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← Mentoring Plus Bath And North East Somerset

2025-03-31-accounts

REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 05589316 (England and Wales) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1112534

Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025 for Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Monahans Chartered Accountants Hermes House Fire Fly Avenue Swindon Wiltshire SN2 2GA

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 10
Independent Examiner's Report 11
Statement of Financial Activities 12
Balance Sheet 13
Cash Flow Statement 14
Notes to the Cash Flow Statement 15
Notes to the Financial Statements 16 to 22

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Mentoring Plus was founded in 1998, part of a national youth mentoring project funded by central government. It became an independent charity in 2005, continuing to engage young people in positive community mentorship to improve their safety, wellbeing and opportunities.

Its uninterrupted delivery since that time in a challenging economic environment is a testament to the commitment of its funders, volunteers, staff, trustees and referring organisations to providing support to young people from and within their own community.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Meeting the needs of our community

Children, teens and young adults in our community continue to face complex and difficult challenges in education, family circumstances and mental wellbeing. These challenges are rooted in overlapping educational, economic and social factors, affecting not only the individuals themselves, but their families, schools and wider communities.

More than four-fifths of the young people we support struggle with unmet educational needs. These can manifest as poor academic attainment, social withdrawal, disrupted behaviour and school refusal, all of which are deeply entwined with anxiety and low self-esteem. Alongside these learning challenges, many face difficult home circumstances such as family breakdown, chronic physical or mental health issues, and substance misuse. These, in turn, can lead to wider vulnerabilities including neglect, abuse, domestic violence and even exploitation.

These young people often become harder to reach and engage as they get older, particularly when regular school attendance becomes difficult. The transition into adulthood, especially for those with additional needs, is another point of vulnerability. The lack of equivalent support services beyond age 18 leaves many feeling isolated, disenfranchised and ill-equipped to navigate adult support services.

In recent years, the landscape of need has shifted even further. The legacy of lockdown has compounded the pressures faced by those already affected by long-term disadvantage. Many come from communities marked by intergenerational barriers to education and employment, including former mining areas and rurally isolated neighbourhoods with limited infrastructure and opportunity.

For these young people, missed schooling and social contact during the pandemic exacerbated mental health issues, increased school avoidance and heightened social anxiety. Navigating peer relationships has become more difficult, sometimes resulting in risky behaviours or deepened isolation.

Economic pressures have added another layer of complexity. The continued high cost of living strains family wellbeing and reduced community capacity to offer informal support. Working families just above the threshold for public assistance are increasingly affected.

We noted in the previous year that resources available within schools to support young people early on had seen a steep decline, which has become even more acute in the last year. This has created even greater demand for our mentoring services which are free to refer, and significantly reduced the resources available for services for which a schools contribution is necessary. This led to a significantly reduced cohort in our Professional Mentoring project.

While steps have now been successfully taken to reduce costs accordingly, we experienced a financial deficit in the year due to this shift. Decisive steps have been taken to address this in the short term, and the Board is also engaged in exploring future strategic shifts to ensure the charity is responding to changing needs and safeguarding its longer-term financial stability.

As far as resources allow, Mentoring Plus continues to provide timely, targeted and empathetic support for young people across Bath and North East Somerset. Through close collaboration with schools and local partners, we offer individualised 1-1 support tailored to young people's individual needs. Our work fosters confidence, wellbeing and connection, improving communication skills, strengthening relationships and helping young people re-engage with education and community life. Most importantly, it helps build hope for the future.

The charitable objectives of Mentoring Plus, under which these activities are delivered, are formally set out with the Charites Commission and governed by our legal and operational framework:

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

For the benefit of vulnerable young people such as those at risk of offending; looked after children; care leavers; young offenders (those in custody and those leaving custody); educationally excluded; those not in education, training or employment; and those at risk of abuse, domestic violence and drug and alcohol addiction (known hereafter as young people at risk), are:

(a) to advance the education and training of young people at risk so that they are able to realise their full potential within their community and so that they are better able to integrate into society as a whole;

(b) to provide and assist in the provision of facilities in the interests of the social welfare and leisure time of young people at risk with the object of improving their conditions of life;

(c) to relieve unemployment of young people at risk through the provision of career information and advice;

(d) to preserve and protect the health of young people at risk by the provision of advice and guidance.

