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← Rape Crisis Tyneside And Northumberland

2024-03-31-accounts

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

A company limited by guarantee

TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31 March 2024

Charity number 1138149

Company number 07285969

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Contents Page
Trustees’ annual report 1 – 32
Independent auditor’s report 33 – 36
Statement of financial activities (including income and 37
expenditure account)
Balance sheet 38
Cash flow statement 39
Notes to the financial statements 40 – 50

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

The trustees are pleased to present their annual Directors’ report together with financial statements of the charity for the year ending 31 March 2024 which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a Directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act purposes. These financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, RCTN’s Memorandum and Articles of Association; and the document ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)’.

Chair’s Report

It is my privilege to introduce the 2023/24 annual report. This has been a year of stabilisation after a period of growth for Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland. We have successfully attracted resources to maintain our face-to-face and Helpline & Email Support Services and exceed expectations on numbers of women worked with.

This year, we worked with 1308 women and girls, 33% more compared to 22-23. We saw a 9% increase in referrals compared to 22-23 too, with 100% of the women and girls satisfied with our services. Our biggest increase in referrals came for counselling, up 16%, and Helpline and Email Support, up 26%.

We have put in place the vital invisible scaffolding that enables us to function well. We have expanded our administration team to help deal with the increase in finance and office-based duties. We have also successfully recruited for a Clinical Case Manager and Counselling Operations Managers for our Counselling Service. We have also recruited many more volunteers to help ensure the Helpline & Email Support Service can always go ahead with peer support available on every shift.

Our community fundraising team have instrumental in raising levels of unrestricted income that can be used to fund our vital services. This dedicated group of women volunteers have arranged various fundraising events from DJ events to the Three Peaks Challenge!

This year, we made a commitment to working towards being an anti-racist organisation. We started by signing an anti-racism charter, developing an anti-racism statement for our website and have plans to undertake an organisation review to support an anti-racism action plan. We know how vital it is that all our activities support, include and reflect diversity, if we are truly to represent the needs of all women and girls.

Our influencing work remains a crucial pillar of our work and has paid off this year! We worked with sister organisations to shine a light on the inappropriate use of women’s private counselling notes in sexual violence cases by police and the criminal justice system as a whole. The new Victims and Prisoners Bill will now raise the legal threshold for police requests for rape survivors’ counselling notes. We have put policy into practice too, by leading on the design and regional roll out of a new ‘third party information request’ template for police to use when making requests for sensitive information. These policy and practice changes are a step

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TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

in the right direction towards dismantling the criminal justice system’s focus on investigating victims’ perceived credibility rather than the actions of the suspect.

Another highlight in 23-24, is our successful challenge of public attitudes towards sexual harassment in public spaces. #ItAllAddsUp was launched in September 2023, documenting the wide-ranging impact of sexual harassment on women and girls from a range of backgrounds and experiences. The campaign, developed in collaboration with women and girls, our RCTN activists and Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioners Office, reached 50,000 people. Watch out for the next phase of this campaign and other campaigns plans we have for 24-25!

Once again, we have achieved much this year, despite a challenging environment that we work in: court delays, waiting lists and dealing with a broken criminal justice system. As we look ahead to 24-25, we are preparing for the uncertainty that comes with a general election, when much of our key government funding comes to an end. There has never been a more important time to influence policy makers of the importance of women only sexual violence services so we continue to be there for women and girls.

Thank you to the skills, knowledge and dedication of our volunteer and staff team, and Board of Trustees. We know how much you do, sometimes in very challenging circumstances.

Anne Fry, Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Objectives and Activities Purpose

Vision

Mission

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RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Objectives

Direct Services Activity

Our Services

Our services are for women and girls over 13 who have experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives. We are completely independent of the criminal justice system including the police. We offer confidential counselling, advocacy, helpline, email support, group work and specialist advice and guidance. We are here for all women including, but not limited to, women who identify as Lesbian, Bi, Trans and/or Questioning; Black and Minoritised women, Refugee women; and disabled women. Our definition of women-only includes Trans-women and non-binary people who identify that women’s services are right for them.

Counselling

Rape Crisis Tyneside & Northumberland (RCTN) currently employs 13 counsellors and over 8.5 full time equivalents. All counsellors are BACP accredited or working towards it. RCTN also holds British Accreditation for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) organisational accreditation, which is reviewed on an annual basis. We also adhere to Rape Crisis National Service Standards. We work across all six local authorities spanning the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner area including, Sunderland, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland. Our counsellors work in over twelve outreach bases, and at our central base in Newcastle, offering: face-to-face, on-line and via telephone one-to-one sessions.

Our counselling service offers survivors up to twenty trauma-informed therapeutic sexual violence counselling sessions, including pre-trial therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EDMR). EMDR helps individual’s process traumatic memories and reduce their emotional intensity. This can lead to a significant reduction in symptoms such as intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and flashbacks. EMDR can be integrated into other therapeutic models or used as a complementary approach alongside therapies. This flexibility allows therapists to tailor treatment to the unique needs of each individual, ensuring a comprehensive and personalised model of therapy. We currently have five counsellors practising’s EMDR therapy.

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TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Pre-trial therapy works to help woman and girls maintain engagement in the criminal justice process while still using person centred and trauma-informed therapeutic counselling.

We work with diverse communities including universities, women leaving prisons and within a refuge. RCTN works with interpreters and supports clients to access sessions with client access funding.

Many women who have accessed therapy tell us it helps them to take away the shame, stigma and self-blame they feel. They come to understand the way in which trauma-responses occur, giving some rationality to responses made at the time they experienced sexual violence.

Our approach recognizes and responds to the impact of trauma, whilst also focusing on the individual's strengths and addressing their unique needs. Trauma-informed process creates a safe and trusting therapeutic environment. A strengths-based approach focuses on identifying and building upon the individual's inherent strengths and capabilities. This can promote a sense of empowerment, helping them recognize their resilience and ability to navigate challenges.

Recognizing the diverse needs of our clients, we offer a range evening appointments, accommodating individuals with busy schedules or those who prefer sessions outside standard working hours. This flexibility has enhanced engagement and participation in the counselling process. As we continue to see the impact of cost of living crisis we have also ensured clients have access to resources to travel to their counselling appointments through taxi or public transport.

We continue to use our services outreach bases within communities, fostering a safe and familiar environment for survivors to seek support. By bringing counselling services closer to those in need, we've broken down barriers to access and strengthening community bonds and referral pathways. We also actively seek feedback from clients through evaluation forms, allowing us to tailor our services to their evolving needs and preferences. This commitment to client feedback ensures that our services remain effective and relevant.

Investing in our counsellors’ professional development, we allocated a training budget to enhance their skills and expertise. By staying abreast of the latest therapeutic techniques and best practices, our counsellors are better equipped to provide comprehensive and effective support to survivors.

Challenges, Opportunities & Plans

We have consistently maintained a large waiting list over the past 12 months. Although this varies slightly from local authority to local authority area, we know that there is still a big demand for our service. In order to support clients on the waiting list, we ensure women are contacted by a qualified counsellor within three months of waiting. The counsellors offer a thirty minute welfare check in at this point. Clients are also given an opportunity to update us

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

on any information we need to know and we can signpost them to other services if they have varied support needs.

As a service, we operate within larger systems of care, including healthcare, social services, law enforcement, and legal systems. As austerity continues to affects statutory services, the impact can be seen on our clients who present with more complex issues, due to additional social care and medical support needs that often go unmet. We support women to access a range of our services including signposting to our Practical and Emotional Support Service.

We now see clients face to face in our Sunderland outreach base weekly. This is an opportunity to strengthen connections in this community and spread our reach across Wearside.

We continue to develop and improve our data integrity to ensure we can demonstrate the impact our service makes. These improvements will also help us better analyse where any gaps in provisions may be and how we can best meet the need of the clients. An example of this, is our analysis of appointment time request and adjusting what we offer accordingly. In response, we recently advertised for post to include evening sessions as we know there is a demand for these appointment times.

Counselling Case Study

Area lives in & Ward in known: Gateshead

Age: 17

How were they referred to service: NHS Mental Health referral

Client history:

Significant Childhood Sexual Abuse from a family member and emotionally abusive family life . The client’s family is religious. She feels ostracized because she does not believe few aspects of the religion. Her parents separated a year ago. The client and her sister lives with her mother and brother lives with his dad.

Key presenting issues: Anxiety, Shame, Guilt. Client stated feeling not safe and fearful all the time. Client stated that she finds it difficult to manage her feelings and feels overwhelmed most of the time.

