2024-03-31-accounts

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Table of content

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Page
1 Overview
2 Introduction from Chair
3 Introduction from CEO
4 Structure, governance and management
8 Our work
14 Key achievements this year
Health
14
15 Active ageing 17
16 Disability 17
Place and communities
17 17
Active environments
18
20 Children and young people17
22 People, partnerships and workforce17
23 Equality, diversity and inclusion17
25 Communications and marketing
27 Operations
28 Environmental, social and governance17
31 2024 / 25 plans
32
Finance review
35
Statement of responsibilities of the Trustees
17
17
37 Report and audited financial statements
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Overview

Active Gloucestershire is an independent charity committed to helping the people of Gloucestershire to move more.

We belong to a national network of Active Partnerships operating across England to establish the conditions for an active nation.

We believe that physical activity can have a transformative impact on the lives of people and their communities and is the single biggest thing that can be done to improve a person’s health. At our core, we are about driving positive change.

As a trusted organisation, Active Gloucestershire coordinates we can move, a social movement dedicated to supporting people across our county to get active.

Our role is to:

• inspire organisations, community groups, activity providers and individuals across Gloucestershire to work together and remove barriers to physical activity, tackle inequalities and increase activity rates

• connect individuals and organisations and help to build strong collaborative partnerships

• enable the growth and impact of we can move, through the provision of a range of insight, resources, training and support.

The following pages provide further detail about who we are, the work we do and some of our key achievements this year.

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Introduction from Emma Owen Chair, Active Gloucestershire

As I step into my new role as chair of Active Gloucestershire, I do so with great excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead and an unwavering commitment to the work that we need to undertake.

We know that deeply entrenched inequalities continue to exist within the physical activity sector - inequalities that prevent people from moving more and enjoying the physical, social and emotional benefits that come from being physically active. And we know that in order to tackle these participation barriers and drive positive change, we need to work with individuals, communities and organisations across our county. Active Gloucestershire’s mission therefore, is to mobilise a county-wide social movement - a community of changemakers that connects, inspires and enables people across Gloucestershire to improve their lives through physical activity.

I intend to build on the solid foundations left by our previous chair and steer the charity forward in a way that will enable us to achieve this mission. By building relationships of trust with other system partners, inspiring and investing in our county’s changemakers and deepening our engagement with communities, we’ll be better equipped to build capacity within the movement and maximise its impact.

Over the next 12 months, I want to focus on the following priorities:

• Strengthening our board by focusing on non-executive director recruitment. We’re particularly interested in appointing individuals who have a background in the voluntary and community sector, personal experience or knowledge of working with people who’ve been impacted by inequalities in sport and physical activity or those with an understanding of the health system, wellbeing or physical activity in Gloucestershire.

• Utilising the insight and skills of our experienced senior leadership team, empowering them to be creative, take more calculated risks and identify game-changing activities that will maximise our impact.

• Becoming more strategy led - ensuring the board’s work fully aligns with our organisation’s strategic objectives and those of Sport England and other funded partners. We know that across the sector there is a commonality of purpose – a strategic alignment between key national and local organisations which centres on tackling the inequalities that prevent people from moving more.

As a board, we want to harness this synergy so that we can continue to have meaningful impact as an organisation and transform the lives of people in Gloucestershire through movement and physical activity.

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Introduction from Tom Beasley

Chief Executive Officer, Active Gloucestershire

The last year has been both challenging and exciting as we better understand the impact of our work and how, by working with multiple stakeholders and partners, we can address the deep inequalities in sport and physical activity in our county.

In the last year, in partnership with Sport England, we’ve been able to bring greater investment into our communities and focus some of our work in areas most impacted by inequalities such as Gloucester and the Forest of Dean.

We’ve also received investment from Sport England to appoint a sport welfare officer, who will form part of a national network of officers, supporting clubs and national governing bodies and ensuring that sport in our county is welcoming, accessible and safe.

The review and renewal of our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan has provided us with the opportunity to re-evaluate and restate our commitment to diversity and we’ve set ourselves ambitious and challenging targets for the year ahead.

As we look forward to the coming year, we’re excited about the opportunities to deepen our work in several focus areas across the county and to be able to review our progress towards the aims set out in the 2030 we can move strategy.

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Structure, governance and management

Company information

Our organisation is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 12th August 2010. It was registered as a charity on 25th October 2010 and its objects and powers are set out in its Articles of Association.

Our charity objects

Our charity objects as stated in our Articles of Association are:

a) the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation, by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities for and opportunities to participate in sport and other physical activities for the benefit of, in particular, but not exclusively, the inhabitants of Gloucestershire.

b) to advance the education of the public in sport and physical activity.

Governance

It is the responsibility of the board and chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure that Active Gloucestershire has effective governance arrangements, including a sound system of internal control, as well as continuously striving to improve its governance and meeting changing legal and other requirements.

Compliance with the Code for Sports Governance remains a priority for Active Gloucestershire and we are committed to continuously developing our practice and approach with the aim of being our county’s role model for sport and physical activity. In March 2024, we received confirmation from Sport England that we remain compliant with the Code for Sports Governance.

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Management

Working under the direction of the board, Active Gloucestershire is led by its CEO and a staff team of 20 (as of 31/03/2024) who provide day-to-day management and delivery functions. The staff team and overall management of the charity is overseen by the board of trustees (who are also the directors of the charity).

Appointment of our chair and senior trustee

The appointment of our chair and senior trustee is usually made from amongst existing trustees. If current trustees are unwilling to stand for appointment, or if there are no suitable candidates, the position will be advertised and an appointment committee will be established. Upon appointment, our chair and senior trustee sign role descriptions specific to their roles.

Recruiting and appointing new trustees

Active Gloucestershire has an active and effective board of six trustees, comprising a chair, and five others, all of whom were recruited transparently on a skills-led basis. All trustees are appointed for an initial term of three years. No trustee may serve more than nine years, unless in exceptional circumstances and with prior agreement from the board.

A trustee who retires from the board after a period of nine years is ineligible for reappointment for a period of four years, after this time, should they successfully be reappointed as a trustee, their years of service will commence again at zero.

There were no new appointments and five retirements for the year April 2023 to March 2024.

