2024-03-31-accounts - Working Families

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WORKING FAMILIES

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED

31 MARCH 2024

Registered Charity No. 1099808 (England & Wales) and SC045339 (Scotland) Registered Company (No. 04727690).

WORKING FAMILIES CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Reference and administrative details	1
Trustees’ report	2
Independent auditor’s report	10
Statement of financial activities	13
Balance sheet	14
Statement of cash flows	15
Notes to the financial statements	16

WORKING FAMILIES REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Trustees

Helen Humphreys Rebecca McGowan Clare Corbett Paul Coulson Prajakta Datar Michael Dunson-Odusanya Tessa MacArthur (resigned 25 January 2024) David Robson Kate Shaw (resigned 25 July 2024) Steve Toft Amy Town (resigned 1 September 2023) Neha Kulkarni (appointed 15 July 2024) Charlotte Wayne (appointed 5 July 2024) Gordon Whyte (appointed 5 July 2024)

Honorary officers

Helen Humphreys (Chair) Rebecca McGowan (Treasurer)

Chief Executive

Jane van Zyl

Registered office

Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Charity registration number (England and Wales) 1099808

Charity registration number (Scotland)

SC045339

Company registration number

04727690

Auditor

Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Bankers

CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

The trustees, who are directors of the company for the purposes of the Companies Act, present their report with the financial statements of Working Families (the “charity”) for the year ended 31 March 2024.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the principal accounting policies set out on pages 16 to 18 and comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charity’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, applicable laws, 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 United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

Objectives and activities

Objectives

Working Families is the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers. The charity has the following objectives:

The promotion and advancement of the physical and mental health and well-being of working families and carers;
The relief of working families in need by reason of age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage; and
Advancing public education (particularly amongst employers and employees) about all aspects of alternative and flexible working patterns and practices.

Including (but without limitation) by:

promoting and advancing better working practices; and
providing information, advice, guidance and counselling for people in work or seeking work including about their rights and entitlements and the provision of care for dependents (including those with disabilities)

where “working families” means working parents; grandparents and/or guardians or carers, and the children and other dependents for whom they are providing care or support.

Activities

The charity carries out the following activities in order to satisfy its charitable objectives:

Providing free legal advice to parents and carers on their rights at work;
Providing employers with support to create flexible, family-friendly workplaces;
Influencing policy; and
Advocating on behalf of working parents and parents across the United Kingdom.

Public benefit

The trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on Public Benefit when reviewing and shaping the charity’s aims and objectives for the year and planning future activities. The charity works to ensure that its programmes are inclusive, accessible and responsive to the needs of its beneficiaries.

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Achievements and performance

Working Families is the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers. Our mission is to remove the barriers that people with caring responsibilities face in the workplace. We provide free legal advice to parents and carers on their rights at work. We give employers the tools they need to support their people while creating a flexible, high-performing workforce. And we advocate on behalf of the UK’s 17.5 million working parents and carers, influencing policy through campaigns informed by ground-breaking research.

Our 2021-2024 strategy set out three key aims: empowering working parents and carers, supporting employers, and driving policy change. Below are some highlights on how we furthered these goals in 2023-2024:

Empowering working parents and carers

Our Legal Advice Service continued to provide award-winning free advice for working parents and carers—over e-mail, through the telephone helpline, and through hundreds of articles on the Working Families website. We responded to 1,512 queries and provided 1,470 people with bespoke advice and had at least 869,897 unique visitors to our legal advice pages (around 15% of people may not be included in this figure as they opted out of tracking cookies).
We further expanded our benefits check/’better off’ calculation service, which calculated over £150,000 of eligible (unclaimed benefits), averaging nearly £7,000 per case
We continued our collaboration with our partners at Pregnant Then Screwed and delivered two interactive legal/benefits clinics via Instagram, with a total of over 31,000 views.
We enriched our advice pages and online resources which included significant work updating relevant pages and resources to ensure they would accurately reflect the numerous changes in Employment Law and were ready to go live in time for 6[th] April this year.
We organised an in-person Hackathon event with a number of our pro bono law partners during which employment lawyers from 14 different firms reviewed 20% of our Employment webpages. The event was a huge success and in addition to the assistance with updating our webpages, we added 2 new law firms to our online pro bono platform.
We further developed and refined our feedback process from service users so that we are now obtaining regular, invaluable longer-term feedback as well as short term feedback.

