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2025-03-31-accounts

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Financial statements & Trustee reports

For the year ending 31 March 2025 Charity Registration Number: 1099490

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Contents For the year ending 31 March 2025

Page

Legal and administrative information 1
Trustees’ report 2-6
Independent examiner’s report 7
Statement of financial activities 8
Balance sheet 9
Notes to the accounts 10-13

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trustees’ Report

For the year ending 31 March 2025

Legal and Administrative Information

For the year ending 31 March 2025

Status:

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 18 December 2002 and registered as a charity on 19 August 2004. Please note that the organisation changed its name from British Somali Community to British Somali Community Centre on 15[th] May 2025.

Company number: 04620527 Charity Number: 1099490

04620527

Registered Office & Business Address:

7-9 Crowndale Road London NW1 1TU

Trustees: Osob Mohamed … Chair Dr Sana Omar Zeinab Abdi Muse … Treasurer Sucdi Hashi … Member Rahma Mao … Member Hafsa Issa-Salwe … Member

Trustees:

Bankers:

Natwest Bank, Camden Town Branch 166 Camden High Street London NW1 0NW

Accountants:

Issa Associates Chartered Certified Accountants 40a Maygrove Road London NW6 2EB

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BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trustees’ Report

For the year ending 31 March 2025

BSCC Purpose and Work

The British Somali Community Centre is a community organisation working to ensure improved civic participation and equitable access to services for BAME communities. Founded in 1995 by BAME women, we provide invaluable services in housing, education, employment, para-legal advice, and other forms of community support. Our mission is to address structural barriers in order to reduce the inequality gap faced by BAME communities.

BSCC started in the London Borough of Camden, but now works across many boroughs of London, including Westminster, Haringey, Islington, Hackney, Brent, Barnet. Over the years, BSCC has become an important anchor for London’s Black community. We receive a large number of visitors on our premises from Camden and surrounding boroughs, seeking all manner of support and advice. We have earned the trust of our community members, and our Trustees include women from the wider BAME community in Britain. Our operations are run by 6 staff with support from 25 volunteers, who are all BAME women and many of whom are young people. We have earned the trust of a number of statutory and voluntary agencies including housing services, education, police, and NHS Trusts, and frequently serve as a liaison between them and the communities we represent.

Our participatory and inclusive approach inspires us to consult with the community on an ongoing basis to understand their needs and priorities. All our projects emerge from needs directly expressed by the community, and we have successfully raised funds for many such communityoriginated projects benefiting particularly BAME young people, women, and the elderly. We work with full awareness of intersectional discrimination, which affects our target groups with multiple layers of disadvantage. We co-produce all our projects with the community, providing them with opportunities to directly participate and lead.

The support of Camden’s Community Partner Fund is vital to the British Somali Community Centre, enabling it to continue serving as a trusted hub for local residents. This funding helps sustain essential programmes that promote social inclusion, wellbeing, and access to advice and support, particularly for some of Camden’s most vulnerable communities. By investing in the Centre, the Community Partner Fund strengthens community cohesion, empowers families and young people, and ensures that culturally appropriate services remain accessible and responsive to local needs.

Our current projects are as following:

1. Youth Safety Project

This project aims to empower young people through sports, steering them away from risky and/ or criminal activities and towards meaningful employment and apprenticeships. We receive referrals of young people from the Metropolitan Police, Camden Safety Net and the Violence Reduction Unit, and we in turn refer young people to these agencies where we believe their interventions would be helpful. Further, we support parents to spot early signs of risky behaviour, grooming, and drug and knife crime, giving them the confidence and skills to support their children effectively towards better life choices. We also offer advice to parents of young people who are involved with the criminal justice system. In order to address long-standing mistrust of the police, as well as racism within the police forces, we organise regular meetings between the police and the community.

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BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trustees’ Report (continued)

For the year ending 31 March 2025

2. Access to services

This is one of our core and longest-standing projects, in which we offer support for families through surgeries and casework. We offer in-depth advice on welfare rights and housing, helping users to submit housing applications, appeal against evictions, complete universal credit applications, maximise incomes, etc. We also signpost them to legal and health experts where we cannot directly help. As access to welfare is increasingly done through digital platforms, we skill up and assist service users to navigate the digital world. Where needed, we also help to overcome the language barrier, for instance by accompanying users to meetings with housing providers, translating letters from authorities, etc. This project has taken on particular significance in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, as the crisis has disproportionately affected our communities.

