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← Social Link

2025-03-31-accounts

Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31st March 2025

Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1158743

Constitution

Social Link was formed on 14th August 2014 and registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 1st October 2014 with the Charity Commission. Its purpose is to provide support, practical advice, and social and recreational facilities for adults with learning disabilities in Buckinghamshire.

A revised Constitution, featuring provisions for proxy voting and virtual meetings, was approved by the Board and voting members in July 2021. No further changes have been made to the Constitution since that date.

An introduction from Wendy Dunn, CEO

I am delighted to present you with our 2024/2025 Annual Report. This report provides an overview of the Charity’s activities over the past year, alongside a summary and explanation of our current financial position.

In this report:

Never a charity to stand still, this year has seen the further growth of Social Link’s provisions, to ensure the continued development of its Beneficiaries, essential for their well-being, social inclusion, confidence and economic participation.

Provisions included:

I am also delighted to report that the year ended in a positive position financially and the Charity, Beneficiaries and Team continue to flourish.

A statement from Claire Wheeler, Chair of the Social Link Board

This is my first year as Chair of the Social Link Board, and it has been both a privilege and honour to serve. As a Board, we are delighted with the continued expansion and development of the Charity under Wendy’s inspirational leadership. She is supported by a wonderful leadership Team, including Victoria, and the two Co-ordinators, Jacci and Hannah, alongside the wider Team who

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deliver energetic and engaging sessions for our Beneficiaries. Their collective passion, warmth and care shines through and we thank them for their tremendous efforts this year.

In the Spring, we reviewed our activity against our strategic plan and were very pleased with the targeted progress made across several areas, all of which are detailed in this report. This progress is the result of collaboration and creative thinking among our Beneficiaries, Team, and the Board.

Our Strategic Priorities:

These priorities are underpinned by the four pillars of Social Link :

document.

Governance and Board Membership

The Social Link Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the Charity. This includes ensuring compliance with the constitution and charity law, setting long-term strategy, and holding the CEO and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) accountable for the Charity’s performance including; Beneficiary experience, safeguarding, health and safety, financial management, risk identification and legal compliance.

Current Board Members:

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New Board Members (Coopted):

We are delighted to welcome three new Trustees to the Board who bring invaluable business acumen and lived experience of learning disabilities. All three have been co-opted and actively involved over the past 6 to 12 months, already making valuable contributions to the Charity.

We also extend heartfelt thanks to Steve Birch, who stepped down this year. Steve was instrumental in shaping the original café business plan and not forgetting his fabulous fundraising 100-mile bike ride!

Team Engagement

In September 2024, a MSc Occupational Psychology student from the University of Hertfordshire conducted a comprehensive staff engagement survey through questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews. The purpose was to understand the Charity from the point of view of the Team and looks to ways to improve their working lives and the service they deliver to Beneficiaries.

Key Highlights:

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Areas for Development:

Team Day

Following the feedback from the survey in March 2025, an interactive and successful Team Day was hosted, led by Wendy, Victoria and Claire. The event focused on sharing best practices, gathering input on fundraising, and presenting the engagement survey findings and actions.

Key actions shared:

Our Team participated in workshops on a variety of topics with a view to finding new and fully inclusive ways to deliver activities, make best use of our resources and expertise, also to ensure that Beneficiaries continue to be at the heart of everything. There have been a whole host of ideas on Beneficiary-lead fundraising events for the year ahead too and we look forward to sharing details of those with you next year!

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Implementation of the 2024/2025 Strategic Plan to date

(i) Establishment of OpportuniTEA Café

The creation of a café has long been talked about as we have so many Beneficiaries who are capable of working but haven’t had the opportunity to gain work experience. In September, that aspiration became a reality as OpportuniTEA Café opened its doors to the public for the very first time at Holmer Green Sports Association (HGSA). After months of preparation and a volunteer day utilising the help of employees from MBNL Ltd (arranged by our very own trustee Sarah Fox) the café space at HGSA was painted, cleaned, prepped and beautified. Many hands made light work, and we would like to thank each volunteer for their time and energy. Special thanks must also be extended to Rob, Karen and the Gardening Crew for making enormous planters for growing herbs, produce and scented flowers for our customers to enjoy while dining on the deck.

