2022-03-31-accounts

CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1165512

Action Together CIO Financial Statements 31 March 2022

FELTONS

Chartered Accountants& statutory auditor 1 The Green Richmond Surrey TW9 1PL

Action Together CIO

Financial Statements

Year ended 31 March 2022

	Page
Trustees' annual report	1
Independent auditor's report to the members	26
Statement of financial activities	30
Statement of financial position	31
Statement of cash flows	32
Notes to the financial statements	33

Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report

Year ended 31 March 2022

The trustees present their report and the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Chair's report

Who we are and what we do

Action Together is the infrastructure organisation for the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector in Oldham, Rochdale, and Tameside.

We connect people with what's happening in their community, develop community ideas into action, strengthen local organisations, and provide strategic influence for the charity and voluntary sector. Membership of Action Together is free and open to any voluntary organisation, charity or social enterprise in Oldham, Rochdale, or Tameside.

Action Together supports people to volunteer in their area, and assists local organisations in developing volunteer programmes, policies, and roles.

We provide support for voluntary, community and charity organisations to establish and develop, including specialist information, advice and training for staff, volunteers and trustees.

Action Together works in partnership with other charities, infrastructure organisations and public bodies and collaborates on key thematic work. We also promote and advocate for the work of organisations locally, and across Greater Manchester and the wider area.

We invest in the sector, and members can apply for funding from our grants programmes. We also provide support for groups seeking and applying for investment, and direct members to appropriate sources of funding.

Our Year in Numbers

• 1,508 people registered to volunteer through Action Together

• We provided 1,543 organisations with 1-2-1 support, advice and mentoring

• 745 organisations took part in our partnership and thematic networks

• We directed £2,718,848 into the sector

• We hosted 476 training sessions and events

• 815 local organisations benefitted from funding we provided

• 3,707 people were referred through our Social Prescribing services

• 18,380 people subscribed to our mailing lists

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Action Together CIO

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Introduction from our Chair

Welcome to Action Together's annual report for the financial year ending 31 March 2022.

This is my first year as the Chair of Action Together. It's been a pleasure to take up this role and I'm proud to introduce you to the work of our Charity over the last year.

As I write this, there is so much uncertainty across the world, nationally and locally, and poverty and inequality are at the forefront of my mind. I can see this focus reflected in the work of the whole team of Action Together across last year and the incredible work of the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise organisations who work in Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside.

I want to thank the staff team and volunteers for their amazing work. This report gives you a snapshot of what's been achieved but it's far from everything. I'm always amazed at the sheer amount of action that we deliver and delighted to see the focus of our work and the passion that jumps off the pages.

I hope you enjoy reading this, see a small bit of the work you've done with Action Together in it, and can reflect on the work that we haven't managed to include but has been important to you and your work.

My last thanks go to the Board of Action Together, another example of the committed volunteers who bring their local experience and skills to govern this Charity. They join over 125,000 volunteers who donate their time across Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside to improve the lives of others.

At this year's Annual General Meeting, I am also pleased to launch our new strategy. It's important that, even when times are as tough as they are now, we can also look ahead. We want to remain focused on what's important to our members, and set out what our role is and what it could be as a local infrastructure organisation. Its critical too that we keep up the momentum of what's been achieved and keep stiving for social justice and solidarity as people face even greater hardship and uncertainty.

Camilla Guereca, Chair, Action Together

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Action Together CIO

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Year ended 31 March 2022

Activities and impact

SPRING

April, May, June 2021

COVID-19 and the roadmap out of lockdown

Developments early in the year in the national and local response to COVID saw us adapt our offer to meet the needs of our members and local communities. Building on the work we'd done through the pandemic in the previous year, we adapted our information for groups in line with the government's spring roadmap out of lockdown.

We hosted a Reflections on COVID event across all three localities one year after the first national lockdown. This was an opportunity for our members to come together, reflect on the pandemic, share what they'd learnt, and look ahead to the next stage for their organisation.

Responding to our members' requests for more support and information on funding, we launched a

Funding campaign at the start of the financial year.

As restrictions eased and groups returned to activities, we saw requests for COVID information fall. Visits to our COVID Advice for Groups webpage decreased, and requests from groups for advice also fell. This points to the effectiveness of our structures and initial response in helping our members access information.

Throughout COVID we learnt to adapt our services and developed our crisis response structures, which puts us in a strong position to face future challenges.

We saw a rise in visits to our Community Activities Directory as venues reopened and groups returned to in-person activities. The directory also forms a key part of our Social Prescribing work, and we continued work on developing and improving the directory. We continued to deliver training online, including our popular #WednesdaysWeekly sessions.

We also continued to support local authorities in COVID community engagement, including launching the Oldham COVID Community Champions initiative to invest in VCFSE groups and anchor organisations and support them in sharing accurate information about COVID.

We also developed new volunteering roles to support the Vaccination Programme rollout, supporting vaccination clinics at several sites, including community pop-ups in high footfall areas or in areas where vaccination take up had been low. Later in the year, we supported the roll out of the booster jab.

We built up a core group of volunteers in these settings who went onto volunteer on a regular basis at Action Together, using Facebook groups and regular communications to stay connected with our volunteers and highlight other potential volunteering opportunities.

At #WednesdaysWeekly we invite guest speakers from local organisations, services, charities and voluntary groups to share updates and presentations. Sessions are online, often followed by a Q&A or discussion on the topic. We host #WednesdaysWeekly sessions on our YouTube channel so people can watch any time: https://www.youtube.com/ActionTogether

Action Together Volunteers

We spoke to some of our volunteers to find out why they do it.

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"I enjoy volunteering because it gets me out and helping, I've helped to save lives during this pandemic". Amjad

"I was shut off from the world. Volunteering makes me feel like I'm giving something back to my community. Somebody said to me 'you're a hero'! It felt amazing to hear that I am making a difference". Craig

"We love getting involved in the community! Volunteering has given us the opportunity to meet so many inspiring people and engage in lots of different roles". Sahima & Zakira

"I was hungry to be out of the house and doing something in my community. Volunteering with Action Together at the vaccination clinics helped me to be accepted at the interview stage for the NHS work-based academy." Helen

- #MonthOfCommunity Volunteering Campaign

We delivered a #MonthOfCommunity campaign in June to celebrate and thank people who'd volunteered throughout the pandemic. We also focused the campaign on our member organisations, responding to some of the findings from our COVID reflection event with advice for groups on reconnecting with their volunteers.

We took part in the national campaigns #VolunteersWeek and Small Charities Week, and launched the Volunteer Celebration Fund to support members in thanking and celebrating their own volunteers. We produced resources, arranged training, and promoted our services across the month. We also launched our Radical Kindness public artworks and sent volunteer thank you badges to our volunteers during the month.

I'd like to thank all at Action Together for the lovely badge. I'll wear it with pride while I'm volunteering - its good to be valued."

Radical Kindness Project

Alongside the public recognition and gratitude for the NHS and Key Workers, we wanted to celebrate the power of kindness and the vital work of neighbours, communities and volunteers in responding to the COVID emergency.

We have been privileged to be part of the community response to COVID-19 and witness the outpouring of generosity and kindness from people and communities. We have mobilized an unprecedented number of volunteers, supported community groups to completely shift their offer overnight, and seen mutual aid groups spring up across our three boroughs.

We wanted to mark the importance of this moment through public artworks. Public art is uniquely accessible - belonging to all of us and part of our daily life. It encourages people to pay attention to the world around them and to reflect on what it means to be from our place, our town, and our community.

We worked with Oldham-based artists Rebecca and Michael from May Wild Studios. They live and work in Oldham and are inspired by handcraft, nature, storytelling, community and collaboration. In Rochdale we worked with Rahela and Bushra, who both live in Rochdale and work from Ebor studios. Bushra and Rahela are inspired by Rochdale's landscape and share a passion for working with marginalized communities. The artists spent weeks in each borough listening to people - collecting stories, photos, drawings and memories which bring to life radical everyday kindness. We also asked our followers on social media to share their stories online. The artists then went through a design process to turn what they heard into public celebrations.

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The final piece in Oldham is a "seedbank" of casts of local seeds radiating out from a central QR code where visitors can read all the community stories. The artwork was opened by the mayor at an event which included talks from the artists and a speech from the council leader. Attendees could watch the process the artists used to make the work and take away a seedling with information about how to share their own kindness story.

