2024-06-30-accounts

Company number: 05203237 Charity number: 1106864 Scottish charity ref: SCO48291

SafeLives

Report and financial statements For the year ended 30 June 2024

SafeLives

Contents

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Reference and administrative information ........................................................................................................... 1 Trustees’ annual report .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Independent auditor’s report ............................................................................................................................. 25 Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) ....................................... 29 Balance sheet ................................................................................................................................................... 30 Statement of cash flows .................................................................................................................................... 31 Notes to the financial statements ...................................................................................................................... 32

SafeLives

Reference and administrative information

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Company number	05203237
Countries of incorporation England and Wales
Charity number	1106864
Scottish charity reference SCO48291
Countries of registration England, Wales, and Scotland
Registered office and	operational address	Suite 2a
		Whitefriars
		Lewins Mead
		Bristol, BS1 2NT
Patron	HM The Queen
Trustees	Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year
	and up to the date of this report were as follows:
	Isabel Boyer	(Chair)
	Alexandra Butler	(Vice Chair)
	Shana Begum
	Zoe Billingham
	Liz Hughes
	Ursula Lindenberg
	Tim Symington
	Rebecca Spencer	(Resigned 11/06/2024)
	Takki Sulaiman	(Resigned 11/06/2024)
	Eva Bari	(Resigned 17/09/2024)
	Patrick Mitchell	(Appointed 17/09/2024)
	Emily Hawkins-Longley	(Appointed 17/09/2024)
	Rebecca Lury	(Appointed 17/09/2024)
Key management	Suzanne Jacob	Chief Executive
personnel	Ellen Miller	Chief Executive
	Jo Silver	Director of Quality and Innovation
	Liz Thompson	Director of External Relations
	Jo Gordon	Chief Operating Officer
	Dawn Codrington	Director of People and Culture
	Emma Robinson	Director of Quality and Innovation

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SafeLives

Reference and administrative information

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Bankers	NatWest Bank PLC
	South West RCSC
	740 Waterside Drive
	Aztec West
	Bristol
	BS99 5BD
Solicitors	Ramsay Paterson
	Lynwood
	Newland Garden
	Sherborne, Dorset
	DT9 3AF
	Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
	134 Edmond Street
	Birmingham
	B3 2ES
Auditor	Sayer Vincent LLP
	Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor
	110 Golden Lane
	London
	EC1Y 0TG

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2024. This report also incorporates the strategic report disclosure requirements. This has been another very important year for SafeLives, as we have continued to develop and deliver existing and new work in line with our Strategy “The Whole Picture.” Our thanks go to all our staff, Trustees, Pioneers, Authentic Voice Panel, associates, funders, supporters and partners for another successful year of strong impact.

The reference and administrative information set out on pages 1 and 2 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the articles of association, the requirements of a directors’ report as required under company law, and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. The Trustees’ Annual Report includes a directors’ report as required by company law.

1. Objectives and activities

The objects for which the charity is established are to advance, for the public benefit in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere, such purposes as are recognised as exclusively charitable under the law of England and Wales, and under Scottish law, and in particular to promote best practice and understanding among the public, voluntary and statutory agencies in all matters relating to domestic abuse and family violence, its causes, remedies, and prevention.

The Trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The Trustees report the progress of the activities that underpin each strategic priority and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remain focused on its stated purposes.

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

SafeLives is the UK charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, for everyone, for good. We believe that domestic abuse is preventable, not inevitable, and that everyone has the right to live in safety, free from fear.

Our work is built on a comprehensive understanding of the whole family. We focus on providing the right help at the right time, ensuring that survivors, children, and those at risk are supported in a way that meets their unique needs. We also challenge perpetrators to change, asking the critical question, “Why doesn’t he stop?” instead of “Why doesn’t she leave?” This approach applies to all victims and perpetrators, regardless of gender or the nature of their relationship.

Over the last two decades we have combined survivor voice, evidence and best practice to make a real difference to families across the UK.

Survivor voice is at the heart and start of what we do and is the driving force behind how we deliver our work. SafeLives’ Pioneers, Changemakers and our Authentic Voice Panel in Scotland actively contribute to the design of our programmes, training, and policy recommendations and we reach thousands of survivors each year through our work on the ground. By involving survivors from the outset and throughout, we foster a collaborative environment where those with lived experience are empowered to shape the systems intended to protect them. This approach ensures that we meet their needs in a way that is trauma-informed

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Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

and truly reflective of their experiences.

Our commitment to making a meaningful impact is grounded in robust, evidence-based practice. Every programme, resource or intervention we design is informed by comprehensive research and data. By continuously gathering insights from our national and local datasets - the largest in the UK - we can identify trends, gaps, and emerging issues within the domestic abuse landscape. This allows us to adapt and improve our approaches, championing what works to prevent abuse, stop it from recurring and safeguard individuals and families from harm. This includes working with local systems and training professionals to review and transform the support they provide.

We also place a strong emphasis on innovation. By breaking new ground in our understanding of domestic abuse, we develop solutions that challenge dated methods and introduce fresh perspectives, focusing on prevention and recovery as much as the response. We collaborate with survivors, frontline professionals, and partner organisations to ensure that our findings translate into real improvements on the ground, making families safer, sooner.

At the core of our work has been our Whole Picture Strategy , designed to address the entire spectrum of domestic abuse. It focuses on early intervention, systemic change, and the inclusion of all family members in our efforts to prevent and respond to abuse.

1. Acting before harm occurs: We work to prevent abuse by identifying early warning signs and intervening before harm escalates.

2. Stopping harmful behaviour: Through programmes like Drive, we challenge perpetrators to change their behaviour, ensuring that abusive cycles are broken.

3. Increasing safety for those at risk: By working with professionals across sectors, we ensure that survivors receive the support they need to stay safe.

4. Supporting recovery: We help survivors rebuild their lives after abuse, providing them with the tools and resources they need to live free from fear.

2. Achievements & Performance

This year has been one of significant challenges and change for domestic abuse survivors and the sector. The ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with the economic downturn and rising cost of living, has exacerbated the challenges faced by survivors and services alike. Access to housing, legal support, and financial resources has been stretched to its limits, with long delays in family courts creating additional barriers for survivors seeking justice.

It has been a year of significant change for SafeLives, we said goodbye to Suzanne Jacob OBE, who led the organisation from 2017-2024, and welcomed Ellen Miller as our new Chief Executive Officer, the third in SafeLives’ history. Ellen brings a wealth of experience in leading charities that support vulnerable individuals, and her appointment comes at a critical moment for the organisation. Under her leadership, SafeLives will continue its mission to drive systemic change, empowering survivors and ensuring that the voices of those affected by domestic abuse are at the forefront of national discussions.

Amidst this shifting landscape, internally and externally, SafeLives has continued to play a pivotal role in shaping policy and advocating for legislative reform.

One of the key legislative developments this year was the passage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill , which introduced enhanced provisions for supporting domestic abuse survivors. However, there is still much more to do to ensure all victims of domestic abuse can access the support they need to become safe and to recover. We are eager to see the vital role of the IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Advisor) and ISVA (Independent Sexual Violence Advisor) properly recognised in accompanying statutory guidance.

We look forward to working with the new Government to ensure victims who remain in the home, victims with protected characteristics, victims with insecure immigration status – each and every survivor – has access to dedicated support to help them reach safety, recover and rebuild.

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For the year ended 30 June 2024

Trustees’ annual report

Our Priorities in 2023/24

This year, we have focused on five key priorities to deliver our strategy:

1. Developing and delivering models of multi-agency work to improve the way domestic abuse is understood, prevented and tackled at a local level; grounded in the voices of survivors and backed by good quality data/evidence. We have worked throughout the year to strengthen multi-agency working and partnerships across sectors; ensuring that understanding, prevention, intervention and responses to domestic abuse are coordinated and effective.

2. Increasing the capability of frontline professionals through training, quality frameworks and improving relationships: We have trained more than 11,000 professionals this year, including frontline staff, police officers, IDVAs and legal professionals and now have 57 accredited Leading Lights services. Our Domestic Abuse Matters programme continues to go from strength to strength. Since 2015, SafeLives have worked with 37 police forces to adopt DA Matters and we have trained more than 60,000 officers.

And we are proud to have delivered the first Domestic Abuse Court Advocacy accreditation programme in Scotland this year.

1. Making sure survivor voice is integral in how domestic abuse is understood and responded to: Survivor voice is at the heart of our work. We are committed to ensuring the voices of adult and child survivors are woven into the fabric of how domestic abuse is understood and responded to. Through projects, such as our Echo programme and Family Voices, we have been working locally and nationally to make sure those with lived experience are shaping the services designed to support them.

2. Speaking out for better legislation, regulation and enforcement of victims’ rights and the development of an effective whole picture response: SafeLives has played a key role in advocating for stronger legal protections for victims of domestic abuse and the development of an effective whole picture response. We have worked closely with government departments on the development of the Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO) pilots and provided critical insights into the new Victims and Prisoners Act.

3. Ensuring we are an effective and well-managed organisation, to support delivery of these workstreams: As we look to the future, we remain committed to ensuring the sustainability of our organisation through effective management of our finances and our other resources. A key part of this commitment has been working with our entire team on Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EEDI), as we develop and implement our new people and anti-racism strategies.

Strategic Priority 1: Acting before someone is harmed or harms others: We work to prevent abuse by identifying early warning signs and intervening before harm escalates.

Safe Young Lives is our UK-wide programme working to prevent young people from being harmed – or harming – through domestic abuse. The young people that we have worked with over the last few years have had a profound effect on SafeLives and we have made a commitment to keep amplifying their voices.

