2022-03-31-accounts - Solihull Action Through Advocacy

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Solihull Action through Advocacy

Report and Financial Statements

31 March 2022

Charity number: 1146073 Company limited by guarantee: 7945421

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report and Financial Statements Contents

	Page
Legal and administrative information	1
Chair's statement	2
Report of the Trustees	3 - 8
Report of the Independent Examiner	9
Statement of financial activities	10
Balance sheet	11
Cashflow statement	12
Notes forming part of the financial statements	13 - 21

Solihull Action through Advocacy Legal and administrative information

Trustees and Directors

Shamsher Dharsani Philip Marshall John Roundell Jonathan Bright Chris Brodest Jessica James Katie Meah Catherine Nolan Jane Williams

Chair (until 8 March 2022) Resigned 8 June 2022 Finance Committee Appointed Chair 1 April 2022 Finance Committee Resigned 8 March 2022

Chief Executive Officer

James Voller Christine Forde

Resigned 24 June 2022 Appointed 1 August 2022

Principal Office and Registered Address

11 - 13 Land Lane Marston Green Solihull B37 7DE

Independent examiner

Dr J R Ayling BSc FCA 8 Troutbeck Avenue Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV32 6NE

Bankers

CAF Bank Ltd. 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling ME19 4JQ

Solihull Action through Advocacy Chair's statement for the year ended 31 March 2022

Having become the Chair of Trustees of SAtA in April, I must start by thanking my predecessor, Shamsher Dharsani, on behalf of all my fellow Trustees for his service as Chair through the very challenging circumstances presented to us over the last few years. We will miss his presence on the Board; and we wish him well for the future.

Although I do not want to focus on it, it is inevitable that I should begin by referencing the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people we serve and the way that we operated during this year. We continued to adapt the way that we work and to be as creative and persevering as possible to ensure that the people who needed our support could get it. This has been a challenge but one that our dedicated team at SAtA has risen to very well.

We were particularly pleased to have had the continued high quality of our work recognised in the reawarding of the advocacy Quality Performance Mark (QPM). The assessor’s report highlighted the “highly person-centred team of supportive, passionate, dedicated, experienced and knowledgeable advocates that live the values of independent advocacy”. It also specifically drew attention to SAtA’s “commitment to social justice, enabling people’s voice to be heard and rights upheld” as well as our “humanity, sensitivity and empathy”. This was a great outcome and duly recognises the hard work and commitment of our staff and volunteers.

One of our priorities for this year was to develop further our Community and Collective Advocacy work. I am very pleased to report on some notable successes in these areas.

On the Community Advocacy front, we focused on developing our Circles of Support project. This is an important piece of work for us, and especially so in light of the recent period of increased isolation which impacted significantly on people with learning disabilities. Although we are still in the early stages of this work, the signs are very encouraging and we are looking forward to seeing how this project develops further over the coming year.

Meanwhile, our Collective Advocacy activity has also been developing, supported by the return to face-toface meetings of the Learning Disability Council, which has been able to engage with local public sector bodies on issues such as COVID vaccines and cancer diagnoses. In particular we have been building a greater influencing role with our partners in the NHS, and we are looking to introduce a new service in 2022 which will help ensure that the voices and experiences of people with learning disabilities and autistic people are heard at the highest levels of local health policy-making. This would represent a step-change in our ability to gather and reflect the views of local people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

The Board of Trustees spent time during the past year or so reviewing and improving SAtA’s governance arrangements, and this included the development of a new structure of Board Committees. These new arrangements are working very well, and I would like to thank all my fellow Trustees, including those who have resigned during the year, for their time, effort and dedication to SAtA.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank our Chief Executive, James Voller, and his management team, and all of our staff and volunteers, for their hard work and dedication, ensuring that we continue to provide a very efficient, high quality service to those in the local community who need our support.

After leading SAtA for five years, James is moving on to a new challenge in 2022, and I know that I speak for everyone involved in the charity in recognising the tremendous contribution and impact he has made during his time with us, and he leaves with our grateful thanks and our very best wishes.

Finally, not just on behalf of everyone at SAtA but also of the people we serve, I would like to thank each and every one of the people and organisations who have funded and continue to fund our work. We are very grateful for your support and the trust you place in us.

Philip Marshall, Chair of Trustees

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report of the Trustees and Directors for the year ended 31 March 2022

The Trustees and Directors present their report and financial statements of the charitable company for the year ended 31 March 2022.

