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2024-03-31-accounts

TRUST LINKS LIMITED REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Charity Registration No. 1092324 | Company Registration No. 4351216 (England and Wales)

© Copyright 2024 Trust Links Ltd | www.trustlinks.org

Contents

Contents ii
Fr
Trustees' Report Pg 3
Independent Auditor's Report Pg 42
Statement of Financial Activities Pg 45
Balance Sheet Pg 46
Statement of Cash Flows Pg 47
Notes to the Financial Statements Pg 48

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The Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Introduction

The trustees who are also the directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31st March 2024. The trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) Accounting and Reporting by Charities issued in March 2005.

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Reference and administrative details

The full name of the charity is Trust Links Limited.

The legal registration details are:

Date of incorporation Charity Registration Number Company Registration Number The Registered Office is

10 / 01 /2002 1092324 4351216 47 Fairfax Drive Westcliff-on-Sea Essex SS0 9AG

Trustees

Mr Michael W Anderson Ms Rhianne Benger Mrs Jackie Bliss Mrs Valerie C Bloomfield Ms Jules Grudniewicz Box Mr Paul M Bridges Mr Henry Burgess Ms Sonya Dallat Ms Lysanne Eddy Mr Jonathan Hodge Ms Evelyn Hoggart Mr Dean W Muslin Ms Lucy Norman Ms Alex J Paterson Ms Janet Phillips Mr Keith Spencer Mrs Pauline M Stratford

(Appointed 18 July 2023)

(Appointed 18 July 2023) (Appointed 14 May 2024)

(Resigned 11 October 2023) (Appointed 14 May 2024) (Resigned 25 September 2023)

(Resigned 28 April 2023) (Resigned 4 May 2023) (Appointed 14 May 2024) (Appointed 14 May 2024)

(Resigned 19 April 2024)

Company secretary Mr Matt A King

Patron Mrs Jill Allen-King OBE

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Objectives and Activities

Trust Links aims to support vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Essex, particularly those with mental health problems, learning disabilities and physical disabilities and carers, and to provide and support environmental education and awareness.

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Values

Growing communities and transforming lives through a person-focussed approach to mental health and wellbeing, enabling people to lead fulfilling lives in sustainable environments in Essex, with a ripple effect globally through the dissemination of best practice.

We empower and connect individuals and communities, helping people to support each other. We transform mental health and wellbeing through inclusive, supportive and collaborative environments.

Promoting:

Key Strategic Objectives

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Trust Links

Our services and projects have continued to grow and develop during the year, helping to support mental health, wellbeing and environmental education and engagement with increasing numbers of people in Essex.

Demand for mental health services and support has continued to rise, with increasing complexity of need. The cost of living crisis and other social and environmental pressures are having a growing impact on our communities, whilst resources from NHS, local authorities and other funders is increasingly competitive. Nonetheless, the Trust Links team has stepped up to this challenge, delivering a wide range of innovative and impactful projects for people of all ages.

During the year, Trust Links was recognised for our work with a range of nominations and awards. We won the Rochford District Business Award in the ‘Community Impact’ and ‘Sustainability’ categories. We were shortlisted for the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, the charity equivalent of the MBE. In May 2023 we celebrated HM King Charles III’s coronation across our sites with parties with members and volunteers.

The Growing Together Westcliff, Shoeburyness and Thundersley sites all won the Green Flag Community Awards, recognising the hard work that our members, volunteers and staff put in to tending and developing the green spaces for our local communities.

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The Growing Together Basildon project launched in May 2023, following seven years of work fundraising, planning, developing and building the site, which is located in the heart of an urban area of multiple deprivation.

We have continued to develop plans and fundraising for The Gunny site on Canvey Island in partnership with the Big Local Canvey Island and Local Trust. We have continued the discussions and plans for new sites in Thurrock and Chelmsford. The project to develop a community garden space working with Havens Hospice has also continued.

We completed the development of our new website with Six Red Squares. The aim of the website is to make our project information, referrals and donations easily accessible. We launched the site in June 2023.

Our online community continued to grow across our social media platforms, and our primary channel, Facebook, now exceeds 4,600 followers.

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Throughout the year we achieved good publicity in the local newspaper and online. Working with Castle Point and Rochford Health & Wellbeing Board, we led the commissioning of films of local delivery organisations and an interactive website, to raise awareness of services available locally. We showcased our services on Basildon Hospital Radio and BBC Essex. Two local corporate supporters filmed our sites, interviewed members and staff to produce promotional footage to raise awareness and attract new support for the charity.

Our Youth Links project was delighted to feature on BBC One on Children in Need and BBC Look East, with powerful testimonies from the young people that attend the project talking about the difference that Trust Links has made to their lives.

We have seen an increase in the level of interest in corporate volunteering support and hosted several groups at St Laurence Orchard, Thundersley and Growing Together Basildon.

Our community events remain popular, and we have had local businesses attend, volunteer and sponsor key events including Wassailing, Seed Potato Day, May Fayre, Summer Fayre, Apple Day and Christmas Fayre.

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2023/24 ~~Trustlinks~~ Number of people supported and SUPPORTED PEOPLE G4.6'5 actively engaged (2022-2024) With Supported Actively engaged 4241 3082 people ‘actively wellbeing groups and activity engaging’ across all sessions provided across all projects services

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Supported Actively engaged
people ‘actively wellbeing groups and activity
engaging’ across all sessions provided across all
projects services
8000
6000 6465 STAFF & VOLUNTEERS
4878
4000 4008 4241 Staff Bank Volunteers
3178 Staff
2000 2873 62 11 167
0 alll
2022 2023 2024 Full Time Equivalent: 52.4
Number of members engaging with Growing Together and REACH
(2017-2024)
2000 2023
1893
1500 1538
Growing
1000
Together 816
REACH 500 531 589
0 322 403 342 357 257 389 462 488
2017-2018 2018-2019 2019- 2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
| oa ddd
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Bank Staff Volunteers Staff 62 11 167

Number of members engaging with Growing Together and REACH (2017-2024)

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REACH Recovery College & Wellbeing Hub
Outcome Measure:
1478 1651 1683 568 23 26 31 31
Referrals Courses, People People engaging Progress to Gained Progress to Maintaining
into the workshops or receiving with Depression
service positive activity 1-1 support and Suicide education employment volunteering employment
sessions delivered sessions Pathway
CSRI Data: Service Usage (Client Service Receipt Inventory) Baseline Review PHQ-9 Average Scores:
Initial Assessment vs 1st Review (6 weeks)
17 [%]
Initial Assessment 19
17 [%] 9 [%]
76 [%] Reduced
1 [st] Review 12 depression
53 [%]
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
42 [%]
Primary Care Services Secondary Care Services A&E Attendances
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Growing Together

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Outcome Measure: 100 [%]
felt they had 86 [%]
a meaningful
structure to their 0 [%]
week
felt part of a 85 [[%]]
community
felt they were 83 [[%]]
learning new skills
felt more 71 [[%]]
comfortable
meeting new
people
69 [[%]] 56 [[%]] 54 [[%]]
felt they were Felt they were felt less
improving or progressing towards dependent
maintaining their employment on other
physical fitness
or supported people or
volunteering services
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524 Members

Members engaging With the service 488

Newly enrolled week With the service members felt part of a 85[[%]] 488 176 community felt they were 83[[%]] Sessions run: learning new skills felt more 71[[%]] comfortable meeting new ft wm Q 5 : @ people 498 43 15 49 49 49 69[[%]] 56[[%]] 54[[%]] Individual Women’s Cooking Music Art Yoga member group sessions group group sessions felt they were Felt they were felt less days sessions sessions sessions improving or progressing towards dependent maintaining their employment on other physical fitness or supported people or 841 Total individual sessions 19 Completed Level 1 volunteering services provided (including member Diploma in days, women’s group, yoga, Practical Horticulture courses and workshops) Vv ~~=~~ Proportions of wellbeing before & after intervention: Mean SWEMWBS score: % Low % Moderate % High Wellbeing Wellbeing Wellbeing ~~es,~~ LU a Before 20.7 Before 60[%] 38[%] 1[%] iii —— lll After 25.0 After 34[%] 46[%] 20[%] ~~C~~ i —Ell—s 0.0 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Greening Basildon[and] Talking Together 1120 Contacts Greening Southend 106 People engaged 275 Attendances Community Based Sessions: Befriender 139 48 Befriendees 40 36 Volunteers Basildon Southend Children, Youth & Families © Proportions of wellbeing before & after intervention: ~~o~~ Families Learning Growing ea ~~Ba~~ % Low Wellbeing ~~a~~ % Moderate Wellbeing % High Wellbeing Together Together Youth Links Before 60[%] 38[%] 1[%] 69 181 105 88 46* ~~—~~ lll young Parent/ young regularly New After 34[%] 46[%] 20[%] people Guardian/ people engaging referrals —Ell—s™ supported Care-givers registered in year 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