In Rochdale the final piece is a colourful mural on Baillie Street featuring quotes from participants, images of Rochdale landmarks and patterns inspired by local communities. The artwork was officially opened by the Mayor at a family-friendly launch event where local people hung wishes on a tree, drew their community heroes, and shared messages of gratitude.

The artists planned to develop the relationships they built with local people and groups through a series of community workshops. The 'seedbank' of stories continues to grow as local people submit their stories of radical kindness.

You can see more pictures from the launch events on our Facebook page:

Oldham Launch - Radical Kindness Project Rochdale Launch - Radical Kindness Project

SUMMER

July, August, September 2021

Community Teams

We launched our new Community Team model over the summer, with the intention of taking Action Together's offer into local communities.

Our Community Teams are based in community venues across Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside every week. People can drop in and speak to one of our team about:

• Local volunteering

• Funding for your ideas - Making connections in the community - Support for your community group - Community wellbeing

We believe this place-based model will help us connect with people and organisations more effectively by meeting them in their local area, while also building deeper relationships with the host venues in which we are based. We've seen an increase in the number of engagements with our services since moving to this model, as well as some great feedback from local organisations about the volunteering, development, and funding support we've provided.

We share dates and locations on our website for when people can visit us at https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/communitywellbeing, as well as posters and materials that remain in place with information on when we'll be in a community venue and how we can help visitors.

"The impact that the Community Team has had on The Together Centre has been exceptional!"

"It's been really good working with Action Together, I'm hoping this is the start of a long-term relationship where we can work together to support our more vulnerable children and families."

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Volunteer Hubs and Place-Based Volunteering

We further developed our place-based model by taking our Volunteering offer into the community. Tania Miguel (Precious) volunteers with us as a Volunteer Centre Hub Host. Precious supports the Central District Volunteer Centre Hub every Tuesday at Oldham Central Library.

Precious joined us through our partnership with The Oldham College, where she is studying Business Studies. She hopes to go to university and then onto her long-term goal of starting her own business. Precious talked to us about her volunteering experience.

"Since volunteering my confidence has boosted up. Confidence was something that I struggled with. During my volunteering with Action Together my confidence has increased. I'm able to talk to people who are interested in volunteering, explain to them what we do and I'm not afraid to speak up or contribute to conversations anymore.

"My biggest achievement during my volunteering is knowing the values of the organisation and knowing what to prioritise. In Action Together it's listening to the customers' story and providing them with the best experience Helping people from different backgrounds makes me glad to know I have contributed to meeting their needs.

"You need commitment and dedication in getting the work done and having a positive attitude. I am happy and feel content because we manage to accomplish our goals and help someone into volunteering. This may advance them and me to wider opportunities in the future."

State of the Sector

On Thursday 29 July 10GM launched the Greater Manchester State of the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise Sector 2021 reports.

The reports analyse the significant social and economic contribution the VCFSE sector makes across Greater Manchester. The reports illustrate the amazing size, reach, spread, scale and diversity of the sector. Find the reports at www.actiontogether.org.uk/sos21

Across Oldham, Rochdale, and Tameside:

• There are 3,788 voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises

• 72% are micro organisations, with an annual income under £10,000

• 13% of the sector identify as being a social enterprise £219.1 million is the total income of the sector (2019/2020)

• 79% of organisations have at least one source of non-public sector funds 34% of organisations used their reserves in the past 12 months

• There are 125,673 volunteers giving 486,124 hours each week

• Volunteer time is conservatively valued at £235 million per annum (based on the real Living Wage £9.50 per hour) but in reality is likely to be much higher

• 84% of VCFSE organisations have some direct dealings with other organisations, including 74% with local Councils and 54% with private businesses

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham attended the launch event to reflect on the findings, and our CEO Liz Windsor-Welsh hosted a panel discussion on the reports.

Individual State of the Sector reports were produced for each of our three localities, with detailed information on the sector in each borough and our reflections on what the report means for the local VCFSE.

Read Oldham's State of the Sector report https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/SOS21/oldham

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Read Rochdale's State of the Sector report https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/SOS21/rochdale

Read Tameside's State of the Sector report https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/SOS21/tameside

AUTUMN

October, November, December 2021

Investing In The Sector

One Oldham Fund

The One Oldham Fund was launched in October to replace the Community Recovery Fund. Utilising funding available to the Council from the Containment Outbreak Management Fund, micro grants of up to £200 and £1,000 and small grants of up to £10,000 are available to VCFSE members of Action Together to continue to deliver work that supports communities to respond and recover from Covid-19.

By year's end, £416,309 had been invested through the One Oldham Fund, making it our largest source of funding in Oldham for the year. We plan on building on this success by developing our local investment mechanisms across all three localities.

Rochdale Respond, Repair, Recover Fund

The Rochdale Respond, Repair and Recover Fund aims to support community action to help create a better future for local communities.

The fund was created in response to the pandemic to help repair and recover in a changing world, with the need to tackle inequalities, address new needs and enrich and support communities greater than ever.

VCFSE organisations, mutual aid groups and individuals make a significant contribution to the borough's communities - providing support and services to those in crisis or need.

The fund was open to applications from these organisations, groups and people, with 178 grants provided across the year. The top priority in applications for funding support was food provision, particularly social eating projects. The Emotional Health and Wellbeing Network, through the fund, funded seven projects totalling just under £70,000, all supporting the Health and Wellbeing of Rochdale residents.

The Respond, Repair and Recover fund proved vital to the sector, and has supported voluntary organisations across the Rochdale Borough to provide services and projects for people who might otherwise be missed.

Tameside Community Wellbeing Fund

The Community Wellbeing Funds were developed in Quarter 3 and released in Quarter 4 when Covid restrictions were eased and most groups were back up and running. Groups could apply for up to £25,000 to deliver services that:

• Will sustain or improve the wellbeing offer for communities in Tameside.- Tackle a genuine gap in provision in Tameside.

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A total of £271,796 was distributed to 13 groups across Tameside, 92% of the total fund.

Toy Appeals

Oldham Toy Appeal

Thanks to the generosity of individuals and community groups in Oldham, our partners at Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre, Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisors, Albion House Wealth Management, the Oldham Chronicle, and our colleagues at Oldham Council, we were able to collect and distribute 2,983 toys to children and young people who would otherwise not have been able to enjoy the magic of Christmas. As a first for Action Together in Oldham, we are pleased with how the campaign went.

Tameside Toy Appeal

2021 was another difficult year for all of us and one where so many families found themselves struggling financially. Action Together has organised the Tameside Toy Appeal for many years with the aim of supporting families to make sure that no child has to go without a present at Christmas. Due to the pandemic the Appeal was needed more than ever before, and the people of Tameside responded with amazing kindness and generosity.

The Appeal would not work without the support of local people, volunteers, schools, community groups, charities, children's centres, churches and businesses. This year we were supported by:

- 50 volunteers

• 29 charities, community groups and voluntary organisations

• 22 schools, libraries and leisure centres

• 20 local businesses

• Our partners at Grow in Tameside, Tameside Radio, Tameside Reporter and Tameside Council

It's thanks to the people of Tameside that the Appeal has been such a massive success and made such a real difference to families in Tameside. Thank you to everyone who supported and donated to the appeal!

Training

The move to increased online working during the pandemic meant we were able to offer online training to members across all three of our localities, rather than asking people to travel to one location. We grew our training offer across the year, delivering popular sessions on Introduction to Bid Writing, Risk Assessment, Trustee Roles and Responsibilities, and Safeguarding for members in all three localities. We also brought in expert trainers to deliver in-person First Aid courses. We built on our regular Meet The Charity and #WednesdaysWeekly sessions to make connections between charities, volunteers and communities, and to develop the skills and knowledge of local organisations.

"As recent additions to your membership this was the first such course we have attended and I would like to place on record how enjoyable, relevant and informative we discovered it to be!"

Poverty Truth Commissions

Action Together was part of the development and launch of the Oldham Poverty Truth Commission.