Organisational structure and decision-making

Trustees meet six times a year (or more where required) to discuss our strategic direction, ensure our core aims and objectives are being met in the most efficient way, take account of any risks facing our organisation and ensure that all legal obligations are satisfied.

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Our board includes a finance and resources committee (FRC) and a nominations and people committee (NPC). The FRC works with senior management to review all aspects

of our organisation’s finance, human resources and information and communications technology regularly and rigorously. The NPC works with the chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure that the composition and performance of our board, chief executive officer and senior management team are optimal and support the needs of our organisation.

Our organisation’s day-to-day business is delegated to the CEO and through them, to other staff. Our policies manual and financial procedures handbook identify matters that are reserved for consideration by our board and sets out the process for urgent action to be taken by our chair.

Our scheme of delegation outlines where decision-making authority lies within the organisation. This year, the board identified that the scheme of delegation hadn’t increased in line with inflation, growth or the change in approach to risk, for many years. It therefore increased the levels of financial delegation for the CEO to enable quicker and more efficient decision-making.

Board effectiveness review

In February 2024, our board also underwent an independent effectiveness review, which identified strengths and opportunities for the board to develop. The recommendations are being considered by the trustees and an action plan will be drawn up.

Pay and remuneration

Provision for salary increases is included in the budget-setting cycle. The chief executive has authority to award performance-related salary increases in one-off, non-recurring instances, consistent with and not exceeding the overall provision included in the approved budget.

Any increase over and above the approved provision requires trustee approval. The NPC is responsible for making recommendations to our board, regarding the chief executive’s and senior management team’s remuneration.

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Related parties

There are no subsidiaries or charities controlled by the same trustees.

Risk statement

Responsibility for considering and alleviating the risks facing our organisation lies with the trustees. They maintain and review a risk register that details the risks we face, along with their probability, impact and the controls we have in place to mitigate against them. This register is comprehensive covering governance, operational, financial, external, safeguarding and compliance risks and is reviewed six times a year at each board meeting.

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Our work

Why we’re here

Despite the firmly established benefits of leading an active lifestyle including improved mental wellbeing, better physical health and increased social connectedness, 115,700 adults (21.5%) across Gloucestershire, don’t move enough to benefit their health. An ageing population, the increasing prevalence of mental health problems and rising incidence of youth obesity continue to sustain these inactivity levels, with participation amongst certain groups in Gloucestershire remaining particularly low.

34.3% of people living with disabilities and long-term health conditions are inactive 27.3% of children and young people are inactive

33.0% of people aged 65 years and over are inactive

We know that in order to tackle these deep-seated inequalities and ensure that everyone in Gloucestershire has access to the benefits that physical activity can offer, we need to bring individuals and organisations together and work across the system to build physical activity into our daily lives and create an environment in which being physically active is the norm.

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Our work What we want to achieve Our ambition: We want to get more people movlng and halve Inactlvlty rates In Gloucestershlre by 2030. Our vision: Our mission: Everyone In Gloucestershire living healthy and happy Ilves. We're part of an Incluslve communlty that connects and Insplres people In Gloucestershlre to Improve thelr Ilves through physlcal actlvlty. Page 9

Our work Our objectives l. Grow we can move so we can SUPF)Ort more people and recognise t strengin we have t)y working togeth 2. Share and learn so Ihat everyone is able to enjoy the benefits of a more achve Ilfe. 3. Connect to make sport and physical achvty avallable to everyone regarcjless of age, disabilty, race, gender, religious Deliefs or background. 4. Support diversty, especially underrepresented groups, Whllst worklng wilh people ancj projects that share our values. 5. Celebrate people and organlsations that help people to r)e active. Together we will celet)rate our successes and failures and encourage each omer to do more 6. Stay flexlble so we can adapt to changes and opportunilies. Pag610

How we’ll achieve this

Our role

As the supporting body for we can move, we see ourselves in a facilitative role – inspiring, connecting and enabling individuals and organisations to drive positive change across our county.

Unite behind a common vision, mission values and behaviours.

Guide a collective strategy Run and promote campaigns that inspire people to be active. Facilitate collective advocacy for county policies that promote physical activity

Work together to bring about change Bring people together to support each other, collaborate and share good practice

Encourage alignment of activities and measures that help us see the difference we are making.

Provide data, stats and facts, identify need and share good practice Increasing investment in our sector by supporting others to secure funding/income. Provide training, workshops and consultancy

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Our approach

We work in a complex environment so we need to work at an individual, community and system level and also to learn from what we do, to create the conditions for more people to be active. This is our Theory of Change:

1. SYSTEM WORKING

‘all parts make a difference’

Driving change through:

• Understanding how the organisations and people work at a local and national levels

• Building relationships based on trust to support positive decision making Leadership and advocacy across organisations and sectors to develop shared goals

2. COLLECTIVE ACTION

‘all people make a difference’

Strengths, people and place based approach through the we can move movement based on:

• Inspiring community activism to make positive changes Discovering and collaborating around shared values

3. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

‘everything we do makes a difference’

• Supporting people to make changes to benefit from a more active life through: Using theories of behaviour change like the COM-B model

• Focusing on the individual whilst recognising wiser system inequalities that impact their behaviour

• Working with people’s strengths - ‘focusing on what is strong, not what is wrong’

4. LEARNING AND ADAPTING

‘everything we discover makes a difference’

• We embed learning throughout the work that we do by: Building evaluation in from the beginning Adapting to extraordinary circumstances

• Being prepared to get it wrong and understand why

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Our values

Our values guide our work – they shape our actions, decisions and interactions with others and are a key part of our identity.

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Key achievements

Health

Our work in the health space has gone from strength to strength with two areas in particular demonstrating the value of partnership working and collaborative approaches. The first involved the recruitment, deployment and testing of ‘Physical Activity Navigators’ in Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and the Forest of Dean. The roles were co-designed with host organisations to bridge the gap between the health system (in this case social prescribing) and local physical activity providers. Connecting social prescribers with local community partners, but most importantly enabling confident and capable conversations around people living with long-term conditions to build activity into their lives, was key. The project focused on building knowledge around approaching physical activity conversation, increasing the confidence of the physical activity sector to provide safe and inclusive offers and building trusted local relationships with both traditional and nontraditional activity providers.

