2024-07-31-accounts

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The Brilliant Club

Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2024

Registered Limited Company: 07986971 Registered Charity: 1147771 (England and Wales), SC048774 (Scotland) Registered Office: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH

Report of the Trustees .....................................................................................................................	10
Statement of Financial Activities ....................................................................................................	34
Balance Sheet ..................................................................................................................................	38
Cash Flow Statement .....................................................................................................................	39
Notes to the Financial Statements .................................................................................................	40
Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of The Brilliant Club ...................	62
Reference and Administrative Details ..........................................................................................	70

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Welcome from our Chair of Trustees

Welcome to The Brilliant Club’s Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the year 2023/24. This has been an exciting year for The Brilliant Club. We have mobilised 469 researchers to support 19,968 students in 872 schools across the UK, working alongside our 64 partner universities and higher education institutions. We’ve also worked with over 470 parents through our Parent Power programme, 50 student ambassadors from our alumni community, and 13 young people on our Experience Experts panel.

This report not only outlines the key numbers and figures behind our programmes, but also details the moves we are making to develop our programmes, build our capabilities, and consider the entire student lifecycle, from primary all the way up to university graduation.

This year has seen significant changes in the world of education: a new government has taken up the education mantle, and with it a new focus on tackling child poverty and modernising the curriculum, as well as a commitment to revisit university finances amidst the context of deepening economic problems in the sector.

Though we can anticipate more policy changes in the months to come, educational inequality remains a significant, and deepening, challenge for schools, universities, and employers. This year saw the attainment gap between less advantaged students and their more advantaged peers widen to 19.2 months, which means that students from less advantaged backgrounds are over a year and a half behind their peers in the classroom by the time they take their GCSEs.

As well as this, regional inequalities are persisting – GCSE results this year showed that the gap between the south and other areas of England is wider than it was before the pandemic. Moreover, the latest Department for Education data shows that the proportion of disadvantaged teenagers in England going on to study at university has fallen for the first time on record. Less advantaged students are much less likely to attend university than their more advantaged peers, with 29% of free school meal-eligible students attending university, compared to 46.9% of those not eligible. We continue to address these problems through our flagship Scholars Programme, which inspires a love of learning and raises attainment in students aged 8-18, provides practical experience of higher education and helps develop the skills needed to thrive in academia and careers.

We know that disadvantage affects all aspects of the student lifecycle – that it doesn’t only impact school attainment and university progression, but also the experience of students once they arrive on campus. This year we published research that showed that students from less advantaged backgrounds are facing significant roadblocks to participating fully in university life. For less advantaged students on campus, academic studies, sense of belonging, and finances are all interconnected: students often miss out on experiences that build belonging because they simply cannot afford them, students who work are less likely to feel they are keeping up with their academic studies, and academic performance has an impact on whether students feel university is for them. To help students build their confidence in the crucial first few months of university, we have grown our university transition programme, Join the Dots, which works to build a network of support for less advantaged students who arrive at university to foster a sense of belonging and community for them on campus.

This year we have also built our capabilities beyond our programmes, growing our fundraising and philanthropy team, offering sector-leading support to educational organisations through Brilliant Consulting, and growing our engagement in education policy. As we move forward under the new government, we will continue to advocate for policies that ensure young people, regardless of their background or postcode, have equal access to educational opportunity.

As you will see from this report, we would not have been able to achieve this reach or impact without the support of the schools, universities, tutors, and communities we partner with. We are also grateful to our funders, who have allowed us to continue to support young people to access opportunities that might have otherwise been out of reach.

I would like to thank all who have contributed to the incredible impact The Brilliant Club has made over the last year. If you are interested in partnering with us or learning more, we would love to hear from you so we can work together to continue to grow our impact.

Dr Josephine Valentine OBE Chair of the Board of Trustees The Brilliant Club

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Our year in numbers

Map of Programmes

Our Year in Numbers: 2023-24

Between 2021-26, we are aiming to work with 100,000 students through our access programmes,10,000 students and 1,000 parents on our student success programmes.

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our access programmes,10,000
119
students and 1,000 parents on our
in social student success programmes.
mobility cold
spots
872 167
Number of
on Join the Dots
schools
Programme
15,761 1,672 469 2,368
on The Scholars on Access Tutors on Success
Programme Projects Projects
Total number of
students we’ve
worked with
19,968
11
Parent 474
85% 64
Power Parents
chapters
of the students
we worked with
met one of our
targeting criteria
University
and higher
education
50 13 Partners
Ambassadors 46% Experience
Experts
Parent Power
of the students
University Partner
we worked with
received Pupil School Partner
Premium
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A child’s future should never be determined by where they grow up, the type of school they go to or how much money their parents earn. I’m supporting The Brilliant Club and their work to improve social mobility and university access in state schools across the UK. John Robins - Comedian, podcaster, proud state schooler

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

AcfrY•y Report of the Trustees

Objectives and Activities

The Mission

We mobilise the PhD community to support students who are less advantaged to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there.

The Strategy:

Our 2021-26 strategy, Join the Club, is focused on three goals:

We will work with 100,000 pupils over the course of the strategy through our flagship Scholars Programme and other access programmes. We will also support students on their university journey. We will work with 10,000 undergraduates to transition and succeed at university. We will create change with over 1,000 parents and carers across 35 chapters in the UK’.

The Need

University graduates are more likely to access elite professions and earn more than those who do not access university, with graduates from top third universities earning £21,100 a year more 16 years after KS4 compared to those with no post-KS4 qualifications (TASO).

Sadly, access to these life changing opportunities is not equal:

At present, less advantaged students are 19.2 months behind their more advantaged peers by the time they take their GCSEs. The Education Policy Institute estimated in 2020 that at its current rate, the attainment gap between advantaged and less advantaged students will never close.

In 2023, students from less advantaged backgrounds were 11 times more likely to miss out on accessing High Tariff universities than their most advantaged peers. (UCAS Multiple Equality Measure). In 2022/23 in England, 29% of free school meal-eligible students enter university compared to 49.8% of students not eligible for free school meals (Department for Education).

DISADVANTAGED MORE LIKELY STUDENTS ARE TO MISS OUT ON A 1ST ON 2:1 GRADE AT UNIVERSITY 17% (Ofce for Students)

In England in 2023, 26 in 100 of the most advantaged 18-year-olds enter the most competitive universities compared to only 2 in 100 of the most disadvantaged (UCAS Multiple Equality Measure) (UCAS undergraduate end of cycle resources 2023).

In Wales in 2022, 20% of young people from the lowest participation areas progressed to university compared to 51% of pupils from the highest participation areas (POLAR4) (UCAS undergraduate end of cycle resources 2023.

Targeting

We target our programmes at students who are least likely to access the most competitive universities because of their background.

We work with teachers in our partner schools to ensure that the majority of students enrolled on our programmes, meet at least one of three target measures:

Educational measure of deprivation (free school meals or equivalent)

No parental history of higher education in the UK

3 Deprivation according to postcode

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The Scholars Programme – Targeting Criteria
Target Pupils 85%
Pupil Premium 46%
No parental history
62%
of higher education
IDACI bottom 40% 58%
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I
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have seen incredible professional and personal growth working with The Brilliant Club and the school, but I have also gained valuable skills that will prove to be useful for my teaching career. It has been so fulfilling from watching the students learn new scientific concept to honing their analytical and critical and problem-solving skills.

