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2023-07-31-accounts

Company number: 05815338 Charity number: 1121638

Just for Kids Law Limited

Report and financial statements For the period ended 31 July 2023

Just for Kids Law Limited

Contents

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Reference and administrative details .............................................................................................. 1 Board of Trustees’ annual report .................................................................................................... 3 Independent auditor’s report ....................................................................................................... 30 Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) ................... 34 Balance sheet ............................................................................................................................... 35 Statement of cash flows ................................................................................................................ 36 Notes to the financial statements ................................................................................................. 37

Just for Kids Law Limited

Reference and administrative details

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Company number 05815338 Charity number 1121638 Registered office EC1 Offices and operational 338 City Road address London EC1V 2PY Country of England & Wales registration Country of United Kingdom incorporation Board of Trustees Board of Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the period and up to the date of this report were as follows:

Anthony David Landes Trustee and Chair
Sophia Wiginton Trustee (resigned 31 January 2023)
Maureen Cole Burns Trustee and Treasurer (resigned July 2022)
Peter George Gibbs Trustee
Amira Bhatt Trustee (resigned 31 January 2023)
Sufina Ahmad Trustee
Claire Hubberstey Trustee
Wendy Brewer Trustee
Joanne Cecil Trustee (resigned September 2023)
Janet Latinwo Trustee (appointed August 2022)
Rachel Rand Trustee and Treasurer (appointed November
2022)
Brianne Campbell Trustee (appointed November 2022)
Honorary FounderShauneen Lambe
Senior ManagementLouisa McGeehan CEO (resigned February 2023)
Team Aika Stephenson Legal Director (Co-Lead from 1 August 2023)
Chloe Grant Director of Programmes and Participation
(resigned December 2022)
Julie Bentley Director of Finance and Resources
Louise King Director of Policy and Campaigns/Director of
Children’s Rights Alliance for England (Co-
Lead from 1 August 2023)
Mark Foster Interim Director Programmes and Participation
(January to July 2023)

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Reference and administrative details

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Bankers CAF Bank 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ Auditor Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor Invicta House 108-114 Golden Lane LONDON EC1Y 0TL

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

For the period ended 31 July 2023

The Board of Trustees presents their report and the audited financial statements for the period ended 31 July 2023.

Reference and administrative information set out on pages 1-2 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

Objectives and activities

To promote any charitable purposes for the benefit of the public, particularly children and young people in the UK and abroad, with particular regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, including by advancing the rights and needs of children through:

The Board of Trustees reviews 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 over the reporting period. The Board of Trustees reports the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Board of Trustees ensure that the charity's aims, objectives and activities remain focused on its stated purposes.

The Board of Trustees has 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 Board of Trustees has considered how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Structure, governance and management

The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for ensuring that the charity meets its charitable objectives and has an appropriate system of controls, financial and otherwise. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity. The Board is chaired by Anthony Landes who was appointed in January 2022. The Board currently has 8 members.

In February 2023 Louisa McGeehan resigned as CEO because of health issues. The Board did not recruit a new CEO but worked out a Scheme of Delegation for managing the organisation with

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Trustees’ annual report

For the period ended 31 July 2023

SMT. SMT consisted of the Director of Programmes and Participation, Legal Director, Director of Policy and Campaigns/Director of CRAE (Children’s Rights Alliance for England) and Director of Finance and Resources, who in turn managed their individual teams.

Organisational Re- Structure

The year began with successful fundraising, linked in the most part to the new strategic plan. Over £2,000,000 (spread over several financial years) was raised in restricted income. However, as the year progressed it became apparent that achieving the necessary level of unrestricted funds to support the central services part of the organisation, particularly for future financial years, was going to be a challenge.

In response, the Board began reviewing the structure of the organisation to ensure it would be fit for purpose and viable over the long-term given the current economic context and the continued and rising demand for the work. The Senior Management Team and Board took the view that taking a proactive approach to reviewing the structure was crucial since the cost-of-living challenges and demand for our work were not going to diminish in the near/medium term.

Following the Board review and considering the financial challenges the organisation was grappling with, it was decided that it would be in the best interests of the charity – both in terms of securing our work with and for children and young people and safeguarding as many roles as possible – to pursue a merger, preferably with a larger children’s charity. Various options were explored and eventually a Business Transfer for around 65% of Just for Kids Law’s work was agreed with the children’s charity Coram. There were, unfortunately some redundancies for Just for Kids Law staff.

Alongside the transfer of work to Coram, the Just for Kids Law Board agreed to our Youth Justice Legal Centre becoming an independent Community Interest Company. It will continue its work sharing knowledge, convening expertise and circulating innovation to support a community of youth justice practitioners fighting for better outcomes for children and will retain close links with Just for Kids Law.

The Business Transfers enabled Just for Kids Law to contract to a smaller organisation, with a new strategic focus, vision and leadership to take effect from 1 August 2023.

To help facilitate the organisational re-structure expeditiously, in March 2023 the board appointed a Delegated Authority Sub-committee, Chaired by Anthony Landes. This sub-committee met either weekly or bi-weekly for the following four months and replaced the other sub-committees listed below which had been in place up to that point.

Each sub-committee was chaired by a trustee and had at least one further trustee and one senior member of staff on it.

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

For the period ended 31 July 2023

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 12 May 2006 and registered as a charity on 21 November 2007.

The company was established under a memorandum of association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed according to its articles of association.

All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 8 to the accounts.

Appointment of Board of Trustees

Trustees are recruited to the Board either through a recruitment process or through networks linked to the organisation. Their appointment is agreed by the entire Board of Trustees. There is no external body that is entitled to appoint one or more of the Board of Trustees.

Trustee induction and training

Before starting in their role on the Board, trustees are provided with a detailed role description, and receive a comprehensive induction which includes:

Related parties and relationships with other organisations

The charity has no subsidiary undertakings. However, we connect with and have relationships with organisations in a variety of ways. Through our casework we receive referrals from organisations in the voluntary and statutory sector who we will link up with as part of our direct work with young people. In the delivery of our work to achieve wider change to policy and practice we partner with many organisations to work collaboratively on our campaigning, our strategic litigation and on our work empowering young people to lead social change. We have relationships through our income generation work with funders such as trusts and foundations, with national children’s charities and other members through our hosting of CRAE, and with corporates who provide us with pro bono support.

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Achievements and performance

Achievements and performance 1 June 2022 – 31[st] July 2023

“Just for Kids Law has literally changed my life. The best part? Everything was the best part. You have changed my life and made my dreams come true. The entire organisation supported me to achieve my dream and walked with me through the process and then even gave opportunities to practice and learn more. You all empowered me as a person. I’m not just a number that you just helped, I’m someone to you. It means a lot. You gave me an opportunity to give back and be recognised too” (JfKL Ambassador)

Introduction

We agreed new strategic priorities that build on our strengths and expertise to increase our impact, fill gaps not filled by others, and complement the work of others through partnership working.

Our strategic priorities were:

  1. Creating a justice system fit for children.

  2. Ensuring that children and young people experiencing criminal exploitation are recognised as victims and supported.

  3. Preventing school exclusions and its consequences.

  4. Supporting care experienced children and young people to secure their housing and care entitlements.

  5. Enabling children and young people to achieve a secure immigration status and thrive in the UK.

  6. Protecting and promoting children's rights using human rights mechanisms.

While our legal and advocacy casework remains at the heart of our work, therefore achieving change for individual children and young people, the evidence from our case work also informs our work to achieve strategic change and the children and young people with experience of these issues are also supported to have a voice in debates and campaign for change.

In this way, we tackle the problems that children and young people are currently experiencing, while also working in a preventative way by:

• Working to achieve change in the policy and legislative environment through our expertise, the evidence we gather through our direct case work and the lived experience of the children and young people we work with.

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• Empowering children and young people to play a role in our organisation through our Ambassadors group and supporting them to make plans for education, training and employment to live the lives they choose for themselves through our youth opportunities offer.

We know, however, particularly in these difficult economic times with rising inflation some children and young people also need immediate financial support in times of crisis. We have therefore maintained our hardship fund, so children and young people are able to access short term financial support. Usually this is in the form of help with transport costs to attend appointments with professionals or vouchers to ensure that they have food and energy while trying to resolve financial issues or problems with receiving their benefits. Occasionally we will support young people with overnight accommodation costs where this is a last resort to prevent them being at risk by having to sleep on the streets.

The highlights of our work set out below is testament to our expert, dedicated and extremely hard-working team of colleagues. Despite the financial challenges being faced by the organisation, alongside a difficult external environment, we were able to achieve significant positive outcomes for the individual children and young people we work with alongside strategic success.

In the fourteen months covered by this report we worked with 764 children and young people, mainly across London, on 922 pieces of casework providing youth advocacy, legal advice and representation and youth opportunities support. Of these cases, 455 were worked on by our legal team, 362 were worked on by our programmes and participation team and 105 cases consisted of one-off advice.