The Trustees’ report and financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out on pages 13 to 15 and comply with the Charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and the Companies Act 2006.

Structure, Governance and Management

Solihull Action through Advocacy is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 10 February 2012 and registered as a charity on 23 February 2012 with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The company is governed under a Memorandum and Articles of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company. In the event of the company being wound up, each member is required to contribute an amount not exceeding £10.

The Board of Trustees has the responsibility of managing the business of the charitable company and for the purposes of charity law the trustees of the charity are also directors of the company. The Trustees / Directors who have served during the year and since the year end are set out on page 1.

Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association there must be at least 3 Trustees holding office. The term of office of a Trustee continues until they retire or are removed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Articles. All Trustees gave their time voluntarily and received no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in the accounts. Trustee vacancies are advertised locally and regionally. Trustees are appointed for their skills and expertise. All new Trustees undergo an induction process and receive a Trustee pack with relevant information about the organisation.

Day to day responsibility for management of the organisation is delegated by the Trustees to the Chief Executive.

All major risks have been reviewed and systems or procedures have been established to manage those risks.

Objectives and activities

The Charity’s objects as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association are:

l to promote social inclusion and to prevent people from becoming socially excluded; l to assist people to obtain full rights and privileges as citizens and integrate into society; l to achieve these objectives particularly, but not exclusively, through the provision of independent advocacy support.

‘Socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of one or more of the following factors: age, disability, impairment, poor educational or skills attainment, relationship and family breakdown and asylum seekers.

Solihull Action through Advocacy achieves its objectives through the provision of free independent advocacy. Having regard to these achievements, and the public benefit that they provide, the Trustees are satisfied that the Charity has met the Charity Commission guidance on Public Benefit.

In assessing the success of the Charity in the period, the Trustees have had regard principally to the number of people to whom the Charity has provided a service and the proportion of those individuals who achieved an outcome mostly or completely in line with their wishes. In addition the Trustees hold as a key criteria the need to deliver the Charity's services within its budget and to make a contribution to its unrestricted reserves.

The Charity utilises volunteers in a variety of roles from service delivery to Governance. Across the period, 27 people have volunteered including within our Peer Visitor service, Learning Disability Council, as Citizen Advocates, members of our Advisory Committee and the Trustees themselves.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report of the Trustees and Directors for the year ended 31 March 2022

Achievements and performance

1. Advocacy Case Work

Our case work service has continued to be an important source of support for some of the most marginalised people as the health and social care sector, along with the wider community, continued to struggle with and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of the year, we received over 500 new referrals and have provided a one-to-one independent advocacy case work service to 677 people across 952 cases. 262 of those people (39%) are new to SAtA. Of those people who provided feedback when asked, 90% said that they were either happy or very happy with the service and 93% said that they were either likely or very likely to recommend the service to someone else.

Solihull First Advocacy - This year is the second year of delivering our new service providing all localauthority funded statutory and non-statutory advocacy in Solihull. In total, the service has worked with 586 people across 844 cases. 39% of those people were new to SAtA.

Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA), Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and

Relevant Person’s Representative (RPR) – We continue to provide an advocacy service to individuals who have been assessed as lacking capacity and are entitled to the support of an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate. This includes those subject to a Deprivation of Liberty and those entitled to the support of a Relevant Person’s Representative. These are entitlements that were created by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to ensure that individuals who lack capacity in respect of certain decisions are not deprived of the ability to input into best interest decisions about their lives.

Care Act - We provide support under the Care Act 2014 to those who are going through the process of assessment, support planning or review as well as safeguarding processes. This service is provided to any person who has a substantial difficulty engaging with the process and does not have another suitable person to support them.

Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) – We provide advocacy support to individuals who have been detained under a section of the Mental Health Act 1983. The majority of those cases are supporting people who have been detained in hospital under s.2 or s.3 for assessment and treatment. IMHAs ensure that detained individuals understand what their situation is and what their rights are and help to ensure their voice is heard in care and treatment decisions.

NHS Complaints - This is also a new service area for SAtA. We now provide advocacy support to people who wish to make a complaint about treatment they have received from the NHS. This can include making complaints to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman if required.