Five PTC sessions took place across the year, following extensive support and development with the 14 Grassroots Commissioners to build up their stories, their confidence to share them, and their understanding of how they connected to the wider story of poverty in Oldham. They were joined at the

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launch by 14 Civic Commissioners, who in subsequent sessions have collectively unpacked the experience of poverty and hardship in Oldham, drawing out several key themes and ideas. These include:

• Understanding poverty (and how it affects people) as a major way to assist people with dealing with its impact and reducing stigma

• The approach taken by social support systems when people first reach out for help is crucial to responding appropriately to where the person is and how they are feeling

• Creating places within our town and social support systems where people "Believe we belong... and are good enough." This includes what is offered to people while waiting for appointments or access to services, peer support opportunities, and a less transactional approach to what people might receive assistance for November also saw the launch of the Tameside Poverty Truth Commission, led by Greater Manchester Poverty Action, and of which Action Together are a supporting partner. Find out more on the GMPA website: https://www.gmpovertyaction.org/tamesideptc/

WINTER

January, February, March 2022

Rochdale Community Warehouse

The Community Warehouse is a central distribution hub stocked with food, essential items, and economic, health and wellbeing support resources for redistribution to voluntary sector groups. This allows smaller food providers to concentrate on supporting Rochdale Borough residents.

The Warehouse was set up during the pandemic, but its work has continued to support Rochdale residents. This included provision for Winter Warmer packs in winter.

The Community Warehouse was featured in Rochdale's Director of Public Health Annual Report: https://indd.adobe.com/view/498309bb-1a97-4f28-8180-d3960351553d

"I know it might sound silly, but my kids have had 'real' cereal, and they think that's fantastic. For me it's helped massively with all sorts of things - money obviously, food obviously - but having an acceptance that I'm in this situation, and also not drowning by pretending everything's okay. And also, someone making a brew for me is amazing!"

Refugee Crises

In response to the crisis in Ukraine, we worked with our partners in 10GM to put in place support for people arriving in Greater Manchester, working alongside local authorities and those offering to accommodate people arriving from Ukraine.

We launched the GM Community Response Fund: Ukraine Crisis. This fundraising campaign will raise money to create a hardship fund for people arriving from Ukraine and to provide small grants to local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations that are playing an active, practical role in providing support. People can help by donating here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/GM4Ukraine

We also collected information on ways people can help on our website: https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/ways-help-ukraine

Our response to the Ukraine crisis follows our coordination of a response to the refugee crisis in

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Afghanistan. In addition, we worked with 10GM colleagues to coordinate donations for Syrian refugees.

Moving our offices

Like many organisations we recognised that the way we worked was changing, meaning we didn't need as much town centre space as we used to. A significant part of that change was that the majority of our teams began working in various community settings, helping make our connection to our members and communities stronger.

We could be more accessible by being based in the same places as the people we work with. Fewer people want to travel to a town centre office to access support, and technology allows us more opportunities to connect to people.

Having said all that we still know how vital seeing each other in person is, too. There are many community venues to do that in, which means we can move around and invest in local spaces rather than asking people to come to us.

Our Community Team model has been successful in helping us connect more closely to people where they are. We still had a small team working in town centre offices and were pleased to move in with VCFSE partners in Oldham at Positive Steps, and share space with Age UK in Tameside. The Rochdale team continued to be based at the Community Warehouse one day a week, working alongside local organisations.

As part of our move we offered our members our office furniture for free. We received a fantastic response to this offer, and successfully donated all of our equipment and furniture to local VCFSE organisations.

Development Learning Community

In Q4 we launched the Development Learning Community. This six-month programme is an innovative, game changing approach to capacity building support for those organisations identified as needing additional support to gain the capacity needed to plan and establish more sustainable operating models. As a peer learning programme, it has been important that it is dynamically co-designed.

The programme covers 5 key organisational development themes: "The Way We Plan", "Money Matters", "There's no 'I' in team", "Telling the story", and "Growing Together" and is delivered via a monthly half day learning conference, two monthly smaller peer learning huddles, one to one coaching, and ongoing content sharing via an online learning platform.

Partnership Working

Partnership working in Oldham

Strategic Representation

We continued to provide strategic representation of the sector across the key Oldham Partnership Boards and Covid Governance Arrangements including:

• Oldham Leadership Board

• Oldham Health and Wellbeing Board

• Oldham Safeguarding Adults Board

• Oldham Safeguarding Children's Partnership

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• Oldham Children's Alliance

• Oldham System Health and Care Board

• Oldham Integrated Delivery Board

• Oldham Community Safety and Cohesion Partnership

• Domestic Abuse Partnership

• Oldham Communities Board

• Corporate Parent Panel

• Covid Strategic Co-ordination Group

• Community Bronze

• Vaccination Bronze

In Q3 we began working with the Director of Children's Services to appoint three members of the Voluntary Sector Leadership Group to the newly formed Children's Alliance. Our Oldham Director is supporting and working alongside reps at the Children's Alliance.

In Q4 this lead to VCFSE engagement in the new Early Help Demand Strategy development, investment in Social Prescribing for dedicated CYPF Link Workers, and a £60,000 investment to the One Oldham Fund for micro grants for CYP community activity.

Community Explorer Gatherings

Community Explorer Gatherings are our place-based grassroots VCFSE forums, facilitated monthly in each of the five districts. They continue to be the vehicle used for gathering community intelligence and insight on the issues that matter most to people in Oldham. This insight is then shared in other network spaces and has contributed to some of the developments through the Community Champions work, as well as other programmatic response work across the borough. During the months when the pandemic was impacting communities, community Explorers provided a great space for mutual support, the encouragement of Mutual Aid activity, and the sharing of resources to in order to best support communities.

Oldham VCFSE Women's Network

We have been facilitating members of the network to meet monthly throughout the year and collaborating on delivering a community offer that responds to the needs of women who are accessing support from the network members. The priority areas of work are around supporting women experiencing domestic abuse and supporting women experiencing poverty. The highlights from the network include:

• Q1 - Collaborative process for investing £100,000 grant funding via the Community Safety and Cohesion Partnership to five network members to strengthen their community support offer to women experiencing Domestic Abuse - Q1 - Developing a women's support network service directory - Q2 - Representatives from the network participating in the Oldham Women's Taskforce to represent the voices of seldom heard women - Q3 - Working together to develop and submit an expression of interest to Smallwood Trust's Women's Sector Resilience Fund Phase 2 - Q4 - Vision and planning day to prepare for the year ahead

Partnership working in Rochdale

Children, Young People and Families Network

Hosted by Barnado's with support from Action Together.

The network hosted two events - Tackling Racial Inequalities for C&YP, and Supporting C&YP and families affected by disabilities - with over 50 attendees. The network plans to host a further event for 15 charities to showcase various innovative projects across the borough that have contributed to

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improving children and families' experiences.

Digital Tech Library

A group of grassroots voluntary organisations, in collaboration with Action Together in Rochdale, formed a consortium to purchase digital equipment to tackle digital poverty and exclusion in Rochdale. Over 500 Rochdale residents have been loaned digital equipment, with over 400 training sessions delivered to support digital skills.

Disability Forum

An opportunity to connect, share information, highlight issues and work together to break down barriers experienced by disabled people.

Economic Support Network

The Economic Support Network was set up in Rochdale in 2020 to support people in the borough with things related to money. It brings together partners providing support during difficult times, as well as activities which positively improve people's economic wellbeing.

This year the network focused on provision of advice and increasing reach, funding and producing bilingual advice provision, commissioning three new collaborative Welfare and Advice sessions at Spotland CC, KYP and Deeplish CC, and distributing 500 Financial Toolkits.

Emotional Health and Wellbeing Network

The Emotional Health and Wellbeing network is part of the Respond, Repair and Recover funding programme and aims to:

• Sustain and develop inclusive VCFSE support pathways - Create new collaborative work, that benefits the whole network

• Support the supporters

Through the RRR fund the network funded seven projects totalling just under £70,000, all supporting the Health and Wellbeing of Rochdale residents, including:

• Rochdale AFC listening project - football for mental health - Recovery Republic - Inclusive Emotional Health Literacy

• Refugee and Asylum seeker wellbeing hub - collaboration between Caring and Sharing and

• Rochdale Mind

Families Grassroots Gathering

To connect and develop relationships between organisations that support families including VCFSE and statutory services. Working in Rochdale borough to come together to share information, make 'asks and offers', develop new ideas and connections.