How often client accessed counselling: Once a week

Number of sessions during this period (of the case study): 12

Method of delivery: Face to face and online

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Therapeutic Process involved :

I contacted the client via phone to offer her referral meeting in Gateshead. The client was accompanied by her mother for the referral meeting. Referral forms were completed and I explained the contract and confidentiality to the client. It was agreed that client will come every week after her school to Gateshead base.

During the referral meeting, the client stated that she was raped by a boy who two years older than her and stated was feeling anxious after that. In the second session, the client disclosed that she was raped by her brother on two occasions when she was 11 years old and he was 14 years old.

In the initial stage of the therapy, we explored the clients’ feelings and her relationship with her family which included her parents, grandparents and cousins. The client came from a close knit family who follow Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. The client stated she was very much a part of religious group growing up but in her teenage years, she started seeing contradictions in the behaviours of religious members of her family and decided she does not want to part of it. She was discriminated and ostracized by her grandparents and rest of the group members because of this. The client stated she was hurt by it.

Validation of difficult emotions, breathing techniques, and Mindful body scanning, creative methods were used. Reality check was done while challenging unhelpful script messages .

Key Outcomes: The client stated feeling less anxious and happier within herself. She felt confidant to end the therapeutic process all together, when options were offered to her for university. The client stated she does not feel guilty or shameful about the rape any more.

Feedback from Client: “ I can focus on my future now. I never thought I will feel different before having counselling with RCTN”.

Practical & Emotional Support Service: (P & E Service)

Clients referred to our P&E service receive holistic advocacy through a single point of contact, We comply with the Ministry of Justice’s expectations of an Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVA’s) remit – see below. ISVA’s are professionals who co-produce specialised support to people who have experienced sexual violence, regardless of whether they have reported or not. This includes practical and emotional assistance, liaising with the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and other professionals, offering impartial information on their rights and options to their clients who can then make informed choices. ISVA’s play a crucial role in upholding a client’s rights and/or accessing them.

Essential Elements as defined by the MOJ:

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Operation Soteria identified that many ISVA services do not undertake all the essential elements unlike RCTN, which does.

Challenges, Opportunities & Plans

We are committed to reducing barriers to access for marginalized communities, people experiencing complex issues and with intersecting needs. We show our commitment by employing specialist roles to meet the needs of the communities we serve, including:

We deliberately work with lower caseloads to ensure the quality of our work. Working in this way ensures more people, who may not have previously been able to access criminal justice or sexual violence support, get the help they need. The holistic support gives a higher chance of clients being able cope and recover from their experiences. This is in stark contrast to some women’s previous experiences of accessing help, where women have often been retraumatised by the reporting process.

We have worked hard this year to continue to make the website and resources more accessible for people with hearing/visual impairments, neuro-diverse conditions, and literacy issues, including animations explaining rights and processes. Over a third of our referrals come from self-referrals this year, demonstrating our success in making our service accessible to clients.

We have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of people on the waiting list due to the expansion of the team. We support people on the waiting list to ensure that any immediate needs they have and/or risks are addressed.

We have serious concerns that a light touch, high case load model that focusses only on retaining a survivor in an investigation, have a higher chance of being funded in the long term, despite the ultimate cost to taxpayers (as people require more statutory services for longer) and the devastating impact on survivors lives. We will continue to advocate the success of our model.

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Our ISVA’s are managing increasingly high levels of risk due to the complex nature of the issues clients bring. ‘Positive’ criminal justice system outcomes are extremely low, and our ISVA’s are often the bearer of bad news. As a result of these elements, our ISVAs at are extremely high risk of vicarious trauma and burn-out. RCTN has robust processes in place to support ISVA’s including regular clinical supervision, line management supervision, 1-2-1’s and case management support, as well as organisation and team away days and social events. We have also developed a Safeguarding Report that is shared with Board so we can understand and assess the organisation risks associated with clients with safeguarding concerns. In 24-25, we intend to create a Safeguarding Good Practice Group to support peer learning between staff and services at RCTN.

Case Study

Rhiannon (45) was referred to P&E by her GP. A survivor of Child Sexual Abuse, Rhiannon, now in her 40s, was experiencing trauma worse than before, as soon as she shut her eyes. She told us: “It was happening all over again”. Rhiannon had been awarded £10K by CICA for the period of assault when she was 15 years old. Her ISVA recognised that Rhiannon had grounds to apply for a medical reopening of her CICA claim. With her ISVA’s support, Rhiannon found a solicitor who is processing her CICA claim. Due to her poor physical and mental health, Rhiannon was in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Her ISVA recognised that Rhiannon was on the wrong rate and advised her to initiate a PIP Review. Her ISVA supported Rhiannon with her PIP Review, and the Mandatory Reconsideration, which resulted in Rhiannon being awarded the highest level for daily living and mobility. Rhiannon received £1,500 in back payment and her weekly PIP award increased from £128.65 to £172.75. Rhiannon was experiencing harassment by her son due to his substance use. Her ISVA referred Rhiannon to the Centre for Domestic Violence and supported her through the process to obtain a Non-molestation Order against him.

Group Work

In 23-24, we have continued to employ a part-time Group Worker to deliver specialist eightstranded group for women survivors of sexual violence including:

Creatively with Trauma Peer Support Core Group : This 8 week group focuses on relevant psychoeducation and group discussion. This includes common and group specific consequences of sexual violence. The consequences include flashbacks, different brain response to trauma and internalised sexual violence myths. The group aims to improve women survivors’ wellbeing and tackle social isolation. A peer space, the group practice creative means of wellbeing including, art, craft, creative writing mindfulness and movement.

Trauma-sensitive Mindfulness Group: This 6 week group teaches a variety of Mindfulness techniques and skills to support clients. The group focuses on Self-Compassion, dealing with overwhelming emotions, connecting safely to our senses, improving mood, and body-mind connectedness. Mindfulness has a growing evidence base showing how it can improve wellbeing, reduce harmful coping strategies and manage pain. The group offers a peer supportive space to learn and develop a Mindfulness Practice that clients can use well after

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TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

the 6-week group is completed. This group has been co-designed by RCTN, Mindful Therapies and RCTN clients.

Online Self-Care Group : At the start of the pandemic, we quickly designed an Online Survivors Self-Care Group. This four-week group is held via zoom and has developed over the past three years. Some clients prefer online support, particularly those who have high levels of social isolation, feel very nervous about group or are housebound due to physical and/ or emotional abilities. The group is activity based so as to support those who have social anxiety to engage. We focus on self-compassion, challenging our inner-critic, boundaries as self-care, self-reflection and the future. We use creative methods to improve mood and create an opportunity for discussion. This can involve outside of session creative projects also.

Somatic Trauma Informed Movement Group : This four-week group offer a combination of psychoeducation and movement to support our client’s process trauma and gain peer support. Sexual Violence is a physical trauma happening to our bodies. There is growing evidence that in addition to talking therapeutic interventions movement can support processing this trauma. In our Somatic (movement) group, we teach and practice how being connected to our bodies through movement can help us to regulate our nervous systems. This can support both physical and mental wellbeing. This group has been co-designed by RCTN and a Trauma Yoga Practitioner.

Before, during and after all of our groups clients are also supported in a 1-1 basis, women will recognise their own assets and abilities, and develop self-care tools and strategies to maintain health and wellbeing. This will involve up to 3 individual support sessions.

Ongoing Monthly Peer Support Space: This group has been running since 2015 and was a swift response from our growing feedback that an ongoing peer space is needed after a weekly group has been completed. This space offers peer relationships to grow in a safe, facilitated space. It responds to ongoing trigger and distressing life events for our clients and ensures there is a creative space for client to have ongoing discussions and support around the knowledge and skills learnt through our groups.

Empowerment Workshops: These workshops are designed to grow RCTN’s reach and build stronger referral pathways between our communities and services. The workshops provide basis information on sexual violence and consent, as well as some wellbeing activities. In addition, we provide knowledge of RCTN and related services for women and relevant services staff.

Day Retreats: The group work service provides around three day retreats per year to all suitable RCTN clients. These retreats focuses on wellbeing and peer support. They have included. Mindfulness Retreats, Clay Work, Labyrinth Walks, and Arial Pilates.

Training : This offers skills and support for local practitioners who could use Mindfulness as a technique to support their clients. We also train RTCN volunteers to support our Group Work

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Service. The volunteers will go on to become co-facilitators and work alongside the group worker. In 2023, our Group Worker was invited to present at the annual conference of Rape Crisis England and Wales (RCEW). RCEW represents thirty nine Rape Crisis Centres and this invitation to showcase our group work and train others rape crisis centres was a privilege and testament to our pioneering service.

