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2021-03-31-accounts

Ministry of Stories Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

Registered Company Number: 07317370 Charity Registration Number: 1138553

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

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CONTENTS CONTENTS Page
1. Trustee Board and Administrative Details 1
2. Introduction 2
3. Trustees’ Report
Trustees’ Report 7
Main Activities – Achievements and Performance 10
Volunteers 16
Our Impact 17
Future Strategy 19
Risk 20
Financial Review 21
Reserves 24
Going Concern 25
Structure, Governance and Management 25
Statement of Responsibilities of the Trustees 27
4. Independent Examiner’s Report 29
5. Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating an income and
expenditure account) 30
6. Balance Sheet 31
7. Statement of Cash Flows 32
8. Note to the Financial Statements 33

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 1: TRUSTEE BOARD AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

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Trustees

Régis Cochefert, Chair Michaela Greene, Vice-Chair Simon Mott-Cowan, Vice-Chair/ Treasurer Anya Zhuravkina

Duncan Kilty Mina Marsh Nick Makoha Piers Torday Shân Maclennan

Chief Executive (Director) Rob Smith

Deputy Director Kirsty Telford

Registered Office 159 Hoxton Street London N1 6PJ

Legal Advisors Morgan, Lewis & Bockius UK LLP Condor House 5-10 St. Paul’s Churchyard London EC4M 8AL

Accountants

Counterculture Partnership LLP Unit NH.204 E1 Studios 7 Whitechapel Road London E1 1DU

Bankers HSBC PLC Lion House 25 Islington High Street London N1 6L

Independent Examiner Goldwins Limited 75 Maygrove Road West Hampstead London NW6 2EG

Registered Charity Name: The Ministry of Stories Registered Charity Number (England and Wales): 1138553 Registered Company Number: 07317370

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THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 2: INTRODUCTION YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

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A message from our Chair

This has been a year like no other.

When we closed the doors of our writing centre back in March, we could not have foreseen that more than a year of disruption would lie ahead for our young writers, volunteers, programmes and school partners.

As I write, we are indeed still all facing various levels of upheaval and uncertainty across all areas of our personal and professional lives: friendships, family life, routines are still disrupted, over 18 months after the start of the initial lockdown.

It is not just the pandemic that has altered our lives over the last few months: Brexit, the murder of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement have also contributed to the re-shaping of our world.

As a board of trustees, we recognised that Ministry of Stories started the year on a strong financial footing and therefore took the brave decision not to furlough the core team. I have seen them work harder and more creatively than ever before, all while keeping their chin up through a period of huge uncertainty and sometimes juggling additional commitments at home too.

I am incredibly proud of how the Ministry of Stories has adapted and dug deep in its resilience to prioritise our young writers during this time: innovating and adapting all programmes quickly to ensure that we were able to continue to offer our much needed weekly support - not just during lockdown, but also in the months that ensued. Much of this was done remotely and digitally, but with the same creative energy. The result has led to some of the best writing since the organisation started and it is a tribute to the imagination and talent of our young writers as much as to that of the team and our volunteers.

We had a tough year financially, with the cancellations of our fundraising gala and Raise the Roof renovation campaign. As a consequence, we fell significantly short of our fundraising targets. Despite this set-back, we have a plan to reach more children and young people than ever before in the year ahead: we believe that we can offer an an essential creative outlet as they they face pressure to close the attainment gap caused by the pandemic. We will increase the number of weekly writing clubs in our community programme and grow the number of schools we work with.

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THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 2: INTRODUCTION YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

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This year we marked our 10th birthday more quietly, but with no less resolve in our commitment to serve east London for the next decade. Even though the fundraising landscape remains quite uncertain, we know that we have a lot to offer to our young writers, their families and carers and their schools. We will seek to gather as much support as we can to ensure that our commitment to east London is met.

Whether you are a funder, donor, volunteer or school partner, thank you for supporting us through these uncertain times and for backing our young people so that they can write a brighter future for themselves.

After more than six years as Chair, I am stepping down at the end of 2021. I am delighted that one of our two Vice-Chairs, Michaela Greene, will succeed me. She has in-depth knowledge of the organisation and a huge commitment to our vision and values. I am hugely grateful to my predecessor, Nick Hornby; to the invaluable contributions of existing Board members and of those whose mandate finished since I joined; to the two founders - Lucy Macnab and Ben Payne, whose vision led to the Ministry of Stories as it is; to our current Director and Deputy Director, Rob Smith and Kirsty Telford, whose leadership helped us through the last 18 months; to the team and all our volunteers for supporting our young writers through thick and thin; and to Arts Council England and our many donors and supporters for their on-going support.

Being part of the Ministry’s story has been an incredible privilege and very rewarding. I look forward to seeing the organisation stabilise and grow over the next ten years – and the ten years after that!

Régis Cochefert Chair of Trustees Ministry of Stories

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THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 2: INTRODUCTION YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

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A message from our Director

When the coronavirus pandemic hit we were devastated to shut our doors to our young people.

Within days of closure we took the decision that we must do all we could to reach our young writers and their families at home. Overnight they had lost so much of their regular structure, interaction and opportunities because of lockdown.

After a several weeks of hard work and ingenuity, we transformed our writing programmes from being in-person with books and pencils, to being online.

From sofas, kitchen tables, desks and mobile phones across Hackney our young writers logged-in. We got to better know their parents, carers and siblings as we joined families virtually in their homes and they listened in the background or joined in with our sessions - an unexpected highlight of a difficult time.

Our writing leaders, Jess and Miriam, adapted so readily to leading workshops in a new online space - learning the ins and outs of Zoom, finding ingenious ways to keep our young people engaged and happy, and training up our volunteer mentors in how to keep our young writers safe in their new online environment.

We fundraised to bring back our online writing and mentoring platform, The Story Engine, so that young people had the freedom to write at a time that worked for them. We also surprised them with creative gifts through their letterboxes for when they were fatigued from being on screen. I am so proud of how our Writing Facilitators and the staff team pulled this off.

For our most vulnerable young people we carefully re-introduced in person one-toone mentoring, creating vital space for time, care and individual attention from our volunteer Writing Mentors.

Our schools work adapted too – using a creative mix of video content, google classroom, remote mentoring and writing challenges for home. We supported teachers to transition their work, keeping that all important creative connection for their pupils.

But most of all I’m proud of our young writers themselves. Many of them really struggled being away from their friends and schools and with the intensity that comes with online learning. We know some have felt upset, anxious and overwhelmed. We have been blown away by the quality of the writing and depth of emotion that even our youngest writers have shown through their work. Despite all kinds of challenges and obstacles, they turned up week after week bringing their best ideas.

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Our volunteers stepped up too - more than 90 of them - to support all our new ways of working.

Thanks to their resilience and creativity we were able to produce outstanding anthologies, a brand new audio soap with the BBC and a groundbreaking installation project Unexpected Poetry which grabbed the attention of the community across Hackney.

We would like to take this opportunity, in advance, to thank our outgoing chair Régis Cochefert for his skill, experience and support throughout a challenging year. He has guided us expertly with wisdom, humour and kindness. As Regis steps down, we look forward to welcoming Micheala Greene into her new role as Chair next year.