Food Solutions Network

Facilitates community, voluntary, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector organisations, alongside statutory partners, to improve access to food for the people of Rochdale Borough. The Food Solutions Network welcomes and supports all foodbanks, pantries, clubs and social food projects in the borough. If you want to find food support in the borough -

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The FSN is listed in the Rochdale Covid Recovery Plan, which aims to build and develop all the good work that was developed for Rochdale residents during the Covid pandemic.

The FSN works closely with the Rochdale Community Warehouse, as well as funding pantries and supporting Food Co-ops by local organisations like House of Praise.

Grassroots Gatherings

Grassroots Gatherings offer a space for voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups in Rochdale to come together, network and share information, ideas and resources.

Inclusive Messaging Group

This group is co-designing inclusive messages, with people who are closest to some of the barriers to inclusion. It includes 15+ VCFSE partners. Topics include co-designing the Public Health Prevention Strategy, conversations about serious and organised crime, and how businesses can work better with communities.

TogetherRochdale

TogetherRochdale is a local partnership communications group that exists to bring together voluntary, community, social enterprise, and faith organisations with statutory partners and local providers to ensure there is a consistent partnership approach to communications within the Rochdale borough.

Women's Services Network

Tackling inequality in women's lives and connecting the dots between women's services and support. There are 22 voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups involved.

The network funded seven projects totalling £25,195, including:

• Creative Consultation with women experiencing racial inequality around maternity services

• Online course for menopausal women

• Safe spaces for women drop in sessions

• The Mehfooz Project, supporting women and girls to recover from violence

• Domestic Violence Forum (collaborative work between two organisations)

The network held a 'Safer Spaces' event with six guest speakers and 24 attendees - the discussions held during the event have led to a successful Safe Space Directory (currently five groups listed) being created via the Mind wellbeing directory, and a future safe spaces scheme being commissioned.

The Stories of Strength podcast was launched for International Women's Day. The weekly podcast features Rochdale women sharing their stories of overcoming adversity. Listen at https://podfollow.com/storiesofstrength

Partnership working in Tameside

Examples of our partnership network highlights include:

Tameside VSIG (Voluntary Sector Influencing Group):

At the VSIG meetings we put a spotlight on organisations, looked at building leaders and organisational resilience (including coaching support), highlighted funding opportunities, and provided

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information on the changes from CCG's to Integrated Care Partnerships. This resulted in a new Integrated Care Systems (ICS) working group that will feed into the local Provider Partnership under the new arrangements for health and care.

Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network:

We have used the network to keep up to date with COVID and how this affects Asylum Seekers and Refugees, including important information and updates from Serco and Migrant Help, ensuring that partners working to support Asylum Seekers and Refugees are linked up to make the most of opportunities for joint work. We supported people with lived experience to inform the work of this group.

COVID Diversity Champions

These weekly meetings bring together organisations and representatives from communities experiencing racial inequalities with population health and TMBC Comms team to ensure good links and accessibility to COVID updates. This group has worked together to ensure that messages are shared in local communities, including translating banners and posters, and put into the right places in the community. It provides feedback on what is working what isn't, linking in population health with community spaces and local people who have volunteered at track and trace mobile units. We also facilitated a separate meeting with members of the Black and Caribbean community to discuss vaccine plans and comms.

Children Young People and Families:

Alongside our direct work supporting 123 families as part of the Early Help Team, we developed a variety of projects and training opportunities with VCFSE groups including;

VCFSE Safeguarding Briefing:

These briefings are an opportunity to learn about the different roles within Tameside Safeguarding and to build a working relationship between the VCFSE and Tameside Children's Service's.

Madrasah Safeguarding:

We worked with Falah Educational Society to deliver Level 1 Child Protection Awareness to 12 Madrasah teachers and increase access to Tameside Safeguarding Children's Partnership. Feedback was very positive, with teachers saying they had a greater understanding of different types of abuse and what to do when aware of it. Work is taking place to roll out the training and safeguarding briefings to other Madrassahs in 2022.

Supporting Afghan Refugees Training - Save the Children:

We supported the local delivery of this training to help organisations better understand the needs of resettled and refugee families and children, and the cultures they come from.

The training covered understanding cultural bias, the Afghanistan context, communicating with and supporting people from different cultures, translation considerations and building resilience and coping mechanisms. Attendees were provided with useful learning resources and contacts. 50 people attended including TFT, schools, EWO, social workers, social prescribers, CAB, health visitors, youth justice, Inspire, WAD, Infinity, NLC, Homestart and Diversity Matters providing networking opportunities between sectors.

Tameside Poverty Action Group Network

The network provides a place for organisations who are supporting people affected by poverty, to

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

share what they are doing, ask for support and highlight key challenges affecting local people. For example:

Greater Manchester Poverty Action - Poverty Tool:

Our Partnerships Team have supported Greater Manchester Poverty Action (GMPA) with their pilot project which will look at designing a tool for people referring to foodbanks. The tool will help to support people to look into why access to a foodbank is needed and ensure people get the added support they need. The main aim of the project is to maximise people's income by doing benefit checks, supporting with budgeting, and other support. We have been ensuring that the key people and organisations are involved, attending the working group meetings and working closely with GMPA. We have organised two information sessions for foodbank referrers. The pilot was launched during this period and we continue to work closely with GMPA to ensure that local organisations are involved and that the tool is promoted and kept up to date.

Our Projects

Miles of Smiles

Miles of Smiles is a community transport scheme where volunteer drivers take people to and from health appointments in Tameside. Action Together administers the scheme, recruits volunteer drivers, and links the service with our Social Prescribing team and their clients.

After a decrease in journeys during COVID lockdowns, when the service adapted to take people to vaccination clinics and deliver food parcels, we saw a return to near pre-pandemic levels of demand. Two thirds of our passengers are aged over 76, and our volunteers act as both transport and a support for people who may be suffering from poor health and isolation.

In total, our volunteer drivers completed 4,755 journeys, covering a total of 40,015 miles.

Big Local Oldham

We continued our work as the Local Trusted Organisation (funded by Big Local) with the Oldham Big Local Partnership Board, supporting them to implement their current plan which runs from April 2021 for three years. This represents the final three years of the Oldham Big Local Programme and there is a focus on thinking about the legacy that will be left behind in Clarksfield, Littlemoor and Greenacres.

A new community development worker (employed and managed by Action Together on behalf of Big Local) started working with the partnership in July and is having enormous success engaging with residents and bringing exciting innovative ideas forward for projects in the community.

Projects that the Board supported are:

• Investment in Veg in the Park to pay for a manager, holiday activities and a bereavement café - Investment in Greenacres for improvements to Beresford Park and building improvements at NEON Hub

• Investment in Clarksfield for alleyway improvements

• Activities to reduce social isolation and health and wellbeing including knit and chatter group, men's group and healthy cooking session at NEON

• Youth activities to improve fitness and confidence including horse riding lessons and an under 12s football group for residents in Clarksfield

• The board working very closely with several partners including Oldham Council's new District Team for Oldham East and Oasis Hub. We have supported Oasis Hub to provide creative English and other activities for families at Oasis Academy Clarksfield. The school have made community facilities

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

available for the use of residents which has helped with the Board's engagement with residents. - Outdoor exercise equipment has been installed in Waterhead Park and Arundel Street Park. This was jointly funded by Oldham Council and Big Local Oldham. It is proving to be well used in both locations. We followed this up by developing engagement and training sessions with OCLL

• The Board continue to support new ideas in their areas, however the focus is now on the legacy that Big Local Oldham will leave behind and we are working with the Board to develop longer term plans for the groups that have been established with Big Local Oldham support and a training programme for residents to include a mix of sessions to support them to develop social action projects e.g. football coaching, food and hygiene, first aid, and personal development and wellbeing

Social Prescribing

For Social Prescribing Day on March 10 we released a series of videos to promote Social Prescribing.

We asked four people from various different services involved in Social Prescribing to tell us about the benefits. We spoke to Dr. Bircher as a Primary Care referrer, our Social Prescribing Officer Jyoti Mckellar, David Banks at the Macmillan Hub service, and Sharon Hall from Noah's Art, who provide community activities for our clients. These videos will be used in the future to promote our services, helping to generate referrers and increase referrals into the Oldham and Tameside services.

Both our Oldham and Tameside Social Prescribing service users report increased wellbeing scores following their interactions with the services.

Healthwatch Oldham

Healthwatch Oldham's annual report highlights all the work Healthwatch Oldham has done over the last 12 months and includes examples of how we have engaged and supported Oldham residents.