3. Supplementary school and holiday club

We run very successful and oversubscribed free Supplementary School and Homework Club for children from 7-17, that has significantly increased their confidence to engage with education and improved the attainment levels. Operating since the foundation of the organisation, the Supplementary School is a core project with key funding by John Lyons Charity. We receive reports from parents and from schools about improved achievement of young people who attend our School and homework club, and there is confidence that our interventions core subjects makes a significant positive difference. We support 60 young people twice week with booster support in addition to the normal supplementary schoolwork. The Homework Club continues throughout the year, giving young people consistent ongoing support until their targets are achieved. Alumni of the Homework Club have gone on to successful careers in business, education, public service, charity, policing, law, and the NHS. This project supports over 60 young people and children per year at all key stage levels, including SEND education and tailored support for students at risk of truancy and anti-social behaviour in their mainstream schools.

The Holiday, Activities and Food (HAF) programme operates as a sub-section of our Supplementary School and has proven highly effective in engaging children and young people during school holidays. Funded by the Camden Young Foundation, the programme runs consistently across all school holiday periods, providing continuity of support outside term time. Each holiday, the programme supports 40–50 young people for 2–5 weeks. A structured programme of indoor and outdoor activities is delivered, including educational visits, sports sessions, and creative and competitive learning activities. All participants receive healthy, nutritious meals alongside practical sessions on nutrition, healthy cooking, and positive eating habits. The programme helps reduce the risk of antisocial behaviour by keeping young people positively engaged in a safe environment. Monitoring and feedback show improved confidence, social skills, and readiness to learn, while parents report increased understanding of healthy eating and improved routines at home.

4. BSCC Football Project (Girls & young women)

This project, funded by GO London!, provides football practice and coaching for BAME women and girls (aged 14-25) and builds leadership, confidence, assertiveness, and independence. There are 40 regular participants who attend weekly sessions. Apart from football coaching, they can 3

3

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trustees’ Report (continued)

For the year ending 31 March 2025

also get support to achieve professional coaching qualifications. This activity is helping diversify the sport in response to the success of England’s Lionesses. We have also supported some participants from this project to access opportunities for wider recognition in diverse fields. For instance, our users from this project recently participated in Camden Multimedia Youth Safety Award (run by Camden Youth Services). BSC supported them to enter the competition and gave them advice on producing short videos speaking against VAWG and Islamophobia, for which they won the top award. Another group in the previous year submitted a video on making football more accessible for women and girls and won the runner-up award.

5. Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Project:

This project offers 1:1 support for victims of VAWG, working with 5-10 women and girls per week. We also offer monthly workshops for groups of women, reaching 30-40 women per month. In Camden, we lead the campaign to end Female Genital Mutilation, collaborating with the community to raise awareness, for instance through community events and school programs.

We advocate to strengthen government policies to eliminate FGM, and we train enforcement agencies on intelligence-led and culturally sensitive ways to implement anti-FGM policies effectively. We are also working with Mind and the NHS to advocate for culturally sensitive mental health services for the BAME community. We train them in providing culturally sensitive support for women who have faced trauma of war, domestic violence and FGM. We have also trained 24 BAME women as Community Mental Health Champions under this project, equipping them with confidence and knowledge to support those within the community who are struggling with their mental health. Three participants have gone on to become accredited Community Mental Health Practitioners and now work with statutory and voluntary agencies. The others continue to offer less specialist support at community level for those struggling with their mental health.

6. ESOL and IT Classes:

Our ESOL and IT classes support adult women of mixed ages from the local community, providing essential skills that improve confidence, independence, and access to employment and services. The programme currently consists of two groups, delivered as one session per week, with classes divided into Beginner and Entry levels to ensure appropriate learning support. Each session supports approximately 15 learners and is delivered by a qualified, professional teacher. Due to consistently high demand and strong attendance, we plan to expand the programme to two weekly sessions to increase access and reduce waiting lists. Funded by City Bridge, the programme helps learners develop practical English language and basic IT skills, enabling them to better engage with schools, healthcare providers, and wider community services. Monitoring shows increased confidence, improved communication skills, and greater digital inclusion among participants.