Case Study 1

Trauma Informed Mindfulness Day Retreat

This event was the first of its kind for RTCN. It was open to all open RCTN clients with the support and referral of their 1-2-1 worker. It was great to see referrals from P&E Counselling and Group Work. There were 8 spaces for this event and it was fully booked. During the retreat clients were taught simple Mindfulness techniques based around the theme “Self Kindness through Connecting to Nature”. The techniques were very versatile to be standalone practices but were also designed to build upon the skills and practice of clients who were already using Mindfulness as part of their self-care. Nature was explored as a way to connect mindfully to the present. We also gave simple techniques and resources to use after the day. This event was a great opportunity for some clients to get a trauma informed and safe introduction to Mindfulness and also have an insight into our group work spaces.

Techniques from training were incorporated into the day such as Walking and Talking and Trauma Informed Mindfulness. Since this day, we have used the same format to hold other one off workshops for clients including two Ariel Pilates workshops. Here are some of the comments from the day;

[The day] allowed me to gather my thoughts in a productive way and taught me ways to focus my thoughts to process simple things.

[it] allowed me to understand myself more.

I found the mindfulness walk helpful as it allowed me to take time to take in my surroundings and breathe.

I found it very relaxing and made a connection with our people there and generally had a really enjoyable time with the group.

Case Study 2: Group Work

Background to referral/presenting issues: Willow was referred by Victims First Northumbria. She had reported rape by a stranger at a nightclub. The Crown Prosecution Service were able to prosecute but there was a non-guilty verdict delivered. During her pregroup appointment, Willow also disclosed she had experienced childhood sexual abuse from her uncle. Willow was very anxious and explained she had very few friends. Her sister and mother struggled to believe her account of rape. She was also recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia and was unable to work. Willow rarely left the house. She stated that she was expecting to be engaged soon and was concerned her partner was taking on too much and she couldn’t offer what she wanted to in her relationship.

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Group Work: Willow has attended group work support through 2023 and into 2024. She first attended our Trauma Informed Mindfulness Group. This gave her practical skills to improve her well-being particularly around her self-esteem and the overwhelming anger she is experiencing at the verdict to her most recent assault and her perceived failure to disclose her childhood abuse until years later. Willow has also attended a day retreat of Mindfulness where techniques were taught around mindful movement as a pain management strategy. Willow stated this was something that really benefited her. Willow has gone on to regularly attend our Monthly Ongoing Peer Support Group, where she has made strong connections with other women. In one particular session, she explored her feelings around the online Trolling she was experiencing and stated she felt significantly better about this experience as a result of her engagement with RCTN.

Key outcomes: Willow has explained she has grown in confidence since joining RCTN groups. She is now accessing pain management clinics and is exploring further support and volunteer roles in other services. She stated being validated in her experiences and feels reduced shame and guilt about not disclosing abuse sooner. Willow has stated her relationship is very joyful and she feels able to maintain this. Willow has decided to put in clearer boundaries with her mother and sister and has reduced guilt around her choosing no contact with her father. She has also stated that meeting other women who have similar life experiences has given her validation in choosing to be child-free.

Helpline & Email Support Service

Our local Helpline and Email Support service is free and confidential. The services are staffed by trained women volunteers who listen and support women and girls.

The primary purpose of the Helpline & Email Support service is to provide anonymous listening and emotional support for women and girls.

Through this service we also provide:

We usually offer up to 50 minutes of support to each caller. Our email support uses a specialist system that anonymises email addresses. This means women and girls have control over if and when they tell us who they are.

Our Helpline and Email Support services also provides support and information to supporters such as partners, relatives, friends, carers and other workers.

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We commissioned an External Evaluation of our Helpline in July 2023. The External Evaluation identified that:

“The Helpline has the lowest barriers to access of all local support” External Helpline Evaluation, July 2023.

The External Evaluation also identified that complexity has increased, with a “dramatic increase” in co-presenting need relating to mental health and suicide ideation. Our Helpline & Volunteer Coordinator continues to support our Helpline & Email Support Volunteer Team to respond to these complex needs.

Finally, the External Evaluation identified that our Helpline & Email Support “service is strong, with many examples of sector good practice in place.”

We plan to continue to offer our specialist sexual violence helpline for women and girls from the Tyne & Wear and Northumberland areas, the need is increasing:

Case Study – Anonymous

A woman in her 50s, used the Helpline and Email Support service for 6 months. The woman is White British, identified as Straight and has a Physical Disability. She shared with us that she had experienced rape over a year ago as well as other forms of sexual violence.

During her use of the Helpline Service, she accessed emotional support over the phone and via email.

She explored her ability to emotionally regulate, coping mechanisms and feelings of isolation.

As a result of using our Helpline & Email Support Service, we were able to identify a positive change for this woman in the following areas:

Quotes – helpline & Email Support

“Sometimes I just need to get it all out, thank you for listening to my horrible stories.”

“Thank you for being there and hearing my voice when going through a flashback.”

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“Thank you, it's good to know you're there for support. Thank you for not being judgemental.”

“You gave me space to be distressed without panicking, the helpline is a safe space for me to talk.”

“Things feel less intense after talking to you.”

“Talking and being present meant I managed to eat and not dissociate.”

“Thank you for not freaking out when I talk about DID and listening.”

“My brain feels more organised after speaking to you.”

"Really appreciate your time and it's really helped to be believed."

"I feel less stressed now after talking to you."

Volunteers

Our volunteers are vital to what we are able to achieve. During 2023/24, 64 women volunteered their time across a range of activities, lots of women are active in multiple roles.

In addition to the 64 women who were active in our volunteer team, 11 women volunteered their time to support our work through being part of the Board of Trustees.

Our Helpline & Email Support Service is delivered by volunteers, 40 women have been active in this role this year. Our experienced Helpline and Email Support Volunteers are an important part of our team, they not only provide vital support to women and girls but also contribute to the induction training, support and mentoring new volunteers during the induction period.

We trained 15 new Helpline Volunteers this year, they have been an important part of enabling us to ensure consistent offer of Helpline & Email Support throughout the year.

Volunteers support with the delivery of our Group work, 6 women have been active in this role this year. Volunteers have supported in the delivery of a range of Groups, there is more information about our Group Work in the relevant section of this document.

Our Activists work together to raise awareness of our services for women and girls and offer messages of solidarity. They also aim to increase public knowledge of the nature and prevalence of sexual violence and challenge rape culture. Our Activists lead on a range of campaign development and delivery, 17 women have been involved in this role this year.

This year they secured funding from Rosa, Voices from the Frontline to enable to develop a new campaign. Our new campaign will run in 2024 and will aim to raise awareness of and challenge the hierarchy of victimhood and how it can impact survivors.

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We are confident in our Activists’ ability to represent us in a range of settings. They ensure our presence at community events such as the Mela and Pride. Our Activists have been key in the successful development of our social media platforms, mentoring each other to ensure consistent messaging, and speaking with our collective voice.

We rely on statutory funders and charitable foundations but we also need to increase our income through public support, to provide vital services for women and girls in the local area. Our Community Fundraising Volunteers work together to generate public donations and organise fundraising initiatives and events.

This year we have organised and supported a wide range of fundraising activities, these have included; quiz nights, DJ events, a Swimathon, and our Power to the Women Conference. We had 8 women active in the Community Fundraising Role this year.

We would not be able to achieve all that we do without the support of our skilled, experienced and dedicated team of volunteers. Their commitment to women and girls and to our organisation is truly inspiring.

“RCTN is an organisation I am very proud to be a part of. I feel that I am a valued and respected member of the team.”

“I like the positive, transparent and caring culture that has been created within the volunteer team.”

“I look forward every time to my volunteering slot as I know that I will have supportive staff around me and I will make my skills and what I learnt into use in helping women who call the helpline!”

“Volunteering with RCTN has made me feel incredibly accomplished and a continuing sense of empowerment.”

“I always feel supported within my volunteer role and by doing this role I have been able to develop skills to further my professional career but also my own personal reflection.”

“I use the skills I've developed on the helpline to hugely improve professionally and personally.”

“I love RCTN, it is a privilege to volunteer and I am honoured to represent the organisation.”

Analysing Public Benefit Purpose

1: Relieving the emotional, psychological and/or physical distress of women and girls who have experienced sexual violence RCTN supports women and girls to deal with the impact of sexual violence.

