REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 04214688 REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1087399
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
FOR
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Company Information | 1 |
| Report of the Management Committee | 1 |
| Statement of Financial Activities | 9 |
| Statement of Financial Position | 10 |
| Notes to the Financial Statements | 11 |
| Report of the Independent Accountants | 17 |
| Income and Expenditure Account | 18 |
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
The Management Committee presents its report and the unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
Reference and Administrative Information
Charity Name : Disability Advice Service Lambeth Charity registration number : 1087399 Company registration number : 04214688 Registered Office and operational address : 336 Brixton Road London SW9 7AA
Management Committee
Ray Ludford Chair Trevor Critchley Treasurer & Secretary Isabelle Clement Marian Itzin-Borowy Judy Fink Steven Onasanya Joshua Hepple
Company Secretary
Trevor Critchley
Senior Management Team
Peter Gay Interim Director Claire Camplin Advocacy Team Leader Richard Pargeter Direct Payments Team Leader Husnara Zaman Community Development Team Leader Lisa Clark Advice Team Leader
Independent Examiner
Hilary Adams Ltd, Chartered Accountants, 158 High Street Herne Bay, Kent CT6 5NP
Bankers
NatWest, 504 Brixton Road, London SW9 8EB
Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Document
The organisation is an independent charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 11 May 2001 and registered as a charity on 6th July 2001.
The Company’s objects, powers and governance arrangements are laid out in its Articles of Association. Updated and revised Articles of Associations were adopted by the Company’s members at its Annual General meeting on 20th December 2021. In the event of the Company being wound up members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Recruitment and Appointment of new trustees
The directors of the Company are also charity trustees for the purposes of charity law and under the Company’s Articles are known as Trustees. Under the requirements of the Articles of Association, Trustees may be appointed by the passing of an ordinary resolution by the members at an Annual General Meeting or by a resolution of the Trustees, provided that the maximum number of Trustees appointed in this way is no more than one third of the Trustees or two, whichever is the lesser. Not less than 51% of the Trustees must be made up of Disabled people or their carers and this requirement continues to be satisfied by means of recruitment to the Trustees of a proportion of former or current service users and other Disabled people interested in the Charity’s work.
At every Annual General Meeting, one third of the Trustees shall retire. The Trustees to retire by rotation shall be those who have been longest in office since their last appointment or reappointment. No Trustee shall serve for more than nine consecutive years unless the Trustees consider it in the best interests of the Charity for that particular Trustee to serve beyond that period.
Trustee skills audits are used to identify the resources and expertise available within the Trustees and gaps are addressed through training and by seeking new members with the requisite experience.
Organisational Structure
The Trustee group in 2022-2023 consisted of seven members who met on ten occasions to direct the work of the Charity at a strategic and policy level. The frequency of meetings was maintained at the level established during the Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions in order to be in a position to effectively support the Interim Director appointed in March 2022. Meetings also continued to be held remotely on video. Meetings received reports on financial matters and service performance. The Finance and Personnel Sub-Committee was convened as required to address specific funding, financial management and personnel issues.
Day to day responsibility for the operation of the Charity is delegated to the Director and, through them, the Team Leaders, who together form the Senior Management Team. The Director is responsible with the Trustees for the Charity’s strategic direction, fundraising and the development of new service areas, for overall service delivery and performance, the management of the senior staff and external strategic partnership working. The Director also acts as Company Secretary. Team Leaders, who deputise for the Director as required, deal with; the operational delivery of their respective services against contractual or other requirements including quality standards; staff and resource management and service promotion and development, as well as external partnership working within their areas of responsibility and contributing to the corporate work of the charity.
The Charity has operated with an Interim Director throughout the year. It is intended that this arrangement will continue, pending a review of the senior structure of the Charity and the recruitment of a new permanent Director.
Objectives and Activities
The company is an independent charity whose objects are to assist Disabled people living in, or associated with, the London Borough of Lambeth and surrounding areas, so that they may lead active and fulfilling lives.
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To achieve these objects, the charity’s principal activities are the provision of: Information and general advice on all aspects of disability for Disabled people including older people with long-term illnesses, carers and professionals;
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Advice casework on welfare benefits, debt, housing and community care for Disabled people including mental health service users;
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Professional advocacy on community care (including statutory referrals under the Care Act 2014), health, housing, family problems and safeguarding matters;
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Objectives and Activities (continued)
- Information, advice, support and training to people interested in, or using, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets to arrange their own community care and/or personal health services;
Advocacy support for parents who have learning disabilities;
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Advice, support and provision of activities to enable more Disabled people to engage in sport and physical activity;
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Community development work with local Disabled people and their groups and organisations to support the voice and inclusion of Disabled people;
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Strategic, partnership and social policy work on a range of initiatives and issues affecting Disabled people, including the Lambeth Disability Hate Crime Partnership.