As tackling racial discrimination and disadvantage is a strong theme in our work it is not surprising that the majority of our clients are from minoritised groups – children and young people from Black and minoritised backgrounds are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, in school exclusions and among children and young people with care experience. This has a number of roots – racism resulting in the adultification of Black children, their behaviour being viewed through an adult lens and them being seen as less innocent and worthy of protection than their white peers. Addressing the issues they face and tackling discrimination through our individual case work and work to achieve systemic change is at the heart of Just for Kids Law’s work.

1. Creating a justice system fit for children

Children in the contact with the criminal justice system are some of the most vulnerable in society, yet all too often they are not treated as such and regularly have their rights infringed. This year we continued to directly represent this group of children alongside seeking reform of the system so it better respects children’s rights.

• Influencing policy and practice

We continue to make good progress on our policy and influencing work focusing on policing, children in the CJS who turn 18 before their case is completed and the need for expert legal representation of children in contact with the CJS.

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We were particularly pleased with two successful legal challenges we took relating to College of Policing (the College) guidance. These concerned guidance on the retention of criminal records created in relation to children under 10 suspected of committing an offence, and guidance on arrests and detention of children for breaches of court bail conditions and conditions attached to court remand. Both of our cases resulted in the College needing to revise its guidance to ensure children’s rights are better respected.

After more than seven years and five separate legal challenges, the court finally quashed convictions of our client who was only 14 years-old when he pleaded guilty to a number of indecent images offences and who was later found by the Criminal Case Review Commission (“CCRC”) to have been a victim of child sexual exploitation at the time the alleged offences occurred. As a result of our submissions in the most recent legal challenge in the High Court, the law on appeals via the CCRC has been clarified and simplified. This will make future appeals following a guilty plea more straightforward, not just for children, but also for adults.

Another key highlight this year was working with Janet Daby MP to set up a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on children in police custody, which will also examine the issue of strip searching. Its year-long inquiry will culminate in a report with recommendations. We worked with the secretariat of the group to support children and young people to give direct evidence of their experiences of being held in police detention and of being stripped searched. The Co-Head of our Youth Justice Legal Centre (YJLC) also gave evidence on the importance of expert legal advice and representation for children being held at police stations.

We have continued to have strong engagement from key stakeholders following the launch of our briefing It’s Horrible when they keep you there at night on overnight detention of children in police custody. This resulted in two of our recommendations being taken forward - the Home Office published national data on this issue for the first time and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a Learning the Lessons Magazine focussing on police custody, including case examples and learning from child detention. An article from our Director of Policy and Campaigns on the harm children are caused by holding them in police cells overnight was also included.

As part of our continued membership of the National Stakeholder Taser Advisory Group, we successfully convinced the National Police Chief’s Council and the IOPC to carry out research examining instances of where a Taser was fired on a child. This followed the findings of a previous IOPC report and recommendations on the use of Taser, which we successfully influenced to include a number of specific recommendations on children.

YJLC successfully developed a business plan and launched a membership and training model in September 2022. The model allows for YJLC to operate a blended grant supported and revenue model. The pilot was a success, and we outperformed our targets in terms of new members and income through training. Since the start of the new model, we have trained over 300 youth justice services and over 40 lawyers from across the country. In doing so we have helped ensure that legal professionals working with children in the CJS have improved knowledge and skills to better advice

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and represent children and young people as well as continue to grow a community of specialist youth justice legal practitioners.

Together with the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, we published research on the quality of legal representation for children in the CJS. The findings cemented the urgent need for clear guidance around training for solicitors to ensure children are adequately represented. We have subsequently had meetings with the Law Society and Solicitors Regulatory Authority to discuss how we can take forward the recommendations identified by the research. Alongside this, YJLC continued its project on fighting racial injustice by equipping legal practitioners to better identify and challenging racism facing Black and other racialised children and young adults in the CJS.

We also supported young people with experience of the CJS to facilitate training to educate junior barristers on youth justice law. They shared their lived experience, responded to questions, took part in roleplay, and gave advice on what made a good barrister.

We started our new project on children turning 18 in the criminal justice system before their case is complete, building on our briefing and legal guide on the issue, published in 2020. We held a number of useful meetings with officials in the Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders, including the Magistrates Association, to inform our work to prioritise recommendations on this issue which would have the most impact.

Finally, we also secured key recommendations in relation to policing and youth justice by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN Committee) in its ‘Concluding Observations on the UK’ – see below. The UN Committee concluded that addressing issues with the youth justice system, so it complies with child rights standards, must be a priority area for the UK Government to take forward. It also made specific recommendations for the first time on the need for action to end the overnight detention of children in police custody and on children in the justice system turning 18.

We have continued to directly represent children in the CJS from a one-off case representing a child at a police station to long complex cases taking several years. Our YJLC advice line has also continued to offer advice to young people, parents and carers and youth justice professionals.

We have seen a number of cases involving children who have turned 18 during the course of either police investigations or proceedings and concerning levels of delay in terms of the time police and prosecutors are taking to make charging decisions in cases where there is little evidential justification for it. The YJLC legal guide on Turning 18 is proving highly useful to practitioners in these cases. We have also been made aware of concerning gaps in knowledge within the legal profession in this area through our work on these enquiries.

Below are some highlights of our case work in this are this year, including a case study.

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Case study

In the autumn, we were contacted by a 16-year-old through our YJLC advice line who was waiting for a charging decision in respect of a possession with intent to supply matter. This was a first offence and the child in question was going through a very difficult period with his mental health.

The supply in question was border-line in nature as he was supplying to the friends he tended to smoke with. We prepared a detailed letter of representations against prosecution and also liaised with the relevant police and youth justice officers. As a result of this intervention, this child avoided criminalisation and was given a Community Resolution.

He feels immense relief and is making huge efforts to stop smoking and engage in positive activities. His parents are grateful for our support and have expressed a keen desire to speak out about their experience with the criminal justice system at the pre-charge stage and publicise our service, without which they feel things could have been very different for them.

2. Ensuring that children and young people experiencing criminal exploitation are recognised as victims and supported

The focus of our policy work in this area mainly relates to school exclusions and is covered under strategic aim 3. However, due to her expertise in representing child victims of child criminal exploitation (CCE), our Legal Director joined the Contextual Safeguarding UK Advisory Panel with Professor Carlene Firmin who has established the Contextual Safeguarding hub at Durham University. The team at Durham have been developing Contextual Safeguarding as a body of work since 2013. This work has influenced changes to statutory guidance and influenced 63 local areas across the UK to adapt their safeguarding responses to include harm that occurs outside of the

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family home, which ensures children being groomed and exploited are provided protection and support by social services.

This year, we have also worked with other children’s organisations to push for a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation (CCE) in the Victims Bill and raised many issues relating to CCE in our report to the UN Committee where we secured many strong recommendations in this area (see below).

We continue to provide trauma-informed legal representation for children and young people experiencing CCE. We have seen a significant increase in the number of children and young people being referred through the National Referral Mechanism (which identifies victims of human trafficking or modern slavery). This increase is due not least to the work we have been doing to raise awareness of the prevalence of CCE and offering guidance and training to professionals through the work of YJLC.

Unfortunately, at the same time as we are educating legal professionals in this area, the courts are severely limiting the ability to submit evidence of criminal exploitation as a defence. Our legal work representing clients and providing evidence to the Crime prosecution Service (CPS) that CCE has taken place, is therefore more important than ever – getting the CPS to discontinue the prosecution pre-trial.

Below are just some examples of the difference we have made to the lives of criminally exploited children and a more detailed case study:

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Case study

T is a 19-year-old young man who was charged with three counts of Being Concerned in Supply of Class A drugs, dating from when he was 16. T was aged 12 when he began to use cannabis and was initially offered free drugs by a group of older boys. The older males then used the fact that they had given him free drugs to require him to start drug running. He was placed in houses that had been ‘cuckooed’ from vulnerable drug users and were in poor condition. He was generally placed in the nearby area as his parents would notify the police if he was missing. Although he was promised financial payment he was never provided with this, though he would be given drugs in return.

T's father had cancer and his grandfather passed away around this time, and although he felt scared he could not share his feelings. When he did share his concerns with members of staff at school this led to criminalisation and exclusion rather than support.

When T tried to stop drug running, he was contacted by a man higher in the hierarchy and told that he could not leave and that he knew where he and his family lived. After he was first arrested, he was informed that he owed approximately £12,000 to compensate for the loss of drugs and cash. He gradually paid this, using his wages as an apprentice carer, but when he was close to having paid the debt in full he was robbed at knifepoint, during which he was stabbed in the legs. He was then told he owed an extra £2,000. On another occasion, when he tried to resist holding a large amount of money, ammonia was squeezed from a Lucozade bottle onto his face.

T and his family also received a number of threats of violence. On his 18[th] birthday an adult male attended the family home and followed this up with threats to petrol bomb the house, in order to extort £6,000 on the pretence of a drug debt. The family have also received notes through their door demanding further payment. T’s family have reported every threat to the police but they have not been acted upon.