The Trustees are currently (2025) seeking Charity Commission approval for the update of these Objects, reflecting expansion of the charity into newer areas of work since the above were agreed.

Meanwhile, in pursuit of our vision and mission, Mentoring Plus delivers on these objects across four main projects:

Volunteer Mentoring programme

The Volunteer Mentoring (VM) project continues to be a vital part of our work, with approximately two-thirds of its delivery and operational costs funded through charitable income. Unlike our other programmes, which are directly funded, this project depends significantly on philanthropic support to sustain its impact.

The VM programme recruits, trains, and supports adult volunteers to provide one-to-one mentoring for up to 12 months. The service is offered across two strands:

Children in the primary programme are referred exclusively by schools. Those aged 11-25 are referred by schools, statutory services, voluntary organisations, and families. All referrals must meet thresholds of need where early, preventative support from a volunteer mentor is both appropriate and safe.

Our skilled practitioners are essential to programme delivery. They handle referrals, secure informed consent, conduct needs and risk assessments, and support each mentee to develop a personalised mentoring plan. They also engage with families to assess wider needs, signpost to external services, and participate in multi-agency meetings such as Team Around the Family to ensure the child's voice is central to support planning.

Each volunteer mentor is carefully selected, vetted, and matched with a mentee based on shared interests and personality compatibility. Practitioners support the early stages of the mentoring relationship, providing ongoing supervision and guidance to ensure sessions are safe, engaging, and impactful. All safeguarding processes are rigorously managed by our professional staff.

The Secondary VM programme is part-funded through a £65,000 annual commission from Bath & North East Somerset Council's Public Health and Prevention team. This represents 32% of the programme's total cost of £203,900 for the year (this cost includes participation, see below, which is run as part of this project). The remaining 68% is secured through grants and donations.

In the Primary VM programme, referring schools contribute approximately one-third of mentoring costs, with the balance similarly covered through charitable fundraising. Fee income from schools for the Primary programme in FY23-24 totalled £26,000, equivalent to 24% of total programme costs of £110,480.

The majority of delivery costs are attributable to practitioner salaries across these two projects (1 full-time and 4 part-time roles), without which the programme could not operate. Other costs include direct project expenses, including travel, mentoring materials, IT and telecoms, clinical supervision and training, as well as core operational costs covering management, finance, HR, insurance, premises, and utilities.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Impact and Reach

Mentoring Plus takes focused care with accurate measurement and evaluation of impact across all projects. The voice of mentees is paramount, with feedback also gained from families, referrers, fellow professionals and our own observations. Practitioners record outcomes against defined metrics in our secure casework database - 18 outcomes for VM and PM defined by our local authority commissioners, grant funders and ourselves, and six for SAFS set by our local authority commissioner.

All outcomes require written evidence and this data forms the basis for quarterly / termly commission monitoring, impact reporting to grant-giving trusts and referring schools as appropriate. Case studies are also produced for both positive and more challenging referrals, adding qualitative context and verbatim feedback to numeric data.

In FY24-25, the VM project supported 105 individual young people (compared to 104 in FY23-24). At any given time, we maintained our targeted cohort sizes, mentoring at least 22 primary-aged and 30 secondary-aged young people at any one time.

Each mentee develops a Personal Plan with practitioner support, identifying their individual goals, challenges, and hopes for the mentoring relationship. Progress is reviewed quarterly in consultation with the mentor and, where appropriate, family and referrers.

Key outcome highlights from FY24-25 include:

The role of volunteers

In FY24-25, 42 new mentors were trained, and a total of 65 active volunteers provided 1,016 mentoring sessions. Following significant investment in volunteer recruitment, we are seeing volunteer numbers significantly up on the previous year. We will continue to devote resources to the promotion of volunteering.