How our activities deliver public benefits
In ensuring that the Charity’s activities undertaken in meeting its objectives have been carried out for the public benefit, the Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance in this area. In reviewing the Charity’s performance, the Trustees consider the impact of each service, both in terms of outputs and outcomes for individual service users and in influencing the provision that other agencies make for Disabled and older people and for carers. They are satisfied that all the services delivered are consistent with, and contribute to, the Charity’s objectives. Activities are designed to provide interventions that improve the independence, wellbeing and financial circumstances of individual Disabled people, their families and support networks and/or prevent the onset of problems for these groups, support them to access their rights, enable them to influence the services and opportunities in Lambeth and support their voice. The following section on achievements summarises the benefits delivered by each service and where applicable, the number of beneficiaries in 2022/23.
Achievements and Performance
As many Disabled people are only too aware, our staff and people who use our services included, the COVID 19 pandemic may have been declared over but some people continue to live at considerable risk from the disease. During the year we have taken careful and steady steps towards working more from our office base, working out how we can do so in a safe way for all concerned.
Remote working continued to be a feature of how we operate and our systems are upgrading to make this work as smoothly as possible. It has revolutionised the flexibility we can offer staff, especially Disabled staff and those with support responsibilities.
We also recognised that in person contact is incredibly valuable and important where we can do so safely – from providing appointments at our office to support Disabled people who cannot engage in online meetings or struggle with text based communication, to meeting as a whole staff team together in one place.
A genuinely ‘hybrid’ way of working that embraces the removal of barriers that digital communication brings whilst crucially also maintaining in-person contact and support where Disabled people and staff teams need it.
Specialist Advice Service
The Advice Service had a further 2 years of funding from Trust for London confirmed in March 2022. This enabled us to recruit to the vacant Advice Team Leader post in May 2022, taking over from a part-time freelance worker who had maintained our service to local Disabled residents. Our long term Advice volunteer continued to offer client appointments remotely, one morning per week, to help with Welfare Benefits form filling. We are very grateful for her continuing support.
The service continued to be largely delivered remotely which meets many Disabled people’s needs. Appointments at our office in Brixton were re-introduced to ensure our service was as accessible as needed.
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Achievements and Performance (continued)
Our Advice Team Leader has been managing the service, providing advice, delivering casework and contributing to our Senior Management Team. They led work to ensure dasl continues to maintain the Advice Quality Standard (AQS) award.
There has been huge demand for the service. This reflects the cost of living crisis and its disproportionate effect on Disabled people who as a whole are far more likely to rely on items that have increased in cost the most – energy, food and transport.
Our Advice Service worked on 114 cases with 66 Disabled people and provided information, advice and signposting to Disabled people on a further 342 issues. The majority of our casework has been on Welfare Benefits matters (69%), this includes support making benefits claims and challenging decisions. We supported 48 clients with 51 new claims and claim reviews. We appealed 29 decisions, including appealing 12 cases at First Tier Social Security Tribunal. Of the Tribunal decisions received this year, we had a success rate of 100%. Across the year, we secured benefits payments, debt write offs, discretionary housing payments and grant payments for household goods worth £260 663. Benefit payments include awards of benefit for 1 year, plus any backdated payment received.
We supported 8 clients with grant applications for household goods, this included awards of £448 for a washing machine, £125 for bedding, and £1500 for a Mobility Scooter. We supported 32 clients with non-Welfare Benefits related issues, including a homeless person’s application, non-priority debt intervention, applications for utilities discounts and applications for concessionary travel passes.
In February 2023, we completed our latest AQS monitoring assessment in the Welfare Benefits subject category. We met the standard and are now accredited until February 2025.
We want to secure funding to build and maintain the Advice Service. We are particularly interested in creating employment opportunities for Disabled people. Through our strong advice partnership with 4 other Disabled People’s Organisations in London, we successfully applied for funding from London Funder’s Propel Fund to employ a Disabled person to join us as a Trainee Advice Worker and to continue the Advice Team Leader post. This funding started in April 2023. We also successfully applied for funding from the Walcot Foundation for a part time experienced Welfare Benefits Caseworker for 2 years.