OpportuniTEA Café has successfully been operating as a fully functioning café two days a week, building up a local and considerate customer base from Holmer Green and the surrounding villages. The homemade treats and meals as well as the flavoursome barista coffee has been a great attraction for many, but it is the desire to support a charitable enterprise that has built the loyalty.

We have had the great pleasure of welcoming our first trainees Heather and Tracy. They have impressed us with their desire to learn and sunny engagement with customers. Already we have more trainees lined up and we hope the café will be the launch pad for their employment journey. Focusing on the Social Link ethos that everybody possesses skills, talents and aspirations, the café is a supportive environment for helping our trainees attain experience and qualifications towards their future employment goals. Emma, our Placement Coach has spent time getting to know our trainees with a view to developing a personalised but comprehensive training programme. Over the next year we aim to extend opening days, increase the number of trainees and continue to delight our customers.

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We have some unsung heroes at the café, and those are our army of volunteers who assist Jacci Fowler and the staff. On a weekly basis they give their time and have nurtured our trainees as well as helping to forge important community links. Thank you to Jackie, Julia, Doreen, Monique, Amanda, Gill, Kate, Sarah, Penny and HGSA’s groundsman Neil.

Finally, we would like to highlight the support of Holmer Green Sports Association management and committee who have provided us with a fantastic venue in which to launch our café, and who continue to be patient, understanding and accommodating.

(ii) Development of the Gardening Crew

The gardening service has continued to go from strength to strength. Our gardeners were involved in all aspects of creating the OpportuniTEA Café planters from the concept design to the building, painting and choice of plants, herbs and vegetables to be grown. We would like to thank Huws Gray in Hughenden for their donation of wood and raw materials to build the planters, Briants for the tonne of topsoil they donated, and Amersham Dec for the free paint. Not only did these donations enable the Gardening Crew to feel that they were instrumental in the development of the café project but also that they created a relaxing sensory explosion of colour and fabulous smells for visitors to delight in for years to come.

The Gardening Crew continued throughout the year with their regular contracts with Swarthmore Care Home in Gerrards Cross - an environment the Crew love to frequent and where they get to see first-hand their hard work coming to fruition, Hill House Farm and Stables, Sladmore Farm and Holmer Green Football Club. These fabulous opportunities have assisted in the promotion of a more inclusive and equitable community.

In September the Gardening Crew were joined for the second year in a row by John Scanlon the Managing Director of Suez Recycling and Recovery UK. He managed to escape his office and join our guys in the fresh air, where he was put to work, joining the gang in tidying the grounds of the Holmer Green Sports Association. Thank you, John!

We would like to thank Sally Warminger, Angela Aldessi, Jim Smith, and Lynn O’Regan for investing in our gardening service and for continuing to give our Beneficiaries the opportunity to utilise their skills in such inspiring environments. Our appreciation also goes to our fabulous gardening leadership Team Rob and Karen alongside their incredible gardeners, Shaun, Kevin, Karla, Ryan and Ali, without whom this service wouldn’t be possible.

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(iii) Increasing the profile of Social Link

We were pleased to launch the new Social Link website at www.sociallinkcharity.org.uk this year. The site was carefully designed to showcase each of the Social Link services and to make navigation to essential information easier. This has had the benefit of boosting our online presence and beneficiary referrals.

Community events have been a key but informal way to promote our Charity within the communities in which we operate, including Music on the Common and Christmas on the Common in Holmer Green. We have also been regular attendees at Buckinghamshire Council provider events keeping Social Link at the forefront for Adult Social Care Commissioners and Management.