Our focus this year has turned to sharing what we have learned to support multi-agency working, particularly by building awareness of domestic abuse and referral pathways in professionals working directly with children and young people, in schools, youth settings, the care sector, family courts and in adolescent mental health.

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For the year ended 30 June 2024

Trustees’ annual report

• The Power of Young People’s Authentic Voice: expanding Safe Young Lives (SYL)

Our transformative ‘Safe Young Lives’ projects have generated vital new learning and have helped us integrate a specific youth-work model into our wider Authentic Voice (AV) work and enabled us to support our growing group of Changemakers; young people who work alongside us to end abuse.

Our Changemakers have reshaped how we engage with and include young people’s voices.

We recognise the importance of a relationship-led, person-centred model, and have integrated youth work principles into our approach, ensuring we are managing expectations carefully and working at a pace that respects their commitments and boundaries.

All our work with young people is supervised by skilled staff, and in late 2022, we recruited a Young People’s Authentic Voice Coordinator to lead this.

• Verge of Harming: phase two

One of our key projects this year has been Verge of Harming - a research project exploring why young people begin to use abusive behaviours in their relationships and what interventions are effective in stopping abusive behaviour once it starts.

Building on the ‘Early Intervention Support Model’, developed in an earlier phase, we are taking this model and progressing it into a best practice, evidence-based framework to assist practitioners. Funded by Rayne Foundation and Queen Anne’s Gate, this project involves working with five frontline sites across the UK who have an active support offer for young people who harm.

• If I were a “stat” – exploring young Black girls’ experiences of domestic abuse

We have worked with specialist service, Bambuuu, which focuses on supporting young Black women in Nottingham to support the launch of a co-created video that outlines challenges and solutions in supporting Black girls affected by DA. This draws on an original idea from our Incubator lead, which uses statistics about domestic abuse in the Black community and the barriers to seeking help.

The collaboration aims to provide a deeper understanding of the intersectional issues that young Black girls face when it comes to domestic abuse, including racial and gender-specific dynamics. Our work with Bambuuu reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that services are responsive to the diverse needs of all survivors, and we aim to expand our partnership-working with specialist services, as part of our broader strategy for inclusive, community-driven responses to domestic abuse.

• Adolescent domestic abuse

We are also partnering with City of London University, looking at young people’s experiences of toxic relationships and working with sector colleagues including Refuge, Victim Support, Rape Crisis, Respect and WAFE to influence this research. The project is delivering online workshops with young adults aged 18-24 who experienced a toxic, unhealthy or abusive relationship when they were 13 -16 years.

• Your Best Friend onward grants

As part of our powerful Your Best Friend programme, which aimed to give girls, young women, and non-binary young people the tools to identify potential abuse in intimate relationships, we distributed £300k in onward grants to 38 organisations. We followed up with the grantees six months later and were delighted to see the impact.

The grantees delivered almost 700 sessions with young people. They worked with 157 other organisations and shared the co-created Your Best Friend resources and the materials their own young people had created with hundreds of thousands of others online.

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Trustees’ annual report

They told us the funding helped them empower young people to engage in social action around toxic or unhealthy relationships. They noted improved awareness and identification of unhealthy relationships, as well as young people building their own confidence and engaging in peer support, using their knowledge to have conversations with others and forming friendship groups within the programmes.

The Your Best Friend #FriendsCanTell resources continue to be shared widely and we’re proud to have seeded so many new resources and conversations.

Strategic Priority 2 - Stopping harmful behaviour: Through programmes like Drive, we challenge perpetrators to change their behaviour, ensuring that abusive cycles are broken.

• Transforming Responses to Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse

We continue to play a pivotal role in challenging high-harm, high-risk perpetrators of domestic abuse through our flagship Drive partnership programme with Respect and Social Finance.

In 2023/24, Drive has supported around 1,000 service users, bringing its total reach to 5,400 perpetrators, who had been harming close to 17,000 adults and children. The Drive intervention has reached 14 areas across England and Wales to date and a recent evaluation of its impact by the University of Suffolk found real evidence of national and local change.

We were also proud to expand Drive’s Restart programme which worked this year (2023/24) with more than 100 perpetrators and close to 300 adult and child victim-survivors.

Developed in collaboration with MOPAC, The Drive Partnership, Cranstoun and DAHA, Restart was initially introduced as a response to the pandemic in 2020. The programme enables families to remain safe in their homes by creating a new perpetrator housing pathway - a vital shift that has changed systems and thinking across Local Authority Housing teams.

Since its inception, Restart has delivered substantial training, equipping 400 social workers and 500 multi-agency professionals within 5 Local Authorities’ Children and Social Care teams with the tools they need to respond effectively. We are also preparing for Restart’s expansion into a sixth London borough, supported by Foundations (What Works Centre for Children and Families) who are evaluating the initiative.

We have also secured funding so that Drive operates right across London; and have worked to build cultural competence in responding to perpetrators through a co-created toolkit designed to guide practice in areas such as immigration, familial abuse, interpreter abuse and spiritual abuse. Two codesign groups, drawn from survivors, and by and for specialist services are also creating new, culturally specific interventions within Drive for LGBT+ and racially minoritized communities.

We are working on a refreshed new Call for Action on perpetrators, following the success of the original Call in 2021, which has since helped secure Government investment of £75m in perpetrators services across England and Wales through 2022-25 and increased the confidence of commissioners and policymakers to support work with perpetrators. At a local level, we have also seen success in increasing the confidence in working with perpetrators across frontline teams, through Drive itself and our SafeLives’ ‘Engaging with Those That Harm’ training - with 350+ people trained to date.

The Drive Partnership's plan for 2023-2026 builds on seven years of learning, responding opportunities and challenges, by piloting new flexible responses which cater to community needs in collaboration with by and for services, expanding workforce capacity and capability across sectors, growing the Action on Perpetrators network and enabling scrutiny of the Government’s Pursuing Perpetrators pillar in the DA Plan.

By 2026, our goal is to see a consistent approach across local areas and agencies in England and Wales, working together—supported by national leadership—to disrupt domestic abuse, change perpetrator behaviour, and improve safety for adult and child survivors, including those from underserved communities.

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Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

• Strengthening Legal Protections with Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs)

We are pleased to have played a vital role in the development and implementation of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders through our Drive partnership programme. These orders are a vital step in enhancing the legal tools available to protect survivors of domestic abuse and are part of a new framework designed to consolidate and strengthen existing protections for victims. The aim is a more flexible and effective response by allowing courts to impose restrictions on perpetrators, including banning contact with the victim and requiring them to attend behaviour-change programmes to secure immediate safety for the victim and long-term change in the perpetrator, addressing the root cause of abuse.

First announced in the Domestic Abuse Act, these pilots are being rolled out in several areas across England and Wales and Drive has been commissioned in autumn 2023 to devise and implement the pilots. We hope they can be a significant step forward in providing stronger, more consistent protection for survivors across the UK.

Strategic priority 3 - Increasing safety for those at risk: By working with professionals across sectors, we ensure that survivors receive the support they need to stay safe.

We can only end domestic abuse if we look at the whole picture for the whole family. A huge part of our work is focused on supporting local strategic and operational leaders and frontline practitioners to drive systemic change. This means working with local areas to develop an understanding of organisational cultures, contexts and connections and to review the local system which respond to adult and child victims and survivors.

We assess the local landscape, consulting with service users and providers to understand opportunities, strengths and gaps, then co-create solutions and make recommendations for improvements, taking a public health approach to addressing domestic abuse. We also focus on workforce development, growing the capabilities of those responding to victims and perpetrators.

• Taking a public health approach to working with the whole family:

Our public health approach in local areas is already driving change. We support local systems to enhance their ability to recognise early warning signs of abuse and provide timely interventions. Our team have worked with over fifty local areas across England and Wales to date, including eleven areas in 2023/24.

Like public health strategies for disease prevention, we emphasise prevention, early intervention, and community-wide solutions to address the root causes and risk factors of domestic abuse. By addressing these factors early on, we aim to break the cycle of abuse and stop harm before it occurs.

We are seeing lots of similar challenges across the country, particularly lack of provision for children and perpetrators not being held to account. However, as a result of this work, we are also seeing local areas prioritising a holistic approach, gaining a better understanding of gaps around multi-agency working, specialist service provision and levels of awareness around domestic abuse and improving engagement with survivors to drive change. Areas are able to work more cost effectively, making better use of the resources they have, and showing a strong return on investment.

• Reviewing the approach to risk identification and assessment

Effective identification of the risks and needs for each survivor and appropriate referral to support are cornerstones of a good response, which ensures everyone gets the right help at the right time. Key elements of this are the DASH risk assessment tool, independent advocacy support and the MultiAgency Risk Assessment Conference process (MARACs), bringing together statutory and voluntary agencies to share critical information and create coordinated safety plans. 2024 marks two decades since we initiated the wider adoption of this framework; from a handful of MARACs, there are now around 290 operating across the UK.

This year, we introduced a new MARAC data platform that improves upload and access to case

S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

information. The platform, welcomed by MARAC chairs and coordinators, generates useful dashboards and comparison charts, streamlining the data-sharing process and improving the speed and accuracy of multi-agency responses.

And in a major milestone for MARAC development in Scotland, all 32 local authorities across Scotland now have a MARAC in place. To ensure consistency in how they operate, the Scottish Government are now exploring the possibility of putting MARACs in Scotland – supported by the Scottish IDVA equivalent, the Independent Domestic Abuse Advocate (IDAA) - on a statutory footing. This is an exciting development as we continue conversations with the Westminster Government about the future of this element of the response.

