2022-03-31-accounts

Charity Registration Number: 1161275

Local Village Network (Formerly London) Unaudited Annual Report and Accounts For the Period 1[st] April 2021 to 31[st] March 2022

Contents

A Message from our Founder	Page 3
Trustees’ Annual Report	Page 4-7
Reference and Administrative Details	Page 8
Independent Examiner’s Report	Page 9
Receipts and Payments Account	Page 10-11
Statement of Assets and Liabilities	Page 12-13

A message from our founder

The Social Mobility Commission’s report “Pathways to Success” states that “Disadvantaged young people struggle to engage with career guidance, leading to them seeking out a narrower range of career options than more privileged peers”.

In the year 2021 to 2022, LVN made significant strides to position itself as a leader in tackling network poverty. Since inception LVN has been strong in outlining the importance of extending networks to enable social mobility.

2021 – 2022 Headlines

• An increase in income for the third year running, achieving an income of £161,498

• We supported 322 young people

• Our partnership with the DWP saw us help over 100 young people into jobs

• We launched our ‘Amplify Me’ programme in partnership with Deutsche Bank and we grew the programme to 3 schools by year end

• Our City and Islington College project saw 25 young people go through our ‘Bridging the Gap’ programme with 5 gaining work experience

• Virtual networking using VR headsets

• We now have 3 of our team on payroll

The development of our ‘Amplify Me’ programme this year has garnered interest not only from schools throughout London, but also from corporates who see it as a great way to invest in their local community. The programme gives students an understanding of the soft skills needed for employment, they learn the art of conversation and how to network and students are supported to map out a personal positive pathway based on their interests and passions. The programme is proving to be very impactful with the students not just during the sessions but in their ongoing behaviour.

None of this would have been possible without the huge generosity and support of our funders, the enthusiasm and wisdom of our volunteers and the guiding hand of our trustees.

Local Village Network Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2022

The Directors present their report and the financial statements for the period 1[st] April 2021 to 31[st] March 2022.

The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and comply with the Charity’s governing document and the Charities Act 2011.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The Purpose of the Charity.

The objects are, for the public benefit, to advance in life and relieve the needs of young people, particularly but not exclusively, those not in education, employment or training (NEET), through providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.

Principle Activity

Local Village Network addresses network poverty - one of the key contributing factors that keeps young people in poverty. Increasingly a lack of networks is being used as a new measure of poverty. Statistics show that good networks significantly increase the chances to finding employment, 85% of vacancies are filled through networks. When you couple this with the fact that 50% of our poorest young people are in 20% of the schools you start to see why providing a platform to increase the likelihood of building positive networks in crucial.

LVN brings the community together to make a real difference in society. We help to bridge the gap between business and education in order to tackle social inequality. Our model supports youth to change their mindset and broaden their horizons in 2 ways. Mentoring

We ask professional adults to give just 1 hour of their time. During the hour, young people receive industry insights into a vast range of jobs and sectors and acquire life-ready skills including CV writing and interview techniques. They also build confidence to network with new and diverse people. One hour might not seem much but collectively the hours make a transformative difference.

LVN has developed a series of programmes that focuses on giving young people insight into employment opportunities and helps them to think about what they have to offer. We do this in a non-intimidating environment. The programmes are supported by volunteers from industry. We deliver these programmes in schools, colleges and job centres.

Signposting

The second part of our offering is our one-stop-shop signposting app where young people can access local activities, job opportunities, employment support and youth provisions, all in one place. It features over 2500 opportunities across London and is endorsed by Metropolitan Police and the Mayor’s Office. We strongly believe in partnerships and working collaboratively with the community and the provisions that already exist. We promote all provisions on our app to make sure that young people have the choice to pick the right route and the right provisions for them.

Public Benefit

The Trustees are satisfied that public benefit has been provided in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Volunteers

The charity deeply values the contribution from all our volunteers. Central to our programme are our volunteers. Our programmes could not happen without them. They give their time to help inspire the hopes of the next generation.

In line with the accounting framework used in this report, the Charity cannot assign any monetary value to donated volunteer time in the financial statements.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Department for Work & Pensions – ‘Find a job you will love’

Local Village Network secured a grant from The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to pilot the LVN signposting and mentoring strategy in Job Centres in London. This was delivered during Covid in 4 London Boroughs; Barnet, Islington, Haringey and Camden. In total we supported over 100 young people into jobs. LVN secured the most amazing support from various organisations to deliver the sessions in the job centres. These include PwC, ITV, Lloyds Bank, Banijay, Galldris, WCIT, Wates amongst many others.