Supporting employers

In 2023-24, the Employer Services team brought in 22 new employer members, with a total of 123 members of all sizes and from a diverse range of sectors.
We held 15 events for employers, on a wide range of topics including support for a multigenerational workforce; support for carers; flexible working from day one of employment; career progression for women; and building successful family networks.
We had 64 entries to our comprehensive and one-of-a-kind Top Employers Benchmark and delivered detailed feedback to the 55 members who qualified, supporting our employer members to create and sustain flexible and family-friendly workplaces.
We completed an extensive review of our Top Employers Benchmark to ensure that it remains relevant and fit-for-purpose in today’s working environment and so that it continues to add maximum value as one of the key benefits of our employer membership. This included reviewing the questionnaire and identifying a new platform provider, to improve the user experience.
We had 80 Best Practice Awards entries from 57 different employers, including 41 nonmember entries. This has proven a good way to celebrate the very best in employer practice.

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Driving policy change

2022-24 saw the culmination of Working Families’ efforts to work with Parliamentarians on a series of Private Members’ Bills resulting in the passing of the following Acts between May and September 2023:
Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act
Carers Leave Act
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy & Family Leave) Act
Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act
Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Act
As of April 2024, the first three pieces of legislation have been implemented representing a major legislative victory for Working Families. Employees now have a day one right to request flexible working via an improved process; a right to take 5 days of unpaid carers leave and extended redundancy protections following periods of maternity and shared parental leave. From September 2024 workers with insecure contracts will have the right to request a predictable contract and the provision for neonatal care leave and pay will come into effect in 2025.
The Flexible Working Taskforce and the Department for Business and Trade adopted our Happy to Talk Flexible Working logo as part of their promotional activities for the new flexible working regulations.
Additionally, following our letter to Minister Kemi Badenoch regarding our concerns over the Retained EU Law Bill, the Government Equalities Office confirmed that they had amended the Equality Act, via statutory instrument, to ensure that several EU related protections would be enshrined into UK law. These related to equal pay and protections from unfavourable treatment due to breastfeeding or maternity leave.
In May 2023, we launched our 2023 Working Families Index: Spotlight report on lower income households. A policymakers briefing was produced from this report and helped secure meetings with influential Labour figures including Justin Madders MP (Shadow Minister for Employment Rights) and Zarah Sultana MP (Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group).
Beyond Westminster we have also engaged with local and regional government through a draft motion for local councils on flexible working and our London Manifesto for the May 2024 Mayoral Election.

A strong organisation

In June 2023, we launched Working Families updated branding. The speech bubble mark featured throughout reflects the vital and impactful conversations that drive our work to remove the barriers that people with caring responsibilities face in the workplace.
We started our visual identity refresh by gathering data and insights from our key stakeholders, including our employer members and our current and potential supporters, the majority of whom are our core audience of working parents and carers. We held workshops with our staff team and our board, which helped us identify challenges of our current visual identity and opportunities for the new one.
We compiled our insights into a creative brief for a small family-run design agency that shares our values of collaboration and inclusion. Overall, our aim was to develop a new look and feel that would help us reach more of those who need us most, increase our impact, and reflect who we had become as a charity: an organisation that is collaborative, inclusive, practical and driven.

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Plans for the future

As the charity entered the last year of its three year strategy (21 – 24), the trustees reviewed the impact of the current strategy and built a new strategic framework, starting from 1st April 2024. Working Families will continue to empower working parents and carers through our legal advice helpline, continue to support employers to build and create flexible and family friendly workplaces and use those views – what we can see is not working and what is possible – to positively influence public policy.

With the significant success the charity has had with private members’ bills in this parliament, Working Families has agreed to deliver the secretariat for an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Flexible and Family Friendly Working, which was formed in February 2024. This will enable us to deepen our connection with parliamentarians on both sides of the House and allow us to use the insights from our employer members to influence policy.