As an organisation, dasl has become more aware of the emotional and psychological impact of our work on frontline staff. Many Disabled people using our service live in very difficult situations, experience financial insecurity, mental health distress, inadequate housing and difficulty accessing and communicating with statutory services. This has an impact on staff - practically, mentally and emotionally. As a result we made the decision to move away from one person staff teams.
We are committed to providing this service to Lambeth’s Disabled residents – it is much needed and a vital part of our offer. We are now focused on securing funding to grow a sustainable Advice Team.
Connect Lambeth
Connect Lambeth is a consortium of local Lambeth organisations. dasl is a founding member and a core partner. Age UK Lambeth lead the consortium.
Connect Lambeth is commissioned by Lambeth Council to deliver information, advice, advocacy, direct payments support, community development activities, befriending and other support services. dasl delivers Professional Advocacy, Direct Payment support and Community Development services to Disabled people for Connect Lambeth.
Professional Advocacy
In 2022/23 dasl continued to deliver statutory Care Act advocacy and non-statutory advocacy services as part of the Lambeth Advocacy Hub which provides all statutory advocacy for people aged 16 and over in Lambeth. We also continued to manage the enquiries and referrals for the Hub for all statutory advocacy apart from Independent Mental Health Act advocacy referrals which are made directly on health service wards to our delivery partners, Community Support Network South London.
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Achievements and Performance (continued)
During the year the Advocacy Hub received 612 enquiries and 672 referrals. From this total figure, dasl received 184 Care Act referrals.
dasl’s Advocacy Service calmly works with people in an accessible way, often in their home environment. This can involve challenging statutory services and fearlessly raising systemic issues so that they can be addressed.
By the nature of advocacy referrals for Care Act processes, people referred need support with communication or cognition in order to better understand the legal process that they are part of. It is this vital work that enables people with high support needs to feel confident that their rights are not being infringed or their liberty unnecessarily restricted.
The advocacy service holds a unique position within dasl as it is possible that Disabled residents may seek advocacy support to challenge our own services. We are prepared for this and have processes to insulate services if this occurs.
We are proud of the contribution our Advocacy Service makes in upholding Disabled people’s rights and proactively seeking to improve systems with honest feedback to local statutory services.
Direct Payments Support Service
The Direct Payments Support Service is commissioned by Lambeth Council to work with people who choose to receive a direct payment as the way to organise their social care. We work with people to increase the choice and control they have over their support, whatever form that might take. Direct Payments are an equitable route to providing equality of opportunity for Disabled people.
The Direct Payment team continued to do much of its work remotely – this is much preferred by people who are digitally confident as it saves the time, effort and expense of travelling across the borough. We also started seeing people at our Brixton offices where their access needs dictated that face-to-face meetings would be best.
We supported 322 people with 812 issues, in addition to 415 one-off enquiries. 136 Disabled residents were supported to start their direct payments this year.
The Direct Payment peer support group met monthly online. This continues to be a valuable way in which people receiving a direct payment can support each other from their own direct experience, as well as having opportunities to engage with council staff and learn from training sessions. We are looking to increase the impact and scope of peer support next year.
In December 2022, with support of additional funding from Lambeth Council, we embarked on a development programme to raise the profile of the Personal Assistant role (PA), people who are employed to provide support to a Disabled person, often their employer. We had become very concerned about the difficulty Disabled people were having in attracting good applicants to their PA vacancies. This is making contact with local organisations supporting people to find work, including Job Centre Plus, to educate them about the PA role and encourage them to support local residents to consider working as a PA. We look forward to Disabled people who employ their own PAs reaping the rewards of this work in 2023/24.
Community Development with Disabled People
We provide a community development service for Disabled people as part of the Connect Lambeth partnership.
We have a long history of supporting and encouraging Disabled people to have their say. This can be campaigning on key issues for local Disabled people, working as critical friends with Lambeth Council or other voluntary organisations on policies and strategies.
We work with and in support of many hundreds of Disabled residents, people who use our services and the wider community of Disabled people.
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Achievements and Performance (continued)
We support Disabled people to create and take advantage of opportunities. Our community projects break down isolation and enable Disabled people to be active in their communities and make a valuable contribution, building confidence as they go.
In 2022/23 we supported Disabled people to engage in physical activity on 282 occasions; 7 people to volunteer; 7 Disabled people to get paid work; 2 Disabled people to campaign; 47 people to give feedback to services or organisations in Lambeth and enabled 8 people to have their say with Lambeth decision makers.