19424rees planted during the year 1000 The Gunny 15 Apple Trees planted at BasildonApple Trees planted at Basildon planted at Basildon 3 Growing Together Basildon launch 10 Thundersley Espalier treesThundersley Espalier treesEspalier trees 1 Jubilee Tree planted at Shoeburyness 700 Southchurch Park East 8 Bournes Green Park Bournes Green Park 1 at St Laurence Orchard at Wassailing 200 Darlington Primary School 3 Greening Basildon projects 1 at St Laurence Orchard at Apple Day

15 Apple Trees planted at BasildonApple Trees planted at Basildon planted at Basildon 10 Thundersley Espalier treesThundersley Espalier treesEspalier trees 8 Bournes Green Park Bournes Green Park 3 Greening Basildon projects

200 Darlington Primary School

Income & Expenditure

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Income Expenditure
£0 £200K £400K £600K £800K £1000K £1200K £1400K £1600K £1800K £2000K
£584,967
2017 /18
£577,907
£675,975
2018 /19
£671,482
£880,716
2019 /20
£837,543
£1,108,899
2020 /21
£1,034,611
£1,607,162
2021 /22
£1,436,022
£1,837,206
2022 /23
£1,564,458
£1,877,191
2023 /24
£1,851,746
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Funding mix (2023 - 2024)

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41.5 [%]
Grants
41.5 [%] 7 [%] Gifts & Donations
(Trusts & Foundations)
43 [%] NHS & Council contracts 3.8 [%] National Lottery
Community Fund
43 [%]
4.7 [%]
4.7 [%] Personal Budgets
7 [%]
3.8 [%]
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Growin To ether g g

The Growing Together projects have been busier than ever. Each garden has continued to evolve and thrive, with therapeutic gardening for adults with mental health issues and mild learning disabilities at the heart of our offer. In total we have 488 adults actively engaged with the Growing Together service. Many have been referred to the project this year, whilst some have been members for several years.

Growing Together Westcliff

Growing Together Westcliff continues to be our flagship garden. The project has been busy throughout the year, with 266 members attending and benefiting from the service. Members enjoyed the range of activities on offer alongside horticulture including art, music, yoga, creative writing, employment support, cooking and woodwork. The site hosted our May Fayre and Christmas Fayre, engaging the wider public in seasonal activities and providing an opportunity for fundraising to support the charity.

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A range of specialist workshops and projects have been run at Growing Together Westcliff. Highlights include Heritage Dye Garden workshops in partnership with local artists, where members and guests planted a traditional dye garden and learnt to dye

material using natural products grown in the garden. We ran a series of workshops for people living with Long COVID. These workshops included cyanotype printing, sound bath, and tending house plants.

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The Long COVID workshops
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The Menterprise project, funded by the DWP, is working with 25 men with mental health issues to build confidence, self-esteem and employability with a view to progressing to volunteering and employment. One of the Menterprise groups focussed on woodwork, recycling and upcycling unwanted wood, building and selling furniture. The other Menterprise group worked with

our trustee Henry Burgess from Henry Burgers to develop skills in catering and hospitality. This project had three job outcomes for members, as well as progress in education and volunteering. Social justice outcomes within this project included increased confidence and selfesteem and participants’ SWEMWBS scores rose from (average) 20.7 to 25 from the start of the course to the end.

The Menterprise project

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Growing Together Shoeburyness

Growing Together Shoeburyness continued to be well maintained and very well used, with 93 adults with mental health issues and mild learning disabilities regularly engaging with the therapeutic gardening at the project. We ran adult days on Tuesday and Thursday, a women’s group

on Wednesday afternoons, Dig It Youth on Wednesday evenings, Families Growing Together on Mondays and REACH on Fridays at the site. Home education groups and the Southend YMCA Bump to Breast Group also use the space regularly.

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Growing Together Shoeburyness
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Our team delivered the City & Guilds accredited Level 1 Diploma in Practical Horticulture at Growing Together Shoeburyness each Tuesday, and 19 individuals including four volunteers completed the Diploma. We have 16 individuals now starting the Level 2 Diploma.

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The Summer Fayre in July was a highlight of the year, welcoming hundreds of people from the local community to the garden.

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Shoeburyness Summer Fayre
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Growing Together Thundersley

Growing Together Thundersley is well established with therapeutic community garden days on a Friday, with 46 regular members. The Community Shed is enjoyed on a Wednesday. We ran ‘Cooking It Up’

and ‘Cooking on a Budget’ courses, both over six weeks, enabling our members to learn to cook healthy and fresh food on a limited budget. Sixteen people attended and benefited from these courses.

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Growing Together and
Community Shed in Thundersley
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Growing Together Rochford

Growing Together Rochford has been maintained to a high standard. Thirteen members enjoy accessing the project on a Friday and benefit from a healthy hot lunch cooked by REACH members. Rochford also hosted the ‘Cooking It Up’ course.

We hosted the popular Seed Potato Day at Rochford in February, run in partnership with South East Essex Organic Gardeners. The Essex Asian Women’s Association once again provided a delicious curry at the event and Leigh Lions and Southend in Transition both had stalls.

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Seed Potato Day
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Growing Together Cressing Temple

Growing Together Cressing Temple, located between Witham and Braintree, continues to be enjoyed each Friday, with 19 members engaging with the project.

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Cressing Temple
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Growing Together Basildon

Growing Together Basildon has been open on Wednesdays throughout the year, and from the beginning of 2024 the project also ran on Mondays. We have seen the garden developing and evolving, with excellent engagement from the project’s 42 members and support from the public. We have also run a ‘Cooking on a Budget’ course, regularly engaging eight members. Growing Together Basildon also hosted a Warm Space project, distributing warm packs to attendees over the colder months.

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Basildon Launch
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We undertook a study with The University of Essex to evaluate the impact of the new Growing Together Basildon project as it developed. Quotes from members in the interviews and focus groups included:

“ …. to people I know outside of Trust Links I don’t really want to sort of tell them too much …. You feel a bit sort of, a bit of stigma to it really, you don’t sort of want to say too much about it. But when you come here you know everyone is sort of on the same page with whatever they have got. You just feel more free to discuss stuff between each other and try to help each other out…. When you feel like you can just say anything… to anyone, you have just got it off your chest a bit and it just makes a lighter load I suppose. ”

“ Being in nature is the best thing. Being in nature on its own is good for your mental health [with the] added bonus that you can do it with other people who are similar to you and staff members that actually try their best to understand you as a person. ”

“ I think obviously the medication is a good long-term thing but this is a good short term thing. For example, in the last few weeks because of a medical problem my mental health has been struggling like really really bad the last few weeks to the point I’ve been sleeping quite a lot, especially last week. But coming here today has really, it’s just changed…And obviously I’ve been taking my antidepressants for the entirety of that time for 2 - 3 years maybe longer actually. But however much that is good for long term stability, short time coming here is really good for when you are actively struggling with your mental health or having an episode of poor mental health….. ”

The evaluation, written by Dr Carly Wood, concludes with the following:

Attendance at Growing Together is beneficial for members’ wellbeing, life satisfaction, loneliness, and nature connection, helping with maintenance of good physical and mental health and providing opportunities for social interaction and skill development. The range of benefits experienced by members, alongside the potential benefits for the local community, demonstrate the potential for significant public cost saving through investment in projects such as Growing Together Basildon.

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Let’s Grow To ether g “It has helped to clarify thinking through the project and all the Let’s Grow Together aims to share the successful different components model of our Growing Together project with to running a successful other groups and organisations beyond Essex, therapeutic garden.” so that they do not have to reinvent the wheel and can learn from and replicate our approach Participant, Cohort 2 in their own areas and contexts. ~~_~~ -

Following the success of the initial Let’s Grow Together course, we delivered a second course with a new cohort of charities, community groups and individuals on the programme. Fourteen people joined the course, which included the delivery of six learning sessions on Zoom, oneto-one mentoring, and a comprehensive manual. Programme participants were from across the UK as well as the USA and Canada. A highlight of the programme was work experience at our gardens, which included one of our participants from Texas. A third cohort started in March 2024, with a diverse mixture of organisations and individuals from across the UK.