The latest MARAC data paints a challenging picture. Since lockdown cases have continued to rise, and cases are at an all-time high. June 2024 data from 282 MARACs shows 128,000 cases, involving 160,000 children, an increase of almost 6% over the previous year.

We know the model needs to evolve, not least to acknowledge much higher levels of risk being held in the system. We want to see a thoughtful rethinking of the DASH/IDVA/MARAC approach to ensure it responds to current needs. We are drawing on what we have learnt from the MARAC Development Programme we are running for the Scottish Government and our current review of the high-risk response in London to determine our recommendations for change to Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to help shape our future thinking and the influencing work needed to make a case for change and a funding ask alongside that.

• Championing the role of the IDVA

The role of the Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) is a founding part of our work. These professionals are not only specialists in domestic abuse and trauma recovery, but also skilled advocates who work closely with multi-agency partners to ensure the voices of survivors are heard within complex legal and support systems.

To date we have trained more than 4,000 IDVAs and are proud to be supported by the Ministry of Justice over the last two years to provide bursaries and reduced cost training for more than 700+ IDVA and 50+ service managers, with particular focus on reaching those working in small, specialist organisations and organisations run ‘by and for’ marginalised victims of domestic abuse.

The recent Victims and Prisoners Act highlighted the importance of IDVAs. During consultation on the Bill, survivors consistently ranked IDVAs and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) as the most valuable forms of support. We will continue to push to ensure that the critical contributions of IDVAs are fully recognised in law and supporting statutory guidance.

• Ensuring children are recognised as victims and get the support they need

We have secured major funding from the Home Office’s Children Affected by Domestic Abuse fund, to develop and adapt three of our evidence-based interventions for children and young people, ensuring they are effective for racially minoritised communities. In partnership with the Panah Project and Ashiana, we have been co-creating these interventions in Bolton and Sheffield; identifying gaps and tailoring resources, training and support to meet the unique needs of racially minoritized children and families.

Feedback from services and survivors has been overwhelmingly positive. Survivors have reported increases in self-esteem, confidence, and empowerment, with many using words like ‘thrilling,’ ‘motivating,’ ‘empowering,’ and ‘liberating’ to describe the experience.

We are advocating for a major national training programme for Children’s Social Care (CSC) and early help teams, which would mirror the success of our ‘DA Matters’ programme for police teams and create a more informed, responsive system.

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For the year ended 30 June 2024

Trustees’ annual report

• Survivor-led transformation across the UK: Echo and Family Voices

We want to make sure the voices of survivors actively shape the future of the response. We kicked off three major projects this year which aim to do exactly that.

Echo , funded by the National Lottery, spans Bolton, Leicestershire and Sheffield - enabling survivors to engage directly with local authorities and service providers. By participating in workshops and consultations, survivors provide essential feedback on how services can better meet their needs which is used to make real-time improvements in the quality and accessibility of support for domestic abuse survivors. Survivors’ experiences are driving service design and delivery, leading to more responsive and effective systems of care.

Family Voices , funded by the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions, with input from the Department of Health and Social Care, amplifies the voices, experiences and perspectives of families affected by domestic abuse at a national level. It offers a space where survivors, their children and families can share their lived experience of programmes to inform the development of national programmes and policy, as well as the delivery of programmes locally. Working alongside social services and Early Help teams, we are identifying best practice as well as areas for improvement, consulting with families and providers to understand opportunities, strengths, and gaps.

Launched in Summer 2024, the Hampshire project places survivors at the heart of service design, working with local authorities and the DA Partnership Board to create a model of support that is truly survivor-led.

At its core, is the Hampshire Authentic Voice Panel , which invites local survivors to join as experts by experience, bringing their personal insights, experiences, and expertise to help inform and improve the support systems that are in place. The Panel focuses on inclusivity, ensuring broad representation from across the community and also breaks new ground by incorporating the voices of children and young people who are often overlooked in domestic abuse responses.

• Building capabilities

We support the frontline response and our work includes practice advice and guidance as well as workforce development.

Focused work on supporting marginalised survivors

After extensive consultation with survivors, services and practitioners, we have published new practice guidance to assist commissioners and frontline services in supporting trans and gender diverse victims and survivors of domestic abuse. The guidance will be regularly reviewed, based on feedback around its implementation.

Additionally, our Incubator team has explored the needs of refugees and asylum seekers to inform practice, foster new partnerships and inspire future initiatives. This research is laying the groundwork for a new project that aims to enhance access to healthcare for migrant survivors.

Counter-allegations guidance

We also released ‘Who is the Victim’ - guidance on navigating the challenges professionals face when dealing with counter-allegations in domestic abuse cases. This valuable resource sheds light on the complexities of identifying the primary victim in situations where both parties may make accusations of abuse and is designed to help support all multi-agency partners in feeling confident to identify and support these cases to protect families.

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For the year ended 30 June 2024

Trustees’ annual report

Workforce development and quality assurance

There are now 57 Leading Lights accredited services operating across the UK. This quality mark, developed by SafeLives, is recognised by commissioners and funders alike. Accompanied by service manager and practitioner training, as well as the opportunity to use our Insights case data management tool, the programme ensures a quality standard, showing a service is operating safely and effectively and provides a regular touchpoint for sharing experiences and good practice with SafeLives and each other.

As well as training for specialist domestic abuse practitioners and other frontline responders, we have continued to offer domestic policy development and training to civil society organisations; working with a whole range of corporate clients. During the course of 2023/24 we’ve trained more than 11,000 people.

Strategic Priority 4; Supporting recovery: We help survivors rebuild their lives after abuse, providing them with the tools and resources they need to live free from fear.

• Responding to the intersection of Domestic Abuse and the Cost-of-living Crisis: NatWest Circle Fund

We were delighted to celebrate the continued impact of the NatWest Circle Fund with NatWest colleagues, specialist DA services and MPs at an event in Parliament in January 2024. The fund provides vital financial support to domestic abuse survivors, enabling frontline services to meet the immediate needs of those in crisis and to support recovery. We were especially pleased to announce a further £1m donation to support its continuation over the next three years.

Since co-creating the Circle Fund in 2020 with survivors and services, we have supported more than 4,000 survivors by enabling 140+ frontline services to offer rapid, flexible financial assistance. It has had a profound impact on families across the UK, particularly for those facing additional challenges due to Covid-19 restrictions and now the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The fund's flexibility has allowed services to meet a whole range of needs, whether for emergency accommodation, food, household items, safety equipment or support back into the workplace. It is designed to fill gaps where other grants may not apply, with grants reaching marginalised groups such as LGBTQ+, Muslim, and South Asian communities.

Navigating the family justice system

We know from survivors that experiences in family court can be traumatizing, leaving many survivors feeling silenced, misjudged and ignored. We have long pressed for real change and two new initiatives are showing real promise.

• Domestic Abuse Training for Family Lawyers

Following our pilot family lawyer training, which concluded in the autumn of 2023, we launched a report on its impact with the support of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, survivors and legal professionals, at the offices of Charles Russell Speechlys, a long-standing supporter of SafeLives. Having reached over 360 legal professionals, it was clear that the programme provided learners with essential knowledge and skills to offer trauma-informed support to survivors of domestic abuse. Before the training, only 49% of attendees reported having a good understanding of domestic abuse, but after completing the sessions, 99% of learners said their knowledge had significantly improved.

Following positive feedback and the observation of training sessions by Government officials, the Government asked SafeLives to share learning with Local Family Justice Board chairs and members. This work is a helpful step toward ensuring that the legal system better supports survivors, reducing the risk of re-traumatisation and enhancing the overall response to domestic abuse cases within the family justice system.

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For the year ended 30 June 2024

Trustees’ annual report

• CAFCASS secondment

In July 2023, SafeLives began a cautious, yet determined, partnership with the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) by seconding two senior members from our Practice and Innovation teams. This secondment follows five years of careful relationship-building and a shared understanding that change is necessary.

We are mindful of the many survivors who have had difficult and re-traumatising experiences with the family justice system, including CAFCASS, and recognise the deep mistrust that still exists. Our efforts are focused on making a meaningful difference, while acknowledging that this is a challenging, longterm process.

Our SafeLives secondees have worked to develop a set of domestic abuse practice ‘Must Dos’, which aim to improve how CAFCASS approaches domestic abuse cases. We are committed to engaging with survivors' voices at every stage of this work to make sure that reforms within CAFCASS are grounded in the lived experiences of those who have been through the family court system.

There has been positive feedback from CAFCASS staff and frontline services about the collaboration with SafeLives and practice changes are underway to ensure DA is not minimised, the voices of children and adults are unmediated and the language used by family court advisors changes to avoid the use of ‘alleged’ or ‘claimed’ and instead just say ‘said’. We know there is still much work to do and this secondment is just one part of our wider effort to improve the family court system’s response to domestic abuse and increase understanding around domestic abuse.

Strategic Priority 5: An effective and sustainable organisation

We want to make sure we remain adaptable, inclusive, and forward-thinking. Over the past year, we have focused on embedding equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion (EEDI) into our work, while also strengthening our internal processes and governance. Our aim is to create a resilient organisation that can effectively support survivors, frontline practitioners, and services, while continuing to innovate and lead whole system transformation.

This year, this includes continuing to invest in the development of our people, ensuring our financial sustainability and making plans for our new Strategy, as we prepare to celebrate SafeLives' 21[st] anniversary in 2025.