(iv) Extending and building our partnerships

During the last year partnership working has continued to be a real focus across all our services.

Jigsaw Theatre Company

The Aylesbury evening club Beneficiaries took part in a singing and dancing collaboration with the theatre company Jigsaw where they, along with six other groups, performed on stage at the Limelight Theatre in Aylesbury. Our Beneficiaries relished the opportunity to learn a dance routine, that they then went on stage to perform in front of a live audience for an afternoon showcase of music, dance and theatre. This was talked about for months after amongst the Beneficiaries and Team, the enjoyment and pleasure gained radiating in abundance.

Thames Valley Police – Cyber Crime Team

The Aylesbury day project welcomed Mark Godsland, the Cyber Crime lead for Thames Valley Police. Mark worked with the Beneficiaries to educate them on how to be safe online, how to add extra security and how to identify scams. These are current issues that our Beneficiaries face daily, so we will aim to have Mark at regular intervals to keep the knowledge learned fresh in their minds.

Red Kite Community Housing

Our relationship with Red Kite Community Housing has continued to flourish with two separate visits to their Loudwater office for our Beneficiaries to find out more about the work they do and getting hands-on with a list of tasks that the Red Kite Team had devised. The reciprocal arrangement was a group of Red Kite volunteers got their walking boots on to accompany our day project Beneficiaries on a local practice hike for their Snowdon Challenge.

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NHS Panel

Two of our Beneficiaries, Tony and Anthony, have continued with their invaluable input into the NHS panel, meeting regularly online. They have worked on approving easy-to-read documents for patients which will make all the difference to supporting members of the public with additional needs to understand any medical information being given to them. Tony and Anthony, through this panel, organised a visit from an ambulance crew to Green Street to try and break down some of the fears for adults with learning disabilities in emergency situations. They were fabulous hosts and even got the ambulance crew teaching our Beneficiaries about CPR. Such a fantastic opportunity to increase awareness for both parties on communication and breaking down barriers. Well done Tony and Anthony!

Easy Read

This year we witnessed one of our Beneficiaries, Stefan, receive a well-earned certificate for his successful completion of his two-year journey in learning to read. Stefan was partnered up with a wonderful Easy Read volunteer called Ian, who worked tirelessly to support Stefan with his weekly reading sessions within our day project. They formed a close bond, a partnership of mutual respect, encouragement and determination to succeed. Two years on and to celebrate Stefan’s incredible achievement, Councillor Mimi Harker came in with the head of Easy Read and the wonderful Ian to show their support and affirmation. Stefan gave a heartwarming speech about how proud he was of himself for all his hard work and commitment and thanked Ian for his support, calling him ‘a helpful friend’. All of Stefan’s peers watched him accept his certificate and took part in the celebration - this has now sparked new interest in the Easy Read programme as three more Beneficiaries requested a desire to learn to read too.

National Autistic Society (South Bucks Branch) & South Bucks Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) Support Group

Our operations in the café have enabled us to make important contacts within these organisations. These individuals are knowledgeable and have been keen supporters of the café by hosting special events for their groups. Having these contacts will better enable us to signpost Beneficiaries and their families in future to appropriate help and support.

Holmer Green Sports Association

Holmer Green Sports Association have played a massive role in helping us to get the OpportuniTEA Café successfully off the ground. They have provided us with a clean and safe venue with the added benefit of a brand-new kitchen. The HGSA Committee have welcomed us and share our aim of creating a community hub. We look forward to developing this partnership further.

Holmer Green Village Society

OpportuniTEA Café has been embraced by the local community, and this is in part due to the promotion and events held by Holmer Green Village Society. They have helped to spread the word via their Facebook page, local newspaper and providing us with stalls at events.