We’re looking forward to slowly and safely resuming work in person at our writing centre and in schools to full force, and we look forward to having you round for a cuppa soon!

Rob Smith Director Ministry of Stories

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Inside, You May Expect the Ordinary

A group poem written during lockdown by writers from the Ministry of Stories Community Writing Labs with Jessica Randall and Miriam Nash

Follow me. Hear eerie noises of genies, or a unicorn’s lavender cough, ringing sharp through crystal air.

Follow me to a world of comedy, an oasis where your worries melt away. Follow me and make footprints in smooth, solid ice.

Follow me and see zombies battle dragons, whilst four-headed lizards flee from a time war in a punk rock van.

Be careful not to tread the wrong path, to glimpse the apocalypse, breathe the rotting smell of lies, of fear,

to hear screams rise, as the tongue-sharp guillotine falls. Come away. Follow me.

We’ll seek the apple-pie sweet smell of truth, feel relief as pure as larks’ song or a china cup of jasmine tea.

Follow me to the warm sunset, where waves crash on seaweed rocks, then saunter to shore, calm as an old dog.

Follow me to the barbecue scent of fire-sizzled earth, where histories meet to make sense of this time. Stone Age, Ice Age, Vikings, us.

Together, we’ll find the place where the cherry tree grants your wishes with delicious red berries.

Happy as angels, we’ll pluck the fruit and taste wisdom, courage, love.

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ABOUT MINISTRY OF STORIES

Ministry of Stories champions the writer in every child. Co-founded by author Nick Hornby in 2010, we help young people discover their confidence, imagination and potential through the power of their writing. We develop self-respect and communication skills through innovative writing programmes and small group mentoring for children living in under-resourced communities, working in schools, and at our dedicated writing centre in east London.

We empower young people to write brighter futures for themselves through the power of their ideas, creativity and imagination. Over the last ten years, we have supported more than 11,000 children to harness their voice through their writing.

SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT

The trustees, who are also directors under company law, present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021.

The trustees confirm that the financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

CHARITABLE PURPOSES FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT

The trustees have given due consideration to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charities Commission (Public Benefit requirement under the Charities Act 2011) and believe that the activities undertaken during the year provide public benefit while fulfilling the objectives of the charity.

The Ministry of Stories’ charitable purposes remain those specified in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

1. The Advancement of Education – to advance education for the public benefit in writing and reading in all its forms.

2. Young People – to act as a resource for young people up to the age of 18 by providing advice and assistance, organising programmes of education and other activities as a means of:

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF MINISTRY OF STORIES

OUR STARTING POINT

We believe that children in our communities have their potential limited because society does not value, resource or represent them.

OUR AIM

For children and young people to have a voice to affect change, using the power of their ideas and imagination to write brighter futures for themselves.

OUR METHODOLOGY

Through a range of innovative writing programmes and small group mentoring, we help young people discover and realise their own creative potential.

Through our innovative storytelling and writing workshops, children gain confidence, grow in self-respect, and learn new skills.

We have six core pillars which underpin our methodology:

  1. Creation of inspiring learning spaces

  2. Individual support from volunteer mentors

  3. Delivery of effective writing programmes, led by professional writers

  4. Publications and performances

  5. Creating communities of writers

  6. Engaging local communities

OUR IMPACT

“If you’re new here, this is a place where you can free your mind on a piece of paper and become what you want”, young writer, aged 11

Our Theory of Change identifies the outcomes we achieve through our writing programmes and we measure these through our evaluation framework.

Using creative writing as a versatile and inspirational tool, the children and young people who attend our programmes:

We also aim for adults - be they parents, carers, teachers or the wider public - to discover new talent and potential in the young people.

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OUR YOUNG WRITERS

“I have always written stories ever since I was small and whenever I looked for a class to attend I wouldn't be able to afford it so I am very thankful for the opportunity and I just love being with people who share the same interests as me.” - young writer

At Ministry of Stories, we believe the best way for young people to gather skills and realise their potential is by discovering the power of their ideas and imagination.

Our free after-school writing labs are for children and young people aged between 8- 15 who live within a 500m radius of our centre or attend one of seven targeted local schools who have at least 40% of students in receipt of Pupil Premium.

We exist for the young people who can’t easily access creative programmes due to a lack of confidence or affordability. This year we continued to reach the young people in greatest need of our support: 81% of our children live in the 30% lowest income households nationally.

We are proud that our community labs also reflect the diversity in our community. 48% of community lab children identify as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic, of which more than 30% identify as Black British, Black British African or Black British Caribbean. 4% of our young writers are disabled.

Ministry of Stories work with children who have on average lower wellbeing scores than the general population (measured using the Stirling Wellbeing scale). Over the last 3 months, we have seen a notable increase in safeguarding concerns relating to young people’s low mood, mental wellbeing, anxiety and depression.

In addition to our community programme, Ministry of Stories works with schools in the London boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Islington; all prioritised for their high percentage of pupils receiving Pupil Premium to ensure that we reach the young people facing the greatest barriers to participation.

HOW MANY YOUNG PEOPLE WE REACHED

‘The job that Ministry of Stories has done during the lockdown and also during the normal workshops prior to coronavirus has been amazing. They have challenged the children to improve their writing skills using their imagination in a very creative way. It has been a sunshine during the dull days of the lockdown’ – note from parent of a young writer, community lab

Despite the many challenges of the pandemic and the closure of both our writing centre and our partner schools, we are proud to have supported 1,643 children and young people to become writers. This is twice as many as the previous year (2020, 800).

Of these, 85 young people attended our weekly community writing labs which delivered 112 sessions over the course of the year.

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OUR YOUNG WRITERS (cont.)

In addition, we delivered programmes with eight schools , running a total of 105 sessions across primary and secondary schools in east London.

Across our activity this year there were a total of 5,860 attendances by young people.

MAIN ACTIVITIES - ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

“I like being at Ministry of Stories because I really get to use my imagination and explore worlds which I would never be able to reach otherwise.“ - young writer, community lab

Our five key charitable activities carried out in the financial year 2020-21 included:

1. Community Writing Labs

2. Schools Programme

3. The Story Engine

4. Letterbox Surprises

5. Resources and Publications

1. Community Writing Labs

“At the end of last year we had a teachers’ feedback Zoom with Johnny’s school. His teacher gave us such astounding feedback about Johnny's writing at school...I think neither of us quite knew what to say but I know Johnny did feel proud. His teacher said it was clear he read a broad variety of books, but I think his accomplishment in writing is not only because he reads a lot but because of his involvement in your writing club and all that you and the mentors are teaching about writing. It's more than just getting the grammar correct (he corrects me all the time) or completing the task, it's how you help them to develop their style and, as his teacher put it, he has found his voice. Also creative ways to answer a brief, for example today he was asked to write about himself but instead of "I am Johnny, I am 9" etc he quickly came up with a starting line of "Life is a gift and mine is no exception.." I think that way of thinking he has learnt from your teachings. I wanted to share that positive feedback with you and your team.” – note from parent of young writer, community lab

Our Community Writing Labs sit at the heart of the organisation, serving our local community, and providing a space for innovation and programme development. From September 2020 we had planned to introduce two new labs, increasing our weekly offer from three to five groups, and from a weekly capacity of 75 young people to c.100.

