2021-03-31-accounts

Disability Rights UK (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

Company No. 7314865 Charity No. 1138585

Report and financial statements

For the year ended

31 March 2021

Disability Rights UK Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

Contents	Page
Reference and administrative information	1
Trustees’ annual report	2 - 36
Independent auditors' report	37 - 39
Statement of financial activities	40
(incorporating an income and expenditure account)
Balance sheet	41
Statement of cash flows	42
Notes to the financial statements	43 - 54

Disability Rights UK Reference and administrative information For the year ended 31 March 2021

Reference and administrative

information

Trustees: Martin Stevens OBE Chair Frances Hasler Vice Chair Michael Bromwich Treasurer, resigned 31 March 2021 Lesly Baliga Treasurer, appointed 1 Jan 2021 Atif Choudhury Jacqueline Winstanley Resigned 31 March 2021 Madeline Close Rob Trent Roger Berry Resigned 31 December 2020 Mostafa Attia Joanne Becker Greg Smith Appointed 1 January 2021 Laura Swainbank Appointed 1 January 2021 Shelley Simmonds Appointed 1 January 2021 Company Secretary: Nick Spencer Chief Executive: Kamran Mallick Company number: 7314865 Charity number: 1138585 Registered office: Plexal 14 East Bay Lane Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Stratford London E20 3BS Auditors: Goldwins Limited 75 Maygrove Road West Hampstead London NW6 2EG www.goldwins.co.uk Bankers Unity Trust Bank Nine Brindley Place Birmingham B1 2HB

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Trustees Annual 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.

A message from Martin Stevens, Chair of Trustees

This is my last report as Chair as I step down at the end of the year. I have been at DRUK for seven years and had the privilege to lead the organisation for the last four. Over that time the charity has undergone many changes, we are a much stronger and impactful charity with solid governance and growing financial resilience. In a few months’ time the legacy pension payments come to an end and frees the organisation of what has been a significant financial burden. Earlier this year DR UK was shortlisted in the Charity Governance Awards 2021 for Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, recognising the widening diversity of our charity.

In 2021 DR UK deepened our conversations with Disabled people and their organisations. In part a long-term strategy and also a response to the pandemic. This strengthened our mandate as a user led organisation and gave us a wealth of evidence to challenge the government on both longstanding systemic issues and those arising from pandemic.

Policy work can be disheartening as despite all the energy and effort we put in the decisions are in the hands of government, policy makers and businesses. This year we have many successes:

• EHRC publishing guidance for retailers after we campaigned about them not complying with equality legislation.

• Eight local councils implemented reductions to the Care act under the Coronavirus Act. After lobbying from DR UK all eight had restored Care Act rights

• We succeeded in getting NICE to withdraw guidance saying that Disabled people receiving support at home should be de-prioritised for critical care.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

• We hosted an open letter, signed by over two thousand organisations and individuals, calling on the NHS to treat Disabled people equally. NHS leaders wrote to all NHS Trusts within days of this letter, reminding them that the NHS Constitution required equal treatment for all.

• With In Control we succeeded in establishing a register for people to log problems with access to PPE or testing.

• In November 2020, disability organisations including Disability Rights UK established a disability sub-group of the Youth Employment Group, to ensure the issues facing young Disabled people were addressed by Government.

In this report you will hear some of the many positives DR UK has achieved working towards equal participation for all. Thank you to the Trustees, Staff, Volunteers and our Allies for their dedication and great work they do in making this happen. I offer particular thanks to Michael Bromwich, our treasurer retiring after eight years. Michael has played a significant part in ensuring DR UK overcame its unsustainable financial position.

Best wishes to you all

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Objectives and activities

In 2019-20 the trustees agreed to further extend its existing three-year strategic plan to give time for the organisation to develop a Theory of Change (ToC). We are also developing an Impact Framework to measure the success of our future strategy, and this will be completed in 2022/23.

Due to Covid our organisational focus shifted to the immediate challenges faced by Disabled people. This impacted our progress on the ToC and new Strategy. In the 4th quarter of the year, the trustees approved our new . strategy which can be viewed here: Our Strategy | Disability Rights UK

The current plan is called Equal Participation for All the executive summary is below:

Vision

Equal participation for all. We want a society where everyone can participate equally.

Mission

We are disabled people leading change

• In 3 years, we will enable at least 50,000 diverse disabled people to have voice and influence, connecting with each other and with us. We support change agents and enable disabled people to exert power and influence.

• We will work in partnership with other Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) to showcase approaches to social, economic and public participation and share learning, including through joint projects.

• We will work with many organisations in a position to act, in all sectors, to support them to put Disabled people’s priorities at the heart of their policies and practices.

• We will campaign and strengthen and protect Disabled people’s rights.

DR UK is itself led by people with diverse experiences of disability and health conditions, from different communities. We work with allies committed to equal participation for all. Together we can be stronger.

2021-2022 Activities

Subject to resources, we will do the following work:

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

• 1 Independent living: getting a life - we will:

• create research led by Disabled people

• enable thousands of individuals to share experiences backed by specialist information and advice

• showcase new independent living models, with other DPOs

• campaign to reverse institutionalisation and coercion, to secure independent living and to achieve improved accessibility.

• 2 Career opportunities – getting work, education and skills - we will:

• enable thousands of people to share experiences backed by specialist information/advice

• showcase approaches to youth employment, peer support for skills and career development, working with other DPOs and partners

• campaign on youth employment, peer support for employment, and education, skills and employment opportunities

• 3 Influencing public attitudes and behaviours: seeking a sea change in perceptions of disability, tackling hostility, bullying and hate crime - we will:

• do research led by Disabled people into what will influence attitudes and behaviours

• develop a new narrative to replace ‘scrounger’ or ‘superhero’

• show how cultures can be changed in education and workplaces

• support a network of safe hate crime reporting centres

• 4 Campaign for equality during the Covid-19 pandemic

• campaign against the removal of existing rights due to primary legislation or national, regional and local policies.

• Ensure that the rights and needs of Disabled people are considered and that Disabled people are consulted about all Covid-19 measures

Our Values:

• Strength in difference

• Sharing power

• Connecting

• Innovating

The trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remain focused on its stated purposes.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Organisational achievements 2020-21

Representing Disabled people during the pandemic

Eight local councils implemented reductions to the Care act under the Coronavirus Act. After lobbying from DR UK all eight had restored Care Act rights.

We succeeded in getting the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE) to withdraw guidance saying that Disabled people receiving support at home should be de-prioritised for critical care.

We hosted an open letter signed by over two thousand organisations and individuals, calling on the NHS to treat Disabled people equally. NHS leaders wrote to all NHS Trusts within days of this letter, reminding them that the NHS Constitution required equal treatment for all.

With In Control we succeeded in establishing a register for Disabled people on Direct Payments to log problems with access to PPE or testing.

Maintaining a focus on structural inequalities and injustices

We left the government in no doubt as to what Disabled people want and need from a comprehensive Disability Strategy. Our We Belong engagement initiative reached out to Disabled people across the country ensuring that new voices were heard alongside longstanding disability activists. Disabled women, Black and minority ethnic Disabled people, young Disabled people and Disabled people who are LGBTQIA joined us to discuss employment, transport and social care amongst many other issues. Link to We Belong . Report

The reach of our Leadership Academy Programme doubled this year. We maintained our regular programmes by switching to online delivery. We also ran a bespoke programme for a hospital trust. The delegates on these programmes achieved promotions and structural changes within their organisations.

We produced the first digital version of our Disability Rights Handbook and made it available on Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) website. It is searchable and linked internally so you can skip to the next piece of relevant information with one mouse click. It is updated every two months that means the Handbook will keep pace with social security reform and changes to the

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

law – so advisors around the country can ensure Disabled people get the benefits they are entitled to.