7. Parent Support with School’s and Social Services Project:

This project offers advice to BAME parents to help them, and their school-aged children navigate the education system more successfully. Each week, at least 10 parents come to our drop-in sessions, where they gain skills enabling them to actively engage with their child's

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BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trustees’ Report (continued)

For the year ending 31 March 2025

education and build stronger links between school and home, especially for children who are at risk of truancy or educational underachievement. Additionally, we collaborate with Camden Learning Services to improve BAME parents’ participation in school governance systems, for instance through training and workshops on becoming school governors, being part of parent teacher associations, etc. We also offer workshops and support for parents on SEND education awareness.

Financial Review

This financial year we had unrestricted income of £2,556 and restricted income of £258,157, Total income was £260,713. We had a net movement of -£456 on the unrestricted income and a net movement of £71,467 on the restricted income. The charity had unrestricted reserves of £56,675 and restricted reserves of £232,465. Total Reserves for 2024-2025 were £289,140 .

Public benefit statement

In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the Trustees have considered S.17 of the Charities Act 2011 and the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, including the guidance ‘public benefit: running a charity (PD2). The achievements and activities above demonstrate the public benefit arising from the charity’s activities.

Reserves Policy

The BSCC’S policy is to maintain a level of unrestricted and undesignated reserves equivalent to six months' expenditure. Currently we are working towards achieving this target.

Risk Management

The trustees have assessed the major risks to which BSCC is exposed and are satisfied that those systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks including maintaining a risk register, which is reviewed annually.

Investment Policy

The charity does not produce a sufficient surplus to invest, as priority must be given to building our unrestricted reserves.

Plans for future

We have diversified substantially to develop a strong income stream from trusts, foundations, corporates, members, venue hire, supporters, and individual donors. Our growing portfolio of unrestricted income venue hire, and donations are a significant contribution to our growth. We have put in place a range of mechanisms to ensure we can continue to secure institutional income from the private sector, individuals, and grant-making institutions.

Independent Examiners

The charity appointed Issa Associates as our independent examiner. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in Note 1 to the accounts and comply with the BSCC’s Memorandum and Articles, the Companies Act 2006, and the Statement of Recommended Practice "Accounting and Reporting by Charities," issued in March 2005.

5

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trustees’ Report (continued)

For the year ending 31 March 2025

The trustees' annual report and the strategic report were approved on 20.05.2025 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:

…………………………. Osob Mohamed Chair British Somali Community Centre 7-9 Crowndale Road, London, NW1 1TU

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BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Independent Examiner’s Report To The Trustees of British Somali Community Centre For the year ending 31 March 2025

I have examined the accounts on pages 8 to 9.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view, and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

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

--------------------------------------Issa Associates Chartered Certified Accountants 40a Maygrove Road London, NW6 2EB

Date: 20[th] May 2025

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BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Statement of Financial Activities

For the year ending 31 March 2025

Notes
Incoming resources
From charitable activities
2
Investment income
2
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Charitable activities
3
Governance costs
4
Total Resources Expended
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Net movement in funds
Fund balances at 31 March 2025		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2025
2024
funds
funds
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
2,556
258,157
260,713
220,626
-
-
-
-
-
2,556
258,157
260,713
220,626
3012
168,807
171,819
114,882
-
17,883
17,883
5,662
3,012
186,690
189,702
120,544
(456)
71,467
71,011
100,082
57,131
160,998
218,129
118,047
56,675
232,465
289,140
218,129

8

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Balance Sheet

For the year ending 31 March 2025

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
6
Current Assets:
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors:amounts falling
due within one year
7
Net Current Assets
Total Assets less current liabilities
Funds of the charity:
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds		 2024
£
£
£
£
1,202
1,992
324,118
245,787
324,118
245,787
(36,180)
(29,650)
287,938
216,137
289,140
218,129
232,465
160,998
56,675
57,131
289,140
218,129
2025

For the financial year ended 31 March 2025, the company was entitled to exemption from audit under s477 of the Companies Act 2006; and no notice has been deposited under s476.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with s386 and preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year, and of its profit or loss for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the company.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to small companies' regime. The financial statements on pages 1 to 6 were approved by the board and signed on their behalf by:

……………………………….. Date: 20 May 2025 Osob Mohamed

9

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Notes to the Accounts

For the year ending 31 March 2025

1 Accounting Policies

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities (Revised SORP 2015) and the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities.