The second highlight was a project that involved working with a peer support group known as the ‘pain warriors’ in Matson, Gloucester. Using the we can move approach, we wanted to influence a shift in mindset in the health system around testing community led approaches whilst enabling community action through understanding the behaviours and story of local people in their place. We spent a number of weeks focusing on building trust and empathy with a group who prior to this work, had been entirely distrusting of any health or community organisations. The group then self-identified what might be possible in terms of them moving more together, before we gently tested this by introducing inclusive physical activity in their space.

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Active ageing

System approaches have been key to our older adults work this year, not only because it’s a strategic priority but because of the complexity around the rate of ageing in our county and the factors that influence health and activity. In 2023-24, we tested the use of systems dynamics and a process known as Group Model Building to understand the issue at hand more deeply and then develop a collective community response. We recognise that we have a much greater chance to respond to wicked issues (issues with multiple interdependent factors, that appear impossible to solve), by doing things together.

We brought together community leaders (anyone passionate about active ageing) to map and understand the factors that influence the health and activity of older adults in our county and then identify opportunities to build on local action that is already taking place or develop new action where there may be gaps. The key influencer here is that the action is not owned by us (Active Gloucestershire) but by a collective of self-identified local community leaders who work together to prioritise and implement action locally. 52 community leaders joined us, developing 142 action ideas. 26 of those leaders then volunteered to join action groups around 8 themes including: investment, commissioning, developing services and physical activity.

The action groups have been ongoing and despite some learning around the challenges of coordinating local action around such a big theme, we have demonstrated the power of bringing passionate people together to ideate around solving local issues and the actions that can emerge as a result.

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Disability

Over the past year we have expanded our young leadership work and continued to work with YuGo as our delivery partner. Although there was no option to re-deliver See My Voice (as delivered in 2022-23), YuGo worked with Gloucestershire College to deliver to another cohort of students. The sessions covered very similar topics but were delivered in a more flexible way. This year’s cohort of 12 attendees were provided with tools to deliver inclusive activities, which they were able to adapt to ensure all could join in. To allow more disabled young people to access this opportunity, we also held workshops which were open to anyone and delivered during the school holidays. We had 7 people attendees at this session, which was delivered as a whole day workshop, rather than as blocks of workshops. This proved to be successful and is something we are looking to develop and offer again next year.

In addition to our project work, the Gloucestershire Active Inclusion Network has had another successful year. The network brings together a range of individuals and organisations who are committed to improving disability inclusion across the county’s sport and physical activity sector. It provides those attending with an invaluable opportunity to network and establish exciting new working relationships, that could increase opportunities for disabled people to access and enjoy sport and physical activity. This year, partners from around the county have directed and co-owned the network’s priority focus. By facilitating sessions in such a way that that the content is driven by its members, we have worked together as a network around specific gaps that have been identified such as inclusive communication and volunteering. The most recent outputs have led to a plan being developed for 2024-25 involving the co-production of bespoke inclusive communication training with support from the Activity Alliance.

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Place and communities

Over the past year, we have continued to build on our place-based learning by applying different approaches, widening our relationships and partnerships and embedding this way of working across other internal departments. We have continued to work closely with Gloucester Community Building Collective to enable communities to initiate activity themselves, building capacity across Gloucester-based communities and applying strengths-based approaches. We also took a more data driven approach to securing ongoing investment from Sport England, into areas of our county that face more acute physical activity, health and social inequalities.

Our place team has expanded to three members of staff - one full time strategic lead and two part-time project officers. With this added capacity, we were able to embed the two part-time team members in the rural town of Cinderford, where they were tasked with building relationships across the local area and system, uncovering some of the barriers and enablers to movement there, as well as spotting real systemic problems and opportunities, which if explored further, could lead to long-term and sustainable positive outcomes.

Alongside our core place work, we also supported the distribution of the Together Fund via a place lens. We worked with partner organisations in communities that had been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and then the cost of living crisis and had found themselves struggling to continue operating. Through this work we not only ensured investment was directed to the groups that needed it the most, but that they were also supported with wider governance, safeguarding and fundraising support.

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Active environments

Over the 2023/24 period there were several high-profile opportunities to promote our active environments agenda, thereby ensuring that the long-term planning for sport and physical activity is being properly considered. Cheltenham Borough Council, Gloucester City Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council joined forces to deliver a Strategic and Local Plan (SLP), which will provide a blueprint for the physical development of the combined area up to 2041. Similar strategic planning is being undertaken by Cotswold District Council, who are also producing a new Local Plan, and in the Tewkesbury Borough Council area plans are emerging for the development of a Garden Town featuring up to 4,000 new homes. We engaged in the consultation process for each of these projects, ensuring that full consideration was given to the provision of facilities and infrastructure to support high quality provision for physical activity, sport and active travel long into the future.

Additionally, we have continued to increase our involvement in active travel initiatives within the county. Our support for Gloucestershire County Council’s development of a county-wide active travel strategy continues and we engaged with the consultation around the emerging Forest of Dean active travel strategy. Alongside this, we formed a strategic link with Active Travel England’s regional development manager and we assisted the county council with the development and delivery of a £150k e-bike hire scheme, which will provide active travel opportunities for residents in targeted communities to access education and employment opportunities.

In late 2023, we concluded our work to produce Gloucester City Council’s ‘Sport and Physical Activity Strategy 2023-2028’. Based on detailed research and consultation, the new strategy provides a clear direction for the council to work in partnership to support healthy lifestyles in the community by reducing levels of inactivity amongst residents, while at the same time helping local people who already participate in physical activity and sport be the best they can be. The strategy is currently being used as the basis for the procurement of a new leisure operator for the city’s major leisure centres.

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Our long-term support for one of the county’s most high-profile sports facility developments was rewarded with the beginning of the construction of Blackbridge Community and Sports Hub in Gloucester. Part funded by Sport England, the hub will feature a full-sized, floodlit artificial grass pitch and natural grass pitches for football, rugby and cricket, as well as a pavilion building which will feature changing rooms, a dance/exercise studio, health and fitness gym and social and meeting spaces. The development of the project has for a long time been led by people drawn from local sports clubs and community development charities. In 2021, the group decided to form the Blackbridge Charitable Community Benefit Society (BCCBS), which was established for the benefit of the community rather than solely its members. Active Gloucestershire has played a central role in enabling the development of the project by providing ongoing consultancy support to BCCBS. This work has seen us apply our skills and experience to assist with fundraising, business planning, community consultation, land negotiations, facility design and future management and operation.