Volunteers are the cornerstone of this programme, not only by reducing delivery costs, but by offering authentic, community-based relationships and positive role models. Mentees recognise and value the voluntary nature of this support, understanding that their mentor has freely chosen to invest time and care in their wellbeing.

Student & Family Support (SAFS)

The Student & Family Support (SAFS) programme, delivered exclusively by Mentoring Plus and fully funded by Bath & North East Somerset Council's Education Inclusion Service, supports children and young people aged 5-16 who are struggling to engage with mainstream education. This includes those with low attendance, those who have experienced exclusion, are on directed off-site provision, or are returning to mainstream school having been electively home educated or receiving hospital education.

SAFS is delivered directly by our qualified professionals, not through volunteers or mentors. Its unique value lies in bridging the gap between home and school-working intensively with families to identify and address underlying barriers to education and signpost to appropriate services. The service plays a critical role in rebuilding relationships between families and schools, often uncovering and resolving challenges that had previously gone unrecognised by education settings.

Each student receives a structured, time-limited programme of tailored interventions, typically over a 16-week period. This may include support to manage anxiety, develop coping strategies, reconnect with trusted staff at school, and explore unmet educational needs. The goal is to help each young person build confidence and re-engage with learning in a sustainable way.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Key outcomes for students supported by SAFS in FY24-25 included:

With changes to attendance processes such as Fair Access and managed moves, increasingly the team works with students with very low attendance, and this is reflected in the outcome data above. Students with very low attendance are at higher levels of need and experience greater challenges in overcoming difficulties. Due to the shorter intervention length and termly reporting cycle, outcome data includes students at the start of SAFS intervention alongside those who have benefited for longer. We work closely with our local authority commissioners to reflect on and interpret outcome data in the context of the young people being supported.

The service continues to be highly valued by both schools and families, with demand exceeding capacity and a consistent waiting list throughout the year. Reflecting the impact and credibility of the service, a group of local primary schools directly commissioned Mentoring Plus to deliver additional SAFS provision in the 2024-25 academic year, and has extended the contract for 2025-26.

In FY24-25, SAFS supported 127 individual young people, up from 119 in FY23-24, while consistently maintaining a rolling caseload of 36 students, meeting all contractual delivery benchmarks. The full cost of delivery, including a contribution to organisational overheads, was covered by the Council commission of £180,000 per year. This budget funds staff salaries, direct programme delivery, and a proportionate share of core running costs.

Just after the end of FY24-25 we learned that we had been successful in tendering for a renewed 4-6 year local authority commission for SAFS, fully funding this service at £195,000 per year from September 2025 and ensuring its uninterrupted provision for students in need of support in re-accessing their education.

Professional Mentoring

Since 2016, our Professional Mentoring (PM) programme has provided intensive, one-to-one support for young people whose complex needs and circumstances fall beyond the safe scope of volunteer mentoring. Delivered by trained professional mentors, the programme offers the same strengths-based, child-led, community-based approach as our Volunteer Mentoring (VM) service, but with enhanced professional skills and experience tailored to higher-need cohorts.

Young people referred to PM typically face multiple and significant challenges-including poor mental health, educational disengagement, complex family dynamics, care experience, trauma, abuse, or neglect. Many are socially isolated or at elevated risk due to exploitation, substance misuse, insecure housing, or other safeguarding concerns. Most are receiving support from multiple agencies and require consistent, trusted relationships to stabilise and progress.

Since PM began, each mentoring placement has been individually commissioned, most often funded through Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) or social care budgets. In FY 24-25, the capacity for schools and agencies to pay for PM mentoring dramatically reduced, and far fewer young people were able to access it despite unprecedented levels of need.

In-school mentoring

As part of the PM offer, we continued to place embedded professional mentors within several local secondary schools and one primary school. These placements offer schools high-value, responsive support that students can access quickly. Drawing inspiration from our broader mentoring approach, these sessions often include walking, cooking, or creative activities to facilitate open, relational conversations in safe, non-clinical environments.

