2021-12-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report 2022

Introduction

• This Trustees’ Annual Report 2022 updates supporters, funders and the Charity Commission about SAYT - Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust – Charity No 1090595: o Charitable work 2021/22 - including continuing COVID-19 response, and o Most recent annual accounts - for the year to 31st December 2021.

Trustees

• The board of trustees (and some other roles they undertook) during the period remains:

Dawn Hallam [Chair] volunteer youth worker, deputy safeguarding lead Dr Caroline Berry board secretary and prayer secretary Guy Knight line manager, HR, disclosures Rob Marsh safeguarding lead, SAYT founder Rev Angela Rigby volunteer youth worker and Chair of CTSD Chris Williams insurance and legal lead

The board are greatly assisted by

Claire Davison hon treasurer Sam Farren FCA independent examiner

Structure, Governance & Management

• SAYT is constituted as a Trust; through a governing document which is a Declaration of Trust made 3 August 2001, amended by a supplemental deed of 16 January 2002.

• Trustees are selected, invited, inducted, and formally elected by existing Trustees based on skills required for governance, leadership, management, PR and fundraising.

– SAYT Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust

Office / Team Mobile / SMS 07763 364 185 | Email [e-mail] SAYT Office, 39 Dartford Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3TE www.sayt.org.uk | Registered Charity No 1090595

Objectives

The objects of SAYT - Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust are set out in its governing document:

• to relieve suffering and distress amongst children and young people by meeting them where they are and providing support, advice, and counselling according to their need in Sevenoaks and the surrounding towns and villages regardless of the race, religion or creed of any person or persons in need and

• the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Beliefs set out in the schedule and to fulfil such other purposes which are exclusively charitable according to the law of England and Wales and are connected with the charitable work of the Trust.

• SAYT is a Christian Trust founded in 2001 to employ, manage, train & support Christian Youth Workers in the Sevenoaks area, and to:

• ✓ Undertake Detached [i.e. not in a centre or youth club] Youth Work, in streets & parks of local towns and villages - wherever Young People are hanging out...

• ✓ Provide limited but regular presence in local schools and other youth facilities such as ‘House in the Basement’ led by Sevenoaks Town Council.

• ✓ Encourage and support other youth workers in local churches who run youth clubs, youth work and other Christian youth activities and residentials.

• ✓ Be salt and light in our local area.

• The Trust seeks, particularly working with Young People, to serve the whole community of Sevenoaks & District - regardless of race, religion, creed of any person(s) in need; and regardless of nationality, gender, sexuality, disability or any other aspect of their cultural, educational or social background.

• We are needs-led, young person-focused, non-judgmental and will never discriminate [on grounds of gender, sexuality, disability, faith or social background].

• We are committed to the FaithWorks Charter and the highest possible standards of contextual safeguarding [aided by our membership of ThirtyOne:Eight].

• We are members of FYT Frontier Youth Trust and CTSD Churches Together in Sevenoaks & District; and draw on best practice [especially around best practice in making youth work Covid-secure from FDYW Federation of Detached Youth Work and NYA National Youth Agency. We host youth workers prayer breakfasts, often on zoom, to allow further sharing of best practice and mutual support.

• We seek to provide a consistent presence for young people [many of whom can feel isolated or vulnerable at times] – someone to trust . We draw on resources provided

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by the above organisations, and similar charities who we network with and enjoy the invaluable support of many churches, donors, volunteers and prayer supporters.

• The Trustees have had regard to all guidance offered by the Charity Commission: on safeguarding, whistleblowing, reporting serious incidents, responding to Covid19 and public benefit. The main public benefit activities undertaken are shown below.

Activities and progress

➢ Detached work (coming alongside young people where they are)

• ✓ Every Tuesday evening on the Kemsing recreation ground: offering hot chocolate/squash and home-made cakes (when donated) chatting, listening, advising, assisting and befriending.

• ✓ Every Thursday evening at Greatness Park: offering hot chocolate/squash and home-made cakes (when donated) chatting, listening, advising, assisting and befriending.

• ✓ Occasional visits to “House In The Basement” (Stag theatre basement): having fun, playing games, chatting, listening, encouraging, helping with homework, CVs, job applications, relationship difficulties etc.

• ✓ Online meetings to support groups of young people were often held on a weekly basis during the more restrictive phases of Covid lock down.

• ✓ All activities – face to face and on-line - were fully risk assessed, followed all Covid guideline and best practice for the sector.

• ➢ Schools work (where most young people spend a lot of their time)

• ✓ During Covid this was significantly reduced from our previously regular visits to Knole Academy and Trinity Free School; but we plan to restart these.