The Scholars Programme PhD tutor, University of Southampton

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Our programmes

Our Programmes

‘Getting in’: Access Programmes

‘Getting on’: Success programmes

The Scholars Programme

Our Scholars Programme gives less advantaged young people the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to apply and progress to the most competitive universities. This year, we worked with 15,761 students through the programme.

Students who participate in The Scholars Programme achieve higher grades at GCSE than other students from their schools with similar prior attainment. Our evaluation found that students who did The Scholars Programme in Year 8, 9 or 10 were more likely to achieve a 9-5 in maths and English than students who scored similarly at Key Stage 2 within their schools.

Students aged 8-18 take part in seven university-style tutorials delivered by a trained PhD tutor, over the course of one academic term. Students write a final assignment of 1,000-2,500 words, depending on their age group. A selection of these is published in our academic journal, The Scholar.

For eight consecutive years, independent evaluation with UCAS has shown that Scholars Programme graduates progress to competitive universities at a higher rate than other students from similar backgrounds.

The programme ends with a Graduation Event on a university campus. This gives students the opportunity to celebrate their achievements, as well as to find out more about university learning, tour a campus, and meet current undergraduates. This year, students reported an increase in their academic skills, their university self-efficacy, and their knowledge of university study.

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Attainment Application Progression
Scholars Programme students have
higher GCSE attainment and higher
rates of progression to university. Students awarded a 9-5 in Students who applied and progressed
GCSE maths and English. to a competitive university.
Scholars Programme students 75% 83% 49%
Students from similar
50% 68% 40%
backgrounds
Students were from the same Students were from similar soclo-
schools and had similar prior economic backgrounds and had similar
attainment at Key Stage 2. prior attainment at GCSE.
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Join the Dots

It is crucial that less advantaged students feel equipped to navigate their new life at university. Evidence shows that students with high self-efficacy, metacognition and sense of belonging are more likely to succeed at university. These form the foundation of our university transition programme, Join the Dots.

Join the Dots brings schools and colleges together with universities to support during the transition to university. It is targeted at students who are most likely to face barriers in making a successful transition to university, supporting them from their Year 13 or equivalent, all the way to their first six months of university.

Join the Dots runs in two parts:

UniPrep supports Year 13 and equivalent students with university application and preparation, through a series of live webinars.
Students who attend one of our partner universities then receive academic coaching in 1:1 and peer group sessions led by a PhD Coach.

We are delighted that Join the Dots shows strong results in key areas of student development, including a statistically significant improvement in academic selfefficacy and metacognitive strategies, along with a rise in students’ sense of belonging.

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Intermediate outcomes for 2023-24
Join the Dots Students
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Academic 3.6
+12
self-efficacy 4.1
Study 3.7 +10
strategies 4.1
Sense of 4.1
+3
belonging 4.2
1 2 3 4 5
Pre-survey Post-survey
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Alongside our ten university partners, in 2023/24 we supported 167 students to navigate the opportunities and challenges of making the transition to university.

…Lots of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including me, miss out on developing the key skills required for university when they are at school. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds often get financial support, but there’s isn’t a lot of other support available. Having a coach helps identify the gaps in your knowledge and skills and develop them.

Join the Dots student, Durham University

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Our Programmes

Communities:

Parent Power

Parent Power creates networks of parent communities across the UK, each one facilitated by The Brilliant Club and an anchor institution. Parent Power is targeted at parents and carers who are unfamiliar with the university admissions system, including those who have not been to university themselves.

Parents receive community organising training and attend advice and guidance sessions on accessing higher education, so they are empowered to make change in their children’s future and ensure they have a fair chance at success in education and beyond.

In 2023/24, we ran Parent Power chapters with 474 parents in 11 local communities: Abbey, Bradford, Cardiff, East London, East Oxford, Fenland, Knowsley, Mansfield, Norwich, Oldham, and Peterborough.

Recent Parent Power campaigns have addressed the localised barriers to education in communities across the UK:

Fenland parents have been successful in their campaign for a safe cycling, walking and mobility route to connect Guyhirn to March.
Cardiff parents made five recommendations to Cardiff University to improve the transparency of contextual offers in their prospectuses, which have all been accepted.
Knowsley parents are campaigning to bring A-level provision back to the area. Knowsley is the only borough in the UK where you can’t study A-Levels.

Access and Success Projects

Alongside our core programmes, we collaborate with institutions to deliver additional access and student success projects to support their priorities. Each project is specific to the needs of the partner, and we’ve detailed a couple of examples overleaf.

The Turing Summer Experience

Sanctuary Scholars

In 2023, we piloted a bespoke access project called The Sanctuary Scholars Programme aimed at students from refugee, asylum seeking and forced migrant backgrounds, thanks to funding provided by The Big Give.

In collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute and its funding partners, The Brilliant Club ran four Turing Summer Experience Weeks for young people in Year 12 with an interest in careers in AI, Data Science, Computer Science and Defence and Security. The weeks ran in Leeds, Cardiff and twice in London. This non-residential summer school focused on computer science, cryptography, AI use and ethics and careers in defence and security. 89% of those attending meet one or more target criteria, and 81% were interested in a career in data science or artificial intelligence at the end of the week.

In 2024, funded by The University of Manchester, we adapted the programme based on data from the pilot to enhance the sense of belonging for these students at higher education institutions. To achieve this, 36 Key Stage 4 students worked with three PhD tutors from a range of subject streams in a rotational course across five academic tutorials. They also engaged in both a Launch and Graduation event hosted at Manchester Museum.

Project leads from The Alan Turing Institute and The Brilliant Club were present for each week of delivery, as well as two PhD tutor staff and several members of staff from the Alan Turing Institute. Talks and sessions were delivered by a wide variety of colleagues and subject experts, including Turing researchers and members of their Skills Team, alongside guest speakers from the government defence and security partners.

An evaluation of the programme conducted in April 2024 showed that students who participated in the programme reported an increase in their feelings of belonging at university. Students also reported an increase in confidence that they could manage the level of study required at university, and in their knowledge about how to access opportunities when they finished school.

Sense of Belonging

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8.7
83% 83%
7.9
75%
71% 71%
67% 6.7
58%
54% 5.2
University is for I would I would fit in My ideas and I know about the kinds of jobs Careers in data science and
people like fit in well well socially contributions you can do in data science and artificial intelligence are for
me. academically with others at are valued artificial intelligence people like me
with others at university in academic
university discussions Pre Post
Pre-survey Post-survey
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The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

'rw lout Iiii, Capabilities

Capabilities

To deliver our programmes with scale and impact, we must continually develop and strengthen our organisational capabilities.

Operations

Our Operations processes and culture are a key component of delivering our five-year strategy.