The Working Families Index Spotlight Report focusing on working parents and carers with a household income of £50k and under, has confirmed our commitment to support working parents with least access to justice, through our legal advice helpline. We still have an ambition to work with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, who employ the largest number of adults within the UK. We continue to explore opportunities to collaborate and develop partnerships to help us accelerate or amplify our impact.

Financial Review

Results for the financial period

A summary of the results for the period can be found on page 13 of this report and accounts. During the year, total income amounted to £1,047,760 (2023: £1,047,791). Income from grants and donations amounted to £410,553 (2023: £441,893), income from charitable activities amounted to £525,582 (2023: £543,456), and income from other trading activities amounted to £111,625 (2023: £62,442).

Total expenditure for the year amounted to £1,099,519 (2023: £1,041,355). Expenditure on raising funds totalled £84,956 (2023: £64,932) and expenditure on charitable activities amounted to £1,014,563 (2023: £976,423). This results in a net deficit and net decrease in funds during the year of £51,759 (2023: net surplus and net increase in funds of £6,436).

Financial position

The balance sheet shows total funds of £242,439 (2023: £294,198). All funds at the year end and the previous year end were held in the general (unrestricted) fund. Therefore free reserves available to meet general expenditure, are £242,439 (2023: £294,198).

Reserves policy

The Trustees seek to hold reserves sufficient to ensure the financial security of the charity and our ongoing ability to meet our charitable objectives. The charity will hold minimum reserves sufficient to cover the costs of a winding up the charity and discharging our obligations to staff and creditors in full. At 31 March 2024 the Trustees assessed this minimum threshold to be £131,000, should reserves fall to less than 20% above this minimum threshold the Trustees will put in place a detailed monitoring and management plan. The charity will hold a maximum level of reserves sufficient to cover 6 months charity expenditure plus a reserve to cover the development of future opportunities to fulfil our charitable objectives. At 31 March 2024 the Trustees assessed this maximum threshold to

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

be £577,000, should reserves rise above this threshold the Trustees will put in place an action plan to develop opportunities to use any surplus to fulfil our charitable objective. The reserves held at 31 March 2024 of £242,439 fell within the Trustees’ agreed range.

Governance, structure, management, and relevant policies

Recruitment, appointment, and induction of new trustees

Working Families appoints trustees on the basis of the skills and experience they can bring to the custodianship and management of the business and its activities. All prospective trustees, who are also directors of the company, are recruited from a range of external sources and by public advertisement and are appointed or co-opted after a formal interview process. Recommendations from the interview panel are voted on at a Board meeting in accordance with our Memorandum and Articles of Association. Each new trustee is offered mentoring by an existing trustee, provided with full induction information, and offered relevant training. The trustees who served throughout the year are detailed on page 1.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees (who are also directors of Working Families for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the income and expenditure of the charitable company and group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in 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);
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. Each of the trustees confirms that:

as far as the trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and
the trustee has taken all the steps that he/she ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable company’s auditor is aware of that information.

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Risk management

The trustees regularly review risks to ensure appropriate mitigation is in place. The Board also undertakes an annual review of risk appetite to ensure our approach to risk management is managing risk to the right level. The Trustees have ensured the Business Plan focuses on Working Families being financially sound, well governed and a best practice employer. Key steps towards this have included:

Tight budgetary control, including monthly meetings by the Finance and Risk Committee
A focus on Employer Services as the major unrestricted income contributor to the charity
A 7% increase in the cost of joining Working Families as an employer member to protect income streams during an inflationary period
The payment of travel costs for all staff who work from home

Working Families continue to work with JS2 as its accountants and Buzzacott LLP, as auditors in 2019 following a tender process. In 2022/23 a review was conducted by the Board and it was agreed to continue working with JS2 and Buzzacott LLP.

Key management personnel

The charity is governed by a Board of Trustees. Day to day running of the charity is delegated to the Chief Executive. The charity is staffed by paid employees, supported by volunteers as well as by professionals giving their time and expertise pro bono. The salary for the key management personnel – the CEO – is reviewed annually by our People & Governance Committee (a committee of our board of trustees), taking into account industry standards. This Committee makes a recommendation to the Board.