Non-Statutory Advocacy - We work with people whose situations do not meet the criteria for any of the statutory advocacy roles. This because people have important issues that they need advocacy support with. We assist people with issues such as housing, employment, healthcare, finances, social care, access to services, bullying and hate crime. Commonly, people come to us because they have no one else who they can turn to for support.

Parents Advocacy - Our service for parents with a learning disability provides advocacy support during child protection proceedings or pre-proceedings. These are cases that usually revolve around whether a parent is able to care for the child(ren) or whether the child(ren) should be cared for by a relative or someone else. In many cases this results in children being removed from the care of their parents. Support from an advocate ensures that parents are fully engaged in the decision-making process and also that all options to support parents to continue caring for their own children have been considered and explored. We have worked on 51 parents advocacy cases this year.

Young People - We have continued to provide support to young people with learning disabilities and autism, particularly those who are in transition into adulthood. Key issues within this group include education (particularly reasonable adjustments, school exclusions and Education Health and Care Plans), employment, relationships and mental health (with the latter becoming an increasing challenge among young people). This work is funded by Children in Need, Birmingham and Solihull CCG and the St James’ Place Foundation. We have worked on 43 cases in the year.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report of the Trustees and Directors for the year ended 31 March 2022

Achievements and performance (continued)

2. Community Advocacy

Solihull First

The pandemic restrictions through most of the year meant that our activities continued to be somewhat limited, but we continued to provide support where we could.

We continued to operate a telephone befriending service for people with learning disabilities and autism partly as an isolation-reduction mechanism but also to:

l Identify and escalate any crisis situations (eg lack of access to food or medicines).
l Support people to keep up with the very rapidly changing rules and guidance as to what they can and cannot do.
l Provide emotional support and reassurance to people who might understandably be feeling anxious/scared.

We provided support to 22 people whom we would not otherwise have been supporting. We have remained in regular contact with them throughout the pandemic and have provided a link to other supportive services.

We have also started running a number of “Coffee and Catch-Up” sessions, starting with a weekly session in central Solihull. By the end of the year, that session had a regular weekly attendance of 8-10 people and that has continued to grow after the end of the year. We plan to continue the development of new sessions throughout the next year.

Peer Visitors

Our ability to conduct peer visits in small group homes continued to be very heavily impacted by COVID restrictions as face-to-face visits to the homes were not possible for most of the year. We continued to work closely with the managers of the homes and with our own volunteers make the best use of virtual visits before face to face visits could recommence late in the year.

By the end of the year, all but 2 of the small homes had been visited in person and the remaining 2 had been visited within 2 weeks of the new year beginning.

Examples of impacts of the service during the year:

l A Peer Visitor noticed that a resident’s mobility had seriously deteriorated and they didn’t have access to a suitable wheelchair. They addressed this with the service manager who chased up with healthcare. This was investigated and the chair soon arrived and the resident was able to get out and enjoy being outside.
l Peer visitors questioned why a particular service user had not been out on ‘leisure drives’ like other residents. The peer visitors raised with staff who said that the resident couldn’t comfortably get in and out of the car that the home had and didn’t have a car through the motability scheme. We raised this with the person’s appointee who is pushing for a motability car.
l A general issue of community access was raised when peer visitors found that across multiple homes, residents were not being supported to access the community even though restrictions had lifted. Staff at the homes believed that they had been told that they couldn’t take residents inside any venues. We spoke to the small homes service manager and made sure that everything was clarified with staff and residents could begin going out again when staffing allowed.

Circles of Support

During the year, we were delighted to realise a long-held ambition by securing funds to pilot a ‘Circles of Support’ approach in Solihull to help reduce social isolation and build long-term supportive networks for people with learning disabilities. The pilot began in earnest in September 2021 and by the end of March 2022 the project had begun to work intensively with 12 individuals to develop their circles.

As this is a project where changes are intended to happen over a longer-term, it is difficult to assess the impacts after only 6-9 months. The pilot will conclude towards the end of 2022 and we will be working on assessing the successes and areas for improvement through the summer and autumn.

The Trustees are very grateful to Birmingham and Soilhull CCG for agreeing to fund this pilot and hope to continue that work into future years.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report of the Trustees and Directors for the year ended 31 March 2022

Achievements and performance (continued)

3. Collective Advocacy

Solihull Learning Disability Council

SLDC meetings were able to resume in person during the year and the group has continued to meet monthly. This year the group has:

l Worked with Mencap on their “Treat me Well” campaign - participating in some filming
l Engaged with local public health teams in respect of COVID vaccinations for people with LD
l Started some engagement with the CCG in terms of supporting a new Early Cancer Diagnosis pathway for people with LD.