After T was charged with the offences, he pleaded not guilty and his case was set down for trial. We wrote representations requesting a review of the matter, in light of the ways in which T case clearly fitted the criteria of a victim of CCE. Despite extensive chasing, no response was received from the CPS. As a result, we further wrote to the CPS, this time stating that we would undertake judicial review proceedings against them unless they discontinued his case. Finally, the CPS agreed, and T’s charges were dropped.

3. Preventing school exclusions and its consequences

During the year we have continued to represent children being unfairly excluded from school with many of these children being Black or from other racialised groups and having diagnosed or

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suspected Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND). Using the evidence from our case work, we have also persisted with our campaigns for much-needed reform of school behaviour policies and the exclusions process alongside children and young people with direct experience of the system.

• Policy and practice influencing

After our work last year influencing the Government’s revised statutory guidance on exclusions and behaviour, we were pleased to see a new reference to CCE in the behaviour guidance. There were also strengthened sections around pupil voice in the exclusions process after our young campaigners (see below) raised this in their submissions and in meetings with the Department for Education (DfE). However, we were disappointed that the Government removed a key paragraph from the guidance, which set out the groups of children who are more likely to be excluded from school. We continued to raise our concerns with this change and explored the possibility of taking a legal challenge.

We were also pleased to give evidence at a joint meeting of the APPG for Knife Crime and the APPG for Exclusions and Alternative Provision at a session focussing on the link between CCE and school exclusions. This followed our suggestion to have an evidence session specifically looking at this issue.

• Empowering children and young people to campaign for their rights

We maintained our support for our school exclusions campaign supporting and empowering young people to speak up for their right to an education. There have been some fantastic achievements this year including securing a meeting with the Schools’ Minister, Nick Gibb, where they talked powerfully about their experiences of school exclusions and what needs to change in relation to supporting children in schools, responses to challenging behaviour and the exclusions process.

The young campaigners also gave evidence to the APPG for Exclusions and Alternative Provision sharing experience and insight on the connections between school exclusion and criminal exploitation. They highlighted the need for better protection for children and young people at risk of CCE due to being excluded from school.

An exciting new project to develop a School Behaviour Policy Checklist also began with The Children’s Society. The Checklist is being developed in consultation with other groups of children who have been excluded from school, with a view to ensuring standardised positive practice in behaviour policies in schools in London with a view to reducing school exclusions.

• Legal and advocacy case work

Our direct work and school exclusions hub, alongside our school exclusion legal clinic has provided much needed legal advice and representation. We continued to receive more education referrals than we can accommodate so as well as developing referral networks, we have also

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continued to develop our free School Exclusion Clinic alongside our School Exclusions Hub as a point of information and advice at an early stage.

Our Clinic works with volunteer lawyers from Allen & Overy supervised by our Education Lawyer. The lawyers receive training in both school exclusions and how to holistically represent our vulnerable clients, many of whom have SEND and mental health issues. We were also grateful to our clinic partners, Allen & Overy, for updating content in relation to recent changes to statutory guidance and planning some more user testing to enable us to make the Hub more user friendly for children and parents. This year we also began working with a production company to produce a short film promoting the Clinic. We worked directly with young people to help create the film, including creating script, editing and acting in the film itself.

As a result of working with our school exclusions legal team, we are also pleased that the Equality and Human Rights Commission agreed to make their race fund more accessible for Independent Review Panel hearings. Although this will not resolve the fundamental unfairness in school exclusion and disproportionate impact on Black and Mixed-Race children, we hope more solicitors and barristers will be willing to take cases as they can now receive some payment, albeit slightly lower than legal aid rates.

This year our advocacy team also began to focus on pre-school exclusion cases as we identified this as an area of need. We have seen an increase in requests for advocacy support in relation to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), in particular support with requesting or updating Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). We also needed to respond to a challenge around some advocacy referrals coming from parents /carers of younger children. This created a tension, since advocacy support is client-led and therefore focuses on the advocacy goals of the child whereas parents often want to influence the advocacy support, particular for younger children with education advocacy cases. To support communications with parents/ carers, we developed a Parent/carer Agreement Form explaining how Just for Kids Law is client-instructed.

Below are some of the highlights of our case work in this area alongside a case study:

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by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) race fund. We are still awaiting a permission decision.

Case study

A 14-year-old girl, AM, initially approached us after she was permanently excluded. AM is a vulnerable girl, who had recently come out as lesbian and was severely struggling with her mental health. She had been experiencing issues at home and was temporarily placed under the care of the Local Authority. She was very upset by the school exclusion and was very eager to return to school. She has a particular interest in art. After a conversation and email correspondence with the school, explaining the impact that the exclusion would have on AM, the headteacher agreed to rescind the exclusion.

4. Supporting care experienced children and young people to secure their housing and care entitlements.

We continued to hold local authorities to account on their obligations to children in relation to community care and housing. We have continued to receive referrals for care experienced young people, current ‘care leavers’, and those requesting support with retrospective s.20 cases (where they were not accommodated under the Children Act 1989 and therefore miss out on entitlements as care leavers when they turn 18) demonstrating the importance of our work. Alongside our direct work with children, we worked closely with our young campaigners to ensure that care experienced children’s housing rights are better respected and that recommendations in this area made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care were accepted and taken forward by the Government.

A key highlight of the year was working closely with BBC Newsnight on a feature about homeless 16- and 17-year-olds who are denied their right to be taken into care. It included an interview with our Director of Policy and Campaigns and one of our clients. The story also ran on BBC Newsbeat featuring our Head of Policy and Public Affairs. This resulted in significant publicity for this often-underreported issue and resulted in the children’s minister confirming in Parliament that homeless 16- and 17-year-olds should be housed under children’s welfare legislation as the default (rather than homeless legislation where they receive less care and support).

We continued to undertake significant work in relation to implementation of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (the Care Review), following our success last year in ensuring it included recommendations concerning addressing housing and homelessness issues relating to care experienced children. This included engagement with officials in the DfE and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and resulted in the Government accepting the Review’s recommendations in this area - a key influencing success.

We also ensured that DLUCH's new Rough Sleeping Strategy recommended that better use be made of joint housing protocols between housing and children's services - a key issue raised in

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our 'Hitting Brick Walls' report published last year. The Strategy also supported the mission in the Care Review to “reduce homelessness among care levers before ending it entirely.” Our evidence on care leavers was also included in the final report of the APPG for Ending Homelessness as part of their inquiry into whether the Government is on track to meet its manifesto commitment to ‘end the blight of rough sleeping’ in England.

We also began working more actively with London Councils this year and were invited to join its Life off the Streets Youth Homelessness Workstream Sub-committee, which included representatives from the Greater London Authority, DLUHC and London authorities – a key opportunity to influence at a pan-London level.

We continued to support and empower our young campaigners for care and housing rights. This year they have continued to powerfully speak out on the housing issues facing care experienced children and the young people.

A particular highlight was two of the housing and care campaigners attending the Inter-Ministerial Care Leaver Covenant Board, co-chaired by the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and representatives from 11 Government Departments. One campaigner gave testimony of her own experience of being made homeless when leaving care and the detrimental impact this had on her. She also discussed the key housing recommendations that the Government should implement to improve the outcomes for homeless care leavers. The campaigner was praised by Ministers in the room. During a debrief following the meeting, the campaigner expressed how she felt ‘heard and respected in a room full of powerful people’.

The group also met with senior civil servants from the DfE to discuss recommendations from the Care Review focusing on those areas they felt most strongly about. Each shared their lived experience of various levels of abuse within the care system and experiences of being left homeless when they came to leave care. The campaigners demonstrated a deep level of understanding and analysis of the structural issues which caused these experiences and presented key solutions to addressing these systematic failings. The civil servants who joined were visibly moved by what they heard.

In addition to the BBC News Night feature, the young campaigners also secured other high-profile media. This included participating in an interview for the BBC Radio 4 documentary series, File on Four, on the privatisation of children’s homes where one of the campaigners recounted her experience of abuse in these settings, and the failures of the systems to keep children and young people safe. Another campaigner spoke to The Observer newspaper about her experience of being placed out of area by social services and the impact this had on her wellbeing and safety.

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We continued to support homeless children and young people or children at risk of homelessness through providing legal advice and representation and advocacy. One of the trends we saw this year was a number of advocacy referrals that initially appeared to focus on housing issues, but further engagement between the advocate and the young person revealed their prior experience of local authority care, which impacts their housing entitlements and the support available to them. This demonstrates how important advocacy is to help them to understand their full range of entitlements.