However, in mid-March 2020, the pandemic led to the suspension of Ministry of Stories’ physical writing programmes to ensure the safety of our young writers, volunteers and staff.

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (cont.)

By April, we had moved our community writing lab programmes online and taken the decision to merge some of our weekly labs for the duration of the year. As a result we continued to run three community writing labs a week throughout the year (Thursdays, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon), including the introduction of a new older writers group. We had hoped to grow, but in the face of the pandemic we were proud to have continued to offer 75 places to our young writers (2019, 75).

Continuing our programming via Zoom allowed us to forge closer bonds with families. For the first time they had a direct insight into what goes on at a typical Ministry of Stories session, often with a sibling or two joining in the creative exercises. We’ve made time for phone-calls with parents to check-in with how things were going and developed closer relationships and a better understanding of some of the families who have themselves never ventured through our secret door.

Despite the challenges and upheaval we were also delighted to proceed with our plans to launch a new writing lab aimed at 11-15 year olds which started in September as planned. This has created a new progression route for our older writers as they advance through our programmes, as well as providing a new opportunity for alumni from our secondary school projeccts.

One mentor reflected on how the older group was different from supporting the 8 - 12 age group. ‘Young writers in both groups hold passionate beliefs but the older age group are more comfortable grappling with questions of identity and more complex social and political issues [...] the older age group was more invested in how and why the world needed to change.’ - Adrianna, volunteer writing mentor

Despite all the challenges, we exceeded our target of 90% retention for our younger groups on Thursdays and Saturdays (achieving 95% and 96% respectively) and retained 81% of young writers in our new 11-15s group (against a target of 75% set as it was a new group who met for the first time online).

Highlights of 2020-21 Community Writing Labs include:

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (cont.)

Challenges

We were disappointed to not be able to grow the number of writing labs, including delaying the launch our 5[th] writing lab this year. This new lab will offer a quieter space for learners who need more support in a smaller group and more focussed environment. However, we took the decision to delay the start until the group are able to meet in person.

Our spring term was the most challenging in terms of managing attendance due to ‘Zoom fatigue’ and a general sense of low energy. However, we were able to retain the interest of our young writers by asking them to work with our partners make:good on their vision for the final installation pieces of their Unexpected Poetry. At the end of the year, 76% of our places (57 total) were filled despite challenging attendance.

2. Schools Programme

‘ I was adamant that I wanted a Ministry of Stories project to take place this term - although I had no idea if it would even be possible. We’re now approaching our two year anniversary of working with Ministry of Stories, and I’ve had the total privilege to oversee the amazing work countless students have produced as a result of working with MoS. Not only have I seen the positive impact from both a creative and academic perspective, I have seen young people truly shine as a result of the invaluable feedback and support of the MoS team. I was desperate to provide some stability and escapism for our students during this term, words can be a refuge and this would be my way of throwing them a life raft. The MoS Avengers assembled to create a project specifically for our students – going virtual to ensure as many could take part as possible. The journey has been a fantastic one to follow, with extraordinary work being produced every single week. And now the final destination,

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (cont.)

this anthology, is something otherworldly. The writing within it has a maturity and craft beyond these students years – thank you, yet again, for making our nebulous ideas a reality that have gone above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined’ - feedback from teacher and English lead, associate secondary school

We had planned for our Schools Programme to undergo a significant shift this year, through the growth of our schools offer and a range of different programme approaches. Our aims were to:

  1. Establish a new consortium model with a group of schools in Tower Hamlets

  2. Support schools to commission bespoke projects

  3. Re-launch our one-off workshops

  4. Encourage our existing associate schools to continue their relationship, by renewing annual or extended contracts

To deliver this expanding schools programme, we were planning to diversify our creative workforce by growing our freelance pool and bring in experts from a broader range of writing forms. This would enable us to programme more flexibly and respond effectively to the needs of schools and their young people.

However, the pandemic led to the closure of our partner school, which meant an early ending of the spring 2020 term and the cancellation of several one-off workshops. From September we were working with schools to slowly rebuild our programmes online and developed bespoke resources according to each school’s need and circumstances.

Despite this challenging start to the year, we still delivered many of the plans for our schools programme. We worked closely and flexibly with eight associate schools over the course of the year and secured ten schools for our Tower Hamlets Consortium, which will now commence fully in the Autumn 2021. We also secured funding from UBS to support a schools transition project in Hackney in 2021-22.

The main area we were unable to deliver were our one-off workshops, which require in-person delivery at our writing centre in Hoxton.

Highlights of 2020-21 School Programme include:

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (cont.)

Challenges

This year we hoped to pilot a new trainee programme for emerging artists, designed to nurture diverse, creative talent for our freelance pool, and to provide further progression routes for young writers and volunteers. Due to the flux and reduced demand in the schools programme, we did not feel able to offer a quality learning experience for trainees, and will therefore carry this project forward to 202122.

3. The Story Engine

“The mentors are always very supportive and encouraging. They give me brilliant ideas for fun stories that are very different. It’s great that I can go online and ask for feedback to help me to build my story.” – young writer, who regularly used our Story Engine creative writing platform during lockdown

In response to the pandemic, we relaunched The Story Engine - our online creative writing and mentoring platform – originally piloted in 2017. The Story Engine offered young people the space and support to write at any time they chose, receiving remote mentoring from our volunteers.

We launched a restricted fundraising campaign to fund the redevelopment of the site, webhosting and to provide additional administrative support.

Having planned to keep the site live for six months initially, designed to reach our writers in the absence of a physical programme, we ended up keeping the site live and in use for the full year. We used this time to test and learn more about the platform and how it was being used by young people and to develop our strategy moving forwards.

Five east London school partners were also given access to The Story Engine.

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (cont.)

Highlights of 2020-21 The Story Engine include:

You can read their published stories here

4. Letterbox Surprises

For our young writers without internet access or unstable connections we created special Letterbox Surprises. These unexpected creative writing tasks were delivered straight through young writer’s front doors during the first lockdown - these were physical activities designed to be completed without the use of any technology to give young people a much needed screen-break.

Our letterbox surprises sent young writers on a poetry scavenger hunt, invited them to create comedy sketches, and even tasked them with creating tiny pieces of furniture for a family of plastic figurines - and then using these dioramas as writing prompts. Sneak a peek at one of them here: Ministry of Stories - The Shrunken Humans of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Project (Youtube)

5. Resources and Publications

In order to raise the profile of our young writers, reach new audiences and support others to write creatively, we developed and published 17 new publlications and 26 supporting videos in partnership with our young writers, volunteers and staff. This is represents our largest volume of publications and film since we founded in 2010.

These comprised of:

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (cont.)

