2022-09-30-accounts

Volunteer Centre

Report of the Trustees and Accounts For the period from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022

Company no. 6638750 (England & Wales) Charity no. 1127300

Myrus Smith Chartered Accountants Norman House 8 Burnell Road Sutton Surrey SM1 4BW

VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Contents
	Page No.
Report ofthe Trustees	2-29
Report ofthe Independent Auditors	30 - 32
Statement of Financial Activities	33
Balance Sheet	34
NotestotheFinancialStatements	35-42

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 30 September 2022

The Trustees present their report and audited financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Charity Name: Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets

Charity Registration Number: 1127300

Company Registration Number: 6638750

Registered Office: Norvin House 45-55 Commercial Street London E1 6BD

Trustees: Karin Maschler, Chair Leo Zawadzki, Treasurer Megan Cowley Safia Jama (retired 6 June 2023) Sabiha Khanam Patrick McKenna (retired 12 Oct 2021) loana Popovici (appointed 16 August 2022) Alice Sims (retired 6 June 2023) Louise Theophile (appointed 16 August 2022) Alison White (retired 16 January 2023)

Senior Management: Catherine Bavage, Chief Executive

Auditors: Myrus Smith Chartered Accountants Norman House 8 Burnell Road Sutton Surrey SM1 4BW

Bankers: The Co-operative Bank PLC PO Box 250 Delf House Skelmersdale, WN8 6WT

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STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Period of Account The period of account is from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022.

Governing Document

The organisation is a charitable company, limited by guarantee, incorporated on 4 July 2008, and registered as a charity on 29 December 2008.

The company was established under a Memorandum of Association, which established the objects and powers of the charitable company, and is governed under those Articles.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

The process for appointing the charity’s trustees is set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. As VCTH is a charitable company, trustees also act as company directors. The minimum number of trustees is three, with no maximum. The Board of Trustees may appoint anyone willing and fit to act as a trustee and director, subject to the provisions of the Articles of Association.

One third of trustees must retire (but may stand for re-election) each year. Trustees are appointed annually, for a maximum of seven consecutive years, at which point they must retire. Trustees who have served seven years may stand for re-election, but only one year after the date of their retirement. Trustees may only hold the same Honorary Officer role for a maximum of five years. The charity conducts regular skills, experience and diversity audits of trustees. These audits identify gaps in skills, or under-representation of particular groups or communities, and are fundamental to the recruitment process. Vacancies are advertised widely and potential trustees are invited to complete an application form, outlining their relevant skills and experience. Shortlisted applicants meet with a selection panel, comprising the Chair, one other trustee and the Chief Executive. If successful at interview, applicants are invited to observe a Board meeting and meet current trustees. If all parties agree to proceed, the applicant is either co-opted or nominated for election at the next AGM. Trustee Induction and Training Trustees are provided with a role description, outlining their statutory and additional governance responsibilities. On joining the Board, trustees are introduced to other Board members and paid staff, and provided with a comprehensive induction. Trustees are expected to attend regular Board meetings and an annual Away Day. They must acquaint themselves with VCTH's policies and procedures, strategic plans, budgets, and governing document. Trustees are prompted to take up relevant learning and development opportunities to help them fulfil their role and responsibilities.

Risk Management

Our Risk Register identifies risks and their potential impact in 5 areas: governance, operational, financial, environmental/external, and compliance. It describes the steps needed to mitigate risks. The trustees have considered all the major risks to which the

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charity is exposed and are satisfied that systems or procedures are established to mitigate those risks.

Trustees carried out a thorough review of our Risk Register in January and 2022, using updated “Charities and Risk Management’ guidance from the Charity Commission. An Action Plan to further mitigate risks was approved in March 2022, and many of the actions were implemented within the year.

The charity has a suite of policies and procedures that trustees, staff and volunteers must observe. During the year, trustees reviewed and updated 3 policies:

• » Reserves Policy (approved 12 Oct 21) » Finance Policy and Procedure (approved 11 Oct 22) « Conflicts of Interest Policy and Guidance Notes (approved 11 Oct 22)

Trustees prioritised the following policies for review in 2022-2023; Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Health & Safety (including Fire Safety) and Working From Home.

To ensure that VCTH complies with legislation and implements good employment practice we maintained our contract with Bright HR, who provide the trustees and Chief Executive with employment advice. We continued to offer Bright HR’s Employee Assistance Programme to the team, giving staff and volunteers access to health and wellbeing support, including a 24-hour helpline, and counselling sessions.

Staff continued to work from home throughout 2021-2022. They were provided with the necessary equipment and paid Working At Home Allowances, in line with HMRC guidance. The decision to be office-free for the foreseeable future prioritises our commitment to sustaining services and staffing over fixed accommodation costs. It will enable VCTH to make savings on core costs in 2023 and adopt a more climate-friendly model.

We continued to use the professional services of Adrian Hull as our management accountant, and Creative Payroll Services for managing payroll.

A charity combined insurance policy was in place throughout the year covering; employer's liability (£10m), public liability (€5m), products liability (5m), business interruption, executive risks (including trustee indemnity and directors’ liability), professional indemnity, cyber loss recovery, fidelity guarantee, property and business equipment, money and personal accident assault, group personal accident, goods in transit, and legal expenses. We took commercial legal expenses insurance through Bright HR to indemnify VCTH against legal costs and compensatory awards associated with employment disputes. Under VCTH's Conflicts of Interest Policy trustees and staff must declare any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest. Between January and March 2022 all trustees and staff updated their declarations and declaring conflicts was a standing agenda item at Board meetings.

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The ongoing COVID pandemic created increased demand for services from the voluntary and community sector and this, in turn, led to growing competition for funding, making fundraising more challenging. VCTH’s income fell by 3% from £193,267 in 20202021 to £187,041 in 2021-2022. In recognition of our limited reserves, we negotiated funding in advance, wherever possible. This arrangement ensured positive cash flow throughout the year.

We took our commitment to protecting individuals’ personal data seriously. During the year, the Volunteer Centre re-registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Staff and volunteers are aware of their responsibilities not to disclose the personal or sensitive data of our service users.

VCTH is committed to recruiting suitably qualified and experienced staff. Continued professional development for staff is essential for retention, ensures that skills and knowledge are updated, and reduces our exposure to risk. In 2021-2022, staff took up learning and development opportunities in; child protection, writing charitable fundraising applications, roles and duties of trustees, delivering virtual training, tips for MS Teams. One staff member undertook a comprehensive Train the Trainer course, gaining certification from the Learning and Performance Institute.

Organisational Structure

Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets has a Board of Trustees, which meets at least 6 times a year, and is responsible for the strategic direction and governance of the charity. The charity's Chief Executive attends Board meetings as an advisor, but does not have voting rights.

During the year, ten individuals were involved as charity trustees. Four trustees were Tower Hamlets residents, ensuring community legitimacy and local knowledge on our Board. Three trustees worked for local Voluntary and Community Sector organisations, and others worked in the private sector.

Karin Maschler continued in the role of Chair — a position she has held since August 2021. Leo Zawadzki continued as Treasurer, a role he took on in August 2021.

On 16 August 2022 VCTH appointed two new trustees; loana Popovici and Louise Theophile. Both had participated in our Trustee Training and Matching Programme (known as The METs Programme). As well as bringing legal and HR experience that strengthen the Board’s skills, they are both Tower Hamlets residents from BAME communities.