Committees

The Finance and Risk Committee of the Board meets monthly to monitor financial performance and risk.
The People and Governance Committee is responsible for the charity’s governance and ensuring that Working Families is a best practice employer for its size and sector, and for settling any specific disciplinary or grievance issues which may arise during the year. It meets monthly or as required.
The Business Development and Fundraising Committee reviews the charity’s business development and fundraising plans to support the charity’s ability to meet its aims.

WORKING FAMILIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Fundraising policy

The charity aims to achieve best practice in the way in which it communicates with donors and other supporters. The charity takes care with both the tone of its communications and the accuracy of its data to minimise the pressures on supporters. It applies best practice to protect supporters’ data and never sells data, it never swaps data and ensures that communication preferences can be changed at any time. The charity manages its own fundraising activities and does not employ the services of professional fundraisers. The charity undertakes to react to and investigate any complaints regarding its fundraising activities and to learn from them and improve its service. During the year, the charity received no complaints about its fundraising activities.

Approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf on 25 July 2024 by:

Helen Humphreys, Chair

Rebecca McGowan, Treasurer

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WORKING FAMILIES

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Working Families (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which the comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements. 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:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of the charitable company’s income and expenditure for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 charitable 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 charitable 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.

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 trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report and financial statements, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. 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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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.

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WORKING FAMILIES (CONTINUED)

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

the information given in the trustees’ report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the trustees’ report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in 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:

adequate accounting records have not been kept by the charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the trustees were not entitled to take advantage of the small companies exemptions from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes 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 charitable 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:

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WORKING FAMILIES (CONTINUED)

How the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities including fraud.

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charitable company through discussions with trustees and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations in both the UK and overseas, which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charitable company, including the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, data protection legislation, anti-bribery, employment, safeguarding principles, health and safety legislation;
we considered the impact of the international nature of the charitable company’s operations on its compliance with laws and regulations;
the charitable company utilises local auditors to audit the financial information in each of countries in which it operates. We communicated our perception of material risk in respect of irregularities to the local auditors and obtained details of the work that they carried out in response to this;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.

We assessed the susceptibility of the charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in the accounting policies were indicative of potential bias; and
used data analytics to investigate the rationale behind any significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of management and those charged with governance;
obtaining details of work carried out by local auditors in connection with compliance with local laws and regulations;
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
reviewing any available correspondence with HMRC and the company’s legal advisors.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WORKING FAMILIES (CONTINUED)

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at 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.

Hugh Swainson (Senior Statutory Auditor) Buzzacott LLP Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Date: 09 September 2024

WORKING FAMILIES STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Unrestricted Notes £ Income from: Grants and Donations 2 115,196 Charitable Activities 3 525,582 Other trading activities 4 111,625 Total income 752,403 Expenditure on: Charitable activities 5 719,206 Cost of raising funds 84,956 Total expenditure 804,162 6 (51,759) Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward 294,198 Total funds carried forward 242,439 Net (expenditure)/ income & net movement in funds	Restricted £ 295,357 - -	Unrestricted £ 160,356 543,456 62,442
752,403	295,357	766,254
719,206 84,956	295,357 -	694,886 64,932
804,162	295,357	759,818
(51,759) 294,198	- -	6,436 287,762

242,439	-	294,198

The notes on the following pages form part of these financial statements

WORKING FAMILIES (Registered Company No. 04727690) BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2024

		2024	2023
	Notes	£	£
Current assets:
Debtors	11	216,180	150,184
Cash at bank and in hand		505,702	539,483
		721,882	689,667
Liabilities:
Creditors: amount falling due within one year	12	(479,443)	(395,469)
Net current assets		242,439	294,198
Net assets		242,439	294,198
The funds of the charity:
Restricted income funds	15	-	-
Unrestricted income funds:
General funds	15	242,439	294,198
Total charity funds:		242,439	294,198

Approved by the trustees on 25 July 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Helen Humphreys