Organisational development

We are committed to equity, equality, diversity and inclusion and fostering a culture which is consciously inclusive. Our new Director of People and Culture has undertaken a ‘Listening Exercise’ to gather staff, Pioneer, Changemaker, and Trustee perspectives on key themes such as inclusion, diversity, anti-racism, wellbeing, and staff engagement. These insights are informing our People and Culture Strategy , which is currently under development alongside our new organisational strategy. Further work is underway, led by the Senior Leadership Team, to develop a clear organisational ‘why’ for our anti-racism work , in particular, to ensure this is given the priority it deserves in transforming our understanding around structural inequality and inequity.

We are proud that four staff members completed the H.O.P.E. Leadership Course , aimed at empowering professionals from racialised communities in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector. We are delighted to be able to offer four more members of staff the opportunity to take part in the leadership programme in 2024/25.

Additionally, we are implementing recommendations from our internal Authentic Voice (AV) impact review, including a new remuneration model for young people, aligning with what is offered to adult Pioneers. This ensures fair compensation for their time while managing risks and adhering to legislation.

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

We are undertaking a thorough review of our governance processes to ensure compliance with the latest legislation and to strengthen the charity’s capacity to meet its purpose effectively. We expect the first part of this process to be complete in autumn 2024.

CEO Suzanne Jacob OBE returned from parental leave in autumn 2023 and stepped down in spring 2024 after seven years as CEO. Ellen Miller, who was interim CEO during Suzanne’s leave, was recruited as permanent CEO and rejoined SafeLives in April 2024.Our Head of Training has become interim Director of Quality & Innovation, whilst a longstanding founding staff member has a sabbatical year.

We successfully concluded our pay review process to improve transparency and consistency for staff and are pleased that our staff turnover remains below industry average.

We were delighted to launch our new website this year, serving as a central hub for regularly updated resources and information, ensuring that our key audiences have easy access to the information they need, whether they are seeking help, booking training, or accessing best practice guidance.

Built on the foundation of clear and compassionate design, the new site is user-friendly and responsive. With continuous improvements planned, the site will serve as a cornerstone of SafeLives’ digital strategy to drive greater engagement with survivors and professionals across the UK. Improvements in our digital marketing have also led to a significant increase in the reach of our regular newsletter and promotional materials.

We are excited to have appointed three new Trustees to our Board, with plans to recruit two more to further diversify the voices shaping our governance, particularly around age, and to address the underrepresentation of racially marginalised communities at all levels of the organisation.

And finally, we are delighted that Her Majesty The Queen has chosen to continue her role as Patron of SafeLives. Her Majesty has attended and hosted a range of events dedicated to bringing together individuals and organisations who are working to end domestic abuse and celebrating survivors and frontline services across the country. She has been an amazing advocate for change, recognising the power of the authentic voice of survivors and frontline practitioners. We are so grateful for her support and commitment to ending domestic abuse, for everyone and for good.

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S afeLives

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Trustees’ annual report

Partnerships

We continue to develop our partnerships and grow our strategic intent to be an ally to other organisations, including the smallest and most specialist.

Our supporters

SafeLives is extremely fortunate to have the support of many generous individuals and organisations to do our work, many of whom have funded us through multi-year and repeated grants. Our philanthropic funders often invest in our newest work, trusting us to be innovative in seeking out what works for families, and giving us valuable time and flexibility to build strong and trusting relationships with survivors, small and specialist organisations and other colleagues across the sector. They are generous in many other ways, from giving expert pro bono advice, or introducing us to other valuable contacts – and many make the time to join round tables and discussions, adding their own insight.

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported SafeLives’ work this year. We cannot end domestic abuse alone. Through your support we have been able to help thousands of families affected by domestic abuse, saving lives and helping people to live the lives they want in safety.

Our principal funders and supporters this year include the following, as well as other organisations who chose to remain anonymous:

Aurum Trust	Peter Cundill Foundation
Bleu Blanc Rouge Foundation	Private family foundation managed by Greenwood Place
Charles Russell Speechlys Foundation	Queen Anne's Gate Foundation
Dulverton Trust	Rayne Foundation
Epic Foundation	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation	The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Firebird Foundation	The Home Office
Garfield Weston Foundation	The Ministry of Justice
Greater Manchester Combined Authority	The National Lottery Community Fund (England & Wales)
Kate Wilkinson & Harry Gaskell	The National Lottery Community Fund (Scotland)
Legal Education Foundation	The Scottish Government
Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime	The Welsh Government
	Vision Foundation

As we look to the future, we invite you to continue supporting our work. Whether through donations, partnerships, or advocacy, your involvement is crucial in helping us create a safer, brighter future for everyone affected by domestic abuse. Together, we can end domestic abuse, for everyone, for good. You can contact us at [e-mail]

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

3. Looking Ahead: Our Strategy for 2025 and beyond

SafeLives is in the early stages of developing a new strategy that will guide our work through the next decade. This strategy will set ambitious goals which builds on the foundations laid over the last 20 years, with a focus on prevention, early intervention, and long-term recovery for adult and child survivors as well as continuing to challenge perpetrators to change.

SafeLives is committed to using evidence, innovation, and the lived experiences of survivors to transform the system which responds to them. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships with local agencies and services, develop new tools for identifying and managing risk, and advocate for systemic changes that ensure every survivor receives the support they need as quickly and effectively as possible and is able to rebuild their lives.

More than 400 people and organisations have responded to our consultation over the summer of 2024, and we plan to publish our new strategy in early 2025.

4. Structure, governance & management

SafeLives is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 11 August 2004, and registered as a charity on 18 November 2004. The organisation was established under a Memorandum of Association, which established the objects and powers of the organisation, and is now governed by its Articles of Association (as updated in 2018).

Apart from 2 Trustees, who are remunerated for their services as Trustees and as Pioneers, all Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. The charity’s governing document permits the payment of Trustees, and this was also cleared with the Charity Commission. Details of this remuneration, and of expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note seven of the financial statements.

Governance

Trustees are appointed for a 3-year term that may be renewed for another 3 years, and to a subsequent third term in exceptional circumstances. Trustees are selected on the basis of their skills and experience, and to ensure an appropriate mix of skills and diversity on the Board. There is a full induction programme for new Trustees and the chance to observe different activities of SafeLives.

The Trustees are responsible for the governance of the charity according to the terms of the Articles of Association. They have delegated authority for the day-to-day running of the charity to the Chief Executive Officer. They have created a Finance Committee that is responsible for overseeing the finances of the charity and for making recommendations to the full Board. The CEO, the Chief Operating Officer, the Head of Finance, and other senior managers attend the Finance Committee meetings.

The Trustees have also established a Remuneration Committee of three Trustees that is responsible for approving the overall remuneration policy of the charity and, in particular, the remuneration of the CEO and the Directors. The Remuneration Committee meets when necessary but at least once a year. The Remuneration Committee reviews the remuneration of the Executive team and key management personnel by reference to market rates and external benchmarks.

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

The Nominations Committee oversees and makes recommendations to the Board with respect to Trustee appointments, and reviews the size, mix and composition of skills and experience of the Board. This Committee also advises the Board on the recruitment of the Chief Executive, and on succession planning with respect to Trustees and key management personnel.

Full Trustee Board and Finance Committee Meetings are held on a quarterly basis.

Organisational Structure and Management

The charity is led by the CEO and the Senior Leadership Team of Executive Directors. We have a strong operational management team consisting of the heads of each team who are responsible for the creation and delivery of our operating plan, the tight oversight of our finances and development and support of our staff.

The average number of employees, on a full-time equivalent basis, for the year has decreased from 110 to 99.

Risk Management

Risk management remains one of the most important responsibilities of the Board of Trustees. The charity maintains a Risk Register, which tracks a range of risks to the organisation, including those posed by changes in the sector, demand for services, levels of funding and staffing. The Register is reviewed at every quarterly Trustee meeting and any changes in risk levels are noted and a mitigation plan is in place for each.

The Risk Register considers the risks facing the charity grouped into nine categories: i) people; ii) systems; iii) partnerships; iv) public policy; v) finance; vi) strategy: vii) governance; viii) emergency and ix) reputation.

The highest risks currently on the Risk Register are staffing and people, public policy, funding, strategy and reputation related. Our staffing and people risks are being addressed by the establishment of Pillars for a new People and Culture Strategy which has involved consultation with staff across all teams. This all-inclusive approach aims to reduce our risk in this area.

The new government could bring changes to both government policy towards and funding of the domestic abuse sector. SafeLives is working hard to establish new working relationships with the new government and is developing a new income generation strategy as part of a whole charity strategy review. We are closely monitoring our future funding and we plan to continue drawing down our unrestricted reserves in 2024/25 down to the lower end of the target range.

This year has seen an increase in our reputational risk and our communications team are working hard to ensure that SafeLives responds sensitively to major announcements and events.

Safeguarding, Serious and Critical Incidents

We continue to take our responsibility to the safety of those who are experiencing / have experienced domestic abuse and our staff, associate team, Pioneers and Trustees seriously. We know that many of us are in both groups. The Safeguarding Committee is made up of a Designated Safeguarding Lead (“DSL”), Jo Gordon, Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (“DDSL”), Melonie Senior until 30[th] June 2024

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

and then replaced by Susie Hay, Senior Practice Consultant and a dedicated team of Safeguarding Champions who have the relevant knowledge, experience, training, and confidence to provide support, advice and guidance to any other staff on an on-going basis and on any specified safeguarding issue as required. Designated Safeguarding Leads and Champions renew their training every two years. All other staff, trustees and pioneers renew their training every three years. The system works effectively, and we report to the Board any issues that have been raised on a quarterly basis.