This year, we have published a new learning and development policy to ensure best practice in enabling the long-term professional growth and job satisfaction of our employees. We have also updated our pay policy, as well as our competency framework, which outlines the specific skills, knowledge, and behaviours required for roles at our organisation. The competency framework aligns individual competencies with organisational goals to support career development.

We have implemented new HR software in the form of Personio, who kindly gifted the software as one of our partners. We regularly collect staff feedback through an online platform, Culture Amp, which enables us to respond to staff feedback in real-time. In 2023/24, we also established a Tutor HR team who are dedicated to streamlining our onboarding and HR processes for tutors.

In 2023/24, we have continued to develop and further automate our Finance systems, which means we have seen improved reporting within our programmes. We also moved our Head Office in London from Millbank Tower to our new address of Fivefields, Victoria.

Research and Impact

The charity’s research and impact team conduct evaluations to enhance outcomes for underrepresented groups. Specifically, we evaluate the charity’s university access and success programmes and conduct external evaluations for mission-aligned organisations via Brilliant Consulting.

Through our programmes evaluation work we evidence the impact The Scholars Programme is having on GCSE attainment and university progression.

In Spring 2024, we published a research report on the challenges faced by students from underrepresented groups at university, which showed the need for student success programmes, such as Join the Dots, to help address academic, social and financial barriers. We were awarded a UKRI grant in collaboration with King’s College London to undertake an evaluation of Parent Power, which will be the first full-scale UK evaluation of a parent-focused community organising initiative.

Brilliant Consulting is an evaluation and strategy unit, and we specialise in qualitative and quantitative research and strategy development. In 2023/24, we supported a wide range of organisations through our consultancy work. Some examples include: the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO), Durham University, Edplace, King’s College London and The Sutton Trust.

We’ve found it invaluable to have an independent eye on both our evaluation methods and the data we’ve collected, ensuring that our evaluation reports are accurate, and we can be confident we are collecting valuable data whilst not placing too much burden on our learners or our team

Johanna Whaite, TechUP Programme Manager, Durham University

External Affairs

Our External Affairs team leads the charity’s fundraising, marketing, and policy engagement, as well as bringing together our Friends of The Brilliant Club network.

Fundraising is a growing income stream for The Brilliant Club and provides essential income for the charity, complementing income from schools, universities and other partners. The funding environment for schools and universities is becoming more challenging, and we are therefore increasingly relying on philanthropic support to be able to sustain and grow our programmes.

Our funding partners have supported the charity to work with 19,968 students this year, and we have ambitious plans to grow our reach in the year ahead. We are so grateful to all our partners who generously supported our work in 2023/24 and would welcome conversations with anyone interested in supporting us as we grow our programmes further.

This year, we’ve expanded our reach and grown our influence in new spaces. In the first months of the 2024/25 financial year, we featured on a BBC Radio 4 Appeal presented by the comedian John Robins, who read Hoa’s story. Hoa participated in The Scholars Programme in 2018 in his school in Bradford and is now studying at Hertford College, Oxford. We have advertised in The Financial Times through our partnership with the Social Business Trust, and stories about Parent Power and our research into the student experience have been published in WonkHE and Times Higher Education. We have also been working to influence education policy and spotlight the voices of our Brilliant Club community in political spaces. This year, we ran two events at The Labour Party Conference on the importance of the parent and carer voice and the future of higher education. During the general election, we shared our policy priorities and recommendations aimed at the future government.

One of the charity’s greatest assets is the strong community of friends who support us. We bring together our Friends of The Brilliant Club network three times a year to share what we’re working on, explore opportunities to work together and connect people with each other. This year, our events have focused our evaluation of School Tasking, and the relationship between community organising and higher education. If you would like to be part of our Friends of The Brilliant Club network, you can sign up here.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Capabilities

Technology

Our technology team manages the charity’s IT infrastructure, supporting staff and tutors to deliver our programmes nationally.

To achieve programme scale, we work to transform our technology platforms so that they are fully aligned to the needs of the students, teachers and tutors using them. Our strategy requires a transformative approach to how we work digitally. We see digital solutions and ways of working as integral to unlocking growth at the charity. We need to be agile and innovative in our decision- making to support the communities we serve in a landscape of turbulence and fast-paced technological growth.

This year, for example, we rolled out our new platform ‘TutorZone’ to all tutors working with us, streamlining many of the administrative tasks required to onboard new tutors and ensure they’re ready to deliver placements in schools.

In the coming year, we aim to focus on more automation within our platforms, further upskill tech champions across the charity, and pilot some new technology aimed at improving the experience of the communities we work with.

Diversity and Inclusion

As a UK-wide, inclusive employer, we want to make it easy for people to apply and work for us, from a range of backgrounds needs and regions. Diversity and Inclusion is a key strategic priority that spans every team and every area of our work.

In 23/24 we had two members of staff working part-time as Diversity and Inclusion leads. They are supported by our Executive and Senior Leadership teams as well as several networks of active participants in our affinity groups. We became an Inclusive Employer member, bringing a wealth of external expertise and a large portfolio of Diversity and Inclusion training that staff can access.

This year, we published an internal Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement to explain our approach to EDI, review our progress so far, and set out our yearly commitments.

We have six active employee affinity groups:

REACH Network (Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage Network)
Spectrum Network, (LGBTQIA+ employees and allies)
Working Parents and Carers Network
Gender Equity Network
Socioeconomic Affinity Group Network
Neurodiversity Affinity Group Network

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Governance

Constitution

The Brilliant Club is a Registered Charity in England and Wales (No. 1147771) and Scotland (No. SC048774) and a Company Limited by Guarantee (No. 07986971).

Management

Day-to-day running of the charity is managed by a six-person Executive Leadership Team, led by the CEO and the full list of key management personnel can be found on page 71. The charity has five Executives who report to the CEO, the Chief Programmes and Communities Officer, the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Engagement Officer, the Chief Digital Officer, and the Chief Impact and Strategy Officer.

Public Benefit Statement

Pay and Remuneration of Key Management

The Directors of The Brilliant Club have considered the requirements of the Charity Commission with regards to public benefit. The relevant sections of this report set out The Brilliant Club’s objectives, report on the activity and successes in the year to 31 July 2024 and outline the plans for the 2024/25 financial year.

The Trustees have considered this matter and concluded that:

The aims of the organisation continue to be charitable.
The aims and the work done give identifiable benefits to the charitable sector and both directly and indirectly to individuals in need.
The benefits are for the public; are not unreasonably restricted in any way and certainly not by ability to pay.
There is no detriment or harm arising from the aims or activities.

The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and planning future activities.

Board of Trustees

The charity is governed by a Board of Trustees that consists of 13 professionals from a wide range of backgrounds including schools, universities and law and accountancy backgrounds. In 2023/24, one trustee resigned from their position on the board, and three joined. Trustees are responsible for decision-making on long-term strategic direction and governance, meeting formally four times a year. The Trustees receive quarterly updates on day-to-day activities, including risk and financial performance, which informs their decision-making. There are two sub-committees: the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee and the People Committee.