(v) Establishment of a post-16 transitional service

Great efforts have been made to build relationships with local specialist schools with a view to developing a transitional service for those young people leaving education. Transitional careers fairs at Stoney Dean School, Aylesbury Gatehouse and Alfriston School were well attended with many students and young adults seeking information on avenues available to them. Employment based

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training was a draw for many and has given us the insight to create a future service based on the foundations already created in the café and Gardening Crew.

Planning has begun to provide trial days within our Gardening Crew and café for individuals leaving fulltime education. We hope this will give them a genuine flavour of work-based training and enable them to make an informed choice regarding their next steps.

(vi) Ensuring the future sustainability of Social Link

Each new development, like those described already, and networking opportunity has brought value, insight and learning. All of which undoubtedly contribute to the future sustainability of Social Link in both the long and short term. We are also in conversation with Buckinghamshire Council about extending our lease at Green Street and we continue to seek new opportunities to develop and grow our service in line with our strategic aims.

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Overview of Social Link services and activities in 2024/2025

a) Day projects and evening clubs

development, including being safe and making informed choices through adulthood.

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Therapist, something that we know she will be amazing at. Hannah will be greatly missed, however

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This year Christmas was made extra special with the first ever Social Link nativity. The cast was comprised of unflappable members of our Team and the script thoughtfully crafted by Hannah Smith. Audience participation was loud and merry and it was the perfect way to get everybody; Beneficiaries, the Team and Trustees all in the festive spirit! Next year it will be the turn of our Beneficiaries!

b) Day trip

Southend was the destination of choice for our Day Project Beneficiaries for their annual summer day trip. While this event only happens once a year, it is incredibly important for our Beneficiaries because for some, this will be their only excursion or holiday. Our Team made it as memorable as possible by jam-packing the time available with seaside pastimes and, of course, a traditional fish and chip lunch.

c) Football Teams

The Social Link football Teams continue to go from strength to strength. They are currently competing for a fourth year in the BOBI League and the progression, not only of the Teams, but also of the individual players has been an absolute joy to witness. Our coaches, Andy, Tim and Tom, hosted our special football awards evening at the end of last season attended by all players, their families and friends. Every player was given an individual award reflecting their specific talents and qualities, including awards nominated by the Team coaches. It was a fantastic evening enjoyed by all, lots of fabulous words of encouragement, a real celebration of their achievements alongside fun, laughter and a cheesy disco to end the night.

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Social Link always encourages individuals to grow, and Tim recently stepped up from being a player to becoming a coach and has taken to his new role like a duck to water. Tim prepares in advance for all matches, keeping his players involved in all his decisions. Tim is constantly heard shouting positive feedback from the side lines and always gathers his Team together at the end to have a de-brief where they congratulate each other on their skills and have a moto of always walking away with a positive attitude.

Our new players Zak and Andrew have both very quickly become an important part of the Teams, sharing their skills and knowledge of the game, making a positive impact. Zak has recently highlighted his desire to undertake his coaching award training too.

We would like to thank Andy, Tom, Tim and Steve for overseeing and managing the Teams, without their passion and willingness to volunteer their time these Teams wouldn’t exist.

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Public Benefit

The Trustees confirm they have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when meeting the organisation’s charitable objectives. The Charity provides valuable advice and support alongside social, recreational, educational, and work-based experiences for adults with learning disabilities in the local area. The activities of the Charity are made available to all who are in need and are affordable to all who qualify. The Trustees regularly review the circumstances of the Charity’s Beneficiaries and provides the financial support that is needed with appropriately lower charges in cases of financial hardship.

This year we have supported individuals in exceptional circumstances who have been unable to meet the local authority adult social care funding criteria but who we genuinely believe are at risk of social isolation without the provision of a free service.