VOLUNTEERS

“Being eighteen, I was scared of both children and adults as I was no longer one and not yet the other. I was terrified of getting it wrong, getting in trouble, and embarrassing myself. Then I realised that no one has all the answers, and you have to give yourself room to make mistakes .” – Charlotte, volunteer writing mentor and shopkeeper

Volunteers remain fundamental to the delivery of our mission at Ministry of Stories and this year was no exception. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the closure of our physical programmes and the closure of our shop, we were able to engage 94 volunteers (2020, 218 volunteers) who donated 1,517 hours of their time to our charity (2020, 4,533 hours).

Our volunteers primarily support our workshops as writing mentors – providing oneto-one attention and small group support for our young writers. However, volunteers also perform the role of shopkeeper in Hoxton Street Monster Supplies; administrate and ‘ghostwrite’ for the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies postal services and provide back office administrative support. This year we have also benefited from volunteers with specific skills, including illustration, copy editing and a large volume of typists for our young people’s work.

Funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation has continued to support our ambition to grow youth volunteering through our Your Time to Shine programme. Over the course of their funding period, 30 young volunteers (age 13 - 25) have donated more than 700 hours of time to our charity. This year our young volunteers grew to represent 1/3rd of our total volunteer base.

We currently have a waiting list of 200 volunteers who have registered to train over the course of 2020-21. We hope to reengage many of these from the autumn.

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OUR IMPACT

‘Deep in Hoxton, the Ministry of Stories stands.

Once a shop and a club flooding with children, now just a building that nobody dares to step into.

Inside, you may expect the ordinary: chairs and tables where they were put last, and the atmosphere so quiet, you can hear a pin drop. However, it is quite the opposite now. Inside is pure chaos...’

Extract from Mystery in the Ministry , by Maysaa, inspired by the closure of Ministry of Stories writing centre during lockdown

Using our Theory of Change as a base, this year we launched our new evaluation framework with the support of the Centre for Youth Impact and used this throughout our community programmes.

The framework includes:

  1. Surveys and interviews with young writers, teachers, Writing Facilitators and volunteers

  2. The Stirling Children’s Wellbeing scale to measure changes in young people’s wellbeing

  3. An anonymous parent survey

  4. Our Becoming a Writer tool to measure improvement in writing skills, used across all community and school writing labs at the start and end of the autumn and spring terms.

Feedback from parents, children and volunteers has shown that children and young people have had fun as part of our programmes – unleashing their ideas and imaginations – and through the work arising during the coronavirus pandemic, we know that writing was used as a tool by our young people to express and sustain themselves as they processed what was happening around them.

“It is wonderful to see how proud she feels when she shares her work and how proud and excited that we feel when we see her published work. The events organised by Ministry of Stories have been amazing. The Unexpected Poetry book is fantastic and a very special record of all the children's work, the writing club team's support and the local community.” – parent, community lab member

Young writers’ perspective

We expect the impact of the pandemic on young people to be long-lasting, affecting

educational attainment, as well as wellbeing.

Over the course of the one term with Ministry of Stories 53% of young people reported improved wellbeing scores, and 100% of our young people said they felt safe at Ministry of Stories.

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OUR IMPACT (cont.)

Our end of term survey results of our young writers show that despite the challenges, overwhelmingly we have achieved many of the outcomes we aspire to:

• 96% of our young people enjoyed taking part in Ministry of Stories writing programmes

‘Ministry of Stories has helped me to stretch my already humungous imagination’, Adam, age 11

‘I have learnt how to talk with more confidence and bravery’. David, age 10

‘I've really learnt how to create worlds with my mind and form characters that I can identify with or understand.’ Viola, age 10

‘My writing has improved. It's clearer, simpler. More raw.’ Esme, age 14

Parents perspective

Our end of term survey results of parents and carers show that despite the challenges of the pandemic, overwhelmingly we have achieved many of the outcomes we aspire to:

‘Both Lisa and Viola are now very aware of writing genres and techniques, but above everything else, they enjoy thinking about stories and characters to describe.’

The majority of comments focused on improved imagination, creativity, ability to express ’better ideas and thoughts’ through writing, ‘extended vocabulary’ and enjoyment of writing.

‘I think they write more professionally when writing from their imagination.’

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OUR IMPACT (cont.)

‘He has learnt new writing techniques, such as haiku.’

‘The level of writing and creativity has improved, including her use of words to create an image for the reader.’

‘My daughter has enjoyed writing for fun, and I feel proud of her work and for having the confidence to share’

‘My daughter did brilliant during the last live zoom presentation, reading out loud her own story and the group's poem’

‘His reading is entertaining. He gives life to his stories’

‘Her work, especially in English, has improved a lot’

‘Cian's school report has come back saying that he has a great writing skill, and that has to do with Ministry of Stories’

‘Both Lisa and Viola did really well in literacy and wrote poems for the school students' book’

FUTURE STRATEGY

2021-22 will be a year of consolidation in readiness for the next phase of our ambitious growth strategy. We will root the organisation back into a world that begins to stabilise and rise from the challenges of the global pandemic.

We will return a sense of normality to our writers, and for the organisation more broadly: regrouping and rebuilding. It is not about a radical new direction or reworking of our strategy, a process we have been through over the last 18-months, but one of re-establishing our place in the community, bringing people back together and testing and embedding our new delivery model. This will position us with the confidence and momentum to grow and develop our work, reaching new children and families, young people and schools.

As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, our priority will be to start safely reintroducing our in-person programmes, reconnecting with our young writers and their families.

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THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

FUTURE STRATEGY (cont.)

We will have a significant focus on Community Writing Lab recruitment , both reengaging lapsed participants as our physical programmes reopen, but also introducing new young writers to our work. We will introduce a new Writing Lab for young people who would benefit from a smaller, more supportive environment, taking the total number of weekly groups to five, the most the organisation has ever run.

We will continue to test our new schools delivery model, working closely with schools to design creative projects in response to their needs. We will grow our base of school partners, taking our work to more children across East London. We will learn more about the nature of support that schools require, and how creative approaches can help. We will start delivering our 3-year schools consortium programme, working with clusters of schools to support teachers, and of course leading creative writing projects with children and young people.

We must re-anchor ourselves in our community, from governance, partnerships to participation - cherishing and championing the diversity of our community and taking every opportunity to make this visible throughout our work. We can build a deeper sense of representation and inclusion that runs throughout our work, framed and focused by a new Diversity Action Plan created by a working group of staff, freelancers and trustees in consultation with our young writers and our community.

RISK

‘At the heart of all disorder, there is always conflict. Evidently, it may be portrayed in a variety of formats. However, its existence is inevitable, whether that dispute or lack of congruence is against society, nature, or even one’s own character. The latter, I find, is most entertaining.’ An extract from Disorder , by Yasu, The Shadow Within & Other Tales, Gothic Fiction, school anthology

Trustees are responsible for the oversight of the Ministry of Stories Risk Register. This is used as a management tool and is reviewed every 6 months by the Business and Programme Sub Committee and summarised for the full Board. Any risks scored 10+ lead to immediate action by senior management and the Chair and Officers are made aware. All trustees and staff share responsibility to identify new risks that should be added as the climate and/or sector changes. The risk register has been an important and active tool during the pandemic.