Some examples of our direct case work in this area include:

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For the period ended 31 July 2023

  1. Enabling children and young people to achieve a secure immigration status and thrive in the UK

Children with insecure immigration status are extremely vulnerable, often struggling to navigate the immigration system and understand their rights and entitlements. The oftenhostile rhetoric towards asylum-seekers, together with a raft of punitive legislation, has made our direct work alongside our policy influencing in this area even more important than ever. • Policy and practice influencing

Given the huge concerns with the Illegal Migration Act, which will be hugely detrimental to the rights and welfare of children, we worked in collaboration with others in the children’s sector to speak out against the Government’s proposals and supported amendments during the Act’s parliamentary passage. We also ensured key issues relating to the infringements of the rights of children in the immigration system were clearly articulated in our report to the UN Committee – see below – and worked closely with the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium on a briefing for the UN Committee on the then Illegal Migration Bill to ensure the Committee was up to date on the proposed legislation. This resulted in a strong recommendation from the UN Committee to repeal the Illegal Migration Act and address issues relating to the rights of children in the asylum and immigration system as a matter of priority.

Our immigration lawyer has continued to offer much needed legal advice and representation to extremely vulnerable children and young people and our advocates have also help ensure that they can also access other rights and entitlements owed to them. Below are some examples of our work in this area alongside a case study.

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Case study

This case involves assisting a vulnerable young person making a fresh asylum claim based on the current situation in Afghanistan.

S is a single, 23-year-old man from northern Afghanistan. His parents are both deceased. His father, a farmer, was murdered in Afghanistan and his mother, a housewife, died following his departure from the country.

When he was still a child, S’s mother arranged for him to flee Afghanistan after the death of his father. He embarked on a perilous journey to the UK travelling via Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and several other countries until he arrived in France. He then travelled from there to the UK. There were several occasions during the journey that food supplies were scarce and getting adequate sleep was a challenge. The people traffickers attacked Mr S at times, and they threatened to kill him when he asked for food or water leaving him scared and traumatised.

S arrived in the UK in 2015 and on arrival claimed asylum but it was refused as were subsequent appeals. He became Appeals Right Exhausted in 2019 and in 2020 he approached us for legal representation in respect of his asylum matter.

For much of his time in the UK, S has been unable to concentrate, and his sleep has been

disrupted. He had nightmares of being chased and there were several instances of attempted selfharm. In addition he was unable to enjoy hobbies or activities and his appetite and energy levels were all subjectively impaired.

In 2016, S was assessed by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services where he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and subsequently referred to Adult Mental Health services in 2017 where he was assessed as having a Major Depressive Disorder on account of his low moods, impaired concentration, sleep disturbance and variable appetite.

On the facts of the case, it was evident that the client was likely to struggle to establish a new life for himself in Afghanistan, and any threat of forced return may significantly worsen his mental state. Further, without adequate personal and professional support it would be very difficult for

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him to engage in tasks needed to establish a new life for himself, such as securing employment and accommodation.

S also feared that in the event of being returned to Afghanistan, his life would be in danger because the Taliban would persuade him to work with them and would inevitably try to kill him if he failed to do so. We therefore assisted the client with submitting a new asylum application. In order to meet the high threshold in submitting an application under the Immigration Rules the client would need to fulfil the requirements as outlined below:

Overall, for a reasonable prospect of success, the application will likely need to argue and find support for the following grounds: (i) that Mr S does in fact have certain mental health conditions, which create difficulties for the recollection of memory and justify the discrepancies that the Firsttier Tribunal noted in his initial testimony; (ii) that there is inadequate mental health infrastructure and support for his conditions in Afghanistan and this, among other factors, creates significant barriers for his reintegration in Afghanistan; and (iii) that he is of interest to the Taliban. Thanks to our legal representation, S was successful in securing Refugee status which has been granted for 5 years. He is now in a position of stability with regards to his immigration status, has reduced uncertainty and improved understanding of his legal rights and entitlements.

6. Protecting and promoting children's rights using human rights mechanisms

This year was a particularly critical one for our children’s rights monitoring and advocacy work given that the UK was examined on its child rights obligations by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN Committee) in May 2023. In addition to this examination, the UK was also examined under Universal Periodic Review, which is UN Human Rights Council peer review process, and examines how well a State is meeting its obligations across all human rights treaties it has ratified. We also had to persist with our work in safeguarding the Human Rights Act. We were delighted to secure Core Participant Status in Module 2 of the Covid 10 Public Inquiry giving us a unique opportunity to ensure the Inquiry examines how well the UK Government took children’s rights into account as part of its decision-making processes during the pandemic.

• UNCRC reporting process

We co-ordinated and drafted the civil society alternative report for England as part of the UN Committee’s examination of the UK. It was informed by 50 experts giving oral evidence and 47 organisational written submissions from NSPCC, NCB, Save the Children, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, the Alliance for Youth Justice and many others.

CRAE also represented civil society at the pre-sessional working group in February 2023 to give oral evidence to the UN Committee on key child rights issues in England, alongside our sister organisations from other parts of the UK, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, UNICEF UK and the four Children’s Commissioners in the UK.

As well as working closely with civil society to submit evidence to the UN Committee, we also supported children to engage with the UK examination. We held four workshops with children and

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young people in partnership with The Children’s Society, Friend’s Families and Travellers, Leaders Unlocked, Alliance for Youth Justice and the Kids Network where children learnt more about the UNCRC and share views on how well they thought their rights were being respected. Their views fed directly into our civil society report. We also supported children to directly meet with UN Committee members alongside other children from across the UK.

Ahead of the constructive dialogue session between the UN Committee and the UK delegation, we met with the head of the UK delegation – a senior civil servant in the DfE - and co-ordinated a letter to the Prime Minister calling for a child rights strategy and action plan to be developed in response to the UN Committee’s recommendations alongside a cabinet minister for children. The letter was signed by 50 organisations including NSPCC, Barnardo’s, Save the Children and UNICEF UK.

We were delighted that 93% of the recommendations we suggested to the UN Committee were either fully or partially included in its ‘Concluding Observations on the UK’ published in June 2023. Recommendations covered many areas impacting on children’s lives including mental health, the asylum and immigration system, issues related to care experienced children and children in contact with the criminal justice system. These will be a useful policy tool for pushing for a children’s rights strategy as well as for a wide range of organisations working on issues affecting children. We were also delighted to secure an in-depth piece in The Mirror on the UN’s verdict on the UK’s child rights record.

• Defending the Human Rights Act

We continued our work on defending the Human Rights Act and ensuring that its role in safeguarding the rights of children was widely known. This included submitting detailed evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, following its call for evidence on legislative scrutiny of the Bill of Rights Bill, and drafting a briefing for the Bill’s second reading in the House of Commons - supported by 50 organisations. Following concerted effort from ourselves and many other organisations the Government announced it would be dropping these proposals. This is a considerable success, although we are alert to the fact that several pieces of recent legislation, including the Illegal Migration Act, dilute the Human Rights Act for particular groups. There are also serious concerns around calls for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Universal Periodic Review

This year we also continued our work to influence the UK examination under Universal Period Review (UPR) – a Human Rights Council process where States review each other’s human rights records and obligations across all the UN human rights treaties. We worked with our children’s rights partners across the UK (Together, the Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group and the Children's Law Centre) to produce a series of eight thematic briefings on our top priorities. We were pleased to see that due to this work, 59 out of 302 recommendations specifically mentioned children’s rights issues (19.5%). This is a significant achievement given that UPR examines implementation of all of the human rights treaties and covers many different issues. We also worked with Just Fair

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Trustees’ annual report

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and others to issue a joint statement highlighting key human rights concerns raised at the examination.

We were extremely pleased that Just for Kids Law and CRAE were accepted to be core participants for module 2 of the UK Covid 19 Inquiry alongside Save the Children UK. Module 2 is focussing on the core political and administrative governance and decision-making in the pandemic. Having this status means we are able to actively participate in the Inquiry, for example, we have made opening and closing statements at the pre-liminary hearings and inputted in relation to the experts the Inquiry is engaging to support its work. We will also be submitting a witness statement and making opening and closing written and oral submissions and suggesting lines of questioning to be pursued by Counsel to the Inquiry during the module 2 hearings starting in early October 2023.

We have also been undertaking a significant amount of work to ensure that the Inquiry hears directly from children with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and living in different settings. This included co-ordinating a joint open letter to the Chair of the Inquiry with Save the Children UK, which was supported by 43 organisations, including the NSPCC and NCB. The letter was picked up by the Daily Telegraph, which ran it as its front-page lead story.

Youth opportunities

Alongside directly supporting children and young people through our advocacy and legal work and empowering them to campaign, as part of our holistic offer we also provide a youth opportunities offer, which provides a variety of support to our clients ranging from bitesize support, for example, support with developing a CV, to work experience, the opportunity to participate on interview panels and interview skills workshops. Some highlights of this work include:

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Trustees’ annual report

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Illustration at University. As part of this work, we supported them to attend the London Excel Careers fair to meet employers and find part-time roles.

Ambassadors

Youth participation is central to all we do at Just for Kids Law and our Ambassadors Group continued to influence all aspects of our organisation. We were particularly pleased that following a recruitment process co-led by one of our existing young trustees, one of our Ambassadors, an ex-client, became a trustee. It has been a long-standing ambition to ensure we have our clients represented at the highest levels of our governance, so we are particularly delighted that we have been able to put in place the right support required to ensure that our ambition was able to come to fruition.