Our year at a glance:

• We provided advice and information to 1290 people this year - We engaged with over 500 people in specific projects which helped us to produce 7 reports throughout the year

"I would like to begin by paying tribute and giving special thanks to our hardworking Healthwatch Oldham team who have adapted amazingly to our new hybrid working arrangements and kept the core business of Healthwatch Oldham continuing, through another significant period of change. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to the local Oldham community for continuing to work with us, and our partners and stakeholders for giving us the space and ability to play a key role in the local system. None of this would be possible without the support of our Board, and our host organisation Action Together, this important set-up for our Healthwatch enables us to try our best and helps us to take our work from strength to strength" - Tamoor Tariq, Healthwatch Oldham Manager

Read Healthwatch Oldham's annual report 2021-22 at www.healthwatcholdham.co.uk

Healthwatch Tameside

"For a second year, all of our lives have been dominated by the Covid pandemic and just like every other organisation we at Healthwatch Tameside have had to adjust the way that we work whilst always maintaining focus on delivering our statutory duties. We have had to adapt the way in which we listen to, and gather the experience of people needing support from health and social care services and I am most proud of the way that we have achieved this. We recognise that not everyone has access to, or the ability to use digital technology and we have retained the use of postal surveys and the telephone as ways of collecting information.

Most of this year I have been Acting Chair since the untimely and tragic death of Professor Dr Kailash

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Chand OBE in July 2021. I am grateful for the support of the Board of Healthwatch Tameside and the exemplary team of staff who are dedicated to promoting the involvement of local people, monitoring the standards of service received by local people, obtaining their views and producing reports to inform health and care leaders, and sharing intelligence (suitably anonymised) with other Healthwatch to have the greatest impact." - Tracey McErlain-Burns, Chair

Read Healthwatch Tameside's annual report at www.healthwatchtameside.co.uk

Action Together in Greater Manchester

Across the year Action Together has continued to work actively across Greater Manchester including:

• In late September, our CEO Liz, represented the VCSE for formal signing of the GM Accord. The purpose of the new Accord is to further develop how the partners work together to improve outcomes for Greater Manchester's communities and citizens.

• Greater Manchester leaders in local government, health and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) have come together to sign a tripartite Accord to work together in a collaborative way to tackle entrenched inequalities.

• As a founding partner of 10GM, Action Together continues to line manage the 10GM team. 10GM's work across this quarter has focussed on engagement and activity as part of the GM wide emergency response framework. In addition, across this period 10GM colleagues worked to coordinate donations for Syrian Refugees and held two GM-wide coordination meetings with GMCA leads and the VCSE.

• In partnership with the VCSE Leadership Group we have re-established the VCSE Sub-Group on Population Health, Liz Windsor-Welsh is the Interim Chair of this group. Action Together's Maddy Hubbard is the Co-Chair of the Inclusive Economy Sub-Group. We continue to engage and contribute to GM workshops and discussion on the Integrated Care System structures and the part the VCSE plays both in localities and in the GM structures, including providing support as part of 10GM to explore the establishment of a GM VCSE Alternative Provider Federation.

• Establishing strategic relationships with other GM joint ventures - GM Active and GM Housing Providers.

• There has been significant engagement with GM VCSE partners on the governance and formation of the new GMICS. 10GM has been working with larger social enterprises and charities to establish the GM Alternative Provider Partnership. We have secured the initial investment and recruited an Executive Chair.

• Action Together's CEO has supported the VCSE Leadership Group to establish a GM VCSE Population Health Group, developing a strategic and engagement routes into the GM Population Health Board. She has also strategically represented the VCSE sector on GM Contain Cell and has been engaged with AGMA partners on developing the emergency structures to better connect to the VCSE in GM and in the areas that Action Together works.

• We have been part of the LGBQT+ panel to increase support and awareness.

• We have worked as part of the GM Moving executive to review and refresh its strategy. Action Together in Greater Manchester

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Financial review

Funds at 31 March 2022 amounted to £4,744,038 of which £3,572,277 were restricted. Expenditure in the year met the objectives that were required by the principle funding sources, as described in their funding agreements.

Restricted funds held at the end of the year have been carried forward for the future support of specific projects. Action Together recognises that it is responsible and accountable for public funds. It further recognises that it needs clarity and transparency in demonstrating how these funds are managed and, in particular, the level of funds that it judges appropriate to hold in reserve.

The Trustees have established a reserves policy which requires:

• Reserves are maintained at a level which ensures that Action Together has the ability to meet its ongoing commitments with sufficient reserves to cover a minimum of six month's running costs, redundancy costs and core committed costs

• A proportion of reserves are maintained in a readily realisable form

• The calculation of the reserves is an integral part of the organisation's planning, budget and forecast cycle and will take into account:

• Risks associated with each stream of income and expenditure being different from that budgeted

• Planned activity level

• Organisation's commitments

The reserves fund is managed and monitored at each Finance Sub-Group meeting and reported back to the full Board of Trustees within the financial reporting procedures.

The calculated reserves fund will be reviewed quarterly to ensure it takes account of changing circumstances.

The reserves position as of 31st March 2022 is as follows:

• Total requirement of six months running costs, redundancy and committed core costs: £535,882

• Total unrestricted reserves, cash and investments (net of tangible fixed assets): £1,000,585

The trustees have assessed the current financial standing of the organisation with reference to current activity, projections, cash flows and reserves and have concluded that the charity is a going concern.

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

About us: Our purpose, values and strategic objectives

Our purpose and charitable objects

'To strengthen the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector, maximising opportunities to create positive social change, promote social justice and harness social benefit.'

Our charitable objects are to;

• promote any charitable purposes for the benefit of the public, principally but not exclusively in the local government areas of Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside and the surrounding area and, in particular, to build the capacity of third sector organisations and provide them with the necessary support, information and services to enable them to pursue or contribute to any charitable purpose.

• promote, organise and facilitate co-operation and partnership working between third sector, statutory and other relevant bodies in the achievement of the above purposes within the area of benefit.

Our mission is to strengthen the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector, increase individual social action, and work across organisational and sector boundaries to maximise every opportunity to harness social good and create social change. There are an estimated 3788 voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups in Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside according to our State of the Sector research.

Public Benefit - how we decide who to help

We make decisions in line with the Public Benefit guidance (2014) and ensure;

• Decisions are taken in line with our charitable objects

• That we adhere to our values in the decision we take

• We prioritise our services to help those that would be unable to pay for the support and / or who are tackling a significant social injustice

• We identify and minimise risks

• There is no personal benefit (or advantage) given to trustees or staff

Our values

Action Together's values underpin all its activities including our strategy, operational plan, workforce development and recruitment. We want to be held to account on our values, as ways of working that we will always strive for.

Believe it's possible - vision and ideas matter. We have confidence in the power of people and communities and strive to release their potential to create the widest possible benefits whilst promoting social justice;

Strengthen others - we work in ways that strengthen people, places, and partnerships. We achieve this by working collaboratively, sharing skills, and developing relationships between people, groups and agencies;

Be true - we are brave enough to share constructive insight to make progress. Our unique insight

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

comes from our connections with, and amplification of, the diverse range of voices of people and groups that we work with.

Structure, governance and management

Governance

The Board of Trustees is the governing body of Action Together and is ultimately responsible for everything the incorporated charitable organisation does. Action Together's board can have a maximum of 14 Board members, 12 of which are elected from its membership, with the ability to co-opt a further 2 people. Following the retirement of our Chair Roger Farnworth we were pleased to welcome Camilla Guereca as our new Chair. Camilla has served on the Board of Action Together since 2016.

Action Together Honorary Officers are: Chair - Camilla Guereca Vice Chair - Adrian Ball Treasurer - Anne Parkes

We welcomed two new Board members to the organisation following our AGM on 8 December 2021. A full list of the trustees can be found at http://www.actiontogether.org.uk/our-trustees

Board members are supported in their role by receiving an induction, and are offered support from the CEO and from other trustees. Trustees are encouraged to take up training and development opportunities, as well as external training that is of interest. Action Together has been working to review and strengthen its governance including an internal review of our strengths and opportunities for development.

Action Together has two standing committees that steer the work of Healthwatch Oldham and Healthwatch Tameside. These have their own terms of reference but ultimate accountability of the contracts and employment is with Action Together.