Grants and donations are recognised on accruals basis.

Incoming resources are reported gross.

Resources expended are included in the Statement of Financial Activities on accruals basis, inclusive of any VAT that cannot be recovered.

Expenditure that is directly attributable to specific activities has been included in these cost categories. Where costs are attributable to more than one activity, they have been apportioned across the cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of those resources.

1.4 Depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation.

Provision for depreciation of tangible fixed assets held by the charity is made at an annual rate of 25% on straight line basis.

10

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Notes to the Accounts

For the year ended 31 March 2025

2. Grants and Donations

GLA Go London
Zurich insurance
City of London
Camden Careers
2. Investment Income
Interest receivable
L B of Camden
James Wigg Practice
Total Incoming Resources
Other Donations
GPDQ Limited
John Lyons (Supplementary school)
Rental income
Young Camden Foundation		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,556
2,556
Unrestricted
Funds
£
-
2,556		 Restricted
Funds
£
18,284
95,000
8,170
47,861
14,000
37,466
-
36,236
1,140
-
-
258,157
Restricted
Funds
£
-
258,157		 2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
18,284
26,729
95,000
49,900
8,170
9,804
47,861
93,531
14,000
21,810
37,466
12,755
-
2,790
36,236
-
1,140
-
-
620
2,556
2,687
260,713
220,626
2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
-
-
260,713
220,626

11

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Notes to the Accounts

For the year ending 31 March 2025

3a. Direct Charitable Expenditure

HAF Young people activities
Youth activities project
Light & heat
Mind of Camden repayment
Events & outings
3b. Support Costs
Publicity & promotions
Insurance
Sundry expenses
Total Charitable Activities
4. Governance
Total Resources Expended
Audit and Accountancy
Legal and Professional
Telephone, fax, Internet
Printing, Postage, Stationery
Refreshments and activities
Rent and service charges
Wages and salaries
Volunteer expenses
Depreciation
Supplementary school tutors		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Unrestricted
Funds
£
1,022
739
150
1,101
3,012
3,012
Unrestricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
3,012		 Restricted
Funds
£
24,307
98,936
753
2,025
24,452
5,422
4,562
1,361
1,809
577
530
4,073
168,807
Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
168,807
Restricted
Funds
£
3,000
14,883
17,883
186,690		 2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
24,307
24,146
98,936
59,274
753
329
2,025
1,716
24,452
18,479
5,422
1,973
4,562
3,206
1,361
84
1,809
-
577
648
530
1,549
4,073
1,547
168,807
112,951
2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
1,022
778
739
-
150
114
1,101
1,039
3,012
1,931
171,819
114,882
2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
3,000
1,500
14,883
4,162
17,883
5,662
189,702
120,544

12

BRITISH SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE

Notes to the Accounts

For the year ending 31 March 2025

5
Paid employees
5.1
Staff costs
Gross wages salaries and benefits in kind
Employers National Insurance costs
5.2
Number of employees
The average monthly number of employees during
the year was:
Charitable activities
6
Tangible Fixed Assets
Cost
Additions
Depreci
7
Creditors – Amounts falling due within one year
Other creditors
31 March 2024
At 1 April 2024
At 31 March 2025
At 1 April 2024
Charged in the Year
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2025
Net Book Value		 2025
2024
£
£
98,690
35,932
246
-
98,936
35,932
2025
2024
Number
Number
8
7
8
7
Office
Equipment
Total
£
£
11,770
11,770
250
250
12,020
12,020
9,779
9,779
1,039
1,039
10,818
10,818
1,202
1,202
1,992
1,992
2025
2024
£
£
36,180
29,650
36,180
29,650

13