The Finance, Risk and Audit Committee lead on the financial governance of the charity. It is chaired by a Trustee who brings relevant professional experience to the role. The Committee oversees budgeting, reporting, audit processes and risk. The Committee reports on detailed financial strategy, management accounts, cashflow, reserves and risk at each Board of Trustees meeting.

The People Committee, is a sub-committee of the Board with relevant expertise. They oversee matters relating to Human Resources, culture, employee policies and benefits. In liaison with the Finance Committee, the People Committee approves salary bands, senior staff salaries and benefit changes. The Committee also conducts performance reviews and professional development meetings with the CEO and sets the CEO salary.

New Trustees are appointed through a combination of targeted and open recruitment. They receive an induction with the Chair of Trustees, the CEO and the COO. The charity arranges training in line with new charity protocols and the Charity Governance Code, as needed.

The salary of the CEO is set by the People Committee following an annual performance review. This review is also used to set targets and development objectives for the year ahead. The People Committee also approves organisational salary band changes and benefits, and any salary increase for employees who earn over £60,000. The Brilliant Club aims to be competitive in terms of salary, regularly completing a salary benchmarking exercise to ensure we attract excellent candidates.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Risk Management

List of Principal Risks

The Board of Trustees implements an ongoing risk management strategy, covering a broad spectrum of risk including financial, reputational, operational, safeguarding, and legal risk. The designated Risk Trustee reports on the risk register at each Board of Trustees meeting.

The risk management strategy also includes an ongoing actions log, for which the COO is accountable. Risks are rated according to impact and likelihood and the risk register is actively used to monitor, evaluate and resolve potential risks to the organisation.

The principal risks that the charity have identified are:

Long term Financial Sustainability

Mitigations for this risk include:

The charity has diversified its income streams and continues to seek new sources of revenue.
The charity maintains sufficient reserves as per the reserves policy.
The Executive Leadership Team, along with relevant Directors, holds regular meetings to oversee the different revenue streams. The Finance, Risk and Audit Committee reviews sustainability and income levels at each sub-committee meeting.

IT, Data Protection and Business Continuity.

Mitigations for this risk include:

The charity has obtained ISO 27001 accreditation and CyberEssentials Certification and has an internal IT Support team to help with data security.
The charity has a business continuity plan, which outlines contingency steps needed should any risk occur.
We have implemented two factor authentication on key accounts and systems, we penetration test our platforms and use device management software that tracks the charity’s digital assets.

Short-term Financial Risks and Fraud

Mitigations for this risk include:

The COO and Finance Director review income streams and cash flow monthly.
The Executive Leadership Team reviews the management accounts monthly, and the Board of Trustees reviews management accounts quarterly.
The charity maintains sufficient reserves as per the reserves policy.
The charity has a qualified accountant on the Board of Trustees and employs two full-time accountants.
The charity has robust anti-fraud policies, training, and systems in place.

Safeguarding

Mitigations for this risk include:

The charity has a designated Trustee with responsibility for Safeguarding and internal Safeguarding Leads.
The charity has robust policies and training for all staff and PhD tutors and has updated its Safeguarding Policy to take into account any additional risks.
The charity has designed digital delivery of its key programmes with safeguarding built in.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Fundraising Statement

Financial Review

Fundraising Statement

The Brilliant Club is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adheres to the Code of Fundraising Practice to deliver fundraising activity that is transparent and meets regulatory requirements.

Fundraising is overseen by the Chief Engagement Officer, who reports on fundraising progress quarterly to the Board of Trustees. Members of the charity’s Executive Leadership team attend regular Fundraising Governance meetings with the fundraising team, which is led by the Director of Philanthropy.

Fundraising activity is supported by the External Affairs team and wider organisation. We offer training, guidance, and briefings to staff to ensure compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice. The processes for prospect research, making enquiries and applications, and accepting donations, are managed and undertaken by the charity’s fundraising team, in line with the charity’s Donations Policy, which is available on our website.

We do not employ any third parties to fundraise directly on the charity’s behalf. Fundraising approaches to individuals are made in line with current data protection legislation and our Privacy Policy. Any approaches are made by employees or Trustees of the charity.

Safeguards are in place to ensure that all potential funders, including vulnerable people, are protected from unreasonable intrusion on their privacy, unreasonably persistent approaches or pressure to give. We do not canvas face to face, nor do we send out mass fundraising appeals via post.

The charity’s fundraising strategy is largely focused on trusts, foundations, corporates, and major gifts from individuals. We are registered with Just Giving, and with a text to donate service via Donr to enable us to receive donations from individuals.

We promote opportunities to support on our website, through social media and in our community newsletter, which people opt in to receiving. On our website, we invite those interested in supporting the charity to get in touch with our fundraising team and discuss their fundraising plans with us, whether they are fundraising via places we have secured in challenge events, or self-organising fundraising activity.

We have a Volunteer Fundraiser Agreement available on the website which is designed to be a helpful guide for anyone who expresses an interest in voluntarily fundraising in aid of The Brilliant Club and describes what they can expect from the charity and our expectations of them.

We have not received any complaints about the charity’s fundraising activity. If we were to receive a complaint, this would be managed in line with our Complaints Procedure, which is available on our website. Our fundraising team are committed to continually reviewing our approach to fundraising and to staying up to date with the latest regulations and best practice.

Financial Review

The Brilliant Club incurred a deficit of £639,246 in the 2023/24 financial year, which was a planned approach to continue to utilise designated funds which had been built up using surpluses generated during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years. The ‘strategic fund’ was designated by Trustees to invest in new strategic areas of work in line with the 2021-26 five-year strategy, Join the Club. During the year, a further £700,000 from the ’strategic fund’ was utilised leaving £400,000 remaining.

Income was down on the previous year, which was mainly due to two programmes coming to an end in 2022/23 – the Brilliant Tutoring Programme and Researchers in Schools. Income from The Scholars Programme was down on the prior year, which was due to fewer pupil numbers. Access Projects also saw a decline in revenue following the loss of a significant contract. It was encouraging to see emerging activities such Join the Dots, Communities Programmes and Brilliant Consulting continue to show income growth. We also saw increased income from charitable grants, donations and fundraising activities.

Designated funds will be used to grow our new programmes, as we build our evidence base and reach economies of scale to run them in a financially sustainable manner. These funds will also support the charity to remain financially stable in the year ahead, where many of our key stakeholders, including schools and universities, are likely to be facing budget challenges linked to income shortfalls and rising costs.

Expenditure was also lower than 2022/23 which was linked to the two programmes which were ended in the prior year. There was an ongoing focus on controlling and managing expenditure across all areas of the charity, which helped to mitigate high levels of inflationary cost increases.

We are carefully monitoring ongoing financial risks, including cost pressures and income uncertainties for our programmes and projects, to ensure the charity’s ongoing financial stability. The Scholars Programme and some of our newer programmes will continue to require external funding support, to keep costs manageable for schools and universities. As such, we will continue to have a funding need to maintain our programmes.

Our five-year strategy is focused on scaling up existing programmes and developing new areas of work. We plan to further draw down on our reserves over the forthcoming year to ensure we can grow and continue to provide a high level of service on our university access and success programmes. The level of our reserves also provides the charity with security to enable us to mitigate risks associated with increasing costs.