At the time of writing, the two highest risks to the Ministry of Stories were:

1. COVID-related impact on young people’s mental health and wellbeing increases pastoral care demands and safeguarding referrals.

Mitigation: establishment of mental health and wellbeing training for programme leaders, trained Mental Health First Aider, robust Safeguarding Policy and processes in place and annual training for Designated Safeguarding Lead and two Deputy Safeguarding Leads.

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THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

RISK (cont.)

2. Multi-year funders not retained or replaced, resulting in NPO / Core Funding not secured.

Mitigation: Multi-year fundraising strategy and pipeline in development, mapping and alignment of charity to Arts Council England Investment Principles and strong relationship with Relationship Manager, and delivery of expectations and transparent approach taken with all public funders, trusts and foundations.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The largest source of funding were public funds, which included £90,753 from Arts Council England, and £45,599 from the Greater London Authority for Young Londoners and £10,000 from the London Borough of Hackney (Shoreditch and Hoxton Art Fund). Income also included grants from trusts and foundations (13%) and donations from companies and individuals (23%). We also generated a small contribution of income from our schools.

The majority of the income secured from public funds and trusts and foundations are restricted and deliver key objectives of our charity including our community writing labs programme, underwriting the growth of our schools programme and by contributing to the costs of running our physical writing centre. A summary of each restricted fund is provided in Note 17 of the accounts.

This year our fundraising was affected by the pandemic, which led to higher competition for funding from other charities, as well as funders changing their funding priorities to support charities in desperate need.

As disclosed in Note 3, the Charity also benefited from furlough related government grants totalling £10,197.

Total income received in was £294,317 (2020: £924,631) against an operational budget target of £379,685 for the year, so falling short of our income targets by 22%. The variance was largely due to trusts & foundations (including delayed programme activity), with the remainder corporate donations, events and schools activity having been impacted by the pandemic. Prior year income also included an anonymous corporate donation of £446,007, which was designated to support activities over 4 years from 2019-20.

The descriptions of charitable activities in the accounts have now been updated to reflect the work on schools, community programme and nationally. Prior year expenditure figures have been reanalysed as a result.

21

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

FINANCIAL REVIEW (cont.)

Fundraising

The fundraising objectives for Ministry of Stories continued as:

  1. High quality relationships with new and existing funders

  2. Diversification of funding streams

  3. Transition from single year fundraising target towards a multi-year fundraising strategy

Our fundraising activities are run in-house and we do not employ professional fundraisers or commercial participators to support our activity. This year we have continued to be registered with the Fundraising Regulator, have committed to the standards of the Code of Fundraising Practice and are compliant. We have not received any complaints about our fundraising activities. 2020-21 was a year of continued investment in a second fundraiser, a cost which moved from a designated fund (2018-19) to core costs in 2019-20.

2020-21 saw the third year of our current Arts Council England NPO agreement, which has now been extended to March 2023. We will use this year to strengthen our case for investment, understand how our work supports the new Arts Council 10-year strategy, and prepare for resubmission in 2021-22.

We have secured several donations and grants from new trust, public and corporate fundraising sources that will help to secure the organisation for the next two years. However, with the pandemic causing a widespread crisis for charities and cultural organisations, this year we saw funders reallocating their core funding programmes into emergency funding, the suspension of grant programmes and closure of funding programmes to new charities.

At this stage, we cannot predict the sources of income will prove to be most fruitful for Ministry of Stories during 2021-22 and feel our biggest risk areas are trusts and foundations, corporates and events. As a result, our fundraising strategy will need to be responsive and nimble to opportunities as they arise, alongside continuing our current approach to spread risk across a number of different sources.

Highlights of 2020-21 fundraising include:

22

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

FINANCIAL REVIEW (cont.)

Our work is only possible due to our dedicated supporters, companies, charitable trusts, foundations and public funders who fund us, as well as our ambassadors and advocates. To everyone involved, we cannot thank you enough.

In addition to our many regular donors and community supporters, during 2020-21 we were also proud to be supported by:

Amazon Literacy Partnership Rachel Hood 1978 Trust
Arts Council England Sherborne in the Community
Charles S French Charitable Trust Shoreditch and Hoxton Art Fund
Cockayne - Grants for the Arts and Tesco Bags of Help
The London Community Foundation The Fagus Anstruther Memorial Trust
Co-op Foundation The Mercers’ Company on behalf of
Jack Petchey Foundation The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington
JAR Charitable Trust Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust
Paul Hamlyn Foundation Young Londoners Fund

Thank you for funding the imaginations of our young writers

Finally, we'd also like to thank our co-founder and First Minister, Nick Hornby, for his continued advocacy, advice and friendship.

23

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

FINANCIAL REVIEW (cont.)

Investment powers and policy - Hoxton Street Monster Supplies

The Trust Deed authorises the trustees to make and hold investments using the general funds of the charity. The trustees have the power to invest in any way they see fit.

All of the charity’s investment income arises from interest payable on a loan to the trading subsidiary, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies (‘HSMS’) which runs the charity’s retail operations. The wholly owned trading subsidiary HSMS Ltd is incorporated in the United Kingdom (company number 07317370) and pays all of its distributable profits to the charity under the gift aid scheme. The charity owns the entire share capital of 10 ordinary shares of £1 each.

Our trading arm, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies (HSMS), continues to be an important part of the charity, providing a warm welcome to children and their families. It also supports our ambition to diversify our financial mix and demonstrates how seriously we take play and the imagination. HSMS is a core part of our charity’s identity, garnering attention for the work we do and as a public face for the charity.

Despite being forced to close our doors for most of the year, our magical shop Hoxton Street Monster Supplies was busy with online orders during the autumn and received Central Government retail grants to support it during closure. As a result, despite the challenging retail climate and only 22 physical shop opening days, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies will be in a position to gift aid a small donation to Ministry of Stories this year due to strong winter sales.

RESERVES

The trustees have adopted a reserves policy through which we aim to maintain a minimum level of unrestricted reserves equivalent to 3 months running costs.

At 31 March 2021 the total funds stood at £558,744 (2020: £689,561).

The reserves comprise:

The board have designated funds to created a Development Fund which will be spent over the next two years to support our organisational growth including contributing £50,000 each year to support core running costs and underwriting our investment in a central staff post (Finance and Operations Coordinator). The Development Fund will also enable Ministry of Stories to fund training for our freelance pool and to pilot a new trainee artist programme. If it is viable to fundraise for this expenditure, these designated funds will be released and reallocated to support the charity in 2023-24.

24

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

GOING CONCERN

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

The trustees have considered the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. The trustees consider that the outbreak is likely to cause some continuing disruption to the Charity’s business but do not believe that this will be significant. The trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity can continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The Ministry of Stories is registered as a company limited by guarantee and not having share capital, its operations and governed by its Articles of Association.

The company was incorporated on 16 July 2010 and registered as a charity on 25 October 2010. The charity registration number is 1138558 and the company registration number is 07317370.