Again due to schools' budget constraints the level of provision reduced in FY24-25, with several schools unable to renew contracts with us, despite the high value ascribed to the service.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Impact and reach

In FY24-25, the PM programme supported 53 unique young people (FY22-23: 104), including 29 through in-school provision (FY23-24: 45) and 24 through community-based mentoring (FY23-24: 59). The programme does not operate under a commissioned framework with specific delivery benchmarks.

PM made significant financial losses during the financial year; its fixed costs were based on a previous higher level of referrals and despite every effort to attract more mentees, school budget constraints meant that it under performed relative to budget. The full cost of this delivery including running costs was £155,927 against revenue of £94,653.

In response, the project team were restructured to reduce contracted hours and transfer staff to other projects, and for the first time we secured some charitable subsidy to contribute to PM places, which will continue.

As a result of these changes, financial losses for PM will not continue into 2025-26, while we continue to offer this accessible, therapeutic, relationship-based support for young people in our region experiencing acute or crisis-level need.

Young people's group activities and participation

In FY24-25, Mentoring Plus continued its regular delivery of group-based activities designed to complement our one-to-one support and increase social connection, confidence, and participation among young people. This included:

In total, we delivered 97 activity sessions for youth club members and mentees, providing 194 hours of structured activity and attracting 659 attendances.

Our quieter evening session is designed specifically for socially anxious young people or those with additional needs, offering a quieter, arts-focused environment for a smaller group. Our classic open access session continued to include sports coaching provided by Bath FC Foundation, and a professional music practitioner funded by a generous individual donor. Another local donor has kindly supported the costs of a nutritious meal or snack at every session, often cooked by young people and enjoyed as a group. These groups have steady growth in attendance among regular participants.

Mentoring Plus remains committed to making group opportunities accessible to all young people, including those in rural areas who face additional barriers to engagement. To this end, we continue to offer transport support to ensure equitable access for mentees across our geographically dispersed region.

Our separate Youth Reps group was paused in autumn 2024 to ensure all youth club members could benefit from advocacy and participation. Youth voice activities are now a core part of this provision, feeding back into the Trustee board to help shape services and priorities.

The costs of this provision are included in our VM Secondary project, summarised above.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Training and practice sharing

Extending our impact beyond direct delivery is a strategic objective for Mentoring Plus. In FY24-25, we continued to share our expertise through training and capacity-building initiatives aimed at peer supporters, workplace leaders, and other professionals supporting young people.

Our peer mentoring partnership with Kingswood School in Bath continued, with a further 50 x year 12 students trained to provide safe, supportive peer mentoring to younger students at the school and to Year 6 pupils at local primary schools. Beechen Cliff School also engaged us to train 20 x students in years 11 and 12. Both programmes were over-subscribed, and feedback highlighted their value both for mentees and for the older students developing leadership, empathy, and communication skills.

In addition, we adapted elements of our adult volunteer mentor training for a professional audience, delivering tailored workshops to help managers (particularly those supporting apprentices or early-career colleagues) build supportive relationships in the workplace.

We also continued our work supporting other charitable organisations with service design consultancy and delivering bespoke training to adults working with young people. This aligns with our ambition to contribute to a broader culture of relational, strengths-based practice across sectors serving children and young people.

Wider benefits

The Trustees recognise the significant wider societal impact generated by the charity's work across all programmes. By providing targeted support to young people most at risk of harm, disengagement, or lost opportunity, our mentoring services contribute to improved wellbeing and resilience not only for individual participants, but also within the broader communities in which they live and learn.

Preventative, relational interventions such as ours can reduce the need for more intensive and costly statutory support later on. This includes helping to avoid prolonged absence from education, mental health crises, and vulnerabilities that increase the risk of criminal exploitation. In turn, this helps reduce the associated emotional and financial burden on families, schools, health services, and local authorities.

Through training and equipping successive cohorts of volunteer mentors, and by sharing our person-centred, strengths-based approach more widely, we foster the development of compassionate, confident, and communicative individuals across schools, workplaces, and communities. These qualities not only benefit the young people we directly support, but also strengthen social cohesion and mutual understanding across our region. We continue to provide professional training on mentoring skills in the workplace to local organisations as part of this commitment, and regularly provide pro-bono advisory support to smaller charities.

