## **The Squad Trustees Annual Report 2020 - 2021** This report is designed to supplement the legal and financial information contained in the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 by providing a summary of the activities and achievements of The Squad Club during this period. The Squad provides people with learning disabilities access to a fun and social environment, whilst supporting them towards fulfilling their true potential. It is an organisation with a difference, embracing and promoting social inclusion and choice. Members are encouraged to try new activities and learn new skills, helping them to be better equipped to tackle life’s challenges. We believe our members are The Squad’s greatest assets, we encourage them to help run the clubs and support them in having a voice, both within the organisation and in their local communities. ## **Overview for the year** The Squad has been successful in efforts that have been put forth to diversify strategy of revenue generation, brought upon primarily due to cessation of local authority funding in previous years. The diversified approach to drive revenue has been through various channels, namely grant funding, fundraising events, crowd-funding initiatives, partnerships and other public campaigns, to name a few. This has enabled the charity to operate with a stable financial platform for the immediate term and able to begin rebuilding our reserves. The Trustees and all of our team continue to work hard to ensure that this can continue. Whilst this annual report only deals with the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, we think it’s important to report on the impact of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic on Squad and how we have responded during 2020 and 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, like many organisations, the Squad has been greatly affected and stopped face-to-face service delivery for much of this reporting period. Whilst this is disappointing for everyone and has had a significant impact on the lives of our members and their families and carers, the safety of our members, staff and volunteers as well as the wider community must come first. When rules have allowed, we have returned to face-to-face services but with some differences and appropriate safety measures in place to minimise the risks. This has meant that these services have reduced to smaller groups, sometimes every two weeks instead of weekly, and with limited activities. Since restrictions came into force on March 26th 2020 we have progressively moved Squad sessions online to be able to continue our activities in a meaningful way throughout the pandemic. The majority of Juniors members have been able to attend regular weekly online sessions and Vets members have been able to do the same allowing us to stay engaged with over 80% of the current cohort utilising a combination of online platforms and face to face sessions (when we were able to do so). We continue to work on improving accessibility to online platforms for our members, to provide an alternative operating model for Squad when we are not able to run face-toface sessions and to complement any reduction in service brought about by the pandemic. ## **Squad Juniors Club** Our Juniors club is for young people aged 13-25 years old, our member numbers has been increasing this year, whilst our retention of members has held steady, both online and during face to face sessions. From April to September we were running sessions online, and we were fortunate that nearly all of our members had access to wifi or the internet. Seven members joined our first session, where we organised a Squad quiz. This experience helped us recognise that having two groups worked better which meant more young people were able to join online. By May those joining online had increased to twenty people. Throughout this period we organised a variety of online activities with members including celebrating birthdays as a group on Zoom, arts and crafts sessions, an Easter Egg hunt, guess the sweets games, and Pictionary. Delivering sessions online using Zoom allowed us to fully engage our members and volunteers during this challenging time, and we were able to utilise features such as shared screens, the whiteboard feature, and shared sound to make sessions as interactive as possible. We began our sessions by asking each member to share what they had done that week at both college and at home. This was a great way to ensure we could continue the relationships between members so they could connect and share with each other what they had been doing, how they were feeling about the current circumstances and maintain their social bonds despite not being able to see each other in-person for Squad sessions. We returned to our in-person sessions at the John Innes Youth Centre (JIYC) on 17th September 2020, splitting the group into two separate sessions which rotated on a weekly basis in order to reduce the risk of COVID infection for the young people and volunteers. During this time, we engaged in a variety of different activities. We celebrated Black History Month by learning about a female American Black artist whose work the members made their own interpretations of, we also made our own Kente cloths, which young people either weaved or coloured in. We also ran some sensory activities, including making shaving foam slime and flour play dough, using mixing skills and colour changing ingredients which the young people really enjoyed as they were able to make something independently and then play with it as part of a fun and engaging activity. The return to online sessions in the second lockdown was hard for the young people, however having previously been online for 4 months, it was slightly easier as the members were prepared around what to expect, they felt more comfortable being online and we were able to continue to find new activities that were fun and engaging for everyone, irrespective of their abilities. As we were not in the JIYC for Christmas, we organised an online activity to create Christmas cards on Zoom using the Whiteboard feature, which worked very well and was enjoyable for the young people. We provided Christmas packs to all members which contained Christmas cards and a few small gifts including fidget toys which were great for young people with seniority needs. ## **Squad Vets Club** The Vets Club is for members aged 25+ and is a well-established and supportive service for its members, which aims to create opportunities for members to socialise in the community and with their peers. During the 2020-21 year, most of the Squad’s sessions for our Vets Club needed to be delivered online due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns, as we were unable to deliver services in-person at the John Innes Youth Centre or in the community for large portions of the year. Like the Squad’s Juniors Club, our Vets group leader and volunteers organised virtual sessions for Vets members via Zoom video calls, giving members the chance to socialise and to take part in educational and interactive activities, as well as having fun and tackling social isolation. There were additional challenges organising online sessions for Vets members as not all members had access to the internet or a computer in their homes, however the Squad was able to support these members through providing a small number of affected members with iPads and MiFi 4g units that ensured they could access the internet from their homes and join online Squad sessions Online sessions included activities such as yoga, guided meditation, virtual fireworks, games, and puppetry. Some limited face-to-face sessions were delivered at the JIYC after the first