Responsibility for operational management was delegated to the Chief Executive, Catherine Bavage. The Chief Executive is responsible for HR, finance, fundraising, and managing service delivery. She ensures that the charity delivers high quality, responsive services to meet the targets and outcomes set out in grants and contracts.

The Board of Trustees appoints all staff, including key management personnel, on a grade within the National Joint Council (NJC) pay scale for Local Government employees. Where the charity's financial position allows, the Board awards annual pay rises, agreed nationally by the NJC. In January 2023, with inflation running at over 10%,

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the Board awarded staff the NJC pay rise, backdated to 1 April 2022. On this occasion the pay award was a flat rate of £2,355 for full-time grades, applied pro rata. This represented increases of between 4.76% for the highest paid and 8.3% for the lowest earner, with an average pay rise of 6.1%.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT

Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets (VCTH) is the recognised volunteering infrastructure agency in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Our charity’s objects are:

• e The promotion of any charitable purpose for the benefit of the community of Tower Hamlets, Greater London, in particularthe relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability or other social or economic disadvantage.

• e The promotion and advancement of voluntary work for charitable purposes for the benefit of the community, predominantly in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, but additionally promotion and advancement of voluntary work subregionally, regionally and nationally.

In forming our objectives, the trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard for the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.

Mission

Our mission is to provide a comprehensive volunteering infrastructure service to nonprofit groups and communities in Tower Hamlets, to increase the quality, quantity and impact of volunteering in the borough.

Core Functions

Our 5 core functions are:

• e Brokerage — ensuring that the general public and all sectors are better informed about and have access to an effective and efficient brokerage service

• e Good Practice Development — helping organisations to improve or attain positive consistency in their volunteering programmes

• e Developing Volunteering Opportunities — increasing and improving the quantity, quality, and diversity of volunteering locally

• e Voice of Volunteering — creating an increased awareness of issues impacting volunteering

• e Strategic Development of Volunteering — engagement with local networks and decision-makers to create a positive environment in which volunteering is flourishing.

We also manage the Voluntary Sector Children and Youth Forum (VSCYF), supporting voluntary and community sector organisations that provide services to children and young people in Tower Hamlets. Most of these organisations involve volunteers in their work.

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets was established in July 2008 as an independent charitable company by a team of four committed volunteers, who became its initial trustee board and founder Chief Executive. The charity marked its 14th full operational year on 30 September 2022.

VCTH holds Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation (VCQA) - the widely recognised quality mark for volunteering infrastructure organisations, assessed and awarded by the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA). It demonstrates that we are fit-for-purpose and deliver the five core Volunteer Centre functions to a consistently high standard. Our award is valid until July 2023.

1. Volunteer Brokerage

Volunteering brokerage is linking potential volunteers to not-for-profit organisations that need their help. We continued to provide a brokerage service for people aged 15+ who lived, worked or studied in Tower Hamlets, providing information about volunteering roles and encouraging applications.

Throughout 2021-2022 we continued to run the Tower Hamlets COVID-19 Recovery Volunteer Hub, first launched in March 2019, and funded by Tower Hamlets Council. The Hub sourced local volunteers to respond to the needs of the community, helping support the borough’s recovery from the pandemic. This year we referred volunteers to 112 VCS organisations and public sector bodies (2020-2021: 81 organisations).

We delivered 15 online presentations to a total of 327 individuals, reaching a wide range of potential volunteers, (job seekers, ESOL learners, students, new migrants) who were looking to gain skills and experience, and build connections in the local community through volunteering. We compiled and produced information about free training opportunities, employability support and job vacancies in monthly Employment Support and Training (EST) Alerts. Volunteers could opt into receiving these alerts.

Volunteer Numbers

Between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022, a total of 664 new volunteers registered with us — an average of 55 per month. This was considerably fewer (down 37%) than the 1,051 registrations in 2020-2021, with registrations returning to prepandemic levels (719 in 2018-2019). The fall in the number of people expressing an interest in volunteering in Tower Hamlets was in line with the national picture. Client Demographics We aimed to provide an inclusive brokerage service to a wide range of volunteers, reflecting the diverse communities in Tower Hamlets. We requested equalities data from all volunteers at the point of registration, but many chose to withhold information

about some or all of their protected characteristics. Volunteers were more inclined to disclose their age and gender (76%) and ethnicity (61%), than their disability (55%), religion (50%) or sexuality (47%). This means that our data on volunteer demographics is incomplete, but what we have provides a good indication of the people using our services and of shifting patterns.

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Age

76% (507 of the 664 volunteers) provided information on their age. The oldest volunteer registered during this period was 75 and the youngest was 15. The largest group of registrants who disclosed their age were 20-34 year olds (247 registrations: 49%). The second largest group were 35-49 year olds (130 registrations: 26%).

According to Census 2021 data, 37.8% of Tower Hamlets residents are aged 20-34 and 22.5% of residents are aged 35-49, so VCTH performed very well at attracting working age adults to volunteer, especially 20-34 year olds.

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AGE OF VOLUNTEERS
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Gender

This year 76% (504 of 664 volunteers) disclosed their gender when registering. 68% of them defined as female (66% in 2020-2021) and 32% identified as male (33% in 20202021). Two volunteers identified as non-binary.

According to the Census 2021, the borough’s residents are 50.2% male and 49.8% female. VCTH therefore reached a much higher percentage of women by comparison to borough demographics. NCVO’s “Time Well Spent” research shows that nationally women are more likely to have volunteered formally than men (40% v 35%). VCTH is proud to have attracted a large number of women, many of who were volunteering as a route from economic inactivity to paid employment. However, we are conscious of the need to engage more men in volunteering.

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GENDER OF VOLUNTEERS

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Ethnicity

61% (403 of 664 volunteers) provided data on their ethnicity. Of the 39% who withheld this information, it is likely that many were people from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic groups. The ethnicities of volunteers registering with VCTH largely reflected the local population.

ETHNICITY OF VOLUNTEERS

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The single largest ethnic group of volunteers was “Asian/Asian British Bangladeshi” at 26.5%. This is somewhat lower than the borough’s Bangladeshi population (Census 2021: 34.6%). However, VCTH has made considerable headway this year in attracting significantly more Asian/Asian British Bangladeshi volunteers (2020-2021: 10%).

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he second largest ethnic group of volunteers was “White British” at 24%, closely reflecting the borough’s White British population of 22.9%.

44.6% of all volunteers disclosing their ethnicity were White, compared to 39.4% of the Tower Hamlets population being White. People who defined as White Other made up 18% of volunteers, slightly higher than the 14.6% White Other population in the borough. VCTH performed well at reaching Europeans.

7.4% of volunteers defined as Black or Black British African, Caribbean, Somali or Black Other. This matches the borough profile of 7.3% of residents from these communities.

Disability

55% (366 of 664 volunteers) disclosed information about disability. Of the volunteers who disclosed information, 84% told us that they did not have any disability. 16% of volunteers disclosed they had a disability, with the largest groups telling us about mental health issues (7%), and chronic medical conditions, such as asthma or diabetes (3.5%).

Census 2021 data shows that 20.1% of Tower Hamlets residents have a long-term health condition or disability that limits their day-to-day activities to some extent. As 16% of registered volunteers reported a disability, this would suggest that VCTH was relatively successful at reaching disabled people.