In FY24-25 we built upon a fundraising partnership with local youth counselling charity Off The Record, which provides complementary services to ours and with whom we regularly cross-refer young people. This was formed when a local entrepreneur created The Bath 5k Map, a project selling map guides promoting wellbeing walking especially for young people, and chose to support both charities with the proceeds.

In a strong example of positive co-operation between charities, we co-ran a 100k community challenge over the summer and created a pop-up shop enterprise project selling the maps and associated merchandise in Bath city centre. We were able to support Off The Record with fundraising and communications resource, and the two charities were finalists in the Bath Life Awards in recognition of this effective co-working, and the 100k fundraising challenge project continues in the current year.

Recognising the growing level of need among young people alongside an increasingly challenging funding environment, the Trustees and leadership group have invested time in considering future plans to maximise reach and impact within limited resources. This process continues, with staff and stakeholder input, and subject to funding, plans over the next 2-3 years include:

In all its decision-making and programme oversight, the Board of Trustees continues to have full regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

A thank you to our community

In FY24-25 Mentoring Plus was hugely grateful to receive fundraising support from local organisations including Bath Building Society, The Roper Family Trust, Orx, Bath 5k Maps, Rotork, Riviam, Wealthtime, Camella, Specsavers Midsomer Norton, Rotary Club of Bath, Kingswood School, Fosseway Golf Club, Simon's Charity and the Co-op Community Fund.

Our community directly supported our work by participating in and attending events such as the Bath Half Marathon, our annual Quiz Night, Open Gardens, buying fresh Christmas trees, wreath making, our Christmas Fair and grotto, our pop-up shop, a Rebalance Walk and our jumble sale.

Special thanks to our generous individual donors, whose continued support means a great deal to us. We also thank our young people and their families for courageously sharing their stories and the impact of mentoring, helping us build awareness and attract charitable funding to benefit future young people.

We gratefully received valued funding from grant-giving organisations. These include: Ray Harris Charitable Trust, Dandia Charitable Trust, Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity, Quartet Community Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, City of Bath Moral Welfare Fund, Masonic Charitable Foundation, Global Make Some Noise, St Austell Brewery Charitable Trust, Elmgrant Trust, Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust, The Hargreaves Foundation, The Robert McAlpine Foundation, The National Lottery, The Barbara Ward Children's Foundation, The Not Pointless Charity and Cadbury Family Trust.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial review

As in previous years, the principal funding sources of the charity were:

With diversified income sources, the Charity remains less exposed to financial risk from one source of income reducing. However, as highlighted above, the financial performance of the charity was negatively impacted during FY24-25 by a sudden reduction in funds available in schools for fee-paying mentoring services, which had been over-subscribed in previous years. This reflects wider education budgets rather than a change in need or the value ascribed to these services.

It required prompt action to redeploy staff, reduce the fixed costs of the PM project and seek charitable subsidy for this vital support for our highest-need young people. Despite this, a financial loss was made in this service of just over £61,000. The changes were in place for the project for the start of FY25-26 and this project is currently forecast to break even. Each project has separate funding and reduced resources within one do not financially impact the others.

Last year it felt unclear whether local authority commission funding would continue at the same levels as previously, due to consultation processes happening at the time. The charity has since bid for and won a slightly enlarged commission to deliver SAFS for 4-6 years from September 2025, and the VM commission which part-funds this service is due to be re-tendered in late 2025.

Given the funding challenges for PM and the increasingly competitive environment for grant funding, the Trustees judge that ending FY24-25 with a net deficit of -£32,738 (FY23-24: surplus £3,880) is of course disappointing but entirely manageable and within expectations.

Success in attracting donations from community sources led to an increase in unrestricted reserves to £111,383 (FY23-24: £74,555) although overall reserves fell to £150,637 (FY23-24: £183,375) due to the losses incurred as above. Our policy is to maintain 3-6 months' costs as reserves; this falls slightly short of 3 months' costs. We add to reserves monthly and retain a focus on unrestricted income generation to continue to grow this reserve level.