Appointment of Trustees

As set out in the Articles of Association, the Chair of the Trustees is nominated by the Ministry of Stories. The directors of the organisation are also the charity trustees for the purposes of charity law.

The Board of Trustees has the power to appoint additional trustees as it considers fit to do so. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the company other than as members. The trustees are also directors of the company.

Trustees continue to be recruited by identifying skills gaps at board level through an annual skills audit and peer review. A minimum of three trustee positions are reserved for writers to ensure a creative sounding board for the work of the charity.

This year saw two trustee retirements (Amrita Das and Sue Horner) and following a thorough recruitment process, the successful appointment of a new Chair Designate, Michaela Greene (current Vice-Chair). Sue Horner will move into a non-executive role as expert advisor for our Business and Programme Sub Committee. We thank Amrita and Sue for their years of service as trustees.

Michaela will step into our role as Chair when Régis Cochefert retires in November 2021 and she will lead a review of the board and begin recruitment for additional trustees.

25

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT (cont.)

Two of our trustees, Nick Makoha and Mina Marsh continue their appointment by the board as diversity champions. They serve on our Diversity Working Group, alongside nominated staff and freelancers.

Organisational structure

The company is organised so that trustees meet regularly to manage its affairs. The trustees meet as a full board every quarter, in addition to quarterly meetings of the Finance and Fundraising Sub Committee (chaired by Simon Mott-Cowan) and Business and Programme Sub Committee (chaired by Anya Zhuravkina).

Rob Smith (Director) is the person to whom the charity trustees delegated day-to-day management of the charity during the reporting period.

In 2019-20, the senior leadership team, with support from the board, proposed a new organisational structure best placed to deliver the future growth strategy of the charity. In March 2020 the senior leadership team commenced a consultation with the staff members affected and broader team. The charity was advised by law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius UK LLP on a pro bono basis and the restructure was concluded in September 2020.

In addition to the core staff team, we now have eight freelancers to increase the breadth of writing forms and diversity of our programme team. These roles will focus on the delivery of our programme of work in schools in the year ahead.

Related parties and relationships with other organisations

Ministry of Stories continued to actively participate in sector-wide collaborations this year, including sharing learning and planning around our responses to the pandemic. We contributed to advocacy and sector lobbying for investment in the Cultural Recovery Fund.

In the latter part of this year, Ministry of Stories also had regular contact with our international and national family of writing charities to collaborate on The Story Engine and discuss COVID-19 programme responses.

Our relationship with our national and international writing centre colleagues and our formal affiliation with 826 National drive forward our values, learning and artistic practices but have no impact on the operating policies of the Ministry of Stories.

26

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES

The trustees (who are also directors of charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

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 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.

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 total number of such guarantees at 31 March 2021 was £90 (2020: £110). The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Statement as to disclosure to our independent examiners in so far as the trustees are aware:

27

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES (cont.)

Independent Examiners

Following a competitive tender process, Goldwins Limited were appointed as the independent examiners of the charitable company during the year.

The Trustees Report was approved and authorised for issue by the trustees on 2 November 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

_______ Régis Cochefert Régis Cochefert Chair of Trustees

Date: 2 November 2021

28

THE MINISTRY OF STORIES SECTION 4. INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF MINISTRY OF STORIES

_________

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Ministry of Stories for the year ended 31 March 2021.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

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

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or

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

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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

Date: 2 November 2021

Anthony Epton BA FCA CTA FCIE Goldwins Chartered accountants 75 Maygrove Road West Hampstead London NW6 2EG

29

The Ministry of Stories Statement of financial activities

(incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2021

Unrestricted
Funds
Note
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
189,789
Charitable activities
4
15,141
Other trading activities
5
15,496
Investments
6
99
Other income
-
Total income
220,525
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
7
66,117
Charitable activities:
7
Community programme
104,084
Schools programme
126,825
National programme
17,472
Total expenditure
314,498
Net movement in funds
17
(93,973)
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
549,594
Total funds carried forward
455,621		 Unrestricted
Funds
Note
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
189,789
Charitable activities
4
15,141
Other trading activities
5
15,496
Investments
6
99
Other income
-
Total income
220,525
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
7
66,117
Charitable activities:
7
Community programme
104,084
Schools programme
126,825
National programme
17,472
Total expenditure
314,498
Net movement in funds
17
(93,973)
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
549,594
Total funds carried forward
455,621		 Restricted
Funds
£
85,670
-
-
-
-		 2021
Total
Funds
£
275,459
15,141
15,496
99
-
306,195
66,117
155,424
189,381
26,090
437,012
(130,817)
689,561
558,744		 2020
Total
Funds
£
(Restated)
891,664
26,646
10,373
160
5,543
220,525 85,670 934,386
66,117
104,084
126,825
17,472		 -
51,340
62,556
8,618		 66,991
181,289
203,493
49,067
314,498 122,514 500,840
(93,973)
549,594		 (36,844)
139,967		 433,546
256,015
455,621 103,123 689,561

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Prior period comparatives have been reanalysed due to changes in Charitable Activity descriptions. The attached notes form part of these financial statements.

30

The Ministry of Stories Balance sheet As at 31 March 2021

2021
Note
£
Fixed assets:
11
12
13
Current assets:
13
20,336
549,120
569,456
Liabilities:
14
(16,082)
17
235,652
219,969
Total unrestricted funds
Long Term assets:
Debtors
Total funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds
General funds
Restricted funds
Investments
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due within one
year
Net current assets / (liabilities)
Total net assets / (liabilities)
Funds
Tangible assets		 2021
2020
£
£
1,692
10
1,702
3,668
45,431
672,262
717,693
(35,395)
553,374
558,744
103,123
347,445
202,149
455,621
558,744		 2020
£
-
10
10
7,253
682,298
689,561
139,967
549,594
689,561

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions for small companies under Part15 of the Companies Act 2006.

For the year ending 31 March 2021 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476.The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts. These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

Approved by the trustees on 2 November 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Régis Cochefert Régis Cochefert Chair

Company registration no. 07317370

The attached notes form part of the financial statements.

31

The Ministry of Stories Statement of cash flows For the year ended 31 March 2021

Note
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities
18
Cash flows from investing activities:
Sale/ (purchase) of fixed assets
Cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
19
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year		 2021
2021
2020
2020
£
£
£
£
(121,208)
448,487
(1,934)
-
(1,934)
-
(123,142)
448,487
672,262
223,775
549,120
672,262

32

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

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 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) and the Companies Act 2006.

The charitable company 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 or note.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

b) Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

The Trustees have considered the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trustees consider that the outbreak is likely to cause some continuing disruption to the Charity’s business but do not believe that this will be significant. The Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity can continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements.

c) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

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 for the provision of specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

33

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

1 Accounting policies (continued)

d) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

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

e) Interest receivable

f) Fund accounting

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

g) Expenditure

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. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Costs are allocated between expenditure categories based on usage of the resource. Where costs cannot be directly allocated they are apportioned on an appropriate basis and recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities.

As the Charity is not VAT registered, expenses are incurred on a gross basis inclusive of any VAT.