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Sexuality

Only 47% (313 of 664 volunteers) disclosed information about their sexuality. Of these, 82% identified as heterosexual.

The annual trend of more volunteers identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual continued, with 18% identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (13% in 2020-2021).

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According to Census 2021 data, 6.48% of the Tower Hamlets population identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual. As 18% of volunteers disclosing their sexuality identified as LGB, VCTH appears to have done extremely well at attracting the borough’s LGB population.

SEXUALITY OF VOLUNTEERS

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Employment Status

59% (393 of 664 volunteers) disclosed their employment status when registering with VCTH.

The number of volunteers who were in employment fell from 63% in 2020-21 to 55% in 2021-22, comprising 41% full-time employed, 9% part-time employed, and 5% selfemployed. This drop might be attributed to fewer employed people registering to volunteer once furlough ended, but may also reflect the impact of VCTH promoting volunteering in a more targeted way to economically inactive residents.

45% of volunteers were economically inactive. 16% told us they were unemployed. They were split evenly between those who were workless for less than 12 months, and people who were long-term unemployed (over 13 months). 16% of volunteers were in full-time education — no change from 2020-2021. Of the remaining volunteers 5% were house persons, 4% were unwaged but not seeking work, 2% were retired, and 2% were unable to work.

The Census 2021 labour market data shows that 61.4% of the Tower Hamlets population was economically active and in employment. 34.6% were economically inactive. Tower Hamlets had the second highest unemployment rate of all English local authorities, with 6% of usual residents aged 16 and over unemployed. This suggests that VCTH is doing comparatively well at attracting economically inactive people, including unemployed people and students.

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VOLUNTEERS' EMPLOYMENT STATUS

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Faith

50% (330 of 664 volunteers) disclosed their faith/religion when registering. People of all major faiths and none were represented.

The single largest faith group was Muslim at 37% (in 2020-2021 the largest group was people of no religion). This is broadly in line with the local Muslim population recorded in the Census 2021 at 39.9%.

The second largest faith group was Christian at 21%, very similar to the percentage of Christian residents in the borough (22.3%). Another notably large group of volunteers were those with no religion (26.3%), almost identical to the Census 2021 data at 26.6%.

FAITH OF VOLUNTEERS

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Tracking Throughout 2021-2022 we continued to provide brokerage support online or by telephone, rather than in person. This kept our staff and volunteers safe during the latter part of the pandemic, and reduced VCTH’s environmental impact.

We recorded the number of applications made by volunteers for specific volunteer roles. We received 1,245 applications, which is just 45% of the 2,767 applications we received in the previous year during the pandemic. Applications have returned to just above prepandemic levels (2018-2019: 1,136 applications).

Details of each application were passed to the relevant Volunteer Managers in host organisations, and volunteers were also provided with contact details for the organisations they wished to support. This was to facilitate contacts and ensure applications were not overlooked.

Tracking volunteer starters is an extremely challenging and time-consuming exercise. We systematically sent follow-up emails to applicants who had been referred to roles to ask if they had started volunteering or needed more help. Often we did not hear back from them. This year we received confirmation from 127 individuals that they had begun volunteering, but this is just a partial picture of starters.

Minority Ethnic Trustees Training and Matching (METs) Between April and September 2022, with funding from our LBTH Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant, we developed and delivered a trustee training and matching programme for residents from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic communities. This was a practical programme seeking to address under-representation of minoritised ethnic groups at charity Board level.

In June and July 2022 we ran 2 cohorts of training. Participants attended a series of online sessions to learn about the essentials of charity trusteeship, and developed personal profiles highlighting their skills and lived experiences. Towards the end of the programme we supported trainees to prepare for making applications and attending interviews to become trustees. 25 people started the training and 22 (88%) completed it.

We recruited and vetted 14 charities, either based in or providing services in Tower Hamlets, which were seeking new trustees and wanted to diversify the ethnicity of their Boards. We created profiles for the charities, promoting their work and clarifying the skills and experience they were seeking. In late July 2022 we brought the 14 charities and 20 trainees together at an online matching event. Where trainees and charities felt there was a potential match, they were provided with each other’s contact details.

Throughout August and September, the trustee applicants attended interviews and observed Board meetings with their chosen charities. Our target was to match 15 individuals, and we were delighted that 17 of the trainees were offered and accepted trustee positions. Ten of the participating charities were able to recruit new trustees, with some taking on more than one new Board member. The programme was a resounding success, as evidenced by some of the feedback;

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‘l greatly enjoyed participating in the programme, it was very stimulating, inclusive, and a wonderful matching opportunity. | feel closer to my Tower Hamlets community and also to my ambition to volunteer as a trustee. Thank you”.

“The instructors were knowledgeable and helpful. The classes were well organised and structured. | was very impressed with it overall. It's a brilliant initiative”.

2. Good Practice Development

We continued to deliver activities to support and build the capacity of Volunteer Involving Organisations (VIOs) to implement good practice in volunteer management. Tower Hamlets Council funded this work via a Local Community Fund Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant.

Volunteer Managers’ Training

Between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022 we delivered six, half-day training courses for Volunteer Managers (same number as in 2020-2021). All six sessions were delivered online on Zoom. A total of61 Volunteer Managers attended our training, which was an average of 10 per course, a decrease of 7 per course from the previous year, but still exceeding our target, and demonstrating an ongoing appetite for online training. The topics were:

• Recruiting the Right Volunteers # Measuring the Difference Your Volunteering Programme Makes * Good Practice in Managing Volunteers * Dealing with Difficult Situations with Volunteers * Your Volunteer Policy — is it Fit for Purpose? « The Cost of Living Crisis: Minimising the Impact on your Volunteer Programme.

Across all the training sessions, 87% of participants (53/61) completed an evaluation survey. 96% of respondents (51/53) rated our training as either excellent/extremely useful or as good/very useful. 89% of respondents (47/53) progressed in terms of knowledge and 98% of respondents (52/53) committed to making a change within their organisation or taking an action as a result of the training.

Peer Learning Sessions for Volunteer Managers

We ran four Peer Learning sessions, attended by 38 participants, an average of 9 per session (7 less per session than the previous year). The sessions provided a blend of professional development and learning opportunities for people who manage volunteers. They included guest speakers and opportunities for peer support. The topics were: « Virtual Volunteering: Successes and Challenges « DBS checks: Your Questions Answered « Adapting your Volunteer Programme for Living with COVID » Making the Case for Volunteering Within Your Organisation

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Bespoke Advice on Volunteer Programmes Between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022, a total of 18 organisations were supported with good practice advice over 31 sessions. This represented a decrease of 23 sessions and 9 organisations since the previous year.

Several months after providing advice, VCTH surveyed organisations about the improvements made as a result. The impact survey was completed by 10 organisations that received a mix of 1:1 advice, training and peer learning sessions. 100% of respondents found VCTH’s support service useful. Of these, 90% (9) found it either extremely useful or very useful, and 10% (1) found it average/fairly useful. 90% of organisations had implemented improvements or changes to their volunteering programme, policies or practices.

Organisations rated the quality/level of their volunteering practices before and after they received support from VCTH on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the lowest level and 10 being the highest). On average organisations started at level 6 and increased to 8.4 following VCTH’s support. All 10 respondents (100%) said they would recommend VCTH’s advice service to other voluntary sector groups. Some quotes:

“We have been working hard to make our volunteer programme more inclusive and accessible to those who would like to volunteer with us, and thanks to the support of VCTH we have made changes to our recruitment procedure and are continuing to try and make progress in the culture we create in our volunteer programme”.