This combination of growth and stability is important as we enter the penultimate year of our strategy and work to support more disadvantaged students than ever before to access and succeed at the most competitive universities.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Financial Review

Income and Expenditure

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Total Income
£5.7m
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2024 Income in £000

Grants, Donations and Fundraising £1,331 The Scholars Programme £3,300 Join the Dots Programme £45 Communities programme £235 Access projects £343 Student Success Projects £72 Brilliant Consulting £259 Interest and Other Income £94

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Total
Expenditure
£6.3m
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2024 Expenditure in £000

The Scholars Programme £4,622 Join the Dots Programme £113 Communities programme £453 Access Projects £613 Student Success Projects £137 Brilliant Consulting £143 Fundraising £237

Reserves Policy

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2024 2023
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Reserves Breakdown in £000

General reserves - (2024 - £1,534 / 2023 - £1,575) Fixed assets - (2024 - £6 / 2023 - £14) Restricted funds - (2024 - £250 / 2023 - £141) Designated funds - (2024 - £400 / 2023 - £1,100)

The Brilliant Club’s reserves policy is to maintain a sufficient level of reserves to enable operating activities to continue, taking account of potential risks and contingencies that may arise from time to time.

The Board of Trustees has set the charity’s reserves requirement as at least three but not more than four months of certain core costs. This corresponds to one school term, which is the basis of the charity’s invoicing cycle. According to this policy, the charity needs to ensure general reserves of approximately £1,174,000 - £1,565,000 at the end of the 2023/24 financial year.

The balance sheet shows total funds of £2,190,372 at 31st July 2024 (2023: £2,829,618), which includes:

General reserves of £1,533,826 (2023 - £1,575,121) which is in line with the charity’s reserves policy.
Designated funds of £400,000 (2023 - £1,100,000).
Restricted funds of £250,417 (2023 - £140,861).
Fixed assets of £6,129 (2023 - £13,636).

We anticipate incurring a planned deficit in our 2024/25 financial year and further utilising the designated reserves. This will maintain our reserves within our policy and as such, we will have sufficient reserves to continue as a going concern.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also directors of The Brilliant Club for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and 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 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 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);

Auditors

The auditors, Buzzacott LLP, will be proposed for reappointment in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’, and in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small entities.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 28th January 2025 and signed on their behalf on by:

Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
State whether applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards 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 charitable company will continue in operation.

Dr Josephine Valentine OBE Chair of the Board of Trustees

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, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Each of the Trustees confirms that:

So far as the Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and
the Trustee has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Trustee in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable company’s auditor is aware of that information.

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of section 418 of the Companies Act 2006.

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.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement

Statement of Financial Activities

(Including the Income and Expenditure Account) For the Year Ended 31 July 2024

(Including the Income and Expenditure Account) For the Year Ended 31 July 2023

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Notes Unrestricted Restricted Total funds Notes Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds funds 2024 funds funds 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
Income from Income from
Donations and legacies 2 731,034 393,881 1,124,915 Donations and legacies 2 655,159 495,803 1,150,962
Charitable activities 3 4,254,015 205,799 4,459,814 Charitable activities 3 4,675,150 449,023 5,124,173
Trading activities 4 23,231 - 23,231 Trading activities 4 53.877 - 53,877
Investments and interest 70,551 - 70,551 Investments and interest 28,094 - 28,094
Total income 5,078,831 599,680 5,678,511 Total income 5,412,280 944,826 6,357,106
Expenditure on Expenditure on
Raising funds 5 236,769 - 236,769 Raising funds 5 205,488 - 205,488
Charitable activities 5 5,590,864 490,124 6,080,988 Charitable activities 5 5,537,263 907,377 6,444,640
Total expenditure 5,827,633 490,124 6,317,757 Total expenditure 5,742,751 907,377 6,650,128
Net (expenditure)/income (748,802) 109,556 (639,246) Net (expenditure)/income (330,471) 37,449 (293,022)
Net movement in funds (748,802) 109,556 (639,246) Net movement in funds (330,471) 37,449 (293,022)
Fund balances brought forward 1 August 2023 2,688,757 140,861 2,829,618 Fund balances brought forward 1 August 2022 3,019,228 103,412 3,122,640
Fund balances carried forward 31 July 2024 15/16 1,939,955 250,417 2,190,372 Fund balances carried forward 31 July 2023 15/16 2,688,757 140,861 2,829,618
----- End of picture text -----

All income and expenditure is derived from continuing activities.

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year.

The notes on pages 40 to 61 form part of the financial statements.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Balance Sheet

Cash Flow Statement

Balance Sheet

For the Year Ended 31 July 2024 (Company Number: 07986971)

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Notes 2024 2023
£ £
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 11 6,129 13,636
Total fixed assets 6,129 13,636
Current assets
Debtors 12 457,016 403,645
-
Short term deposits 103,529
Cash at bank and in hand 21 2,027,212 2,833,469
Total current assets 2,587,757 3,237,114
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 13 (403,514) (421,132)
Net current assets 2,184,243 2,815,982
Total assets less current liabilities 2,190,372 2,829,618
Total net assets 2,190,372 2,829,618
Represented by
Designated funds 16 400,000 1,100,000
General funds 16 1,539,955 1,588,757
Total unrestricted funds 1,939,955 2,688,757
Total restricted funds 15 250,417 140,861
Total 2,190,372 2,829,618
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Cash Flow Statement

For the Year Ended 31 July 2024

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Notes 2024 2023
£ £
Cash flow from operating activities
Cash (used by)/generated from operations 20 (771,856) 77,100
Net cash flow from operating activities (771,856) 77,100
Cash flow from investing activities
-
Payments for short term deposits (103,529)
Investment income and interest received 70,551 28,094
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets 11 (1,423) (13,311)
Receipts on disposal of tangible fixed assets - 124
Net cash flow from investing activities (34,401) 14,907
Net (decrease)/Increase in cash and cash equivalents 21 (806,257) 92,007
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the 21 2,833,469 2,741,462
reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 21 2,027,212 2,833,469
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The notes on pages 40 to 61 form part of the financial statements.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small entities.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 28th January 2025 and signed on their behalf on by:

Dr Josephine Valentine OBE – Chair of the Board of Trustees

The notes on pages 40 to 61 form part of these financial statements.

The Brilliant Club

39 Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial statements

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Accounting Policies

a) General information and basis of preparation

The Brilliant Club is a company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information on page 70 of these financial statements. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are set out on pages 12 to 22.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity.

b) Going concern

The Trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these financial statements. The Trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of at least one year from the date of approval of these financial statements.

The Trustees have considered several factors in concluding that the adoption of the going concern basis in the preparation of these financial statements is appropriate.

These have included:

The level of reserves held.
The expected level of income and expenditure for the 2024/25 financial year.
Cash management to mitigate potential risks of late payment by suppliers and funders and that restricted grants are being appropriately managed.
The impact of inflation on the charity.

c) Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

Accounting estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under circumstances. The nature of the estimation means the actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. Any significant estimates and judgements affecting these financial statements are detailed within the relevant accounting policy below.