We have a serious incident policy which sets out the SafeLives emergency response arrangements. This ensures we are prepared for, respond to, and recover from, a serious incident.

We also report on any serious or critical incidents to the Board quarterly and explain what action has been taken to review and learn. There have been two serious incidents referred to the Charity Commission during the last 12 months. The Charity Commission was satisfied with our response to the incident and no additional action was required.

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

5. Financial Review

Overview

This year has seen a movement from the 2022/23 deficit of £(978)k to a surplus of £1,134k. Of this surplus, £804k is represented by the Natwest Circle Fund balance. During 2023/24, £1m was received from the Natwest Circle Fund and not fully spent at the year end. The Charity has worked hard to control and reduce its costs following the 2022/23 deficit. Costs have reduced by £1,033k and income, including the £1m Natwest Circle Fund income, increased by £1,078k in this financial year. A detailed breakdown and explanation of the financial position is given below.

Income

Total income in the year to June 2024 was £9,902k, representing an increase of £1,078k or 12.2% on the prior year.

The main year on year income changes are as follows:

Income £000’s		2023/24	2022/23	**Change **
Capacitybuilding	Training	2,428	2,763	(335)
	Practice	1,541	1,083	458
	Scotland	568	592	(24)
Innovation	Drive	2,679	2,676	3
	Your Best Friend	-	173	(173)
	Other	234	238	(4)
Research		155	317	(162)
Influencing		90	89	1
Unrestrictedgrants & donations		1,095	858	237
Restrictedgrants & donations		1,000	-	1,000
Investment income		112	35	77
Total income		9,902	8,824	1,078

Income from our “traditional” sources was £9,902k or 112% of the previous year’s level.

Over the last three financial years the Training’s total income has continued to exceed £2m but has fallen by 12.1% compared to 2022/23 and to below 2021/22 figure of £2,501k. This fall in training income was expected as more initial training courses have been delivered across the country and we are entering a phase of less intensive refresher training courses.

The increase in income towards our Practice team’s work of £458k is a combination of increased fee and grant income and includes our work on our Leading Lights and Family Voices projects. Last year, the Home Office awarded the Charity a new 3-year grant of £1,465k to work in two areas, looking in detail at the issues faced by children who are affected by domestic abuse. The first year of this new grant for the project called Children Affected by Domestic Abuse (“CADA”) accounted for £508k of grant income in 2022/23 and the second year 2023/24 accounted for £574k of grant income.

The funding of our Innovation work remained consistent with prior years with the exception of the Your Best Friend project which finished at the end of September 2022.

Income towards our Research teams’ work fell both in terms of fee and grant income by £162k. Our Core

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

grant income from the Home Office reduced by £103k.

Unrestricted grants and donations from philanthropic sources have increased to £1,095k – a rise of 27.6%. An additional £1m was received from the NatWest Circle Fund during this financial year, this is restricted grant income.

Increased interest rates accounted for the increase in investment income, up 220%.

The increase in income this year has resulted in higher unrestricted reserves which will be carried forward into 2024/25.

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Costs

Costs have decreased by £1,033k from £9,802k in 2022/23 to £8,769k in 2023/24, as per the table below:

Costs £000’s		2023/24	2022/23	**Change **
CapacityBuilding	Training	2,183	2,509	(326)
	Practice	1,346	1,027	319
	Scotland	540	593	(53)
Innovation in Practice	Drive	2,623	2,837	(214)
	Beacons	-	8	(8)
	Your Best Friend	-	166	(166)
	Other	372	701	(329)
Research		292	418	(126)
Influencing		338	468	(130)
Support		593	520	73
Governance		39	37	2
Cost of raisingfunds		243	258	(15)
NatWest Circle Fund		200	260	(60)
Total Costs		8,769	9,802	(1,033)

The decrease in the cost of the Training team is in line with the decrease in the Training fee income and course delivery during 2023/24 – 12.9%.

Following the redundancy initiative undertaken in 2022/23, the direct staff costs across the Charity have decreased by £122k. Associate costs have been carefully monitored and have reduced by £366k during this financial year; the reduction in associate costs was in part due to the reduction in training delivered during the year.

Drive costs have reduced during the year as a result of a conscious effort to reduce costs across the project.

Research and Influencing costs have been reallocated to the relevant teams this year resulting in the above reduction in the team costs and increase in the Practice Teams costs.

The Your Best Friend and Beacons projects finished during the last financial year.

Following receipt of the £1m NatWest Circle fund in November 2023, £202k of the fund has been spent this year, split between £161k of grants to services (who in turn make direct grants to survivors) and £41k of costs to administer the funds. The remaining funds will be used on project activity in 2024/25.

Project partner payments have been as follows:

Partner costs £000’s	2023/24	2022/23	**Change **
Drive	1,528	1,773	(245)
Your Best Friend	-	97	(97)
CADA & ECHO	279	275	4
Other	94	91	3
Total	1,901	2,236	(335)

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Excluding these payments to our partners, and income and costs on the NatWest Circle survivor fund, the income attributable directly to SafeLives own work was £7,084k (2023: £6,395k) and the related expenditure was £6,546k (2023: £7,373k).

Surplus for the year

The surplus for the year of £1,134k, was allocated £714k to restricted funds and £420k to unrestricted funds. Unrestricted funds which had been built up in the previous two financial years, are now being deliberately drawn down to continue otherwise unfunded work, and to reduce unrestricted reserves to be at the lower and more prudent end of the target reserves range (see below). The deficit charged to restricted funds is down to timing - with much of the income funding this year’s restricted fund projects having been received in prior years.

Surplus/(deficit) £000’s	2023/24	2022/23
Unrestricted(incl. designated)	420	(289)
Restricted	714	(689)
Total	1,134	(978)

Reserves

SafeLives holds a mix of restricted and unrestricted reserves.

Restricted reserves represent the unspent balance of restricted income received by the charity, where the funding is allocated to specific charitable activities and projects. Restricted reserves will be applied to the future funding of those specific activities and projects for which the funds were intended.

Unrestricted reserves are held to fund and support the overall operation of the charity and can be applied by the charity to fund any aspect of the charity’s operations. Unrestricted reserves are also held as a buffer to enable the charity to (a) withstand any short term cashflow and working capital shortfalls; (b) mitigate against the financial impact of risks identified in the Risk Register, and (c) to cover any unforeseen expenditure.

Total reserves have increased from last year’s £2,450k to stand at £3,584k this year. The main movements on reserves are as follows:

Reserves balances £000’s	30th June 2024	30th June 2023	**Change **
Unrestricted funds	2,482	2,063	419
Restricted funds: NatWest Circle Fund	804	6	798
Restricted funds: Drive	143	169	(26)
Restricted funds: Other	155	212	(57)
Total restricted funds	1,102	387	715
Total funds	3,584	2,450	1,134

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Unrestricted reserves have increased from £2,063k at June 2023 to £2,482k at June 2024. As at 30[th] June 2024, unrestricted reserves represented 5.27 months of core operating costs (2023: 4.15 months). The Trustees have set a target level of unrestricted reserves to be maintained at a level to cover 3 to 6 months of core operating costs. Core operating costs are defined as total costs excluding (a) grants made from the NatWest Circle fund, (b) payments to project partners from restricted funds and (c) variable costs of paying associates.

Last year, the Trustees decided to deliberately draw down unrestricted reserves during 2022/23 in order to maintain SafeLives at its size and capacity, and to deliver on the operating plan for 2022/23. This year, 2023/24, the closing unrestricted reserves are higher than anticipated and will be carried forward to offset the expected in year deficit in 2024/25. The gradual managed reduction to unrestricted reserves will continue into 2024/25 and into 2025/26.

Reserves continued to be invested in cash, with cash balances being placed on deposits of varying terms. Cash balances have increased this year to £3,816k (2023: £3,059k). This increase can be attributed to the increased balance on the NatWest Circle Fund at 30[th] June 2024 of £804k (2023: £6K).

Financial Outlook for 2024/25

The Trustees have carefully considered the financial outlook for 2024/25 and beyond. Projections for 2024/25 show an in-year deficit of £963k. This deficit is based on a very prudent estimate of both training income achievable and grant income. Grant income for 2024/25 is likely to be delayed in terms of both the application process and the receipt of funds due to the change in Government and its manifesto delivery promises.

In 2024/25 we will need to draw on unrestricted reserves to fund operations, and this may continue into 2025/26, before we will then have a strategy of funding in year costs from in year income.

SafeLives operates a system of careful budget control and reforecasting throughout the financial year. Previous experience confirms that budget expectations are always exceeded as the year progresses and this is reflected in the quarterly budget reforecasts. The Trustees are confident that this trend will continue but, if not, any in year deficit can be covered by unrestricted reserves.

Going Concern

The Trustees have reviewed the Charity’s plans and forecasts and the risk register and have concluded that there are no material risks or uncertainties which would bring into doubt the charity’s ability to continue to operate as a going concern into the foreseeable future.

In making this going concern assessment, the Trustees have considered how the Charity’s financial and operating model continues to change, as well as looking at the current inflationary and funding pressures faced by the Charity.

The going concern assessment also takes into account the charity’s diverse income streams, flexible cost model and lack of any long- term borrowings or similar liabilities.

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Best Practice in Fundraising

We strive to be open and transparent in our fundraising approach, and in how we obtain, store, and use donor information, with the consent of the donor. Most of our fundraising is done directly with donors and grantors, but a small proportion comes to us via other sources such as JustGiving.