“Advice received was extremely useful. Evelyn always follows up to my queries and cascades knowledge on best practice in volunteering. |[like] receiving the newsletters and tips about volunteering”.

Good Practice Tips and Blogs

In our monthly e-bulletin, we regularly included bite-sized advice on volunteer management issues, either in the form of answering a particular question - the ‘Ask Evelyn’ column - or as a ‘Top Tip’. Some of these tips were also featured in a blog on ~ our website. This ensured that good practice was accessed as widely as possible.

Factsheets

We produced one new factsheet this year; “Why Include Volunteering on your CV”? This was designed to help volunteers describe the skills and experience gained through volunteering when applying for paid work. During the year it received 45 clicks. A range of other factsheets for Volunteer Managers were available on our website and were downloaded 285 times. New for this year on our website was our best practice blog, where we published 3 entries between February and September.

Organisations Registered

This year we registered 22 new Volunteer Involving Organisations, 4 fewer than the previous year, but still exceeding our annual target of 16. Each organisation underwent a short health-check to ensure they could provide a safe and welcoming environment for volunteers before we advertised their roles. At 30 September 2022 a total of 517 organisations were registered with VCTH.

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3. Developing Volunteering Opportunities

We developed volunteering opportunities in partnership with not-for-profit organisations registered with us, including charities, community groups, social enterprises, and public sector bodies. These organisations were usually based in or providing services to residents in Tower Hamlets.

We worked hard to ensure that the volunteer roles offered were meaningful, appealing and inclusive, and that volunteers would be supported in a safe environment.

New organisations registered this year were:

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1. East London Cares 13. Care4Calais
2. Exam Star Learner CIC 14.More Life Home CIC
3. Little Village 15.Our Time
4. Read Easy UK 16. The Heritage & Arts Centre
5. The London Gardens Trust Bow (Epainos Ministries)
6. Cody Dock (Gasworks Dock 17. Your Voice in Health & Social
Partnership) Care (YVHSC - Healthwatch)
7. Explore Relationships 18.Beyond Sight Loss
8. Isle of Dogs Sea Cadets 19.Climate Ed
9. London Cycling Campaign 20.Lower Regents Coalition
10.REFEO (Refugee Education for (working with Regent's Canal
Equal Employment Heritage)
Opportunities) 21.St Anne's Church Limehouse
11.Reset UK 22. The Access Project
12. Tower Hamlets Volunteer
Police Cadets
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Throughout the year a significant focus of our work was supporting the community to recover from the pandemic. We continued to work with organisations in the borough that were delivering vital services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. We systematically contacted organisations registered with us to ask about their volunteer requirements and helped them develop diverse, appealing opportunities for volunteers.

We developed and promoted 321 volunteering roles over the entire year (307 roles in 2020-2021). Of these, 268 were entirely new unique roles — a dramatic increase on the 54 roles developed in 2020-2021. Most roles required multiple volunteers and some were advertised more than once. We encouraged organisations to make their volunteer roles more flexible, enabling time-poor volunteers to get involved.

The pandemic meant that some organisations were not ready to recruit volunteers for traditional roles, but many began re-opening their services, and we supported them to develop new volunteering opportunities. We advertised a mix of remote and in-person roles, ensuring they were in line with the COVID-19 government guidelines. Roles were advertised for up to 3 months, or until organisations told us they no longer needed volunteers, or asked us to renew their adverts. This process helped us maintain an accurate database of current vacancies.

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We also saw a continued demand for critical roles responding to urgent needs in our community, such as Vaccination Site volunteers for the booster programme, volunteers to prepare, pack and delivery food supplies, Energy Champions addressing fuel poverty caused by the energy crisis, and roles supporting refugees and asylum seekers who had newly arrived in the borough.

4. Voice of Volunteering

Campaigning and Informing

Another core function of the Volunteer Centre is to be the local voice of volunteering - increasing awareness of the issues affecting volunteers and Volunteer Involving Organisations. We campaign for a volunteer-friendly climate, where everyone can participate. We aim to influence local decision-makers and funders about the value of volunteering to our communities and increase understanding of how volunteering benefits individuals. We advocate for greater recognition of the cost of well-run volunteering programmes, and the importance of effective volunteer management. We disseminate policy, information and statistics, encourage organisations to think about how changing policy and legislation may affect their volunteer programmes, and urge them to join relevant campaigns. Throughout the year we kept 517 organisations informed (up 22 from 495 in 2021).

E-bulletins

VCTH produced monthly e-bulletins for Volunteer Managers. These included information on; training for workers and volunteers, funding for volunteering programmes, policy developments, campaigns and research, and_ volunteer managementjob adverts. E-bulletins regularly included a “Top Tip”, promoting an area of good practice. Our e-bulletin was sent to an average of 682 contacts each month (no change to the previous year). However, the opening rate increased, reaching 21.6% (19.5% in 2021). Some of the topical issues covered included; the Community Life Survey, national Trustees’ Week, the Tower Hamlets Civic Awards, International Women’s Day, the Festival of Communities and the Volunteer Expo Live, preparing for Volunteers’ Week, the value of youth volunteering in the NHS, NCVO’s “Time Well Spent — Volunteering during the Pandemic” and the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Website

After months of development, the new VCTH website was launched in February 2022 - https://www.vcth.org.uk/. The website has a fresh new look and is simpler to navigate, with information about volunteer roles given greater prominence. Content was updated regularly to reflect new activities and services.

Statistics for October 2021 to September 2022 span both the old and new websites so don't necessarily match. The website had 2,166 page views per month, compared to 3,125 in 2021. This fall is probably related to a drop in tracking as a result of increased privacy settings on mobile phones and desktops. A cookie banner on our new website also gave users choice whether they wished to be tracked or not, resulting in a decrease in tracking.

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The average time on page increased to 1 minute 48 seconds (1:20 in 2021). This is a positive change, as it suggests visitors are finding content more engaging.

There was a noticeable increase in clicks from the website to Simply Connect, where volunteer vacancies are displayed. We registered 6,027 clicks, a 28% increase compared to the 4,696 clicks in 2020-2021.

Digital Channels — Facebook and Twitter We used our Facebook page to engage with local residents to promote our latest volunteer roles, posting 25 times across the year. In 2021-2022 the number of followers on VCTH’s Facebook page reached 1,297 — a 10% increase on the 1,177 likes in the previous year. Having this many followers is significant, as Facebook Insights get more accurate on pages exceeding 1,000 likes.

We used Twitter to engage with other organisations and to communicate with Volunteer Managers. By the end of September 2021 we had 2,330 followers on Twitter — little change from the previous year.

We maintained a mailing list of people who had registered an interest in volunteering via the Volunteering Hub on our website. We updated this regularly to add new registrants and remove unsubscribers, ensuring a more-engaged audience. We used this list to send 50 Volunteer Alerts, profiling new roles, as well as those where there was an urgent need for more volunteers. By 30 September 2022, our mailing list included 3,267 contacts (up slightly from 3,244 contacts in 2021). A sizeable 40% of the subscribers on the mailing list are highly engaged and often open and click the emails we send.

Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June 2022) The national Volunteers’ Week theme for 2022 was ‘A Time to Say Thanks’. It provided an opportunity for organisations to run activities that showcased and celebrated their volunteers and the contribution volunteering makes to communities.

This year Volunteers’ Week coincided with a multitude of other events; The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend, The Big Lunch, Thank You Day, and the school half-term holiday in Tower Hamlets. To navigate this busy time, we encouraged organisations to weave Volunteers’ Week activities into their other celebratory events, or hold volunteer celebrations later in June.

Although almost all government COVID restrictions had been lifted by June, cases were high in London, so we recommended organising online, outdoor or socially distanced activities, and all VCTH activities took place online.

Our Volunteers’ Week special was emailed to Volunteer Managers, asking them to download branded resources and find out more about events taking place locally. It was emailed to 678 contacts, with an opening rate of 19.2%. Throughout the Week we were particularly active on Facebook, posting daily links to highlighted volunteer roles.

On Twitter we published a thank you message to local organisations and Volunteer Managers that generated 70 impressions.

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5. Strategic Development of Volunteering

As the volunteering infrastructure agency for Tower Hamlets, VCTH is recognised as the local volunteering expert in the borough, and we are often consulted on volunteering matters by local decision-makers and stakeholders. Strategic partners across Tower Hamlets look to us for input and guidance on volunteering issues. We seek to represent the interests and concerns of volunteers and Volunteer Involving Organisations at borough and pan-London levels, and ensure a coherent, joined-up approach.

Sourcing volunteers for Tower Hamlets Council

Tower Hamlets Council continued to fund VCTH to run the COVID-19 Recovery Volunteer Hub for the borough. As well as the Hub recruiting volunteers for VCS organisations, we sourced volunteers to support multiple Council services, including; Residents’ Panel Members (Communications), Digital Media Co-ordinators (Parents Advice Centre), Exhibition Invigilators (Arts, Parks and Events), VCS Food Hub Volunteers (Tackling Poverty), High Street Clean Up Volunteers (Public Realm), Youth Justice Panel Members (Youth Offending), and Food Box Distributors (for schools).

LBTH Public Health

We continued to work closely with colleagues at LBTH Public Health, building the relationships developed at the height of the pandemic. Our Chief Executive participated in quarterly Health Protection Board meetings and fortnightly Safe Individuals Bronze Group meetings, advising where volunteers might add value and support the delivery of public health services for residents. In spring 2022 we helped recruit Community Vaccine Champions for Public Health. These volunteers played an important role in helping residents better understand the COVID-19 vaccination, and address the low take-up of vaccinations in Tower Hamlets.

In October 2021, VCTH was invited to LBTH’s “Marking the Pandemic” event in Victoria Park, where the enormous contributions of volunteers were acknowledged, and local organisations were thanked. In May 2022, we participated in a Post Pandemic Workshop where, along with Public Health colleagues, we reflected on the two years of pandemic and helped capture the lessons learned, identifying gaps and improvements that could be made. We gave our perspective on how volunteers might be mobilised in any future response to a new pandemic or resurgence of COVID, so this could be included in the borough’s refreshed Pandemic Plan.

Co-Operate and the VCS Strategy

VCTH’s Chief Executive and the VSCYF Co-ordinator were active members of CoOperate — a joint strategic body of voluntary sector representatives and senior Council staff which meets twice a year. Co-Operate aims to transform how organisations work together to enhance the lives of local people. Between us, we represented the interests of Volunteer Involving Organisations and organisations providing services to children and young people.

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VCTH staff participated in strategic-level Task and Finish Groups to progress actions in the VCS Strategy, including groups on volunteering, external funding and consultation & engagement. The Volunteering Task and Finish Group facilitated better understanding and closer co-operation between major volunteering providers, including East London Business Alliance, Queen Mary University, LBTH, New City College and Barts NHS Trust. In 2021-2022, our collective focus was how to involve more residents from Black Asian and Minoritised Ethnic communities in leadership roles as magistrates, school governors and charity trustees.

Tackling Poverty - HAF Programme

VCTH’s Chief Executive was a member of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme Steering Group, supporting the Council’s Tackling Poverty Team. The HAF Programme targeted children from low-income households who were eligible for free school meals. Voluntary sector providers offered sports, arts and cultural activities, along with a free healthy lunch, to ensure that children did not go hungry during the school holidays. We recruited volunteers for these organisations during Easter and Christmas holidays, as well as providing input into how volunteers could support the emerging food pantries across the borough.

Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Between October 2021 and February 2022, we attended monthly Council-led Afghan Resettlement Co-ordination meetings. These meetings aimed to generate a crosssector partnership approach to providing support to people evacuated from Afghanistan under the ACRS and ARAP schemes, many of who were provided with temporary accommodation in hotels. We subsequently recruited volunteers to help cook, pack and deliver hot meals to Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, and to meet and greet families accessing services at the London Muslim Centre.

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme was established. In March the Council convened a scoping meeting to consider how voluntary sector organisations could support Ukrainian refugees. VCTH attended Ukraine Joint Partnership meetings throughout the spring and summer. We worked with the Homes for Ukrainians Team to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees could access VCTH's services if they wished to volunteer.

Partnering with Tower Hamlets CVS

Throughout the year we worked closely with our main partner, Tower Hamlets Council for Voluntary Service (THCVS), ensuring that we avoided duplication of services. Between us we represented the broadest possible range of local Voluntary and Community Sector organisations at strategic level. The THCVS and VCTH Chief Executives met regularly to share information and identify common issues of concern.

We delivered the third year of our Infrastructure and Capacity Building programme in partnership with THCVS. VCTH was also part of a consortium of equalities-led organisations, which received Cornerstone Fund money to develop an Equalities Impact Assessment project for the borough.

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National and Regional Strategic Bodies

We remained a member of two strategic volunteering bodies - London Plus, and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Our Training and Best Practice Manager attended monthly NCVO Volunteering Infrastructure Briefings to keep abreast of policy developments and changes in the volunteering landscape nationally.

In October 2021 we attended NCVO’s National Volunteering Forum; “Voluntary Action during the Pandemic: Lessons for the Future”. Our Chief Executive attended quarterly London Plus Volunteer Centre Network meetings, engaging with staff in other London Volunteer Centres to share challenges and successes of facilitating volunteering in the Capital, and identify opportunities for joint working across the region.

In summer 2022 the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP), led by the British Red Cross, invited Volunteer Centres to come together to consider the role that volunteers can play in responding to emergencies such as natural disasters. This is an emerging area of work, and we hope that funding may follow for Volunteer Centres to recruit, train and support local, culturally appropriate volunteers who can be deployed to respond to emergencies at borough-level.

6. Voluntary Sector Children and Youth Forum (VSCYF)

VCTH facilitated the Voluntary Sector Children and Youth Forum (VSCYF) for a 14th successive year. The Forum was funded under a contract awarded by Tower Hamlets Council's Children’s Services and Culture Directorate for 2 years until March 2023.

The Forum is a conduit between voluntary and community sector organisations that provide services to children, young people and their families, and Tower Hamlets Council and other statutory partners. VCTH employs a part-time Co-ordinator, who liaises with all parties to ensure effective information sharing and communication.