The Brilliant Club 42

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

Key judgements that the charity has made which have a significant effect on the accounts include:

Estimating the useful economic lives of tangible fixed assets for the purpose of determining the annual depreciation charge. The annual depreciation charge for tangible assets is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual values of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are re-assessed annually. They are amended when necessary to reflect current estimates, based on technological advancement, future investments, economic utilisation and physical condition of the assets. See note 11 for the carrying amount of the tangible fixed assets and note 1.J for the useful economic lives for each class of assets.
Estimating the value to the charity of gifts in kind provided by third parties. The charity has made the judgement that for any donated services or goods that they would not be willing or able to pay on the open market for an alternative item that would provide a benefit to the charity equivalent to the donated item, then these gifts are to be valued in the financial statements at £nil. For all remaining donated services or goods, the contribution is to be included in the financial statements as both income and expenditure at its estimated fair value based on the value of the contribution to the charity, unless that estimated fair value is a trivial amount.
Estimating the value of income to be recognised in respect of ongoing projects. The charity recognises all grant income without performance related conditions under donations and legacies. For grants which have performance conditions attached, these are recognised within income from charitable activities.

d) Legal status

The Brilliant Club is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of a winding up is limited to £1.

e) Funds accounting

Restricted funds – these are funds which can only be used for specific restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Designated funds – these are funds which have been set aside by the Board of Trustees to be used for specific projects as outlined in the notes to the financial statements. Unrestricted general funds – these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Trustees.

f) Income

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

Gifts in kind - Where goods or services are provided to the charity as a donation that would normally be purchased from suppliers, this contribution is included in the financial statements as both income and expenditure at its estimated fair value based on the value of the contribution to the charity.
Income from charitable activities includes income from performance fees received under contract, and specific grants which have performance conditions attached. Income included within this category received in advance for activities taking place in future periods are deferred until the income recognition criteria are met. Income is recognised where there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.
All trading income is represented by rental, licence, sponsorship and other trading income and is included in the accounts for the period it relates to.

g) Expenditure

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. The irrecoverable element of VAT is included with the item of expense to which it relates. It is categorised under the following headings:

Costs of raising funds are those costs incurred in attracting donation income.
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

h) Support costs allocation

Support costs are those that assist the work of the charity but do not directly represent charitable activities and include office costs, governance costs, administrative and payroll costs. They are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly; others are apportioned on an appropriate basis, for example, time spent, per capita or floor area.

i) Taxation

The charitable company is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part II Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

Donation income including grants, sponsorship and donations is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable. Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

j) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost or valuation of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives as follows:

Computer equipment – 33% on cost

Computer equipment costing more than £500 is capitalised, where it has an expected useful life of at least three years.

k) Debtors

Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. Accrued income is measured at the amount due to be received.

l) Cash and cash equivalents

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

m) Short term deposits

Short term deposits include investments and bank deposits with a maturity of more than three months but less than one year from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

n) Creditors

Creditors are recognised when there is 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. Other creditors and accruals are recognised at their settlement amount due.

o) 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.

p) Leases

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

q) Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution group personal pension scheme for employees. Contributions by the charity in respect of the pension scheme are charged to the SoFA in the period in which they are payable, in accordance with FRS 102.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

2. Income from Donations and Legacies

2023-24

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Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds funds 2024
£ £ £
Grants 709,876 334,646 1,044,522
Donations 21,158 35,235 56,393
-
Legacies 24,000 24,000
Total grants and donations receivable 731,034 393,881 1,124,915
2022-23
Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds funds 2023
£ £ £
Grants 647,502 482,992 1,130,494
Donations 7,657 12,811 20,468
Total grants and donations receivable 655,159 495,803 1,150,962
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3. Income from Charitable Activities

2023-24

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds funds 2024
£ £ £
-
The Scholars Programme 3,299,665 3,299,665
-
Student Success Projects 71,848 71,848
-
Join the Dots Programme 45,200 45,200
-
Access Projects (inc Make Your Mark) 343,430 343,430
-
Communities Programme 234,622 234,622
-
Fundraising – Performance-related 205,799 205,799
-
Brilliant Consulting 259,250 259,250
Total 4,254,015 205,799 4,459,814
2022-23
Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds funds 2023
£ £ £
-
The Scholars Programme 3,390,170 3,390,170
-
Brilliant Tutoring Programme 408,120 408,120
Researchers in Schools 76,060 314,023 390,083
-
Student Success Projects 35,109 35,109
-
Join the Dots Programme 12,000 12,000
-
Access Projects 454,170 454,170
-
Communities Programme 170,721 170,721
-
Fundraising – Performance-related 135,000 135,000
-
Brilliant Consulting 128,800 128,800
Total 4,675,150 449,023 5,124,173
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The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

4. Income from Trading Activities

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Unrestricted Total funds Unrestricted Total funds
funds 2024 2024 funds 2023 2023
£ £ £ £
Rental income 20,581 20,581 36,060 36,060
Other trading income 2,650 2,650 17,817 17,817
Total 23,231 23,231 53,877 53,877
5. Expenditure
2023-24
Staff costs Direct costs Support costs Total costs
(note 9) (note 6) 2024
£ £ £ £
Raising funds
Fundraising costs 219,051 3,055 14,663 236,769
The Scholars Programme 3,837,094 280,873 504,251 4,622,218
Student Success Projects 123,164 1,172 12,299 136,635
Join the Dots Programme 102,979 4,326 6,149 113,454
Access Projects 547,928 15,648 49,195 612,771
Communities Programme 399,242 16,999 36,896 453,137
Brilliant Consulting 112,652 23,972 6,149 142,773
Total charitable activities 5,123,059 342,990 614,939 6,080,988
Total expenditure 5,342,110 346,045 629,602 6,317,757
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2022-23

----- Start of picture text -----
Staff costs Direct costs Support costs Total costs
(note 9) (note 6) 2023
£ £ £ £
Raising funds
Fundraising costs 186,587 2,611 16,290 205,488
The Scholars Programme 3,362,759 375,151 401,117 4,139,027
Brilliant Tutoring Programme 625,663 30,022 60,168 715,853
Student Success & Other Projects 629,699 51,765 80,223 761,687
Communities Programme 234,446 35,706 20,056 290,208
Researchers in Schools 383,500 47,401 106,964 537,865
Total charitable activities 5,236,067 540,045 668,528 6,444,640
Total expenditure 5,422,654 542,656 684,818 6,650,128
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6. Support Costs

2023-24

----- Start of picture text -----
Fundraising Charitable Total costs
costs activities 2024
£ £ £
-
Governance (note 7) 43,030 43,030
Depreciation 223 8,707 8,930
Office costs 7,207 281,080 288,287
HR & other staff costs 1,679 65,487 67,166
Information technology costs 3,283 128,054 131,337
Travel 1,522 59,376 60,898
Other 749 29,205 29,954
Total governance and support costs 14,663 614,939 629,602
2022-23
Fundraising Charitable Total costs
costs activities 2023
£ £ £
-
Governance (note 7) 33,214 33,214
Depreciation 408 15,914 16,322
Office costs 8,146 317,694 325,840
HR & other staff costs 2,975 116,030 119,005
Information technology costs 3,375 131,611 134,986
Travel 906 35,351 36,257
Other 480 18,714 19,194
Total governance and support costs 16,290 668,528 684,818
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7. Governance Costs

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
Auditor’s remuneration – statutory audit 17,940 17,760
Auditor’s remuneration – other services 4,200 3,150
-
Consultancy fees 2,234
Other professional fees 20,890 10,070
Total 43,030 33,214
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The Brilliant Club 50

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

8. Trustees’ Remuneration and Benefits

None of the Trustees received emoluments or were reimbursed expenses during the year (2023 - £nil).