Sexual violence is a broad term which includes; rape, sexual assault by penetration, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and image-based sexual violence.

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Client Satisfaction in our Services

Women continue to be satisfied with our services.

% Satisfied
23-24		 % Satisfied
22-23		 % Satisfied
21 -22
100% 88% 91%

Referrals

During 2023/24, RCTN received 895 unique referrals, an increase of 9% on last year’s figures.

No of Referrals
23-24		 No of Referrals
22-23		 No of Referrals
21-22
895 818 806

Sources of Referrals

Referrals are up 9% compared to the previous year. Professional referrals have increased by 15% and proxy referrals have increased by 27%. Self-referrals remain our second biggest referral type demonstrating how well we are embedded within the local communities we serve.

Referral Source No of
Referrals
23-24
No of
Referrals
22-23		 No of
Referrals
21-22
Professional 532
461		 481
Proxy 19
15		 12
Self 344
342		 313
Internal
Referrals*		 133

*Internal referrals only started to be captured from 23/24 .

Professional Referrals

Our top three referrals sources of professional referrals are: 1) Voluntary Sector 2) Police, Sexual Assault Referral Centres and Victim First Northumbria Third Sector and 3) Education & Health. This fairly consistent with the previous year.

Health referrals have gone up significantly from the previous year, by 43%, followed by local authority which is up by 31%, then education, up by 13%

15

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Referral Source No of
Referrals
23-24
No of
Referrals
22-23		 No of
Referrals
21-22
Health 96
67		 63
Education 95
83		 83
Police/SARC/VFN 162
144		 207
VoluntarySector 118
108		 95
Local Authority 42
32		 19
Other 19
27		 14
Total 532
461		 481

Please note the number of referrals recorded is based on the number of unique individuals referred rather than including where a woman is referred to more than one service.

Referrals to Face to Face Services

Often a woman might be referred to more than one service.

Across our face-to face services, counselling has seen a 16% increase in referrals compared to previous year. P& E & Group work are down, -11% and -3% retrospectively.

Referrals to Other Services/Information

Helpline & Email Support seen a 26% increase in referrals compared to 22-23. Some of this might relate to the fact that the Helpline has been consistently open throughout the year. This was not the case in 22-23 due to operational challenges because of a vacancy for the Volunteer Co-ordinator role. There has been a -67% reduction in information and advice. We have made significant improvements to our website and have a strong social media presence, which have proved popular ways of knowing about our services. Our service user involvement group told us website was often the first source of information, advice and guidance.

23/24
22/23		 21/22
Face to Face
Services		 Referrals
P & E 286
323		 345
Counselling 790
682		 734
GroupWork 145
149		 111
Total 1221
1154		 1190

16

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

23/24
22/23		 21/22
Other Services Referrals
Helpline & Email
Support Services		 249
197		 161
Advice &
Guidance		 43
129		 137
Other 44
46		 37
Total 336
372		 335

No of Sessions Delivered

Counselling

We delivered 5905 sessions in 23-24. There has been a 22% increase in the number of sessions delivered to women and girls compared to last year. Face-to-face sees the biggest increase in sessions (+22%), followed by telephone (+19%), then online (+6%).

No of Sessions
Attended		 23/24
22/23		 21/22
Face-to-face 3488
2853		 2046
Online/video 897
844		 554
Telephone 1520
1275		 1088
Total 5905
4972		 3688

P & E Service

We delivered 4351 sessions and other types of contact in 23-24. There has been a +38% increase in the number of sessions and other types of contact delivered to women and girls compared to last year. There has been an increase, in particular, for face-to-face (+58%), text/email (+35%) and down for online (-19%) for telephone contact (-3%), compared to last year.

No of Sessions
Attended		 23/24
22/23		 21/22
Face-to-face 243
154		 107
Online/video 17
21		 42
Telephone 1012
1046		 944
Text/Email 2380
1767		 1292
Other 699
193		 290
Total 4351
3181		 2675

17

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Group Work Service

We delivered 43 group work and 269 1-2-1 sessions in 23-24. There has been a -28% decrease in the number of sessions delivered to women and girls compared to last year. We employed an additional worker for some of 22-23 which accounts for some of the difference between years. Group work is a valuable service and we are committed to its sustainability.

No of Sessions
Attended		 23/24
22/23		 21/22
Total Groupsessions 43
60		 39
Face-to-face 32
49		 12
Online/video 11
11		 54
Other – e.g. 1-2-1’s 269
92		 105

Helpline & Email Support Service

The number of calls and emails from women has up significantly (+80% and +55% respectively). We are proud to report that not a single helpline and email support session was cancelled which has enabled us to respond to the demand for the service.

No of Calls/Emails
Received		 23/24
22/23		 21/22
Number of calls
received including silent
&phone downs		 931
518		 665
Number of emails
received from women		 654
421		 790
Number of emails
received from women		 620
405		 810

Numbers of Women We Worked With

We worked with of 1308 unique individual women this year, up 32%.

We also see an increase of number of women seen when looking at services individually. We see an increase of +13% Groups work, +29% Counselling and + 39% P & E Service. We worked with +21% more women on the Helpline. We have improved our data integrity, particularly for counselling to ensure accurate reporting.

18

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

23/24
22/23		 21/22
Services (Tyneside &
Grace)		 No of
Women
No of
Women		 No of
Women
P & E 368
265		 250
Counselling 703
543		 469
GroupWork 70
62		 41
HESS - Phone & Emails 264
219		 352
Total 1405
1089		 1112

Below shows the number of additional contacts we make with women or girls who get in touch with us. These include information, advice and guidance and pre-referrals, which is the first method of contact a woman has from RCTN. It is at this point that we offer choice to women in relation to the services they want to access, and obtain relevant information related to their needs and identities.

23/24
22/23		 21/22
Services (Tyneside &
Grace		 No of Other
Types of
Contact
No of Other
Types of
Contact		 No of Other
Types of
Contact
Information & Guidance 70
30		 44
Pre-referrals 643
558		 547

Outcomes

Face to Face Services

Of those women who completed our service impact questionnaires, we show, below, the number of women who felt they saw a % improvement, in particular outcome areas since working with us. We identify potential improvements in these areas by accessing women to complete a ‘before’ and ‘after’ questionnaire to help us assess the difference our services have made.

It is important to note that some women and girls do not have an identified issue related to certain outcome area and therefore may not identify an improvement in that area. An example of this is that a woman or girl may not show an improvement in “Feeling of safety”, if she did not have any issues relating to feeling unsafe when she began working with us.

19

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Women told us we made the following difference to them:

% improvement
% improvement		 % improvement
Outcome 23-24
22-23		 21-22
Health & Wellbeing 79%
81%		 28%
Informed & empowered to Act 76%
79%		 23%
Ability to cope 71%
74%		 19%
Safety 77%
76%		 19%
Criminal Justice System 53%
51%		 11%

Helpline & Email Support Outcomes

Due to the anonymous nature of the Helpline and Email Support services it is difficult to capture client-identified outcomes. We used an online feedback survey to gauge the impact of services. To negate the low numbers of responses to surveys, practitioner-identified impact which involves practitioners completing a survey based on their observed understanding of changes clients have made positively or negatively.

Our Helpline & Email Support Service has identified the following positive impacts have been made on the lives of the women that have used the Helpline service. Because this service is anonymous, the outcomes are identified by volunteers who have answered calls or responded to emails from women.

% improvement
% improvement		 % improvement
Outcome 23-24
22-23		 21-22
Health & Wellbeing 52%
62%		 35%
Informed & empowered to Act 21%
23%		 38%
Ability to cope 1%
15%		 21%
Safety 28%
27%		 14%

Purpose 2: Educating the public in the nature of sexual violence and its impact on women and girls Community Engagement and Public awareness raising.

We aim to raise awareness of our services and offer solidarity to women and girls who have experienced sexual violence. We also aim to communicate the true nature, impact, and prevalence of sexual violence to professionals and the public. We hope this will help create the transformational change in public attitudes that will bring about systemic change.

20

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

RCTN Campaigns: #ItAllAddsUp

In 2023, we launched our joint campaign, #ItAllAddsUp, in partnership with the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner. We shared the lived experiences of women and girls in the Northeast who have experienced public sexual harassment. The aim of the campaign was to shine a light on the inner thoughts of women and girls and the impacts of sexual harassment.