Structure and management

The day to day running of the charity is handled through a scheme of delegation to the Chief Executive, Liz Windsor-Welsh. The Chief Executive leads the Senior Leadership Team, which consists of the Chief Executive, Director of Finance and Operations, and the three Directors responsible for the management of our three locality teams in Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside. We had a team which averaged a headcount of 80 people.

Following the end of the previous financial year we closed our Rochdale office, and towards the end of this financial year we moved from our Oldham and Tameside offices. Our Oldham team are now based at Positive Steps, 80 Union St, Oldham OL1 1DJ. Our Tameside team are now based at Age UK, 131 Katherine St, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7AW.

We continued to build on our place-based working model, with teams based in local community venues, and as such have not re-opened our offices to the public. We continue to host meetings and visitors in our two bases, but are delivering our public-facing service in the community.

We continued to play a key part in 10GM, the joint venture to support sector in the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. Action Together represent three of the boroughs, and remain committed to working with our colleagues at Bolton CVS, Salford CVS, MACC and associates of other boroughs in order to achieve our charitable objects.

- 20 -

Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Our Systems

Our operating systems and processes continue to evolve to ensure that we are compliant with legislation, improve our efficiency and productivity, and offer an easily accessible service to all members of the community.

We closely followed COVID-19 restrictions as they developed over the course of the year, adapting our working models with the safety of our staff, member organisations and the people they support a high priority.

We further developed our hybrid working model, with most staff mixing home, office and community-based working. We stayed connected through Microsoft Teams, our 3CX phone system, and a refreshed shared server. Following some initial challenges with practicalities in accessing the new server, we moved to a Sharepoint model. This has been more successful, with staff more able to access shared files without the need for numerous logins and programs.

We have a number of staff groups to address internal and external processes and systems. These thematic groups are cross-locality and membership is open to all staff members on a voluntary basis.

We have formed an internal Anti-Racism Working Group across Action Together. The group has begun looking at our internal and external anti-racism work. The group held one initial session this quarter to meet each other and scope out the work, followed by anti-racism training delivered by Intersectional GLAM. The group will meet on a monthly basis, and Action Together's board will be identifying a trustee to connect with the work.

We have continued to develop https://www.actiontogether.org.uk to meet the needs of our members. Our website saw another year-on-year increase in visits, with a total of 658,665 hits, an increase of over 89,000 on the previous year. Our most popular pages were Find Funding, Volunteering, and Jobs listings. We also saw visits throughout the year to our online Covid advice and information. We also completed improvements to the Community Activities Directory.

We set up a Digital Accessibility Group, with attendees from member organisations and partners supporting us to improve the accessibility of our digital presence and communications. As a result we have introduced an accessibility widget across our website, featuring a text reader, language translation, and other functions.

We continue to ensure we are compliant with GDPR data protection, through our Data Protection Officer, and the latest employment legislation. We produced our first Data Protection and Data Security Annual Report, to provide the organisation's Senior Leadership Team and Board with an overview of all key issues relating to data protection and data security.

We will look to recruit an Operations Manager in the next financial year, in order to support us to develop our internal systems, support staff with adoption, and ensure we have a point of contact for systems and processes.

Risk management

All risks are identified and logged in a central file. All risks are escalated to the CEO and action taken according to the individual risk. Any risks that need to be escalated to the Board is done through email/phone if an immediate decision is required or through the quarterly board papers. All complex projects have a risk plan as part of the project initiation process.

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Future plans

Our Strategy to 2028

We will be launching our new five-year strategy in Q3 of the next financial year, to take us from 2023 to 2028. The strategy will cover all three of our localities, with these shared strategic priorities:

• Strategic Priority #1: Strengthen social infrastructure for connected communities

• Strategic Priority #2: Advance our approach to social change

• Strategic Priority #3: Grow and transform as a local funder

Strategic Priority #1: Strengthen social infrastructure for connected communities

We will do this by:

• Working in neighbourhoods, making Action Together's offer accessible to all parts of our communities

• Protecting our teams' capacity to build deep relationships with groups and champion what they do

• Developing more community-led, community-owned assets

• Strengthening community leadership and the role of community anchors in shaping neighbourhoods

How will we know we've succeeded?

• Annual membership feedback shows a deepening of our relationship with groups that helps them create change

• The economic difference the sector makes is better understood and wealth-building approaches are more widespread

• Community leadership is stronger and creating change in neighbourhoods

Strategic Priority #2: Advance our approach to social change

We will do this by:

• Developing our social change networks so they are owned by members with shared learning, power and decision making to make a real difference

• Developing participatory investment models that support networks and partnerships to take shared action

• Investing in our team and cultivating our skills so we can develop our approach to enable collective action

How will we know we've succeeded?

• We can tell powerful impact stories about collective action addressing root causes that has led to real change

• We have developed successful new practices and investment models that increase trust and collaboration

• More sector leaders feel supported and believe they can affect change

Strategic Priority #3: Grow and transform as a local funder

We will do this by:

• Establishing shared strategic investment mechanisms in each borough for public and private partners

• Investing in and trusting local organisations - more longer term funding, less bureaucracy, and more investment in the core of what they do

• Connecting and enhancing our development support so we invest time and skills as well as money

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Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

• Trying new ways for local groups to make decisions about where investment in their area goes

How will we know we've succeeded?

• There is a recognised way for partners to invest in each borough, creating more strategic and collective decision making

• Groups report a shift in our approach to grant giving

• Amazing impact stories are made possible by getting money to the right organisations and working with them to achieve their aims

What we need to make this possible

#1: Strategic Decision Making

We anticipate increasing potential for Action Together to be asked to take on direct provision, develop a commissioning relationship with our members, or fill gaps left by under-funded public services.

We therefore need to know confidently and consistently what to say 'yes' and 'no' to. If we are going to do more but better, we need to carefully decide what we think we can do that will have the greatest collective benefit.

We will do this by asking:

• Does this ask meet our charitable objectives to strengthen the VCFSE sector or lead to positive social change?

• Does it fit with our core work as an infrastructure organisation?

• Is this something our members offer? Or that they could offer with some development support?

• Can we change or influence the opportunity?

• 2: Systems and processes

We will have the skills and capacity to drive change across the organisation. The resilience of the people who make up Action Together is vital to what we do.

We need to:

• Create more time for our team to lead, learn and rest by minimising duplication

• Automate processes wherever we can

• Increase staff training and development

• Practice leadership at every level of the organisation to give our teams the confidence to work differently

- 23 -

Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Reference and administrative details

Registered charity name	Action Together CIO
Charity registration number	1165512
Principal office	80 Union Street
	Oldham
	OL1 1DJ
The trustees	A. Ball
	R. Farnworth	(Resigned 31 March 2022)
	C. Guereca
	A. Parkes
	J. Yates
	A. Wiggans
	J. Rehmen
	M. Sarwar
	R. Yaseen
	J. Mellor
	N. Akhter	(Appointed 20 May 2021)
	A. Begum Hussain	(Appointed 8 December 2021)
	N. Hussain	(Appointed 8 December 2021)
Auditor	Feltons
	Statutory Auditor & Chartered Accountants
	1 The Green
	Richmond
	Surrey
	TW9 1PL
Bankers	Unity Trust Bank plc
	4 Brindley Place
	Birmingham
	B1 2HP
	CCLA Investment Management
	Senator House
	85 Queen Victoria Street
	London
	EC4V 4ET
	Blackrock Investment Management (UK) Ltd
	12 Throgmorton Avenue
	London
	EC2N 2DL
	Castlefield
	9th Floor
	111 Piccadilly
	Manchester
	M1 2HY

- 24 -

Action Together CIO

Trustees' Annual Report (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Trustees' responsibilities statement

The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the charity trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the applicable Charities SORP;

• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the applicable Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations, and the provisions of the Trust Deed. They 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.

The trustees' annual report was approved on 26 January 2023 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:

C. Guereca[Trustee]

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Action Together CIO

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Action Together CIO

Year ended 31 March 2022

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Action Together CIO (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the statement of financial activities, statement of financial position, statement of cash flows and the related notes, 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 FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charity's affairs as at 31 March 2022 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice;

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.

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 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.

- 26 -

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Action Together CIO (continued)

Action Together CIO

Year ended 31 March 2022

Other information

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

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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 Charities Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• the information given in the trustees' report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements; or

• adequate accounting records have not been kept; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees' responsibilities statement, 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 the trustees 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.