• ✓ Supporting online school prayer meetings where these are held.

➢ Training, promoting quality Youth Work in the area

• ✓ Monthly prayer breakfasts to support other Christian youth workers in the area.

• ✓ Promoting training opportunities for (paid / volunteer) Christian youth workers in the area

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• ➢ Special events & support for young people

• ✓ Days out to the beach, drama evenings, film nights, visits, courses. [During Covid there have been no residential events held].

• ✓ Mentoring and supporting individual young people as they navigate many life challenges.

• ➢ COVID19 operations to support young people

• ✓ Mentoring and supporting young people by using social media and socially distanced face to face detached youth work.

• ✓ Encouraging young people, and often reaching out through them, to other young people facing severe challenges in their life.

➢ Case studies / Impact

• ✓ We regularly share case studies [anonymised of course] in regular newsletters and prayer letters.

• ✓ These evidence the impact of our work, at a time when schools, families and churches are finding it harder to support young people; and some other charities / services had reduced or stopped their work, going into furlough. This is against a national and local background of increasing need with young people suffering from greater mental health issues, loss of education during covid and increasing attainment gaps between those of similar age. The cost-of-living crisis is already beginning to exacerbate these issues for many of the young people we work with.

➢ Future Events

• ✓ Regular prayer breakfasts for youth workers and supporters to encourage, pray and share good practice. We send prayer requests to over 60 prayer supporters.

• ✓ Regular informal events to thank and train our amazing team of volunteers; and to seek to recruit more youth work volunteers who help to make our work so distinctive and effective. Please email [e-mail] if you’d like to know more about becoming a volunteer – youth worker or baker.

• ✓ Individual donors. Trustees are keen to reach out to about 40 more individual supporters to increase our prayer support and financial support.

• ✓ How can you help? Please contact our founder [e-mail] or Text SAYT to 07941388852 if you would like to help us achieve any of this.

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• Please email [e-mail] if you’d like to know more about becoming a volunteer youth worker and/or baker.

• We can now offer regular giving by text which some may find a helpful way to support our work. Please contact our Treasurer Claire [e-mail] confidentially about making donations and gift aid.

• Please contact our Prayer Secretary Caroline [e-mail] to get copies of our monthly prayer letter and/or an invite to the monthly prayer breakfasts [currently on zoom, but moving to in person].

• To get our regular newsletters including invites to future events please join our -

• mailing list http://eepurl.com/dx i51 or email [e-mail]

Achievements and Performance – our Impact

SAYT exists to make an impact in our local area and specifically in the lives of the young people we engage. We are proud to have been a positive influence and force for good for many young people, over so many years, and particularly during the Covid19 crisis and lockdown. A number of young people have become Christians or been able to strengthen their faith. We measure our impact more broadly in terms of showing compassion, empathy and ensuring that every young person we meet knows we value them and believe in their worth.

Case studies . We often share recent case studies [anonymised of course] in our regular newsletters and prayer letters.

Resources

Financial Report

• The Trustees are pleased to submit the most recent approved annual accounts for the year to 31st December 2021. These are subject to an independent examination each year, as being best practice, although not strictly required every year by the Charity Commission when our turnover is below their threshold.

• We thank our treasurer, Claire Davison, for maintaining such clear accounts in such a timely manner, and her regular financial reports and forecasts for the board of trustees.

• We also thank Sam Farren FCA for her diligent examination and reporting to Trustees.

• Funds are received primarily from local churches (66%), grants (5%) and gifts from individual donors and trust (27%).

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• The trustees seek to hold a minimum level of unrestricted reserves to £15,000, in view of recent events, strain on the charity sector and reduced levels of donations that most charities are seeing. The Trust will maintain free reserves [Cash] in practice [and in approved budgets and cash flow forecasts which are monitored monthly] of between £14,000 and £30,000. This reserves policy has been developed to meet the need for working capital, recognising our current dependence on some large annual donations from several churches, that some donations arrive later than expected and the need to provide redundancy costs should they be required. This policy is reviewed annually.

• Most funds come to us from church or individual supporters, so we very rarely need to hold fundraising events. We have not yet joined the Fundraising Regulator as their service is largely irrelevant to our work. Nevertheless, we follow the principles set out by them, the Institute of Fundraising and updated all our data bases, mailing lists, policy and security to ensure best practice as well as meeting our GDPR obligations.

• The Trust remains a going concern, has an updated reserves policy to further mitigate the ongoing funding risks from the cost-of-living crisis [and salary / energy cost pressures on church budgets] and trustees are seeking to recruit more individual regular donors, to diversify our income generation.