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Children and young people

In schools

This year, our work within schools has focused on creating an active environment. We have worked with teachers and teaching assistants to build their confidence and knowledge around movement, enabling them to incorporate this into the classroom and use activity to connect, enable and inspire children to learn. We have followed a number of initiatives during the year, but the most successful one, which provided us with an evidence base for our programme development, was the Shift Wellbeing Ambassador Training.

The course supports teachers to deliver simple movement along with breath and mindful moments in class and online, with their students. Over the last 3 years, Shift have delivered 6 training programmes to 120 educators in 80 schools across Gloucestershire and the impact has now been shared with the wider community. The impact on the teachers has been incredible, giving them a better sense of personal well-being and allowing them the time to create and develop ideas to better engage students. For the young people themselves, teachers have seen an improvement in self-regulation and concentration, when these tools are used in class or in one-to-one conversations.

This collaboration between the Integrated Care Board (ICB), Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning (GHLL) and schools has enabled the benefits of this work to ripple further, as it has created opportunities for young people to be involved in the design of the programme and following the training, to become in-school wellbeing ambassadors themselves. We will be following up this youth element in 2024/25, as we run the first codesigned and co-led Yoga Celebration project alongside the Gloucestershire School Games.

In the community

Working in collaboration with Gloucestershire ICB and partners across education, health and the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), our Activity on Referral programme has continued to expand and diversify throughout 2023-24. Now supporting young people in all six Gloucestershire districts we have further expanded our network of trusted activity providers and developed new referral pathways into the programme, including forging a link with the children and young people’s Multi-Agency Navigation Hub.

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Activity on Referral is a supportive programme that links young people with mild to moderate mental health needs to local, community-based activities that we know will support their wellbeing. During 2023-24, we received 220 referrals into the programme, of which 117 were for bespoke programmes delivered in schools by local activity providers. Over 100 referrals were for young people to join clubs and activities running within their local communities, where we were able to signpost them to an appropriate activity delivered by one of our trusted providers. Due to the higher number of bespoke programmes delivered in the Forest of Dean and Gloucester, most of our referrals came from there – 128 from the Forest of Dean district and 70 from Gloucester. We found that we engaged with a higher number of secondary school-aged children than primary school-aged children during this period, with 147 referrals coming in for young people in year 7 and above.

Outcomes for the young people participating in the programme have included young people feeling able to return to school after a sustained period of absence, participants building friendships and social connections, increased self-confidence and sporting successes within their chosen clubs. One example of this is a young man who joined his local martial arts club following a referral to the programme and has now been chosen to represent the club at an upcoming European championship.

Other highlights of the programme in this period have been the providers roundtable event hosted at The Pavilion in March 2024, where we brought together a team of 12 trusted providers – enabling them to connect and network with like-minded coaches from across the county, introduced them to the principles of child-first coaching and encouraged them to take some time to focus on their own wellbeing. The invite was extended to all of the clubs we work with including the five clubs we had newly contracted this year.

We will be looking to develop this area of work further in 2024-25, focusing on encouraging more activity providers to join us as one of our trusted providers. We’ll also be developing our training offer for clubs and activity providers, particularly focusing on inclusion, mental health awareness and child-first coaching principles.

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People, partnerships and workforce

Our people, partnerships and workforce area has continued to gain momentum over the past year. The networks that we can move convene have continued to grow. We have built wider partnerships on shared workforce and capacity building areas such as equality, diversity and inclusion. We have also brought in experts to support our county in areas such as crowdfunding, fundraising and income strategies. Additionally, our work with national disability organisation Activity Alliance has grown and this year has focused on workforce support including organisational improvement plans.

Strategically, our explanation of the role both Active Gloucestershire and we can move plays in addressing Gloucestershire’s physical activity inequalities, has evolved this year. The principles, ‘inspire, connect and enable’ have helped to bring clarity to our role and better explain what we do and our theory of change based on the four pillars of systems change, behaviour change, collective action and learning and adapting and have helped to explain how we work across all levels of the system. This has led to an increase in partnerships across the we can move movement, at all levels of the system.

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Equality, diversity and inclusion

This year, we’re proud of the significant advancements we’ve made in our commitment to embed diversity and inclusion as a core organisational priority – the co-creation of our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) being our stand-out achievement.

Developed in partnership with AKD Solutions and our dedicated staff team and board, our ambitious and insight-driven plan has been designed to align with our long-term strategic objectives and to evolve continuously to the shifting needs and priorities of our organisation. We also intend for it to be fully embedded across our organisation. Additionally, with its focus on reducing inequalities, we’ve ensured the integration of the DIAP’s objectives into our broader people strategy, thereby aligning our internal practices with our community impact.

In July 2023, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) became a strategic business priority and an integral part of our core operations, with the allocation of dedicated staff resources and oversight by the director of physical activity. And, with the renewal of the terms of reference for both our EDI steering group and our EDI champions group, we further strengthened our commitment to ensuring that diversity and inclusion remain central to our decision-making and planning processes.

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Our commitment to EDI learning and development has been noticeable this year, with colleagues engaging in multiple continual professional development opportunities including, training in safeguarding and health and safety, lunch-and-learn sessions, talks from individuals with lived experience, participation in local networks and volunteering in the community. Our participation in events such as Gloucestershire Pride, The Include Summit, and the Muslim Sports Foundation Conference has also helped to further our insight into EDI and foster a culture of learning and understanding across our staff team. In addition, our EDI champions group has played a lead role in celebrating awareness months, such as Black History Month and LGBT History Month and South Asian Heritage Month by organising internal watch parties, reading clubs and lunch and learns. These have been hugely impactful in raising our awareness of the rich diversity that exists within our organisation and the wider community.

Finally, this year, in our mission to promote safe and inclusive environments across the local sport and physical activity system, we took the significant step of appointing a sport welfare officer. This role has been crucial in supporting local clubs and groups to maintain and enhance standards of safety, welfare and inclusion across the county.

Our achievements during 2023/24 reflect Active Gloucestershire’s increasing passion for and commitment towards EDI and our unwavering dedication to making sport and physical activity accessible, inclusive and equitable for all individuals.