Within the Community Development work we also delivered:
• Employment support with funding from City Bridge Foundation, through Inclusion London, supporting Disabled people to find work, delivering 32 meetings.
• ‘Smashing Records’ working with a grant from the Vision Foundation, supporting 28 visually impaired adults to develop radio and podcast skills.
• Sport and Social activities – continuing to support Disabled people break down barriers to being regularly physically active, through delivering funded programmes of activity (yoga, boxercise, multi sports etc) or breaking down attitudinal barriers to enable Disabled residents to access public facilities (swimming and ice skating sessions).
• The No Wrong Door project, a partnership of local organisations and people with lived experience working over 3 years to improve the landscape of employment support for Black Disabled people, addressing systemic barriers. This is being achieved through intensive interrogation of those barriers and sharing wider understanding amongst project partners before working directly with the council and local employment support providers to address issues and improve provision.
• Digital Inclusion to improve Disabled residents access to the opportunities being able to get online brings. We started to receive devices and data from Good Things Foundation to give to Disabled residents and introduce them to Clear Community Web to ensure people gain confidence using their new device.
Financial Review
As for all organisations, the cost-of-living crisis made the year another challenging year for the Charity. Recognising the impact this was having on staff, the Charity agreed a higher than planned pay award. This contributed to a projected surplus for the year ending up as a small deficit.
Overall income for the year was £504,023 (2021/22 £475,574) with expenditure of £506,136 (2021/22 £549,351). As a result, a deficit on the year of £2,113 resulted (2021/22 deficit £73,777).
The total funds carried forward were £194,530 (2021/22 £196,643) of which £166,813 (2021/22 £166,190) was unrestricted.
Principal Funding Sources
The Charity’s principal funder continues to be Lambeth Council for those services being delivered through the Connect Lambeth Partnership. The Council also provided a grant towards the delivery of the programme of social, leisure and cultural activities through the Community Development Into Sport Services.
The other significant funders in 2022/23 included Trust for London that funded our Advice Service; the Vision Foundation that provided funds for Smashing Records; the Henry Smith Charity that funded our new Parenting Advocacy Project; Southwark Clinical Commissioning Group that funded a Lived Experience Project for part of the year; Inclusion London who provided funds for the supported employment project; and Sport England that funded sports and coaching activities. A small grant from Black Thrive facilitated our involvement in a partnership project promoting the employment of Black Disabled people.
The Charity also generates income from lettings of its meeting room to other organisations and shares part of its office space with Black Thrive.
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Risk Management
The Trustees continue to update its assessment of the major risks to which the Charity is exposed, particularly in relation to those which could, if they occurred, have a serious impact on its financial stability, operational effectiveness or reputation and, thus, its ability to achieve its aims and objectives.
The Trustees regularly reviewed and updated the comprehensive Risk Register, which is used to assess and weight risk in terms of likelihood and impact, responding to identified issues arising in the areas of governance and strategy, finances, operations, external environment and legal compliance.
Systems of internal control remain effective and these include an annual budget approved by the Trustees, quarterly reporting of financial results, variances from budget and forecasts, and clear arrangements for authorisation and delegation of decisions on expenditure.
The business continuity plan was maintained and updated and the Charity ensured that it was fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations by reviewing all aspects of its data protection and confidentiality policies, procedures and systems. The Information Governance Policy, Complaints Policy and HR related policies and procedures were reviewed during the year.
Reserves Policy
The Trustees’ priorities are to protect the essential services the Charity delivers to its client groups and to enable it to comply with requirements under employment legislation in the event of significant unplanned reductions in funding. In developing its business planning the Trustees have considered the level of reserves that are needed to enable them to manage areas of identified risk and to invest in projects that will enhance the Charity’s work and help position it favourably in relation to new funding opportunities.
The Trustee’s overall policy is to aim for a target for unrestricted reserves that would provide for at least six months operating costs. With the need to draw on these in order to sustain key but underfunded services for a number of years, the level of reserves has fallen significantly below the target. Unrestricted reserves (£166,813) fell below this level by 34% at the end of financial year 2022/23.
Given the already very challenging national and local financial climate, it will be essential that the reserves policy is kept actively under review alongside new fundraising outcomes and this will be a key element of the monitoring of the charity’s financial situation through the Risk Register.
Plans for Future Periods
We will continue to work closely with our consortium partners in Connect Lambeth, developing and strengthening services for local Disabled people in the fourth year of our five year contract. We will look to influence Lambeth Council to mitigate the disproportionate effects of the cost of living crisis on Disabled people in any way possible.
