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← Caring In Bristol

2025-03-31-accounts

Amended

CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

ANNUAL REPORT AND AUDITED ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1151645 COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 8419424

CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

INDEX TO THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
2025
CONTENTS PAGE
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
3
REPORT OF THE 4 - 19
AUDITOR’S REPORT 20 - 23
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL
24
BALANCE SHEET 25
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
26
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
27-39

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CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

Constitution

Caring in Bristol Limited is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity governed by its Articles of Association.

Charity number 1151645 Company number 8419424

Auditors

Trustees and directors

The trustees of the charity who were in office during the year and up to the date of signing the financial statements were:

Felicity Clark Chair [from 24.7.24], & Treasurer [to 31.07.25] James Eldred Vice-Chair [to 17.10.24] Joanna Strong Vice-Chair [from 24.07.24] Raluca Tudor Treasurer & Trustee [from 31.07.25] Matthew Morrison Trustee Mark Williams Trustee [to 27.03.25] Philip Parry Trustee Bejide Kafele Trustee Allan Freeman Trustee Sophia Gibbs Trustee [from 17.10.24] Jerry Milton Trustee [from 17.10.24] Emily Hamilton Trustee [from 17.10.24] Alex Milliner Trustee [from 17.10.24] Sian Eddy Trustee [from 31.07.25] Claire Routledge Trustee [from 31.07.25]

Staff Management Team

Claire Coleman Emma Prout Helen McCartan Mel Holmes [to 12.04.24] Jenny Perez [to 31.03.25] Robin Adlem [from 20.05.24] Mijanou Blech [from 24.07.24] Victoria Bell [from 12.08.24]

Registered address

3 Pritchard Street, Bristol, BS2 8RH

Godfrey Wilson Limited Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol, BS1 4QD

Solicitors

Bevan Brittan 1 Queen Street Bristol, BS2 0HQ

Bankers

Unity Trust Bank plc Nine Brindleyplace Birmingham, B1 2HB

The Affirmative Deposit Fund 9 Bonhill Street London, EC2A 4PE

Triodos Bank Deanery Road Bristol, BS1 5AS

Nationwide Building Society Nationwide House Pipers Way Swindon, SN38 1NW

Monmouthshire Building Society Monmouthshire House John Frost Square Newport, NP20 1PX

Saffron Building Society 1A Market St Saffron Waldon, CB10 1HX

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CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION

Five years ago, we set out a bold blueprint for change to help end homelessness in Bristol. Since then, the landscape has shifted dramatically, with the crisis deepening nationally and its effects felt acutely in our city. Today, Bristol faces some of the highest costs of living in the UK, pushing more and more people into housing insecurity and the brink of homelessness. While the challenge has intensified, our commitment remains unwavering—we continue to adapt, innovate, and push for lasting solutions.

We know what can be done when people and the community come together to support those experiencing the harshest conditions in our society. Caring in Bristol uses its independence and agility to respond to immediate need, working with others to meet the demands in our city often created by gaps in statutory provision. We remain at the forefront of tackling the immediate need that presents itself daily, while continuing to build a portfolio of preventative services designed to help the people we work with avoid or de-escalate their personal homelessness crisis.

A time of acute need for those experiencing homelessness is winter, when the harsh UK temperatures can cause additional risks for those living in temporary or unsuitable settings. Our longest running project, Caring at Christmas, welcomed over 500 guests into our day centre during the Christmas week, and new for winter 2024 we set up night shelter beds for 81 individuals on the coldest nights of the year during Bristol’s severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP).

Caring in Bristol’s youth services have continued to support an increasing number of 16-25 year olds, focusing on enabling them to secure and maintain appropriate accommodation after a period of experiencing homelessness. Caring in Bristol is immensely proud to have launched our new accommodation project in July 2024, offering private bedrooms to up to four young people at a time while we support them to find longer-term solutions to their housing needs.

Our adult programmes support people in some of Bristol’s most disadvantaged communities, by providing access to affordable healthy groceries along with housing support, and empowering community members with the knowledge and tools to understand their housing rights and advocate for themselves.

This year, Bristol City Council produced their new five-year homelessness and rough sleeping strategy. With temporary accommodation use and the waiting list for social housing both huge and growing, the strategic priorities of homelessness prevention and increasing supply of accommodation are both particularly welcome. Bristol is one of the most expensive cities for the rental market, and the private rental sector alone is not the solution to our city’s crisis, but we back the Fair Renting campaign and recently met with the Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer to discuss the Renters’ Rights Bill among other important topics.

In late 2024 we began our journey to write the next chapter of the charity, with renewed Mission, Vision and Values, and an organisation-wide theory of change in development which will form the basis of our direction over the next few years. We have also started work on our new strategy, which will be ready to launch in Autumn 2025. We have gone through a period of growth since our 2020-2025 strategy was published. We now have a skilled and experienced team of 24, with a growing portfolio of projects and services. Our new strategy development is a chance to take stock, increase our organisational resilience, and direct our resources both where they are most needed and will have the greatest impact.

Felicity Clark, Chair of the Board of Trustees

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QUOTES FROM THE YEAR

“It’s good from start to finish, The food – I can’t fault it! Plenty of stuff to do...or just sitting in a nice warm place. I love it all.”

Caring at Christmas guest

“Many clients have expressed how grateful they are for having some respite from the streets and the cold weather – we love being able to offer a bed to people rough sleeping and your services and teams make this possible.” Local authority provider for SWEP in Bristol

“I could see just a little light shining through that tunnel of mine, appreciate your support for helping …. this is great step for me”

Early Doors client

“Taking the first step to getting help is the scariest. Once you’ve got the help it makes sense. Knowing that someone’s consistently there, in person or at the end of the phone, is very meaningful. It relieves stress, which is like a shopping bag. There’s only so many times you can carry them before they break. Project Z is the best support I’ve ever had." Project Z floating support client

“It impacts your wellbeing when you have to go without the necessary things we should be able to buy. When you pay £900 per month rent and additional bills it leaves you with no money for food” Bristol Goods food club member

“People will listen if we keep fighting for what we want"

Co-production group member

“The service is great. Everyone is doing what's right for you. I don't have that depressing energy that I had in the beginning anymore”

Z House guest

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

PURPOSES

The charitable purposes of Caring in Bristol are restricted to the following:

‘The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.’

