POVERTY CONCERN
A Registered Company Limited by Guarantee
And a Registered Charity
"Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion"
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED
30th June 2023
Number: 06948850 Company Charity Number: 1163477
POVERTY CONCERN Year ending 30th June 2023
Company Number: 06948850 Charity Number : 1163477
Address:
Angel Community Centre Raynham Road Edmonton, London N18 2JF
Directors and Trustees:
Mr Ibrahim M Issaq
Mrs Khadijia Y Mohamud Mr
Osman Addow Mr Ahmed Mohamed
Mrs Khadijia Yuusuf
Governing document:
The organisation is operated under the rules of its Memorandum of Articles and Association.
Bankers:
Lloyds Bank
Independent Examiner:
TACTS Accountant
Chartered Certified Accountant
61 Fountains Crescent
Southgate
London, N14 6BD
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CONTENTS
POVERTY CONCERN
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 30TH JUNE 2023
Pages
4-9 . Directors' & Trustees' report
10. Independent Examination
11 . Income and Expenditure Accounts
12. Balance Sheet
13-15. Notes to the Accounts
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POVERTY CONCERN
Report of the Directors and Trustees for the year ended 30th June 2023
The trustees are pleased to present their annual directors' report for the year ending 30th June 2023 which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors' report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015)
Principal Activity and objects
Poverty Concern works in the most deprived area in the London Borough of Enfield - Upper Edmonton, Edmonton Green and Lower Edmonton Wards. We provide community programmes
to support Refugees families, adults, children and young people. We specialise in work with Somalian, Ethiopian and Eritrean communities, but we serve the whole National and local Refugees community. The families we serve confront chronic problems, caused by benefit caps, problems with claiming universal credit, eviction and homelessness, debt, and the impact of drug/knife/gang crime.
ORGANISATION OVERVIEW.
Established in 2009, Poverty Concern UK aims to relieve poverty, improve health and education,
and promote the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers living in LBs Enfield, Haringey, and surrounding boroughs. Most of our service users are people from BAME communities, those from the Horn of Africa (i.e., Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia), but also from North Africa (e.g., Algeria, Morocco) and the Middle East (e.g., Iraqi Kurds). These are communities that have a history of high rates of youth crime and distrust/suspicion of the police. One of our biggest strengths is that we are a community organisation formed and run by community members. All our trustees, staff and volunteers come from the same communities as our service users, meaning that we understand these communities' social and cultural aspects and our organisation is well-known and trusted by them.
We deliver a wide range of services including employment skills training, debt, and welfare advice, ESOL, and Saturday Supplementary school classes for children and young people. Between September 2018 and March 2019, we successfully delivered an Anti-Knife Crime project funded by the Home Office Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), through which we have developed ongoing relationships with the Met's North Basic Command Unit and with the Mayor's Office Crime Unit. We are seeking a grant of £18,656 from the MPS Community Outreach Fund to run a one-year project outreaching to BAME residents of LBS Enfield and Haringey.
We deliver a wide range of services including employment skills training, debt, and welfare advice, ESOL, and Saturday Supplementary school classes for children and young people. Between September 2022 and March 2023, we successfully delivered an Anti-Knife Crime project funded by the Home Office Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), through which we have developed ongoing relationships with the Met's North Basic Command Unit and with the Mayor's Office Crime Unit. We are seeking a grant of £18,656 from the MPS Community Outreach Fund to run a one-year project outreaching to BAME residents of LBS Enfield and Haringey.
THE MAYOR PROJECT:
PROJECT AIM & OBJECTIVES .
Challenged by the Mayor of London, the MPS is aiming to increase the diversity of its staff to address concerns raised by the capital's black communities about their relative lack of representation, with a specific focus on recruiting women and people from underrepresented
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groups. They aspire that by the end of 2022 16% of police officers will be BAME, rising to 21% by 2024 and 28% by 2030. As an organisation rooted in Enfield's BAME communities, our aim was to contribute to achieving this goal, thereby helping our community members to overcome their latent suspicion and instead bring their talents, perspectives, and experiences to serve and protect their communities. The specific objectives of our Enlist! project was to:
- Engage at least 140 underrepresented community members aged 19-42, including women, and enthuse them about collaborating with the Metropolitan Police and becoming part of the police Family.