Late in the year, we created a new role to support the Council to be more inclusive and proactive in seeking the views of the widest possible group of people with LD. We now have a person with LD who has 5 hours per week to go “out and about” talking to other people with LD in the community, in supported living, residential care, hospital etc, who would otherwise not be able to participate in discussions that happen within LDC meetings.

West Midlands Regional Self-Advocacy Network

Throughout the year we have continued to support 2 Link Workers as part of the West Midlands SelfAdvocacy Network. Both link workers have remained very engaged with the network; attending the weekly meetings and completing the development work. The achievements of the programme as a whole can be seen on the WMSAN website: www.wmsan.co.uk.

Influencing Work

COVID Vaccines – We identified a number of cases of people lacking capacity to consent to COVID vaccinations where GPs and other health and social care professionals were failing to properly apply the Mental Capacity Act. Some were contacting advocates to ask them to give consent to vaccinate on their advocacy partner’s behalf. In other cases people were unable to access vaccination at all because of their inability to consent. Professionals in many cases appeared to have completely forgotten how to apply ordinary MCA principles and to make best interest decisions. We supported the CCG to draft some communications to GPs and other professionals to remind them of the MCA principles and to ensure that people were not being prevented from receiving the vaccine or being vaccinated against their best interests.

LeDeR - Following our inclusion in the local LeDeR steering group last year, throughout 2021/22 we have built upon our engagement with the LeDeR programme. We are now part of the monthly “Oversight Panel” which looks at completed LeDeR reviews with a view to seeing what actions can be taken to improve systems and processes.

JAND Strategic Board - We were invited to sit as part of the Joint Additional Needs and Disabilities Board. As part of this we supported in the drafting of the new Joint Additional Needs Strategy for Solihull as well as the associated action plan. The strategy can be viewed here: https://www.solihull.gov.uk/children-and-family-support/localoffer/additional-needsstrategy#:~:text=In%20Solihull%20we%20believe%20that,more%20support%20in%20their%20life.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report of the Trustees and Directors for the year ended 31 March 2022

Plans for future periods

In consultation with our staff and the people who use our support, we agreed a new strategic plan for 2021-24 in November 2020. That plan has 7 main priorities which are:

Continue to deliver a high-quality, 1-2-1 case work advocacy service to protect people’s rights and ensure their views, wishes and feelings are heard
Develop new “community advocacy” projects to promote and support inclusion for people with LD / Autism
Develop and grow “collective advocacy” work to influence positive change
Improve impact measurement methodologies and reporting
Strengthen the ownership and control of the people who use our services
Review and refresh our governance arrangements and processes 7. Improve marketing and raise profile

Although some of our plans have continued to be frustrated by the impact of COVID, we are pleased to say that significant progress has already been made against some of these priorities, particularly in relation to consolidating the high quality of our case work service and reviewing our governance arrangements. These areas have taken up a great deal of our attention throughout the year under review although notable successes have also been made against priorities 2 and 3.

As we move into 2022/23 and beyond, our focus is now on pushing forward with the development of our Community and Collective Advocacy activity (priorities 2 and 3). Some of this work is already well-underway including the delivery of our Circles of Support Pilot which has been going from strength to strength. Some of that new activity will be starting very soon; in particular we expect shortly to begin delivery of a new project funded by Birmingham and Solihull CCG to ensure that the voices and experiences of people with learning disabilities and autism are front and centre of assessing the progress towards the CCG’s LeDeR strategic plan and in determining the actions that need to be taken to improve those experiences.

Alongside these in-progress pieces of work, we are working with the members of our Advisory Committee to develop new project ideas particularly in the areas of community-based support.

We will also be focussing some of our attentions on improving our ability to capture, measure and articulate the impact of our work and using that to inform future services as well as to support in building our profile and influencing local, regional and national policy and practice.

Financial review

The Statement of Financial Activities shows an income of £555,490 (2021: £550,031) and expenditure of £544,517 (2021: £533,249) resulting in net income for the year of £10,973 (2021: £16,782). The fund balance at 31st March 2022 is £74,926 (2021: £63,953), all of which is unrestricted.