THE AIMS OF CARING IN BRISTOL

As set out in our Blueprint for Change, our vision is creating a city empowered to solve homelessness.

Our mission is to work in imaginative and creative ways with people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, with the public and with community partners, to bring about lasting change in Bristol and beyond.

Our three core values drive our strategy, services, behaviour and culture:

We collaborate:

We learn, share and work alongside everyone in our community to create services that achieve our vision. Our clients and communities inform the design, delivery, and evaluation of our work. We collect and apply evidence to build partnerships and embed our impact. We generously share our resources, time, skills and learnings.

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We put people first:

We develop relationships around strengths and take positive risks. We challenge ourselves to be better and are fearless in looking at our own biases as we seek to create a more inclusive and fairer city. We hold that the wellbeing of our staff and volunteers is integral to the positive impact we can make with our clients. The voices and experiences of our clients, supporters, communities and co-collaborators are vital towards achieving our vision.

We focus on the end goal:

We work with our clients, volunteers, and staff to achieve their ambitions. We are here to make ourselves no longer needed and believe Bristol can be the first major city to end homelessness. Every decision we make is based on creating a future where we no longer need to exist.

ENSURING CARING IN BRISTOL’S WORK DELIVERS OUR AIMS

Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to our aims and objective, holding the senior leadership to account. Trustees receive update reports from senior members of staff at both sub-committees and board meetings, which take place each quarter. Minutes and actions are recorded and circulated to the staff leadership team.

The coming year marks the end of our five-year strategic plan, so a focus for the charity is creating a new forward-looking roadmap. We are in the process of developing a Theory of Change for the organisation - this work has begun alongside plans to create the new strategy. Delivering this work in tandem will ensure that the strategy reflects our charity’s mission, values and the impact we wish to deliver; ultimately tackling the needs of people experiencing housing insecurity in Bristol.

HOW OUR ACTIVITIES DELIVER PUBLIC BENEFIT

All charitable activities focus on the prevention or relief of poverty, specifically though directly working with adults and young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Many of our projects also engage a significant number of volunteers from the local community, and our campaigns and communications work are aimed at changing public perceptions and expectations of homelessness services locally, including increasing the effectiveness of prevention. All Caring in Bristol services are free at the point of access, with the exception of Bristol Goods that charges £3.50 a week to its members as part of a food club model.

In our ‘A Blueprint for Change: Empowering our city to make change by 2025’ strategy document, we committed to four promises to Bristol – which set out how our activities seek to deliver our public benefit:

1. Early intervention to prevent crisis – work that targets single individuals at early risk before crisis results in loss of accommodation or stability.

2. Effective crisis support – work that targets single individuals in immediate risk of losing accommodation, or to provide relief or support to single individuals experiencing an immediate homelessness crisis.

3. Build a movement – work that amplifies the voices of our clients, community members and volunteers, with a view to influencing positive collective action within the broader system.

4. Develop evidence to mobilise change – work that creates accessible and objective evidence to understand how best to act.

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EARLY INTERVENTION TO PREVENT CRISIS

Early Doors

Early Doors is targeted at communities at risk of homelessness, providing interventions that inform and support at an earlier stage than other services. Heading into the fourth year of the service, despite some key staffing changes and a largely new team, Early Doors has become a trusted presence in key communities that are underresourced and experiencing significant housing insecurity.

In South Bristol, our outreach worker continues to attend hundreds of community events and meetings, making sure knowledge of housing rights and how to seek support is shared as widely as possible. We have also started to organise and coordinate our own events, integrating local partner organisations. This has been a highly successful tool to spread the word about Caring in Bristol services to those who would not have normally accessed support. The themes emerging from our co-production group of community members have been lack of community resources, disrepair in rented homes, and integrating new community members from different backgrounds.

Many of our clients now refer themselves via our weekly housing support drop-in, delivered in collaboration with Shelter, which was attended by 124 individuals this year, while a significant proportion also access Early Doors through their membership of our Bristol Goods food clubs. The integration of Early Doors and Bristol Goods has been a key learning point for the charity, leading to a new combined management role overseeing these two areas of work.

As a result of our effective outreach work, we have seen a steady increase in clients referred in or approaching us directly and added an additional Housing Rights Support Worker in late 2024 to increase capacity within the team. These staff help their clients navigate often complex issues and have a direct referral pathway to advisors at our partner organisation Housing Matters, who support those in need of specific legal advice. The Early Doors team provided direct one-to-one support to 164 clients from April 2024 - March 2025, a 20% increase on the previous year.

Housing Support Handbook

2,500 copies of our yellow homelessness prevention booklet were produced in February 2024 and we continued to distribute these throughout the year. Spaces these booklets were provided to include GP practices, food banks, educational settings and community centres in the most disadvantaged areas of Bristol. Requests for these booklets continue to be received and a new edition was launched in May 2025.

Bristol Goods

Caring in Bristol has delivered 140 food club sessions in the last year, serving 283 unique service users. As well as fulfilling a need for people experiencing food insecurity, Bristol Goods food clubs act as an outreach tool for our Early Doors homelessness prevention service. This has been recognized in a new structure to the team introduced in summer 2024 - the two services share a manager who oversees both services, further integrating the teams and building our capacity to provide holistic support.

Our youth-focused food club has become a weekly fixture, with some young people now on board as peer volunteers, supporting the running of the service. It is an “open door” club, and members include some of the young people staying at our youth accommodation or receiving floating support.

Our food club at Imperial Apartments, a converted office building in South Bristol, has an ongoing membership which has allowed us to build a picture of several ongoing issues residents experience. We continue to use our position of influence to advocate for these clients to make their housing situation more manageable; in particular around energy bills, disrepair and antisocial behaviour.

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For the year ahead, we are looking to assess the best potential locations for a new food club, as we know there are still many areas of Bristol without adequate homelessness prevention support.

EFFECTIVE CRISIS SUPPORT

Project Z

Project Z is our floating support for people aged 16-25 who are disproportionately impacted by Bristol’s housing crisis. This service is more embedded than the others, and with an improved team structure under the leadership of a new Youth Services manager, the team have excelled, providing support to 76 young people this year, representing an almost 20% increase on the previous 12 months. Project Z floating support is flexible and holistic, covering all the issues that can contribute towards a young person’s risk of homelessness.