lockdown was lifted for a small number of members, however online sessions were resumed when the second lockdown was declared and continued through tier 4 restrictions and the third lockdown. ## **Finances** The Board of Trustees takes its obligations to responsibly manage our finances very seriously. During the 2020-21 financial year our plans around income generation had to be significantly changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of numerous lockdowns and covid-related measures the Squad’s income generation could no longer rely on fundraising events or public donations in any significant form, however we were able to secure grants to enable the charity to purchase PPE and covid safety equipment before we returned to limited face-to-face activities, and to fund technological solutions to enable some of our members to join online sessions with the Squad where they did not have the means to do this, in lieu of in-person activities. Due to the coronavirus pandemic resulting in much of our service delivery moving to an online-only offering for large parts of the financial year, our expenditure for the 2021 financial year is also significantly lower than anticipated due to fixed costs associated with running face-to-face sessions being lower than planned, such as reduced transport costs as members were no longer travelling to in-person sessions. The charity is now running at a noticeably reduced annual cost base with no significant impact on our service delivery, thanks to the dedicated support of our Club Leaders and Volunteers. During this year, we had hoped to be able to resume some non-core activities that we had to put on hold but this has not been possible, due to covid restrictions. We are immensely grateful to all those who have supported us during this very challenging period. ## **Conclusion** More than anything else, we are delighted to see The Squad’s membership continue to enjoy the services that we provide and to give continued excellent feedback regarding the impact that the charity has on their lives and wellbeing. We are very proud to say this is despite the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, as we have been able to adapt and evolve how we deliver Squad to continue to reach the vast majority of our members whilst keeping them safe. We would like to take this opportunity to formally thank the Club Leaders of the Juniors and Vets Clubs and our dedicated volunteers, for their continued hard work and support. Finally and most importantly, to our members, who continue to provide the inspiration and motivation to help us grow and succeed. **----- Start of picture text -----**
The Squad Club 1094398
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 4/1/2020 3/31/2021
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Grants - Juniors Restricted - 9,703 - 9,703 14,703
Grants - Vets Restricted - - - - 1,000
Grants - Unrestricted 6,500 - - 6,500 5,500
Membership Subscriptions 144 - - 144 1,644
Donations 673 - - 673 9,526
Giftaid - - - - 868
Interest Income 15 - - 15 58
- - - - -
7,333 9,703 - 17,036 33,299
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 7,333 9,703 - 17,036 33,299
A3 Payments
Overheads (Legal, accounting & insurance)
2,208 417 - 2,624 2,425
Memberships & Marketing 50 - - 50 310
Rent 162 162 - 324 1,566
Salaries - Juniors Club - 6,605 - 6,605 6,605
Salaries - Vets Club 6,605 - - 6,605 6,605
Salaries - General 2,793 - - 2,793 2,993
Juniors Club Expenses (inc Bus) - 521 - 521 5,655
Vets Club Expenses 461 - - 461 594
Other Expenses 88 - - 88 112
Sub total [ 12,367 ] 7,705 - 20,072 26,865
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
2,777 - - 2,777
- - - -
Sub total [ 2,777 ] - - 2,777 -
Total payments 15,144 7,705 - 22,849 26,865
Net of receipts/(payments) - 7,811 1,998 - - 5,813 6,434
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 38,070 2,990 - 41,060 34,626
Cash funds this year end 30,259 4,988 - 35,247 41,060
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** ||||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Endowment**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Categories**|**Details**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|| |**B1**|**Cash funds**|CAF Current Account
CAF Gold Account
Paypal|**to nearest £**
**896**
**28,834**
**50**|**to nearest £**
**-**
**4,988**
**-**|**to nearest**


|**£**
**-**
**-**
**-**| ## **B2 Other monetary assets** ## **B3 Investment assets** ## **B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use** ## **B5 Liabilities** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Petty Cash 478 - -
Total cash funds 30,259 4,988 -
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s)) OK OK
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
funds funds funds
Details to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
Giftaid Unclaimed 153 - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
Fund to which Current value
Details asset belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
None - -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which Current value
Details asset belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
None - -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which Amount due When due
Details
liability relates (optional) (optional)
PAYE/NIC Payable 760
-
-
-
-
**----- End of picture text -----**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees **----- Start of picture text -----**
Date of
Signature Print Name
approval
t.jassar Tajinder Singh Jassar 1/26/2022
P Catt Philip George Catt 1/26/2022
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Guarantees and debt** No guarantees have been given by The Squad Club (CIO), where potential liability under the guarantee is outstanding at the year end date of 31 March 2021. No debt is outstanding at the year end date, 31 March 2021, which is owed by The Squad Club (CIO) and which is secured by an express charge on any assets of the CIO. CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent ExamIne￿$ Report Report to the trustsesl members of The Squad Club On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 Charlty no (if any) 1094398 Set out on pages Included in the CC16a accounts pages and the Trustees annual report I report to the Iru$tees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trust") for the year ended 3110312021 Rgsponsibllltles and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation ba818 of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {"the Ad.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Acl and in ¢arying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by th8 Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have compleled my examination. I confimi that no material matters hav8 come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me Cause to believe that in. any material respect: accounting records V￿re not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord wilh Ihe accounting records Independent axaminer's statement I have no concems and have come acros5 no olher matters in connection with the examination to which attenlion should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: Date: 25 January 2022 Name: Martin Davies Relevant professional FCA qualificatlon(s) or body The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales {ICAEWI (if any): Address: A3 Broomsleigh Business Park Worsley Bridgè Road London SE26 5BN IER October 2018 Section B Disclosure Only complete ifthe examiner needs lo highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of chartty accounts.. directions and guidan￿ for examiners). Give here brief d8talls of any items that the examiner wishes to discl¢)se. NIA IER October 2018