Finance Overview

a) Financial report and reserves

In the year 2024/2025, Social Link were successfully awarded £39,833 of grants from a number of

In the 12 months to the 31[st] March 2025 Social Link has reported a surplus of £25,908. Like personal

(b) Fundraising

Snowdon Challenge

In June 2024, Beneficiaries excitedly waved off an intrepid Team of climbers from Social Link venturing to north Wales to climb Mount Snowdon (a.k.a. Yr Wyddfa). At over 1000 metres high, across highly challenging terrain, this was no easy feat. Four Beneficiaries, Sarah, Linford, Rachel and Carlos, with the support of staff and leaders at the Charity, all overcame personal challenges to achieve something remarkable. None of our Beneficiaries had ever before attempted a walk of this distance or elevation. They undertook training walks in High Wycombe and the Chilterns for two months in preparation. And so, on the big Snowdon Challenge Day in June, with walking sticks, plasters and water bottles at the ready, they set off for the adventure ahead, with the ascent and descent of Snowdon taking the Team a total of 9 hours.

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Carlos kept everybody’s spirits high, Linford was like a gazelle making the climb look easy, Rachel chatted her way up keeping everybody engaged and positive, and Sarah took it all in her stride following a recent significant hospital procedure, determinedly making it to just below the summit. All our Beneficiaries were absolute super stars, and their support of each other was incredible to watch. Nobody complained; there were only great big smiles and words of encouragement all-round!

This extraordinary achievement was celebrated in the evening by a well-earned dinner in the local pub, including a few celebratory beers!

We were keen for every single Social Link day project attendee to take on the Snowdon Challenge too - but in their own individual way. Beneficiaries covered the same distance as the mountain climbers but at their own pace in and around the streets and parks of High Wycombe in the months leading up to the climb. For some Beneficiaries it only took them a couple of days to walk 30,000 steps, for others it took a few weeks; the focus was on the accomplishment and not the speed.

Everybody at Social Link would like to send a big thank you to Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, and local firm MCP Property Services for covering the cost of the trip for our climbers. We would also like to thank everybody who sponsored our Beneficiaries and climbing group – your support has been overwhelming! A special thank you too, to the Team who supported the Beneficiaries with taking on this incredible challenge, giving up their time and energy voluntarily, without which this inspiring

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opportunity wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you Hannah, Kim, Andy, Karen, Richard, Emma, Harriet, Smudge, Lauren and Wendy.

The Snowdon Challenge raised an incredible £6,616 for Social Link, a staggering amount but not as staggering as the strength and courage our Beneficiaries and Team demonstrated during this mammoth expedition.

Sparkle Disco

We held our first ever Sparkle Disco in Aylesbury for adults with learning disabilities from across the area - not just Social Link Beneficiaries. DJ Liam provided the dance-floor fillers and made sure all our disco divas had a great night! The planning for next Sparkle Disco is already underway and scheduled for 5[th] September and once again we hope it will bring people together in a safe and welcoming environment.

Autumn Raffle

Sadly, the Autumn Thriller had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales, but the raffle went ahead as planned. Despite the cancellation, a total of £1,057 was raised through raffle ticket sales and generous donations.

(c) Donations

Donations continue to be as important as ever, enabling Social Link to go that extra mile for Beneficiaries and their families. Without the wonderful donations we receive, we wouldn’t be able to offer such a varied programme and development opportunities. We would like to say our sincerest thanks to Laura Ripley, Lynn O’Regan, Diana Mills, Sue Croucher on behalf of Beyond Finance, Mary Faulkner French and our donor wishing to remain unnamed.

(d) Grants

Social Link continues to apply for grants to support the Charity’s income, to make it as affordable as possible for our Beneficiaries and to enable us to increase opportunities. This year we were successfully awarded £39,833 in grants. We would like to say a special thank you to Patricia and the Board at MENCAP (Amersham and Chesham branch), Heart of Bucks, The Anton Jurgens Charitable Trust and The Childwick Trust.