As a result of the organisational health check carried out by our external partner, Inclusion London, we plan to address the need to update our internal systems during 2023/24, modernising and streamlining our telephone, IT and CRM database systems. With this in mind we have extended the appointment of the Interim Director further to the end of December 2023.
We will revisit the decisions about staff structure, including when we advertise for a permanent Director, once the internal systems upgrades are complete.
We plan to strengthen and reinforce our Advice team, building on the existing Trust for London funding and new Propel funds.
Through the links made with our Community Development work, we aim to influence Lambeth Council programmes such as Active Lambeth to fully include Disabled people. We will also engage with senior Lambeth Council staff around how we can support their bold vision for the delivery of disability equity in the borough, as set out in ‘Lambeth 2030: Our Future, Our Lambeth’.
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
Plans for Future Periods (continued)
The Charity is keen to support our members and all Disabled Lambeth residents to be able to campaign on the issues that affect them most. We are very aware of the significant impact that charging for social care has on Disabled people who need support in their daily lives and plan to find ways to support and alleviate their voice.
Responsibilities of the Management Committee
Company law requires the Management Committee to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company as at the balance sheet date and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, for the financial year. In preparing those financial statements, the Management Committee should follow best practice and:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume that the company will continue on that basis.
The Management Committee is responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The Management Committee is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Members of the Management Committee
Members of the Management Committee, who are directors for the purpose of company law and trustees for the purpose of charity law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out on page 1.
In accordance with company law, as the company's directors, we certify that:
so far as we are aware, there is no relevant independent examination information of which the company's accountants are unaware; and as the directors of the company we have taken all the steps that we ought to have taken in order to make ourselves aware of any relevant independent examination information and to establish that the charity's accountants are aware of that information
Independent Examiners
The accountants, Hilary Adams Ltd, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (issued in March 2005) and in accordance with the special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small entities.
The report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Financial Reporting Standard 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” and the Companies Act 2006.
Approved by the Management Committee on and signed on its behalf by: Isabelle Clement Trustee 18th December 2023 Date: ............................................. .............................................
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (including Income and Expenditure Account) for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
| Notes Incoming resources: Voluntary income: 4 Donations & grants Lambeth funding contracts Activities for generating funds: Investment income 3 Incoming resources from charitable activities: Other income Total incoming resources Resources expended Costs of generating funds: Costs of generating voluntary income Charitable activities Total resources expended 2 STATEMENT OF TOTAL RECOGNISED GAINS AND LOSSES Net incoming resources before other recognised gains (net income for the year) Transfer depreciation reserve Transfer reserves Other recognised gains Gain on revaluation of investments Net movement in funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward 12 U |
Funds 2023 £ 6,500 319,320 347 61,605 nrestricted |
Restricted Funds 2023 £ 87,001 - - 29,250 116,251 - 118,992 118,992 (2,741) - 5 - (2,736) 30,453 27,717 |
Total Funds 2023 £ 93,501 319,320 347 90,855 504,023 - 506,136 506,136 (2,113) - - - (2,113) 196,643 194,530 |
Total Funds 2022 £ 114,727 320,787 30 40,030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 387,772 | 475,574 | |||
| - 387,144 |
- 549,351 |
|||
| 387,144 | 549,351 | |||
| 628 - (5) - |
(73,777) - - - |
|||
| 623 166,190 |
(73,777) 270,420 |
|||
| 166,813 | 196,643 |
Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 12 to the financial statements.
The notes form part of these financial statements
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH (REGISTERED NUMBER: 4214688)
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION 31 March 2023
| 31.3.23 Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds funds Notes £ £ £ FIXED ASSETS Tangible assets 9 1,727 - 1,727 CURRENT ASSETS Debtors 10 31,557 - 31,557 Cash at bank and in hand 238,438 27,717 266,155 269,995 27,717 297,712 CREDITORS Amounts falling due within one year 11 (104,909) - (104,909) NET CURRENT ASSETS 165,086 27,717 192,803 TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 166,813 27,717 194,530 NET ASSETS 166,813 27,717 194,530 FUNDS 12 Unrestricted funds 166,813 Restricted funds 27,717 TOTAL FUNDS 194,530 |
|
|---|---|
The company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for:
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(a) ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006 and
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(b) preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of each financial year and of its surplus or deficit for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Financial Reporting Standard 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” and the Companies Act 2006.
In accordance with Section 444 of the Companies Act 2006, the Income & Expenditure Account has not been delivered.