This campaign was aimed at men and boys to show them how their actions can have significant impacts on the lives of women. The campaign launched in July 2023, and we know that over 500,000 people saw the campaign between July and September 2023 via several online channels, the news, and our newsletter.

The campaign was granted more funding by the Home Office in late 2023, allowing us to continue the project in 2024 and 2025. Currently, we are at the beginning stage of this new round of funding, but we are excited to see what we can do with this to extend the longevity of the project.

RCTN Campaigns: Shout Up

Shout Up! campaigns to make our pubs, clubs, bars and venues sexual harassment-free zones, training staff to recognise and respond to sexual harassment.

Shout Up! was conceived by Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland and Crystallised. The development and ongoing roll-out of Shout Up! in Newcastle has been funded by Newcastle City Council since it was first launched in 2017.

Shout Up! requires venues to commit to:

Thanks to Newcastle Local Authority leading the way, we are now rolling out Shout-Up! nationally. Shout-Up! is delivered in Northamptonshire and Devon.

A key part of Shout Up! is our marketing and communications work. We must shout about the achievements of our venues and promote their commitment to creating Sexual Harassmentfree zones. Through this work, we also communicate the venue and wider city’s commitment to everyone’s safety when accessing our night-time economy.

Our National reach to date is 3,411,369 in 2023-2024

Our reach represents the number of hits or likes we have had from our social media.

21

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

The coverage has been in mainstream regional and national publications and direct to the public via social media. This year, we also saw additional coverage in trade publications for the hospitality sector.

I n Newcastle, over 3,300 venue staff have completed Shout-Up! training. We currently have 48 Venues & 5 Promoters Shout-Up! certified in Newcastle.

Shout-Up! Venues Said

“As a manager, it provided guidance on how to deal with situations and gave us the confidence on how to provide a safe environment for customers. I think if all bars took part in the course, then Newcastle would be a safer space to go out in .”

Jack Taylor, General Manager, Cosy Joes

“Being part of Shout-up! is important to us because we want everyone to have a good time and nobody made to feel uncomfortable.”

Amy Fielding, Deputy Manager, Flares

“Harry’s Bar are extremely proud to be a part of the Shout up! Campaign. We believe a safe and inclusive space should be at the core of any Hospitality venue. Working with Shout up! we’ve developed our harassment policy and implemented training to all staff with the intent to ensure no one feels unsafe or unwelcome at Harry’s.”

Graham Gibson, General Manager, Harry’s Bar

“Market Shaker has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment in our venue. We encourage every venue to complete their Shout-Up training to support a working environment and venue culture which stops any unacceptable behaviour like this from occurring.”

Aaron McKenna, Assistant Manager, Market Shaker

In 2023-2024 we trained 930 members of staff in the UK’s night-time economy, 783 of those were in Newcastle.

Learners Said:

“Excellent communication. Laying out the bare bones of the key items of discussion, as well as delving into more detail when relevant. Very accessible.”

“I’m better able to identify when and how to intervene in different situations.”

“Changes in practice, making sexual harassment policy tailored to us.”

“The trainers through years of experience show the utmost understanding. All situations and parties involved.”

“Incredibly informative and insightful. Engaging and relaxed, despite the nature of the content.”

“More confident in how to approach situations where I feel like I would second guess.”

“I feel it greatly improved my knowledge of what sexual harassment looks like.”

22

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

National Campaigns

Throughout the year, we made sure to support several organisations in their campaign work to elevate the voices and lived experiences of women and girls. We supported Rape Crisis England and Wales in their ‘Keep counselling confidential’ campaign, which was addressing the criminal justice system trying to access private counselling notes as evidence in sexual violence cases. We supported the campaign on our social media and in our newsletter.

In 2023, we saw an increase in the number of women being prosecuted for taking abortion tablets and subsequently being imprisoned. We believe that abortion medication is healthcare and women have a right to choose what they do with their bodies. When the headlines broke about a mother being sent to prison for taking the medication during Covid-19, our activists wrote a letter template which people could send to their MPs to raise awareness about this issue. We shared the letter on our social media, supporting the ‘Abortion is healthcare’ campaign.

We have also supported campaigns such as Justice for Gaia and recently supported their additional campaign called the ‘Gaia principle.’ The Gaia principle wants to make sure that incidents of sexual violence are thoroughly investigated and that officers investigate previous allegations of sexual violence which the alleged perpetrator has been accused of. We supported this campaign by sharing it online with our followers and asking them to send a supporting letter to their local MP.

Future Campaigns

In 2024 and 2025 we have some exciting campaigns such as our Rosa funded Activist campaign exploring the impact that women’s intersecting identities have on their ability to identify with the following terms; survivor, trauma, healing and recovery . We will also be working further on the #ItAllAddsUp campaign, in partnership with Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner again.

Community Fundraising

Achieving our mission would not have been possible without our fundraising supporters and volunteers who have organised and attended events, chosen us as their company charity, and taken on challenges. These community fundraising events help raise the profile of our charity with the wider public as well as bringing in money to fund important work.

This year we have generated donations and fundraising income through a wide variety of community fundraising activities including; DJ Nights, regular quiz events, encouraging regular and ad hoc donations, a Swimathon, and the sale of merchandise at public events and online. We have also benefitted from people choosing us to raise funds for, one of those people is Charlie.

23

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Charlie’s Story

In 2023, Charlie ran the Great North Run, completed the National 3 Peaks Challenge and jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft, to raise money for us. We are completely blown away by Charlie and her friends for their dedication to our cause. Charlie raised over £10,000 and we are so grateful to her for her energy, dedication and commitment.

Social Media

Our volunteer activists and communications worker have used social media to raise awareness of our services, which has been particularly important. We shared messaging that we were still there for women and girls and how our services have been adapted. Our activists also actively promoted key events and issues related to our work, practice or values.

For example, we:

Training

We deliver a range of ‘off the shelf’ and bespoke training for professionals from a range of sectors. This year, this has included training on Trauma and Disclosure for Newcastle University through to an awareness-raising workshop on the Prevalence of Sexual Violence for North Tyneside Rotary Service.

Networking, Representation and Forum work

RCTN participated in a range of external partner forums in both Tyneside and Northumberland and panels to raise awareness of our services, contribute towards policy and improve best practice locally, regionally and nationally.

Our Northumberland service has joined with other agencies working with women and girls in Northumberland, this is called the Lighthouse Partnership.

RCTN continues to develop our critical friendship with the Northumbria Police and Crown Prosecution Service (North East). We were invited by the Police and Crime Commissioner to contribute to the stakeholder interview process for the new Chief Constable for Northumbria Police.

Our Independent Sexual Violence Advocates also attend regular Regional CPS ISVA forums to feed into the processes and improve the experiences of clients who have had their cases referred to the CPS. We also sit on the CPS Domestic Violence Scrutiny Panel and CPS VAWG scrutiny panel. This year RCTN was invited to be part of the Operation Sorteria team reviewing practice at Northumbria Police.

24

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Whilst we are a critical friend of criminal justice agencies, we also work closely with the Centre for Women’s Justice to feed into legal challenges against the police and Crown Prosecution Service to fight against the numerous injustices women and girl survivors of sexual violence face. We attend regular National Independent Sexual Violence Advocate Service Lead meetings to contribute to and gain information on campaigns such as implementing robust consent forms for third party data disclosure when reporting crimes, to name one amongst many.

We also contribute to all the Home Office, Ministry Of Justice and Crown Prosecution Service consultations on new legislation and policies. We are conducting or supporting research that directly supports our clients (such as reasons why clients’ cases are not progressed for reasons of credibility, specific issues facing clients with different learning needs and barriers women and girls in rural areas face accessing services) the finding of which will be shared throughout our national networks.

Plans for the future

In 2024/25, we will see RCTN continue our work to support women and girls to be free from the impact and threat of sexual violence. Because of the significant demand and increased waiting times, RCTN will be focusing efforts on how we can continue to respond to the demands for our services and maintain our resilience, in a competitive funding market.