Increase their participation, knowledge, and awareness of the opportunities available to join the police, enable them to explore the opportunities for further such as-flexible working and representing their communities.
Assist at least twenty-six of them (18%) to make an effective job application to the Police Service.
LINKS WITH MPS STRATEGY . This proposal has been specifically designed to align with the
MPS's Outreach Attraction strategy of increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups, such as women and BAME groups, joining the police service, to increase the diversity of representation within its ranks. The project has not finished, but so far is going well and it will run until next October 2023.
Community Fund :
The Aim of this Project was to develop our organisation to provide an advice service and promote it to individuals in need We want to: 1. Go through the quality mark process to gain the Advice Quality Standard. 2. Hire a development worker to promote the advice service and help us develop our organisation 3. Provide staff and volunteer training to support our advice workers 4. Improve our website so people can contact us in more ways The project was intended to benefit mainly families living in Edmonton, which is the poorest part of Enfield, in the worst ten percent of deprived areas in the UK. The families we work with need advice because of the impact of Covid. They need advice about handling debt, applying for benefits, housing and rental issues, universal credit advice, immigration advice. It is hard for people in our area to find qualified advisors who they trust, who speak community languages and who they can meet face to face. We know there is a great demand, and we want to improve our advice service to respond to it. The project will run for twelve months. We will provide training and advice for three days a week. We will also make use of a development worker one day a week and improve our website so that we can promote our service widely to people in need. We have been supporting families from BME backgrounds in Edmonton throughout the pandemic. We are in touch with 80 households who have experienced severe issues because of the virus. Our families are all from migrant and BME backgrounds, with language and cultural barriers preventing them finding advice that can help them. Our project will develop our advice capabilities and allow us to respond to increasing demand.
The well-being fund :
The main purpose of this Fund was to improve take up of benefits and to increase budgeting/financial planning skills among refugees and migrants living in Upper/Lower Edmonton and Edmonton Green, so that they can improve their financial circumstances leading
to greater self-confidence and self-esteem. The project was extremely popular, and people came from as far as Ponders End to consult with us. They often brought many problems, not just financial ones. For instance, they often needed to reported housing
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- repairs, severely mould invested accommodation, inappropriate housing for disabilities, and a range of other issues. We had to respond to the whole person's issues, and this meant often spending much longer than our timetabled four hours. It was also at times a very emotional project, with people in severe difficulties financial and personal. The impact of the project has been our realization that advice is an essential service that we must focus on. We are currently attempting to get a quality mark for advice giving, which will enable us to apply to other funders for advice grants. We also found that most of our service users wanted face to face consultations. This is because of the language barrier, and for trust and cultural reasons, people need to meet and establish a rapport before disclosing their issues. Because we had to deliver face to face, this delayed the start of the project until October 2022. The Fund has ended successful, and we gave debit advice 81 women and for repair housing.
Poverty Concern Future work plans for the next year
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Poverty Concern intend to develop new services, new initiatives and consolidate existing work with migrant, refugee families and BAME.
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Next year, poverty will be employing a professional development advice worker where they will:
Support the development of Poverty Concern.
Provide social welfare, advice, information services to ethnic minorities including those with disabilities.
-
Identify a suitable accommodation where the ethnic minority community can meet. Arrange appropriate cultural activities for the ethnic minority community.
-
Facilitate communication to the community and authorised officer of the local authority.
-
Provide translation and interpretation services.
Write monthly progress reports for the supervisor and the management
- committee. Record financial expenditure and provide reports to the supervisor and the management committee.
Record and maintain details of ethnic minority groups.
-
Undertake home visits to the house bound ethnic minority and advise them with information outlining services availability in the London Borough of Enfield.
-
Fundraise for the community.
Recruit and train volunteers from the community who will further support to the develop of Poverty Concern.
Undertake any other duties which may arise from time to time.