18th December 2023 The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by:
............................................................ ............................................................ Isabelle Clement Trustee
The notes form part of these financial statements
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DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
1. STATUTORY INFORMATION
Disability Advice Service Lambeth is a private company, limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. The company's registered number and registered office address can be found on the Company Information page.
- ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of preparing the financial statements
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions Financial Reporting Standard 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
Financial Reporting Standard Number 1
Exemption has been taken from preparing a cash flow statement on the grounds that the company qualifies as a small company.
Turnover
Turnover represents grants and contract funding payments received.
Tangible fixed assets
Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.
Plant and machinery etc - 33% on cost, 20% on cost
Fund accounting
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Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectivities of the charity.
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Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Management Committee for particular purposes.
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Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.
Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:
Grants and contract funding payments are recognised when receivable; Investment income is included when receivable.
Resources expended
Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes VAT and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates:
- Costs of generating funds comprise the costs associated with both the costs of attracting the income and those of providing the facilities to generate the income. Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.
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continued…
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS – continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
3. INVESTMENT INCOME
| 31.3.23 £ Deposit account interest 347 |
31.3.22 £ 30 |
|---|---|
4. INCOMING RESOURCES FROM ACTIVITIES TO FURTHER THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS
| Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Restricted | 2023 | 2022 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Total | ||||||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||||
| London Borough of Lambeth | 319,320 | - | 319,320 | 320,787 | |||||
| Skills for Care | - | - | - | 9,090 | |||||
| Sport England | - | 9,681 | 9,681 | 2,200 | |||||
| Trust for London | - | 58,240 | 58,240 | 28,250 | |||||
| NHS South East London | CCG | 6,500 | - | 6,500 | 30,198 | ||||
| Inclusion London | 10,716 | - | 10,716 | 14,288 | |||||
| Power to Change | - | - | - | 20,000 | |||||
| Vision Foundation | - | 19,080 | 19,080 | 24,989 | |||||
| Henry Smith Charity | - | 29,250 | 29,250 | - | |||||
| Other | 51,236 | - | 51,236 | 25,772 | |||||
| 387,772 | 116,251 | 504,023 | 475,574 | ||||||
| 5. | STAFF COSTS | ||||||||
| 31.3.23 31.3.22 |
|||||||||
| £ | £ | ||||||||
| Wages and salaries | 380,804 366,930 |
||||||||
| Social security costs | 31,647 30,410 |
||||||||
| Pensions | 10,502 9,871 |
||||||||
| Other staff costs | 1,122 5,706 |
||||||||
| 424,075 412,917 |
|||||||||
| No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000. | |||||||||
| The average monthly number of employees during the year, | calculated on the basis of full time | ||||||||
| equivalents, was as follows: | |||||||||
| 31.3.23 | 31.3.22 | ||||||||
| Manager | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Direct | 13 | 12 | |||||||
| 14 | 13 | ||||||||
| 6. | NET INCOMING (OUTGOING) RESOURCES | ||||||||
| The operating surplus/(deficit) is | stated after charging: | ||||||||
| 31.3.23 31.3.22 |
|||||||||
| £ | £ | ||||||||
| Depreciation - owned assets | 1,982 2,184 |
||||||||
| Auditors' remuneration | - | - | |||||||
| Directors' remuneration and other benefits etc | - | - |
Page 13
continued...
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
7. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2023 nor for the year ended 31 March 2022.
Trustees' Expenses
There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 March 2023 nor for the year ended 31 March 2022.
8.
TAXATION
As a charity, Disability Advice Service Lambeth is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 Of the Taxes Act 1988 or s256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects. No tax charges have arisen in the Charity.
- TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
| COST At 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 DEPRECIATION At 1 April 2022 Charge for year At 31 March 2023 NET BOOK VALUE At 31 March 2023 At 31 March 2022 10. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Trade debtors Prepayments and accrued income 11. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Taxation and social security Other creditors Accruals and deferred income |
Plant and machinery etc £ 47,907 44,199 1,982 46,180 1,727 3,708 31.3.23 31.3.22 £ £ 31,557 50,405 - 380 31,557 50,785 31.3.23 31.3.22 £ £ 9,222 7,825 2,238 3,181 93,449 90,450 104,909 101,456 |
Plant and machinery etc £ 47,907 44,199 1,982 46,180 1,727 3,708 31.3.23 31.3.22 £ £ 31,557 50,405 - 380 31,557 50,785 31.3.23 31.3.22 £ £ 9,222 7,825 2,238 3,181 93,449 90,450 104,909 101,456 |
|---|---|---|
| 44,199 1,982 |
||
| 46,180 | ||
| 1,727 | ||
| 3,708 31.3.22 £ 50,405 380 50,785 31.3.22 £ 7,825 3,181 90,450 101,456 |
||
Page 14
continued...