Surviving and thriving as an organisation

The pandemic was a huge challenge for us as an organisation. Our training and consultancy income fell immediately which threatened to impact our work. However, because of the work we have done behind the scenes in the pasts three years enabled us to come through the last year without too much disruption. We had already moved to hybrid working so were able to switch from our office to home working immediately. Our internal systems for managing money as well as regular and effective scrutiny meant that we were able to argue our case for rent and rates reduction. Funders respected our track record and chose to invest in us at this critical time. We secured over £100k of new funding and made £40k savings in the year. Our supporters generously donated over £7,000 to our emergency appeal.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Achievements and performance

Reporting against the three priorities in our strategic plan.

1. Independent living: getting a life

80% of adults with impairments report restrictions in participating in leisure activities and Disabled adults are three times more likely to say they have little or no choice in how they spend their free time. Through a range of projects we are showcasing new independent living models that break down the barriers to participation.

Research

Disability Research in Independent Living and Learning ended last year and the programme impact report was published in November 2020. The overall programme aim was:

To build better evidence about approaches to enable Disabled people to live independently, which is used to inform future policy and service provision, as well as give a greater voice to disabled people in decisions which affect them.

In the evaluator’s opinion DRILL has delivered against the overarching aim and intended outcomes of the programme. Co-production and partnership working – the learning across the disability sector and academia in terms of co-production and partnership working can have lasting benefit in terms of how future research with Disabled people is conducted. DRILL has proven the value of both in the context of research.

DRILL has created the conditions for significant change in policy and practice to be realised in the future, alleviating a major barrier for DPOs and academics by creating an evidence base that otherwise would not be available.

For the full report, executive summary and an Easy Read version are available at https://www.drilluk.org.uk.

Get Yourself Active Programme 2021

We have adapted plans where necessary so that we can continue to deliver projects during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

DR UK is one of the National Delivery Partners for Sport England's Tackling Inequalities Fund (TIF). The fund aims to reduce the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and any widening of inequalities in participation rates in sport and physical activity. We have funded over 40 projects, across England - delivering a wide range of activities.

We have also focused our efforts on ensuring individuals have the information and resources they need to stay active during the pandemic. This has included working on a research project with Durham University and Sense to find out how Disabled people are staying active during the lockdown. We then went on to create our own accessible resources and a new section of our website designed to help Disabled people to find the resources to stay active at home.

We have developed and delivered co-production workshops and training to the sport sector to ensure they work in partnership with Disabled people around the design and delivery of physical activity. This includes national organisations such as Sport England and UK Active, as well as piloting training with three local Disabled Peoples User Led Organisations (DPULO) in Gloucestershire, Bristol and Haringey.

We have worked with a variety of organisations such as Sense, Activity Alliance and Mind to develop and roll out the Social Care Activity Pack. This is aimed at the social care sector so that they can better support Disabled people to be physically active. It includes information about the benefits of physical activity, how to incorporate physical activity into support plans, working with risk and finding ways to be active.

We have been working with Sport England and Durham University to deliver the Moving Social Project, which will produce the first research-led teaching and community-based training materials and resources on physical activity for social workers. We will ensure that the project is co-produced alongside individuals with lived experience of disability and social work by leading on a co-production team.

This year we have also taken on more of a policy and influencing role within the team. We are working with organisations such as the Coalition for Personalised Care (C4PC) and the National Outdoors for All Working Group (NOfAWG), to raise awareness of and work towards removing some of the barriers to participation in physical activity.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Policy

The past year has been an extraordinary one with the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the nation and dominating government, media, public services, business and our everyday lives. The pandemic has affected every aspect of life for Disabled people and almost 60% of all deaths have been of Disabled people.

The injustices and systemic inequalities faced by Disabled people have been exacerbated and thrown into stark relief. Central and local government have failed to engage with us in making critical decisions, our information and communication needs have not been met, access to health care and social care have worsened, we have experienced high levels of food poverty, been disproportionately hit by the employment challenges and been left without access to education.

Disability Rights UK has spoken up and spoken out. We have raised concerns directly with Government Ministers and key bodies, partnered with disability organisations, provided hard hitting commentary in our electronic news letter, increased the influence of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Disability, provided evidence to parliamentary committees and held our own engagement exercise with Disabled people – “We Belong”.

The following outlines our key areas of influencing work during the year.

Welfare Benefits

In April 2020, we provided oral evidence based on our written submission to the Work and Pensions Committee, on the failings of the benefits system for Disabled people.

We highlighted the high number of benefit related deaths and joined on-going calls for the DWP to be more transparent about their investigations. We called on the Secretary of State to recognise that DWP had safeguarding responsibilities in respect of benefit claimants.

Throughout the year, we worked with the Disability Benefits Consortium to challenge the Government’s failure to extend the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit to the almost two million recipients of legacy benefits, most of whom are Disabled people.

Alongside other organisations, we advised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the negative consequences they were causing for some Disabled people, by instructing supermarkets to prioritise online deliveries to those who were clinically extremely vulnerable. We wrote to the Secretary of State highlighting these issues.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

To draw attention to the high levels of inaccessibility of online and in-store supermarket shopping, we made a submission to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. We provided oral evidence to the Committee in May 2020 and February 2021 covering issues relating to inaccessibility and growing levels of food poverty.

In April 2020, we wrote to all major supermarkets asking them to implement their duties to make reasonable adjustments for Disabled customers under the Equality Act 2010. It became evident during the pandemic that supermarkets did not always comply with equality legislation and we raised this issue with the Women and Equalities Committee. In September 2020 the Equality and Human Rights Commission published guidance for retailers. In December 2020, we supported calls by Independent Age for supermarkets to reduce charges and minimum spend requirements for online deliveries.

Health and Social Care

In late March 2020, we wrote to Ministers as part of the Disability Charities Consortium, opposing the provisions of the Coronavirus Bill which reduced the rights of Disabled people to social care, education and mental health protections. We supported Inclusion London’s call to Disabled people to resist these measures. The Coronavirus Act became law and we wrote to the eight local authorities that implemented reductions to Care Act rights, asking them for their reasons. By June 2020, all local authorities had restored Care Act rights. In the lead up to the 6 month and 12 month reviews of the Act, we worked with Liberty, Inclusion London and Mind, to lobby for the clauses reducing the rights of Disabled people to be withdrawn. Reductions in mental health protections were withdrawn in September 2020 and the Care Act provisions in March 2021.

In Late March 2020, alongside others, we criticised the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for publishing discriminatory guidance on access to critical care. The NICE guidance de-prioritised Disabled people receiving support at home. The Guidance was withdrawn within days, however, it revealed a concerning level of prejudice.

In early April 2020, we hosted an open letter signed by over two thousand organisations and individuals, calling on the NHS to treat Disabled people equally. NHS leaders wrote to all NHS Trusts within days of this letter, reminding them that the NHS Constitution required equal treatment for all.

In April 2020, we criticised GPs for sending blanket letters to Disabled people in residential settings, asking them to sign Do Not Attempt Resuscitation Notices. This practice was condemned by CQC and others. A report by the

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

CQC published in early 2021 showed that there had been at least 500 instances of such blanket Notices.

We regularly spoke out regarding inadequate levels of support for clinically extremely vulnerable people. In August 2020 financial support was removed, which particularly affected those in employment.

We drew attention to the Office for National Statistics findings on the disproportionately high level of deaths of Disabled people. Almost 60% of deaths were of Disabled people. Disabled people of working age had particularly high death rates, as compared with their non-disabled counterparts. We called on the Government to conduct an independent inquiry into the high level of deaths of Disabled people.

In November 2020, we made the case for clinically extremely vulnerable people, to be moved up the vaccination priority list. This happened and they were moved to priority group 4. In February 2021, we gained signatures to an open letter calling for people with learning disabilities to be moved up the vaccination priority list. This happened to some extent, with people on the Learning Disability Register being moved to priority group 6.

Disability Strategy

In May 2020 we submitted evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee on the inequalities and injustices being faced by Disabled people. We were invited to give oral evidence to the Committee, where we set out the challenges being experienced in respect of engagement, accessible information, health, social care and education. The Committee report published in December 2020 contained much of our evidence.

In autumn 2020, we attended a number of sessions organised by the Disability Unit to feed into the Disability Strategy. In January 2021, we worked with DR UK Our Voices to send a letter to the Minister for Disabled People criticising the online disability survey and seeking full engagement with Disabled People’s Organisations in developing the Strategy.