Services for Refugees :
There is a need of services for refugees and migrants in Enfield. Poverty Concern will initiate a workshop to examine ways that service providing agencies might improve their service delivery to refugees using examples of good practice which already exist in the borough, such as the Education Department's Language Support Service's work with the recent arrival of refugees.
Training for Professionals :
There is a gap in professionals and other workers' knowledge and understanding of the needs and problems faced by refugees and their experience. Poverty Concern in partnership with the refugee community organisations and services providers promotes in-service awareness training courses for professionals and other staff work with refugees as a matter of priority.
Services for the under 8's :
Poverty Concern is reviewing of day care services for children under 8 years of age in line with the requirement of the Children Act 1989. Poverty Concern will be developing a
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telephone interpreting service based in a family centre and will improve access to services by publishing information leaflets in community languages.
Young People :
Young people often seem to be forgotten under agencies which are usually set by adults. Poverty Concern will work with representatives of migrant organisations, the borough youth service, education department, social services, police and other relevant agencies and young people themselves to examine ways of each other. Poverty Concern will take further research into the needs, problems, and aspirations of young people from other organisations based in the London borough of Enfield.
Employment and Re-training :
Members of Poverty Concern have a range of experience and qualifications; most are unemployed and living in a state of impoverishment. Poverty Concern will continue to work closely with the refugee council's training and employment centre, relevant local authority departments and will develop new contacts with the local North London Enterprise Council.
Interpreting and Translation Service :
The existing interpreting services available within the borough are not adequate. Poverty Concern will work with the council, refugee community organisations, relevant council departments, health agencies and voluntary organisations to investigate the possibility of: Improving the co-ordination and accessibility of existing services.
- Establishing an Enfield based interpreting and translation service such as a line adequate to cover the expanding needs.
Funding :
Refugees as individuals and families are often isolated and have difficulty accessing mainstream services. They rely heavily on Poverty Concern for information, advice, and practical support. Funding is therefore a crucial issue for Poverty Concern. Without direct funding from the local authority, we cannot develop services for our members, operate from suitable premises or begin to staff our organisation. So far, we have been funded by the Mayer of London, lottery, and Enfield Voluntary Action however, it is not enough to run our services. Therefore, we ask the local authority to increase direct funding to Poverty Concern. Poverty Concern will actively monitor and promote this positive development in services provision and migrant children will be considered as children in need.
Health:
- Many refugees may have specific needs. The trauma associated with leaving their countries of origin and coming to the UK leaves many with a perplexing variety of mental and physical problems. Poverty Concern will work with health agencies to respond to the specific health needs of refugees by undertaking joint work to identify need, improve service provision and accessing services. Poverty Concern will work with the local authority to examine current health provision of refugees.
Housing:
Refugees need accommodation. Many of the housing problems experienced by refugees
- are common to other groups in the community who rent council or private accommodation. Poverty Concern will be conducting an examination into the housing experience of refugees in the borough and information will be produced to the refugees, local authority housing department and private landlord.
Poverty Concern will facilitate a working party to produce leaflets in appropriate language giving details of housing legislation, housing rights, housing advice and information service, as well as conducting housing advocacy with refugees experiencing housing problems.
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Advice and Information:
Poverty Concern will develop its role as the central agency for offering advice and information to migrants and refugees in the borough. In addition will maintain and promote its open-door advice service, provide information, advice sessions in partnerships with professionals from other agencies and will ensure that such as service is given maximum publicity throughout the refugee community.
Work With Women:
Most of the refugee community in the borough is dominated by women. They are facing many
problems such as isolation, coping with young children and little support. This marginalisation of women and their needs and problems is often compounded by religious and cultural practices within the refugee and migrant communities. Poverty Concern will work with the refugee and migrant community and in particular women to examine their needs and present proposals. Moreover, Poverty Concern will take research into the specific needs of women, but this will depend on the resources available.
Final Words
We would like to thank all our Board Members, Staff, volunteers and all our service users who have given their energy and commitment to achieve Poverty Concern objectives this year. We would also like to thank our funders for their support. We look forward to continuing to serve our local community to achieve our objectives next year.