“I joined Let’s Grow Together to gain confidence and gather logistics for bringing the public into my garden space. I learnt about safety, safe pathways, simple instructions, shaded areas and peace and tranquility. My first U-pick brought in 8 people; this was my trial group. The atmosphere was incredible – people connecting with one another, sharing their thoughts on flower arrangement. My second U-pick brought 15 people to the garden. This event was special due to a group of parents with autistic children.” – Cheryl, USA

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St Laurence Orchard

The 100 year old St Laurence Orchard continues to be maintained for the benefit of wildlife, people and the harvest. Regular work parties during the spring, summer and autumn helped to maintain the Orchard, looking after the century old trees alongside the newer trees and wide variety of species in the one acre space. Wassailing in January woke the trees up for the new year with traditional singing and a procession through the Orchard and meadow. Apple Day in October brought people together for the harvest and celebration of the Orchard.

In the meadow the tool store, container classroom and composting toilet have been invaluable, providing essential facilities for people on work parties and an educational space for workshops and groups, helping the Orchard to be far more accessible and usable.

Thanks to donations via a crowdfunding campaign, we are delivering free workshops in the Orchard for the community. Workshops have included building a bug hotel, making Christmas willow wreaths, coppicing and dead hedging, and apple tree pruning. Thirty people attended, many of whom had not been to the Orchard before.

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Greening Projects

The Greening Projects in Basildon and Southend have continued to make use of our welfare van with tool storage, seating area and toilet. Our team drives to urban areas and estates of Southend and Basildon, working with residents and community groups to maintain and develop unloved outdoor spaces. This has included planting bulbs and trees, developing wildlife habitats, building raised beds, weeding and planting up neglected garden areas. The project aims to improve physical health, mental health, community connection and pride, as well as helping to improve the natural environment and nature recovery in our urban spaces.

Greening Basildon celebrated the first birthday of the Northlands Park Community Group in February and had a small party to mark the event. The volunteer group is really developing and has hosted several social events over the year including a Christmas party and several meetings where volunteers contribute their ideas and have begun to take ownership of the group.

We have continued to engage the community in the Felmores (Loxford) project, where we have planted new borders and built and installed planters and a bench. We have also worked with local residents in Nevendon Place and Lee Chapel North (Woolmers Green) to clear some neglected areas and make improvements to spaces.

We have been commissioned by Beechwood Village Community Trust to develop a community garden on this estate in Basildon, working closely with the community to make use of communal green spaces and help build a more cohesive community.

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Basildon Environmental Activities Volunteering

Working with Creative Basildon, ATF and BBWCVS, we were awarded Arts Council England funding for a project in Basildon to engage people in environmental volunteering. Our project co-ordinator worked with residents, community groups, schools and local businesses to facilitate their engagement with environmental activities. Volunteering days have included tree planting, maintenance in parks, litter picking, creating wildlife habitats and nature recovery projects. We will be working closely with those in the arts and sports sector to promote more volunteering opportunities in Basildon over the coming year. During the course of the year, 30 activities were organised, with 108 new volunteers engaged in sessions.

The Enchanted Evening at Basildon was a great success with more than 200 visitors, in spite of torrential weather.

The Great Gathering Basildon

The Great Gathering: To mark the end of the Volunteering Futures project a four-day festival took place. This brought all four partners together hosting a series of events including workshops, speakers, dance,

art and music. A poem about Basildon, a volunteer map and special pottery were commissioned and all the volunteers from the start of the project participated in its success.

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Eco Days

Our Eco Days project runs regular workshops and learning sessions to help people minimise their negative impact on the environment and help them take positive climate change action. This year we have had three separate Eco Days projects running. Our well-established workshops with Milton Community Partnership are mostly delivered at St Mark’s Church. We continued with the Essex County Council funded workshops in Rochford and Castle Point. In October we started an exciting

new project, funded by Natural England, working with a number of partners across Southend, Rochford and Basildon. Groups included The Westcliff Centre for people with learning disabilities, Welcome to the UK working with migrants and refugees, Peaceful Place in Basildon working with people with early onset dementia, the Long COVID Group, Southend in Sight working with people with sight loss, and Little Heroes ASD Support. We also ran weekend and evening open community workshops.

The workshops have covered a huge range of activities such as wildflower and bug surveys, crafting with recycled materials, making eco cleaning products, natural dyeing and the everpopular jams, chutneys, and other preserve making. The ethos is always to think about how sustainable we can be. In total we delivered 60 sessions with 453 people attending.

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We organised the Essex Green Weekend at Othona in May 2023 and a number of other events throughout the year such as the Storm Warning exhibition at Focal Point Gallery, and the Hamlet Court Road in Harmony Festival in May. We also convened the extremely successful Green Get Together with Greening Southend in September.

Travis – Milton Attendee

“I always look forward to the Eco Days with Trust Links. Such a variety of workshops and Fiona is so helpful. The atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly and I’ve made some lovely stuff - and some lovely new friends too.”

Travis is retired and was looking for things to do and to make connections. She has been coming regularly to the workshops and is very enthusiastic about them. A team has developed, who have been very helpful with setting up and tidying away, and Travis has now applied to be an Eco Days volunteer. She is a great ambassador for Eco Days and has brought her sister, daughter and new grandson along to join in the last few workshops.

Case Study - Little Heroes ASD Support

This is a local group that supports parents and carers of children with ASD needs. We had 23 attendees during the two workshops. Little Heroes ASD Support felt it would be important to run some sessions just for parents and carers. These were scheduled during school time so they could be child-free and organised activities that would be beneficial to them. Children with ASD often struggle with change to routines and act out, so parents and carers have restricted routines too. Getting out can be difficult.

“A big thank you to Fiona from Trust Links Eco Days, a great wreath making session using items readily available to us all in our local nature areas. So great to see parents and carers doing something for themselves and enjoying getting creative.”

Kim (Co-founder of Little Heroes)

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REACH

REACH Wellbeing Hub

The REACH Wellbeing Hub has continued to be in great demand, with a high number of referrals from the Primary Care Mental Health Nurses, social prescribers, social services and other agencies. We respond with an initial assessment, signposting to other specialist agencies where appropriate. Members access a weekly call or meeting for a fixed number of weeks if required. Working in partnership with the SS9 PCN in Leigh-onSea we have employed a new Mental Health Navigator role, who is working as a bridge between REACH services, other groups in the community and the Primary Care Network’s mental health multidisciplinary PACT Team.

We delivered and sustained a range of support groups and peer groups through the REACH Wellbeing Hub across Southend, Castle Point, Rochford and online on the Zoom platform. Groups included a walking group, meditation, art and crafts, music, bouldering at Indirock, cycling, fishing and gardening.

The Wellbeing Hub received 1,446 referrals to the Hub and associated projects in the year. 630 of these referrals went via the Depression and Suicide Prevention Pathway.

We delivered the Depression and Suicide Prevention Pathway, responding to people referred by Primary Care with up to six weekly telephone calls to support the wellbeing and recovery of individuals.

REACH Recovery College

The REACH team has delivered a wide range of courses and workshops across South East Essex and online. Courses were developed and delivered in co-production with people with lived experience of mental health issues. Workshops and courses spanned a range of subjects and issues including Managing Anxiety, Dealing with Panic Attacks, Confidence and Self-Esteem, Cookery, Mindfulness and Digital Arts.

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REACH Recovery College successfully delivered courses to 862 students during the year and provided 1,225 individual course, workshop and group sessions.

An analysis of outcomes for the REACH Wellbeing Hub and Recovery College suggests that engagement with the service is having a positive impact on individuals’ mental health and wellbeing, with average SWEMWBS scores increasing from 17.1 to 20.8. PHQ-9 depression scale scores dropped from an average of 18.2 (moderately severe

depression) to 12 (moderate depression), and secondary care usage dropped from 41% of individuals to 16% of individuals accessing secondary care services. In addition to this, Accident & Emergency attendances for mental health crises reduced from 16% of individuals attending in the previous three months to 10%, demonstrating a reduction in demand on costly NHS services. REACH supported 26 members in gaining employment, 23 into further education, 32 into volunteering posts and 38 members to maintain their existing employment.

REACH Recovery College Case Studies:

KB presented as a previous alcoholic who is now in recovery. He also used to be homeless which involved living on the streets and sofa surfing. HARP would then find him accommodation which helped him settle in his new home. He came to Trust Links wanting to lose weight, eat healthier and gain confidence. His primary goal is to get back into full time employment.

For the first six weeks of engagement, his PHQ9 score dropped from 12 to 1 which is an outstanding result in such a short amount of time. KB then wished to stay on with Trust Links and has now joined the Progression Pathway workshop which involves looking at volunteering which may lead to potential job opportunities. KB is very complimentary of the staff and members, and he has stated on numerous occasions that “the staff are

very friendly, and I get on really well with the other people in the group”. KB has been engaging for roughly three months now and has become a key member of Growing Together Westcliff. He enjoys the Down to Earth Group and finds being outside therapeutic. He also joined the Nutrition and Physical Health Group with the support of other members. This has helped him build his confidence. KB has also gained friends in the groups.