This year we saw an increase in young people referred to us with experience of the asylum system, and the associated barriers this means they can encounter. Our team have provided support around language barriers and experience of trauma that make housing assessments and access to vital healthcare so difficult for these young people. In turn, the support provided enables them to build resilience and knowledge which empowers them on their journey away from homelessness.

Another theme experienced by the team this year is the ever-increasing pressure the local authority are under, and the insufficient housing stock leading to decisions we then work to challenge. The young people we work with have been considered outside of statutory “priority need”, and we work with them to challenge the decision if necessary, or in most cases find alternative pathways to housing.

During this year we have continued our placements for student social workers from both University of Bristol, and UWE. This placements create capacity in the team to allow for increased casework, while also giving insights to the students of the reality of the complex issues our clients experience. We hope this means they take the trauma informed approach we use into their future careers.

Z House

From December 2023 through to June 2024, we worked with a local construction firm, to install 4 bedrooms in our head office building. Our chosen contractor, Bristol Together, employ people with experience of the criminal justice system, and aligned perfectly with our values and approach. The build was a collaborative process, factoring in the outputs of research with young people, to ensure we created the most welcoming and inclusive environment possible. Our planned opening was delayed by a few unforeseen circumstances including key staff departures and architectural challenges, but the result is something we are immensely proud of.

Caring in Bristol was delighted to launch our new youth night shelter for 18-25 years olds in 2024, opening on the night of 2[nd] July. In the first 9 months of operations, we have hosted 12 young people, with 9 moving on to positive outcomes, and 3 still staying at Z House into April 2025. Feedback from the young people has been overwhelmingly positive. Our research continues, with an external expert conducting an evaluation on the first 12 months of Z House, so that we can assess the best way forward for this work.

The service has been evolving ever since launch, to ensure we are providing person-centred wraparound support in addition to the overnight stays. We have tweaked the operational model, drafting in skilled paid nightworkers, a change from the original volunteer-based model. This decision represents a bigger financial investment, but it was felt it would greatly improve the safety and effectiveness of the service.

Caring at Christmas

In December 2024, the Caring at Christmas day centre opened its doors to 535 unique visitors during the week 24[th] -30[th] December. The centre was run by staff from across the organisation alongside almost 500

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volunteers, demonstrating Caring in Bristol’s ability to activate the community to create a warm and welcoming space for those who need it the most.

Our incredible team was able to provide more support than ever through our own housing support workers, as well as bringing in multiple partner organisations, including access to vaccinations, a GP service, podiatry, haircuts and mental health support alongside more festive entertainment via the cinema, daily activities, and musical programme.

We continued to offer the Christmas pantry, launched in 2022, offering take-home meals, groceries and toiletries for our visitors to take away. This year saw our new personal shopping experience for guests to choose from donated clothing to fit their needs and taste. This feedback from a guest sums up the response: “Look at this! How good is this? It’s like a little clothes shop. Whose idea was this? Crackin’”

Alongside the day centre, Caring in Bristol’s fleet of volunteer drivers delivered delicious meals and gift hampers to around 200 insecurely housed households, referred to us by our many partners across the city including St Mungo’s, One25, Salvation Army, Addiction Recovery Agency and 1625 Independent People.

Caring Handbook

The Caring Handbook provides practical information to those experiencing a homelessness crisis, and empowers sector workers, voluntary groups and caring individuals with the knowledge to signpost appropriate support. Demand for this resource increases every year, with a second run of 2,000 needed to cope with the requests we received after distributing the original 6,000 copies. A new edition is in progress with a bigger print run planned so that we can resource the organisations who have requested copies – including the NHS, supported housing providers, addiction services, prisons, St Mungos outreach and many, many more.

Additionally, during winter this year we worked with a group of computer science students from University of Bristol to develop an online version of the handbook. This project has been highly successful and we hope to launch the homelessness handbook website in summer 2025.

SWEP

In autumn 2024, Caring in Bristol were directly approached by the city council to become a delivery partner for the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol operation for our city. This was due to our reputation for agility, community activation, and our trauma-informed approach. We took on the role of coordinating 5 “pop up” night shelters for people experiencing rough sleeping during activations of SWEP.

Working closely with St Mungos and Bristol City Council, we re-designed the referral process to improve the experience for staff, volunteers and service users. Our ability to rally the community was demonstrated when 120 volunteers put themselves forward to be involved within 24 hours of launch.

Between 1[st] November 2024-31[st] March 2025, we participated in four activations of the SWEP protocol, providing warm safe shelter for 81 individuals over a total of 21 nights.

BUILD A MOVEMENT

Bristol Homeless Forum

Caring in Bristol’s Head of Operations and Impact sits on the committee for the Bristol Homelessness forum with six other key local sector leaders. As a charity we can influence the content and delivery of the crossagency forum meetings, putting forward ideas for discussion.

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Bristol City Council Strategic Review

In 2024, the city council’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy came to an end, with a group of sector experts drafted in to consult on the new 5-year strategy and action plan. Caring in Bristol’s Head of Operations & Impact has attended this steering group, contributing ideas and feedback. The steering group pushed the council to deepen their understanding of the issues and seek out more voices of lived experience in their processes. Our representative will remain on this group now that the strategy is published, with the aim of the group now to hold the local authority to account as well as cascading key actions to the third sector.

Community Outreach and Volunteering

Through Caring in Bristol’s extensive network of volunteers that contribute to Caring at Christmas, Bristol Goods and Early Doors co-production and now SWEP, we are able to educate a large number of Bristolians. Our volunteer training covers changing perceptions about homelessness, and our ongoing community outreach (see Early Doors section above) empowers members of the public with the information they need to understand their housing rights and access routes to support.

This year we distributed a total of over 10,000 handbooks as an invaluable community information tool. Our handbooks present an incredible resource for workers and volunteers across many organistions, as well as people experiencing housing insecurity, empowering them to access the support they need.

Campaigns/Communications Approach

Our appeals aim to establish the need for services and support for the prevention and alleviation of homelessness. They also have a strong educational aspect in order to educate recipients about homelessness, and to shift negative mindsets.

Our communications are also intentionally framed to further shift mindsets, to dismantle stereotypes and assumptions, and to educate our audiences that homelessness is not inevitable. This enhances awareness of our solutions-based approach to service delivery. Our Storytelling Coordinator ensures that the authentic perspective of our clients, volunteers, and staff, is represented throughout our communications to amplify voices of lived experience, community support, and professional expertise.