34

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

1 Accounting policies (continued)

h) Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charity and its and activities. These costs have been allocated between expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 7.

i) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000. 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:

˜ Equipment 25% straight line

j) Investments

The cost of ordinary shares in the wholly owned trading subsidiary, HSMS Ltd (company number 07317370), are accounted for as fixed asset investments on the Charity's balance sheet.

k) 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.

l) 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.

m) Creditors

Creditors are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

n) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

o) Pensions

The Charity participates in the NEST pension scheme, a defined contribution scheme. Contributions are recognised at cost.

p) Taxation

No provision is made in these accounts for corporation tax as the charity is exempt from such taxes, with income and gains applied to charitable purposes in line with relevant requirements including Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.

35

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

2
Detailed comparatives for the statement of financial activities
2020
Restated
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
594,038
Charitable activities
26,646
Other trading activities
10,375
Investments
160
Other income
5,543
Total income
636,762
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
60,148
Charitable activities:
Community programme
114,770
Schools programme
128,827
National programme
31,063
Total expenditure
334,808
Net movement in funds
301,954
Total funds brought forward
247,643
Total funds carried forward
549,597
3
Income from donations and legacies
£
£
Grants
106,033
79,558
Government Furlough Scheme
10,197
-
Corporate Donations
23,338
-
Donations from individuals
39,048
6,112
Donations in kind
10,666
-
Community fundraising
507
-
189,789
85,670
Unrestricted
Restricted
Unrestricted		 2020
Restated
£
297,626
-
-
-
-
297,626
6,843
66,519
74,666
18,004
166,032
131,594
8,372
139,966
2021
Total
£
185,591
10,197
23,338
45,160
10,666
507
275,459
Restricted		 2020
Total
Restated
£
891,664
26,646
10,375
160
5,543
934,388
66,991
181,289
203,493
49,067
500,840
433,548
256,015
689,563
2020
Total
£
395,789
-
398,645
45,440
47,591
4,199
891,664

Donated goods and services were received during the year for professional services including editing, photography, design, project management and legal advice.

36

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

4 Income from charitable activities

Venue hire and consultancy
Post office income
Schools income
Total income from charitable
activities		 Unrestricted
£
5,100
128
9,913
15,141		 £
-
-
-
-
Restricted		 2021
2020
Total
Total
£
£
5,100
3,870
128
552
9,913
22,224
15,141
26,646

5 Income from other trading activities

Trading Subsidiary income
Events income
Other income		 Unrestricted
£
3,618
-
11,878
15,496		 £
-
-
-
-
Restricted		 2021
Total
£
3,618
-
11,878
15,496		 2020
Total
£
-
618
9,755
10,373

6 Income from investments

Investment in trading subsidiary Unrestricted
£
99
99		 £
-
-
Restricted		 2021
2020
Total
Total
£
£
99
160
99
160

All of the charity’s investment income arises from interest payable on a loan to the trading subsidiary.

The wholly owned trading subsidiary HSMS Ltd is incorporated in the United Kingdom (company number 07317370) and pays all of its distributable profits to the charity under the gift aid scheme. The charity owns the entire share capital of 10 ordinary shares of £1 each.

37

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

7a Analysis of expenditure (current year)

Basis of allocation
Staff costs
Direct/Staff Time
Direct Charitable Expenses
Direct/Usage Estimate
Premises
Direct
Communications
Direct
Professional Expenses
Direct
Comms Freelance Costs
Direct
Expenditure In Kind
Direct
Information Technology
Direct
Insurance
Direct
Bank Charges
Direct
Depreciation
Direct
Sundry Expenses
Direct/Usage Estimate
Support costs
Based on the total
cost of each activity
Governance costs
Based on the total
cost of each activity
Total expenditure 2021
Total expenditure 2020 (reanalysed)		 £
64,432
-
-
1,685
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
66,117
-
-
66,117
66,991
Cost of
raising
funds		 Community
programme
Schools
programme
National
programme
£
£
£
63,236
85,406
4,679
13,648
8,891
8,700
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,818
2,818
-
79,702
97,115
13,379
75,168
91,590
12,618
554
676
93
155,424
189,381
26,090
181,289
203,493
49,067
Charitable activities		 Community
programme
Schools
programme
National
programme
£
£
£
63,236
85,406
4,679
13,648
8,891
8,700
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,818
2,818
-
79,702
97,115
13,379
75,168
91,590
12,618
554
676
93
155,424
189,381
26,090
181,289
203,493
49,067
Charitable activities		 Support
costs
£
60,174
-
46,088
19,256
16,038
13,073
10,666
4,525
2,185
933
242
6,196
179,376
(179,376)
-
-
-		 £
-
-
-
-
990
-
-
-
-
-
-
333
1,323
(1,323)
-
-
Governance
costs		 2021 Total
£
277,927
31,239
46,088
20,941
17,028
13,073
10,666
4,525
2,185
933
242
12,165
437,012
-
-
437,012
500,840		 2020 Total
(reanalysed)
£
287,167
24,577
67,338
16,643
18,104
13,703
47,591
9,540
2,754
414
1,185
11,824
Community
programme
£
63,236
13,648
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,818
79,702
75,168
554
155,424
181,289		 Schools
programme
£
85,406
8,891
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,818
97,115
91,590
676
189,381
203,493
500,840
-
-
500,840

Of the total expenditure, £314,498 was unrestricted (2020: £334,811) and £122,514 was restricted (2020: £166,031).

38

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

7b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Basis of allocation
Staff costs
Direct/Staff Time
Direct Charitable Expenses
Direct/Usage Estimate
Premises
Direct
Communications
Direct
Professional Expenses
Direct
Comms Freelance Costs
Direct
Expenditure In Kind
Direct
Information Technology
Direct
Insurance
Direct
Bank Charges
Direct
Depreciation
Direct
Sundry Expenses
Direct/Usage Estimate
Support costs
Based on the total
cost of each activity
Governance costs
Based on the total
cost of each activity
Total expenditure 2020		 £
63,826
-
-
1,296
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,869
66,991
-
-
66,991
Cost of
raising
funds		 Community
programme
Schools
programme
National
programme
£
£
£
71,602
69,331
21,030
6,005
18,035
537
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,075
2,075
-
79,682
89,441
21,567
101,092
113,473
27,361
515
579
139
181,289
203,493
49,067
Charitable activities		 Community
programme
Schools
programme
National
programme
£
£
£
71,602
69,331
21,030
6,005
18,035
537
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,075
2,075
-
79,682
89,441
21,567
101,092
113,473
27,361
515
579
139
181,289
203,493
49,067
Charitable activities		 Support
costs
£
61,378
-
67,338
15,347
17,154
13,703
47,591
9,540
2,754
414
1,185
5,522
241,926
(241,926)
-		 2020 Total
reanalysed
£
£
-
287,167
-
24,577
-
67,338
-
16,643
950
18,104
-
13,703
-
47,591
-
9,540
-
2,754
-
414
-
1,185
283
11,824
1,233
500,840
-
(1,233)
-
-
500,840
Governance
costs
Community
programme
£
71,602
6,005
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,075
79,682
101,092
515
181,289		 Schools
programme
£
69,331
18,035
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,075
89,441
113,473
579
203,493

Of the total expenditure, £334,811 was unrestricted and £166,031 was restricted.