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Communications and marketing

During 2023/24, we celebrated many exciting milestones in communications and marketing, all of which helped us to connect more meaningfully with our communities and partners.

We took considerable steps towards enhancing our brand, with the development of clearer and more engaging messaging for both Active Gloucestershire and we can move (WCM) and received a wonderful boost in recognition and visibility following our sponsorship of the SoGlos Charity of the Year Awards.

It was equally rewarding to see our social media community flourish, growing by 10%, with even more people engaging with our stories, updates and campaigns and to see an increase in the number of people signing up to our Changemaker newsletter. Through targeted paid campaigns, we also made sure to reach individuals and communities who are often less connected to traditional outreach efforts. Our new video content was also a resounding success, placing the spotlight deservedly on the incredible individuals involved in the movement and bringing their work to life in a refreshing and dynamic way.

On the digital side, we focused on making our website a more accessible and welcoming space. We introduced the Recite Me tool for better accessibility and revamped sections like training and events to ensure content was easy to find and use. While there was a small decline in overall traffic, these improvements have made the site much more userfriendly, with fresh video content and tidier layouts that enhance the experience.

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Building strong relationships continued to sit at the heart of our approach, and this year, we deepened our collaborations with key partners, including the NHS, local authorities and media. We were also proud to host 34 events, including partnerships and collaborations with Gloucestershire Pride and International Women’s Day, bringing people together in celebration and solidarity.

Our media presence also blossomed, with six organic press releases and six paid advertorials shining a spotlight on important initiatives such as the Knife Angel – an incredible monument aiming to inspire social change and Activity on Referral – which links young people to community-based activities with the aim of improving their mental health and wellbeing.

We’re proud of our successes in communications and marketing this year and believe they have laid the foundation for even bigger things in 2024/25.

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Operations

This year marked several key operational achievements for Active Gloucestershire. One of our major transitions involved adopting Peninsula as our new HR provider. Their services have streamlined our HR processes by offering comprehensive, 24/7 expert HR advice, paperless management systems, and compliance support across employment law and health and safety. This partnership has allowed us to focus on our core work with less administrative burden and greater confidence in handling complex HR issues.

We are also proud to have achieved Cyber Essential Plus certification for the second consecutive year. This demonstrates our ongoing commitment to robust cybersecurity, ensuring that our data and systems remain secure and resilient against emerging threats.

Staff wellbeing has remained a central focus, and we’ve been proactive in establishing a dedicated staff wellbeing group. This group, made up of team members from across the organisation, plan to co-design a wellbeing strategy for the coming year. There is a strong overlap between this work and our equality, diversity, and inclusion efforts, practically bought to life through the design and delivery of our monthly collaboration days and training and development plans, further strengthening both areas.

In addition, we have implemented significant improvements to our recruitment processes, making them more inclusive and accessible. By refining how we advertise roles, receive applications and conduct interviews, we’ve seen a positive impact in attracting and recruiting a more diverse range of talent. These efforts are essential to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve and upholds our commitment to inclusivity.

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Environmental , social and

governance

Environmental

Active Gloucestershire remains committed to reducing our environmental impact, as demonstrated by our annual carbon audits. Each year, we assess the environmental footprint of our office, IT systems and travel, ensuring that we are conscious of our carbon emissions across all areas of operation. This helps us to identify areas for improvement and take steps towards more sustainable practices.

In our procurement process, we evaluate potential suppliers, prioritising those that actively work to mitigate their environmental impact. By aligning with suppliers who share our commitment to sustainability, we aim to contribute to broader environmental goals within the industry.

We are also dedicated to meeting the environmental standards set out in Sport England's “Every Move” strategy, a framework designed to foster sustainable operations in the sport and physical activity sector. Our goal is to meet these requirements ahead of the 2027 deadline, ensuring that environmental sustainability remains central to our long-term strategy and organisational values.

Social

Our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP)

Our DIAP is an internally focused document that outlines our long-term equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) ambitions and the steps we will take to achieve them over a 12 month period. Although the plan is mandated by Sport England, we recognise that tackling inequality lies at the heart of our work and is fundamental to delivering our strategy and that in order to do this, we must first embed sound EDI practices within our own organisation.

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Building on the first iteration of our DIAP, this year has seen us come together as a team to reflect on our progress and identify the EDI ambitions and priorities that really matter to us. Following a series of collaborative discussions and workshops with our board, wider staff team and external stakeholders and with support and guidance from AKD consultants, we have co-produced a bespoke and ambitious plan – one that is data driven, builds on our strengths, recognises our gaps and areas for improvement and prioritises monitoring, evaluation and learning. To read our current DIAP please go to www.activegloucestershire.org.

As we start to roll out delivery of our DIAP in 2024/25, we’ll focus on gathering data and insight to help us understand our current position and establish our baseline across our three ambitions. We’ll move on to analyse this data, identify any areas for improvement and use our learning to set new targets and drive further action. Implementation of our DIAP will be underpinned by a clear communications strategy, regular stakeholder engagement and robust monitoring, evaluation and learning.

In order to bring our DIAP to life and share our progress we’ll be starting a blog series, that will shine a spotlight on some of the key priorities and areas of action that we’re working on and highlight any wins or challenges that we may have experienced along the way. We hope that this blog series will start meaningful conversations about EDI and encourage our partners and stakeholders to share their learning around EDI too.

Staff diversity

A core part of our new DIAP involves understanding the composition and identity of our existing workforce. Whilst there is enormous value in capturing the demographic makeup of our staff and board, we want our diversity survey to extend beyond the collection of age, ethnicity, gender, disability and sexual orientation statistics.

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We know that by capturing our staff’s wider lived experiences and understanding what else has helped to shape their identity such as their education, family background and socioeconomic status, we can gain a more holistic understanding of our workforce. This will help us to build better awareness of each other’s strengths and abilities, increase the diversity of our decision-making and forge stronger ties with our colleagues.

Therefore, towards the end of July 2024, we will be holding an identity workshop which will enable staff to explore their identity and become clearer on the factors that have helped to shape them and others. Following this workshop, we will conduct a staff and board diversity survey with the aim of capturing key demographic indicators as well as data and insight into other aspects of our identity. We aim to publish our findings in October 2024.