Before coming to Trust Links, KB would usually turn to drink as a coping mechanism. Now, he has found positive coping mechanisms that include walking, cooking and cycling along the seafront to catch the sunsets. He has also found mindfulness to be a useful tool to stay grounded.

KB has summarised his experience at Trust Links as:

“Trust Links has helped me not only socially meet new people and feel part of a group, but also going forward with opportunities to improve my life skills whether it’s volunteering, part time or full-time employment or attending the many workshops or groups they facilitate.”

Going forward, KB would like to find full time employment and he believes that he is closer to his goal now thanks to Trust Links. Since joining us he has lost weight, he is very active on his bike and his confidence has grown substantially.

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REACH Recovery College Case Studies:

“I wanted to say how I attended for the first painting from the day much I appreciate what time last week and before. Darren who ran Trust Links does. I moved although I nearly turned the class is a lovely guy from Birmingham to round my car and went who included everyone Essex in March and at home, I sat in the carpark in something!... I went first everything was ok, I for a while and then to the understanding didn’t realise how much I went in. I am so glad anxiety group led by was going to be isolated I did!!! I met the two Dan and Joseph at and lonely after having to Rachels and they made Thundersley.. For years medically retire. This has me feel welcome and I I have suffered with impacted on my mental got involved. Art allows anxiety and managed health and physical wellme to not think about to hide it from people. being. Then I found Trust what is going on in my I learnt a lot about Links!! head!! I have always myself! I have put one of been “arty”. I thoroughly the coping mechanisms I was appointed Joseph enjoyed myself and was into practice over the who has helped me so buzzing when I left! My weekend with a shopping much combat what I friend said that he could trip to Lakeside!!! was going through. His see a difference in my listening ear and kind demeanour when they I can honestly say that phone calls I’ve received saw me and that I felt I I wish I had had the while waiting for therapy had something to talk to opportunity to attend for PTSD has been a them about!! somewhere like Trust godsend. He is a real Links in Birmingham but asset to Trust Links. He I awoke Friday with a I’m so glad that I have encouraged me to join new zest for going out found you! I wouldn’t reach groups, although I again. I went to Trust say my issues have gone was very reluctant as I had Links cooking class at but with the support lost my self confidence. Rochford and what a and friendship I have He signed me up and friendly bunch of people! found at Trust Links gently persuaded me to I even met Jon from art and eventually some go along to the Thursday class there who made proper therapy from talk art group. a point of coming over therapy the future does to say how he likes my look a little brighter.”

Talking Together Talking Together telephone befriending

We have worked with 36 volunteers supporting 40 befriendees. This has led to approximately 1,120 contacts during the year. Our volunteers provide more than 50 hours of mental health supportive volunteering per month and the Coordinator supports further with listening support, signposting and referrals to support services.

“Thank you, tbf we did literally just gas bag the whole time, I don’t think we came up for air, lol.” – Volunteer RK after being provided positive feedback on her first befriending call with TH.

There has been a dip in the number of volunteers coming through compared to the last few years as volunteering patterns are changing. However, there has been increased diversity in our cohort of volunteers coming forward via their workplaces.

“I’m ok thank you! I am still speaking with Kelly who is lovely! My bereavement counselling is now finished. Been a bit anxious of late. Lots of hospital appointments this and next week.”

– Befriendee MO.

“I spoke to Susan yesterday. She is a very nice lady and I enjoy our chats. I am struggling as my sight has nearly gone completely and feel anxious and out of my depth here on my own.’ ‘It has been very helpful to talk, I have been helping him with his diabetes management as I have had it so it feels like a two way thing. Now we are winding down, we are going to stay in touch and have coffee once a week,” – Befriendee SK on his assigned volunteer caller.

Talking Together Case Study:

Warren is a volunteer with Talking Together, he is 29 and white British. His first befriending match was with a man who lives in supported living and has a keyworker to support his learning difficulty needs around daily living. The pair got on exceptionally well and we received a lot of positive feedback on Warren’s calls

from his person, RH. He has just started his second pairing for a cycle of calls with AC, a gentleman in his mid-50s who loves dogs and chickens, does woodturning when able and is an avid reader but finds this hard with mental health medication (anxiety and depression) and high levels of morphine for pain.

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AC’s feedback on his first chat with Warren:

From AC’s Initial Assessment with the Wellbeing Hub regarding his health:

‘chest issues and breathing issues, double heart bypass in 2016, vomiting episodes daily, chest pains, stomach issues, kidney stones, weight loss surgery which has complications and now cannot eat solid foods, and has put weight back on again, right knee replacement surgery.’

“Shortened version is yes we had a nice chat and have said we will speak again next week. I believe we got on OK and seem to talk the same way so that always helps. So thanks. Cheers A .”

Warren is currently enrolled on the Peer Support course and said he is ok completing his assignments. Warren has a personal and keen interest in cancer and support for those who have had or are undergoing cancer diagnosis. Warren would like to facilitate a support group around this in the future. Hopefully there will be scope within Trust Links

for this as appropriate.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Training

During the year our inhouse trainer provided training for 42 staff and volunteers in MHFA. Course feedback:

“I felt like we covered a lot of material but at a deep enough “I enjoyed the level to apply MHFA course very much; in our volunteering I feel it has given roles and our everyday me the knowledge on how to handle “I believe everyone life. I would highly recommend this course certain scenarios in could benefit from to others.” regard to mental this course and its health challenges content, particularly people face.” with regard to mythbusting and learning about effective communication with others.” 29

TLC – Trust Links Counselling

We are building an online and telephone therapy counselling service and are going through interview and recruitment checks with an initial cohort of students and volunteers from Victoria Counselling, based in Southend-on-Sea.

The service will offer counselling to appropriate clients for 12 weeks of talking therapies to improve mental health and wellbeing. We will provide additional bolton cycles of six sessions as appropriate.

We are offering a competitive and affordable service with rates of £20 per session with a qualifying student, and £30 with a qualified counsellor.

TLC is a route to generate unrestricted funds for Trust Links and if we can grow the service, it would be positive to generate enough income to allow us to also offer face-to-face sessions alongside telephone and online counselling.

Long COVID Group

We have been running a Long COVID Group (peer support meet-up and talking group) at Growing Together Westcliff every month since July 2023.

We have 16 members signed up to the group and average four to five attendees per session. Most of the members hold a diagnosis of Long COVID. We also work with those who self-identify as experiencing Long COVID and one lady who describes herself as living with Long Vaccine, as it has been confirmed to her that her health complications are due to an adverse reaction to a vaccination.

The group share experiences, frustrations, their Long COVID journeys, coping strategies and other sources of support for each other. Some of the people attending have already met through the Provide Long COVID service.

One of our members, Paul, is completing the Peer Support scheme to become the main facilitator of the group, which could lend further authenticity in the group being peerled through the personal empathy of lived experience, rather than Trust Links staff.

“Yes I’d like to join you again as a means of stopping myself becoming a grumpy old shut-in.” SC

“Please keep me up to date with what is happening as I really enjoyed meeting the group so I would like to attend again. Thx for all the support.” KR

“Thank you for emailing the information on sleep problems, but I will have to go through again the material few times. Concentration is not good these days.” LT

“No, this is better, to be with people. I really don’t want an online group” MJ

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Outreach with people from ethnic minority backgrounds

We have worked with local charity Welcome to the UK and the Skylark Hotel (for asylum seekers) to deliver cooking sessions for wellbeing at Growing Together Westcliff and Trust Links Rochford.

We have completed cooking and engagement sessions with people from a range of backgrounds including people wy from Albania, Pakistan, Peru, Central America and Ethiopia. We hosted a picnic for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from partner charity Welcome to the UK.

The participants have been very happy to cook a taste of home and share a meal together.

‘Look how happy my children are cooking their food.’ S

‘Brother, I am so happy when I am smelling my home food.’ JJ

‘We will share this with the other families at the Skylark.’ A

Children Youth & Families

Learning Together

Learning Together ran throughout the year, providing educational and therapeutic activities for young people that have struggled to engage with mainstream school due to their mental health. We

delivered 156 workshops during term time to 64 young people, totalling 479 individual attendances. As a result, 31 young people have re-engaged in education on some level, with nine returning to school full-time.

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One parent sent this testimony about their son:

“When my son started secondary school, it quickly came apparent that he couldn’t cope (he has since been diagnosed as autistic). By end of January in year 7 he was no longer able to cope with school, he found sleeping difficult, was alienated from friends, aggressive at home and was mentally in a very bad place, couldn’t leave the house and just found every day things very difficult. We reached out to all the services we could but waiting lists were long and we were often rejected - as he wasn't deemed bad enough.