The Voluntary Sector Children and Youth Forum met 5 times during 2021-2022 (once more than in 2020-2021), with average attendance of 16 organisations per meeting. All meetings were held on Zoom, and covered a variety of subjects, including:

• funding, commissioning and grants # partnership working = poverty = safeguarding and Early Help » mental health » SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) provision « holiday hunger # working with schools # play in Tower Hamlets » adolescence, youth services and youth justice services » supporting refugee families in Tower Hamlets « Tower Hamlets and North East London developments and strategies

Forum meetings included valuable briefing sessions from senior staff from LBTH Children’s Services and Culture Directorate.

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12 new organisations joined the Forum during the year, bringing the total VSCYF membership to 285 organisations — a net increase of 6 from the previous year. The total number of voluntary sector professionals on our database stood at 369 — a net decrease of 16 individuals on 2020-2021.

We produced quarterly VSCYF e-bulletins, covering Forum and Tower Hamlets news, funding and training opportunities, and events for children, young people or organisations that support them.

Facilitating voluntary sector representation continued to be a key focus of the VSCYF Coordinator's work. Two voluntary sector representatives and the Chair met regularly to ensure good representation for all VSCYF members.

The VSCYF Co-ordinator also delivered practical services for Forum members. She assisted 8 member organisations with funding applications, or helped them decide whether to apply. In addition, she supported 5 organisations with reviewing and developing their safeguarding policies and procedures.

During the year, we organised 3 training workshops for VSCYF members on;

• Developing Safeguarding Policy and Procedures

• Identifying Realistic Outcomes and Targets for Funding Applications and Tenders = Online Safety, What Can We Do?

Average trainee numbers (4 per workshop) were similar to those in the previous year. A total of 13 unique trainees attended from 11 different organisations.

7. Consultancy Work, Income Generation and Other Projects

Consultancy work and short-term projects enabled VCTH staff to use their expertise, while helping diversify our funding base and generate unrestricted reserves.

Ocean Women’s Association

This year, we continued to support Ocean Women’s Association on a consultancy basis with identifying potential funders and writing fundraising applications to ensure sufficient funding for their programmes delivered by volunteers. We were also commissioned by Spitalfields City Farm to support them from October 2022 with overhauling their volunteer programme.

Everyone’s Business Between 1 October 21 and 31 March 2022 we continued to work with East London Business Alliance (ELBA) to support a network of grassroots organisations working to prevent or respond to Serious Youth Violence. The project - Everyone’s Business - was funded through the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime’s (MOPAC) Violence Reduction Unit. It aimed to explore the impact of business support, provided by corporate volunteers, on strengthening small organisations’ capacity to support children and young people at risk of serious youth violence across 4 East London boroughs — Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, and Barking & Dagenham.

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Our VSCYF Coordinator convened 9 grassroots organisations working in Tower Hamlets in the field of serious youth violence, to form the Tower Hamlets Everyone’s Business Network. We facilitated 3 network meetings between October 2021 and March 2022, which focused on making connections within Tower Hamlets, including with the police. Colleagues from the Police’s Youth Engagement Team attended one of the meetings.

Training sessions were arranged for Everyone’s Business members, including Writing Outcomes for Funding Applications. Members took up opportunities for 1:1 mentoring support from corporate volunteers, and for fundraising support from Directory of Social Change.

Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme Working in partnership with LBTH’s Tackling Poverty Team, we delivered an Introduction to Volunteer Management training session in June 2022 for 7 organisations funded through the HAF programme. The training provided an overview of good practice in managing volunteers (developing meaningful volunteer roles, identifying and mitigating risks, safeguarding, induction and training, supporting and supervising volunteers, reward and recognition).

Other Income

To support local organisations during the pandemic we continued to provide training and peer learning sessions completely free-of-charge. However, we charged small fees for organisations based outside Tower Hamlets, and levied non-attendance fees for places booked but not taken up.

We continued to receive small but welcome donations from the public via the Paypal button on our website.

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Thank You

To our staff

The trustees wish to extend our sincere thanks to the staff team. The Tower Hamlets community was disproportionately impacted by the COVID pandemic, and we recognise that this created significant pressure and demands on the team. We are proud of their resilience and relentless determination to meet additional needs. Their skills, experience and flexibility have ensured that volunteering was at the heart of helping our community recover from the pandemic. Our thanks go to:

• e Catherine Bavage, Chief Executive e Zahanar Begum, Administrator & Brokerage Advisor e Alex Nelson, Voluntary Sector Children & Youth Forum Co-ordinator

• e Evelyn Rodrigues, Training & Best Practice Manager e Krithika Kalpathi Subramanian, Volunteering Advisor

A special thank you is extended to Peppe Rella, who left VCTH in February 2022 after 14 years. Peppe was our Marketing and Communications Officer and was one of VCTH’s first members of staff. We are pleased to have retained his services as a freelancer in 2022-2023.

To retired trustees

A special thank you to Alison White, who retired from VCTH’s Board of Trustees in January 2022 after 3 years’ service. When Alison joined us, she was a Tower Hamlets resident, working for a local Housing Provider. Alison is a passionate advocate for volunteering and how it transforms lives, having been volunteered throughout her own life, predominantly in the advice sector. We will miss her diligence, thoughtfulness and calm presence on our Board.

To our funders

We are extremely grateful for the money and confidence that our funders have invested in Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets. During 2021-2022 they were:

• e London Borough of Tower Hamlets e East London Business Alliance (MOPAC Violence Reduction Unit)

• e City Bridge Trust (Cornerstone Fund)

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PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

The staff and trustee team came together in December 2022, for a strategic planning Away Day, using this time to review the context in which VCTH is working. We looked at the services we provide and how they are funded, as well as the picture of volunteering locally and nationally.

Using a SWOT approach, we identified three hot topics for further discussion, including the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, volunteer demographics and under-representation, and potential future funding. We considered services that we would like to maintain or introduce to address unmet needs. The day culminated in us refreshing our Strategic Priorities for 2023:

1. Prioritise fundraising and diversify income sources to ensure VCTH’s financial stability and sustainability.

2. » Agree a new Funding Strategy, identifying potential funders and a timeline for bids

3. » Secure continuation funding for the VSCYF project via a contract extension through tendering

4. » Submit bids to replace funding for our Infrastructure and Volunteer Hub work

5. » Secure at least one source of non-council funding to diversify income streams.

6. Target Tower Hamlets communities, identified as under-represented as service users, to encourage and drive up participation in volunteering.

» Focus more outreach and engagement activities, such as presentations, stalls, and job fairs, towards the Bangladeshi community and young people (age 16+).

1. Monitor, evaluate and adapt our services to ensure they are accessible to, and inclusive of, the diverse communities we serve.

2. » Encourage more volunteers to disclose their personal data, when registering with VCTH, so that we havea clearer picture of service users

3. » Support organisations to involve diverse volunteers via our Peer Learning, training and best practice advice

4. » Work with a broad range of referral agencies serving minoritised/marginalised communities.

5. Respond to the cost-of-living crisis.

6. » Support local Warm Hubs and projects that tackle food and fuel poverty by recruiting volunteers for them

7. » Run a campaign for organisations, encouraging them to reimburse volunteer expenses and helping them identify sources of funding for volunteer expenses.

8. Build relationships with key stakeholders and increase our visibility. » Work with a range of key organisations and decision-makers to build the case for supporting local volunteering

9. » Continue to work in close partnership with Tower Hamlet CVS to deliver infrastructure and capacity building services

10. »” Increase our profile by being more present/visible in the community (eg Family Hubs, Residents’ Hubs, and local events).