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Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Action Together CIO (continued)

Action Together CIO

Year ended 31 March 2022

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.

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

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

• We assessed the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements, including the risk of material misstatement due to fraud and how it might occur, by holding discussions with management and those charged with governance.

• We obtained an understanding of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements through discussion with management and those charged with governance, including financial reporting and taxation legislation. We considered that extent of compliance with those laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items.

• We inquired of management and those charged with governance as to any known instances of noncompliance or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations. We remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.

• We addressed the risk of fraud through management override by reviewing the appropriateness of a sample of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements made in making key accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business that we come across throughout the audit.

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. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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 Auditors' report.

- 28 -

Action Together CIO Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Action Together CIO (contlnuedj Year ended 31 March 2022 Use of our report This report is made solely lo the charity's Iruslees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities IAccounls and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might slate lo the charity's members those matters we are required lo slate to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest exlenl permilled by law. we do not ac￿pt or assume responsibility lo anyone other than the charity and the charity's members as a body, for our aLJdil work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. Feltons Chartered Accountants & slatulory auditor 1 The Green Richmond Surrey TW9 1PL 2023 Feltons is eligible lo act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006. 29

Action Together CIO

Statement of Financial Activities

Year ended 31 March 2022

			2022		2021
		Unrestricted	Restricted
		funds	funds	Total funds	Total funds
	Note	£	£	£	£
Income
Funded charitable activities	4	–	6,828,303	6,828,303	4,691,156
Activities for generating funds	5	77,506	–	77,506	55,866
Investment income	6	5,603	–	5,603	6,761
		----------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Total income		83,109	6,828,303	6,911,412	4,753,783
		============================	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================
Expenditure
Expenditure on raising funds:
Support costs	7	523,793	–	523,793	541,711
Expenditure on charitable activities	8,9	–	6,068,141	6,068,141	3,944,894
Central administration and
management costs	10	(572,892)	–	(572,892)	(477,033)
		--------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Total expenditure		(49,099)	6,068,141	6,019,042	4,009,572
		================================	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================
Net gains/losses on investments	11	9,852	15,325	25,177	194,006
		--------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net income and net movement in	funds	142,060	775,487	917,547	938,217
		================================	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward		1,029,701	2,796,790	3,826,491	2,888,274
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Total funds carried forward		1,171,761	3,572,277	4,744,038	3,826,491
		=========================================	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 33 to 43 form part of these financial statements.

- 30 -

Action Together CIO

Statement of Financial Position

31 March 2022

		2022	2021
	Note	£	£
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets	16	171,176	171,007
Investments	17	1,368,754	1,320,953
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
		1,539,930	1,491,960
Current assets
Debtors	18	289,944	174,166
Cash at bank and in hand		3,067,363	2,693,600
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
		3,357,307	2,867,766
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	19	153,199	533,235
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net current assets		3,204,108	2,334,531
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Total assets less current liabilities		4,744,038	3,826,491
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net assets		4,744,038	3,826,491
		=========================================	=========================================
Funds of the charity
Restricted funds		3,572,277	2,796,790
Unrestricted funds		1,171,761	1,029,701
		-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Total charity funds	21	4,744,038	3,826,491
		=========================================	=========================================

These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees and authorised for issue on January 26th 2023, and are signed on behalf of the board by:

C. Guereca Trustee

A. Parkes Trustee

The notes on pages 33 to 43 form part of these financial statements.

- 31 -

Action Together CIO

Statement of Cash Flows

Year ended 31 March 2022

	2022	2021
	£	£
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income	917,547	938,217
Adjustments for:
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets	12,766	11,540
Net gains/losses on investments	(25,177)	(194,006)
Other interest receivable and similar income	(5,603)	(6,761)
Accrued (income)/expenses	(65,727)	78,264
Changes in:
Trade and other debtors	(115,778)	(78,176)
Trade and other creditors	(314,309)	265,265
	--------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Cash generated from operations	403,719	1,014,343
Interest received	5,603	6,761
	--------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net cash from operating activities	409,322	1,021,104
	================================	=========================================
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible assets	(12,935)	(14,203)
Purchases of other investments	(24,563)	(2,647)
Proceeds from sale of other investments	1,939	2,187
	--------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net cash used in investing activities	(35,559)	(14,663)
	================================	=========================================
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents	373,763	1,006,441
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year	2,693,600	1,687,159
	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year	3,067,363	2,693,600
	=========================================	=========================================

The notes on pages 33 to 43 form part of these financial statements.

- 32 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year ended 31 March 2022

1. General information

The charity is a public benefit entity and a registered charity in England and Wales and is unincorporated. The address of the principal office is 95-97 Penny Meadow, Ashton-Under-Lyne, OL6 6EP.

2. Statement of compliance

These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', the 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) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011.

3. Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.

Going concern

There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.

Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported. These estimates and judgements are continually reviewed and are based on experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further any of the charity's purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular future project or commitment.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.

Incoming resources

All income is included in the statement of financial activities when entitlement has passed to the charity, it is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the charity and the amount can be reliably measured. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

• income from donations or grants is recognised when there is evidence of entitlement to the gift, receipt is probable and its amount can be measured reliably.

- 33 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

3. Accounting policies (continued)

Incoming resources (continued)

• income from contracts for the supply of services is recognised with the delivery of the contracted service. This is classified as unrestricted funds unless there is a contractual requirement for it to be spent on a particular purpose and returned if unspent, in which case it will be regarded as restricted.

• receipts received during the year which are not to be expended until after the balance sheet date are not recognised as income for the year and are included in income deferred (note 19).

Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:

• expenditure on raising funds includes the costs of all fundraising activities, events,

non-charitable trading activities.

• expenditure on charitable activities includes all costs incurred by a charity in undertaking activities that further its charitable aims for the benefit of its beneficiaries, including those support costs and costs relating to the governance of the charity apportioned to charitable activities.

All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.

Tangible assets

Tangible assets are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently stated at cost less any accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Any tangible assets carried at revalued amounts are recorded at the fair value at the date of revaluation less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.

An increase in the carrying amount of an asset as a result of a revaluation, is recognised in other recognised gains and losses, unless it reverses a charge for impairment that has previously been recognised as expenditure within the statement of financial activities. A decrease in the carrying amount of an asset as a result of revaluation, is recognised in other recognised gains and losses, except to which it offsets any previous revaluation gain, in which case the loss is shown within other recognised gains and losses on the statement of financial activities.

Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost or valuation of an asset, less its residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:

Fixtures and fittings	-	25% straight line
Motor vehicles	-	25% straight line
Equipment	-	25% straight line

The fair value of freehold property will be reviewed on an annual basis.

- 34 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

3. Accounting policies (continued)

Investments

Unlisted equity investments are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently measured at fair value. If fair value cannot be reliably measured, assets are measured at cost less impairment.

Listed investments are measured at fair value with changes in fair value being recognised in income or expenditure.

Impairment of fixed assets

A review for indicators of impairment is carried out at each reporting date, with the recoverable amount being estimated where such indicators exist. Where the carrying value exceeds the recoverable amount, the asset is impaired accordingly. Prior impairments are also reviewed for possible reversal at each reporting date.

For the purposes of impairment testing, when it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, an estimate is made of the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs. The cash-generating unit is the smallest identifiable group of assets that includes the asset and generates cash inflows that largely independent of the cash inflows from other assets or groups of assets.

Debtors

Short-term debtors are measured at transaction price, less any impairment. Prepayments are recognised for all expenditure incurred for future periods.

Creditors

Creditors are recognised where there is a present obligation resulting from a past event that will result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due can be measured reliably.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash or cash equivalents comprise cash at bank and cash in hand.

- 35 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

3. Accounting policies (continued)

Financial instruments

A financial asset or a financial liability is recognised only when the entity becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at the amount receivable or payable including any related transaction costs, unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where it is recognised at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest for a similar debt instrument.

Current assets and current liabilities are subsequently measured at the cash or other consideration expected to be paid or received and not discounted.

Where investments in shares or preference shares are publicly traded or their fair value can otherwise be measured reliably, the investment is subsequently measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognised in income and expenditure. All other such investments are subsequently measured at cost less impairment.