We were referred to Trust Links - Learning Together through the school nurse. He refused to engage with them, but their kindness and child focused approach allowed him to not only attend, but really flourish.

We went from having our son in a very bad place to getting him leaving the house, smiling and interacting. It built his trust in others again, his mental health improved considerably along with his confidence with a more positive approach. Reflecting on this now Trust Links were there when no one else was, the impact they had on our son and our whole family has been amazing. Without Trust Links I believe my son would have continued downwards and his mental health would have further deteriorated.

The current situation in schools, where attendance is down, schools don't have enough staff and there is a mental health crisis in teens - this really is an essential service for local children, and often those who are overlooked. The centre provides support without judgement and is a much needed resource in our community - especially with the current services such as CAMHS being overwhelmed. This service needs to be extended to allow support for more children as their approach to getting children opening up to talk about feelings, engaging with others and creating positive change in a way that children respond to is really powerful. We are very grateful for the support Trust Links gave us.

My son says “I liked going to Trust Links, they listened to me and they made me happy again. I found school really difficult but they (Trust Links) never put any pressure on us to do anything but we always did everything as they talked to us in a good way and made us think about how we feel - which I am not good at. They made it all OK. It was good to be with other people and join in with stuff. I don't go anymore but I can now go to other groups and don't find things so bad. It was good.”

The Special Needs Co-ordinator in a local secondary school said:

“Trust Links Learning Together has been an absolutely invaluable resource for us, it has allowed students to access school who otherwise would have become school refusers. It has given them coping strategies and time to process their own thoughts and feelings and has had such a positive impact on the students that have attended. It has improved students’ attendance and their ability to cope with certain situations that arise in school.”

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Youth Links

Youth Links has had another successful year of delivering peer support and social groups for young people of secondary school age to improve mental health and wellbeing. We extended our Youth Links service to once per week in Rochford and Rayleigh, alongside our two sessions at our Westcliff site and one session at our Thundersley site each week. We have worked with 105

young people, of which 88 have regularly attended across our five Youth Links sessions, including 46 new members. We delivered 215 sessions with a total of 1,185 individual attendances. The amazing work of our Children, Youth and Families Team was even featured on the main show for BBC’s Children in Need earlier this year!

Dig It Youth

Dig It Youth ran weekly from April to October at Growing Together Shoeburyness on Wednesdays. The group was thoroughly enjoyed by the 15 young people that attended from the local area, with activities including gardening, sports, pond dipping, crafts, drama and cooking.

Families Growing Together

Working in partnership with A Better Start Southend (ABSS), Families Growing Together has gone from strength to strength, delivering sessions for families with children under four years at our Shoeburyness site each Monday and at Westcliff on Fridays. We were awarded additional funding from the ABSS Community Ideas and Development fund to expand our successful Families Growing Together service to the Kursaal Estate and have delivered one

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afternoon session each week at Centre Place Family Centre. Alongside this, we continued to deliver our Dads’ Group on Saturday mornings, alternating between Westcliff and Shoeburyness to give dads and male carers of children under four years the opportunity to connect with their children, and each other, within our beautiful therapeutic gardens, with the delicious addition of a free cooked breakfast! Within our sessions, the children and families have enjoyed the sandpits, mud kitchens and willow dens at each site, engaging with the range of other facilities including a magical story time area and weekly craft and sensory activities. We ran some fantastic Halloween, Christmas and Father’s Day events for families and have collaborated closely with other external organisations to deliver sessions including, but not limited to, pet therapy, communication workshops, interactive story times, drama performances and sensory play sessions. Attendance has remained consistent across all sessions, with 181 families and 24 dads attending at least once in the last financial year, totalling 1,072 individual attendances.

Stuart attended our joint ABSS Father’s Day event back in June along with his four-month-old daughter Amber, after his partner had booked him on. Staff spoke to Stuart during the group and explained to him what dad’s group was, he had never heard of it before and was looking for somewhere to spend time with his daughter at the weekend. Stuart presented as quite shy and said he was very nervous as he did not feel confident taking Amber out on his own.

A week after the session, Stuart sent a lovely testimonial to say how much he loved dad’s group, and he is looking forward to future sessions. Since then, Stuart has attended almost every

dad’s group in both locations. He has built up a positive relationship with the staff who run dad’s group and other dads who attend, engaging in meaningful conversations. Stuart has opened up to staff about his struggles with mental health and social anxiety and praised dad’s group for helping him to regulate his emotions and become more confident.

Stuart's partner also attends Families Growing Together sessions and commented that dad’s group is a big part of his life and has helped him with his mental health. She said that he plans things around dad’s group on the weekends. She said she also enjoys having the couple of hours on a Saturday morning to herself.

We have been awarded funding from the Million Hours Fund to deliver a new project called Bouldering Together working in partnership with Indirock. From September 2024 we will be delivering indoor bouldering sessions three evenings per week in central Southend, targeting young people struggling with their mental health and who are at risk of engaging in anti-social behaviour.

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ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

The gross income for the year ended 31 March 2024 amounted to £1,877,191 (2023 - £1,837,206) from the charity’s own generated income, grants, donations and commissioned services. Resources expended for the same period totalled £1,851,746 (2023 - £1,564,458) with the majority being applied to staffing costs in support of projects and the Charity’s administration. The resources expended excludes capital expenditure, which is capitalised and included in the balance sheet as fixed assets in accordance with our accounting policies.

Trust Links continues to explore new opportunities, whilst endeavouring to sustain projects that are having a positive effect on people’s outcomes and wellbeing

The net income for the year ended 31 March of 2024 of £25,445 was significantly below the £272,748 reported for the year ended 31 March 2023. This was primarily due to the fact that the prior year surplus included £264,907 of capital funding related to the new Vange gardens, as the related expenditure was capitalised, in accordance with the Company’s Accounting Policies, and included within Tangible Assets in the balance sheet.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Nature of the Governing Document and constitution of the charity

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a company limited by guarantee, as defined by Companies Act 2006.

The methods adopted for the recruitment and appointment of new trustees

The charity actively seeks to recruit trustees from as wide a spectrum as possible, the principal criteria being that they are supportive of the aims of Trust Links.

Those interested in becoming trustees are encouraged to take the opportunity to discuss the role and the work of the charity with other trustees and with members of staff and to visit our projects. Opportunities for understanding the charity and contributing to its work are made available to trustees.

We have successfully recruited additional trustees with skills in property, finance and HR, further strengthening our board of trustees.

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Board of Directors / Trustees

We regularly review the composition of our trustee board to ensure we have a wide range of skills and experience. We have several potential new trustees who are looking to be formally recruited to the board in the next year.

Staffing

We recognise and appreciate the commitment and dedication of all staff through times of change and their continuing efforts to support the aims of Trust Links and its members. We have continued to put extra support in place to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff whilst working from home and dealing with the additional demands on our services.

We have 62 regular staff working 52.4 full-time equivalent and 11 bank staff as of the end of March 2024. In the year we have successfully recruited 13 regular staff and eight bank staff, with seven regular staff and two bank staff leaving through the year. We carry out exit interviews with leavers to understand and monitor the reason for leaving to gain an understanding of improvements that are needed to support staff retention.

This year we carried out our annual staff survey in-house, which allowed us to have full control over the questions, adding an additional feedback comments section and access to all data so we could collate and analyse answers in full. The survey consisted of six sections

with five to six questions in each and was sent to all staff to complete. Feedback sessions were then held with each team to understand the answers given and comments made. The focus was on what Trust Links did well, what needed improving and ways of doing things better. This was then shared with managers, senior managers and trustees and an action plan drawn up for things to implement across the coming year. Overall results were positive, and actionable points raised to help to improve staff satisfaction and assist with staff retention and productivity.

Volunteers

Volunteers provide valuable support to the running of all Trust Links projects. We have a fulltime Volunteer Co-ordinator to ensure that high calibre volunteers are recruited, inducted, trained and supported.

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During the year we were fortunate to have 167 active volunteers, including 36 Talking Together befriending volunteers, 83 Growing Together garden volunteers, qualified counsellors, one Eco Days volunteer and 44 events volunteers, who help at our ad-hoc and community events, some of whom take on the event volunteering role as an additional occasional role as they continue in regular weekly volunteering with us. We recruited 44 new volunteers over the 12 month period. We are grateful to them for their commitment and support, making a significant contribution to the success of Trust Links in our communities.

We asked our volunteers two questions.

Handyman Volunteer – joined November 2023

“Because I want to help give back some of my time to a local charity that helps people. From a role point of view, the flexibility. From a personal perspective, the people; you are all very nice :)”

Children Youth and Families Volunteer – Joined May 2023

“I felt Trust Links provides a very important service to the local community, and I wanted to be a part of that.