In 2024/25, a key focus will be on: i) organisation development so our people, processes and systems are working most effectively and efficiently for the benefit of the women and girls we serve ii) financial resilience so our financial model, income generation strategies and resource development enables us to exist into the future. In particular, we will focus on:

Reference and Administrative Details

Registered Company number: 07285969 (England and Wales) Registered Charity number: 1138149 Registered office: c/o Accounting for Good 2 Geordie Ridley Place Upper Precinct, Wesley Court Blaydon-on-Tyne, NE1 5BT

25

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Directors and trustees

The directors of the charitable company are its trustees for the purpose of charity law. The trustees and officers serving during the year and since the year end were as follows:

Trustees:

  1. Ellena Rogerson Co-Treasurer 2. Jayne Carrick Co-Treasurer 3. Nikki Godden-Rasul resigned 27/11/23 4. Rebecca Haynes resigned 25/05/23

  2. Stephanie Remfry

  3. Roiya Hodgson

  4. Catherine Wheatley Vice Chair, resigned 03/06/24

  5. Anne Fry Chair

  6. Sara Chezari Appointed 22/05/23

  7. Claire Dosdale Appointed 25/03/24

Others: Chief Executive Officer: Sue Pearce Deputy Chief Executive Officer: Sam Jones Key Finance Officer: Safina Siddique

Auditor Read, Milburn & Co 71 Howard Street North Shields, NE30 1AF Investment advisors Cascade Holdings England and Wales Company registration 09212233

St James’s Place 1 Tetbury Road Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1FP Bankers: National Westminster Bank Plc Newcastle upon Tyne

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland (RCTN) was set up as a charity on 17th November 1978 under the name of Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre, registration number 508177. The organisation is now a charity and a company limited by guarantee defined by the Companies

26

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Act 2006. It was incorporated as a company and registered as a charity on 16th June 2010 and the changes were formally adopted by the organisation on 1st January 2011. The charity name was changed with the Charities Commission on 28th January 2013 and adopted from 1st April 2013. RCTN also uses the names Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre and Grace, Northumberland Rape Crisis.

RCTN operates under a Memorandum of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. In the event of the company being wound up Members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

The organisation is governed by its trustees who are also the only Members of the organisation. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Board may consist of between three and twelve trustees. This year there were ten trustees. All trustees are female. The Board meets around eleven times a year. A Finance sub-group consisting of the Co-Treasurers, staff and the external Accountant who meet quarterly to review the Management Accounts. The Board delegates day-to-day management of the organisation to the CEO and Deputy CEO. RCTN holds regular strategy days which trustees and staff attend.

Appointment of trustees

There is no limit to the time that a trustee may serve with the organisation; however one-third of the trustees must retire at each AGM with the longest-serving retiring first. All trustees give their time voluntarily and are not allowed to receive any material benefit from the charity. Trustees are however able to claim reasonable out of pocket expenses. The trustees are responsible for selecting a Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer.

Trustees’ induction and training

A recruitment, training and induction procedure is in place to support new trustees. When an expression of interest to join the Board is received, this is followed through by the CEO who arranges an informal pre-meeting. References are taken up and discussions/decisions about the nomination to the Board are discussed and approved at a quorate Board meeting.

All trustees receive an induction into the values and services of RCTN, sexual violence issues, their duties, roles, responsibilities and liabilities as a trustee and key policies. RCTN has a trustee induction checklist and each new trustee is allocated a mentor trustee to support them through the induction process. A trustee role description is issued to all new trustees outlining the duties, roles, responsibilities and liabilities each trustee faces. Role descriptions are in place for the Chair, Treasurer and Company Secretary.

All trustees are required to undertake training on a range of issues such as on equality and diversity issues; child and adult safeguarding; roles and responsibilities of trustees and sexual violence issues. Training opportunities are highlighted at Board meetings including opportunities to attend conferences/workshops. Trustees are also responsible for identifying their own training and development needs and for recording all training they attend.

27

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Related parties and co-operation with other organisations

RCTN is a member of Rape Crisis England and Wales (RCEW) and adheres to the RCEW National Service Standards. We participate in Rape Crisis North East regional meetings to share best practice and feedback via our local representative to the national body. We have a CIO in partnership with other North East Rape Crisis Centres.

Pay policy for senior staff

The trustees set the pay of the CEO and Deputy comparing against equivalent roles within the voluntary sector. The nationally recognised National Joint Council pay scales are used to set the pay of all staff. Inflationary pay awards are periodically approved in line with national NJC pay agreements. A remuneration committee meets as required.

Risk management

The trustees recognise that they hold a responsibility to identify risks to the organisation; to ensure that controls exist to limit the possibility of risks occurring; to limit the impact of any risks on the viability or security of the organisation; to manage any risks that do occur; and to regularly review whether new risks have been introduced into the organisation.

The trustees have implemented a risk review system and have built a risk register. They have reviewed all organisational risks focusing on the risks with the highest risk score. The trustees have implemented a system to review the risk register on a regular basis or following a critical incident.

Financial Review

Funding Strategy

We maintain a Funding Strategy and Fundraising plan to ensure that we raise all the funds that we require.

Income and Principal Funding Sources

We aim to maintain a diverse range of funders so that we minimise risk to the organisation’s activities. Our total income this year was £ 1,253,220 which represents a 6% increase from last year. We received income from statutory bodies including:

Ministry of Justice Female Rape Support Fund; Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria; Local authorities (Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland and South Tyneside) and the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

The National Lottery Community Fund continued to support us.

28

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

The Charitable Trusts and Foundations who supported us were: Ballinger Trust, Brook Trust, EC Graham Belford, Community Foundation Tyne and Wear and Northumberland Hadrian Trust, Henry Smith Charity Lloyds Bank Foundation, Hospital of God at Greatham, Sir James Knott, William Leech,

We are extremely grateful to all our funders, statutory, private and voluntary, in helping to sustain our activities.

Fundraising from the community

We generated £21,377 from fundraising and £12,559 from donations. The sources of our selfgenerated income were monthly donors; one-off individual donations; sponsorship money from external fundraising events and from our own fundraising events.

Income from training and sales

We secured £3,952 from sales which included delivering training workshops.

Expenditure

Our total expenditure this year was £1,207,531 which represents a 11% increase since last year. We have seen a further growth in activities and service provision to meet demand.

Direct costs

Support costs

Governance costs

Trustee meetings costs increased due to additional face to face board and strategy days held.

29

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Investment Policy

We have a documented Investment Policy, the objective of which is to increase our income so we can achieve our charitable purpose and to enable us to hold sufficient reserves as required by the Reserves Policy. During the financial year, we have continued to invest in an ethical unit trust. We have worked with a cash management organisation to ensure that our remaining cash assets are spread across a range of financial organisations and held with varying notice periods to satisfy our liquidity requirements.

The trustees decide, where possible, to invest in ethical investments in the knowledge that they may not provide the best rate of return, but would protect the organisation’s reputation. Only the trustees are able to make decisions on investments. The performance of investments are reviewed by the Board six monthly.

Reserves Policy

Rationale behind the Reserves Policy

Level of reserve required by RCTN

RCTN has agreed to hold the following unrestricted reserves (£563,341):

Designated funds: £
General designated funds(4 months runningcosts) 396,338
Anti-racism work 15,000
Dilapidations andpropertysinkingfund 15,000
Projects: Groupwork, ISVA and Volunteers 31,288
Projects: Innovation Fund 36,470
Projects: Shout up promotion work 7,120
General Unrestricted funds 62,125

30

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

The General designated funds are based on four months running costs based on 2023/24 expenditure (£1,189,015). There are currently no plans to spend this as we consider the organisation to be a going concern.

Other designated funds We plan to use these funds to support project delivery costs during 2024/25 and to undertake some innovation and development work.

Monitoring and reviewing the Reserves Policy

The calculation of the required level of Reserves is an integral part of RCTN’s planning, budget and forecast cycle and as such, the Trustees/Directors will consider the Business Plan, budget, financial projections and funding strategy each year and will review the Reserves policy annually in light of their findings.

Going concern statement

The trustees have reviewed and considered financial information and revised forecasts to take into account measures that they can take with the current financial resources available to mitigate the impact of the current adverse conditions. The trustees are of the view that the immediate future of the charity for the next 12 months is secure and that on this basis the charity is a going concern.

Trustees responsibilities in relation to the financial statement

The trustees (who are also the directors of Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the Report of the Trustees 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 those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to 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.

31

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2024

In so far as the trustees are aware:

Auditors

In accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006, a resolution for the re-appointment of Read, Milburn & Co. as auditors of the charitable company is to be proposed at the forthcoming annual general meeting.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

12th December 2024 Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

Anne Fry,

Chair of the Board of Trustees

32

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement 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 (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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

33

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

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 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 Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where 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, 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.

34

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

Our 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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

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. In this regard, our procedures include the following:

Because of the field in which the charity operates, we have identified the following areas as those most likely to have a material impact on the financial statements: Health and Safety; Employment Law; and compliance with the Companies and Charities Acts.

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 Report of the Independent Auditors.