Governance

In February 2024, our Board underwent a robust external effectiveness review. Conducted by Shipway Consulting Ltd, the review explored the Board’s compliance with the Code for Sports Governance with the aim of identifying its strengths along with any areas for improvement. Following this review, the Board met to discuss the findings and draw up an action plan.

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2024/25 plans

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Health Active envrionments Older adults
Convene partners for
Deepen our influence Support development of collective action
Build capacity facilities
Influence ageing well
Increase advocacy Raise profile of active
priorities
environments
Launch Live longer
Help schools open facilities Better Gloucestershire
Disability Place People
Develop programme of
Enable organisations to Continue to grow
support
be inclusive learning in place-based
Advocate for strategic
Deliver short breaks working
Deepen strategic Test new elements prioritisation
Build confidence of AG
influence Capacity building
team to build relationships
Children and young Operations
Communications
people
and marketing
Develop employee journey
Create active schools Develop our culture and
Develop and improve our
Advocate for youth voice environment channels
Weave physical activity into Ensure new finance system
Increase membership of we
mental health support succeeds can move
Promote benefit of PA
Equality, Diversity
Measuring, evaluation
and Inclusion
and learning
Read the full
Deliver the DIAP
Review what we have
Raise awareness and build
learnt so far business plan
confidence Develop reporting here.
Role model and champion
Provide ongoing
support
Operations Children Priority Disabled MEL Health Equality Older People Active
& Young Places People with Diversity Adults Environments
People Health & Inclusion
conditions Page 31
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Finance review

Active Gloucestershire is coming towards the end point of some of our core funding agreements with Sport England and Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB). We have been planning for the impact of the reduced income expected from 2025/26 and have continued positive conversations with our funders on their plans and expectations.

The financial year of 2023/24 saw a minimal increase in income compared to 2022/23.

• i) Increases (+) / decreases (-) in Sport England funding

• Increase in Welfare Officer – (Safeguarding role) £27,500,

• Increase in Place-based funding – (two-year funded programme) £113,791

• ii) other income streams

• One off award from the Integrated Care Board of +£40k for Coney Hill ILP (payment in advance for 2024/25)

• +£234k including VAT received from ICB in (payment in advance for 2024/25) Expenditure levels can be analysed as follows: -

• Salary costs increased due to growing the organisation to a greater staff head count and salary uplifts

• Following a high level of delivery spend in 2021/22, delivery costs have followed this trend from 2022/23 and decreased by £64k

Funding Sources

The board has been successful in working towards reducing the organisation’s reliance on Sport England as the principal funder, with a continued strong long-term funding relationship with Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board.

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Cost of Fundraising

The organisation is not a fundraising charity when compared to other parts of the charitable sector, where donations and appeals fund most of their expenditure. Our funding principally comes from Sport England grants and third-party contracts. Limited funds are sourced from other grant giving organisations via direct applications. Accordingly, the cost of fundraising is modest. Previously we carried out a robust estimate of the costs of fundraising and deduced that a figure of 2% of costs was appropriate.

Going forward we will continue to monitor the costs of the fundraising activity, but it is unlikely that the fundraising function will show any signs of increased activity, particularly as Sport England and the Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board funding has already been agreed going forward.

Treasury Management

The organisation has significant amounts of cash available. Trustees are mindful that cash surpluses should be earning a rate of return as investments. Notwithstanding that, with the current rates of returns available and the cash requirements of the organisation, our Trustees’ main priority is to protect those funds. Accordingly, Active Gloucestershire has deposits with seven separate financial institutions utilising the financial guarantee scheme of £85,000. Deposits of more than the £85,000 limit are at risk should a bank fail and Trustees regularly review deposits and cash flow.

Loss due to fraud

No loses due to any fraudulent activity were encountered.

Outlook for 2024/25 and beyond

Active Gloucestershire is in a better position than most with firm commitments to funding from both Sport England and the Integrated Care Board which should allow us to plan with more certainty than most.

The board at its 2022/23 budget setting cycle was very aware of the level of restricted funds being carried forward and set an ambitious plan to run down the level of these restricted funds over the following 3 years consistent with its business plan. The second year of this plan was successful.

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Reserves policy

The Trustees have considered the key risks facing the charity. Active Gloucestershire is dependent on certain significant funding sources for its current level of operations. To deliver the organisational strategy, the charity would need to find alternative funding sources in the event of a significant reduction in income.

The Trustees estimate that this may take 3-6 months. Over that time, the charity would need to pay salaries and overheads from reserves. On this basis, 3 to 6 months of the planned expenditure on salaries and overheads is £278,860 to £557,721.

Unrestricted designated funds have no requirement from the grantor to be spent on a particular purpose, but are allocated by the Trustees for use on a specific project/activity. Accordingly, it is considered that the value of these funds is excluded from the reserve policy calculations. Only general unrestricted funds are considered when measuring against the reserves policy calculations above. On 31 March 2024, the actual level of unrestricted general reserves was £276,788 (31 March 2023 - £296,772) and therefore within the policy.

Unrestricted designated funds on 31 March 2024 totalling £501,095 (2022/23 £485,561) relate to planned future expenditure and are explained in note 15 to the financial statements. In addition, Active Gloucestershire held unspent restricted funds on 31 March 2024 of £302,236 (2022/23 £300,811). Reduced in line with the planned approach agreed in 2022/23. These are carried forward to 2024/25 and will be spent in accordance with the stated purpose of the funds.

Statement on Going Concern

The Trustees have reviewed Active Gloucestershire’s financial forecasts, projections, and reserves and are confident the charity has sufficient resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future. As such, the going concern basis has been adopted in preparing the financial statements.

The key risk is the potential loss of significant funding. To address this, the charity focuses on sustainable funding from existing funders and expanding collaboration with diverse sector partners. Regular financial monitoring ensures the organisation adapts to maintain stability.

The Trustees are confident Active Gloucestershire can continue delivering its mission in Gloucestershire.

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Statement of

responsibilities of the Trustees

The Trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom accounting standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102. The Financial Reporting Standard, applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (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 charity and of the income and expenditure of the charity for that period.

In preparing those financial statements the Trustees are required to:

• Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP

• Make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent State whether applicable UK accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements and

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

• The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and therefore for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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So far as the Trustees are aware:

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

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

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

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £10 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The Trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Auditors

Hazlewoods LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors continue to act as auditors to Active Gloucestershire.