All the amazing people I’ve met. Trust Links is full of dedicated, passionate folk who really believe in what they do.”

REACH Benefits Support Volunteer – Joined July 2023

“I joined Trust Links in the voluntary capacity and turned down a paid position that I’d just been offered, because I wanted to support ordinary people like me in obtaining benefits and support and having knowledge and understanding from first-hand experience, the overwhelming stress and anxiety this causes people in their mental health and everyday life, on top of the various mental and physical health struggles that forces them to obtain these benefits in the first place.

I find the role very rewarding and feel like I am actively making a difference to the members of Trust Links. I hope one day that a paid role will become available to enable me to tailor support across more centres with more volunteers so that no-one is left waiting too long for this vital service that they desperately need and is usually time sensitive.

Trust Links are a lovely family that I am proud to be a part of.”

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Growing Together Community Garden Volunteer – Joined July 2023

“I joined Trust Links as a volunteer after hearing from a number of people about the Westcliff site and the good work they are doing within the local community. I visited the Rochford site on an open day and chatted to members of staff about their work and why they got involved in the project and found it incredibly inspiring. I had volunteered at another organisation doing a similar role and found it to be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done but I am in full time employment so although I would welcome a chance

to perform a role in this area, at present I can only volunteer on my day off.

I enjoy the engagement with staff, other volunteers and most importantly with the members who attend Westcliff. It is challenging (which I welcome) even as a volunteer with members’ often complex needs, but it is something I aspire to become better at with each interaction. Every day is different, and I love getting stuck into projects and being immersed in nature.”

Events and Fundraising Volunteer – Joined April 2022

“I chose to join Trust Links after completing a Halo course with Southend College during the pandemic.

I was looking for a volunteer role in my new local area. As I have a keen interest in mental health and wellbeing, Trust Links seemed like the ideal charity to get involved with.

I really enjoy being an Events Volunteer because I get to work with a variety of people on different projects.

I find that I am able to utilise my existing skills and experience and adapt them to suit the needs of the charity and/or the members.

I enjoy how friendly people are and all the positivity around the fundraising and community based events.

I look forward to each event that I am able to contribute to.”

Talking Together – Telephone Befriending Volunteer – Joined September 2023

“I chose Trust Links because it embodies two things that are central in my life and two passions which are horticulture and therapy. I really believe in the work Trust Links are doing, supporting communities with access to green spaces, training, social activities and support as well access to mental health support and other services, leading to happier and healthier lives for all.

I enjoy helping people and in particular my role allows me to have a general chat with my befriendee, hoping to increase social inclusion and interaction, reducing loneliness.

I hope something simple like a regular phone call helps makes someone feel that they are important and improves self-esteem. I have got a lot out of the calls too and it has been interesting getting to know someone new.”

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The major risks to which the charity is exposed and reviews and systems to mitigate risks

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurAance against fraud and error. The Board has conducted a review of the major risks which the charity is exposed to and the systems in place to mitigate the risk. Internal risks

are minimised by the implementation and regular monitoring of approved policies, procedures and protocols across Trust Links. These documents and their implementation are regularly reviewed to ensure not only compliance with legal and other requirements, but also so that they continue to meet the needs of the organisation and its clients.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Policies on reserves

The Board has established an objective whereby the General Unrestricted Funds (being the Unrestricted Funds not committed to or invested in fixed assets) held by the charity at the year-end should, if possible, be equal to 50% (six months) of the budgeted expenditure (other than capital expenditure) for the forthcoming year.

At this level of General Unrestricted Reserves, the Board believes it would be able to continue the current activities of the charity in the event of a significant short term drop in funding, although it would of course be necessary to consider how the funding would be replaced and / or activities changed if the shortfall was prolonged.

The General Unrestricted Reserves of £351,148 at 31 March 2024 represent approximately 18% (2 months) of the total expenditure budget (excluding capital expenditure) for the year ended 31 March

  1. This represents a small increase from the 17% (2 months) reported for the year ended 31 March 2023. The Board are endeavouring to gradually increase this towards the objective of 50% (six months) over the coming years, while recognising that this may not be achievable every year if existing activities are to be sustained. The ever increasing demand for the activities of the charity over the past year have again been such that it has not proved possible to make any significant progress toward the objective during the current year, but it remains the trustees’ aim for future years.

Although the current level of reserves is below the objective, the Trustees believe, having taken into account the level of contracted income and promised grant income for the forthcoming year, that this is not inconsistent with their overall risk management strategy.

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Principal funding sources and how expenditure in the year under review has supported the key objectives of the charity

Apart from expertise in many areas, a charity needs to have a healthy funding base to succeed in its objectives. Trust Links has been fortunate to obtain funding from a variety of sources since its inception.

We have been grateful to receive financial support from a number of sources, which are included in the Statement of Financial Activities forming part of this report.

During this year we have been successful in obtaining a broad range of funding sources to sustain and develop our projects including grants, commissioning, personal budgets, generated income and donations. We have also been awarded multi-year contracts and grants for many of our projects for the next few years, although fundraising will always be required to sustain and extended our vital work. We are further diversifying our income through investing in corporate and community fundraising and individual giving.

The investment policy and objectives, including the extent (if any) to which social, environmental or ethical considerations are taken into account

Trust Links is at present not able to consider specialist investment in any funds with a view to producing both income and capital growth. Most of its current income is applied to the costs of running the organisation, but if and when the receipt of income indicates that a sufficient surplus is being achieved, the Board will take professional advice with regard to the most appropriate investment opportunities.

Availability and adequacy of assets of each of the funds

The board of trustees is satisfied that the charity’s assets in each fund are available and adequate to fulfil its obligations in respect of each fund.

Share Capital

The company is limited by guarantee and therefore has no share capital.

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Statement of Directors’ and Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Charities Act and the Companies Act require the board of trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity as at the end of the financial year and of the surplus or deficit of the charity. In preparing these financial statements the Board is required to:

The trustees are also responsible for maintaining adequate accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and comply with regulations made under the Charities Act. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are also responsible for the contents of the Annual Report and Accounts and the responsibility of the independent examiner in relation to the Annual Report and Accounts is limited to examining the report and ensuring that, on the face of the report, there are no inconsistencies with the figures disclosed in the financial statements.

Method and preparation of accounts

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

16 October 2024 This report was approved by the Board of Trustees on ……………………..……………………..

Jackie Bliss Director and Chair of Trustees ……………………..……………… poke ble

……………………..………………

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

TO THE MEMBERS OF TRUST LINKS LIMITED

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Trust Links Limited (the ‘company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

The contracts for the [Well Being Hub and the REACH Recovery College] are due for renewal during the year ended 30 April 2025. Positive discussions relating to the renewal have commenced. If the contracts are not renewed the likelyhood would be that staff are TUPE but the outcome of the discussions are unknown at the date of audit sign off.

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

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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Independent Auditor’s Report (Continued)

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors' report included within the trustees' report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the company for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

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Independent Auditor’s Report (Continued)

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities including those leading to material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with laws and regulations. This risk increased the more that compliance with a law and regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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

Use of our report

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

Stephanie Caten FCA CTA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Maynard Heady LLP

16 October 2024

Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor

Matrix House 12 - 16 Lionel Road Canvey Island Essex SS8 9DE

44 a

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2024
2024
Notes
£
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
61,264
3,779
Charitable activities
4
117,845
1,684,639
Investments
5
9,664
-
Total income
188,773
1,688,418
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
6
149,939
1,701,807
Net income/(expenditure) for
the year/
Net movement in funds
38,834
(13,389)
Fund balances at 1 April
2023
516,882
559,388
Fund balances at 31
March 2024
555,716
545,999		 Total
Unrestricted
funds
2024
2023
£
£
65,043
61,563
1,802,484
113,770
9,664
2,553
1,877,191
177,886
1,851,746
178,654
25,445
(768)
1,076,270
517,650
1,101,715
516,882		 Restricted
funds
2023
£
6,439
1,652,881
-
1,659,320
1,385,804
273,516
285,872
559,388		 Total
2023
£
68,002
1,766,651
2,553
1,837,206
1,564,458
272,748
803,522
1,076,270

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derives from continuing activities.

The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.