Over September and October 2020, we held an engagement initiative “We Belong” where we asked Disabled people to tell us what they wanted from the Government’s Disability Strategy. We held discussions with women, Black and minority ethnic people, young people and people who were LGBTQIA. We also held topic sessions including employment, shopping and transport. On the basis of discussion, we compiled a set of recommendations for the Disability Strategy, which we forwarded to the Minister for Disabled People in January 2021. Key recommendations covered strengthening equalities

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

legislation, increasing engagement, voice and participation and improving benefits, social care, education and employment support.

Employment

During the summer and autumn of 2020, attention started to shift to the challenges that Disabled people were experiencing in employment. UNISON and Disability Rights UK hosted a webinar in November 2020 bringing together organisations that had published evidence on disability and employment. Following this webinar work started to formulate a Disability Employment Charter. In February 2021 the APPG on Disability held a session on employment, including attendees from the Disability Unit, academics from the Disability at Work group, the Business Disability Forum and Disability Rights UK. The session was designed to influence the Disability Strategy.

In February 2021, we followed up our submission to the Work and Pension Select Committee by giving oral evidence on the disability employment gap. We raised the inadequacy of government employment programmes, the challenges with Access to Work, the difficulties in securing reasonable adjustments and the weakness of the Disability Confident Scheme.

In terms of supporting young Disabled people into internships, traineeships, apprenticeships and employment, we were an active member of the Youth Employment Group. This Group pressed the Government to take action to stem increasing youth unemployment. In summer 2020 the Government announced the “Plan for Jobs”, an employment programme targeted at young people. Unfortunately, eligibility criteria for the Programme included claiming Universal Credit, which barred many young Disabled people. In November 2020, disability organisations including Disability Rights UK established a disability sub-group of the Youth Employment Group, to ensure the issues facing young Disabled people were addressed by Government.

Disabled Leadership

Our focus in this area for 2020 was to lobby government to create a permanent fund to support Disabled election candidates. We raised the issue with the Disability Unit and wrote to the Minister for Disabled People, as well as discussing the issue with him. The response was extremely disappointing, with the Minister’s view being that political parties should pay for reasonable adjustments.

Digital/Technology

We were involved in discussions relating to the accessibility of digital conferencing in education, employment and health care.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Housing, Transport and Built Environment

In June 2020 regulations requiring face coverings on public transport, unless exempt, were introduced. These were followed in July with requirements to wear face coverings in shops and indoor spaces. There was considerable confusion about the legitimate exemptions and leading public figures made no reference to exemptions in their statements. This confusion led to Disabled people facing harassment on buses, trains and in shops. We worked to ensure that transport companies and supermarkets had clear consistent communications on the issue including the existence of exemptions. We supported a letter to Government asking for improved promotion of the exemptions. In January 2021, we joined with Big Brother Watch, to write to the Police Chiefs Council on the need for better training for police officers on exemptions.

As part of the Housing Made for Everyone HoME Coalition, we encouraged disability organisations to respond to the Government consultation on accessible new build homes. We submitted our own response to the consultation, asking that all new homes be made accessible with 10% being wheelchair accessible. The consultation closed on 1 December 2020 and a Government announcement was expected in March 2020 (This is still awaited in September 2021).

Policy Priorities 2021-2022

We will continue to work within our seven policy areas in 2021-2022. Outlined below are specific priorities:

Welfare Benefits: We will continue to make the case for maintaining the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and extending it to Disabled people on legacy benefits. Support calls for DWP to be more open and transparent about investigations into benefit related deaths. Respond to the forthcoming DWP Green Paper on Welfare Benefits.

Health and Social Care: We will find new ways of highlighting inequalities in health care experienced by Disabled people. Work with DPOs to ensure that reform proposals on social care meet the needs of all Disabled people.

Disability Strategy: We will continue to press the Government to engage with Disabled people in developing the Disability Strategy. We will maximise the impact of measures in the Disability Strategy and identify areas which Government needs to address.

Employment: We will work with partners to finalise and launch the Disability Employment Charter. We will work to make the Disabled Apprentices Network a success.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Disabled Leadership: We will continue to make the case for a permanent fund to support Disabled election candidates.

Digital Technology: We will work with partners including Disabled People’s led organisations and technology companies, to form an alliance to address the digital exclusion faced by Disabled people.

Housing, Transport and the Built Environment: We will continue to press Government to make all new build homes accessible. Influence Government and housing providers, to implement Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans for Disabled residents unable to self-evacuate in the event of fire. Work to promote accessibility as part of Bus Improvement Plans to bus operators. Work to make train travel safer and more accessible for Disabled people. Work with partners to influence national and local Government to improve the street environment.

Information

Disability Rights UK’s Helplines support thousands of Disabled people across areas such as education, personal budgets and welfare benefits. We also provide a signposting service to partners and member organisations.

During the pandemic and lockdowns, our helplines continued to be delivered and played a vital role in ensuring Disabled people’s voices were heard, through constant liaison with DR UK’s policy and campaigning team. It is always imperative that our policy and campaigning work is driven by our members and service users, but this was never more important thsn over the previous year.

Our advisers ensured all of our online resources, such as our suite of more than seventy factsheets, were maintained and up to date.

Personal Budgets

We received 712 enquiries during the year. 90% of personal budgets / independent living factsheet users stated the factsheets were useful for the purpose required.

Following contact with the Helpline, survey respondents noted increased:

• Choice over how they spend their personal budget

• How much say they felt they had

• Freedom to implement their budget

• Opportunities to use their budget

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

● Satisfaction with their budget

Quotes:

• “The helpline always gives clear and informative advice.”

• “It is reassuring to know that the helpline is always there for help and advice.”

• “The adviser’s knowledge of personal budgets is excellent and the advice given is always comprehensive and easy to follow.”

• “Thank you, this was super helpful.”

Members Helpline

In a survey of Helpline Users:

• Quality of Advice rated 83%

• Usefulness of DR UK’s website and online factsheets rated 86%

• Support given to understand the nuances of complex cases rated 83%

Examples of how use of the line supported clients:

“CW lives with anxiety and has been denied Personal Independent Payment (PIP). Withheld benefits and reapplied with our help with success.”

“Single parent, recently widowed, Universal Credit (UC) miscalculation. Housing Benefit (HB) restored when facing eviction proceedings. All sorted.”

“Clients have been helped in so many ways. I use the service for any complex cases and they are reassured that I have consulted the experts to give them the best chance of success. Benefits have been backdated, appeals won. And financial settlement assured. DR UK is invaluable in supporting advice services to do this.”

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

2. Career opportunities

There is a 28.1% gap in employment between Disabled and non-Disabled people, if that gap were halved, a million more Disabled people would be in work. Through our policy and campaigning work this year we have sought to further this debate and influence decision makers regarding the employment of Disabled people.

All Party Parliamentary Group on Disability (APPG)

Following the 2019 General Election, the inaugural meeting of the APPG on Disability was held in January 2020. Dr Lisa Cameron MP was confirmed as chair. A number of APPG meetings were held during 2020 to 2021 including on entrepreneurship, assistive technology, accessible Higher Education and welfare and COVID. In November 2020 there was a special APPG to mark 25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The administrative support of the APPG is undertaken from Lisa Cameron's office with financial support from Warwick Business School. The APPG membership has grown over the past year to 198. Disability Rights UK provides disability expertise and input.

Many of the planned meetings and events were then postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, we were able to attend and speak at the 'From Voluntary to Mandatory Reporting' parliamentary event in February, hosted by the group and chaired by Lord Kevin Shinkwin. We were also able to attend a virtual meeting in which the Minister for Disabled People, Justin Tomlinson, attended and addressed some of our concerns about the impacts of Covid-19 and response efforts e.g. access to food, longer-term planning.

We were asked to give oral evidence to the House of Lords enquiry on accessible voting, but the session was cancelled due to Covid-19. We made a written submission instead.

Disability Skills Unit (DSU) 2021

The unit is dedicated to supporting Disabled people to pursue their goals, ambitions and aspirations for work, education and skills development.