35

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

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 auditors' 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.

Nicholas J Liley (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Read, Milburn & Co Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 71 Howard Street North Shields Tyne and Wear NE30 1AF

17 December 2024 Date: .............................................

36

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

(INCLUDING SUMMARY INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)

For the year ended 31 March 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
£ £ £ £
Income from:
Donations and legacies 6 12,559 - 12,559 25,374
Charitable activities
Grants and contracts 7 131,802 1,097,660 1,229,462 1,134,626
Other trading activities 8 21,377 - 21,377 17,846
Investments 9 8,338 - 8,338 3,844
174,076 1,097,660 1,271,736 1,181,690
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 10 5,398 - 5,398 4,263
Charitable activities
Operation of the charity 11 249,972 952,161 1,202,133 1,079,998
Total expenditure 255,370 952,161 1,207,531 1,084,261
Net income/(expenditure) before ( 81,294 ) 145,499 64,205 97,429
investment gains/(losses)
-
Net gains/(losses) on investments 7,530 7,530 2,512
Net income/(expenditure) ( 73,764 ) 145,499 71,735 99,941
Transfers between funds 89,483 ( 89,483 ) - -
Net movement of funds 15,719 56,016 71,735 99,941
Reconciliation of funds -
Total funds brought forward 547,622 116,145 663,767 563,826
563,341 172,161 735,502 663,767
Total funds carried forward
-
Notes
----- End of picture text -----

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities

The notes on pages 40 to 50 form an integral part of these financial statements.

37

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

Charity Number 1138149 Company Number 07285969

BALANCE SHEET

As at 31 March 2024

Fixed assets
Investments
18
Total fixed assets
Current assets
Debtors
19
Cash at bank and in hand
20
Total current assets
Creditors:amounts falling due
within one year
21
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Total net assets or liabilities
Funds of the charity
Unrestricted income funds
Restricted income funds
Total funds
Notes		 £
95,317
775,975
871,292
( 208,487 )		 2024
£
72,697
72,697
662,805
735,502
735,502
563,341
172,161
735,502		 £
56,229
786,578
842,807
( 245,377 )		 2023
£
66,337
66,337
597,430
663,767
663,767
547,622
116,145
663,767

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to small companies subject to the small companies regime and in accordance with FRS102 SORP.

The notes on pages 40 to 50 form an integral part of these financial statements.

These financial statements were approved by the Board on:

12th December 2024

and are signed on its behalf by: A Fry Chair

38

Charity Number 1138149 Company Number 07285969

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net movement in funds 71,735 99,941
Deduct interest / income shown in investing activities ( 15,868 ) ( 5,219 )
Increase in debtors ( 39,088 ) 23,780
Decrease in creditors ( 36,890 ) ( 97,624 )
Net cash from operating activities ( 20,111 ) 20,878
Cash flow from investing activities
Interest received 8,338 3,844
Sale of fixed asset investments 1,170 -
Net cash from investing activities 9,508 3,844
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents ( 10,603 ) 24,722
Cash and cash equivalents at start of year 786,578 761,856
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 775,975 786,578
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash at bank and in hand 775,975 786,578
Notes
----- End of picture text -----

The notes on pages 40 to 50 form an integral part of these financial statements.

39

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

2 Basis of accounting

2.1 Basis of preparation

These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts.

The accounts 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) (effective October 2019) – Charities SORP (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.

The presentation currency of the financial statements is the Pound Sterling (£).

Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

2.2 Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. In making their assessment the trustees have reviewed and considered relevant information, including their annual budget and future cash flows. The trustees are of the view that the immediate future of the charity for the next 12 months is secure and that on this basis the charity is a going concern.

3 Income

3.1 Recognition of income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the resources, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is more likely than not that the resources will be received and the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability.

3.2 Offsetting

There has been no offsetting of assets and liabilities or income and expenses, unless required or permitted by FRS102 SORP or FRS102.

3.3 Grants and donations

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

Income received in advance or provision of other specified services is deferred until the criteria of income recognition are met.

3.4 Volunteer help

The value of volunteer help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees' annual report.

3.5 Interest receivable

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

40

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

3.6 Debtors and prepayments

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

3.7 Financial instruments

All financial assets and financial liabilities of the charity qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

3.8 Investment gains and losses

This includes any realised or unrealised gains or losses on the sale of investment and any gain or loss resulting from revaluing investments to market value at the end of the year.

3.9 Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity's work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

4 Expenditure and liabilities

4.1 Liability recognition

Liabilities are recognised when it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty.

4.2 Charitable activities

Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of specialist sexual violence services and other activities undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.

4.3 Governance and support costs

Support costs have been allocated between governance costs and other support. Governance costs comprise all costs involving public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice.

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly relate to the charitable activities. Support costs include central functions and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

4.4 Irrecoverable VAT

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

4.5 Creditors

The charity has creditors which are measured at settlement amounts less any trade discounts due.

41

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

5 Assets

5.1 Tangible fixed assets for use by the charity

Individual fixed assets costing £1000 or more are capitalised at cost and are depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives on a straight line basis as follows:

Plant and machinery Fixtures and fittings

Straight line over three years Straight line over four years

5.2 Investments

Fixed asset investments in quoted shares, traded bonds and similar investments are valued at initially at cost and subsequently at fair value (their market value) at the year end. The same treatment is applied to unlisted investments unless fair value cannot be measured reliably in which case it is measured at cost less impairment.

Investments held for resale or pending their sale and cash and cash equivalents with a maturity date of less than 1 year are treated as current asset investments.

42

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of income
6
Donations and legacies
7
Charitable activities
Low Newton Prison
The Hospital of God at
Greatham
Changing Lives
Ragdoll Foundation
William Leech
The Brook Trust
The Hadrian Trust
E.C. Graham Belford Trust
Henry Smith
Newcastle University
Northamptonshire and Devon
Rape Crisis
Other income
Income from training / sales
8
Other trading activities
Fundraising events
Donations and gifts
The John Horseman Trust
Newcastle Fund
Lloyds Bank Foundation
Sir James Knott Trust
Big Lottery Fund
Ministry of Justice
Police and Crime Commissioner for
Northumbria
Northumberland ICB
Community Foundation
The Joicey Trust
Gateshead Newcastle ICB
Income from grants and contracts
South Tyneside Council
North Tyneside Council
North Tyneside ICB
The National Lottery Community Fund (RC
North East and Cumbria region)
Newcastle City Council
Northumberland County Council
Gateshead Council Public Health
Ballinger Trust
Training income
Other sales		 Unrestricted
Funds
12,559
12,559
4,800
7,104
4,220
2,592
7,560
-
4,000
60,766
-
-
-
5,059
-
-
-
3,750
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
22,993
5,006
3,952
-
131,802
21,377
21,377		 Restricted
Funds
-
-
12,312
11,103
6,330
3,887
70,455
-
6,000
279,525
389,719
12,653
16,660
22,797
-
2,499
61,430
-
-
-
27,845
11,484
3,000
11,631
-
5,000
12,501
1,000
5,000
73,100
36,274
15,455
-
-
-
1,097,660
-
-		 Total
2024
12,559
12,559
17,112
18,207
10,550
6,479
78,015
-
10,000
340,291
389,719
12,653
16,660
27,856
-
2,499
61,430
3,750
-
-
27,845
11,484
3,000
11,631
-
5,000
12,501
1,000
5,000
73,100
36,274
38,448
5,006
3,952
-
1,229,462
21,377
21,377		 Total
2023
25,374
25,374
12,000
17,885
10,630
6,284
117,190
22,325
9,996
392,710
288,638
12,344
16,500
9,992
3,300
5,004
-
-
50,003
5,400
11,112
-
-
-
1,280
-
-
1,000
-
64,611
-
22,152
4,405
4,213
45,652
1,134,626
17,846
17,846

43

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of incomecontinued
9
Income from investments
Total income
Bank interest		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
8,338
8,338
174,076		 Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
1,097,660		 Total
2024
£
8,338
8,338
1,271,736		 Total
2023
£
3,844
3,844
1,181,690

Income was £1,271,736 (2023: £1,181,690) of which £174,076 was unrestricted or designated (2023: £183,726) and £1,097,660 was restricted (2023: £997,964)

Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities

10
11		 Raising funds
Investment management costs
Charitable activities
Direct costs
Project staff salaries
Other project staff costs
Project promotion and publicity
Project resources
Project volunteer costs
Project delivery costs
Project management
Support costs
Premises costs
Office costs
Central publicity
Professional fees
Bad debt write off/(back)
Governance costs
Audit fee
Trustees meeting costs
Other staff costs
Staff salaries
Staging fundraising events		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
3,418
1,980
5,398
11,583
170
-
-
-
-
4,500
103,132
4,268
48,373
27,963
1,608
38,946
1,329
2,820
5,280
249,972		 Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
749,543
45,547
15,271
45,989
4,622
91,142
-
-
-
-
-
-
71
( 24 )
-
-
952,161		 Total
2024
£
3,418
1,980
5,398
761,126
45,717
15,271
45,989
4,622
91,142
4,500
103,132
4,268
48,373
27,963
1,608
39,017
1,305
2,820
5,280
1,202,133		 Total
2023
£
3,126
1,137
4,263
626,138
59,334
17,288
33,487
5,284
109,985
4,750
111,260
3,983
43,797
31,929
55
26,831
( 302 )
2,760
3,419
1,079,998

44

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities continued

Expenditure on charitable activities was £1,207,531 (2023: £1,084,261) of which £255,370 was unrestricted or designated (2023: £229,190) and £952,161 was restricted (2023: £855,071)

12 Auditors remunderation

Audit fee
Other accountancy services		 2024
£
2,820
-
2,820		 2023
£
2,760
-
2,760

13 Analysis of staff costs, and the cost of key management personnel

Pension costs (defined contribution pension plan)
Salaries and wages
Social security costs		 2024
£
767,655
70,900
25,703
864,258		 2023
£
657,524
61,971
22,903
742,398

No employee received remuneration above £60,000 (2023: nil)

The key management personnel of the charity, comprise theTrustees, CEO and the deputy CEO. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £116,534 (2023: £114,658).

14 Staff Numbers

The average monthly head count was 30 staff (2023: 26 staff) and the average monthly number of full-time equivalent employees during the year were as follows:

The parts of the charity in which the employees work
Management
Project staff
Administration		 2024
Number
19.0
2.0
2.1
23.1		 2023
Number
22.0
2.0
2.0
26.0

15 Transactions with trustees

None of the trustees have been paid any remuneration or received any other benefits from employment with the charity or a related entity.

45

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

15 Transactions with trustees continued

Trustees' expenses

The following detail the expenses incurred by the trustees.

Travel 2024
£
125
125		 2023
£
45
45

Transaction(s) with related parties

There have been no related party transactions in the reporting period.

16 Defined contribution pension scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.

The employer's pension costs represent contributions payable by the charity to the fund and amount to £25,703 (2023: £22,903). There was £626 outstanding as at 31 March 2024 (2023: £0)

17 Corporation Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within part 11 of the Corporation Taxes Act 2010 or section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objectives.

18 Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments
Carrying (fair) value at the beginning of period
Additions to investments during period
Disposals at carrying value
Less impairments
Transfer in/(out) in the period
Net gain/(loss) on revaluation
Less investment management costs
Carrying (fair) value at end of year		 Listed
Investment
£
66,337
-
-
-
-
7,530
( 1,170 )
72,697

46

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

19 Debtors and prepayments (receivable within 1 year)

Other debtors
Prepayments
Trade debtors
Accrued income
Partner funds
Salary holding account		 2024
£
68,300
8,278
-
14,935
-
3,804
95,317		 2023
£
1,668
-
16,948
31,576
2,233
3,804
56,229

20 Cash at bank and in hand

Short term cash investment
Short term deposits
Virgin Money
Cash at bank and in hand		 2024
£
112,500
112,500
92,699
458,276
775,975		 2023
£
112,500
112,500
90,675
470,903
786,578

21 Creditors and accruals (payable within 1 year)

Accruals
Audit Fee
Deferred income
Tax and social security
Trade creditors
Other creditors		 2024
£
10,567
20,631
6,608
2,820
164,011
3,850
208,487		 2023
£
32,688
-
-
2,760
206,345
3,584
245,377

47

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

22 Deferred income

Balance brought forward
Amount released to income earned
from charitable activities
Amount deferred in year
Balance carried forward		 2024
£
206,345
( 206,345 )
164,011
164,011

23 Events after the end of the reporting period

No events (not requiring adjustment to the accounts) have occurred after the end of the reporting period but before the accounts are authorised which relate to conditions that arose after the end of the reporting period.

24 Analysis of charitable funds

Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Projects: Anti racism work
Projects: Group work,
ISVA & volunteer
Projects: Innovation fund
Projects: Shout up
promotion work
University Counselling
Legacy Fund
General unrestricted fund
General designated fund
Dilapidation & property
sinking fund
Projects: marketing and
refuge
Northern Rock Foundation
Volunteering		 Fund
balances
brought
forward
£
14,471
453,368
-
29,067
-
-
-
-
14,000
26,216
10,000
500
547,622		 Income
resource
£
174,076
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
174,076		 Resources
expended
£
( 255,370 )
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
( 255,370 )		 Transfers
£
121,418
( 57,030 )
15,000
( 29,067 )
15,000
31,288
36,470
7,120
( 14,000 )
( 26,216 )
( 10,000 )
( 500 )
89,483		 Gains /
(losses)
£
7,530
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
7,530		 Fund
balances
carried
forward
£
62,125
396,338
15,000
-
15,000
31,288
36,470
7,120
-
-
-
-
563,341

Purpose of unrestricted funds

General unrestricted fund The 'free reserves' after allowing for designated funds. General designated fund Represents four months of running costs based on 2023/24 expenditure. Dilapidation & property To fund repairs to property sinking fund Project contributions Designated for project delivery and to address project shortfalls within budgets to enable delivery across the full financial year in 2024/25

48

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

24 Analysis of charitable funds continued

Restricted funds
Tyneside Counselling
Community Engagement
Northumberland
Volunteer Coordinator
Lloyds Bank
PCC
Shout Up
Tyneside Group work
Henry Smith
Marginalised Access Fund
Public Awareness Raising		 Fund
balances
brought
forward
£
56,479
5,399
15,488
14,446
7,732
( 1,411 )
3,110
1,632
3,077
8,460
1,733
116,145		 Income
resource
£
337,526
-
174,943
61,354
-
25,595
353,899
34,075
32,208
49,200
28,860
1,097,660		 Resources
expended
£
( 283,128 )
-
( 167,523 )
( 50,217 )
-
( 29,038 )
( 308,433 )
( 25,807 )
( 25,324 )
( 43,478 )
( 19,213 )
( 952,161 )		 Transfers
£
( 27,993 )
-
( 4,754 )
-
-
12,468
( 48,576 )
( 5,141 )
( 4,767 )
( 6,940 )
( 3,780 )
( 89,483 )		 Gains /
(losses)
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Fund
balances
carried
forward
£
82,884
5,399
18,154
25,583
7,732
7,614
-
4,759
5,194
7,242
7,600
172,161

Purpose of restricted funds

Restricted funds represent income resources used for a specific purpose within the charity as identified by the donor.

Tyneside Counselling To support the Tyneside Counselling Service. Community Engagement To support under 25s community engagement work. Northumberland To support delivery within Northumberland Volunteer Coordinator To support volunteering costs and the volunteer coordinator Marginalised Access Fund Funding to support discretionary client travel and one off client costs. Lloyds Bank Funding to support the Communications and Marketing post. PCC To support the delivery of the practical and emotional service. Shout Up To support the delivery of the Shout up project work. Public Awareness Raising To support the delivery of public awareness work. Tyneside Group work To support the delivery of group work programmes. Henry Smith To support the delivery of the practical and emotional support service.

Transfers between funds

Between unrestricted and restricted funds.

Reason for transfer Amount £ To cover the costs of overheads and to 89,483 reflect the movements on designated unrestricted funds.

49

RAPE CRISIS TYNESIDE AND NORTHUMBERLAND

(A company limited by guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 March 2024

25 Capital commitments

As at 31 March 2024, the charity had no capital commitments (2023 -£nil).

26 Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds
Funds
£
72,697
102,598
( 113,170 )
62,125
Unrestricted		 Designated
Funds
-
501,216
-
501,216		 Restricted
Funds
£
-
172,161
-
172,161		 Total
2024
£
72,697
775,975
( 113,170 )
735,502		 Total
2023
£
66,337
786,578
( 189,148 )
663,767
Investments
Cash at bank and in hand
Other net current assets/(liabilities)

27 Operating leases

The future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows;

Not later than one year
Later than one year and not later than five years		 2024
£
31,184
27,883
59,067		 2023
£
30,102
3,583
33,685

50