45

BALANCE SHEET

As at 31 March 2024

2024 2023
Notes £ £ £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 12 707,409 727,067
Current assets
Debtors 13 113,095 121,881
Cash at bank and in hand 723,662 796,122
836,757 918,003
Creditors: amounts falling due within
one year 14 (442,451) (568,800)
Net current assets 394,306 349,203
Total assets less current liabilities 1,101,715 1,076,270
Creditors: amounts falling due after
more than one year - -
Net assets 1,101,715 1,076,270
Income funds
Restricted funds
General restricted funds 43,158 43,748
Fixed asset funds 502,841 515,640
16 545,999 559,388
Unrestricted funds
General unrestricted funds 351,148 305,455
Fixed asset funds 204,568 211,427
17 555,716 516,882
1,101,715 1,076,270

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 16 October 2024

Mrs J Bliss phe Trustee ble

Company Registration No. 04351216

46 |

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

Notes
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash (absorbed by)/generated from
operations
19
Investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Investment income received
Net cash used in investing activities
Net cash used in financing activities
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash
equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year		 2024
£
(21,986)
9,664		 2023
£
£
£
(60,138)
570,614
(351,727)
2,571
(12,322)
(349,156)
-
-
(72,460)
221,458
796,122
574,664
723,662
796,122

47

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies

Charity information

Trust Links Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 47 Fairfax Drive, Westcliff on Sea, Essex, SS0 9AG.

1.1 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the company's memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act 2006 and "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 company is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

1.2 Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3 Charitable funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Designated funds comprise funds which have been set aside at the discretion of the Trustees for specific purposes. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.

1.4 Income Nature of income Categories of Income

Income recognition

Gross income represents the value, net of value added tax and discounts, of goods provided to customers and work carried out in respect of services provided to customers.

Income is categorised as income from exchange transactions (contract income) and income from nonexchange transactions (gifts), investment income and other income.

Income from exchange transactions is received by the charity for goods or services supplied under contract or where entitlement is subject to fulfilling performance related conditions. The income the charity receives is approximately equal in value to the goods or services supplied by the charity to the purchaser.

48

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

(Continued)

Income from a non-exchange transaction is where the charity receives value from the donor without providing equal value in exchange, and includes donations of money, goods and services freely given without giving equal value in exchange.

Income recognition

Income, whether from exchange or non exchange transactions, is recognised in the statement of financial activities (SOFA) on a receivable basis, when a transaction or other event results in an increase in the charity’s assets or a reduction in its liabilities and only when the charity has legal entitlement, the income is probable and can be measured reliably.

Income subject to terms and conditions which must be met before the charity is entitled to the resources is not recognised until the conditions have been met. All income is accounted for gross, before deducting any related fees or costs.

Income from legacies

Income from legacies is recognised when the charity has sufficient evidence that a gift has been left to them, that where required, probate has been granted, the executor is satisfied that the property in question will not be required to satisfy claims in the estate, that it is probable that the amount will be received by the charity, and the amount to be received can be estimated with sufficient accuracy, and that any conditions attached to the legacy are either within the control of the charity or have been met.

Where a payment is received from an estate or is notified as receivable by the executors after the reporting date and before the accounts are authorised for issue but it is clear that the payment had been agreed by the executors prior to the end of the reporting period, then the amount concerned is treated as an adjusting event and accrued as income in the accounting period if receipt is probable.

Where the charity has established entitlement to a legacy but there is uncertainty as to the amount of the payment, details of the legacy are disclosed as a contingent asset until the criteria for income recognition are met. Where a legacy is subject to the interest of a life tenant, the legacy is not recognised as income until the death of the life tenant.

If it is doubtful that full settlement of a legacy debtor will be received, then an adjustment is made to reduce the amount of the legacy debtor and legacy income rather than charging the adjustment as expenditure in the Statement of Financial Activities.

49

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

Donated goods, facilities and services

Donated fixed assets are recognised at the current fair value. All such donations are recognised as donation income, and debited to fixed assets.

Donated goods that are not fixed assets are accounted for at a fair value, unless it is impractical to reliably measure the value of the donated items.

In the absence of any direct evidence of fair value of donated goods, then a value is derived from the cost of the item to the donor or, in the case of goods that are expected to be sold, the estimated resale value after deducting any anticipated costs of sales.

If it is impracticable to measure the fair value of goods donated for resale, or the costs of valuation outweigh the benefits, the donated goods are recognised as income when sold, with an equivalent amount being recognised as an expense.

The costs of goods donated for distribution to beneficiaries is deemed to be the fair value of those goods upon receipt. When the goods are distributed freely or for a nominal consideration, then the carrying amount is adjusted at the time of sale, to the value at the point of distribution and the adjustment is shown as a cost of donations made.

The carrying amount of any stock held for distribution is assessed for impairment at the reporting date. All donated goods are recognised as donation income, and debited to trading stock. When trading stock is subsequently sold, or appropriated to meet an expense, then the carrying value of the stock is recognised as an expense. In accordance with the SORP, goods donated for distribution to beneficiaries, or for consumption by the charity are included in 'legacies and donations '. Goods donated for resale are included in 'Income from other trading activities'

The cost of any stock of goods donated for distribution to beneficiaries is deemed to be the fair value of those gifts at the time of their receipt. If the goods held are to be distributed freely or for a nominal consideration, then the carrying amount is subsequently adjusted to reflect the lower of deemed cost adjusted for any loss of service potential and replacement cost. Replacement cost is the economic cost incurred if the charity was to replace the service potential of the donated goods at its own expense in the most economic manner.

Donated services and facilities (including seconded staff and use of property) are included in the accounts on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity.

All donated services and facilities are recognised as donation income when received,(provided the value of the gift can be measured reliably) and recognised as an expense with an equivalent value.

50

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

Accounting for deferred income and income received in advance

Where terms and conditions relating to income have not been met or uncertainty exists as to whether the charity can meet any terms or conditions otherwise within its control, income is not recognised but is deferred as a liability until it is probable that the terms or conditions imposed can be met.

Any grant that is subject to performance-related conditions received in advance of delivering the goods and services required by that condition, or is subject to unmet conditions wholly outside the control of the recipient charity, is accounted for as a liability and shown on the balance sheet as deferred income. Deferred income is released to income in the reporting period in which the performance-related or other conditions that limit recognition are met.

When income from a grant or donation has not been recognised due to the conditions applying to the gift not being wholly within the control of the recipient charity, it is disclosed as a contingent asset if receipt of the grant or donation is probable once those conditions are met.

Where time related conditions are imposed or implied by a funder, then the income is apportioned to the time periods concerned,and, where applicable, is accounted for as a liability and shown on the balance sheet as deferred income. When grants are received in advance of the expenditure on the activity funded by them, but there are no specific time related conditions, then the income is not deferred.

Any condition that allows for the recovery by the donor of any unexpended part of a grant does not prevent recognition of the income concerned, but a liability to any repayment is recognised when repayment becomes probable.

1.5 Expenditure

A liability, and the related expenditure, is recognised when a legal or constructive obligation exists as a result of a past event, and when it is more likely than not that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and when the amount of the obligation can be measured or reliably estimated..

Liabilities arising from future funding commitments and constructive obligations, including performance related grants, where the timing or the amount of the future expenditure required to settle the obligation are uncertain, give rise to a provision in the accounts, which is reviewed at the accounting year end. The provision is increased to reflect any increases in liabilities, and is decreased by the utilisation of any provision within the period, and reversed if any provision is no longer required. These movements are charged or credited to the respective funds and activities to which the provision relates.

Staffing - on the basis of time spent in connection with any particular activity. Staffing - on a per capita basis, based on the number of of people employed within any particular activity. Premises related costs - on the proportion of floor area occupied by a particular activity.

Non specific support costs - on the basis of the usage of resources, in terms of time taken, capacity used, request made or other measures

1.6 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Freehold land and buildings 2% straight line Plant and equipment 25% straight line Computer equipment 33.33% straight line Motor vehicles 25% straight line

51

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.

Accounting for capital grants and fixed asset funds.

Gifts of tangible fixed assets or grants of a capital nature, given for the purposes of acquiring specific assets to be fully utilised in the furtherance of the objects of the charity, are credited to fixed asset funds after the donated asset has been received or sums have been properly expended on the restricted purpose.

Where the terms of the gift require the charity to hold the asset on an ongoing basis for a specific purpose, then the fixed asset fund so created is categorised as a restricted fixed asset fund, and the relevant restrictions are noted in the fixed asset note 9.

Where the terms of the gift are met once the asset is acquired, so allowing the charity to use the asset on an unrestricted basis, including the right to receive the proceeds of any future sale of the asset on an unrestricted basis, then the fixed asset fund so created is categorised as a designated fixed asset fund.

When assets are acquired for the furtherance of the charity's objects, utilising the charity's own unrestricted funds, a transfer is made from unrestricted funds to a designated fixed asset fund.

Whether acquired with unrestricted or restricted funds, the asset acquired is initially shown in the balance sheet at the full cost of acquisition or subsequent revaluation.