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In 2023-2024 we intend to:

• e Retain our office-free working model, channelling more funding into service provision, and minimising our organisation’s environmental impact.

• e Maintain regular team get togethers and engage with more in-person activities — meetings, peer learning, presentations and attendance at events — while continuing effective online delivery.

• e Update our Strategic Plan.

• e Submit a range of funding applications to ensure sufficient long-term income is secured for 2023-2024, and beyond, that will sustain services and diversify our funding mix to minimise risk.

• e Offer volunteering solutions to the most pressing issues in our community, such as responding to poverty made worse by the ongoing cost-of-living emergency, and the refugee crisis.

• e Engage with the wider volunteering sector and statutory bodies on the role that volunteers can play in emergency responses.

• e Continue to review the demographics of volunteers registering with VCTH and develop strategies and programmes for increasing participation among underrepresented communities.

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

VCTH started the year with a budget that projected a deficit of £19,285. We exceeded our in-year fundraising target and ended the year with a small surplus of £4,804.

Net current assets (working capital) held at 30 September 2022 amounted to £50,189 (up from £45,385 at 30 September 2021).

Reserves Policy

At the end of the charity’s fourteenth operational year at 30 September 2022, our total reserves had increased by 10.6% from £45,385 to £50,189. Of these reserves, £49,439 (98.5%) was unrestricted and £750 was restricted funds.

In the previous year trustees had established a sub-group of the Board, led by the Treasurer, to review our Reserves Policy. The group conducted comprehensive research on approaches to reserves in similar-sized charities, as well as reviewing best practice guidance from the Charity Commission and NCVO. The sub-group identified growing redundancy liabilities associated with long-serving staff, and the need to include the cost of consultation and notice periods in the event of redundancies, as VCTH’s major liability. It proposed that our approach to reserves should change.

A new Reserves Policy was agreed at a Board meeting on 12 October 2021. This states that trustees will aim to maintain free reserves at a level which covers at least three months’ running costs, but does not exceed that level plus the redundancy obligations the charity would have in the event of a wind up. The trustees agree this level is the most prudent and would enable to charity to continue to operate in the event of an emergency, or a sudden cut to funding. Trustees acknowledge that this level of reserves may be aspirational in a challenging funding environment. They agreed that while VCTH should strive to maintain this level of reserves, this should not be achieved at the detriment of VCTH’s core values and long-term viability.

On completion of the annual budget, trustees and the Chief Executive will identify the target range for free reserves. VCTH trustees will monitor the level of reserves regularly. The main mechanism for monitoring will be scrutiny of management accounts and cash flows presented quarterly at trustee board meetings, along with an updated redundancy calculator that tracks our redundancy liabilities. This will ensure that trustees are aware of any build-up of excess reserves, or of reserves being depleted unexpectedly or rapidly. The Reserves Policy will be reviewed bi-annually (every 2 years), and whenever there is a significant change in VCTH’s liabilities. The next review is due in October 2023.

VCTH’s target reserves range, as of June 2023, is between £43,949 and £81,343. The lower target is based on 3 months’ running costs, as per our 2022-2023 budget. The higher target includes 3 months’ running costs, plus total redundancy costs for 5 staff at 30 September 2023 (calculated at £37,394). At 1 April 2023, VCTH had reserves of £49,993, within our target reserves range.

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Looking Ahead

Trustees recognise the significant financial challenges facing the charity in 2023 and have already taken steps to minimise expenditure and make cost savings. Two of our funding streams are due to end between March and October 2023. Three large multiyear funding applications have already been submitted, totalling £501,458 over the next 3.5 years, along with a further small funding application for a 4-month project in late 2023 worth just under £10,000. Decisions on all of these applications are expected in July and August 2023. The timing of these decisions presents a challenge. However trustees have reasonable confidence that most of these applications will be successful. Trustees are mindful of their obligations to ensure that VCTH remains solvent. They are meeting more regularly, keeping a watchful eye on the funding situation, and scenario planning. They will consider all options, including making cuts to staffing, should this become necessary.

Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement

The trustees (who are also Directors of VCTH for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the 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 trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• e select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• e observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102);

• e make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent:

• e state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• e prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis, unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping 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 trustees are aware:

• ° there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware;

• ° the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

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The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Auditors

In 2022 the trustees re-appointed Myrus Smith Chartered Accountants as the charitable company’s auditors.

This report has 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) (effective January 2019) and in accordance with the special provisions relating to companies subject to the small companies regime within part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 20 June 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

Lin Mamhber

Karin Maschler, Chair and Trustee

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 30 September 2022 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• e give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 30 September 2021, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• e have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• e have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:

• e the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or

• e the trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the charitable company’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets .../Cont’d

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Report of the Trustees, other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• e the information given in the trustees’ report (incorporating the directors’ report) for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• e the directors’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our 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 directors’ 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:

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

• e the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• e certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or e we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit;or

• e the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies’ regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the directors’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets .../Cont'd

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement (set out on page 28), the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

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

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located 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.

Stephen Jones FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Myrus Smith Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors Norman House 8 Burnell Road Sutton, Surrey SM1 4BW

20 June 2023

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Statement of Financial Activities (including Income and Expenditure Account) for the year ended 30 September 2022

		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Total
		Funds	Funds	2022	2021
	Note	£	£	£	£
Income from:
Charitable activities	2	106,041	81,000	187,041	193,267
Total Income		106,041	81,000	187,041	193,267
Expenditure on:
Charitable expenditure	3	98,691	83,546	182,237	210,010
Total Expenditure		98,691	83,546	182,237	210,010
Net income/(expenditure)	7	7,350	(2,546)	4,804	(16,743)
Transfers between funds	12	(1,046)	1,046	~	'
Net movement in funds		6,304	(1,500)	4,804	(16,743)
Funds broughtforward	12	43,135	2,250	45,385	62,128
Totalfundscarriedforward	12	£49,439	£750	£50,189	£45,385

All income and expenditure is derived from continuing activities.

The SOFA includes all gains and losses recognised during the year.

The notes form part of these accounts.

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Balance Sheet As at 30 September 2022

		2022	2021
	Notes	£	£
Current assets
Debtors	9	2,889	19,591
Cash at Bank		79,349	53,549
		82,238	73,140
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year	10	(32,049)	(27,755)
Net current assets		50,189	45,385
Net assets	11	£50,189	£45,385
Funds:
Unrestricted funds
- General fund	12	49,439	43,135
Restricted Funds	12	750	2,250
Totalfunds	12	£50,189	£45,385

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to small companies within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

Approved by the directors and trustees on 20 June 2023 and signed on their behalf:

ma Leo Zawadzki Treasurer and Trustee

The notes form part of these accounts.

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

1. Accounting policies

General information and basis of preparation

Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets is a private company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per memberofthe charity. The address of the registered office is given in the “Reference and Administrative Information” on page 2 of these financial statements.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

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

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

Income recognition

Items of income are recognised in the financial statements when all of the following criteria are met:

• e The charity has entitlement to the funds; e any performance conditions have been met or are fully within the control of the charity; e there is sufficient certainty that receipt of the income is considered probable; and e the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from performance related grants and contracts is recognised as the charity earns the right to consideration through delivery of the specified services.

Expenditure recognition

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount can be measured reliably. Expenditure includes all irrecoverable VAT which is included as part of the relevant cost. —

Expenditure on charitable activities comprises those costs associated with the delivery of the various activities and services for the charity’s beneficiaries.