Other highlights of the Ambassadors Group include:

A New Strategy, Vision and Leadership from 1 August 2023 onwards:

Children and young people in contact with the criminal justice system are some of the most vulnerable in society, yet the police and youth justice system fail to respect their rights and cause trauma and harm. Black and other racialised groups are disproportionately represented at all stages of the criminal justice system. Victims of child criminal exploitation are too often treated as perpetrators instead of getting the help they desperately need.

Just for Kids Law challenges this injustice by providing trauma informed, anti-racist, innovative legal representation to children and young people in contact with the criminal justice system and using evidence from this case work to fight for systematic change, including tackling racial disproportionality. The work of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) holds the Government to account on its child rights obligations and pushes for change so that government decision-making respects the rights of all children.

The subsequent areas of work will support the delivery of this new focus:

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Just for Kids Law Limited

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For the period ended 31 July 2023

Representing children in the criminal justice system

Our expert criminal defence lawyers provide trauma informed and innovative legal representation for children in contact with the youth justice system. Our Legal Director was one of the first lawyers to trailblaze the use of the section 45 defence in the Modern Slavery Act for victims of child criminal exploitation. On average we represent children in 220 cases annually from one off representation of a child at a police station who secures an out of court disposal, to complex cases which may last several years. The majority of the children we represent are Black or from other racialised groups and have experienced multiple adverse childhood experiences.

Achieving strategic change

As well as working with individual children and young people to secure their rights in the criminal justice system we will use the evidence from our case work to achieve strategic change in law, policy and practice through policy and public affairs work and strategic litigation focusing on policing and youth justice. Recent key strategic change achievements include:

We also punch above our weight in securing high profile media coverage to shine a light on issues and challenges that children face, that often get little attention as highlighted in our annual report above.

Promoting and protecting children’s rights

Through our hosting of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) we lead work on monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This gives us a wide range of partnerships, contacts, and policy levers as well as expertise in using human rights mechanisms as a tool for change. CRAE has developed a reputation for speaking out on children’s rights in a way that has cut through and gains traction with decision-makers and CRAE’s Director CoChairs the UNCRC Action Group with a Department for Education (DfE) senior civil servant. The group brings together civil society organisations and civil servants from across Whitehall and devolved Government to work in partnership to take forward UNCRC implementation.

Influencing the UK Covid 19 Inquiry

As noted above, Just for Kids Law and CRAE are core participants for module 2 of the UK Covid 19 Inquiry and we will be ensuring that the impact on children of decisions made by the Government during the pandemic are fully scrutinised.

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Leadership

The smaller Just for Kids Law will be Co-Led by our Co-Founder and Legal Director, Aika Stephenson and our Director of Policy and Campaigns and Director of CRAE, Louise King. Aika Co-Founded the Charity in 2006 and Louise joined Just for Kids Law in 2015. Between them they have a wealth of expertise in a broad range of areas including children’s rights, trauma informed legal advice and representation, policy and public affairs as well as senior charity leadership, governance and fundraising.

Financial review

Because of the exceptional circumstances Just for Kids law found itself in during the 2022/23, the Board made the decision to extend the financial year from an end date of the 31[st] May 2023 to an end date of the 31[st] July 2023. This allowed for the transactions related to the Coram and YJLC business transfers as well as the office move to all be accounted for in the one financial year.

The income for the fourteen month period was £2,663,015, calculated as an average for the standard twelve months the income would have been £2,282,584 a 18% increase on the previous year. Expenditure for the 14 months was £3,125,615, calculated as an average for the 12 months it would be £2,679,099 a 23% increase on the previous year.

At the end of the extended accounting period the charity holds £556,426 total funds of which £88,818 are restricted and not for general purpose. These restricted funds are committed for project expenditure in the next financial year. After making allowance for the restricted funds overall there was a net decrease in funds of £462,600, resulting in an unrestricted reserves balance of £ 467,608.

The principal funding sources of the charity during the reporting period are trusts and foundations, with this source making up 77% of the total income. Just for Kids Law receives funding from a wide variety of trusts and foundations and would like to thank them for their support. A full list of funders can be found at the end of the financial statements. During the year the legal aid contract contributed £304,330 of the total income.

Following the two business transfers of work the smaller Just for Kids set a budget anticipating a turnover in the region of £700,000. The income from the Covid-19 Inquiry work has helped the organisation through the transition period and there has been support from Trusts and Foundations who have agreed to continue funding the new organisation. The focus is now to develop a new strategic plan alongside a fundraising strategy and pipeline linked to the organisation’s priorities to move forward into 24/25.

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Reserves policy and going concern

Just for Kids Law needs reserves to:

The Board considers that overall, it would be prudent to set aside a minimum amount of £285,000 that is made up of the following items:

The Board of Trustees will consider current costs of closure and examine the level of reserves each year when setting the following years’ budget.

At the end of 22/23 the unrestricted reserves are £467,608.

Principle risks and uncertainties

The Board has undertaken its own review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and systems have been established to mitigate those risks.

The Board has produced a Risk Register which is regularly reviewed by the Finance & Risk SubCommittee and discussed at the Board Meeting every six months. The Risk Register identifies a number of key risks and mitigating actions including:

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

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Plans for the Future

Just for Kids will consolidate during this transitional financial year, ensuring it delivers under its current funding commitments and continues to support children and young people in the criminal justice system under the legal aid contracts. The organisation has a reasonable level of reserves to take into future financial years while it develops new income strategies.

Fundraising Disclosures

Just for Kids Law’s funding is from four primary sources: grants from trusts and foundations, legal aid contracts, high net worth donations and support from corporates. We do not employ any professional fundraisers or commercial participators to carry out fundraising activities directly with the public. We also do not have any fundraising carried out by third parties. We therefore do not subscribe to any fundraising schemes or codes. We also do not directly involve vulnerable people in our fundraising activities. We have not received any complaints about our fundraising activity.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

Just for Kids Law reviewed and revised its remuneration policy for all staff in 2019/2020. The policy includes the following key elements:

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

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Funds held as custodian trustee

No funds are being held on behalf of others.

Statement of responsibilities of the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees (who are also directors of Just for Kids Law for the purposes of company law) is responsible for preparing the Board of Trustees’ annual 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 Board of 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 Board of Trustees is required to:

The Board of Trustees is 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. 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.

In so far as the Board of Trustees is aware:

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Trustees’ annual report

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The Board of Trustees is 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 £10 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31 July 2023 was 12 (2022 - 9). Trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The Board of Trustees has no beneficial interest in the charity.

Auditor

Sayer Vincent LLP was re-appointed as the charitable company's auditor during the period and has expressed its willingness to continue in that capacity.

The annual report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies’ subject to the small companies’ regime.

The Board of Trustees’ annual report has been approved by the Board of Trustees on 21 November 2023 and signed on their behalf by

Anthony Landes

Chair of the Board of Trustees

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Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

Just for Kids Law Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Just for Kids Law (the ‘charitable company’) for the period ended 31 July 2023 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).

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 Just for Kids Law's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

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Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

Just for Kids Law Limited

Other Information

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

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 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

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

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Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

Just for Kids Law Limited

company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud 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 non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

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Independent auditor’s report

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Just for Kids Law Limited

financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience.

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. 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.

Noelia Serrano (Senior statutory auditor) 29 November 2023

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL

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Just for Kids Law Limited

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

For the period ended 31 July 2023

For theperiod ended 31July2023
Note
Income from:
2
3
3
3
4
5
6
6
6
6
6
7
Reconciliation of funds:
Transfer of assets
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Legal
Programmes
Programmes
Raising funds
Net income/ (expenditure) for the year
Investments
Policy
Total income
Expenditure on:
Total expenditure
Charitable activities
Policy
Legal
Other
Net movement in funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 Continuing
Unrestricted

£
558,090
490,197
-
35,314
4,146
1,652		 Discontinued
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
57,563
-
-		 Continuing
Restricted
£
-
265,679
-
113,026
-
-		 Discontinued
Restricted
£
-
293,977
636,313
207,058
-
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
558,090
1,049,853
636,313
412,961
4,146
1,652		 Unrestricted
£
715,181
177,820
-
-
39,745
37		 Restricted
£
-
310,364
468,848
223,356
-
-		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
715,181
488,184
468,848
223,356
39,745
37
1,089,399 57,563 378,705 1,137,348 2,663,015 932,783 1,002,568 1,935,351
101,772
696,648
-
272,347
-		 -
-
338,839
-		 -
259,195
-
82,283
-		 -
263,236
589,945
255,209
266,141		 101,772
1,219,078
928,784
609,840
266,141		 59,313
601,822
237,217
157,459
-		 -
325,140
578,500
222,868
-		 59,313
926,962
815,717
380,327
-
1,070,767 338,839 341,478 1,374,531 3,125,615 1,055,811 1,126,508 2,182,319
18,632 (281,276) 37,227 (237,183) (462,600) (123,028) (123,940) (246,968)
18,632 (281,276) 37,227 (237,183) (462,600) (123,028) (123,940) (246,968)
448,976 281,276 51,591 237,183 1,019,026 853,280 412,714 1,265,994
467,608 - 88,818 - 556,426 730,252 288,774 1,019,026

Discontinued activities relate to business transfers of certain areas of work for further information please see the Trustees' report. All other activities are continuing. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 17a.