DEVELOP EVIDENCE TO MOBILISE CHANGE

Research and Impact

Our data monitoring is an area that needs continual commitment in order to identify trends and keep pushing services in a targeted direction. Our new Service Managers have energised their teams to improve the amount and quality of data we collect, with plans to further develop our database tool to best suit the needs of our clients. Through our participation in SWEP this winter, we have been able to work closely with St Mungos to understand the demographics of the people staying in our pop-up SWEP night shelters, building a picture that will allow us to support them most effectively.

We continue to commission external research to provide objective evaluation of our work. The current research project focuses on our newest service, Z House. We have engaged the same researcher that helped us plan the project, to conduct analysis of the first 12 months of the service so that we can make informed decisions about its future. Dr Ella Harris is reviewing data, and conducting interviews with key staff, referral partners and the young people who have stayed in the accommodation.

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BUILD A BEST PRACTICE CHARITY ORGANISATION

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

This year a group comprising staff from across the organisation have met regularly to progress our EDI work. This group has created a new EDI policy, which was agreed by the Trustees, and have created a robust EDI action plan framework. The central tenets of our policy are to go beyond just our legal responsibilities and take a broader view of inclusion, recognising in particular the multiple and intersectional challenges that are faced by those at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Our next step is to put our plan into action across the five key areas of activity: Governance, HR, Services, Volunteering and Communications. While we have been striving to improve in all areas, we know there is still work to be done. We will seek the voice of lived experience where possible, rather than making assumptions about access to our organisation, whether that be as an employee, a volunteer or someone using our services.

Reflection

Caring in Bristol fosters a culture of reflection to build staff self-awareness and continual improvement. This year saw the launch of a new Reflective Practice policy which further embeds a formal routine of cross departmental sessions with a skilled external facilitator. Staff also have access to individual clinical supervision on a monthly basis, creating a confidential space for them to discuss their work and its emotional impact outside of the line management chain. This is an important outlet for staff who often deal with vicarious trauma through supporting our clients.

Back Office Support Systems

Alongside our new intranet, which has greatly improved file management and collaborative working across shared documents, the last 12 months have also seen the launch of both our new website and volunteer management database. Our new website has enhanced our ability to convey an accurate and compelling story about what we do, and how, and why, we do it. It enables the latest information about our services and resources to be easily accessible. It helps those wishing to invest time or money into Caring in Bristol's work to confirm that their support will have impact and create lasting change. It then further provides tools for them to fundraise and engage with us, greatly benefiting the supporter journey.

The volunteer management database was transitioned to a new system this year, tackling some of the issues we’d had previously around complicated and unclear processes for the volunteers. Our new system is more optimised for mobile use and provides more flexibility in shift management, so our volunteers have more autonomy over their contribution.

KEEP OUR INCOME SUSTAINABLE AND INDEPENDENT

Income Generation Approach

We continue to develop our diverse fundraising strategy to maximise our return on investment with an aim of maintaining an agile approach to supporting more people experiencing homelessness in our local community.

This year, in a challenging climate for trusts and grants, we have focused on keeping and building relationships with valued funders. Several of our grants are multi-year and this enables us to build security and plan ahead. We have optimised our night shelter and hosted many positive funder visits. We are fortunate to have a wide breadth of local and national funders who can see first-hand the impact their funding has had.

Around 55% of our income comes from charitable trusts, foundations and statutory partners who share our mission to prevent and end homelessness. This includes a mix of committed partners who have supported the development of our

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work over several years, along with newer partners with whom we have built relationships during the year.

We recognise the need to focus and expand our base of higher-level donors. Thanks to these donors who contributed to our Christmas Big Give Appeal, making it our most successful to date - we hope to build on this success again next year.

Our Corporate and Community Partnerships have continued to grow over the year, including the continued development of our ‘Caring Corporates’ programme, which was updated to strengthen the impact of our collaborations. This year, we partnered with 24 businesses, including 7 new Caring Corporate partners, 3 of whom joined at the two highest partnership levels.

Over the coming year we hope to increase our supporter stewardship approaches with the aim of further building relationships with our individual supporters.

We would like to thank all of our donors and supporters for their ongoing support, which enables us to continue to help people experiencing homelessness in Bristol.

We take an ethical and non-exploitative approach to fundraising and aim to put the donor and our clients at the heart of our fundraising work. Caring in Bristol is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adheres to the Fundraising Code of Practice. In this way we also strive to protection potentially vulnerable individuals.

Caring in Bristol does not currently use any external agencies for fundraising. There has been no failures by the charity, or by any person acting on its behalf, to comply with the Fundraising Code of Practice. In the year we have not received any complaints regarding fundraising communications.

Partners

We wish to thank all of our supporters and funders who financially support our work, they include the following:

Bank of Ireland UK CommunityGivingFund Oak Foundation
Beatrice Laing Orange Tree Trust
Bristol City Centre BID, supported by Redcliffe &
Temple BID		 Parry Family Charitable Foundation
Bristol CityCouncil St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity
Bristol Food Fund Social Bite
BuildingSocieties Trust LandAid Charitable Trust Limited
MHCLG – Ministry of Housing, Communities and
Local Government.		 The Albert Hunt Trust
Desmond Harris Charitable Trust The Julia RausingTrust
FeedingBristol The Nisbet Trust
Harkness FamilyFoundation The Raindance Trust
HenrySmith Charity The Sunrise Foundation Grant Fund
John James Foundation The Waterloo Foundation
Nationwide Colleagues Fund Zurich CommunityTrust
The National LotteryCommunityFund

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CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

Caring Corporates

First launched in November 2021, the Caring Corporates programme has grown since its first inception. The programme aims to create mutually beneficial partnerships with businesses in Bristol and beyond. The support provided by our Caring Corporates vary from direct financial donations to service aid, and volunteering depending on the motivations of the business and what their company can offer.