Expenditure includes those costs of a direct nature which can be allocated to a specific activity and also includes indirect costs, including governance costs that do not relate to a specific activity but are necessary to support those activities. Support costs are apportioned to each activity on the basis of staff time.

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

1. Accounting policies/contd...

Fund accounting

Unrestricted general funds are freely available for use in furtherance of the objects of the charity and which have not been designated for specific purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds set aside by the trustees for particular purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which can only be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor or which have been raised for a particular purpose.

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible assets costing more than £1,500 are capitalised and are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation.

Leases

Operating lease rentals are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charity’s pension scheme are charged in the Statement of Financial Activities in the year to which they relate. The charity has no liability under these schemes other than for the payment of those contributions.

Debtors and creditors

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

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

2. Income from Charitable activities

	Unrestricted	Restricted	2022	2021
	£	£	£	£
LB Tower Hamlets:
Voluntary Sector Children &	42,492	-	42,492	41,240
Youth Forum (Third Sector
Co-ordinator)
Infrastructure and Capacity
Building Grant	-	81,000	81,000	63,000
COVID 19 Volunteering Hub	50,000	:	50,000	49,520
Holiday Activities and Food
Programme	500	-	500	1,000
Total LBTower Hamlets	92,992	81,000	173,992	154,760
London Plus (Greater
London Volunteering)	-	-	-	750
City Bridge Trust
Cornerstone Fund	-	-	-	3,000
East London Business
Alliance (MOPAC)	10,000	-	10,000	22,000
Tower Hamlets GP Care
Group	-	-	-	6,000
Other Consultancy Income	2,625	-	2,625	118
Training and
Other Income	424	-	424	6,639
Total	£106,041	£81,000	£187,041	£193,267

Section 37 Statement: During the period, the grants receivable from LB Tower Hamlets were expended on various projects for the purposes for which they were given. Of the LB Tower Hamlets income of £154,760 recognised in 2021, £91,760 related to unrestricted funds and £63,000 to restricted funds. The remainder of the charitable activities income of £38,507 recognised in 2021 related to unrestricted funds of £34,757 and restricted funds of £3,750.

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

3. Cost of charitable activities

		Direct	Support	Total	Total
		Costs	Costs	2022	2021
Volunteering	services	£167,291	£14,946	£182,237	£210,010

Of the £182,237 (2021 - £210,010) expenditure recognised in 2022, £98,691 (2021 - £133,759) was charged to unrestricted funds and £83,546 (2021 - £76,251) was charged to restricted funds.

4. Analysis of direct costs

4.	Analysis of direct costs
		Total	Total
		2022	2021
		£	E
	Wages and salaries	162,188	177,632
	Activity costs	3,990	180
	Staffand volunteer training and recruitment	993	444
	Travel costs	116	201
	Volunteer expenses	4	45
		£167,291	£178,502
5.	Analysis of support costs
		Total	Total
		2022	2021
		E	a
	Office costs	4,933	4,579
	Premises costs	-	17,826
	IT support	3,165	2,261
	Computer and website costs	667	555
	Other costs	1,221	1,148
	Governance costs (note 6)	4,960	5,139
		£14,946	£31,508
6.	Governance costs
		Total	Total
		2022	2021
		£	£
	Audit and accountancy fees	1,680	1,722
	Accountancy fees	3,250	3,273
	AGM/Annual review	-	-
	Trustee meetings and training	30	144
		£4,960	£5,139

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

7. Net income/(expenditure)

The net income/(expenditure) for the year is stated after charging:

		2022	2021
	Auditors’ remuneration — Audit	£1,950	£2,220
	Operating lease rentals	ENil	£12,312
8.	Staff costs	2022	2021
		£	£
	Wages and salaries	147,711	161,387
	Social Security costs	8,845	10,948
	Pension Costs	5,632	5,297
		£162,188	£177,632

No employee received total employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) of more than £60,000 in either year.

The total employee benefits received by Key Management amounted to £55,107 (2021: £52,344). Under FRS 102, employee benefits include gross salary, employer’s NIC, employer’s pension contributions and benefits in kind.

The average number of employees during the period, calculated on the basis of full time equivalents was 3.7 (2021: 4.2). The average monthly number of employees was 5.5 (2021: 6).

9.	Debtors	2022	2021
	Due within one year	£	£
	Prepayments	389	3,497
	Other Debtors	2,500	16,094
		£2,889	£19,591

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

10.	Creditors:	2022	2021
	Amounts falling due within one year:	z	E
	Deferred income	23,930	21,305
	Accruals	8,119	6,450
		£32,049	£27,755

All of the £21,305 deferred income brought forward from 30 September 2021 was released to income in the year ended 30 September 2022. Deferred income relates to funding received but for which the performance conditions will be met in the next accounting period.

11. Analysis of net assets between funds

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	£	£	£
Current assets	81,488	750	82,238
Current liabilities	(32,049)	-	(32,049)
At 30 September 2022	£49,439	£750	£50,189
Comparative information	for the analysis of net assets between funds is as follows:
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	£	£	£
Current assets	70,890	2,250	73,140
Current liabilities	(27,755)	-	(27,755)
At30September2021	£43,135	£2,250	£45,385

Comparative information for the analysis of net assets between funds is as follows:

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

12. Movement in funds

Movement in funds
	At			Transfers	At
	1 Oct	Incoming	Outgoing	between	30 Sept
Restricted Funds	2021			funds	2022
	£	£	e	£	z
LBTH- Infrastructure	-	81,000	(82,046)	1,046	-
Cornerstone	1,500	-	(1,500)	-	-
London Plus — laptops	750	-	-	-	750
Total restricted funds	2,250	81,000	(83,546)	1,046	750
Unrestricted funds
General funds	43,135	106,041	(98,691)	(1,046)	49,439
Total unrestricted funds	43,135	106,041	(98,691)	“	49,439
Totalfunds	£45,385	£187,041	£(182,237)	ENil	£50,189

A description of each restricted fund is given in the Trustees Annual Report, where relevant .

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VOLUNTEER CENTRE TOWER HAMLETS

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022

12. Movement in funds.../cont’d

Comparative information for the net movement in funds is as follows:

	At			Transfers	At
	1 Oct	Incoming	Outgoing	between	30 Sept
Restricted Funds	2020			funds	2021
	£	CS	£	£	E
LBTH- Infrastructure	-	63,000	(63,395)	395	-
Cornerstone	-	3,000	(1,500)	-	1,500
London Plus — laptops	-	750	-	-	750
CBT/LF— Covid 19	1,280	-	(1,365)	85	.
National Lottery —A4A	9,991	-	(9,991)	-	-
Total restricted funds	11,271	66,750	(76,251)	480	2,250
Unrestricted funds
General funds	50,857	126,517	(133,759)	(480)	43,135
Total unrestricted funds	50,857	126,517	(133,759)	(480)	43,135
Totalfunds	£62,128	£193,267	£(210,010)	ENil	£45,385

13. Taxation

As a registered charity, Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets is not liable to tax on its charitable activities.

14. Related Party Transactions

Trustee meeting refreshments and training costs amounting to £30 (2021: £144) were paid on behalf of 6 (2021 : 6) trustees.

The trustees received no remuneration in 2022 or 2021.

There were no other related party transactions in 2022 or 2021.

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