This year the DSU continued to provide training events for a wide range of professionals from different sectors including education, NHS, careers and enterprise advisers, job coaches, training providers local authorities, as well as parents/family carers.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

We delivered 20 online training events including a conference.

• 89% of participants said their knowledge of the support that is available in education, training and employment had increased

• 92% of participants said they had a better knowledge of relevant resources

• 94% of participants reported improved confidence in communicating effectively with Disabled young people

• 95% of participants said they felt more confident to challenge assumptions, preconceptions and unconscious bias related to disability

• 88% of attendees said that their understanding of the barriers Disabled young people face in education, training or work has increased

• 90% of participants said their understanding of the key career challenges young people with SEND face has improved

Feedback included:

• “Today’s meeting was brilliant! Thank you”

• “Thank you so much for all the information provided - found it all very clear and useful”

• “I joined in with lots of the sessions and thought it was fantastic. Congratulations on a great conference”

We also created the Get Ahead resource – a monthly newsletter and quarterly magazine for and by young people and set up a steering group with young people. At the end of March, Get Ahead had a subscription list of 477 - people. https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/get ahead

Feedback comments for Get Ahead:

• From The Education People: We're extremely proud to be starting 2021 with a feature in Disability Rights UK's Get Ahead Magazine

• The Get Ahead magazine is perfect for some of our young people

Annual Conference

Our yearly conference ‘Improving post -16 outcomes for Disabled young people in education, training and employment’ was online and attended by 94 attendees on February 25[th] and 90 attendees on February 26[th] 2021.

The conference had a range of presentations from practitioners, the education and training sectors, apprentices/learners, employers, organisations and services working with Disabled young people.

We asked what the major challenge Disabled young people face for getting a job was. Some of the responses included:

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

• Lack of opportunities

• People’s attitudes

• Lack of understanding in recruitment and employment

• Unconscious bias

• Lack or limited support and being misunderstood

• Lack of information around support and adjustments

We asked about what could improve post-16 outcomes for Disabled young people in education training and work. Some of the responses included:

• Starting to talk about outcomes earlier, to raise aspirations and plan for how these will be achieved

• More exposure to the workplace and work experience - early on

• Joined up thinking between, heath, care and social services

• Job carving

• Signposting resources for employers

• More employers willing to take on young people - but also offers of jobs after training

• People need to be informed of all choices available and not have presumed limitations imposed on them

• Professional advice by trained and informed individuals

• Better access to support, resources, more positive discrimination

• Pastoral care and transport to work

• Educate the society about disability

• A two-pronged approach (effective, informed Information Advice & Guidance (IAG) from year 9 upwards and educating local employers (SME's) about the support and benefits of reviewing their recruitment and employment strategies

• Individual, parental and social expectation limits perception of what an individual is capable of

Feedback:

• I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the conference. It was such a wonderful and varied agenda, and really inspirational

• An excellent, well organised event as always, with excellent speakers

• The whole event has been so interesting, and I have many contacts to follow up

• 98% of attendees said that the conference has helped them gain new learnings or knowledge

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Webinars

We ran 19 online training events. Attendees consisted of careers and enterprise advisers/leads, job coaches, employment support officers, teachers, training providers, employers, disability advisers, NHS, local and regional authorities, parents, organisations working with Disabled people, and other stakeholders.

We also contributed and presented at other events including “The Good Youth Employment Symposium: Disability & Creating Opportunity” organised by Youth Employment.

Advisory groups

We continue to attend and contribute to different advisory groups including the Youth Employment Group (YEG) groups, Skillsbuilder Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) meetings, T-Level SEND advisory group, Access to Work (AtW) forum, the Kings College Advisory Panel, Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Thurrock, Employment Round Table NdtI, Department of Education (DfE)/FE SEND advisory group, CEC SEND Steering group, National SEND Employment Forum.

Sharing and promotion of resources

Flying Start Hampshire designed to help young people plan and prepare for life, study, and work after school, has added DR UK resources including the Into Apprenticeship guide on their website

Amazing Apprenticeships included the Get Ahead magazine in their resources section and the Into Apprenticeship Guide and other DR UK - - - resources in the September parents’ pack. Parent Pack September 2020.pdf (amazingapprenticeships.com)

Publications/Get Ahead:

We have created the Get Ahead project and toolkit to reach out and inform Disabled young people about post 16-options, resources and have their voices heard. Get Ahead publishes a quarterly magazine and a monthly newsletter. The website includes a CV toolkit.

• https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/get ahead

The project is led by a steering group of young people. We are working with schools and colleges and young people. The young people also contribute and co-edit Get Ahead and inform us about barriers they encounter in life, education, and training. We have provided opportunities for this group to

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

acquire new skills, develop their talents and writing skills, do work experience, and meet with an employer.

Our engagement with young people improved their self-motivation and confidence. It helped them to overcome their hesitancy to speak on video. They were delighted their work was appreciated and published.

We published seven newsletters and three magazines. The magazine focussed on Further and Higher Education and apprenticeships, T-Levels and included useful links including DR UK Student helpline. It included life and work experiences that young Disabled people can use in job applications.

At the end of the year, Get Ahead had a subscription list of 477 people.

Comments about the Get Ahead magazine and newsletter:

• Thank you for sharing information regarding your new initiative ‘Get Ahead’ for Disabled young people. This has been shared within our team of caseworkers to highlight to young people they are working with, and we have also shared on our Facebook page to a wider audience. (Sendiass)

• My manager has forwarded me your newsletter and magazine, which are brilliant! (NDCS)

• This is great and has been shared with both students and staff. It was really insightful. (careers leader)

• Thanks for the information on this amazing project, and we have put a link on to our school website as we have an ex-student featured- we are very proud of his achievements! (careers adviser)

• I would just like to say a big thank you for all the very interesting resources and information you have been sending. It has all been very useful. (Job Centre Plus school adviser)

Student Helpline

Our Student Helpline continued to receive high numbers of enquiries and we continue to update our online resources on education with 85% of users finding these useful for their purposes. There were 1,599 enquiries in the year.

Quotes:

• I so very much appreciate the service you offer and think you’re doing a fantastic job in a niche area supporting people who otherwise have nowhere else to turn for the specialist advice you can offer

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

• I would like to thank you for your help and advice. I showed this email to the exam board. They have now reversed their decision. I am pretty certain your email played a large part in this. I am very grateful. It is great to know that there are people like you out there

• Thank you, you’re a star - I now feel able to move on to the next stage of my plans to return to study

• I received excellent advice on the helpline two months ago, which it’s no exaggeration to say has completely transformed the situation. The adviser grasped the facts of my rather complex situation very quickly and gave me clear, concise and informed advice. She was empathetic during the call and made me feel empowered to fight on

• Excellent service. Helped me get the support I needed with exams and assessments

• Helpline gave me the information that I needed that I couldn’t get anywhere else. It’s very useful to have a helpline which specifically supports students with disabilities. I hope it continues. Very useful to actually speak to someone who understands their particular situation, especially regarding finance

• Extremely helpful – have called it twice of late with questions no other service could answer

The Leadership Academy Programme (LAP)

The LAP has now reached its 7[th] year and because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we had to reconsider the way we deliver the programme and still meet the overarching objectives of the programme.

The 2021 cohort started in January with 9 delegates. By reformatting the content to create bite sized modules delivered online. We used group work and break out rooms to allow interaction between delegates and support engagement in the programme. We have once again seen a substantial impact on the participants. We remain convinced that classroom based delivery builds a stronger rapport between delegates but the past year has proved that online delivery can work.

The Graduation Ceremony also took place online. This provides the space for delegates to showcase their hard work. They share their lived experience as Disabled employees and those with long-term health conditions. The presentations demonstrate how the workplace can become inclusive. We invite guests from equality and diversity teams, line managers and HR professionals to attend, hopefully impacting the workplace culture in the longer term.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

In addition to our annual LAP cohort, we ran a bespoke programme for Rotherham NHS Trust. This saw delegates presenting to senior members of the Trust, they made recommendations for improving accessibility within the Trust, many of which were implemented by senior management.