The increase in other charitable income shown in note 4 (2022: £94,099 versus 2021: £27,840) is primarily due to new projects and services which commenced during this period.

In light of the continued impact of COVID-19 throughout this year both on the operations of the Charity and the increased challenges in raising funds for non-COVID related activities, the Trustees are pleased that SAtA has once again achieved a modest surplus. As with last year this has been achieved through a combination of very careful cost control and some successes in securing new income sources. The Trustees are particularly grateful to the members of the Finance Committee, the CEO and Finance Manager for their work in supporting the Trustees to ensure careful and prudent management of the Charity’s finances.

The achievement of a surplus has meant that the Trustees have been able to add to the Charity’s reserves in line with its new Reserves Policy (see below) as well as to provide for future IT infrastructure spending through the creation of an “IT Development Designated Fund”.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Report of the Trustees and Directors for the year ended 31 March 2022

Financial review (continued)

The principal financial risks faced by the Charity are regularly monitored by the Board of Trustees and by its Finance Committee as well as on a continual basis by the CEO and Management Team. The main risks to which the Trustees feel attention should be drawn are:

l Dependency on a small number of large funding streams: Approximately 77% of income for 2021-22 was derived from contracts with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (although this is split across multiple contracts) and this presents some risks in terms of sustainability if those contracts were to be lost. Our main contract (Solihull First Advocacy) has been extended to at least September 2024 and it remains likely that this will continue until March 2026. Other contracts with SMBC have shorter terms but we have developed a strong and open relationship with commissioners and have consistently delivered a highquality service and as such the Trustees consider the risk of losing those contracts to be low. Notwithstanding, the Trustees have set income generation targets and fundraising plans to encourage diversification of income streams to mitigate against dependencies.
l Failure to achieve income generation targets: As with most similar charities, there is a recurrent risk that the charity will fail to meet its fundraising / income generation targets in any given year. The Trustees have set challenging but achievable targets and progress towards them is monitored regularly by the Finance Committee. In addition, unrestricted funds held in reserves can be deployed to make up for under-performance in fundraising if the Trustees consider that to be prudent and appropriate.

Reserves

The Trustees agreed a new Reserves Policy in December 2021. The purpose of this policy is to make clear the Trustees’ rationale for maintaining reserves and the approach that they take in determining the level of reserves to be maintained. This policy has been written having had due regard to Charity Commission guidance CC19. The target level of reserves is formally reviewed annually as part of the process of budget setting (and will be agreed in March each year) and the reserves position is continually reviewed throughout the year.

Having undertaken a thorough review of the reliability of the Charity’s future income streams, its levels of committed expenditure, the cash flow forecast and the risks identified within the organisational risk register (which is reviewed at all Board meetings and monitored continually by the CEO), the Trustees have set a target to maintain unrestricted reserves of £60,000 which they consider to be sufficient to mitigate the risks that have been identified.

In summary, the reasons for which funds are retained as reserves are:

l To ensure the continuity of activity which is a high priority to SAtA in the event of a significant variation or total loss of funding for that activity.
l To fund unforeseen and unavoidable running costs or capital expenditures that may arise.
l To fund running costs for the short-term in the instance of cash-flow timing problems.

Unrestricted reserves at 31st March 2022 are slightly in excess of this target at £60,384 and the Trustees will keep the position under review.

This report has been prepared having taken advantage of the small companies exemption in the Companies Act 2006. This report was approved by the Trustees / Directors and signed on their behalf by:

Philip Marshall Chair of Trustees

John Roundell Finance Committee

Date

Independent examiner's report To the Trustees of Solihull Action through Advocacy

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the company for the year ended 31 March 2022 which are set out on pages 10 to 21.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your company’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Since the company’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.

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

1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
2 the accounts do not accord with those records; or
3 the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
4 the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

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

Dr J R Ayling BSc FCA (Fellow of the ICAEW)

Date

8 Troutbeck Avenue Leamington Spa CV32 6NE

Solihull Action through Advocacy Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account) For the year ended 31 March 2022

Unrestricted Funds Notes £ Income and endowments from: Donations and legacies 3 1,378 Charitable activities 4 524,399 Investments 13 525,790 Expenditure on: Charitable activities 5 514,212 Other 105 514,317 Net income / (expenditure) 11,473 Transfers between funds 15 (500) 10,973 Balance at start of year 15 63,953 Balance at end of year 15 74,926 Net movement in funds	Restricted Funds £ - 29,700 - 29,700 30,192 8 30,200 (500) 500 - - -	Total Total 2021 £ £ 1,378 3,464 554,099 546,542 13 25 555,490 550,031 544,404 533,083 113 166 544,517 533,249 10,973 16,782 - - 10,973 16,782 63,953 47,171 74,926 63,953 2022