As the related assets are depreciated, in accordance with the depreciation policy,in order to reflect the dimunition in the asset,a transfer is made from the relevant fixed asset funds to either unrestricted or restricted revenue funds, as appropriate to the terms of the original gift, if any.

The effect of this policy is that the aggregate of all fixed asset funds shall equate to the net book value of fixed assets.

In the first year that this policy was adopted, a transfer to fixed asset funds was made equivalent to the net book value of the assets.

Any residual liability to the donor arising from, for example, the asset's future sale, is disclosed as a contingent liability unless the event that would trigger repayment of the grant becomes probable in which case a liability for repayment is recognised.

Insofar as this policy relates to Government grants and to the extent that it may be a departure from the FRS 102 SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities) 2015, (as amended by the Bulletin issued in February 2016), (The SORP), such departure is justified on the basis that it is in order to comply with the SORP.

1.7 Impairment of fixed assets

At each reporting end date, the company reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

1.8 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

52

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

1.9 Financial instruments

The company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the company's balance sheet when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the company’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

1.10 Employee benefits

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

2 Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

53

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

3 Donations and legacies

Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2024
2024
£
£
Donations and gifts
61,264
3,779
Exceptional one-off
donation
-
-
61,264
3,779		 Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2024
2023
2023
£
£
£
65,043
55,929
6,414
-
5,634
25
65,043
61,563
6,439		 Total
2023
£
62,343
5,659
68,002

54

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

4 Charitable activities - Income

Recovery College
Trust Links
Growing Together
Wellbeing Hub
Analysis by fund
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds		 Plant sales
Events,
training and
courses
Charges for
day services
Grant income Contracts and
commission
income
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
£
£
£
£
£
-
-
-
207,784
453,680
-
19,523
1,260
465,750
8,667
2,665
-
70,584
568,321
-
-
-
-
4,250
-
2,665
19,523
71,844
1,246,105
462,347
2,665
19,523
71,844
15,146
8,667
-
-
-
1,230,959
453,680
2,665
19,523
71,844
1,246,105
462,347		 Total
2024
£
661,464
495,200
641,570
4,250
1,802,484
117,845
1,684,639
1,802,484		 Total
2023
£
359,468
448,457
703,296
255,430
1,766,651
113,770
1,652,881
1,766,651

4 Charitable activities - Income

(Continued)

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Recovery College
Trust Links
Growing Together
Wellbeing Hub
Analysis by fund
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds		 Plant sales
Events,
training and
courses
Charges for
day services
Grant income Contracts and
commission
income
£
£
£
£
£
-
-
-
123,107
236,361
941
2,550
2,602
437,961
4,403
1,018
400
74,129
627,749
-
-
-
-
45,650
209,780
1,959
2,950
76,731
1,234,467
450,544
1,959
2,950
76,731
27,727
4,403
-
-
-
1,206,740
446,141
1,959
2,950
76,731
1,234,467
450,544		 Total
2023
£
359,468
448,457
703,296
255,430
1,766,651
113,770
1,652,881
1,766,651
Unrestricted Unrestricted
funds funds
2024 2023
£ £
Interest receivable 9,664 2,553

55

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

6 Charitable activities - Expenditure

Plant sales
Events,
training and
courses
Charges for
day services
2024
2024
2024
£
£
£
Staff costs
8,121
7,749
6,589
Various other
expenses
37,855
-
30,713
Professional
fees
2,086
-
1,693
Insurance
4,627
-
3,754
Utilities
10,916
-
8,856
Building costs
5,653
-
4,586
69,258
7,749
56,191
Share of
support costs
(see note 7)
223
1,636
6,019
Share of
governance
costs (see
note 7)
30
78
303
69,511
9,463
62,513
Analysis
by fund
Unrestricted
funds
69,511
9,463
62,513
Restricted
funds
-
-
-
69,511
9,463
62,513		 Grant
income
Contracts
and
commission
income
2024
2024
£
£
1,033,285
437,779
113,331
13,053
10,807
496
6,131
-
16,740
1,222
32,512
4,313
1,212,806
456,863
24,380
9,386
4,972
1,852
1,242,158
468,101
5,004
3,448
1,237,154
464,653
1,242,158
468,101		 Total
2024
£
1,493,523
194,952
15,082
14,512
37,734
47,064
1,802,867
41,644
7,235
1,851,746
149,939
1,701,807
1,851,746		 Total
2023
£
1,240,553
209,018
7,142
11,625
33,274
21,184
1,522,796
34,462
7,200
1,564,458
178,654
1,385,804
1,564,458

56

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

7
Support costs
Depreciation
Audit fees
Governance costs
heading 2
Analysed between
Charitable activities		 Support
costs
Governance
costs
£
£
41,644
-
-
7,200
-
35
41,644
7,235
41,644
7,235		 2024Support costs Governance
costs
£
£
£
41,644
34,462
-
7,200
-
7,200
35
-
-
48,879
34,462
7,200
48,879
34,462
7,200		 2023
£
34,462
7,200
-
41,662
41,662

Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £7,200 (2023- £7,200) for audit fees.

8 Net movement in funds 2024 2023
£ £
The net movement in funds is stated after charging/(crediting):
Fees payable for the audit of the charity's financial statements 7,200 7,200
Depreciation of owned tangible fixed assets 41,644 34,462

9 Trustees

K Spencer was reimbursed during the year for a software licence totalling £72 (2023 - £138). No other Trustee (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the company during the year.

10 Employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

Employment costs
Wages and salaries		 2024
Number
69
2024
£
1,493,523		 2023
Number
62
2023
£
1,240,553

57

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

10 Employees (Continued)

The number of employees whose annual remuneration was more than £60,000 is as follows:

2024 2023
Number Number
£60,000 - £70,000 1 1

Of the employees whose emoluments exceed £60,000, no employees have retirement benefits accruing under defined benefit pension schemes.

11 Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

12 Tangible fixed assets

Freehold land
and buildings
Plant and
equipment
Computer
equipment
£
£
£
Cost
At 1 April 2023
726,977
114,815
24,178
Additions
12,213
-
9,773
Disposals
-
-
-
At 31 March 2024
739,190
114,815
33,951
Depreciation and impairment
At 1 April 2023
64,186
74,475
17,003
Depreciation charged in the year
14,540
15,257
6,554
Eliminated in respect of disposals
-
-
-
At 31 March 2024
78,726
89,732
23,557
Carrying amount
At 31 March 2024
660,464
25,083
10,394
At 31 March 2023
662,791
40,340
7,175		 Motor
vehicles
£
62,752
-
(18,750)
44,002
45,991
5,293
(18,750)
32,534
11,468
16,761		 Total
£
928,722
21,986
(18,750
931,958
201,655
41,644
(18,750
224,549
707,409
727,067

The Charity is the registered owner of the leasehold for the Shoebury and Vange sites, and both are held at no value.

13 Debtors

Amounts falling due within one year:
Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 2024
£
80,533
32,562
113,095		 2023
£
94,028
27,853
121,881

58

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Notes To The Financial Statements_(Continued)_
For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

59

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

16 Restricted funds

The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject conditions by donors as to how they may be used.

Movement in funds Movement in funds Movement in funds Movement in funds
Balance at Net income / Transfers Balance at Balance at Net income / Transfers Balance at
1 April 2022 (expenditure) 31 March 2023 1 April 2023 (expenditure) 31 March 2024
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
General funds 89,023 273,516 (318,791)
43,748		 43,748 (13,389) 12,799 43,158
Fixed asset funds 196,849 - 318,791 515,640 515,640 - (12,799) 502,841
285,872 273,516 - 559,388 559,388 (13,389) - 545,999
17 Unrestricted funds
The income funds of the charity include the following unrestricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances:
Movement in funds Movement in funds
Balance at Net income /
Transfers		 Balance at Balance at Net income / Transfers Balance at
1 April 2022 (expenditure) 31 March 2023 1 April 2023 (expenditure) 31 March 2024
£ £ £ £ £
General funds 304,697 (768) 1,526 305,455 305,455 38,834 6,859 351,148
Fixed asset funds 212,953 - (1,526) 211,427 211,427 - (6,859) 204,568
517,650 (768) - 516,882 516,882 38,834 - 555,716

60

Notes To The Financial Statements (Continued) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

18 Related party transactions

There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).

19
Cash generated from operations
2024
£
Surplus for the year
25,445
Adjustments for:
Investment income recognised in statement of financial activities
(9,664)
Depreciation and impairment of tangible fixed assets
41,644
Movements in working capital:
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
8,786
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
5,028
(Decrease)/increase in deferred income
(131,377)
Cash (absorbed by)/generated from operations
(60,138)		 2023
£
272,748
(2,553)
34,462
(53,698)
(4,114)
323,769
570,614

61