Delegates reported significant impact in their confidence, motivation, and ability to be open about their disability and the support that they need to advance and develop their careers.

Bridge to Work – Innovation in routes to employment

This summer we completed an overview of the fourth year of the Bridge to Work Programme, covering the impact of the pandemic on the six delivery projects. In summary, we found that the pandemic had a significant impact on the Disabled young people. Employment was harder to access than before and many young people faced additional barriers and challenges. They had to cope with uncertainty and anxiety and learn to adapt to living much of their lives online - in some cases, being on the wrong side of the digital divide. The six delivery partners also encountered challenges including having to develop and deliver a new digital offer as quickly as possible and keeping participants engaged and enthused. In addition, many employers were closed during lockdowns and having to furlough their own staff. Taking on new staff or work placement students was either not possible or not a priority. The move online did present opportunities for some of the delivery partners and participants, such as improving digital skills and enabling more frequent contact. It also removed some barriers to participation, such as travel, or anxiety associated with being in an office.

We are now at the start of the fifth and final year of the programme. We have appointed an evaluation consultant to assist with a co-produced evaluation framework. This evaluation will cover the programme in its entirety, and an overview of the final year. The learning from the evaluation will influence our policy work on employment for Disabled young people.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

3. Influencing public attitudes and behaviours Communications

Our goal for communications is to effect change, and that still means impacting audiences who do not currently consider the needs of Disabled people across society.

We have positioned DR UK as the go-to for comment on national disability issues – as the UK’s leading DPO. We are set apart from other disability charities which often work for Disabled people without being led by Disabled people. Media is starting to realise the parallels of going to such charities with speaking to white people about Black Lives Matter, and straight people about LGBTQIA issues.

The past year’s communications have been centred on the impacts of Covid on Disabled people.

We have amplified the voices of Disabled people for the national press on deaths from Covid, the dearth of hospital appointments for other conditions, lack of food, isolation, lack of care, the removal of the Care Act’s provisions for Disabled people, vaccination prioritisation – the list goes on.

Our communications focus centred on influencing Government, as it too often felt as if Disabled people had been forgotten. Our tone in the national media became more assertive, as Disabled people bore the brunt of the worst impacts of the virus.

Our e-newsletter became a calling to account and action for decision makers to understand the impacts of their decisions during the pandemic upon Disabled people.

We spread our reach this year to more diverse groups. Our CEO and Head of Policy especially have been spokespeople for DR UK, not just in all mainstream media channels, radio, TV and print, but in smaller influential channels which might not normally consider Disability issues, such as BBC 1Xtra, and GB News.

As well as presenting opinions from DR UK, we often work with media as a fixer to give platforms to individuals to tell their stories about Disability in the national media. This strong, personal voice creates relatability which helps change hearts and minds.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

We have rebooted our blog site to give individual voices a platform on key issues, and to speak about softer issues, such as the role of disability in the arts.

In autumn 2020, we created a visually strong campaign called We Belong to collect the opinions of Disabled people across the UK to input them into our response to the government’s consultation on its National Disability Strategy. The result was a hard-hitting, comprehensive snapshot of the full range of issues impacting Disabled people, with calls to action for all areas of Government.

We have worked on communications strategies with:

• ●The HoME coalition on housing

• ●Media Trust on disability representation in mainstream media, social media, and newsroom equality agendas. Media Trust works with senior leadership in media, including the Society of Editors, which gets our agenda on their agendas.

• ●Liberty on justice and human rights issues

• ●Channel 4 on its Paralympic coverage

• ●Independent Age on food provision during lockdown

• ●Government on Covid communications

In Summer 2021, we contributed comment to the vast majority of national press and news channels on the National Disability Strategy and a significant chunk of local media.

Training and Consultancy 2021

In spite of the pandemic, and the closure of nearly all face to face training, we delivered an operational profit of nearly £30,000. Disability Confidence training remained our primary product. After a very quiet first quarter, we started delivering online training and worked with a number of businesses, training their management, HR teams and customer facing staff. These businesses included:

• ●Avanti Schools Trust

• ●Cabinet Office

• ●CLCH NHS Trust

• ●Health Research Authority

• ●Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

• ●Kent & Medway NHS Trust

• ●Joseph Rowntree Foundation

• ●Musicians Union

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

We also continued to expand the other ways we work with businesses. We carried out Disability Confident Leader validation for the Business Disability Forum. We continued to deliver ad hoc consultancy to ALDI, South Western Railways and Penguin Random House, amongst others and utilised our inhouse expertise for external speaking opportunities.

In total our training and consultancy delivered an operational profit just shy of £30,000 in 2020/21.

East London Innovation and Enterprise Zone (ELIEZ)

The UK’s first dedicated space for Disabled entrepreneurs opened this year. The programme helped 30 entrepreneurs accelerate the development of products and services that address unmet needs, from idea stage through to global deployment. This was achieved by co-producing workshops and content with Plexal, Barclays Eagle Labs, Loughborough University London, London College of Fashion, Bravand and ICAEW.

They set up the Inclusive Innovators series which features start-ups, design thinkers, entrepreneurs and partners part of the ELIEZ community. This series is available at inclusive-innovators and features DR UK CEO - UCL Minds: Inclusive Innovators - Kamran Mallick.

The legacy of the programme is that the universities are more aware of their obligations and the opportunities that diversity brings. The universities will continue to run Inclusive Thinking and Design Hacks. It left structural changes at Plexal which makes the building and its resources more accessible and inclusive.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Plans for the future

Governments Disability Strategy

Our We Belong report was submitted to the government, outlining what Disabled people we had engaged within the year wanted to see in government plans to transform our lives. We are expecting govt to release the strategy sometime during the summer and autumn 2021.

UNCRPD Review

We were involved in the writing of the Civil Society report in 2017 and sent representatives to Geneva to input into the review of UK Government implementation of the treaty. 2022 will be the start of the next review and we will work to ensure the voice of Disabled people is once again heard by the committee starts its next review. We will work with DPOs, individual Disabled people and other organisations to ensure a diverse range of lived experiences are represented in the review.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

The EDI strategy that was approved by the board in the 4th quarter of 2020/21 will be put into operational use across all aspects of our work including how we engage with partners. We will continue to build on the work that has been done over the past 3 years making our organisation more diverse and representative of society. We want to build on this work and ensure that EDI is a thread in the way we work, who we work with and how we work.

Review our Ambassador programme

Our ambassador programme is overdue a review, and in 2021/22 we will set up a working group led by a board member. It will consider the purpose, role and value of ambassadors in our work, and how we can harness the talent and standing of key individuals in our community to support our Vision and Mission.

Increasing our fundraising capacity

In order to achieve stability and growth we need to find effective ways of bringing in resources. We appointed a new fundraiser and are considering our plans around digital fundraising.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Developing our policy capacity

We have set an ambitious range of policy areas which are wide ranging. In order to achieve these, we need to have additional capacity. We will continue to develop our successful partnership working on specific campaigns. We will continue our conversations with funders about this.

Developing links with DPOs and the newly established DPO Forum

We will develop our links with DPOs and build on the work we have started with Our Voices. We want to increase its membership and impact on government. We will also play an active role in the DPO Forum, set up as a result of the government’s attempts at engagement around the Disability Strategy.

Website

The DR UK website needs a complete refresh and having secured the funds we have appointed a company to redevelop it.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Financial review

The charity had a positive movement in funds of £125,623 (2020 £134,870). This has improved the balance sheet which now shows net assets of £305,495 (£179,872), of which unrestricted are £231,190.

It goes without saying that the year was extremely unusual and potentially very difficult with the Covid pandemic. However, the charity strove to find new income and reduce costs, helping it maintain current services and mount a huge campaign about the government’s handling of the pandemic.