There were no recognised gains and losses for the charitable company for the current or prior years other than those included in the statement of Financial Activities. All income and expenditure arises from continuing activities.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Company limited by guarantee: 7945421 Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2022

Fixed assets Tangible assets 10 Current assets Debtors 11 Cash at bank and in hand 12 Net current assets 13 Funds Restricted 15 Unrestricted 15 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Total assets less current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year Total net assets	31 March 2022 31 March 2021 4,542 6,813 1,084,554 525,569 83,563 73,903 1,168,117 599,472 (505,077) (506,415) 663,040 93,057 667,582 99,870 (592,656) (35,917) 74,926 63,953 - - 74,926 63,953 74,926 63,953

For the year ending 31 March 2022 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of financial statements. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

The directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.

The financial statements were approved by the board of Trustees / Directors and signed on their behalf by:

Philip Marshall Chair of Trustees

John Roundell Finance Committee

Date

Solihull Action through Advocacy Cash flow statement for the year ended 31 March 2022

Net cash used in operating activities
Net income
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Interest income shown in investing activities
(Increase) / decrease in debtors
Decrease / (increase) in creditors
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest and dividends
Purchase of fixed assets
Net cash provided by investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents brought forward
Cash and cash equivalents carried forward
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash at bank and in hand
Analysis of changes in net debt
At start of year
£
Cash
73,903

Year ended
Year ended
31 March 2022
31 March 2021
£
£
10,973
16,782
2,271
3,406
(13)
(25)
(558,985)
433,144
555,401
(420,505)
9,647
32,802
13
25
-
-
13
25
9,660
32,827
73,903
41,076
83,563
73,903
83,563
73,903
Cash flows
At end of year
£
£
9,660
83,563

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies

{a} General information and basis of preparation

Solihull Action through Advocacy is a private charitable company incorporated in England and Wales. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee, is limited to £10 per member of the charity. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information on page 1 of these financial statements. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are: to promote social inclusion and to prevent people from becoming socially excluded; to assist people to obtain full rights and privileges as citizens and integrate into society; to achieve these objectives particularly, but not exclusively, through the provision of independent advocacy support.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 20016 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.

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

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

{b} Funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

{c} Income recognition

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.

For donations to be recognised the charity will have been notified of the amounts and the settlement date in writing. If there are conditions attached to the donation and this requires a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained then income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.

The charity receives government grants in respect of its advocacy projects. Income from government and other grants are recognised at fair value when the charity has entitlement after any performance conditions have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. If entitlement is not met then these amounts are deferred.

Income from trading activities includes income earned from fundraising events and trading activities to raise funds for the charity. Income is received in exchange for supplying goods and services in order to raise funds and is recognised when entitlement has occurred.

All income arises in the United Kingdom.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies (continued)

{d} Expenditure recognition

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. It is categorised under the following headings:

Costs of raising funds includes the costs of fundraising and trading activities
Expenditure on charitable activities comprises the direct costs of the provision of advocacy services and associated overhead expenses

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as an expense against the activity for which expenditure arose.

{e} Support costs allocation

Support costs are those that assist the work of the charity, but do not directly represent charitable activities and include administrative payroll costs, premises costs, office costs and governance costs. All support costs have been allocated to expenditure on charitable activities as raising funds is undertaken on a wholly voluntary basis. Any support costs which cannot be directly attributed to individual funds are apportioned according to the gross payroll cost incurred by each fund. The analysis of these costs is included in note 6.

{f} Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost (or deemed cost) or valuation less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Cost includes costs directly attributable to making the asset capable of operating as intended.

Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, at rates calculated to write off the cost, less estimated residual value, of each asset on a systematic basis over its expected useful life as follows:

Computers and office equipment 33.3% reducing balance

Assets costing less than £1,000 are written off to the SoFA in the year of purchase.

{g} 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.