We would like to thank:

Bristol Student Lets /
Clifton Rentals		 Nexus Planning
Burges Salmon Browne/ JBDS
Cogito Runway East
Cryer & Coe Woodstock Homes
Modern Bray Leino Events
MOD Abbey Wood
DE&S		 Veezu
Bright Event
Management		 Taylor Wimpey
Miller Independent
Property
Management

Sponsor a Room

In 2023 we launched our ‘Sponsor a Room’ scheme - through ‘sponsoring a room’ for £1,000 over two years, businesses and companies can support our vital work. Next year we will be looking to expand our sponsorship to cover other services. Our current Room sponsors include:

Ad Hoc Property Management GoughQuarter
Burgess Salmon Lovett Foundation
Cryer and Co PrimewayCare
Dr Fox Bright Event Management

Caring Local

Caring Local is an informal partnership programme developed for local independent businesses. Caring Local encompasses support from independent businesses across Bristol, promoting buying local within Bristol in the process.

We would like to thank:

Bertha's Pizza Box-E

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Community Partners

Caring in Bristol is fortunate to have numerous community partners providing outstanding support. From traditional fundraising to community events and generous donations, our community partners have gone above and beyond to help Caring in Bristol.

We would like to thank:

Rotary Club of Bristol Mothers’ Union Christchurch Hanham
Bristol Breakfast Rotary Club Thornbury Lions Club
Bristol Grammar School Westbury on Trym Church
Bristol Masons Redland Park URC Church
Gasworks Choir Redmaids’ High School
Wrington Women’s Institute Bristol Choral Society
Christ Church Clifton PCC St Mary’s Fishponds
Gordano School St. Mary The Virgin Leigh Woods

Press and PR

Our work with the media helps to raise our profile, gain supporters, and disrupt misconceptions around homelessness, positively shifting mindsets. This nurtures a kinder environment for people experiencing or facing homelessness. Our solution-focused storytelling is from this social justice perspective, highlighting systemic issues to shift the focus from individual blame. This year we have had several high-profile media pieces on broadcast media (radio and TV), traditional print media, and digital media. Additional work with local MA journalism students has helped to inform future journalists about the positive framing of homelessness issues.

11/12/24 Bristol TV Broadcast Youth Homelessness / Project Z / Z
House.
11/12/24 Bristol World Online Blog / video content Youth Homelessness / Project Z / Z
House.
20/12/24 Bristol Post Print (and online) Caring at Christmas, Z House, Early
Doors.
24/12/24 ITV Westcountry News Broadcast Caring at Christmas (lunchtime
bulletin/lead story.)
24/12/24 ITV Westcountry News Broadcast Caring at Christmas (evening news /
lead story.)
24/12/24 ITV Website Online article and video content Caring at Christmas (with staff /
volunteers.)
24/12/24 BBC Website Online article Short piece on Caring at Christmas
with volunteerquote.
07/01/25 BBC Radio Bristol Breakfast Show, live interview SWEP volunteers, prevention work,
challengingmindsets.

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

As planned, the financial year ended with a deficit of £117,761. Thanks to a strong fundraising performance and lower expenditure than forecast, this was lower than anticipated, putting the charity in a good position going into the new financial year. We can report net income in both our restricted and unrestricted funds – we remain continually grateful to our core supporters who have maintained steadfast support during this past year, as well as welcoming the support of those new to the charity.

The Trustees have continued to monitor the Charity’s financial position, and at the time of writing this report, the Board are satisfied that Caring in Bristol can continue operating as a going concern in the long term. In addition to needing to maintain an adequate financial reserve, the Board has also been pleased to approve additional service and back office investments for the new financial year.

INVESTMENT POLICY

Caring in Bristol seeks to maintain the capital value of its assets, maintain liquidity and produce the best financial return within an acceptable level of risk, whilst acting in accordance with its ethical standards.

As Caring in Bristol has a small asset base, capital volatility cannot be tolerated and therefore all investments are held in the form of cash. Cash deposits are split so that no one institution holds all of the charity’s total cash balance. All cash balances are deposited in institutions regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

The charity manages its own cash deposits. We monitor the cash position and prospective cashflow, reporting this to the Finance and Income Generation Committee, and through them to the board.

RESERVES POLICY

The trustees have considered appropriate levels of reserves retained for safe financial management and are of the continuing view that Caring in Bristol should hold between four and seven months of running costs as a free reserve (£495,855 to £867,746).

Reasons for Reserves

The key continuing financial risks facing the charity are decreasing donations and not securing grants to continue existing projects and commitments, as well as the need to secure funds to support our core costs. As a result, the Board continue to be mindful of ensuring adequate reserves are held to cover the following main risks:

A reasonable reserves balance is therefore required to mitigate these risks and to provide flexibility to develop and pilot new areas of work when opportunities arise .

15

CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

Current Reserves position

As shown in the balance sheet to the accounts, the total funds balance at 31 March 2025 is £993,637. Of this £59,243 are restricted fund balances not available for the general purposes of the charity. The balance of free unrestricted reserves within the General Fund is £934,394, which is £66,648 above our stated reserve target. This balance will be used to further the aims and objectives of the charity.

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

In FY25-26 we plan the following key pieces of work:

These developments require financial investment, for which we will use free reserves held above our reserves policy level, as agreed with the Trustees. During this year we will be using our forthcoming renewed strategy to aid future financial planning, ensuring the stability of the charity as it grows.

STRUCTURE, MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

GOVERNING DOCUMENT

Caring in Bristol Limited is a company limited by guarantee and has charitable status. The charity is governed by its Articles of Association dated 26 February 2013. Caring at Christmas operated as a registered charity from 1989 until the charity was incorporated in 2013 and the name subsequently changed to Caring in Bristol.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

At 31 March 2025 the trustee board consisted of ten trustees who have a wide range of skills and experience. A term is three years and trustees can serve two consecutive terms after which they must step down for at least two years, unless the Trustees consider it would be in the best interests of the Charity for a particular Trustee to continue to serve for a third term without stepping down and that Trustee is reappointed in accordance with the Charity’s Articles of Association. The trustees, together with the Chief Executive, identify the skills and experience required of the trustees to ensure that the board reflects this need.

Induction for prospective board members includes documentation, meeting other trustees and staff, and attending a board meeting where the detailed work of the charity and discussions concerning trustees’ roles and responsibilities are covered. Information on governance training opportunities is circulated periodically to trustees. Whilst the trustees are responsible for governance, they have delegated day-to-day running of the charity to the Chief Executive.

The board meet regularly (each quarter), with additional sessions as needed.

The board delegates certain responsibilities to the Finance and Income Generation [FING] Committee, whose remit includes detailed review and monitoring of the annual budget and management accounts; monitoring of income generation performance; and approval of any annual salary increases. The FING Committee meets quarterly and reports back to the board.