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Company no. 5815338

Balance sheet

As at 31 July 2023

As at 31 July 2023
Note
Fixed assets:
12
Current assets:
13
Liabilities:
14
17
Total unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Work in progress
Cash at bank and in hand
Debtors
Tangible assets
Restricted income funds
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets
Total net assets		 £
154,398
185,386
674,512		 £
-
As at 31 July
2023		 £
178,966
84,246
860,351
 £
97,125
As at 31 May
2022
-
556,426		 97,125
921,901
1,014,296
457,870		 1,123,563
201,662
467,608 730,252
556,426 1,019,026
88,818
467,608		 288,774
730,252
556,426 1,019,026

Approved by the trustees on 21 November 2023 and signed on their behalf by

Anthony Landes Chair of Board of Trustees

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Just for Kids Law Limited

Statement of cash flows

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities

Increase/(Decrease) in creditors
Decrease/ (Increase) in work in progress
Purchase of fixed assets
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash provided by investing activities
Net cash (used in) operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends and interest
Net (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Depreciation charges
Dividends and interest
(Increase)/Decrease in debtors
(Profit)/loss on disposal of fixed assets
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the
year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year		 £
£
(462,600)
16,754
(1,652)
80,371
(101,140)
256,208
24,568
(187,491)
1,652
-
1,652
(185,839)
860,351
674,512
31 July 2023
14 months to		 £
£
(462,600)
16,754
(1,652)
80,371
(101,140)
256,208
24,568
(187,491)
1,652
-
1,652
(185,839)
860,351
674,512
31 July 2023
14 months to		 £
£
(246,968)
16,755
(37)
-
53,612
(154,874)
(35,153)
(366,665)
37
-
37
(366,628)
1,226,979
860,351
31 May 2022
12 months to		 £
£
(246,968)
16,755
(37)
-
53,612
(154,874)
(35,153)
(366,665)
37
-
37
(366,628)
1,226,979
860,351
31 May 2022
12 months to
1,652
-		 37
-
674,512 860,351

36

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2023

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

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

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.

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

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

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 is recognised on casework earned and due ("work in progress" or "WIP") according to the time booked on the matter multiplied by the relevant legal aid or interpartes rate. Appropriate provision is made for irrecoverable WIP.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

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.

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.

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

37

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2023

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

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is provided to potential beneficiaries, the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expenditure.

Where such information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is also provided to potential donors, activity costs are apportioned between fundraising and charitable activities on the basis of area of literature occupied by each activity.

Raising Funds 2%
Legal 41%
Programmes 42%
Policy 15%
Governance costs are re-allocated to each of the activities on the following basis which is an estimate, based percentage of expenditure, of the amount attributable
to each activity.
Raising funds 3%
Legal 41%
Programmes 41%
Policy 15%

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.

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

Items of equipment are capitalised where purchase prices exceeds £1000. 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 valumay exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Where fixed assests have been revalued, any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet. 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:

Computer equipment 3 years
Leasehold Improvements 3 years
Fixtures and fittings 5 years

During the course of the financial year the break-clause in the office lease was invoked and as all assets were related to the office they were disposed of fully.

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.

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.

q) Pensions

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charitable company in an independently administered fund. The charitable company has no liability under the scheme other than for the payment of those contributions.

Legal work in progress is valued at the net realisable value. Provision is made when necessary for irrecoverable amounts of work in progress.

38

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2023

Continuing
Unrestricted
£
29,065
50,000
-
25,000
50,000
-
-
168,000
62,500
-
10,000
50,000
-
-
26,525
40,000
27,000
20,000		 Discontinued
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Continuing
Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Discontinued
Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
29,065
50,000
-
25,000
50,000
-
-
168,000
62,500
-
10,000
50,000
-
-
26,525
40,000
27,000
20,000		 Unrestricted
£
87,588
-
20,000
-
50,000
5,000
5,193
120,000
30,000
75,000
10,000
50,000
50,000
130,000
12,400
45,000
25,000
-		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
87,588
-
20,000
-
50,000
5,000
5,193
120,000
30,000
75,000
10,000
50,000
50,000
130,000
12,400
45,000
25,000
-

39

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2023

Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 July 2023
3
Donations
Access to Justice
Allen & Overy Foundation
Goldsmiths
Mission 44
Trust for London
Development (Other)
BBC Children in Need
Garden Court Chambers
John Lyons
KPMG Foundation
Oak Foundation
The Pilgrim Trust
Development (Other)
Mission 44
National Lottery
Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity
Permira Equinox (TCS)
Sub-total for Programmes
Trust For London (Good Homes)
Hardship fund
National Lottery Strive to Thrive
Legal Education Foundation (including
Justice First)
Case work and LAA
Sub-total for Legal
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Income from charitable activities
City Bridge Trust (casework)
Oak Foundation
Cabinet Office (C19 inquiry)
Comic Relief (Safer Places)
BBC Children in Need (Small grants)
CMS Social Impact		 Continuing
Unrestricted
£
10,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
304,330
175,867		 Discontinued
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Continuing
Restricted
£
-
162,196
-
-
-
5,000
-
56,489
-
-
-
41,994
-
-		 Discontinued
Restricted
£
-
-
10,000
22,000
37,939
-
18,700
-
45,415
62,173
97,750
-
-
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
10,000
162,196
10,000
22,000
37,939
5,000
18,700
56,489
45,415
62,173
97,750
41,994
304,330
175,867		 Unrestricted
£
10,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
167,820
-		 Restricted
£
-
-
15,000
35,000
44,553
-
17,000
81,105
-
20,923
50,000
46,783
-
-		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
10,000
-
15,000
35,000
44,553
-
17,000
81,105
-
20,923
50,000
46,783
167,820
-
490,197
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 265,679
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 293,977
44,125
10,000
-
-
26,935
-
25,003
83,751
52,343
262,750
-
10,000
20,000
37,580
200
63,627		 1,049,853
44,125
10,000
-
-
26,935
-
25,003
83,751
52,343
262,750
-
10,000
20,000
37,580
200
63,627		 177,820
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 310,364
43,625
-
375
4,000
6,065
-
-
165,794
-
67,263
75,000
-
10,000
25,842
-
70,884		 488,184
43,625
-
375
4,000
6,065
-
-
165,794
-
67,263
75,000
-
10,000
25,842
-
70,884
- - - 636,313 636,313 - 468,848 468,848

40

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2023

Discontinued
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
57,563
-		 Continuing
Restricted
£
-
30,000
-
32,000
1,500
-
-
3,000
350
-
9,542
-
-
-
-
-
15,000
-
-
21,634		 Discontinued
Restricted
£
-
-
30,000
-
-
-
30,021
-
-
500
-
44,142
16,224
20,000
45,000
-
-
21,170
-
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
-
30,000
30,000
32,000
1,500
-
30,021
3,000
350
500
9,542
44,142
16,224
20,000
45,000
-
15,000
21,170
92,878
21,634		 Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Restricted
£
5,703
-
-
-
29,250
59,000
-
-
375
-
29,344
-
31,425
-
-
20,000
15,000
9,158
-
24,101		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
5,703
-
-
-
29,250
59,000
-
-
375
-
29,344
-
31,425
-
-
20,000
15,000
9,158
-
24,101
35,314 57,563 113,026 207,058 412,961 - 223,356 223,356
Continuing
Unrestricted
£
4,146		 Discontinued
Unrestricted
£
-		 Continuing
Restricted
£
-		 Discontinued
Restricted
£
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
4,146		 Unrestricted
£
39,745		 Restricted
£
-		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
39,745
4,146 - - - 4,146 39,745 - 39,745
Continuing
Unrestricted
£
1,652		 Discontinued
Unrestricted
£
-		 Continuing
Restricted
£
-		 Discontinued
Restricted
£
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
1,652		 Unrestricted
£
37		 Restricted
£
-		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
37