{h} Impairment

Assets not measured at fair value are reviewed for any indication that the asset may be impaired at each balance sheet date. If such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset, or the asset’s cash generating unit, is estimated and compared to the carrying amount. Where the carrying amount exceeds its recoverable amount, an impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss unless the asset is carried at a revalued amount where the impairment loss is a revaluation decrease.

{i} Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised when the charity has an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount can be reliably estimated.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies (continued)

{j} Leases

Rentals payable and receivable under operating leases are charged to the SoFA on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

{k} Tax

The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charity for UK corporation tax purposes.

{l} Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the Trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The Trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the charity, to be able to continue as a going concern.

2 COVID-19

The trustees do not consider that the COVID-19 pandemic will have any significant adverse financial effect on the charity, but an accurate estimate of the impact cannot be made.

3 Other donations and gift aid 4 Income from charitable activities Contracts with Solihull MBC Grants Other charitable income Donations and legacies	Year ended Year ended 31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 1,378 3,464 Year ended Year ended 31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 428,800 427,542 31,200 91,160 94,099 27,840 554,099 546,542

£29,700 (2021: £81,674) of grant income is restricted. Other charitable income includes £nil (2021: £1,500) which is also restricted.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

5 Expenditure on charitable activities

Direct staff costs Direct premises costs Direct office costs Other direct costs Total direct costs Support costs (note 6)	Unrestricted Funds £ 271,626 12,155 2,019 143,441 429,241 84,971 514,212	Restricted Funds £ 23,608 - - - 23,608 6,584 30,192	Year ended Year ended 31 March 2022 31 March 2021 Total Total £ £ 295,234 296,309 12,155 12,173 2,019 4,014 143,441 139,579 452,849 452,075 91,555 81,008 544,404 533,083

6 Allocation of support costs

All support costs are allocated to expenditure on charitable activities and then apportioned between individual funds on the basis of the direct payroll cost incurred by each fund. Total support costs comprise the following:

Staff costs Premises costs Office costs Depreciation Governance Other costs	Year ended 31 March 2022 £ 43,589 26,347 16,360 2,271 1,275 1,713
	91,555

7 Net movement in funds for the year

The net movement in funds for the year is stated after charging:

Depreciation of tangible fixed assets Fees payable to the independent examiner:	Year ended Year ended 31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 2,271 3,406 1,325 1,275

No other fees were paid to the independent examiner (2021: £nil).

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

8 Staff costs The staff costs were: Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension contributions Other staff costs	Year ended Year ended 31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 296,540 288,019 17,140 17,047 14,665 14,378 328,345 319,444 10,478 7,909 338,823 327,353

The other staff costs comprise mainly travel, recruitment and training costs. No employee received annual emoluments in excess of £40,000 (2021: none). The average weekly number of staff employed during the year was:

Charitable Activities Other	Year ended Year ended 31 March 2022 31 March 2021 No. No. 17 17 3 3 20 20

9 Trustees’ expenses and remuneration

The Trustees all give freely their time and expertise without any form of remuneration or other benefit in cash or kind (2021: £nil). Expenses paid to the Trustees in the year totalled £nil (2021: £nil) and there were no donations made by Trustees (2021: £nil). There were no other related party transactions (2021: none).

10 Tangible fixed assets At 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022 Depreciation At 1 April 2021 Charge for year At 31 March 2022 Net book value At 31 March 2022 At 31 March 2021 Cost	Computers and office equipment £ 15,728
	8,915 2,271
	11,186
	4,542
	6,813

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

11 Debtors Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income	31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 11,018 33,949 5,486 5,255 1,068,050 486,365 1,084,554 525,569

Prepayments and accrued income include £1,066,302 (2021: £485,332) in respect of long-term contracts. These amounts are recognised as due to the charity under the terms of the contracts but the associated income is deferred to the relevant future periods, see notes 12 and 13. Included within prepayments and accrued income is £592,656 (2021: £35,917) due after more than one year.

12 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Accruals and deferred income Taxation and social security	31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 2,886 2,563 497,071 499,373 5,120 4,479 505,077 506,415

Accruals and deferred income falling due within one year includes £493,214 (2021: £494,644) in respect of long-term contracts. These amounts will be recognised as income in the year ending 31 March 2023 (2021: recognised in the year ended 31 March 2022).