39

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

8 Net income / (expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

This is stated after charging / (crediting): 2021 2020
£ £
Depreciation 242 1,185
Independent examination fee 1,000 950

9 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Redundancy and termination costs		 2021
2020
Reanalysed
£
£
249,437
258,770
18,808
20,386
7,163
8,011
2,519
-
277,927
287,167

There were no employees (2019: 0) who received emoluments of more than £60,000

The key management personnel of the Charity, comprise the trustees, the Director and Deputy Director. The total employee benefits including employer's national insurance and employer's pension contributions of the key management personnel of the charity were £105,288 (2020: £101,662).

The Charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the Charity or its subsidiary in the year (2020: £nil) neither were they reimbursed expenses during the year (2020: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2020: £nil).

Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

Raising funds
Trading
Charitable activities
Support		 2021
2020
No.
No.
(Reanalysed)
2
2
1
1
8
7
1
-
12
10

10 Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains applied to charitable purposes, in line with relevant requirements including Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.

40

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

11 Tangible fixed assets

Cost
At the start of the year
Additions in year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.
Fixed asset investment
At the end of the year
Charity
Cost or valuation
As at 1 April 2020
Additions		 £
19,152
1,934
Equipment		 Total
£
19,152
1,934
21,086 21,086
19,152
242		 19,152
242
19,394 19,394
1,692 1,692
- -
2021
£
10
-		 2020
£
10
-
10 10

12 Fixed asset investment

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Ltd

Current and Prior Year 2021 2020
Equity held Turnover
No. % £ £
Main trading activity: Retail 10 100 49,536 38,706
Aggregate
of share
capital and Profit for
reserves the year
£ £
Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Ltd 10 -

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Ltd is exempt from audit under s479A of Companies Act 2006 The charity has an investment of £10 in the share capital of its wholly owned, trading subsidiary: Hoxton Street Monster Supplies. The shares are not listed.

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies also has a loan from the charity of £30,000 taken on 9th March 2015. The original term of the loan was 5 years but this was extending in March 2019 for a further 2 years to allow Hoxton Street Monster Supplies to invest in new products and marketing.

41

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

13 Debtors

Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income
Falling due > 1 year
Amounts due from subsidiary
Debtors		 2021
£
31
8,556
-
11,749		 2020
£
18,309
5,839
6,727
14,556
20,336 45,431
3,668 7,253
3,668 7,253

On 9th March 2015, the Trustees approved a loan to Hoxton Street Monster Supplies of £30,000. The rate of interest is set at 1% above the Bank of England base rate.

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred income
15
Deferred income
Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year		 2021
£
5,340
6,247
551
990
2,954		 2020
£
8,561
5,666
-
2,051
19,117
16,082 35,395
2021
£
19,117
(19,117)
2,954		 2020
£
6,633
(6,633)
19,117
2,954 19,117

Deferred income comprises amounts invoiced to Schools relating to the next financial year.

16 Analysis of net assets between funds

Tangible fixed assets
Investments
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Long term assets		 General
unrestricted
£
1,692
10
3,668
214,599		 Designated
£
-
-
-
235,652		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
103,123		 Total funds
£
1,692
10
3,668
553,374
219,969 235,652 103,123 558,744

42

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

17
Movements in funds
Restricted funds:
The Mercers' Company
Jack Petchey Foundation
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Other Restricted Funds
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Development Fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds
Shoreditch and Hoxton Art
Fund
The Young Londoners Fund
Cockayne Grants for the Arts		 £
115,000
11,279
9,561
4,127
-
-
-
At the start
of the year		 £
6,000
45,599
7,959
-
10,000
10,000
6,112
Incoming
resources &
gains		 £
39,289
46,476
14,655
1,632
10,000
4,350
6,112
Outgoing
resources &
losses		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 £
81,711
10,402
2,865
2,495
-
5,650
-
At the end
of the year
139,967 85,670 122,514 - 103,123
347,445 - 3,422 (108,371) 235,652
347,445 - 3,422 (108,371) 235,652
202,149 220,525 311,076 108,371 219,969
549,594 220,525 314,498 - 455,621
689,561 306,195 437,012 - 558,744

Purposes of restricted funds

Each of the restricted projects to be described in more detail below and explain any transfers. The Mercers' Company Funding for 'Writing Brighter Futures', an ambitious new

Funding for 'Writing Brighter Futures', an ambitious new programme of works with a consortium of schools in Tower Hamlets. The 3-year funding for the partnership is from The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington, a charity associated with the Mercers’ Company.

Funding for 'Your Story Starts Here’ programme, which provides free after school and weekend Community Writing Labs for 10 - 16 year olds. This 3-year funding is helping us to grow the number of Community Writing Labs from three to five and to secure Bronze Quality Mark status for our work with young people, quality assured by London Youth.

The Young Londoners Fund

Jack Petchey Foundation

Funding for 'Your Time To Shine' project, focused on increasing youth volunteering for 16 - 25 years olds at Ministry of Stories.

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Funding towards programme evaluation.

Shoreditch and Hoxton Art Fund

Funding raised by a levy on developers in Shoreditch and Hoxton, which aims to bring different communities together through public and accessible arts projects. The grant supported the delivery of our community labs Unexpected Poetry project including salaries, running costs, freelance artists, materials and final publication across two financial years. A second grant instalment will be received in 2021-22.

43

The Ministry of Stories Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

17 Movements in funds continued Purposes of restricted funds

Cockayne Grants for the Arts and the London Community Foundation

A US-based organisation which funds high quality fringe arts performances and installations supported the delivery of our community labs Unexpected Poetry project including salaries, running costs, freelance artists, materials and final publication across two financial years. A proportion of the grant will be carried forward to 2021-22.

Other Restricted Funds

These include restricted donations including grants from Trusts and Foundations which are spent in line with the purposes specified.

Development Fund

Funds designated by the board, the remaining amount relating to a balance from an anonymous corporate donation received in 2019/20 which is planned to be spent over the next two years.

18 Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Depreciation
(Increase)/ decrease in debtors
Increase/ (decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities		 2021
£
(130,817)
242
28,680
(19,313)		 2020
£
433,546
1,185
(548)
14,304
(121,208) 448,487

19 Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

Cash at bank and in hand
Total cash and cash equivalents		 £
672,262
At 1 April
2020		 Cash flows
£
(123,142)		 £
-
Other
changes		 £
549,120
At 31 March
2021
672,262 (123,142) - 549,120

20 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital.

21 Related party transactions

Aggregate unrestricted donations from Trustees during the year were £1,520 (2020: £1,376). There were no payments to Trustees in year (2020: £2,060 paid to Sue Horner for professional services, which were commissioned by a group of round table organisations).

Income from the trading subsidiary disclosed in Note 5 includes £3,618 (2020: £nil) in relation to the surplus to be gift aided to the Charity and £11,878 (2020: £9,755) in management fee income in respect of the Retail Manager's salary costs.

44