Chair

Rebecca McGowan

Treasurer

The notes on the following pages form part of these financial statements

WORKING FAMILIES STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Net (expenditure) / income for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) (Increase) in debtors Increase / (decrease) in creditors Net cash (used in) operating activities Change in cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year	2024 2023 £ £ (51,759) 6,436 (65,996) (28,462) 83,974 (24,621) (33,781) (46,647) (33,781) (46,647) 539,483 586,130 505,702 539,483

Analysis of cash and cash equivalents Cash in hand and at bank Total cash and cash equivalents	At 1st April 2023 Cash Flows At 31st March 2024 £ £ £ 539,483 (33,781) 505,702 539,483 (33,781) 505,702

The charity held no debt during the period, as such the above analysis of cash and cash equivalents serves as a reconciliation of changes in net debt.

The notes on the following pages form part of these financial statements

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1. Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

These financial statements have been prepared for the year to 31 March 2024. Comparative information reflects the year to 31 March 2023.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with 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)- (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest pound.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement

Preparation of the accounts requires the trustees and senior management to make significant judgements and estimates over the allocation of overheads and governance costs between charitable expenditure categories and fundraising costs. There are no other significant estimates or judgements.

Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objects of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements. Statutory grants which are given as contributions towards the charity’s core services are treated as unrestricted.

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1. Accounting policies (Continued)

Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service or the delivery of other performance conditions, is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

Income from memberships is recognised over the period of the membership.

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Allocation of support costs

Expenditure is allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned based on an estimate of staff time attributable to each activity.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted general funds represent those monies which are freely available for application towards achieving any charitable purpose that falls within the charitable company’s charitable objects.

The restricted funds are monies raised for, and their use restricted to, a specific purpose, or donations subject to donor imposed conditions.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The aims and use of each designated fund is set out in the note to the financial statements.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1. Accounting policies (Continued)

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Financial Instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Pension

The charity is part of an occupational pension scheme, which is a defined contribution scheme. The cost of contributions payable by the charity to the scheme is charged to the income and expenditure account as incurred.

Operating Leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged against income on a straight line basis over the lease term.

2. Income from grants and donations

Trusts and Foundations Corporate donations Donations from individuals	Unrestricted £ 32,336 42,804 40,056 115,196	Restricted £ 295,357 - - 295,357	2024 Total 2023 Total £ £ 327,693 359,832 42,804 25,195 40,056 56,866 410,553 441,893

In the prior year, £281,537 of Trust and foundation income was restricted. All other income from grants and donations was unrestricted.

3. Income from charitable activities

Employer membership Consultancy and Training Other income	Unrestricted £ 501,765 13,341 10,476 525,582	Restricted £ - - - -	2024 Total 2023 Total £ £ 501,765 503,731 13,341 33,802 10,476 5,923 525,582 543,456

All income from charitable activities in the prior year was unrestricted.

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

4. Income from other trading activities

Sponsorships	Unrestricted £ 111,625 111,625	Restricted £ - -	2024 Total 2023 Total £ £ 111,625 62,442 111,625 62,442

All income from trading activities in the prior year was unrestricted.

5. Analysis of expenditure

Current Year Services for employers Legal advice service Policy and research Charitable activities Fundraising Support costs Total expenditure Prior Year Charitable activities Services for employers Legal advice service Policy and research Charitable activities Fundraising Support costs Total expenditure Support costs comprise: Staff costs Other staff costs Marketing and Comms IT costs Finance, office and admin costs Governance - audit fee Total support costs	Staff costs £ 306,240 330,213 116,269 752,722 63,731 84,702 901,155 Staff costs £ 290,243 296,656 113,808 700,707 53,070 74,503 828,280	Other direct costs £ 28,487 30,374 11,141 70,002 3,705 124,657 198,364 Other direct costs £ 43,131 22,581 25,912 91,624 2,925 118,526 213,075	Support costs Total 2024 £ £ 78,858 413,585 86,754 447,341 26,227 153,637 191,839 1,014,563 17,520 84,956 (209,359) - - 1,099,519 Support costs Total 2023 £ £ 71,533 404,907 84,504 403,741 28,055 167,775 184,092 976,423 8,937 64,932 (193,029) - - 1,041,355 2024 2023 £ £ 84,702 74,503 8,660 8,219 45,361 46,781 7,627 11,232 53,109 44,344 9,900 7,950 209,359 193,029