13	Creditors: amounts falling due	31 March 2022	31 March 2021
	after more than one year	£	£
	Accruals and deferred income	592,656	35,917

Accruals and deferred income falling due after more than one year are in respect of long-term contracts. These amounts will be recognised as income in the years ending 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025 (2021: recognised in the years ending 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024). All accruals and deferred income are due within five years. No interest is chargeable.

14 Deferred income At 1 April 2021 Additions during the year Amounts released to income At 31 March 2022	£ 530,561 1,049,953 (494,644)
	1,085,870

Deferred income comprises amounts, received or receivable, which are in respect of work to be undertaken in future periods, see notes 12 and 13.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

15 Summary of fund movements

Fund balance b/f £ 63,953	Income £ 33,492	Expend- iture £ (10,949)
	382,144 36,656 15,229 10,000 38,918 6,451 1,400 1,500 -	(380,790) (36,700) (15,248) (10,078) (41,438) (7,297) (10,317) (1,500) -
-	492,298	(503,368)
63,953	525,790	(514,317)
	700 1,000 1,000 1,000 500 2,500 1,800 5,500 8,000 4,000 3,000 500 200	(885) (1,000) (1,276) (1,000) (500) (2,501) (1,800) (5,508) (8,000) (4,012) (3,018) (500) (200)
-	29,700	(30,200)
63,953	555,490	(544,517)

All transfers between the general fund and designated funds are to bring the year end fund balances to £nil. Transfers have been made from the general fund to the restricted funds to ensure they are not in deficit at the year end.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

15 Summary of fund movements (continued)

Designated funds are held for the following purposes:

Solihull First Provision of statutory and non-statutory advocacy for adults residing and/or receiving services in Solihull. This includes advocacy provided under the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and Mental Health Act as well as NHS Complaints. It also includes issuebased, non-statutory advocacy for adults living in Solihull.

Parents Advocacy One to one support for parents with a learning disability who are going through child protection proceedings.

B'ham & Solihull CCG Advocacy support for young people with learning disabilities transitioning Transition from children's to adults’ services.

Peer Visitors Peer-led quality monitoring visits to Local Authority residential care homes. Circles of Support A program to help reduce social isolation and build long-term supportive networks for people with learning disabilities.

WM Self-Advocacy Provision and support of link workers acting as learning disability Network champions within a wider West Midlands network. Solihull Learning Representative group of people with learning disabilities working together Disability Council to raise awareness and seek changes to policy and practice. Edgar Lawley An unrestricted gift designated to running costs. IT Development For provision of IT infrastructure.

Restricted funds are held for the following purposes:

Baron Davenport Advocacy support for young people with learning disabilities transitioning from children’s to adult services.

CB & HH Taylor

To support work with young people.

Tesco Groundwork To support work with young people. Cole Trust To support collective advocacy work. Lillie Johnson To support collective advocacy work.

Sheldon Trust - "Voice for Voice for Change project, enabling the Solihull Learning Disability Council Change" to engage the wider community of people with learning disabilities in Solihull in order to influence change.

Mencap - "Treat me Well"

Lloyds Bank Eveson Trust

29 May 1961 Charitable Trust

Treat Me Well project to transform the experiences of people with learning disabilities being treated in NHS hospitals.

To support the running costs of the organisation.

Roger & Douglas Turner WED Charitable Trust Squire Patton Boggs

To help meet the core costs of the organisation. For ongoing work with people with disabilities. For ongoing work with people with disabilities.

Solihull Action through Advocacy Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022

16 Analysis of net assets by fund Fixed assets Debtors Cash Current liabilities Long term liabilities	Unrestricted Funds £ 4,542 1,084,554 76,063 (497,577) (592,656) 74,926	Restricted Funds Total £ £ - 4,542 - 1,084,554 7,500 83,563 (7,500) (505,077) - (592,656) - 74,926

17 Operating lease commitments

At the reporting end date the charitable company had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non cancellable operating leases as follows:

Not later than one year Later than one year and not later than five years Not later than one year Later than one year and not later than five years	Premises
	31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 18,500 21,394 27,750 48,576 46,250 69,970 Office equipment
	31 March 2022 31 March 2021 £ £ 2,136 2,136 534 2,670 2,670 4,806

Lease payments recognised as an expense in the year were £30,644 (2021: £30,644) for premises and £2,136 (2021: £2,136) for office equipment.

18 Controlling party and ultimate controlling party

The controlling party and ultimate controlling party of the charitable company is the Board of Trustees / Directors of Solihull Action through Advocacy.