We have a fundraising complaints procedure which can be found on our website: http://www.safelives.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/complaints

We also have an easy way to make a complaint directly on the fundraising area of the website. No complaints were received in 2023/24.

We strive for best practice in fundraising. None of our fundraising is aimed at potentially vulnerable people. Most of our funds come to us directly from large philanthropic and statutory funders, with a very small proportion coming to us as unsolicited funds, either from individuals directly or via sources such as Just Giving. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator, complying with its Fundraising Promise: - https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/code/fundraising promise We voluntarily signed up to join the Regulator in 2017.

Responsible use of personal data is at the heart of our fundraising practice.

We conducted a full review and audit of how we use and store personal data, not just for fundraising, but across the whole organisation in readiness for the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which came into effect in May 2018, and since then have continued to keep our data protection policies and procedures up to date.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The Trustees (who are also directors of SafeLives for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, and the 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 of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company 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 the Charities SORP

• Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.

• State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.

• Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

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S afeLives

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 30 June 2024

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate 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, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

As far as the Trustees are aware:

• There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware.

• The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

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.

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of its winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 30 June 2024 was 10 (2023: 10). The trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Auditors

Sayer Vincent LLP were re-appointed as the charitable company's auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

The Trustees’ annual report which includes the strategic report has been approved by the Trustees on 10[th ] December 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Isabel Boyer Chair 10[th ] December 2024

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Independent auditors’ report

To the members of

SafeLives

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of SafeLives (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 30 June 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, 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 FRS 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 30 June 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended

• Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice

• Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended)

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 SafeLives’ 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 other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees a

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Independent auditors’ report

To the members of

SafeLives

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.

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’ annual report, including the strategic report, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• The trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, 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’ annual report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• Adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• The 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.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, 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

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Independent auditors’ report

To the members of

SafeLives

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

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

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 are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

• We enquired of management and the finance committee, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity’s policies and procedures relating to:

• Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;

• Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;

• The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.

• We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

• We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience.

• We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.

• We reviewed any reports made to regulators.

• We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

• We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.

27

Independent auditors’ report

To the members of

SafeLives

• In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or 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: 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 and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. 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.

Fleur Holden (Senior statutory auditor)

19 December 2024

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor

110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

28

SafeLives

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 30 June 2024

						2024				2023
			Unrestricted	Designated	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Designated	Restricted	Total
		Note	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Income from:
Donations	2		1,095,061	-	1,000,000	2,095,061	857,721	-	-	857,721
Charitable activities
Capacity Building	3.1		2,322,620	-	2,214,213	4,536,833	2,729,049	-	1,708,396	4,437,445
Innovation in Practice	3.2		50,761	-	2,862,522	2,913,283	1,641	-	3,085,187	3,086,828
Research	3.3		69,628	-	85,692	155,320	124,189	-	193,208	317,397
Influencing	3.4		150	-	89,584	89,734	500	-	89,138	89,638
Investments	4		112,322	-	-	112,322	34,876	-	-	34,876
Total income			3,650,542	-	6,252,011	9,902,553	3,747,976	-	5,075,929	8,823,905
Expenditure on:
Raising funds	5		254,916	-	-	254,916	269,403	-	-	269,403
Charitable activities
Capacity Building	5		2,349,015	-	2,191,787	4,540,802	2,882,353	-	1,634,065	4,516,418
Innovation in Practice	5		158,222	-	2,947,006	3,105,228	249,835	-	3,573,800	3,823,635
Research	5		206,497	-	106,930	313,427	271,532	-	176,920	448,452
Influencing	5		262,424	-	89,584	352,008	364,009	-	120,486	484,495
NatWest Circle Fund	5		-	-	202,251	202,251	-	-	259,746	259,746
Total expenditure			3,231,074	-	5,537,558	8,768,632	4,037,132	-	5,765,017	9,802,149
Net movement in funds			419,468	-	714,453	1,133,921	(289,156)	-	(689,088)	(978,244)
(being net income/(expenditure)for the	year)
Transfers between funds			-	-	-	-	133,828	(133,828)	-	-
Net movement in funds after transfers			419,468	-	714,453	1,133,921	(155,328)	(133,828)	(689,088)	(978,244)
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward	16		2,062,657	-	387,308	2,449,965	2,217,985	133,828	1,076,396	3,428,209
Total funds carried forward	16		2,482,125	-	1,101,761	3,583,886	2,062,657	-	387,308	2,449,965

There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 16 to the financial statements.

29

SafeLives

Company no. 05203237

Balance sheet

As at 30 June 2024

Note £ Fixed assets: 11 Current assets: 12 1,564,845 1,894,109 1,921,932 5,380,886 Liabilities: 13 1,797,000 16 16 Restricted funds Unrestricted fund The funds of the charity: Debtors Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total net assets Total charity funds Cash at bank and in hand Tangible assets Short term cash deposits	Note £ Fixed assets: 11 Current assets: 12 1,564,845 1,894,109 1,921,932 5,380,886 Liabilities: 13 1,797,000 16 16 Restricted funds Unrestricted fund The funds of the charity: Debtors Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total net assets Total charity funds Cash at bank and in hand Tangible assets Short term cash deposits	2024 £ - 3,583,886	£ 1,236,381 1,008,854 2,050,478	2023 £ - 2,449,965
	5,380,886 1,797,000		4,295,713 1,845,748
		3,583,886		2,449,965
		1,101,761 2,482,125		387,308 2,062,657
		3,583,886		2,449,965

Approved by the trustees on 10th December 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Isabel Boyer Chair

30

SafeLives

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 30 June 2024

Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities

Interest from investments Increase in debtors Decrease in creditors Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year Analysis of cash and cash equivalents Cash at bank and in hand Short term deposits Total cash and cash equivalents Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Net cash provided by investing activities Cash flows from investing activities: Interest from investments	At 1 July 2023 2,050,478 1,008,854	Cash flows (128,546) 885,255	2024 £ 1,133,921 (112,322) (328,464) (48,748)	2023 £ (978,244) (34,876) (393,346) (139,445)
			644,387	(1,545,911)
			112,322	34,876
			112,322	34,876
			756,709 3,059,332	(1,511,035) 4,570,367
			3,816,041	3,059,332
			Other changes - -	At 30 June 2024 1,921,932 1,894,109
	3,059,332	756,709	-	3,816,041

31

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

• For the year ended 30 June 2024 1 Accounting policies

• a) Statutory information

• SafeLives is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office address is Suite 2a, Whitefriars, Lewins Mead, Bristol BS1 2NT.

• b) Basis of preparation

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.

In applying the financial reporting framework, the Trustees have made a number of subjective judgements, for example in respect of significant accounting estimates. Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The nature of the estimation means the actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. Any significant estimates and judgements affecting these financial statements are detailed within the relevant accounting policy below.

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.

• c) Public benefit entity

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

• d) Going concern The Trustees have reviewed the operating and funding environment of the Charity, and have considered the risks faced by the Charity, and have concluded 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.

• e) 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 is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

• f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

• Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised.

• On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

• g) Interest receivable 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.

• h) Fund accounting Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund. Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

• i) 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 is classified under the following activity headings:

• Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose.

• Expenditure on charitable activities comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. Income and expenditure is allocated to the following main charitable activities: Capacity Building; Innovation in Practice; Research; Influencing; and NatWest Circle Fund.

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

• j) Grants payable Grants payable are made to third parties in furtherance of the charity's objects. Single or multi-year grants are accounted for when either the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and the trustees have agreed to pay the grant without condition, or the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and that any condition attaching to the grant is outside of the control of the charity.

Provisions for grants are made when the intention to make a grant has been communicated to the recipient but there is uncertainty about either the timing of the grant or the amount of grant payable.

• k) Allocation of support costs

Support costs include central functions and are allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

• l) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease. Rental incentives (such as rent free periods) are spread over the term of the lease.

32

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

• m) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £5,000. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

• Leasehold improvements

Over the minimum lease period

• n) 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.

SafeLives uses all reasonable endeavours to collect debts in respect of fees charged for services. Where items are over 12 months overdue and payment is looking to be extremely remote, the debt is written off in full (but will continue to be pursued). Debts which are over 90 days overdue, but under 1 year are reviewed on a regular basis, and a bad debt provision of 50% of the outstanding debt is made where appropriate.

• o) 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. Short term deposits are cash deposits with more than 3 months' maturity.

• p) 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.

q) 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.

• r) Pensions

The charitable company makes defined contributions to personal pension plans of 2 employees. The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for its employees The annual contributions payable are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as they fall due. The charitable company complies with the current requirements in respect of pensions auto-enrolment.