Appreciation

The Social Link Team is renowned for its caring, passion and drive to provide the best service possible for our Beneficiaries. Our Team is always looking to go above and beyond, welcoming new challenges

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Café, we would like to say a special thank you to Victoria (COO) for her passion, hard work and

It’s amazing! We would also like to thank Jacci (Co-Ordinator) who has been a key player in the early stages of the café, fine tuning the processes with her wealth of experience as well as managing the

Hannah (Co-Ordinator) has been at the helm of the day services in these early days of the café launch, so we would like to thank her for diligent management ensuring that Beneficiaries and the Team continue to be fully supported. And our thanks to Karen for taking on the increased workload generated from the opening of OpportuniTEA Café.

The CEO, COO and whole Social Link Team would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Trustees

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Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the Financial Statements

Claire Wheeler, Chair of Social Link Board of Trustees,

Wendy Dunn,

June 2025

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Notes forming part of the Financial Statements for the 12 months ended 31st March 2025

1. Statement of accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and the accounting policies have been consistently applied. The financial statements also comply with the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities SORP (FRS 102) and with the Charities Act 2022, subject to the following amendment prepared by the Charities SORP-making body in its discussion document which would bring it in line with FRS102 for other organisations. The Charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

At its meeting it was noted that the SORP Committee had considered the accruals model for grant accounting as a good option. The ability to use the accrual model could help those more familiar with the concept of profit and loss in a commercial entity, including charity Trustees and funders, to better understand a charities financial performance. The recognition of income in advance of related expenditure being incurred can give the impression that the charity's financial position is better than it is and this may impact on funding applications. Conversely, the recognition of related expenditure in future years. creating a deficit position, may be interpreted as the charity being in a less favourable financial position than is the case.

Specifically in the case of Social Link, we have deferred the grant income for our van and copier to be released to match and offset the depreciation of those assets, thereby not creating an income surplus this year and deficits during the following years.

b) Incoming resources

All incoming resources are recorded in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is entitled to the income, the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy, and it is probable that the amount will be received. Donations under gift aid together with income tax recoverable are recognised when the donation is receivable.

c) Resources expended

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs relating to that activity.

The cost of small items of equipment is written off in the year it is incurred.

d) Liabilities

Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources and the amount of the obligations can be measured with reasonable certainty.

2. Donations

Donations include subscriptions for membership of the charity, gift aid rebates for the football services and the gardening services. Donations were also received from our many kind supporters.

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3. Charitable activities

3. Charitable activities
2025 2024
Evening club revenues £27,664 £19,683
Gardening services £16,426 £23,470
Football services £1,415 £1,020
Day sessions revenues £407,350 £368,467
Café revenue £11.123 £0
£463,978 £412,640

It should be noted that to ensure the financial integrity of both out core services and the café, accounts for the café are held in an entirely separate bank account.

4. Other trading activities

We have held some wonderful fund-raising activities including those organised by our fabulous friends and volunteers. Fund raising has included the Snowdon climb, the Autumn Raffle and the Sparkle Disco.

5. Interest

This comprises income from the charity's bank deposit accounts.

6. Expenditure on raising funds

This represents direct expenditure on fund raising events.

7. Charitable expenditure

7. Charitable expenditure
2025 2024
Direct Costs Support
Costs		 Total Direct Costs Support
Costs		 Total
Evening Clubs £11,385 £9,311 £20,696 £12,115 £5,642 £17,757
Gardening Services £27,493 £5,529 £33,022 £31,184 £14,522 £45,706
Football £1,255 £476 £1,731 £2,291 £1,067 £3,358
Day Sessions £283,933 £137,110 £421,043 £283,397 £131,974 £415,371
Café Services £27,387 £3,014 £30,401
Total £351,453 £155,440 £506,893 £329,987 £153,205 £482,192

Support costs, which are mainly the employment costs of the charity's employees, IT, office, insurance and other related costs, are allocated in proportion to the direct costs of the evening clubs, the gardening services, football and the day sessions respectively. Support costs for the café are managed separately.