We campaigned, with Our Voices and the DCC, to highlight the importance of DPOs during the pandemic. This led to the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) releasing grants to grass roots. DR UK then secured a one-off grant from the NLCF to support core activities. Our successful relationship with Esmee FairBairn Foundation led to them offering an extra grant of £17,000 to help run services during Covid. We negotiated a three month rent free period from April to June 2020 and a rates rebate of £11,000 from the local council. We also received a number of legacies totalling £45,323. Despite delivering an increase in outcomes and campaigns the charity furloughed some staff, avoiding redundancies and receiving £16,355 in furlough payments.

Without these extra sources of income the charity would almost certainly have made a loss. Training and consulting work was down on budget as face to face training all but ceased. Handbook sales were down, as many people did not go to the office and some organisations did not need as many copies. There were some savings on travel and subsistence and meeting rooms, with no meetings held in person.

Another £80,000 of the CVA was paid during the year. As at 31 March 2021 a further £53,333 remains to be paid with the final payment in November 2021. Once this is paid off, financial planning will be easier. The pension liability of the charity is now restricted to the CVA liability shown in the accounts. The active pension arrangements for staff are all now defined contribution and the charity has complied with its obligations under auto enrolment. This has included the 3 year anniversary re-enrolment which was completed in May 2019.

The Finance team supports the charity’s activities by providing financial analysis, reporting to funders and giving administration support. The charity does not hold material financial investments.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Reserves policy

The Charity will finally pay off the CVA in November 2021. By then the charity will have paid £735,000 over seven years to the Pension Protection Fund. This comprised an initial payment of £175,000 followed by £80,000 per annum. Although the balance sheet has improved year on year end, it made it very difficult to build up reserves. Historically, the charity has had a policy of aiming to build 3 months running costs of around £300,000.

As at 31 March 2021, net assets are £305,495, of which unrestricted reserves are 231,190. The restricted reserve figure is made up from one project. The other projects all show nil closing balances. Some have finished, some are received for the period April to March, some are received quarterly for work done in that quarter. Lastly, some have income deferred as they are “grants subject to performance related conditions” and portions of the income are deferred in accordance with para 5.24 of the Charities SORP.

In reviewing the policy the following matters were considered:

1. Some income received is only guaranteed for a single year and confirmed late. Other income, though fairly certain to be received, can fluctuate. Also, income targets need to be met. A sum of £50,000 is therefore reserved to allow for the unexpected reduction in both some funding and in target income.

2. Each year £80,000 is paid to the CVA reducing the operational cashflow. Overall financial planning will be much easier once the final CVA payment is made.

3. The core running costs for 3 months are around £180,000 including some contingency.

A flexible and understandable reserve policy is therefore to try to build up unrestricted reserves to £250,000.

Going concern

The charity manages its cash position very carefully. The 2021/22 budget was developed on a prudent basis taking into account any potential future impacts of Covid-19 and the uncertain economic climate. The budget, cash flow and financial plans are closely monitored with any negative variances being quickly addressed to ensure the financial viability of the organisation over the longer-term.

The trustees have considered the going concern issue and are confident that there are sufficient resources and plans in place to ensure the charity is a going-concern for the twelve months following the signing of these accounts.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Principal risks and uncertainties

The principal risks faced by the charity are the failure to secure new grant and trust funding and a reduction in unrestricted income through sales, donations or training and consultancy.

The trustees are fully aware of this and there is a constant drive to find new sources of income. At the same time costs are monitored as closely as possible. The Leadership Team review the top risks regularly, and these are presented to every Board of Trustees meeting. In addition, the Risk Register itself has been reviewed and improvements made around actions and controls.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

With thanks to our Funders

We would like to thank our funders and supporters for their funding and kind donations throughout the year:

Care Quality Commission City Bridge Trust, the funding arm of Bridge House Estates Department for Education Department of Health Edinburgh Trust Edward Gosling Foundation Elizabeth and Prince Zaiger Trust Esmée Fairbairn Foundation GD Herbert Charitable Trust Joseph Levy Foundation National Lottery Community Fund Nicholls and Clarke Snowdon Trust Sport England

Some special thanks to those who took the time to fundraise for us during the year, including: Ashden Tredgold Becky Roberts Mia Hadfield-Spoor Bikeworks CIC

And finally thank you to our members. All our funders, supporters and members enable us to deliver our priorities and strengthen our voice.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Structure, governance and management

The charitable company was established under a memorandum of association and is governed under its articles of association which are available on the website.

As per the Articles of Association, the board must consist of a minimum of six trustees and a maximum of 16 of whom 75% must be Disabled people. No fewer than three quarters of the board shall be elected by the membership and no more than one quarter appointed by the board. Currently the board comprises 11 Trustees 10 were elected with the treasurer appointed by the board. The board manages the business of the charity and exercises all the powers of Disability Rights UK. It seeks to ensure the charity is compliant with charity and company law and works with its charitable objectives.

We have two sub committees accountable to the main board, each with agreed terms of reference and delegated authority from the board. They are Financial Performance Committee and People and Governance Committee. A member of the management team is responsible for each committee. These committees can have co-opted members who are not trustees, at the discretion of the main board. These individuals are subject to the same declaration of interest policy as trustees.

The trustees delegate the day-to-day running of the organisation to the Chief Executive, supported by the Leadership Team, who are the Financial Controller, Head of Policy, Head of Advice and Information, Head of Programmes and Impact, and Head of Development.

The organisation is a private company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 14 July 2010 and registered as a charity on 26 October 2010. Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up.

All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 7 to the accounts.

Appointment of trustees

New trustees are appointed through a fair and open process ensuring, as far as possible, diverse representation from a cross section of society, including different experiences of disability and skills. Trustees are elected on a threeyear cycle.

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

Trustee induction and training

New trustees spend a day meeting key management personnel and other members of staff to learn about the projects and programmes delivered by the charity.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

Remuneration for all staff, including key management personnel, is considered in the December/January period before year-end when the budget for the next year is set. There is union consultation via a member of staff under a voluntary trade union agreement between the charity and the union.

Final decisions on remuneration are made by the People Committee and Financial Performance Committee and then ratified by the main board. This policy applies to all staff, including key management personnel.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of Disability Rights UK for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report including the strategic 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:

• Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently

• Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP

• Make judgements and 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

• 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 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

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Disability Rights UK Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2021

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.

Statement as to disclosure to our auditors

In 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.

Auditors

Goldwins were re-appointed as the charitable company’s auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

The trustees’ annual report has been approved by the trustees on 23[rd] September 2021 and signed on their behalf by;

…………………………………….

Lesley Baliga Treasurer

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Independent auditors’ report To the members of Disability Rights UK For the year ended 31 March 2021

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Disability Rights UK (the ‘Charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the Charityʼs affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended;

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

• 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 Auditorʼs responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRCʼs Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

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

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors 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 auditorʼs 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

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Independent auditors’ report To the members of Disability Rights UK For the year ended 31 March 2021

misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the trusteesʼ report (incorporating the directorsʼ report) for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the trusteesʼ report (incorporating the directorsʼ report) have 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 Charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• 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 trusteesʼ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not obtained all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit.

Responsibilities of the trustees

As explained more fully in the trusteesʼ responsibilities statement, the trustees 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 they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the Charityʼs 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 auditorʼs 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.

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Independent auditors’ report To the members of Disability Rights UK For the year ended 31 March 2021

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

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

• We enquired of management, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity's policies and procedures relating to:

• The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or noncompliance with laws and regulations.

• We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

• We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

• In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Councilʼs website at: [www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities]. This description forms part of our auditorʼs 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 Charity and the Charityʼs members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Anthony Epton (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Goldwins Limited Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants 75 Maygrove Road West Hampstead London NW6 2EG

13 October 2021

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Disability Rights UK Statement of financial activities

(incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2021

Note Income from: Donations and legacies 3 Charitable activities: 4 Member Services Promoting social inclusion Advice and publications Training and sponsorship Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities: Member Services Promoting social inclusion Advice and publications Training and sponsorship Total expenditure 5 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	Unrestricted funds £ 114,994 26,845 144,311 244,726 62,726 593,602 60,122 34,003 71,451 224,923 56,794 447,293 146,309 84,881 231,190	Restricted funds £ - - 871,828 - - 871,828 300 - 892,214 - - 892,514 (20,686) 94,991 74,305	2021 Total funds £ 114,994 26,845 1,016,139 244,726 62,726 1,465,430 60,422 34,003 963,665 224,923 56,794 1,339,807 125,623 179,872 305,495	2020 Total funds £ 134,170 33,718 801,212 288,936 137,735
				1,395,771
				69,170 79,765 732,400 270,372 109,194
				1,260,901
				134,870 45,002
				179,872

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. The attached notes form part of these financial statements.