The Board of Trustees is satisfied that the Charity's assets in each fund are available and adequate to fulfil its obligations in respect of each fund.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governance

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

Mentoring Plus is registered with the Charity Commission and operates as a company limited by guarantee. Governance is structured in accordance with our Memorandum and Articles of Association, established on 11 October 2005 and amended by special resolution in March 2012.

Trustee responsibilities

Our Board of Trustees bears statutory responsibility for:

Trustees are appointed for three-year terms, with a maximum service of nine years. We are fortunate to benefit from long-standing Trustees whose expertise and commitment support our strategic direction and day-to-day oversight.

Board composition and appointments

The charity benefits from a balance of longer-standing and newer Trustees offering both stability and renewal. Our Board included:

Strategic and operational oversight

Our Chief Executive Officer, Ruth Keily, continues to lead all operational aspects of the Charity and is supported by our Leadership Group. This team collectively manages strategy, delivery, finance, funding, and risk.

The full Trustee Board meets bi-monthly with senior staff to review performance and guide long-term strategy. Each meeting includes:

Senior Practitioners from each project contribute to safeguarding, staff development, policy, and practice, coordinated by our Head of Practice.

Key operational and safeguarding policies are:

Health and safety, safeguarding, and risk assessments are conducted for every activity and mentoring session. Outcomes are documented and discussed weekly as standing agenda items in team meetings.

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Trustee recruitment and succession

We actively seek Trustees who bring complementary skills and resources to enhance Board performance. All candidates are assessed against clear criteria and recruited via our safer recruitment procedures before formal Board approval.

Ethical fundraising commitment

Mentoring Plus adheres to an ethical fundraising policy, aligned with standards from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Regulator. This policy governs:

Our aim is to safeguard vulnerable donors and uphold our reputation as an organisation committed to positive, ethical impact.

Ethical fundraising

The Charity operates according to an ethical fundraising policy prepared within guidelines provided by the Chartered Institute of fundraising and the Fundraising Regulator. This governs Trustees' review and decision-making processes over solicited and unsolicited donations from individuals or businesses, large and anonymous donations and activities of external fundraisers, with the purpose of safeguarding potentially vulnerable donors, and the positive reputation of the Charity in light of its charitable objectives.

The above report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime as set out in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 and in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Company number 05589316 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number 1112534

Registered office

Riverside Youth Hub York Place Bath BA1 6AE

Trustees

T Annear (resigned 18.11.24) J Bartholomew M Carter (resigned 27.1.25) P Watson (resigned 21.7.25) Prof S Milner P Daniels G Abbey S Massie (appointed 30.9.24) L Ferguson-Ray (appointed 30.5.25)

Independent Examiner

James Gare FCA DChA Monahans Chartered Accountants Hermes House Fire Fly Avenue Swindon Wiltshire SN2 2GA

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 31[st] October 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

........................................................................ Prof S Milner - Trustee

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Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited ('the Company')

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Since your charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a listed body. I can confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by Section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of Section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

  4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities (applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)).

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

for

James Gare FCA DChA

Monahans Chartered Accountants Hermes House Fire Fly Avenue Swindon Wiltshire SN2 2GA

Date: ............................................. 6 November 2025

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Statement of Financial Activities

for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Unrestricted
fund
Notes
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
2
128,824
Charitable activities
4
Mentoring services
561,452
Investment income
3
4,135
Total
694,411
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
5
8,827
Charitable activities
6
Mentoring services
648,756
Total
657,583
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
36,828
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
74,555
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
111,383		 Restricted
funds
£
-
75,421
-
75,421
-
144,987
144,987
(69,566)
108,820
39,254		 2025
Total
funds
£
128,824
636,873
4,135
769,832
8,827
793,743
802,570
(32,738)
183,375
150,637		 2024
Total
funds
£
114,951
700,893
2,159
818,003
9,521
804,602
814,123
3,880
179,495
183,375