Approved by the Trustees on 18 July 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Emma Owen

Chair, Active Gloucestershire

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Report and Audited Financial Statements 31 March 2024

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Report and Audited Financial Statements

Company no. 07344552 Charity no. 1138546

Registered office and operational address:

City Works Alfred Street Gloucester GL1 4DF

Trustees:

Emma Owen (appointed as Chair 5 October 2023) Jan Bowen-Nielsen (Chair resigned 5 October 2023) Alice Cline Daniel Constable Caitlin Dalton (resigned 5 October 2023) Tania Hamilton Jon McGinty David Newton (retired 16 July 2023) Terrance Smith (retired 16 July 2023) Lela Smith (resigned 14 March 2024) Sian Trew

Principal staff:

Tom Beasley Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”)

Bankers:

Auditors:

CAF Bank Limited Hazlewoods LLP 25 Kings Hill Avenue Chartered Accountants and Statutory Kings Hill Auditors West Malling Staverton Court Kent Staverton ME19 4JQ Cheltenham GL51 0UX

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Independent Auditors Report

To the Members and Trustees of

Active Gloucestershire

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Active Gloucestershire (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and the related notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

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

• Practice; and

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

Basis for opinion

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

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Inde endent Auditors Re ort p p

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustee's 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 charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the original financial statements were 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 auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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Inde endent Auditors Re ort p p

Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the Trustees’ Report, which includes the Directors’ Report prepared for the purposes of company law for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the Directors’ Report included within the Trustees’ Report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

• Matters on which we are required to report by exception

• In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Directors Report included in the Trustees’ Report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been

• received from branches not visited by us;

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

• certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or we have not received all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit.

Responsibilities of the trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement set out in the Trustees’ Report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purpose 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.

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Inde endent Auditors Re ort p p

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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations

We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

• We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the charity financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity. We determined that the most significant laws and regulations included United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and Companies Act 2006.

We understood how the charity is complying with those legal and regulatory frameworks by making inquiries of management, and those responsible for legal and compliance procedures.

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Inde endent Auditors Re ort p p

• We assessed the susceptibility of the charity’s financial statements to material misstatement including how fraud might occur. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

• identifying and assessing the design effectiveness of controls management has in place to prevent and detect fraud;

• understanding how those charged with governance considered and addressed the potential for override of controls or other inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process;

• challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in its significant accounting estimates; and

• identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any journal entries with unusual characteristics.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that material misstatements in the financial statements may not be detected, even though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with ISAs (UK).

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at:

www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

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Inde endent Auditors Re ort p p

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charityʼs 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 charityʼs members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditorʼs 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 charityʼs members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Scott Lawrence FCA

(Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of:

Hazlewoods LLP

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors

Staverton Court

Staverton

Cheltenham

GL51 0UX

Date: 22/10/2024

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Active Gloucestershire

Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account)

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in note 15 to the accounts.

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Balance sheet

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

14/10/2024

Emma Owen Chair, Active Gloucestershire

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Statement of cash flows

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1. Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities in preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Active Gloucestershire meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

b) Going concern basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared on the assumption that the charity is able to continue as a going concern, which the trustees consider appropriate having regard to the current level of unrestricted reserves. Thereare no material uncertainties about thecharity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

c) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and

the amount can be measured reliably.

The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

• Core grants, donations and gifts are included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable;

• Revenue grants are credited to the statement of financial activities when received or receivable, whichever is earlier;

• Where unconditional entitlement to grants receivable is dependent upon fulfilment of conditions within the charity's control, the incoming resources are recognised when there is sufficient evidence that conditions will be met. Where there is uncertainty as to whether the charity can meet such conditions the incoming resource is deferred;

• Income from charitable activities includes income from fees received under contract and commissioning income for services provided to sporting organisations in the local area. Grant income included in this category provides funding to support activities and is recognised where there is entitlement, probability of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability; and

• Investment income is included when receivable.

Amounts received during the year relating to specific periods are spread over the periods to which they relate. Capital grants are treated as restricted funds against which the assets purchased are depreciated over their useful life.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

d) Donated services and facilities

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

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

e) 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.

f) Funds accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds areunrestricted 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.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

g) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

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

h) Allocation of support and governance costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity, including the costs of complying with constitutional and statutory requirements and any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on the basis of directly attributable staff costs. There are minimal costs of raising funds, actual costs of fundraising are in relation to grant applications. Cost of managing and governance of grants previously awarded are included in charitable activities. In the current and preceding years, the percentage of costs allocated to fundraising is 2%.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

i) Tangible fixed assets

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

IT / office equipment 3 - 4 years

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000 (excluding VAT).

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

j) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount

offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

k) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

l) Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from apast event thatwill probably resultin the transfer of funds to a third partyand the amountdue to settle the obligation canbe measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally

recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

m) Financial instruments

The company only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are recognised at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

n) Pension costs

The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for its employees, in accordance with the government's auto-enrolment regulations. There are no further liabilities other than that already recognised in the statement of financial activities. The total employer pension contributions payable in the year were £29,253 (2021: £31,094). Pension costs are allocated to projects on the same basis as staff costs.

o) Accounting estimates and key judgements

In the application of the charity's accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods.

The key sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements are the allocation of costs to fundraising and charitable activities (see note 1(h)) and depreciation (see note 1(i)).

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

4. Government grants and contracts

The charity receives government grants and contracts, deemed to be funding from Sport England, Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and local authorities, to fund core services and charitable activities. The total value of such grants and contracts in the period ending 31 March 2024was £1,178,791 (2023: £1,229,512). There are no unfulfilled conditions or contingencies attaching to these grants in 2023/24. During the year, the charitable company was required to repay unspent funds amounting to £5,517 (2023: £Nil) from Sport England as a condition of the grant.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

As part of an internal reorganisation and simplification of services and funds during the year, funds brought forward were reclassified and grouped into smaller headings as disclosed in note 15. As a consequence, the expenditure by activity note above is not directly comparable to the prior year below.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Purposes of restricted funds

Workforce / Coaching Projects

Sport England funding to support the physical activity workforce in Gloucestershire. This is achieved through the we can move Changemaker programme through a range of training, network and event opportunities designed to support professionals and volunteers in the community and across various professions and sectors.