In addition, this year we have governance sub-groups, including Strategy Development and EDI.

16

CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

The Chief Executive and members of the Senior Leadership Team submit written reports and attend all board meetings. The Chief Executive is held to account through regular reports to the board on progress against objectives and through one-to-one meetings with the Chair.

STAFFING & HR

The team (end of March 2025) comprised 20 members of staff.

The Chief Executive oversees all Caring in Bristol’s work and line manages the senior managers of the organization.

In July 2025, Mijanou Blech stepped down from her role as CEO. The charity respects this and wishes her well. Staff and trustees thank her for her work here over the past year. After lengthy consideration of all options open to them, the Board of Trustees decided to move to an interim Co-Director leadership model. These roles are filled by Claire Coleman, current Head of Operations and Impact, and Emma Prout, current Head of Finance & Administration.

Thanks to the ongoing work of staff and trustees, CiB has a robust structure, and all services, projects, and plans are unaffected and continue uninterrupted.

VOLUNTEER SUPPORT

Once again, our incredible community of volunteers stepped up in December—with nearly 500 people generously giving their time to support those experiencing homelessness during one of the toughest times of the year. Volunteer slots filled in record time, and the high number of returning volunteers shows the safe, welcoming, and rewarding environment we’re proud to offer. We were also thrilled to welcome more new volunteers than ever before this Christmas—a powerful sign of how deeply the people of Bristol care about giving back during the festive season.

Behind the scenes, the launch of our new volunteering platform, Assemble, has made it easier than ever to manage volunteer engagement and accurately track the incredible contributions our supporters make. It's already proving to be a game-changer for how we coordinate and celebrate our volunteer force.

Since opening in July 2024, the Z House night shelter has seen 50 dedicated volunteers contribute over 2,500 hours across overnight and breakfast shifts. Working alongside our staff team, these volunteers play a vital role in creating a calm, compassionate environment for guests. This feedback illustrates our impact:

“Volunteering at Caring Bristol has been an absolutely amazing experience…Their incredible work with young people creates a positive, supportive environment that makes a real difference. It's a joy to be part of such a meaningful journey alongside such outstanding individuals.”

Our Bristol Goods food clubs are supported by a reliable core team of volunteers providing consistency and a friendly face. Volunteers support our cookery sessions by offering guidance, encouragement, and their own culinary know-how—helping to make the course not only useful, but fun and full of flavour.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The trustees continue to monitor the risk register as a standing item and make improvements. The trustees seek to manage such risks to an acceptable level, and this remains an important area for attention.

The senior management team reviews the risks to which the charity is exposed before board meetings. Risks are highlighted in papers to board. This allows the board to focus their attention on the most relevant and strategic risks.

Particular risks the organisation have faced this year include achievable sustainable income growth to match

17

CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

increased expenditure commitments and the recruitment and retention of staff with the expertise and skills needed to thrive in a challenging sector.

The trustees will continue to review the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and systems will continue to be evolved, adapted and reviewed to manage those risks.

CHARITY GOVERNANCE CODE 2017

Whilst not a legal requirement to be compliant, the trustees aim to follow the seven principles of the Code and are committed to good governance and a desire to contribute to the charity’s continued improvement.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:

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

In so far as the trustees are aware:

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

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The

18

CARING IN BRISTOL LIMITED

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Auditors

Godfrey Wilson Limited were re-appointed as auditors to the charitable company during the year and have expressed

their willingness to continue in that capacity.

Approved by the trustees on 3 October 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Felicity Clark

Chair of Trustees Caring in Bristol Limited

19

Independent auditors' report

To the members of

Caring in Bristol Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Caring in Bristol Limited (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and the related notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

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 charity 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 the provisions available for small entities, in the circumstances set out in note 7 to the financial statements, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

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

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

Other information

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

20

Independent auditors' report

To the members of

Caring in Bristol Limited

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.

Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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

Responsibilities of the trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out in the trustees’ report, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

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

21

Independent auditors' report

To the members of

Caring in Bristol Limited

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

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

(1) We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, and assessed the risk of non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Throughout the audit, we remained alert to possible indications of non-compliance.

(2) We reviewed the charity’s policies and procedures in relation to:

(3) We inspected the minutes of trustee meetings.

(4) We enquired about any non-routine communication with regulators and reviewed any reports made to them.

(5) We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and assessed their compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

(6) We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected transactions or balances that may indicate a risk of material fraud or error.

(7) We assessed the risk of fraud through management override of controls and carried out procedures to address this risk. Our procedures included:

▪Testing the appropriateness of journal entries;

▪Assessing judgements and accounting estimates for potential bias;

▪Testing transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. Irregularities that arise due to fraud can be even harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

22

Independent auditors' report

To the members of

Caring in Bristol Limited

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.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charityʼs members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charityʼs members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditorʼs report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charityʼs members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Date: 3 October 2025

Robert Wilson FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of:

GODFREY WILSON LIMITED

Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD

23

Caring in Bristol Limited

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Restricted
Note
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
24,379
Charitable activities
4
701,121
Other
5
-
Total income
725,500
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
-
Charitable activities
823,825
Total expenditure
7
823,825
9
(98,325)
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
157,568
Total funds carried forward
59,243
Net income / (expenditure) and net
movement between funds		 Unrestricted
£
451,178
-
34,238
485,416
314,636
190,216
504,852
(19,436)
953,830
934,394		 Restated
2025
2024
Total
Total
£
£
475,557
679,443
701,121
668,699
34,238
18,723
1,210,916
1,366,865
314,636
366,167
1,014,041
877,335
1,328,677
1,243,502
(117,761)
123,363
1,111,398
988,035
993,637
1,111,398

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in note 16 to the accounts.

The prior year comparative has been restated to recognise restricted grant income within charitable activities, rather than donations and legacies, in line with the treatment in the current year.

24

Caring in Bristol Limited

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2025

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
12
Current assets
Debtors
13
Cash at bank and in hand
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within 1 year
14
Net current assets
Net assets
15
Funds
16
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds		 £
48,504
958,998
1,007,502
(54,510)		 2025
£
40,645
952,992
993,637
59,243
934,394
993,637		 2024
£
66,418
13,146
1,126,609
1,139,755
(94,775)
1,044,980
1,111,398
157,568
953,830
1,111,398

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.