• 2 Donations & grants

Donations & grants
			2024			2023
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Grants receivable:
Garfield Weston Foundation	-	-	-	100,000	-	100,000
Julius Gaudio Foundation	-	-	-	150,000	-	150,000
Peter Cundill Foundation	118,326	-	118,326	120,142	-	120,142
Epic Foundation	459,466	-	459,466	64,030	-	64,030
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation	100,000	-	100,000	140,000	-	140,000
Julia & Hans Rausing Trust	-	-	-	70,000	-	70,000
Lloyds Bank plc	250,000	-	250,000	50,000	-	50,000
NatWest Bank plc	-	1,000,000	1,000,000	-	-	-
Other donations & income	167,269	-	167,269	163,549	-	163,549
	1,095,061	1,000,000	2,095,061	857,721	-	857,721

33

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

3 Income from charitable activities

Scotland Fee income Scottish Government grants National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Dundee Women's Aid grant 3.2 Innovation in Practice The Home Office Fees charged to local areas Tampon Tax Funding re Your Best Friend Project Safe Young Lives - Other grants & fees 4 Bank interest Sub-total for Scotland Drive Restart (Foundations funded) The Home Office - DAPO project Practice Sub-total for Practice Drive Fee income Home Office - Core Functions grant Other Training grants Incubator team - Aurum Trust grant Fee income Sub-total for Drive Grants and fees re public affairs & comms work Donation re public affairs work Other grants for Research team 3.3 Research Research Total Home Office - Core Functions grant Innovation in Practice Total 3.4 Influencing Income from investments Sub-total for Training 3.1 Capacity Building Training Fee income Other grants and donations/fees re Innovation work National Lottery Community Fund MOPAC Drive Restart (HO/MOPAC funded) Home Office - CADA grant Capacity Building Total Funding from Police & Crime Commissioners Funding from grant making trusts Grant for work with Greater Manchester Combined Authority National Lottery Community fund - ECHO grant Influencing Total	Unrestricted £ 1,704,803 -	Restricted £ - 723,233	2024 Total £ 1,704,803 723,233	Unrestricted £ 2,411,088 -	Restricted £ - 351,886	2023 Total £ 2,411,088 351,886
	1,704,803 489,151 - - -	723,233 - 303,167 574,297 174,627	2,428,036 489,151 303,167 574,297 174,627	2,411,088 193,474 - - -	351,886 - 380,382 508,649 -	2,762,974 193,474 380,382 508,649 -
	489,151 128,666 - - -	1,052,091 - 409,499 21,390 8,000	1,541,242 128,666 409,499 21,390 8,000	193,474 124,487 - - -	889,031 703 445,336 21,440 -	1,082,505 125,190 445,336 21,440 -
	128,666	438,889	567,555	124,487	467,479	591,966
	2,322,620	2,214,213	4,536,833	2,729,049	1,708,396	4,437,445
	Unrestricted £ - - - - - - - - -	Restricted £ 324,245 605,998 - 490,818 80,000 91,326 892,111 29,760 164,751	2024 Total £ 324,245 605,998 - 490,818 80,000 91,326 892,111 29,760 164,751	Unrestricted £ - - - - - - - - -	Restricted £ 104,078 1,247,968 171,903 159,092 8,750 87,503 896,656 - -	2023 Total £ 104,078 1,247,968 171,903 159,092 8,750 87,503 896,656 - -
	- - - - 49,777 984	2,679,009 50,000 - 23,230 - 110,283	2,679,009 50,000 - 23,230 49,777 111,267	- - - - 1,256 385	2,675,950 100,000 172,787 - 18,250 118,200	2,675,950 100,000 172,787 - 19,506 118,585
	50,761	2,862,522	2,913,283	1,641	3,085,187	3,086,828
	Unrestricted £ 69,628 - -	Restricted £ - 75,792 9,900	2024 Total £ 69,628 75,792 9,900	Unrestricted £ 124,189 - -	Restricted £ - 178,358 14,850	2023 Total £ 124,189 178,358 14,850
	69,628	85,692	155,320	124,189	193,208	317,397
	Unrestricted £ 150 -	Restricted £ 58,334 31,250	2024 Total £ 58,484 31,250	Unrestricted £ 500 -	Restricted £ 57,888 31,250	2023 Total £ 58,388 31,250
	150	89,584	89,734	500	89,138	89,638
	Unrestricted £ 112,322	Restricted £ -	2024 Total £ 112,322	Unrestricted £ 34,876	Restricted £ -	2023 Total £ 34,876
	112,322	-	112,322	34,876	-	34,876

34

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

5 Analysis of expenditure

5 Analysis of expenditure
2024 Capacity Building Training Practice Scotland Innovation in Practice Drive Beacons Your Best Friend Innovation Safe Young Lives Research Influencing NatWest Circle Fund Total expenditure 2024 Charitable Activities Costs of raising funds	Activities Grant funding Other funding Support undertaken of activities of activities & governance Total directly via partners via partners Costs Costs £ £ £ £ £ 242,974 - - 11,942 254,916 2,164,360 18,976 - 339,796 2,523,132 1,066,757 279,241 - 98,036 1,444,034 472,393 68,397 - 32,846 573,636 3,703,510 366,614 - 470,678 4,540,802 1,094,306 1,528,310 - 82,340 2,704,956 - - - - - - - - - - 209,331 - - 17,902 227,233 156,584 6,000 - 10,455 173,039 1,460,221 1,534,310 - 110,697 3,105,228 291,966 - - 21,461 313,427 338,491 - - 13,517 352,008 38,442 161,324 - 2,485 202,251 6,075,604 2,062,248 - 630,780 8,768,632 Expenditure	Charged to
		Unrestricted Restricted Total Income Income Income £ £ £ 254,916 - 254,916
		1,781,571 741,561 2,523,132 427,872 1,016,162 1,444,034 139,572 434,064 573,636
		2,349,015 2,191,787 4,540,802
		- 2,704,956 2,704,956 - - - - - - 145,409 81,824 227,233 12,813 160,226 173,039
		158,222 2,947,006 3,105,228 206,497 106,930 313,427 262,424 89,584 352,008 - 202,251 202,251
		3,231,074 5,537,558 8,768,632

2023 Capacity Building Training Practice Scotland Innovation in Practice Drive Beacons Your Best Friend Other innovation projects Safe Young Lives Research Influencing NatWest Circle Fund Total expenditure 2023 Support and governance costs Direct Staff Costs Delivery Costs IT Costs Office Costs Other Costs Costs of raising funds Charitable Activities	Activities Grant funding Other funding Support undertaken of activities of activities & governance Total directly via partners via partners Costs Costs £ £ £ £ £ 257,950 - - 11,453 269,403 2,487,081 22,228 - 286,066 2,795,375 752,082 275,250 - 58,398 1,085,730 528,779 63,947 - 42,587 635,313 3,767,942 361,425 - 387,051 4,516,418 1,063,920 1,715,333 58,000 49,321 2,886,574 7,483 - - 1 7,484 68,688 97,215 - 7,050 172,953 438,030 - - 32,853 470,883 263,437 - - 22,304 285,741 1,841,558 1,812,548 58,000 111,529 3,823,635 418,205 - - 30,247 448,452 463,319 5,000 - 16,176 484,495 67,246 192,500 - - 259,746 6,816,220 2,371,473 58,000 556,456 9,802,149 2024 2024 2024 Support & governance £ £ £ 439,632 13,123 452,755 35,560 6,354 41,914 101,562 - 101,562 14,474 - 14,474 - 20,075 20,075 591,228 39,552 630,780 Expenditure Governance Support	Charged to
		Unrestricted Restricted Total Income Income Income £ £ £ 269,403 - 269,403
		2,440,667 354,708 2,795,375 207,709 878,021 1,085,730 233,977 401,336 635,313
		2,882,353 1,634,065 4,516,418
		- 2,886,574 2,886,574 - 7,484 7,484 - 172,953 172,953 249,331 221,552 470,883 504 285,237 285,741
		249,835 3,573,800 3,823,635 271,532 176,920 448,452 364,009 120,486 484,495 - 259,746 259,746
		4,037,132 5,765,017 9,802,149
		2023 2023 2023 Support & governance £ £ £ 391,743 13,914 405,657 25,955 4,306 30,261 87,002 - 87,002 14,696 - 14,696 - 18,840 18,840 Support Governance
		519,396 37,060 556,456

35

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

• 6 Net income / (expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging:

This is stated after charging:
	2024	2023
	£	£
Operating lease rentals:
Property - lease	40,958	40,958
Other	1,724	1,724
Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit - current year	16,800	15,700

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

Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes Costs related to self employed associates Salaries and wages Redundancy and termination costs Social security costs Staff costs were as follows:	2024 £ 3,889,599 - 398,986 245,792	2023 £ 3,948,346 59,677 410,894 237,258
	4,534,377 1,009,120	4,656,175 1,374,838
	5,543,497	6,031,013

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension and national insurance costs) during the year between:

		2024	2023
		No.	No.
£60,000	- £69,999	1	-
£70,000	- £79,999	1	2
£80,000	- £89,999	1	2

The total employee benefits including employer pension contributions and employer's national insurance of the key management personnel were £429,582 in respect of 8 employees (2023: £410,321 in respect of 5 employees).

Two Trustees, Ursula Lindenberg and Shana Begum received remuneration during the year for services provided as a Trustees. Ursula Lindenburg received £660 remuneration for services provided as a Trustee (2023: £330), and Shana Begum received £949 remuneration for services provided as a Trustee (2023: £0). The same Trustees also received remuneration for services provided as a Pioneer. The payment for services provided as a Trustee is permitted under the charity's governing document. The payment for services as a Pioneer were agreed on exactly the same terms as other non-Trustee Pioneers.

Ursula Lindenberg received £894 for fees and expenses as a Pioneer (2023: £361), and Shana Begum received £6,789 for fees and expenses as a Pioneer

(2023: £1,800).

Trustees' expenses represent the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £2,723 (2023: £1,476) incurred by 9 (2023: 6) members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees.

Pensions

Pensions
		2024	2023
		£	£
Pension amounts outstanding at	30th June	27,640	-

The average number of employees (based on headcount) during the year was 112 (2023: 120).