41

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

period)
Raising
funds
£
40,464
-
-
42,750
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Charitable activities Governance
costs
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8,995
2,747
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
50,000		 Support costs
£
364,920
74,343
51
24,343
6,462
5,409
125
-
-
119,801
114,552
78,475
4,478
-
33,932
22,493
-
16,754
-		 14 months to
31 July 2023
Total
£
1,706,232
88,043
3,946
129,729
6,462
5,409
125
8,995
2,747
119,801
149,448
157,306
5,643
230,394
40,988
137,452
266,141
16,754
50,000		 12 months to
31 May 2022
Total
£
1,455,101
104,569
5,598
71,038
7,864
6,372
125
12,250
1,764
111,053
105,836
31,839
6,297
95,126
49,640
101,092
-
16,755
-
Legal
£
278,598
8,401
1,267
25,100
-
-
-
-
-
-
27,307
3,006
1,090
230,394
250
-
-
-
-		 Programmes
Discontinued
activities
£
463,066
1,588
2,628
7,383
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,136
215
-
-
-
62,057
-
-
-		 Policy
£
127,755
49
-
1,025
-
-
-
-
-
-
28
30,940
-
-
2,949
52,703
-
-
-		 Legal
Discontinued
activities
£
261,221
2,015
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Policy
Discontinued
activities
£
170,208
1,646
-
29,128
-
-
-
-
-
-
5,425
44,670
75
-
3,857
200
-
-
-		 Asset
transfers
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
266,141
-
-
83,214
17,323
1,235		 575,412
355,117
25,314		 539,074
363,778
25,932		 215,449
129,921
9,261		 263,236
-
-		 255,209
-
-		 266,141
-
-		 61,742
-
(61,742)		 866,139
(866,139)
-		 3,125,615
-
-		 2,182,319
-
-
101,772 955,843 928,784 354,631 263,236 255,209 266,141 - - 3,125,615
59,313 380,327 - - - -

42

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

6b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Charitable activities

Staff costs (Note 8)
Other staff costs
Client support
Consultancy
Insurance
Promotion
Legal fees
Audit and accountancy
Governance
Premises costs
Office costs
Other costs
Subscriptions
LAA Costs
VAT
Project Costs
Depreciation
Support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2022		 Raising
funds
£
43,936
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
43,936
15,097
280
59,313		 Legal
£
462,460
3,569
1,384
21,810
-
-
-
-
-
-
18,274
8,105
1,004
95,126
-
-
-
611,732
309,484
5,746
926,962		 Programmes
£
414,595
303
3,406
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,227
-
-
-
-
72,268
-
492,799
317,032
5,886
815,717		 Policy
£
216,491
-
375
12,754
-
-
-
-
-
-
80
16,480
-
-
-
18,819
-
264,999
113,226
2,102
380,327		 Governance
costs
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
12,250
1,764
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
14,014
-
(14,014)
-		 Support
costs
£
317,619
100,697
433
36,474
7,864
6,372
125
-
-
111,053
85,255
7,254
5,293
-
49,640
10,005
16,755
754,839
(754,839)
-
-		 2022
Total
£
1,455,101
104,569
5,598
71,038
7,864
6,372
125
12,250
1,764
111,053
105,836
31,839
6,297
95,126
49,640
101,092
16,755
2,182,319
-
-
2,182,319

43

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

e period ended 31 July 2023
to the financial statements
Net expenditure for the year
This is stated after charging / (crediting):
14 months to 12 months to
31 July 2023 31 May 2022
£ £
Depreciation 16,754 16,755
Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit 11,500 9,800
Other services - -

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Redundancy and termination costs
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes		 14 months to
31 July 2023
£
1,468,596
24,739
154,895
58,000		 12 months to
31 May 2022
£
1,270,123
3,400
131,467
50,111
1,706,231 1,455,101

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

2023 2022
No. No.
£60,000 - £69,999 3 1

The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £367,731 (2022: £321,083).

The charity trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2022: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2022: £nil).

During the year, no travel expenses were reimbursed as trustee expenses (2022: £nil).

9 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 39 (2022: 40).

Staff are split across the activities of the charitable company as follows (average head count):

Legal
Policy
Raising funds
Programmes
Support		 2023
No.
1.0
12.0
12.0
7.0
7.0		 2022
No.
1.0
12.0
12.0
7.0
8.0
39.0 40.0

44

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

10 Related party transactions

Trustee Maureen Cole-Burns' husband is a trustee of Trust for London, which gave grants to Just for Kids Law totalling £156,500 (2022: £85,000). These were restricted and can be seen in notes 2 and 3 of the financial statements. Maureen Cole-Burns resigned as a trustee in July 2022.

Trustee Sufina Ahmad is the Director of the John Ellerman Foundation which gave Just for Kids Law a grant of £50,000.

Honorary Founder Shauneed Lambe is a Trustee of the Baring Foundation, which gave a grant to Just for Kids Law of £30,000 (2022: £0). This was restricted and can be seen in notes 2 and 3 of the financial statements.

During the year, trustees in aggregate donated unrestricted funds of £590 (2022: £357).

11 Taxation

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

12 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
At the end of the period
Eliminated on disposal
At the end of the period
Net book value
Depreciation
Charge for the period
At the start of the period
Cost
Disposals in the period
Additions in the period
At the start of the period
At the end of the period		 Leasehold
Improvements
£
82,008
-
(46,863)
Fixtures and
fittings
£
15,117
-
(930)
Total
£
97,125
-
(47,793)
35,145 14,187 49,332
23,430
11,715
(35,145)		 9,148
5,039
(14,187)		 32,578
16,754
(49,332)
- - -
- - -

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

13 Debtors

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.
Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Accrued income		 £
176,334
9,052
-
At 31 July 2023		 £
39,922
35,565
8,759
At 31 May
2022
185,386 84,246

All of the charity’s financial instruments, both assets and liabilities, are measured at amortised cost. The carrying values of these are shown above and also in note 14 below.

45

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

e period ended 31 July 2023
to the financial statements
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Taxation and social security
Transfers
Deferred income
Other creditors
Trade creditors		 £
68,081
36,895
83,803
266,141
2,950
At 31 July 2023		 £
58,443
42,444
84,204
-
16,571
At 31 May
2022
457,870 201,662

15 Deferred income

Deferred income comprises the deferment of grant income received in the year which must be recognised in following years as per the terms of the specific grants.


years as per the terms of the specific grants.
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		 £
16,571
(16,571)
2,950
At 31 July 2023		 £
137,071
(137,071)
16,571
At 31 May
2022
2,950 16,571

16a Analysis of net assets between funds (current period)

Analysis of net assets between funds (current period)
Net assets at 31 May 2022
Net assets at 31 July 2023
Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets		 General
unrestricted
£
-
467,608
Restricted
£
-
88,818		 Total funds
£
-
556,426
467,608 88,818 556,426
General
unrestricted
£
97,125
633,127
Restricted
£
-
288,774		 Total funds
£
97,125
921,901
730,252 288,774 1,019,026

16b Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

46

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

17a Movements in funds (current period)

For the period ended 31 July 2023
Notes to the financial statements
17a
Movements in funds (current period)
Legal
CMS Social Impact
Development (other)
Programmes
Mission 44
Development (other)
Access to Justice
Permira Equniox (TCS)
Trust For London (Good Homes)
Legal Education Foundation (including
Justice First)
City Bridge Trust (casework)
Goldsmiths Company Charity
Restricted funds:
Baring Foundation (Custody Time Limits)
Comic Relief (Safe Place to Be)
Allen & Overy Foundation
BBC Children in Need (Small Grant)
John Lyon's Charity
National Lottery Strive to Thrive
Oak Foundation
Education funds and one-off grants
Hardship fund
Mission 44
The Pilgrim Trust
Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity
Garden Court Chambers
Oak Foundation
Act for Change Fund
BBC Children in Need (Main Grant)
National Lottery Community Fund
Trust for London		 At 1 June
2022
£
-
-
1,253
-
5,164
-
-
5,532
-
-
2,259
4,619
Income &
gains
£
162,196
10,000
-
22,000
37,939
5,000
18,700
56,489
45,415
62,173
97,750
41,994
Expenditure &
losses
£
(162,196)
(10,000)
(1,253)
(22,000)
(43,103)
(5,000)
(18,700)
(50,407)
(45,415)
(62,173)
(100,009)
(35,084)
Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 July
2023
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
11,614
-
-
-
11,529
18,827
6,500
2,684
-
6,646
-
-
70,435
-
16,803
43,378
-
-
-
912
9,843
7,000		 559,656
-
44,125
10,000
-
26,935
25,003
83,751
52,343
262,750
-
10,000
20,000
37,580
-
200
63,627		 (555,340)
(6,500)
(46,809)
(10,000)
(6,646)
(26,935)
(25,003)
(154,186)
(52,343)
(279,553)
(43,378)
(10,000)
(20,000)
(37,580)
-
(1,583)
(53,158)		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 23,143
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
912
8,460
17,469
164,201 636,314 (773,674) - 26,841

47

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

17a Movements in funds (current period) (continued)

Policy
Dulverton Trust
Impact Social Fund
Development (other)
Total restricted funds
General funds
Trust for London (Good Homes)
Comic Relief (Change It!)
Barrow Cadbury Trust (BAME)
EHRC
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
Porticus
Mission 44
Paul Hastings (Corp Social Resp Fund)
Paul Hastings (Equitable Ed Fund)
KPMG Foundation
The Bromley Trust
Oak Foundation
Dawes Trust
Baring Foundation
Total funds
AB Charitable Trust
Barrow Cadbury Trust (T18)
Paul Hastings
Unrestricted funds:
Donations		 At 1 June
2022
£
10,103
-
-
-
5,218
3,284
60,078
-
-
-
-
-
76
-
13,897
7,631
-
-
1,565
-
1,514
2,380
Income &
gains
£
-
30,000
30,000
32,000
1,500
-
-
30,021
3,000
350
500
9,542
-
44,142
16,224
-
20,000
45,000
-
15,000
21,170
21,634
Expenditure &
losses
£
(10,103)
(7,375)
(30,000)
(27,575)
(6,718)
-
(60,078)
(30,021)
(3,000)
(350)
(500)
(6,982)
(76)
(44,142)
(30,121)
(7,631)
(20,000)
(45,000)
(1,565)
(15,000)
(22,684)
(18,074)
Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 July
2023
£
-
22,625
-
4,425
-
3,284
-
-
-
-
-
2,560
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
5,940
105,746 320,083 (386,995) - 38,834
288,774 1,516,053 (1,716,009) - 88,818
At 1 June
2022
£
730,252
Income &
gains
£
1,146,962
Expenditure &
losses
£
(1,409,606)
Transfers
£
-		 At 31 July
2023
£
467,608
1,019,026 2,663,015 (3,125,615) - 556,426

The narrative to explain the purpose of each fund is given at the foot of the following note.