Approved by the trustees on 3 October 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Felicity Clark Chair of Trustees

25

Caring in Bristol Limited

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Cash used in operating activities:
Net movement in funds
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
(Increase) / decrease in debtors
Increase / (decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Net cash provided used in investing activities
Increase in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year		 2025
£
(117,761)
34,713
(16,736)
(35,358)
(40,265)
(175,407)
16,736
(8,940)
7,796
(167,611)
1,126,609
958,998		 2024
£
123,363
36,991
(16,326)
1,273
80,392
225,693
16,326
(90,544)
(74,218)
151,475
975,134
1,126,609

The charity has not provided an analysis of changes in net debt as it does not have any long term financing arrangements.

26

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

Caring in Bristol Limited is a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales. The registered office address is:

3 Pritchard Street

Bristol, BS2 8RH

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities in preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

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

b) Going concern basis of accounting

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

c) Income

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

Income from the government and other grants, whether 'capital' grants or 'revenue' grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

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

27

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

d) Donated services and facilities

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

e) Interest receivable

f) Funds accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity's work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

g) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

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

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

h) Allocation of support and governance costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity, including the costs of complying with constitutional and statutory requirements and any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities based on the proportion of staff time as follows:

2025 2024
Raising funds 28.8% 29.7%
Charitable activities 71.2% 70.3%

28

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

i) Tangible fixed assets

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

Computer equipment 3 years Other equipment 3 years Leasehold improvements 3 years

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

j) Intangible fixed assets

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

Website 3 years

k) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

l) Cash at bank and in hand

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

m) Creditors

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

n) Financial instruments

The charitable company only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently recognised at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

o) Pension costs

The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for its employees. There are no further liabilities other than that already recognised in the SOFA.

29

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

p) Accounting estimates and key judgements

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

The key sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements are depreciation and amortisation as described in note 1(i) and 1(j) above.

2. Prior period comparatives: statement of financial activities

Income from:
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Other
Total income
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Charitable activities
Total expenditure
Net income
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds		 Restricted
£
£
100
679,343
668,699
-
-
18,723
668,799
698,066
-
366,167
611,378
265,957
611,378
632,124
57,421
65,942
(82,101)
82,101
(24,680)
148,043
Unrestricted		 2024
Total
£
679,443
668,699
18,723
1,366,865
366,167
877,335
1,243,502
123,363
-
123,363

30

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

3. Income from donations and legacies

Donations and gifts
Gift aid
Grant income
Donated goods
Total income from donations and legacies
Income from donations and legacies (continued)
Prior period comparative (restated):
Donations and gifts
Gift aid
Grant income
Donated goods
Total income from donations and legacies		 Restricted
£
£
24,379
345,196
-
47,917
-
45,150
-
12,915
24,379
451,178
Restricted
£
£
100
528,541
-
48,878
-
95,437
-
6,487
100
679,343
Unrestricted
Unrestricted		 2025
Total
£
369,575
47,917
45,150
12,915
475,557
2024
Total
£
528,641
48,878
95,437
6,487
679,443

3. Income from donations and legacies (continued) Prior period comparative (restated):

31

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

4. Income from charitable activities

2025
Total
£
Income from SWEP (Sever Weather Emergency Protocol)
62,474
Grants
638,647
701,121
All income from charitable activities in the current and prior year was restricted.
Included within charitable activities grant income are the following major funders:
2025
Total
£
In support of Early Doors
Bristol City Council
24,936
Oak Foundation
165,000
In support of Project Z
St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity
-
The Sunrise Foundation Grant Fund
40,000
In support of Z House (youth accommodation)
80,000
Other grants
The National Lottery Community Fund
112,500
5.
Other income
2025
Total
£
Interest received
16,736
Other income
17,502
34,238
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government – Night Shelter Transformation Fund		 Restated
2024
Total
£
-
668,699
668,699
2024
Total
£
43,211
114,541
92,987
40,000
165,000
50,000
2024
Total
£
16,326
2,397
18,723

All other income in the current and prior year was unrestricted.

6. Government grants

The charitable company receives government grants, defined as funding from Bristol City Council and the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government to fund charitable activities. The total value of such grants in the period ending 31 March 2025 was £104,936 (2024: £208,211). There are no unfulfilled conditions or contingencies attaching to these grants in 2024/5.

32

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

7. Total expenditure

Staff costs (note 10)
Fundraising costs, marketing and promotion
Food, travel, accommodation and support for beneficiaries
Premises
Office and admin costs
On call provision: SWEP and Nightshelter
Grants payable (note 8)
Consultancy and evaluation
Project delivery costs
Depreciation
Resources for beneficiaries
Other staff costs recruitment etc
Volunteers
Clinical supervision
Trustee expenses and governance costs
Repairs and renewals
Travel and subsistence
Sub-total
Allocation of support and governance costs
Total expenditure		 Raising funds
£
169,271
74,706
-
-
96
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,672
51
1,045
-
20
368
248,229
66,407
314,636		 Charitable
activities
£
551,937
462
61,211
6,899
10,696
42,419
41,000
37,636
36,537
-
25,336
6,647
12,652
9,160
-
6,073
1,305
849,970
164,071
1,014,041		 Support and
governance
costs
£
85,694
-
-
39,906
42,651
-
-
-
-
34,713
-
10,608
-
1,924
11,289
3,499
194
230,478
(230,478)
-		 2025 Total
£
806,902
75,168
61,211
46,805
53,443
42,419
41,000
37,636
36,537
34,713
25,336
19,927
12,703
12,129
11,289
9,592
1,867
1,328,677
-
1,328,677

33

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

7. Total expenditure (continued) Prior period comparative

Prior period comparative
Staff costs (note 10)
Fundraising costs, marketing and promotion
Premises
Grants payable (note 8)
Office and admin costs
Food, travel, accommodation and support for beneficiaries
Consultancy and evaluation
Depreciation
Project delivery costs
Other staff costs recruitment etc
Trustee expenses and governance costs
Resources for beneficiaries
Repairs and renewals
Clinical supervision
Volunteers
Travel and subsistence
Sub-total
Allocation of support and governance costs
Total expenditure		 Raising funds
£
158,066
124,029
-
-
120
-
-
-
-
3,297
-
-
-
240
27
129
285,908
80,259
366,167		 Charitable
activities
£
467,869
414
6,604
47,233
8,963
43,062
36,968
-
35,293
8,374
-
15,266
4,878
7,415
4,325
731
687,395
189,940
877,335		 Support and
governance
costs
£
81,433
-
66,108
-
35,085
-
1,000
36,991
-
17,057
24,887
-
6,031
1,302
-
305
270,199
(270,199)
-		 2024 Total
£
707,368
124,443
72,712
47,233
44,168
43,062
37,968
36,991
35,293
28,728
24,887
15,266
10,909
8,957
4,352
1,165
1,243,502
-
1,243,502

34

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

8. Grants payable

During the year, 1 (2024: 1) onwards grant was awarded to 1 institutions (2024: 1). Grants payable to institutions are included within the total expenditure note 7.