The average number of employees (based on full-time equivalent of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

Fundraising Capacity building Innovation in practice Research Influencing Support	2024 No. 4 45 22 8 5 15	2023 No. 4 46 29 9 7 15
	99	110

8 Staff numbers

36

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

9 Related party transactions

As noted in note 7 above, Ursula Lindenberg and Shana Begum received remuneration during the year for services provided as a Trustee. Ursula Lindenberg and Shana Begum also received remuneration for services provided as a Pioneer. The payment for services provided as a Trustee is permitted under the charity's governing document. The payment for services provided as a Pioneer were agreed on exactly the same terms as other non-Trustee Pioneers.

During the course of the year £20,000 was paid to the University of Bristol for evaluation services as a partner in the Drive Project. Isabel Boyer's husband Mr J Boyer is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Bristol. Isabel Boyer is the Chair of the Board of Trustees. Neither Isabel nor her husband have any involvement the financial decision making process of the project.

Rebecca Spencer, Trustee, is employed by Social Finance. Social Finance is one of the 3 partners in the Drive Project. Rebecca's role at Social Finance does not include any work on the Drive Project and she has no involvement the financial decision making process of the project.

There were no amounts owing to or from any related party as at 30 June 2024 (2023: none).

During the year, SafeLives received no donations from connected parties (2023: none).

10 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

11 Tangible fixed assets

At the end of the year At the end of the year Depreciation Net book value At the start of the year Charge for the year At the end of the year At the start of the year Cost Additions in year At the start of the year	Leasehold improvements £ 36,237 -	Total £ 36,237 -
	36,237	36,237
	36,237 -	36,237 -
	36,237	36,237
	-	-
	-	-

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

12 Debtors

Debtors
Accrued income Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Taxation and social security Other creditors Accruals Deferred income (note 14)	2024 £ 483,355 16,018 191,684 873,788	2023 £ 448,788 16,973 133,769 636,851
	1,564,845	1,236,381
	2024 £ 455,918 131,297 37,936 369,065 802,784	2023 £ 270,348 100,279 16,680 619,037 839,404
	1,797,000	1,845,748

13 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

37

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

14 Deferred income

The deferred income balance relates to income received in respect of programmes to be delivered in the next financial year.

Balance at the beginning of the year Amount released to income in the year Amount deferred in the year Balance at the end of the year 15a 15b Net assets at 30 June 2024 Other projects (grants) Deferred income is in respect of the following: Tangible fixed assets Fee income (Training, Insights and Consultancy) Tangible fixed assets Net current assets Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year) Net assets at 30 June 2023 Analysis of net assets between funds (current year) Net current assets	General unrestricted £ - 2,482,125	2024 £ 839,404 (839,404) 802,784	2023 £ 726,971 (726,971) 839,404
		802,784	839,404
		2024 £ 326,246 476,538	2023 £ 663,985 175,419
		802,784	839,404
		Restricted £ - 1,101,761	Total funds £ - 3,583,886
	2,482,125	1,101,761	3,583,886
	General unrestricted £ - 2,062,657	Restricted £ - 387,308	Total funds £ - 2,449,965
	2,062,657	387,308	2,449,965

38

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024
16a Restricted funds: CADA grant ECHO grant Scotland Dundee Women's Aid grant Capacity Building Total Innovation in Practice Incubator team - Aurum Trust grant Greater Manchester Combineed Authority grant Safe Young Lives - Lloyds Bank Group grant Safe Young Lives - Other grants Innovation in Practice total Research total Influencing Support for Victims/Survivors of Domestic Abuse Total restricted funds General/unrestricted funds Movements in funds (current year) Core Functions grant National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Grants & donations Core Functions grant Practice Capacity Building Research Other grants and donations re Innovation work Training Total funds Training grants Scottish government grants Drive NatWest Bank plc fund to directly help survivors of domestic abuse. Other grants	At 1 July 2023 £ 45,202 - 11,010 - 1,040 - 67,021	Income £ 723,233 303,167 574,297 174,627 21,390 8,000 409,499	Expenditure £ 741,561 303,167 538,368 174,627 22,430 - 411,634	Transfers £ - - - - - - -	At 30 June 2024 £ 26,874 - 46,939 - - 8,000 64,886
	124,273	2,214,213	2,191,787	-	146,699
	168,874 - 6,240 2,354 29,775 28,192	2,679,009 50,000 23,230 - - 110,283	2,704,956 50,000 29,470 2,354 29,775 130,451	- - - - - -	142,927 - - - - 8,024
	235,435	2,862,522	2,947,006	-	150,951
	20,000 1,238	75,792 9,900	95,792 11,138	- -	- -
	21,238	85,692	106,930	-	-
	- 6,362	89,584 1,000,000	89,584 202,251	- -	- 804,111
	387,308 2,062,657	6,252,011 3,650,542	5,537,558 3,231,074	- -	1,101,761 2,482,125
	2,449,965	9,902,553	8,768,632	-	3,583,886

39

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

16b Scotland Scottish Government grants Capacity Building Total Innovation in Practice Incubator team - Aurum Trust grant Tampon Tax Funding re Your Best Friend Project Safe Young Lives - Lloyds Bank Group grant Safe Young Lives - Other grants Innovation in Practice total Research total Influencing Support for Victims/Survivors of Domestic Abuse Total restricted funds General/unrestricted funds Designated/unrestricted funds -Strategic initiatives Total funds Core Functions Other grants NatWest Bank plc fund to directly help survivors of domestic abuse. Grants & donations Practice and Consultancy Training bursaries & grants Training Research CADA grant Grant for work with Cheshire Without Abuse National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Other grants and donations re Innovation work Drive Beacons Core Functions Capacity Building Restricted funds Movements in funds (prior year)	At 1 July 2022 £ 48,024 - - - 1,918	Income £ 351,886 380,382 508,649 21,440 446,039	Expenditure £ 354,708 380,382 497,639 20,400 380,936	Transfers £ - - - - -	At 30 June 2023 £ 45,202 - 11,010 1,040 67,021
	49,942	1,708,396	1,634,065	-	124,273
	379,498 7,484 10,253 166 101,643 - 212,761 12,243	2,675,950 - 100,000 172,787 - 18,250 - 118,200	2,886,574 7,484 110,253 172,953 101,643 9,656 182,986 102,251	- - - - - - - -	168,874 - - - - 8,594 29,775 28,192
	724,048	3,085,187	3,573,800	-	235,435
	- 4,950	178,358 14,850	158,358 18,562	- -	20,000 1,238
	4,950	193,208	176,920	-	21,238
	31,348 266,108	89,138 -	120,486 259,746	- -	- 6,362
	1,076,396 2,217,985 133,828	5,075,929 3,747,976 -	5,765,017 4,037,132 -	- 133,828 (133,828)	387,308 2,062,657 -
	3,428,209	8,823,905	9,802,149	-	2,449,965

Cost transfers have been made from unrestricted funds to designated funds in respect of work undertaken on the strategic initiatives identified and set up at the end of 2021/22. The strategic initiative fund was fully utilised by the end of 2022/23.

40

SafeLives

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 June 2024

16 Movements in funds (continued)

Purposes of principal restricted funds

Capacity Building

Training bursaries & grants

Grants have been received from the Welsh Government, the Insitute for Fatal Strangulation, the Vision Foundation, the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Education Foundation to develop and deliver various training courses.

Practice

The Practice team provides support and resources to help Maracs and professionals working in the domestic violence sector to improve their effectiveness so that all high-risk victims of domestic abuse receive a consistent, quality response. A significant part of the Practice team's work (and some of the Research team's work) is funded via the "Core Functions" grant from the Home Office.

The Practice team this year has been awarded the second phase of its grant from the Home Office to work in two areas looking into all of the issues faced by Children Affected by Dometic Abuse ("CADA").

The Practice team have been awarded a grant for our Echo programme. Through this prgramme, we have been working locally and nationally to make sure those with lived experience are shaping the services designed to support them and that survivor voices are at the forefront.

Scottish grants

The Scottish Government continues to provide grants to support most aspects of our work in Scotland. The National Lottery in Scotland is supporting us on authentic voice work in Scotland.

Innovation in Practice

Drive

This project (run in partnership with Respect & Social Finance and several delivery partners) addresses and challenges the behaviour of perpetrators of domestic abuse - the project is developing and testing innovative and different approaches with perpetrators across several pilot areas.

Incubator Team

This team was established towards the end of 2018/19 to come up with ideas with respect to professional practice, and to test those ideas internally initially, and then with selected partners, before seeking to go to wider audiences. The funding from the Aurum Trust finished in 23/24. The work stream and project aim continues.

Safe Young Lives

Funding has been awarded from several grant making trusts to help us research the issues around young people and domestic abuse - and in response to those insights, to formulate ideas and policies to address the issues identified.

Research

A significant part of the Research team's general work is funded from the Home Office "Core Functions" grant. This grant is supplemented by other restricted fee income and grant income in respect of specific research projects, which are commissioned by partners from time to time.

Influencing

The Public Affairs team's work on influencing and shaping policy in our sector is funded by several grants and a recurring donation.

NatWest Bank PLC Survivor fund

In November 2023, NatWest Bank PLC granted us a further £1m to be used over the next 3 years in making sub-grants to frontline services, who in turn would use the funds to provide direct financial assistance to the victims of domestic abuse and their families.

17 Operating lease commitments

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, rental element excluding services charges, is as follows for each of the following periods.

the following periods.
Less than one year One to five years	2024 2023 £ £ 42,504 42,504 46,046 88,550 Property		2024 £ 1,858 2,012	2023 £ 1,858 3,870 Other
	88,550	131,054	3,870	5,728

• 18 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

41