Governance, Structure and Management
Poverty Concern is a private limited company number 06948850 , governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association. These are wholly based on the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the charity, which is registered with the Charity Commission (number 1163477. New Directors and Trustees are appointed by a resolution of the Directors passed at a special meeting of the Directors. Officers of the charity (Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary) are elected by members at the Annual General Meeting and inducted by fellow Directors and Trustees and the Co-ordinator. The overall management of finance is the responsibility of all the Trustees acting on the recommendations of the Chairman, the Treasurer and the Secretary and the advice of the Co-ordinator. The Trustees form the Management Committee, which meets at least quarterly.
Public Benefit
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty under the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit.
Risk management
The trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:
- ⚫ an annual review of the principal risks and uncertainties that the charity undertakes.
the establishment of policies, systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified in the annual review; and
- ⚫ the implementation of procedures designed to minimise or manage any potential impact on the charity should those risks materialise.
The Trustees constantly review risks relevant to the charity. Any risks identified are reported to the Trustees and decisions made on how to minimise risk.
Financial Review
Poverty Concern's main funding sources are restricted and non-restricted grants.
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Reserve's policy and going concern
The Board has assessed the charity's requirements for reserves in the light of the main risks to the organisation. As a result, the Board has approved a policy whereby the unrestricted funds not committed, should be held in reserve and maintained at a level which ensures that Poverty Concern's core activity could continue during a period of unforeseen difficulty. The target reserve amount represents at least 6 months' (26 weeks) expenditure and will be reviewed annually.
Our volunteers
Poverty Concern is very involved in the community and relies on voluntary help. Around 5 volunteers assist with our on-going activities. We want to thank our volunteers for their loyal support and contribution
Statement of Directors' and Trustees' Responsibilities
The Companies Act 2006 requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period. The directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company. Charity trustees are the people who serve on the governing body of a charity. They may be known as trustees, directors, board members, governors or committee members. The principles and main duties are the same in all cases. Trustees have, and must accept, ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, and ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and meeting the needs for which it has been set up.
We would like to thank all our Board Members, Staff, volunteers and all our service users who have given their energy and commitment to achieve Poverty Concern objectives. We would also like to thank our funders for their support.
Signed on their behalf all directors
Ibrahim M Issaq (Director)
19/07/2023
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Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Poverty Concern
I report on the accounts of the company for the year ended 30th June 2023, which are set out on pages 11 to 15.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
It is my responsibility to:
examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner's statement
My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair' view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner's statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) to indicate that:
-
⚫ accounting records have not been kept in accordance with section 386 of the Companies Act 2006;
-
⚫ the accounts do not accord with such records:
•
- where accounts are prepared on an accrual's basis, whether they fail to comply with relevant accounting requirements under section 396 of the
Companies Act 2006, or are not consistent with the Charities SORP (FRS102) ⚫ any matter which the examiner believes should be drawn to the attention of the reader to gain a proper understanding of the accounts.
Date: 19/07/2023
Chartered Certified Accountant
TACTS Accountant, 61 Fountains Crescent, Southgate, London N14 6BD
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POVERTY CONCERN
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 30TH JUNE 2023
INCOMING RESOURCES
Voluntary Income
Grants to charitable activities
The Mayor Fund Enfield Voluntary Action
National Lottery Community Fund
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES
RESOUCES EXPENDED
Charitable Expenditure
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TOTAL RESOUCES EXPENDED
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Unrestricted Restricted
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Total
Notes
Funds
Funds
Total
Funds Funds
2023
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2022 £ £ 11,464 11,464 13,657 14,000 14,000 750 750 1,750 9,622 9,622 11,464 24,372 35,836 15,407 (14) 8,614 17,513 26,127 19,485 8,614 17,513 26,127 19,485 Net Incomings (Outgoings) 2,850 6,859 9,709 (4,078) FUNDS BROUGHT FORWARD 5,578 1,750 7,328 11,406
8,428
8,609 17,037
7,328
FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
There were no recognised gains or losses for the above period other than those shown in the statement of financial activities for the above financial year. All incoming resources and resources expended are derived from continuing activities.