48

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

17b Movements in funds (prior year)

For the period ended 31 July 2023
Notes to the financial statements
17b
Movements in funds (prior year)
Legal
Development (other)
Programmes
Development (other)
Legal Education Foundation (including
Justice First)
Mercers' Company
Comic Relief (Safe Place to Be)
Goldsmiths Company Charity
Trust For London (Good Homes)
Hardship fund
John Lyon's Charity
Oak Foundation
Permira Foundation
The Pilgrim Trust
Permira Equniox (TCS)
National Lottery Community Fund
Education funds and one-off grants
Garden Court Chambers
Act for Change Fund
Restricted funds:
Allen & Overy Foundation
Trust for London
City Bridge Trust (casework)
Baring Foundation (Custody Time Limits)
BBC Children in Need (Small Grant)
Oak Foundation
KPMG Foundation
BBC Children in Need (Main Grant)
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation		 At 1 June
2021
£
-
5,003
-
5,705
-
9,718
5,000
3,107
2,634
2,436
33,603
37,568
6,510
5,888
26,010
5,286
29,482
25,000
59,109
34,884
-
28,099
-
-
912
11,414
3,691
Income &
gains
£
15,000
-
35,000
44,553
17,000
81,105
-
20,923
50,000
46,783
310,364
-
43,625
-
375
4,000
6,065
-
165,794
67,263
75,000
-
10,000
25,842
-
-
70,884
Expenditure &
losses
£
(15,000)
(3,750)
(35,000)
(45,094)
(17,000)
(85,291)
(5,000)
(24,030)
(50,375)
(44,600)
(325,140)
(31,068)
(47,451)
(5,888)
(26,385)
(2,640)
(35,547)
(25,000)
(154,468)
(85,344)
(31,622)
(28,099)
(10,000)
(25,842)
-
(1,571)
(67,575)
Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 May
2022
£
-
1,253
-
5,164
-
5,532
-
-
2,259
4,619
18,827
6,500
2,684
-
-
6,646
-
-
70,435
16,803
43,378
-
-
-
912
9,843
7,000
273,853 468,848 (578,500) - 164,201

49

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

17b Movements in funds (prior year) (continued)

Policy
Development (other)
Total restricted funds
General funds
Donations
Barrow Cadbury Trust (BAME)
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Total funds
The Bromley Trust
Trust for London (Good Homes)
Act for Change
Barrow Cadbury Trust
Comic Relief (Change It!)
Dawes Trust
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
Paul Hastings
KPMG Foundation
Oak Foundation
Porticus
Unrestricted funds:		 At 1 June
2021
4,400
6,512
840
8,640
3,284
46,966
896
2,141
6,143
7,255
16,927
-
-
-
1,255
(1)
Income &
gains
5,703
-
-
29,250
-
59,000
375
29,344
-
31,425
-
20,000
15,000
9,158
24,101
Expenditure &
losses
-
(6,512)
(840)
(32,672)
-
(45,888)
(1,271)
(31,485)
(6,067)
(24,782)
(9,296)
(18,435)
(15,000)
(7,644)
(22,976)
Transfers
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 May
2022
10,103
-
-
5,218
3,284
60,078
-
-
76
13,897
7,631
1,565
-
1,514
2,380
105,258 223,356 (222,868) - 105,746
412,714 1,002,568 (1,126,508) - 288,774
At 1 June
2021
£
853,280
Income &
gains
£
932,783
Expenditure &
losses
£
(1,055,811)
Transfers
£
-		 At 31 May
2022
£
730,252
1,265,994 1,935,351 (2,182,319) - 1,019,026

50

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Purposes of restricted funds

Legal

Access to Justice - Funding to help access to legal support. Allen & Overy - Funding to support our school exclusions work.

Baring Foundation - Funding to support our youth justice work.

City Bridge Trust - Funding to support our casework.

Comic Relief (Safe Place to Be) - Funding for a housing solicitor.

CMS Social Impact Fund - Funding to support our casework

Goldsmiths Company Charity - Funding to support our casework.

Legal Education Foundation (including Justice First) - Funding to support the Justice First Fellowship trainee solicitor. Mission 44 - Funding to support our School Exclusions work.

Oak Foundation - Funding for reforming housing and support for children and young people through participation.

Trust For London - Funding for our immigration work.

Programmes

Act for Change Fund - Funding towards our work on school exclusion.

BBC Children in Need (Main Grants) - Funding for youth advocacy, for clients who are under 18.

BBC Children in Need (small grant) - Funding towards our Young Ambassadors

John Lyon's Charity - Funding towards the youth advocacy project.

Mission 44 - Funding to support our School Exclusions work.

National Lottery Community Fund - Funding for our youth advocacy including our trainee programme.

Oak Foundation - Funding for reforming housing and support for children and young people through participation.

Permira Equinox (TCS)- Funding for a pilot in-house therapy service for JfKl clients whose mental health needs were not met through statutory servicesfor children and young people. Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity - Funding towards our Young Parents Advocate

The Pilgrim Trust - Funding for our young parents advocate.

Trust for London Funding to support our campaigning work on housing.

Hardship Funds - are given as small one-off grants where there is an immediate need.

51

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

Purposes of restricted funds (continued)

Policy

Donations - Funds contributing to our central costs.

AB Charitable Trust - Funding towards tackiling racial sipproportionality and infringement of rights in police treatment of children. Baring Foundation - funding for our Youth Justice Legal Centre to design, market and deliver specialist training on racial injustice to criminal defence lawyers

Barrow Cadbury Trust - Funding to develop reform proposals to assist children turning 18 in the criminal justice system.

Barrow Cadbury Trust (BAME) - Funding to improve legal representation for BAME young people.

Comic Relief (Change It!) - Funding towards Just For Kids Law child-led campaign Change It!, and towards advocacy and education community care, focused on West London.

Dawes Trust - Funding to improve legal representation for children and young people.

Dulverton Trust - Funding towards our Youth Justice Advice Line

EHRC - Support towards the costs for children to participate in a working group in Geneva with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Esmee Fairbairn - Funding towards participation in the Leaving Care Learning Programme.

Oak Foundation - Funding for reforming housing and support for children and young people through participation.

Paul Hastings - Funding to create new and updating practitioner guides.

Paul Hastings (CSRF) - Funding towards staff costs to support the Youth Justice Legal Centre.

Paul Hastings (EEF) - Funding towards consultancy costs to support the Youth Justice Legal Centre.

Porticus - Funding for our policy and legal work on school exclusion.

The Bromley Trust - Funding towards child rights policy, and public affairs work.

Trust for London- Funding to to support care experienced children with experience of homelessness to campaign for change.

Development (other)

Access to work - Funding to support a memember of staff.

CAF Keystone - A grant towards core development

Drapers Charitable Fund - A grant towards core costs supporting casework.

Legal Education Foundation - A grant to support stregthening sector capacity

Paul Hamlyn - Funding towards core operational costs

London Legal Support Trust - Funding towards the salary of a Billing Co-ordinator role.

52

Just for Kids Law Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 July 2023

The breakdown of development funds for 2022/23 was as follows:

CAF Keystone
Paul Hamlyn
London Legal Support Trust
Drapers Charitable Trust
Access to Work
Legal Education Foundation
Philip King
Mark Leonard Trust		 At 1 June
2022
£
-
-
-
28
(7)
3,780
8,222
1,977
Income &
gains
£
5,144
34,938
20,000
50,000
-
-
-
17,172
Expenditure &
losses
£
(5,144)
-
(20,000)
(50,028)
7
(3,780)
(8,222)
(19,149)
Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 July
2023
£
-
34,938
-
-
-
-
-
-
14,000 127,254 (106,316) - 34,938

18 Operating lease commitments

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods


the following periods
One to five years
Less than one year
 2023
£
10,824
43,296		 2022
£
84,204
78,000
54,120 162,204

19 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 £10.

53