9. Staff Costs and Key Management Personnel

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
Employee numbers during the year were:
Average number of staff employed by the charity 114 116
Average number of tutors employed by the charity 233 207
Employee costs during the year were: £ £
Salaries and wages 4,677,332 4,767,895
Employer’s NI 427,110 425,402
Employer’s pension 237,668 229,357
Total 5,342,110 5,422,654
----- End of picture text -----

Tutors are part-time doctoral or postdoctoral researchers that deliver the programmes and projects.

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) during the year between:

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
----- End of picture text -----

£60,000 - £69,999	3	4
£70,000 - £79,999	2	2
£80,000 - £89,999	2	-
£90,000 - £99,999	1	2
£100,000 - £109,999	1	-

10. Net Income for the Year

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
----- End of picture text -----

This is stated after charging Auditor’s remuneration
- For audit	17,940	17,760
- For other services	4,200	3,150
Rental payments under operating leases	203,091	200,422
Depreciation	8,930	16,322

11. Tangible Fixed Assets

----- Start of picture text -----
Computer equipment
£
Cost
As at 1 August 2023 78,558
Additions 1,423
Disposals (8,528)
As at 31 July 2024 71,453
Depreciation
As at 1 August 2023 64,922
Charge for year 8,930
Disposals (8,528)
As at 31 July 2024 65,324
Net book value at 31 July 2024 6,129
At 31 July 2023 13,636
----- End of picture text -----

During 2024, the key management personnel of the charity comprised of the Trustees and the Executive Leadership Team (as listed on page 71 of the financial statements). The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £654,331 (2023 - £604,146).

The Brilliant Club

53 Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

12. Debtors

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
Trade debtors 337,002 293,870
Prepayments 82,369 81,831
Other debtors 37,645 7,762
Accrued income - 20,182
Total 457,016 403,645
13. Creditors
Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within One Year
2024 2023
£ £
Trade creditors 31,676 65,992
Accrued expenses 85,157 95,530
Deferred income (note 14) 224,610 186,346
Other payables 62,071 73,264
Total 403,514 421,132
----- End of picture text -----

14. Deferred Income

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
Balance at 1 August 186,346 224,802
Amount released to incoming resources (176,656) (224,802)
Amount deferred in year 214,920 186,346
Balance as at 31 July 224,610 186,346
----- End of picture text -----

The deferred income includes revenue that was invoiced in the 2023/24 financial year but relates to activities for future periods.

The Brilliant Club

55 Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

15. Restricted Funds

2023-24

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance Income Expenditure Balance
1 August 2023 31 July 2024
£ £ £ £
-
IT Development fund 53,207 15,945 (69,152)
The Scholars Programme fund 87,654 364,314 (330,277) 121,691
Student Success fund - 67,750 (23,750) 44,000
- -
Research and Impact fund 50,000 (50,000)
-
Fivefields 101,671 (16,945) 84,726
Total 140,861 599,680 (490,124) 250,417
----- End of picture text -----

2022-23

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance Income Expenditure Balance
1 August 2022 31 July 2023
£ £ £ £
- -
Department for Education contract 314,023 (314,023)
IT Development fund 43,412 160,820 (151,025) 53,207
The Scholars Programme fund 60,000 288,172 (260,518) 87,654
Student Success fund - 125,000 (125,000) -
- -
Research and Impact fund 50,000 (50,000)
- -
Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022 6,811 (6,811)
Total 103,412 944,826 (907,377) 140,861
----- End of picture text -----

15. Restricted Funds (continued)

IT Development fund: Funding received to support digital transformation at the charity, including the development of the charity’s Virtual Learning Environment and other technological improvements.

The Scholars Programme fund: Funding to contribute towards costs for The Scholars Programme, which may be for a specific geographical area, pupil age group, subject area or academic year.

Student Success fund: Funding to contribute towards costs for student success activities including the Join the Dots programme.

Research and Impact fund: Funding received to support the charity’s research and impact work.

Fivefields: Funding received to contribute towards costs of Head Office accommodation in London.

Department for Education contract: This is the contract from the Department for Education, as part of which the charity delivers the Maths and Physics Chairs Programme (which is part of the wider Researchers in Schools programme). The funding is broken down into two main areas: general programme costs and salary uplift. The former includes operating costs and overheads for the programme; the latter includes a series of payments that are made to The Brilliant Club and then transferred to participants via their schools.

Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022: Donations and matched funding received to contribute towards costs for the 2022-23 Sanctuary Scholars Programme, which supported young refugee and asylum seeker Scholars to access higher education.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

16. Unrestricted Funds

2023-24

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance Income Expenditure Transfers Balance
1 August 2023 31 July 2024
£ £ £ £ £
General funds 1,588,757 5,078,831 (5,127,633) - 1,539,955
Designated funds
- -
Strategic Fund 1,100,000 (700,000) 400,000
- -
Total designated funds 1,100,000 (700,000) 400,000
Total unrestricted funds 2,688,757 5,078,831 (5,827,633) - 1,939,955
The designated funds represent money set aside to meet the charity’s working capital
requirements as it implements its strategy for 2021-2026.
2022-23
Balance Income Expenditure Transfers Balance
1 August 2022 31 July 2023
£ £ £ £ £
General funds 1,569,228 5,412,280 (5,392,751) - 1,588,757
Designated funds
- -
Strategic Fund 1,450,000 (350,000) 1,100,000
- -
Total designated funds 1,450,000 (350,000) 1,100,000
Total unrestricted funds 3,019,228 5,412,280 (5,742,751) - 2,688,757
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17. Allocation of Net Assets Between Funds

2023-24

The funds of the charity are represented by the following net assets:

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Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total funds
funds funds funds
£ £ £ £
- -
Tangible fixed assets 6,129 6,129
Current assets 1,937,340 400,000 250,417 2,587,757
Current liabilities (403,514) - - (403,514)
250,417 1,539,955 400,000 250,417 2,190,372
2022-23
The funds of the charity are represented by the following net assets:
Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total funds
funds funds funds
£ £ £ £
- -
Tangible fixed assets 13,636 13,636
Current assets 1,996,253 1,100,000 140,861 3,237,114
Current liabilities (421,132) - - (421,132)
250,417 1,588,757 1,100,000 140,861 2,829,618
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18. Leases

The charity had total commitments under operating leases as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
Property Property
£ £
Within one year 215,027 167,480
Between one and five years 372,794 23,330
Total 587,821 190,810
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The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Notes to the Financial Statements

19. Related Parties

Income of £20,916 (2023 - £31,824) was received from partner schools belonging to Danes Educational Trust during the year to 31 July 2024 where a Trustee of the charity, Dr Josephine Valentine, is the CEO and also a Trustee.