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

6. Net income for the year

This is stated after charging Staff costs Operating lease costs Audit	2024 2023 £ £ 901,155 828,280 - - 9,900 7,950

7. Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

Salaries and wages Social security costs Pension contributions	2024 2023 £ £ 780,328 732,496 82,216 58,817 38,611 36,967 901,155 828,280

Employees earning over £60,000 in the year

One employee earned £70,980 during the year exclusive of employer pensions and employer National Insurance contributions. (2023: 68,445).

The key management personnel comprise the trustees, who are not remunerated, and the Chief Executive. The total employee benefits including employer pension contributions and employer national insurance contributions of the key management personnel was £83,069 (2023: £80,484).

The amounts paid to the Chief Executive Officer were:

Gross salary Employer's NIC Employer's pension	2024 2023 £ £ 70,980 68,445 8,540 8,617 3,549 3,422 83,069 80,484

The charity trustees were not paid and did not receive any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2023: £nil).

During the year, one trustee was reimbursed a total of £23 for costs incurred in relation to their role as trustee (2023: two trustees were reimbursed a total of £87).

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

8. Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

Charitable Activities Fundraising Support Governance	2024 2023 23.6 23.5 1.7 1.2 1.8 2.5 0.1 0.1 27.2 27.3

9. Related party transactions

Aggregate donations of £1,746 were received from trustees and key management personnel during the year ended 31 March 2024 (2023 : £3,170). There are no other related party transactions including donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business.

10. Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. The subsidiary, Working Families Trading Limited, donates all its taxable profits to Working Families, and therefore pays no corporation tax.

11. Debtors

Trade debtors Prepayments Accrued income	2024 2023 £ £ 148,383 140,155 18,548 7,529 49,249 2,500 216,180 150,184

12. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors Deferred income VAT creditor Accruals Other creditors	2024 2023 £ £ 17,763 13,061 395,335 316,614 29,697 30,220 14,250 11,975 22,398 23,599 479,443 395,469

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

13. Deferred income

Balance at the beginning of the year Amount released to income in the period Amount deferred in the year Employer membership fees in advance Grants Balance at the end of the year 14. Analysis of net assets between funds As at 31 March 2024 Net current assets Net assets at the end of the year As at 31 March 2023 Net current assets Net assets at the end of the year	£ 242,439 242,439 £ 294,198 294,198 Unrestricted Unrestricted	2024 2023 £ £ 316,614 316,203 (291,462) (291,707) 268,516 292,118 101,667 - 395,335 316,614 Total funds £ £ - 242,439 - 242,439 Total funds £ £ - 294,198 - 294,198 Restricted Restricted

WORKING FAMILIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

15. Movements in funds 2024

Restricted funds: Legal Advice Service Trust for London Policy & Research Total restricted funds Unrestricted funds: General funds Total funds	At the start of the year £ - - - - 294,198 294,198	Income £ 225,841 39,000 30,516 295,357 752,403 1,047,760	At the end of the year £ £ (225,841) - (39,000) - (30,516) - (295,357) - (804,162) 242,439 (1,099,519) 242,439 Expenditure

Legal Advice Service

Grants and donation funding to provide free legal advice to parents and carers on their rights at work.

Trust for London

Funding to support Working Families work across the Legal advice service and policy work.

Policy and Research Fund

Funding towards the Research and Policy Manager role.

Movements in funds 2023

Restricted funds: Legal Advice Service Trust for London Policy & Research Total restricted funds Unrestricted funds: General Funds Total funds	At the start of the year £ - - - - 287,762 287,762	Income £ 152,073 36,750 92,714 281,537 766,254 1,047,791	At the end of the year £ £ (152,073) - (36,750) - (92,714) - (281,537) - (759,818) 294,198 (1,041,355) 294,198 Expenditure

16. Ultimate control

The charitable company is controlled by its trustees.