To institutions:
Housing Matters		 2025
£
41,000
41,000		 2024
£
47,233
47,233

9. Net movement in funds

This is stated after charging:

Net movement in funds
This is stated after charging:
2025 2024
£ £
Depreciation 34,713 36,991
Operating lease payments 550 550
Trustees' remuneration Nil Nil
Trustees' reimbursed expenses - -
Auditors remuneration:
▪Statutory audit (excluding VAT) 7,500 7,000
▪Other services 1,260 -

In common with other charities of our size and nature we use our auditors to assist with the preparation of the financial statements.

10. Staff costs and numbers

Staff costs were as follows:

Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension costs		 2025
£
706,968
65,182
34,752
806,902		 2024
£
622,283
55,110
29,975
707,368

No employee earned more than £60,000 during the year.

The key management personnel of the charitable company comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer, and the Senior Leadership Team. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel were £302,115 (2024: £288,860).

35

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

10. Staff costs and numbers (continued)

Average head count
Raising funds
Charitable activities
Support		 2025
2024
No.
No.
6
5
13
12
3
3
21
20

11. Taxation

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

12. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
Cost
At 1 April 2024
Additions in year
Disposals
At 31 March 2025
Depreciation
At 1 April 2024
Charge for the year
On disposals
At 31 March 2025
Net book value
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024		 £
40,006
8,940
(650)
48,296
28,718
7,148
(650)
35,216
13,080
11,288
Computer
equipment		 £
£
1,500
82,695
-
-
-
-
1,500
82,695
1,500
27,565
-
27,565
-
-
1,500
55,130
-
27,565
-
55,130
Other
equipment
Leasehold
improvements		 Total
£
124,201
8,940
(650)
132,491
57,783
34,713
(650)
91,846
40,645
66,418

36

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

13. Debtors

Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
Other debtors		 2025
£
3,746
42,663
2,095
48,504		 2024
£
-
12,401
745
13,146

14. Creditors : amounts due within 1 year

Creditors : amounts due within 1 year
Trade creditors
Accruals
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Analysis of net assets between funds
Tangible fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
Net assets at 31 March 2025
Prior period comparative
Tangible fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
Net assets at 31 March 2024		 £
-
59,243
-
59,243
£
-
157,568
-
157,568
Restricted
funds
Restricted
funds		 2025
£
9,469
22,638
18,644
3,759
54,510
£
40,645
948,259
(54,510)
934,394
£
66,418
982,187
(94,775)
953,830
General
funds
General
funds		 2024
£
64,306
22,106
-
8,363
94,775
Total
funds
£
40,645
1,007,502
(54,510)
993,637
Total
funds
£
66,418
1,139,755
(94,775)
1,111,398

15. Analysis of net assets between funds

37

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

16. Movements in funds

Movements in funds
Restricted funds
Prevention Services
Winter Provision
Young People Services
Other grants
Total restricted funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds
Unrestricted funds		 At 1 April
2024
£
17,107
-
140,461
-
157,568
953,830
953,830
1,111,398		 Income
£
123,793
96,940
224,267
280,500
725,500
485,416
485,416
1,210,916		 £
(127,732)
(96,940)
(318,653)
(280,500)
(823,825)
(504,852)
(504,852)
(1,328,677)
Expenditure		 £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Transfers
between
funds		 £
13,168
-
46,075
-
At 31 March
2025
59,243
934,394
934,394
993,637

Purposes of restricted funds

Note, restricted funds as presented in the prior year have been grouped in the current year, as summarised below:

Prevention Services

Funds received to run a homelessness prevention service, including food insecurity service, finding new ways to reach people at risk of becoming homeless and provide the support they need to keep their home, comprising Bristol Goods and Early Doors.

Winter Provision

Funds received towards providing day support, including food, warmth, community and activities alongside professional support over the Christmas period, comprising Caring at Christmas funding and SWEP.

Young People Services

Funds received to assist with our service providing tailored support for young people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, including Z House, innovative night shelter accommodation for young people.

Other grants

Other grants consist of funds received in the year for supporting the salaries of project/service delivery staff and service costs across projects.

38

Caring in Bristol Limited

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

16. Movements in funds (continued)

Restricted funds
Bristol Goods
Caring at Christmas
Early Doors
Other grants
Project Z
Z House
Total restricted funds
Designated funds:
Trustee Deep Reserve Fund
Reserves Buffer Fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds
Unrestricted funds
Prior period comparative		 At 1 April
2023
£
26,369
-
8,681
375
126,823
20,000
182,248
80,000
312,171
392,171
413,616
805,787
988,035		 Income
£
68,729
2,600
172,597
82,898
153,467
188,508
668,799
-
-
-
698,066
698,066
1,366,865		 £
(79,454)
(2,600)
(179,815)
(83,867)
(161,743)
(103,899)
(611,378)
-
-
-
(632,124)
(632,124)
(1,243,502)
Expenditure		 £
-
-
-
594
-
(82,695)
(82,101)
(80,000)
(312,171)
(392,171)
474,272
82,101
-
Transfers
between
funds		 £
15,644
-
1,463
-
118,547
21,914
At 31 March
2024
157,568
-
-
-
953,830
953,830
1,111,398

17. Operating lease commitments

The charity had operating leases at the year end with total future minimum lease payments as follows:

Amount falling due:
Within 1 year
Within 1 - 5 years		 2025
£
68,254
56,420
124,675		 2024
£
68,254
124,125
192,379

18. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions in the current or prior period.

39