The notes form part of these financial statements

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Balance Sheet
31 March 2025
2025 2024
Notes £ £
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets 12 3,448 5,777
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors 13 35,797 38,635
Cash in hand 152,123 193,848
187,920 232,483
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year 14 (40,731) (54,885)
NET CURRENT ASSETS 147,189 177,598
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 150,637 183,375
NET ASSETS 150,637 183,375
FUNDS 17
Unrestricted funds 111,383 74,555
Restricted funds 39,254 108,820
TOTAL FUNDS 150,637 183,375

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2025.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for

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

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 31[st] October 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. S Milner - Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Cash Flow Statement
for the Year Ended 31 March 2025
2025
Notes
£
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations
1
(40,436)
Net cash used in operating activities
(40,436)
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
(1,289)
Net cash used in investing activities
(1,289)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in
the reporting period
(41,725)
Cash and cash equivalents at the
beginning of the reporting period
193,848
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of
the reporting period
152,123		 2024
£
(11,071)
(11,071)
(955)
(955)
(12,026)
205,874
193,848

The notes form part of these financial statements

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Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Cash Flow Statement for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1. RECONCILIATION OF NET (EXPENDITURE)/INCOME TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES
2025 2024
£ £
Net (expenditure)/income for the reporting period (as per the
Statement of Financial Activities) (32,738) 3,880
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges 3,618 8,347
Decrease/(increase) in debtors 2,838 (28,284)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors (14,154) 4,986
Net cash used in operations (40,436) (11,071)
ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS
At 1.4.24 Cash flow At 31.3.25
£ £ £
Net cash
Cash at bank and in hand 193,848 (41,725) 152,123
193,848 (41,725) 152,123
Total 193,848 (41,725) 152,123

2. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 15

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited is a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is given in the legal and administrative information on page 5 of these financial statements. The nature of the charity's operations and principal activities are provided in the Report of the Trustees.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. 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) issued on 16 July 2014 (as updated through Update Bulletin 1 published on 2 February 2016), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention. The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Where income has related expenditure the income and related expenditure is reported gross in the SoFA.

Voluntary income received by way of grants, donations and gifts is included in the SoFA when receivable and only when the Charity has unconditional entitlement to the income.

Income from tax reclaims is included in the SoFA at the same time as the gift/donation to which it relates.

Donated services and facilities are only included in income (with an equivalent amount in expenditure) where the benefit to the Charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material.

The value of any volunteer help received is not included in the accounts.

Investment income is included in the accounts when receivable.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. It is categorised under the following headings:

Website development

Amortisation is being provided on a 33% straight line basis.

Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Fixtures and fittings Computer equipment

Page 16

continued...

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

Taxation

The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charitable company's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

Debtors and creditors receivable / payable within one year

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the charity to be able to continue as a going concern.

2. DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

Events & community fundraising
3.
INVESTMENT INCOME
Bank interest
4.
INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Activity
Training and extended
services
Mentoring services
Grants and commissions
Mentoring services		 2025
£
128,824
2025
£
4,135
2025
£
135,371
501,502
636,873		 2024
£
114,951
2024
£
2,159
2024
£
170,760
530,133
700,893

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continued...

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited Notes to the Financial Statements -- continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Notes to the Financial Statements -- continued

5. RAISING FUNDS

Raising donations and legacies

Raising donations and legacies
2025 2024
£ £
Fundraising 8,827 9,521

6. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS

All charitable activity costs related to providing mentoring services (2024 the same).

7. NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

2025 2024
£ £
Depreciation - owned assets 3,618 5,398
Website development amortisation - 2,949
Independent Examiner's fees - examination work 4,989 4,200
Independent Examiner's fees - other work 2,559 2,442

8. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Trustees' expenses

There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

9. STAFF COSTS

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs		 2025
£
534,259
42,268
33,983
610,510		 2024
£
542,979
40,126
33,294
616,399

The key management of the Charity comprise the trustees and Leadership Group of three staff members (2024: three members). The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the Charity were £144,426 (2024: £149,223).

