 2023.

Page 42