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
12. Movement in Funds
| Unrestricted General Fund Restricted Direct Payments Support Training Into Sport Project Parenting Advocacy Smashing Records Specialist Advice Service Total Funds |
Net movement Reserve At 1.4.22 in funds transfers At 31.3.23 £ £ £ £ 166,190 628 (5) 166,813 4,156 (4,156) - - 21,922 3,560 - 25,482 - 2,685 - 2,685 4,597 (4,602) 5 - (222) (228) - (450) |
|---|---|
| 30,453 (2,741) 5 27,717 |
|
| 196,643 (2,113) - 194,530 |
Net movement in funds, included in above, are as follows:
| Unrestricted General Fund Restricted Direct Payments Support Training Into Sport Project Parenting Advocacy Smashing Records Specialist Advice Service Total Funds |
Incoming Resources Movement resources expended in funds £ £ £ 387,772 (387,144) 628 - (4,156) (4,156) 9,681 (6,121) 3,560 29,250 (26,565) 2,685 19,080 (23,682) (4,602) 58,240 (58,468) (228) |
|---|---|
| 116,251 (118,992) (2,741) |
|
| 504,023 (506,136) (2,113) |
Page 15
continued...
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
12. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS(cont)
Direct Payments Support Training
Training provided to individual employers in receipt of a Direct Payment funded from a grant provided by Skills for Care.
Into Sport Project
Support for Disabled people to become more involved in sport and physical activity. Funded through grants from Lambeth Council and Sport England.
Specialist Advice Service
Provision of a specialist advice service for Disabled people with particular focus on mental health service users. Funded by a grant from Trust for London.
Direct Payments Support
Information, advice, training and peer support opportunities for people who wish to use Direct Payments to manage their own care and support. This service is part of the Connect Lambeth Partnership contract and is funded through a contract with Lambeth Council held by Age UK Lambeth. Funding was also received from NHS SE London to support a co-production group on Personal Health Budgets.
Professional Advocacy
Professional advocacy for Disabled and older people and carers including statutory advocacy provided under the Care Act 2014 duties. This service forms part of the Connect Lambeth Partnership contract.
Community Development
Part of the Connect Lambeth Partnership contract. The service works with individual Disabled people, disability groups, other community organisations and Lambeth Council to address access barriers, make services more inclusive, create new social opportunities and support Disabled people’s voice on local and national issues of importance to them.
Supported Employment
Support to young Disabled people with assistance in seeking employment. Funded through Inclusion London.
Smashing Records
Support for people with visual impairments to develop podcast and radio broadcasting skills. Funded with a grant from Vision Foundation.
Development Projects
Used for income from consultancy projects and income from room lettings and for central administration costs.
Lived Experience
Support for Disabled people from South East London to become able to influence decision-makers in developments in personalised care in the local health care system based on their lived experience. Funded by the SE London Clinical Commissioning Group.
Parenting Advocacy Project
Specialist advocacy support for people with learning disabilities who are parents.