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:

Charity staff 2025
21		 2024
23

No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.

Page 18

continued...

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements- continued
for the Year Ended 31 March 2025
10.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
Unrestricted
fund
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
114,951
Charitable activities
Mentoring services
487,733
Investment income
2,159
Total
604,843
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
9,521
Charitable activities
Mentoring services
592,722
Total
602,243
NET INCOME
2,600
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
71,955
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
74,555
11.
INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
COST
At 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025
AMORTISATION
At 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024		 Restricted
Total
funds
funds
£
£
-
114,951
213,160
700,893
-
2,159
213,160
818,003
-
9,521
211,880
804,602
211,880
814,123
1,280
3,880
107,540
179,495
108,820
183,375
Website
development
£
8,845
8,845
-
-

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continued...

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

12. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

COST
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
DEPRECIATION
At 1 April 2024
Charge for year
At 31 March 2025
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024
13.
DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
14.
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
Credit card
Other creditors
Deferred income
Accrued expenses		 Fixtures
and
Computer
fittings
equipment
£
£
11,345
34,544
-
1,289
11,345
35,833
6,807
33,305
2,269
1,349
9,076
34,654
2,269
1,179
4,538
1,239
2025
£
14,158
2,639
19,000
35,797
2025
£
10,386
10,311
183
5,773
8,185
5,893
40,731		 Totals
£
45,889
1,289
47,178
40,112
3,618
43,730
3,448
5,777
2024
£
38,635
-
-
38,635
2024
£
10,619
9,882
217
2,962
23,913
7,292
54,885

15. LEASING AGREEMENTS

On 8 June 2020 the Charity entered into a 5 year lease with Bath & North East Somerset for its main offices in Bath, which has been extended to the end of March 2026. The Charity pays a peppercorn rent in return for providing 2 nights per week of open access youth service in term times at the premises.

The Charity is currently completing negotiations with the local authority for the continuation of this lease on similar terms.

Page 20

continued...

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

16. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

Unrestricted
fund
£
Fixed assets
3,448
Current assets
148,666
Current liabilities
(40,731)
111,383
17.
MOVEMENT IN FUNDS		 Restricted
funds
£
-
39,254
-
39,254		 2025
Total
funds
£
3,448
187,920
(40,731)
150,637		 2024
Total
funds
£
5,777
232,483
(54,885)
183,375
Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Participation & Activities
Volunteer Mentoring
Youth Group
TOTAL FUNDS
Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:
Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Participation & Activities
Volunteer Mentoring
Youth Group
TOTAL FUNDS		 At 1.4.24
£
74,555
4,666
104,154
-
108,820
183,375
Incoming
resources
£
694,411
-
64,421
11,000
75,421
769,832		 Net
movement
At
in funds
31.3.25
£
£
36,828
111,383
(4,666)
-
(69,900)
34,254
5,000
5,000
(69,566)
39,254
(32,738)
150,637
Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(657,583)
36,828
(4,666)
(4,666)
(134,321)
(69,900)
(6,000)
5,000
(144,987)
(69,566)
(802,570)
(32,738)

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continued...

Mentoring Plus Bath and North East Somerset Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

17. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Comparatives for movement in funds

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Operational delivery
Participation & Activities
Volunteer Mentoring
TOTAL FUNDS		 At 1.4.23
£
71,955
-
5,092
102,448
107,540
179,495		 Net
movement
in funds
£
2,600
2,750
(1,759)
289
1,280
3,880		 At
31.3.24
£
74,555
2,750
3,333
102,737
108,820
183,375

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Operational delivery
Participation & Activities
Volunteer Mentoring
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
604,843
11,000
4,000
198,160
213,160
818,003		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(602,243)
2,600
(8,250)
2,750
(5,759)
(1,759)
(197,871)
289
(211,880)
1,280
(814,123)
3,880

All restricted funds represent grants received towards specific mentoring and young people's activities programmes.

The comparative funds note has been restated in accordance with the Charity's request to summarise restricted funding under group headings.

18. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 March 2025 or the year ended 31 March 2024.

Page 22