Schools programme – ‘Amplify Me’

This programme was developed in response to Deutsche Bank’s Black Leadership Forum looking for a platform that could support young people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in their local community. LVN took all the learning and evidence from previous programmes and created Amplify Me. The programme is delivered in 6-week blocks in a school setting. 20 students attend a one-hour session, once a week, for 6 weeks. 3-4 volunteers remain consistent throughout the programme and the final week is a trip to the volunteer’s office. Evaluation and impact surveys have shown the programme is having a huge impact on the students but is also proving a valuable and inspiring volunteer opportunity. This financial year we have delivered the programme in the following schools with the following corporate support., supporting over 140 students. We expect to see this programme become a core part of the LVN delivery going forward.

• Bishop Challenor School, Tower Hamlets and Deutsche Bank

• Stepney Green school, Tower Hamlets and Turner Townsend, funded by WC of Ironmongers

• Canary Wharf College Crossharbour, Tower Hamlets

• Islington Pupil Referral Unit, funded by WC of Girdlers

College programme – ‘Bridging the Gap’

We are delighted to continue our relationship with City and Islington College and marketing agency, Open. This is the third year of the relationship which resulted in 25 students learning about the world of a marketing agency plus having the chance to put their skills to the test with a real live business challenge. Open then gave 2 students the chance of a 3 month internship and 3 students the chance of 5 weeks work experience. Thank you to Islington Giving for funding the internship and work experience.

LVN Virtual Reality – Networking Game

LVN partnered with Dragon Hall Soap Box Youth Club to design and create a Local Village Network virtual reality networking game. This was created for young people who are not yet ready to network in the real world. It creates a non-intimidating environment where young people can build confidence and networking skills. LVN designed the programme and Dragon Hall supplied the expertise and equipment. The game is in 3 stages, with learning to network at the core. The idea of the games is to make the right networks to help you fulfil your life ambition. At level 3, young people meet an LVN volunteer in the virtual world. 20 young people have gone through the pilot stage with roll out planned for 2022/23.

LVN Signposting App – Rewards

During the period 2021-2022 we significantly increased the number of activities and provisions registered on the app from 1400 in 2021 to 2300 in 2022. Over 5000 young people downloaded the app. LVN received funding from the Worshipful company of IT to add a rewards function into the app giving further and more immediate reason for young people to download the app

Metropolitan Police

LVN have an official MOU in place to represent the collaboration with The Metropolitan Police as part of The Met’s strategy to reduce youth violence. LVN has presented to over 1000 officers, briefing them on the LVN App and how they can use it as a tool of positive engagement on the streets, in custody suites. LVN is a key part of the Engage strategy of the Violent Crime Reduction Champions Network.

Pro Bono

Hogan Lovells continue to provide pro-bono legal support.

Fundraising

We have started our strategy to build sustainable and diversified income in order to be able to invest in staff and assets/collateral so we can ensure we have a real impact on the young people we are helping. We are looking to secure corporate funding by putting together packages that corporates can give time and money to. We are looking to gain statutory funding to secure long term income. This is reflected in our increase in income this year. This year was year 2 of our 3 year plan and we have achieved our year 2 income target.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Reserves

LVN has a policy of keeping funds in reserve, equal to 3 months of regular operating expenditure. The expenditure figures are calculated and reviewed quarterly to ensure they stay up to date with current operations. These unrestricted reserve funds cover 3 months of expenses, including expenses which may already have specific funds earmarked to them (restricted funds). This is to protect against any delayed income.

At the end of the period, the Charity held £94,051 in reserves (2020-21: £42,000) of which 100% was unrestricted.

Reserves are held to ensure financial stability and continuity of the Charity’s core operations. As the Charity continues to grow and prepare to upscale, with the underpinning of the LVN app, reserves remain a key part of future planning.

Going Concern

The Trustees have reviewed the Charity's funding and financial standing and are satisfied that there are adequate resources to meet all operating commitments for a minimum period of 12 months from the date of the accounts.

Principle Funding Sources

Alongside receipt of in-kind support, our main sources of funding are from grants and donations. We would like to thank all our donors past and present for their support and acknowledge the following who provided funding during the financial year:

• Department of Work and Pensions

• Deutsche Bank

• Cripplegate Foundation: Islington Giving

• The Worshipful Company of IT

• The Worshipful Company of Girdlers

• The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers

• Awards for All

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTATIVE DETAILS

Charity Name: Local Village Network (Formerly London) Registered Charity Number: 1161275 Principle Address: 42 Morgan Mansions Morgan Road London N7 8NA Contact details [e-mail] Website www.lvn.org.uk Trustees who served during the financial period: Nicole Alcee (15/3/15 – To date) Rachael Box (15/3/15 – To date) Julian Kirby (8/3/19 – To date) Nicki Jackson (8/4/19 - To date) Catherine Ruggles (8/4/19 - To date) Noel Williams (7/10/19 – To date) Brian Cahalane (4/12/19 – To date) Lucy Edwards (17/6/20 – To date) Denzol Cemeron (Maxwell D) (11/2/21 - To date)

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