Satellite clubs

Sport England funding to facilitate the creation of satellite clubs for schools and younger people

Social Prescribing

Funding provided by the CCG to support tackling health inequalities in Gloucestershire.

Active Workplaces

Active Workplaces is a sponsorship property in partnership with Creed Foodservice, using the wheel of behaviour change to create a bespoke action plan of interventions aimed at increasing staff activity

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Active for life (small grants)

A targeted programme engaging 6,000 older people in regular physical activity.

Extended workforce

A pilot scheme launched by sport England ,designed to redefine the way in which Active Partnerships work with Sport England, with the aim of ensuring close strategic alignment between AP’s and SE sharing goals and a more collaborative approach to working together.

Tackling inequalities

Tackling inequalities –Sport England funded as a grant programme aimed at supporting organisations that have supported those most affected by the pandemic

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Commonwealth Games Legacy

The commonwealth legacy funding will help create a legacy of ‘connection’ with young people across the country / Gloucestershire. We aim to build connection with new and different young people by focusing on the ways in which we engage and design with them to reflect their motivation, competence and confidence.

One of the ways different young people will be engaged is through the CWG Ambassador programme which will feature in parts of the county, contributing to building confidence and inspiring young people to deliver, promote and connect young people to the CWG back in their schools.

Moving Communities

£100 million has been allocated to 266 local authorities to support the recovery of publicly-owned leisure centres and gyms. Moving Communities is a system design to drive the capture and use of leisure centre users.

Active Partnerships are being invited to have access to this data to help understand the role of leisure centres and the impact they generate on wider outcomes and support relationships with LAs and operators to use the data and insight.

This project is to gain access to Moving Communities until 31st October 2022 (renewal date, which is expected to be continued for a further year). Using the WCM programme group to raise the profile and have districts encourage the use of the system with their leisure centres.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

School games

Sport England funding to deliver a county-wide programme of level 3 School Games.

Primary school support

Sport England funding to support schools in utilising their PE, sport and physical activity funding.

Children and Young People

Funding has been used to co-design with young people opportunities to be active in the places and ways that work for them.

WCM Cotswold walking project

This project has now been closed and funds have been reallocated into other CYP programmes.

DFE volunteers

Sport England funding to promote volunteering in sport, physical activity and targeted communities to young people.

Primary School Daily Mile

Various funding sources to fund an increase in the daily physical activity for primary school pupils.

Special Olympics

Funding from a number of partners to contribute to improving the physical activity levels of people with a learning disability and their families.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Work for the Disabled

This area of work, also now known as Involve is a project looking at how and who can influence disabled peoples behaviours, in relation to physical activity. Involve has progressed to become a communication-based intervention to support health and social care professionals to have conversations with disabled people about physical activity, and with this is the development of a suite of resources to support these conversations to take place across the health and social care system in

Gloucestershire. The initial background and scoping part of this project was funded by Sport England, but this work is now funded by the CCG as part of the covid inequalities agreed funding and unrestricted reserves.

Short Breaks Capital Fund

Gloucestershire County Council provided funding to acquire various items of equipment and provide adaptations to support disabled children and young people under 25, to take part in a range of arts, sports, and leisure activities

Opening school facilities

Sport England funding to encourage and support targeted Gloucestershire schools to allow residents in their local area to hire the school’s facilities so they can play sport and be more active.

Connect Barrow community fund

The Connect fund is provided to support us to continue to test how social investment might can be used to increase impact for sports clubs and organisations. At the same time the funding will allow us to further explore if this work can provide us with a sustainable earned income source. We will share our results with the wider sector and Active Partnership network.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Get Out Get Active (GOGA)

Get out Get Active is a national initiative, where we hold the contract to project manage the local delivery of a branch of delivery in the Forest of Dean locality. The programme enables those with disabilities or long term health conditions to be active, by creating new opportunities, upskilling deliverers across the workforce and providing high quality marketing. The Forest of Dean GOGA programme focusses on older people with a long term condition, and has a particular focus on dementia. The project is a collaboration between Active Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean District Council and Freedom Leisure.

The project is managed nationally by Activity Alliance, who hold, manage and distribute locality funds from the overarching funders of Sport England, London Marathon Charitable Trust and Spirit of 2012.

Wheel of behaviour (renamed Place based work in 20/21)

Place based physical activity interventions means the focus of work is in a specific geographic area or ‘place’. This could be a street, neighbourhood, town or district. It targets the entire community; working with residents, groups, organisations and businesses that live or work in the area to better understand what the place is like, what the challenges or issues are and how we can work together to overcome them.

Covid Health Inequalities

This is a funded programme to support people who have been unable to be, or have become less active due to the pandemic. The funding is primarily focussed on Gloucester City. Funded by NHS Gloucestershire.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

CCG Pain Management

This is a pilot project to assess the impact of physical activity in support of people who require ongoing support to manage pain.

Active Design

This is a fund working with partner organisations to improve facilities and provide better active transport options.

Purpose of designated funds

Redundancy

To provide for contracted staff redundancy payments. This will only be expended if redundancies are made under the charity's redundancy policy.

Staff holiday

To provide for untaken holiday at the end of the financial period.

We Can Move

‘We can move’ is the county’s whole system and social movement approach to increasing physical activity levels and tackling health inequalities. The long term goal of the programme is to halve physical inactivity rates in Gloucestershire by 2030.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

WCM older adults

People are less active as they get older, with 6 out of 10 people not doing regular physical activity. Our we can move older adults work aims to increase physical activity levels of older people through: the delivery of a county wide falls prevention campaign (Fall-Proof); the co-design of a physical activity programme across the Forest of Dean; supporting a network of volunteers who support older adults to continue to be active; and supporting the delivery of local community and physical activity opportunities embedded across Gloucestershire.

Transfers between funds

Transfers between funds are to redistribute designated funding.

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Notes to the financial statements

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Notes to the financial statements

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18. Related party transactions

Transactions with trustees

Jon McGinty, a trustee, is the Managing Director of Gloucester City Council. During the year ended 31 March 2024, Active Gloucestershire received £40,000 (2023: £8,000) of income from, and paid £nil (2023: £nil) to, Gloucester City Council.

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