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8. Assets at cost

Intangible Assets

Intangible Assets
The trademark "Social Link" is held at cost on the balance sheet 2025 2024
At the beginning of the year £250 £250
Additions (OpportuniTEA Café trademark registration) £540 £0
Disposals £0
At the end of the year £790 £250
Tangible Assets 2025 2024
At the beginning of the year £32,020 £40,464
Additions for the Cafe £2,125
Depreciation -£10,570 -£8,444
Disposals £0
At the end of the year £23,575 £32,020

9. Cash at bank and in hand

This comprises bank current and deposit accounts plus petty cash. These are all liquid funds available for immediate use by the charity.

10. Debtors

Debtors comprise outstanding invoices in respect of day session Beneficiaries.

11. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year and grants

a) These provisions represent liabilities for services provided but not yet invoiced and accrued costs, all of which have been settled since the year end.

2025
2024
Trade creditors and accruals
£9,844
£11,372		 2025
2024
Trade creditors and accruals
£9,844
£11,372		 2025
2024
Trade creditors and accruals
£9,844
£11,372
Consultants
£7,044
£4,671
HMRC
£4,876
£4,869
Pensions
£0
£1,276
£21,764 £22,188

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b) Grants 2024 Grants
received in
the year		 Grants released
in the year		 2025
Grants for Van (depreciated/grant released over 5
years)		 £30,264 -£7,567 £22,697
Grant for photocopier (depreciated/grant released
over 3years)		 £1,756 -£878 £878
Grants for Café £20,999 £23,550 -£18, 578 £25,971
Grants for Snowdon Walk £2,000 £1,625 -£3,625
Grants for Holidays and Christmas £3,500 £108 -£1,608 £2,000
Grants for IT £6,320 -£6, 320
Grants for Core Costs £5,050 £9,000 -£14,050
Grants for Gardening £550 -£550
Grants for Activities £5,000 £5,000
£69,889 £39,833 -£53,176 £56,546

12. Trustees and Governance costs

No remuneration was paid to Trustees neither did they receive re-imbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, but they were reimbursed for purchases made from time to time on behalf of the Charity. There were no Governance costs.

13. Staff costs and volunteers

12 months 2025 12 months 2024
Salaries and wages £225,341 £215,071
Social security costs £16,272 £15,123
Pension costs (defined contribution scheme) Pension costs (defined contribution scheme) £8,713 £8,380
Other employee benefits £0 £0
Total staff costs £250,326 £238,574

There are no staff working for the charity whose contracts are with and are paid by a related party

No employees received employee benefits (excluding TRUE employer pension costs) for the reporting period of more than £60,000

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The total amount paid to key management personnel (includes
Trustees and senior management) for their services to the Charity.		 12 months 2025 12 months 2024
Key management this year includes the full year of both the Chief
Executive and the Chief Operating Officer.		 £91,983 £90,193

13.2 Average head count in the year

Parts of the charity in which the employees work 2025 2024
Number Number
Fundraising
Charitable Activities 8 8
Governance
Total 8 8

Parts of the charity in which the employees work

13.3 There were no ex-gratia payments to employees and others (including Trustees).

13.4 There were no redundancy payments.

13.5 The Charity relies on the generous contribution of time from unpaid volunteers in carrying out its activities. Volunteers provide substantial support to the Beneficiaries at the evening clubs, day sessions, café, football club and trips away. The value of this contribution, which is difficult to measure, is not included as income.

14. Taxation

Social Link is registered as a charity with both the Charity Commission and HM Revenue & Customs and is thus exempt from corporation tax on its income which is applied for charitable purposes.

15. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions.

Approved by the Trustees on 18/06/25 and signed on their behalf by-

Claire Wheeler MSc, FHE, CPABP – Chair

Address: 3 Bridleways, Wendover, Buckinghamshire, HP22 6DN

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29 Registered office: Social Link, 3 Bridleways, Wendover, BUCKS, HP22 6DN