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Disability Rights UK Balance sheet As at 31 March 2021

Note Fixed assets: 9 10 Current assets: 11 Liabilities: 12 13 16 Funds General funds Total charity funds Unrestricted funds: Creditors: amounts falling due after one year Restricted funds Tangible assets Investments Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total net assets Total assets less current liabilities Debtors	£ 204,374 585,593	2021 £ 176 6,057	£ 256,950 384,419	2020 £ 7,022 6,057
		6,233 299,262		13,079 220,126
	789,967 (490,705)		641,369 (421,243)
		305,495 -		233,205 (53,333)
		305,495		179,872
		74,305 231,190		94,991 84,881
		305,495		179,872

Approved by the trustees on ……………………………… 23 September 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Lesley Baliga Martin Stevens Treasurer Chair of Trustees

Company registration no. 7314865

The attached notes form part of the financial statements.

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Disability Rights UK Statement of cash flows For the year ended 31 March 2021

Net income for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) Depreciation Disposal of fixed assets Decrease in debtors Increase / (decrease) in creditors Net cash provided by operating activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Purchase of fixed assets Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year	2021 £ 125,623 5,588 1,258 52,576 16,129 201,174 2021 £ 201,174 - 384,419 585,593	2020 £ 134,870 6,354 - 15,792 (68,584)
		88,432
		2020 £ 88,432 (1,834) 297,821
		384,419

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Disability Rights UK 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.

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.

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.

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

d) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

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

• 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) 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.

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

1 Accounting policies (continued)

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. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

• Costs of raising funds comprise of costs incurred by the charitable company in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose.

• Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of delivering services undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.

• Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading.

Wholly irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred. Partially irrecoverable VAT is charged in one figure to overheads.

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 administration, IT, finance, HR, payroll and governance costs which support the charity and its and activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 5.

i) Operating leases

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

j) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Computer equipment 33% Fixtures and fittings 33%

k) Investments in subsidiaries

Investments in subsidiaries and other unlisted investments are stated at fair value.

l) 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.

m) 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.

n) Creditors and provisions

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

o) Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution scheme to satisfy stakeholder pension requirements. The employer's contributions are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred.

p) 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 with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

2 Detailed comparatives for the statement of financial activities Income from: Donations and legacies Charitable activities: Member Services Promoting social inclusion Advice and publications Other trading activities Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities: Member Services Promoting social inclusion Advice and publications Other Total expenditure Net movement in funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward 3 Income from donations and legacies £ Donations 69,671 Legacies 45,323 114,994 Unrestricted	2020 £ 54,170 33,718 232,727 288,936 137,735 747,286 63,775 79,765 175,368 270,372 109,194 698,474 48,812 36,069 84,881 £ - - - Unrestricted Restricted	2020 £ 80,000 - 568,485 - - 648,485 5,395 - 557,032 - - 562,427 86,058 8,933 94,991 2021 Total £ 69,671 45,323 114,994 Restricted	2020 Total £ 134,170 33,718 801,212 288,936 137,735
			1,395,771
			69,170 79,765 732,400 270,372 109,194
			1,260,901
			134,870 45,002
			179,872
			2020 Total £ 134,170 -
			134,170

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

4 Income from charitable activities

Organisational members Individual members Total for member services Government grants Trust and foundation grants Contracts Key sales Total for promoting social inclusion Publications Advice services Contracts Total for advice and publications Training & consultancy and courses Partnerships and projects Total for training and consultancy Total income from charitable activities	Unrestricted £ 21,602 5,243 26,845 24,394 45,000 22,831 52,086 144,311 244,476 250 - 244,726 49,826 12,900 62,726 478,608	£ - - - 240,000 631,828 - - 871,828 - - - - - - - 871,828 Restricted	2021 Total £ 21,602 5,243 26,845 264,394 676,828 22,831 52,086 1,016,139 244,476 250 - 244,726 49,826 12,900 62,726 1,350,436	2020 Total £ 26,208 7,510
				33,718
				224,200 382,485 132,139 62,388
				801,212
				281,436 1,800 5,700
				288,936
				85,910 51,825
				137,735
				1,261,601

Government Grants were received from the Department of Health and the Department of Education. These are described in more detail in note 16.

During the year, the charity received £16,355 in furlough payments under the government support scheme. It also received £3,314 under the Access to Work support scheme. The total of £19,669 is included within the Government grants figure of £24,394 above.

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

5 Analysis of expenditure

				Charitable	activities
		Cost of		Promoting
	Basis of	raising	Member	social	Advice and	Training &	Support
	allocation	funds	services	inclusion	publications	sponsorship	costs	2021 Total	2020 Total
		£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Staff costs	Direct	41,312	8,958	370,217	101,568	-	218,093	740,148	736,383
Direct project costs	Direct	3,297	3,493	420,854	82,918	25,147	-	535,709	342,181
Office running costs	Direct	-	-	-	-	-	23,808	23,808	113,037
Premises costs	Direct	-	-	-	-	-	40,142	40,142	69,300
		44,609	12,451	791,071	184,486	25,147	282,043	1,339,807	1,260,901
Overhead salaries		14,037	16,192	134,629	24,589	28,646	(218,093)	-
General overheads		661	1,995	14,134	5,900	1,117	(23,807)	-
Rent & rates		1,115	3,365	23,831	9,948	1,884	(40,143)	-
Total expenditure 2021		60,422	34,003	963,665	224,923	56,794	-	1,339,807	1,260,901
Total expenditure 2020		69,170	79,765	732,400	270,372	109,194	-	1,260,901

Of the total expenditure, £447,293 was unrestricted (2020: £698,474) and £892,514 was restricted (2020: £562,427).

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

6 Net income / (expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging:	2021	2020
	£	£
Operating lease rentals:
Property	51,303	68,400
Other equipment - photocopier	553	553
Depreciation	5,588	6,354
Auditor's remuneration - audit fees	6,000	7,500

7 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	2021 £ 663,232 61,968 14,948	2020 £ 656,147 64,047 16,190
	740,148	736,384

There were no other employee benefits other than those listed above.

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding both employer's NIC and pension contributions) during the year between:

		2021	2020
		Number	Number
£60,000	- £69,999	-	1
£70,000	- £79,999	1	-

The total employee benefits including Employer's NIC and pension contributions of the key management personnel were £270,785 (2020 £255,995).

For 2020 there were five members of the senior management team. In the current year there were seven with one, who was part time, leaving during the year. At the end of the year there were six members.

The charity trustees were not paid or did not receive any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2020: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2020: £nil).

Trustees' travel travel and subsistence expenses totalled £116 (2020: £4,688). Some trustees do not claim any expenses for travel and subsistence.

Staff numbers Raising funds Member Services Promoting Social Inclusion Advice and publications Training and consultancy	2021 2020 Number Number 0.6 0.6 1.7 1.7 12.4 11.6 5.2 5.2 0.9 1.9 20.8 21.0 Average number of staff employed during the year	2021 2020 Number Number 0.6 0.6 1.7 1.7 12.4 11.6 5.2 5.2 0.9 1.9 20.8 21.0 Average number of staff employed during the year	2021 2020 Number Number 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 10.6 10.1 4.4 4.6 0.9 1.6 17.9 18.3 employed during the year Average number of FTE staff	2021 2020 Number Number 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 10.6 10.1 4.4 4.6 0.9 1.6 17.9 18.3 employed during the year Average number of FTE staff
	20.8	21.0	17.9	18.3

Average number of staff is based on head count and FTE is based on hours worked compared with full time.