Page 16
CHARleRED A¢COUIITANTS' INtsepEND¢NY ¢XAMIII¢A'S AEPOAT TO TrIE BOARD OP DfRECTORS 014 THE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF OISAVSILITY ADVICi SiR¥ICt LAMBETH We report on the occountsof ttMmpanYIOr ended 31 M)rch 2023. whKh Ire set PO9eB9 tD 17 R•¥pKYe TuponilblntS•1 ol tru•t•es •rbd •Jramkn•r The trusiees Iwho are also the diwtors of cornpany for the pUTSe5 olcofftpany IJwxl afe re5ponslb for Ihe prepJTrlion of the atcounts. The uu5tee5 ion5ider thar Jjn audit L4 rot reqlre0 tor yeir nder settiofj 144 of thE Charme5 Act 2011 (the 2011 Acri ènd thai On Indep¢ThOent ¢xomin4iiw s needed. havlng satrIed oursel¥ts that the chaiify suoltct t¢ I11[ under torf••ny )d li IOT IndtPEhoeni eX•m1 •t<tyJnts under AI5 olthe 2011 Act. to f¢llow Iht pro¢eavre5 dDwn in ihe B•ner41 DCtn5 ty thiQwiity CofflrnlwlTrn section 145lsllb) of ie 2011 A¢i' affld to 5rate ther garticuL)r matters hav¢ our •it¢nitt)r. ••l¥ ol Indqp•nd•nt •x•ffllfi•f• r•p•rt Our ¢xaminèibh cirré our ID ocairdJrtt rhe 9enernl Dirx¥m5 9iven by the CNIrty Commi535on. An exarnin4tr)n kndutres • revitr ol tfie at£ountwg recDr&5 kept by Ibe ChOrY bfid • comparOn ol the èCCtyJDrs pie5ent¢O I1$e rffo¢ds. It atso Includes conshieration ol èny unusual l(em5 or dbdty%ures In •¢¢ouDts. and 5eekin9 Expkinath?ns from you as trnstee5 concernir¥4 aThy such m•iiers Ine Or¢¢Vre1 undert•len do rffjt prOve al the evidence that w¢uK1 be reouireé In an èualt ènd onsequeDriy M oplnki Is gwen as LO whethertheoccounts mstkia'irue Ind vkn. and the r¥ort Is mee to thD5e set our n the swni tyew. Ind•p•rt41•ttt •¥•rnln•f• ot•l•mqnt In conneCtn wth our e¥•minaTty)h, 110 martél has come to Ovr tew: 111 u¥ r¢•sOfi• c•u%e to beleve th•t In ofiy wiertal rts)ett reoulriienti". to keep ¢ttorth •eeord•nce wlth 5ectbn 386 of Ihe Compans Act 2006,, to prepar¢ accord the •rtountiNJ ¥et•rd5, coMY wrth the Jccountkng requwements of sectb)rt 396 ofthe Coryan5 Act 2TrJ6 the methodsand Oncips ol the Statni ofAecommeTh4td Pr•ctkv.' kmunbry•n¢ Reportmg byCh¥ have nor been met,. or 121 to whlch. our ownlon. Itttnibn lh$ )• dr•wn In enable • omper undernthnoino ¢1 t accout5 to bE reaced. HtWry Adam5 Ltd Chartert¢ 158 S¢rtet erne Béy Kqnt cr6 5NP Thls pa9e ¢J¢es form p¥t oi the stètsjtory fiTrafÉ¥l StstnIs Page 17
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
DETAILED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
| TURNOVER Lambeth funding contracts Other income Trust grants STAFF COSTS AND EXPENSES Wages and salaries Employers NI Employers pensions Training Staff travel Other staff costs GROSS SURPLUS Administrative Expenses Rent Recruitment Software & maintenance Insurance Post and stationery Other activity costs Subscriptions Meeting costs (activity) Venue hire Volunteers Communications Payroll costs Accountancy fees Legal fees Consultancy fees Bank charges Just giving charges |
2023 £ £ 319,320 90,855 93,501 503,676 380,804 31,647 10,502 252 601 269 (424,075) 79,601 37,761 1,750 2,976 1,968 2,446 12,488 5,036 656 464 437 3,620 1,324 1,452 250 2,160 179 216 |
2023 £ £ 319,320 90,855 93,501 503,676 380,804 31,647 10,502 252 601 269 (424,075) 79,601 37,761 1,750 2,976 1,968 2,446 12,488 5,036 656 464 437 3,620 1,324 1,452 250 2,160 179 216 |
2022 £ £ 320,787 40,030 114,727 475,544 366,930 30,410 9,871 4,840 287 579 (412,917) 62,627 51,907 2,342 958 1,859 1,372 13,829 5,127 926 - 106 3,565 1,271 1,386 38,799 3,051 193 216 ...CONTINUED |
|---|---|---|---|
| 503,676 (424,075) |
|||
| 37,761 1,750 2,976 1,968 2,446 12,488 5,036 656 464 437 3,620 1,324 1,452 250 2,160 179 216 |
|||
| 79,601 |
This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements
Page 18
DISABILITY ADVICE SERVICE LAMBETH
DETAILED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT for the Year Ended 31 March 2023
| Depreciation of plant and machinery Depreciation of fixtures and fittings Depreciation of computer equipment Sundry expenses Project partner costs OPERATING SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) Other interest receivable and similar income Bank interest receivable SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR |
372 676 934 4,896 - |
(82,061) | 574 676 934 4,743 2,600 |
(136,434) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (2,460) 347 |
(73,807) 30 |
|||
| (2,113) | (73,777) |
This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements
Page 19