• During the year, 2 trustees (2020: 1) were reimbursed a total of £354 (2020: £90) for expenses incurred on behalf of the charity.

Staffing & Volunteers

• We provide regular updates via newsletters, website, social media, visits to local churches [in person or by video] and [Covid permitting] at public meetings.

• Our film Believing Their Worth www.SAYT.org.uk/film still proves very useful.

• We have seen significant changes in our amazing team of part-time staff and volunteers during 2021/22. They are all gifted communicators with significant life and professional experience of working with young people. They are undoubtedly our greatest ‘resource’, and we are indebted to them all for their commitment, passion and patience as together we humbly seek to be salt and light for young people, bringing God and His perspective into their life: walking, listening and supporting them on their life journey.

• Julie – We were all greatly shocked by the tragic death of Julie, our part time Youth Worker & Team Leader for many years. We all miss her experience of building positive working relationships with agencies / organisations and with young people, including 1-1 mentoring where needed by a young person. We plan to plant a tree in her memory in Greatness with our partners Sevenoaks Town Council. You can add -

• to our book of condolence at https://rememberancebook.net/book/julie boddington/

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• Holly – Holly now has other family responsibilities so has stepped down from her part time role. She has proved an amazingly talented and capable Youth Worker and leader, bringing a wealth of local contacts and experience, making her a brilliant role-model: she engages young people where they are, listens and supports; as well as encouraging young SAYT volunteers. We are delighted that Holly has joined our small band of volunteers now!

• Levi – Levi has joined SAYT, bringing rich pastoral and leadership experience.

• Debbie – Debbie has joined SAYT, bringing experience of local youth provision.

• Pippa – Pippa offers part time admin and PR support to ensure our youth workers can spend more time with young people

• Supported by some very active volunteers:

• Some support our paid staff regularly joining detached youth work, face to face with young people, whilst others bake cakes for the team to take out each week

• About 60 people are committed to praying for us and young people we meet.

• Treasurer: Claire Davison. Line manager: Guy Knight. Web/IT coord: Chris Brown

• Trustees who provide governance, vision, and spiritual oversight

• Individual donors and supporters are greatly appreciated

• Some people kindly act as ambassadors to help keep their church updated

• We are always pleased to welcome new volunteers, supporters, or donors

• We thank all who support our work in prayer, with donations and/or their time; and thank God for His gracious and timely provision.

Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by

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Rob Marsh, Trustee 31 [st] October 2022
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Independent examiner's report to the trustees of SAYT - Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of SAYT - Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust (‘the charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of SAYT - Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011(‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

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

• 1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2) the accounts do not accord with those records.

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.

Sam Farren FCA

Sevenoaks 12 December 2022

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Sevenoaks Area Youth Trust (SAYT) Charity No 1090595 Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31st December 2021 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £ £ 2021 2021 Receipts Gifts from Churches 18,912 - Gifts from Individual Donors and Trusts 7,572 - Grants - 1,500 Gift Aid 856 - Interest 2 - Total Receipts 27,342 1,500 Payments Salaries, NIC and Pension 18,063 656 Courses and Training 150 - PR & Printing 195 - Motor and Travelling Expenses 258 - Insurance 861 - Professional fees 1,973 - IT - - Telephone and Internet 42 - Special Activities with Young People 833 367 Ministry Support - - Bank charges 96 - Total Payments 22,471 1,023 Net Receipts (Payments) 4,871 477 Cash funds brought forward 21,523 - Cash funds carried forward 26,394 477 Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31st December 2021 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £ £ 2021 2021 Cash Funds CAF Cash Account 11,861 477 CAF Gold Account 14,533 - Total Cash Funds 26,394 477 Other monetary assets Gift Aid reclaim due 801 - Prepayments 683 - 1,484 - Liabilities Accruals 197 - Pension contribution 83 - 280 - Signed on behalf of the trustees …................................................................... . 31 Oct 2022 (date)	Total funds £ 2021 18,912 7,572 1,500 856 2 28,842 18,719 150 195 258 861 1,973 - 42 1,200 - 96 23,494 5,348 21,523 26,871 Total funds £ 2021 12,338 14,533 26,871 801 683 1,484 197 83 280	Unrestricted and total funds £ 2020 14,579 5,568 1,200 437 16
		21,800
		22,152 194 133 140 842 1,174 255 201 1,453 38 60
		26,642
		(4,842) 26,365
		21,523
		Unrestricted and total funds £ 2020 1,991 19,532
		21,523
		633 893
		1,526
		300
		300