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

8 Taxation

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

9 Tangible fixed assets Cost At the start of the year Additions in year Disposals 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. 10 Investments Investments at fair value: Preference shares in Santander UK plc Investment in Helpcard Holdings Ltd Investment in subsidiary undertakings incorporated in the UK	£ 27,751 - (1,258) Computer equipment	£ 2,170 - - Fixtures and fittings	Total £ 29,921 - (1,258)
	26,493	2,170	28,663
	21,519 4,974	1,380 614	22,899 5,588
	26,493	1,994	28,487
	-	176	176
	6,232	790	7,022
		2021 £ 913 5,142 2	2020 £ 913 5,142 2
		6,057	6,057

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

11 Debtors

Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments Accrued income Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Taxation and social security Other creditors Accruals Deferred income CVA payments 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 Handbook pre-orders, invoices raised and online payments received Grants subject to performance-related conditions Training and consulting projects	2021 £ 166,372 19,691 13,311 5,000	2020 £ 198,417 12,788 45,445 300
	204,374	256,950
	2021 £ 32,854 26,062 24,821 59,901 293,734 53,333	2020 £ 68,828 34,526 2,000 59,741 176,148 80,000
	490,705	421,243
	2021 £ 176,148 (176,148) 293,734	2020 £ 195,562 (195,562) 176,148
	293,734	176,148
	2021 £ 107,147 145,131 41,456	2020 £ 92,533 77,175 6,440
	293,734	176,148

12 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

The grants above are "grants subject to performance-related conditions received in advance of delivering the services required by that condition". These are "accounted for as a liability and shown on the balance sheet as deferred income" in accordance with the Charities SORP para 5.24. The income, when released, flows through the restricted funds part of the SOFA and the grants are referred to as "deferred" in the restricted funds note.

13 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

CVA payments - due within one to two years

2021	2020
£	£
-	53,333

As detailed in previous accounts, the charity entered a CVA on 11 November 2014 with the PPF to commute the liabilities of the old defined benefit scheme. The remaining liability is £53,333 and the final payment will be paid in November 2021.

14 Pension scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme with Friends Life which is a qualifying scheme for auto-enrolment.

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

15 Analysis of net assets between funds Year ended 31 March 2021 Tangible fixed assets Investments Net current assets Long term liabilities Net assets at the end of the year Year ended 31 March 2020 Tangible fixed assets Investments Net current assets Long term liabilities Net assets at the end of the year	General unrestricted £ 176 6,057 224,957 -	Restricted £ - - 74,305 -	Total funds £ 176 6,057 299,262 -
	231,190	74,305	305,495
	General unrestricted £ 7,022 6,057 125,135 (53,333)	Restricted £ - - 94,991 -	Total funds £ 7,022 6,057 220,126 (53,333)
	84,881	94,991	179,872

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Disability Rights UK

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

16 Movements in funds Year ended 31 March 2021 Restricted funds: DoH - Health and Wellbeing Alliance Apr - Mar Department for Education Apr - Mar Sport England - Get Yourself Active Deferred Sport England - Tackling Inequalities Deferred Sport England - Durham Deferred West Midlands Combined Authority Finished Disability Action NI - DRILL project Finished DRILL 4 Nations project Finished City Bridge Trust - Bridge to Work Quarterly City Bridge Trust - advice work in London Quarterly National Lottery Community Fund Finished DSA QAG Total restricted funds General funds - unrestricted Total charity funds Year ended 31 March 2020 Restricted funds: DoH - Health and Wellbeing Alliance Department for Education Sport England - Get Yourself Active West Midlands Combined Authority Disability Action NI - DRILL project DRILL 4 Nations project Spirit of 2012 - Get Out Get Active LEF - Right to Participate Barrow Cadbury City Bridge Trust - Bridge to Work City Bridge Trust - advice work in London DSA QAG Total restricted funds General funds - unrestricted Total charity funds	£ - - - - - - 10,703 9,683 - - - 74,605 At the start of the year	£ 80,000 160,000 201,035 195,093 35,333 2,500 37,722 - 14,145 35,000 111,000 - Incoming resources & gains	£ (80,000) (160,000) (201,035) (195,093) (35,333) (2,500) (48,425) (9,683) (14,145) (35,000) (111,000) (300) Outgoing resources & losses	£ - - - - - - - - - - - 74,305 At the end of the year
	94,991	871,828	(892,514)	74,305
	84,881	593,602	(447,293)	231,190
	179,872	1,465,430	(1,339,807)	305,495
	£ - - - - 8,933 - - - - - - - At the start of the year	£ 60,000 160,000 139,409 12,500 86,284 16,404 32,778 4,500 29,000 18,860 8,750 80,000 Incoming resources & gains	£ (60,000) (160,000) (139,409) (12,500) (84,514) (6,721) (32,778) (4,500) (29,000) (18,860) (8,750) (5,395) Outgoing resources & losses	£ - - - - 10,703 9,683 - - - - - 74,605 At the end of the year
	8,933	648,485	(562,427)	94,991
	36,069	747,286	(698,474)	84,881
	45,002	1,395,771	(1,260,901)	179,872

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

Purposes of restricted funds

Department of Health - Health and Wellbeing Alliance. We co-ordinate the user-led Lived Experience Alliance consisting of Advonet (formerly Change), National Survivor and User Network (NSUN) and Shaping Our Lives. We are led by disabled people and bring tested methods to build up, gather and feed the direct and collective voice of our lived experience into (co-produced) projects with other equality groups.

Department for Education (previously Business Information and Skills). To support disabled people's skills for employment, to advise on policy development and to run the Disability and Skills Unit.

Get Yourself Active. A Sport England funded programme to create opportunities for Disabled people and people with Long-Term Health Conditions to be physically active in a way that is right for them, by working with local and national partners.

Tackling Inequalities Fund. A Sport England funded project to support organisations to support Disabled people and people with Long-Term Health Conditions to be active during the pandemic. £250,000 was received from Sport England to distribute to the organisations. £54,907 of income was deferred at year end.

Durham. A Sport England project that aims to develop research led teaching and community-based training materials and resources on physical activity to influence social work practice of today and tomorrow and improve disabled people’s health. A grant of £43,733 was received in the year, of which £8,400 was deferred at year end.

West Midlands Combined Authority. To be responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the development and ongoing engagement with the West Midlands Citizens' Network, placing inclusive voice at the heart of the decision making process. The project finished early in the year.

Disability Action NI - DRILL Project. A grant as a partner in the Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) project. A five year initiative funded by Big Lottery to deliver the world's first major research programme led by disabled people. The project finished early in the year.

DRILL 4 Nations Project. Worked with think and action tank LKMco to produce research into young people's attitudes to disability. The project finished early in the year.

City Bridge Trust - Bridge to Work. To provide evaluation on the Supporting Disabled Londoners into Employment, Bridge to Work project.

City Bridge Trust - advice work in London. We received the first quarterly instalment of £35,000 per year restricted funding from City Bridge Trust, the funding arm of The City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates (1035628). The grant is towards the salaries, operating and management costs of the London element of our Independent Living Helpline and Members’ Advice Line. The annual grant award will run until FYE 2025.

We received £111k from the National Lottery Community Fund which we treated as a restricted grant. The funding was used to deliver activities specifically aimed to support communities through the COVID-19 crisis and overcome issues around the funding of staff posts caused by the pandemic.

DSA QAG. In March 2020, we received a restricted donation of £80,000 from DSA-QAG, following that organisation's closure. The donation is restricted to work associated with assisting disabled students to enter and succeed in higher education.

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Disability Rights UK Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021

17 Operating lease commitments

Total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

Less than 1 year 1 - 5 years	Equipment 2021 £ 415 -	2020 £ 553 415
	415	968

The lease relates to the photocopier which is for 5 years and runs until January 2022. The quartely rentals are £138.

The charity moved to new premises at Plexal, Here East, Stratford on 2 January 2018. The contract is on a rolling one year basis. The annual rent from 1 April is £68,400 (2020 £68,400) plus VAT.

18 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. Each member is liable to contribute a sum not exceeding £1 in the event of the charity being wound up.

19 Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions to disclose for 2021 (2020: none).

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