(The notes attached form parts of this financial statement)
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POVERTY CONCERN
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30TH JUNE 2023
Fixed Assets
Current Assets:
Cash at bank and in hand
Current Liability:
Accruals
FUNDS
FUNDS
2023 2022 Notes £ £ 17,487 7,628 (12) 450 300 17,037 7,328 Net Assets As Represented By: Represented By: By: : Restricted Fund Fund (13) 8,609 1,750 Unrestricted Fund Fund 8,428 5,578 Total Funds Funds 17,037 7,328
As Represented By: Represented By: By: :
Restricted Fund Fund Unrestricted Fund Fund Total Funds Funds
(The notes form part of this account)
The directors are satisfied that the company is entitled to exemption from the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 (the Act) relating to the audit of the financial statements for the year by virtue of section 477, and that no member or members have requested an audit pursuant to section 476 of the Act.
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The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.
The accounts were approved by the Directors on 19th July 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
Mr Ibrahim M Issaq Director
POVERTY CONCERN
For the year ended 30th June 2023
Notes to the account
1. Accounting policies
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006. Poverty Concern 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(s).
2. Cash Flow Statement
The trustees have taken advantage of the exemption in Financial Reporting Standard No
1 (revised) from including a cash flow statement in the financial statements on the grounds that the company is small.
3. Income
Income is recognised in the period to which it relates, unless specified otherwise by the funder. Project funding is, in general, repayable if not expended within the relevant project. Such income is only recognised to the extent that it ceases to be repayable. The income is accounted for on a receivable basis.
4. Resource Expended
All expenditure is accounted for on an accrual basis and has been included under expenses categories that aggregate all costs for allocation to activities.
5. Tangible fixed assets
Fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation.
Depreciation is provided to write off the cost, of all fixed assets over their expected useful life as follows: - Equipment - 33.33% straight line.
- This year, the organisation did not have any fixed asset to be depreciated.
6. Taxation
Poverty Concern is a registered charity and is not liable for corporation tax on its income under section 505 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 to the extent that it is applied to its charitable activities.
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7. The company charity has no paid staff on payroll and trustees are not
remunerated.
8. Support Cost
Allocation of support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back-office costs, finance, personnel, and governance costs which support the Charity activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 15 .
9. Fund Accounting
Fund accounting unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of charity.
10. Poverty Concern is a company charity limited by guarantee governed by its memorandum and articles of association and does not issue shares.
11. Debtors
The Organisation has no debtors
12. Creditors & Accruals
Professional Fees
13. Analysis of Restricted Fund
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2023
2022
£
£
450
300
450
300
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Balance @
1st Jul 22
Incomings
Outgoings
Balance @ 30th Jun 23
Enfield Voluntary Action
1,750
750
2,500
The Mayor Fund
14,000
10,680
3,320
National Lottery Community Fund
9,622
4,333
5,289
1,750
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24,372
17,513
8,609
Purpose of grant:
Enfield Voluntary Action is for tackling poverty & equality through the provision of welfare and debt advice.
The Mayor Fund is for Community Safety project to encourage Police recruitment from the ethnic minority Communities.
The National Lottery Community Fund is for capacity building, growth and empowerment.
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14. Charitable Expenditure
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Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Total
Funds
Funds
Funds Funds
2023
2022
£
CH
£
£
£
Outreach and Sessional Workers
5,340
5,340
6,098
Training and Workshops
550
550
905
Printing, Design & Publicity
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600 600 165 Community Event & activities 140 1,680 1,820 743 Rent and Hall Hire 8,474 5,624 14,098 7,398 Administration & Running Costs 519 519 1,023 Professional & Consultancy fees 450 450 1,100 Equipment and IT expenses 900 900 692 Volunteer Expenses 1,850 1,850 1,361 Total Charitable Expenditure 8,614 17,513 26,127 19,485
15. Support and Governance Cost
Equipment and IT Expenses Professional and Consultancy Administration Cost
General Support Governance Total £ £ £ 900 900 450 450 423 96 519 1,323 546 1,869
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