Income of £27,270 (2023 - £21,004) was received from partner schools belonging to Middlesex Learning Trust during the year to 31 July 2024, where a Trustee of the charity, Pawan Dhir, is also a Trustee.

Income of £26,352 (2023 - £43,163) was received and no expenditure was incurred (2023 - £3,184) from the University of Oxford and its constituent colleges during the year to 31 July 2024. A Trustee of the charity, Sir Ivor Crewe, is a member of the Remuneration Committee at New College, Oxford.

Income of £218,461 (2023 - £206,967) was received and no expenditure (2023 - £2,248) was incurred from the member institutions of the University of London during the year to 31 July 2024, where a Trustee of the charity, Pawan Dhir, is also a Trustee. At the balance sheet date, £63,999 (2023 - £56,994) was due to the charity from member institutions of the University of London.

Expenditure of £315 (2023 - £nil) was incurred from Aston University during the year to 31 July 2024. A sibling of a Trustee who resigned on 4 September 2024, John Timothy, is a director of Aston University Mathematics School.

A donation of £330 (2023 - £nil) was received from one (2023 – none) Trustee of the charity during the year to 31 July 2024.

Other than those stated above, no amounts were outstanding at the balance sheet date for 2024 or 2023.

20. Reconciliation of Net Income to Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
Net expenditure for the reporting period (as per the statement of (639,246) (293,022)
financial activities)
Adjustments for:
Investment income and interest received (70,551) (28,094)
Depreciation charges 8,930 16,322
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (53,371) 407,795
Decrease in creditors (17,618) (25,901)
Net cash provided by operating activities (771,856) 77,100
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21. Analysis of Changes in Net Debt

2023-24

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At 1 August 2023 Cash Flows At 31 July 2024
£ £ £
Cash at bank and in hand 2,833,469 (806,257) 2,027,212
Total 2,833,469 (806,257) 2,027,212
2022-23
At 1 August 2022 Cash Flows At 31 July 2023
£ £ £
Cash at bank and in hand 2,741,462 92,007 2,833,469
Total 2,741,462 92,007 2,833,469
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The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of The Brilliant Club

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of The Brilliant Club

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Brilliant Club (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 July 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 July 2024 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report and financial statements, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Basis for opinion

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

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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

the information given in the trustees’ report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the trustees’ report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

proper and adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of The Brilliant Club

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

We assessed the susceptibility of the charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls we:
performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships; and

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

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

tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions; and
assessed whether the judgements and the assumptions made in determining accounting estimates for the recognition of income and the valuation of gifts in kind were indicative of potential bias.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance; and
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the charitable company and determined that the most significant frameworks which are directly relevant to specific assertions in the financial statements are those that relate to the reporting framework (Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing this accounts in accordance with the Financial reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), the Companies Act 2006), those legislative frameworks that relate to data protection (General Data Protection Regulation) and those in relation to safeguarding.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of The Brilliant Club

Notes to The Financial Statments

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and to the charity’s trustees as a body, in accordance with Section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Catherine Biscoe (Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP, Statutory Auditor

130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Date: 29 January 2025

Buzzacott LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

Reference and Administrative Details

Key Management Personnel

Reference and Administrative Details

Trustees

Dr Josephine Valentine OBE

Robert Carpenter (appointed 14 October 2024)

Caroline Carter (resigned 11 March 2024)

Rita Chudasama (appointed 14 October 2024)

Hannah Chukwu

Cara Cinnamon (appointed 12 September 2023) Sir Ivor Crewe (appointed 12 September 2023)

Pawan Dhir

Key Management Personnel

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Programmes and Communities Officer

Chief Impact and Strategy Officer

Chief Digital Officer

Chief Engagement Officer

Interim Chief Operating Officer

Anne-Marie Canning MBE

Leanne Adamson

Susie Whigham

Dr Lauren Bellaera

Nikki Labrum

Sabrina Luisi

Dr Matt Plen (appointed 27 November 2023, resigned 20 September 2024)

Jonathan Ferguson (appointed 12 September 2023)

Charity Registration Number Scottish Charity Registration Number Company Registration Number Registered Office

Auditor

Banker

Solicitor

Dominic Herrington

Paul Kearns (appointed 14 October 2024)

Jonathan Keil (appointed 14 October 2024)

Adriana Selage

John Timothy (resigned 4 September 2024)

1147771

SC048774

07986971 (England and Wales)

Fivefields 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens London, SW1W 0DH

Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street London, EC2V 6DL

HSBC Bank 17 Gerrard Street London, W1D 6HB

Farrer & Co LLP 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London, WC2A 3LH

Harbottle & Lewis LLP 7 Savoy Court London, WC2R 0EX

The Brilliant Club

Report and Financial Statements 2024

We mobilise the PhD community to support students who are less advantaged to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there.

CONNECT WITH US

thebrilliantclub.org @brilliantclub hello@thebrilliantclub.org

Registered charity no: 1147771 (England and Wales) SC048774 (Scotland)

The Brilliant Club is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 07986971)

The Brilliant Club

Contents

Welcome from our Chair of Trustees

Objectives and Activities

The Mission

The Strategy:

The Need

Targeting

‘Getting in’: Access Programmes

‘Getting on’: Success programmes

The Scholars Programme

Join the Dots

Communities:

Parent Power

Access and Success Projects

The Turing Summer Experience

Sanctuary Scholars

Operations

Research and Impact

External Affairs

Technology

Diversity and Inclusion

Governance

Constitution

Management

Public Benefit Statement

Pay and Remuneration of Key Management

Board of Trustees

Risk Management

List of Principal Risks

Long term Financial Sustainability

Mitigations for this risk include:

IT, Data Protection and Business Continuity.

Short-term Financial Risks and Fraud

Mitigations for this risk include:

Safeguarding

Mitigations for this risk include:

Fundraising Statement

Financial Review

Income and Expenditure

2024 Income in £000

Reserves Policy

Reserves Breakdown in £000

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

Auditors

Statement of Financial Activities

Statement of Financial Activities

Balance Sheet

Cash Flow Statement

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Accounting Policies

a) General information and basis of preparation

b) Going concern

These have included:

c) Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

d) Legal status

e) Funds accounting

f) Income

g) Expenditure

h) Support costs allocation

i) Taxation

j) Tangible fixed assets

k) Debtors

l) Cash and cash equivalents

m) Short term deposits

n) Creditors

o) Financial instruments

p) Leases

q) Pensions

2. Income from Donations and Legacies

2023-24

3. Income from Charitable Activities

2023-24

4. Income from Trading Activities

2022-23

6. Support Costs

2023-24

7. Governance Costs

8. Trustees’ Remuneration and Benefits