Financial assets that are measured at cost or amortised cost are reviewed for objective evidence of impairment at the end of each reporting date. If there is objective evidence of impairment, an impairment loss is recognised under the appropriate heading in the statement of financial activities in which the initial gain was recognised.

For all equity instruments regardless of significance, and other financial assets that are individually significant, these are assessed individually for impairment.

Any reversals of impairment are recognised immediately, to the extent that the reversal does not result in a carrying amount of the financial asset that exceeds what the carrying amount would have been had the impairment not previously been recognised.

Defined contribution plans

Contributions to defined contribution plans are recognised as an expense in the period in which the related service is provided. Prepaid contributions are recognised as an asset to the extent that the prepayment will lead to a reduction in future payments or a cash refund.

When contributions are not expected to be settled wholly within 12 months of the end of the reporting date in which the employees render the related service, the liability is measured on a discounted present value basis. The unwinding of the discount is recognised as an expense in the period in which it arises.

- 36 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

4. Funded charitable activities

Funded charitable activities
	Restricted	Total Funds	Restricted	Total Funds
	Funds	2022	Funds	2021
	£	£	£	£
Grants
Core Infrastructure	990,098	990,098	1,050,024	1,050,024
Healthwatch	301,806	301,806	307,653	307,653
Grants and investments in the VCFSE	3,811,979	3,811,979	1,902,089	1,902,089
Social Prescribing/Community
wellbeing	1,591,738	1,591,738	1,140,363	1,140,363
LTO	566	566	–	–
Big Local	–	–	105,525	105,525
Other projects and consultancy	132,116	132,116	185,502	185,502
	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
	6,828,303	6,828,303	4,691,156	4,691,156
	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================

5. Activities for generating funds

Activities for generating funds
	Unrestricted	Total Funds	Unrestricted	Total Funds
	Funds	2022	Funds	2021
	£	£	£	£
Activities for generating funds	77,506	77,506	25,196	25,196
Lloyds core activity grant	–	–	30,000	30,000
Miscellaneous	–	–	670	670
	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------
	77,506	77,506	55,866	55,866
	============================	============================	============================	============================

6. Investment income

Investment income
	Unrestricted	Total Funds	Unrestricted	Total Funds
	Funds	2022	Funds	2021
	£	£	£	£
Bank interest	692	692	1,291	1,291
Dividends	4,911	4,911	5,470	5,470
	-----------------------	-----------------------	-----------------------	-----------------------
	5,603	5,603	6,761	6,761
	=======================	=======================	=======================	=======================

In addition income on investments held within the Action Oldham Fund and the Tameside 4 Good Fund have been included in the income of those funds:-

					2022	2021
					£	£
	Bank interest and dividends				26,010	24,076
					============================	============================
7.	Support costs
		Unrestricted	Total Funds		Unrestricted	Total Funds
		Funds		2022	Funds	2021
		£		£	£	£
	Management and administration costs	523,793		523,793	541,711	541,711
		================================		================================	================================	================================

- 37 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

7. Support costs (continued)

Support costs (continued)
	2022	2021
	£	£
Staff costs	399,937	371,995
Premises and office costs	96,306	144,371
Irrecoverable Vat	12,938	11,934
Investment income management fees	1,846	1,870
Depreciation	12,766	11,541
	--------------------------------	--------------------------------
	523,793	541,711
	================================	================================

Premises and office costs include audit fees £7,750 (2021 : £7,750).

8. Expenditure on charitable activities by fund type

	Restricted	Total Funds	Restricted	Total Funds
	Funds	2022	Funds	2021
	£	£	£	£
Core Infrastructure	776,893	776,893	728,189	728,189
Healthwatch	248,282	248,282	227,743	227,743
Grants and investments in VCFSE	2,766,702	2,766,702	1,305,012	1,305,012
Social Prescribing/Community
Wellbeing	1,484,698	1,484,698	994,154	994,154
Big Local	–	–	40,372	40,372
LTO	82,492	82,492	–	–
Other projects and consultancy	136,182	136,182	172,390	172,390
Support costs	572,892	572,892	477,034	477,034
	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
	6,068,141	6,068,141	3,944,894	3,944,894
	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================

9. Expenditure on charitable activities by activity type

	Activities
	undertaken	Support	Total funds	Total fund
	directly	costs	2022	2021
	£	£	£	£
Core Infrastructure	776,893	141,113	918,006	960,174
Healthwatch	248,282	73,750	322,032	301,097
Grants and investments in VCFSE	2,766,702	126,274	2,892,976	1,356,745
Social Prescribing/Community
Wellbeing	1,484,698	145,772	1,630,470	1,097,373
Big Local	–	–	–	49,539
LTO	82,492	11,900	94,392	–
Other projects and consultancy	136,182	74,083	210,265	179,966
	-----------------------------------------	--------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
	5,495,249	572,892	6,068,141	3,944,894
	=========================================	================================	=========================================	=========================================

Details of grants made are included on our website at https:www.actiontogether.org.uk

- 38 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

10. Central administration and management costs

		Unrestricted	Total Funds	Unrestricted	Total Funds
		Funds	2022	Funds	2021
		£	£	£	£
	Costs recovered from administration
	and management of restricted funds	(572,892)	(572,892)	(477,033)	(477,033)
		================================	================================	================================	================================
11.	Net gains/losses on investments
			Unrestricted	Restricted	Total Funds
			Funds	Funds	2022
			£	£	£
	Gains/(losses) on listed investments		9,852	15,325	25,177
			=======================	============================	============================
			Unrestricted	Restricted	Total Funds
			Funds	Funds	2021
			£	£	£
	Gains/(losses) on listed investments		65,859	128,147	194,006
			============================	================================	================================
12.	Net income
	Net income is stated after charging/(crediting):
				2022	2021
				£	£
	Depreciation of tangible fixed assets			12,766	11,540
				============================	============================
13.	Staff costs
	The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as				follows:
				2022	2021
				£	£
	Wages and salaries			1,807,799	1,896,817
	Social security costs			180,841	167,716
	Employer contributions to pension plans			112,696	104,401
				-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
				2,101,336	2,168,934
				=========================================	=========================================
	The average head count of employees during the year was 84 (2021: 73). The average number
	of full-time equivalent employees during	the year is analysed as follows:
				2022	2021
				No.	No.
	Direct charitable activities			73	62
	Office and administration			11	11
				--------------	--------------
				84	73
				==============	==============
	The number of employees whose remuneration for the		year fell within	the following	bands, were:
				2022	2021
				No.	No.
	£60,000 to £69,999			1	1
				==============	==============

- 39 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

13. Staff costs (continued)

Key Management Personnel

Key management personnel include all persons that have authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the charity. The total compensation paid to key management personnel for services provided to the charity was £136,333 (2021:£133,442).

14. Trustee remuneration and expenses

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year.

15. Volunteers

Action Together supports people to volunteer in their area, and assists local organisations in developing volunteer programmes, policies and roles. Residents of Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside can register with our volunteer brokerage service, and we will match them with local volunteering opportunities.

In the last year 1,508 people registered to volunteer with Action Together, and 1,332 found roles actively volunteering in their communities. We developed a place-based volunteering brokerage model, building on our learnings from the pandemic to meet and match people with local volunteer opportunities in their area. Action Together volunteer roles included supporting vaccination clinics, Community Champions engaging with people in their areas around Covid, doorstep donation and collection schemes, and supporting humanitarian aid, food access and poverty relief.

16. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
	Freehold	Fixtures and	Motor
	property	fittings	vehicles	Equipment	Total
	£	£	£	£	£
Cost
At 1 April 2021	150,000	39,080	24,299	24,704	238,083
Additions	–	–	–	12,935	12,935
Disposals	–	(30,080)	–	–	(30,080)
	--------------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	--------------------------------
At 31 March 2022	150,000	9,000	24,299	37,639	220,938
	================================	============================	============================	============================	================================
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021	–	30,632	24,299	12,145	67,076
Charge for the year	–	4,695	–	8,071	12,766
Disposals	–	(30,080)	–	–	(30,080)
	--------------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	--------------------------------
At 31 March 2022	–	5,247	24,299	20,216	49,762
	================================	============================	============================	============================	================================
Carrying amount
At 31 March 2022	150,000	3,753	–	17,423	171,176
	================================	============================	============================	============================	================================
At 31 March 2021	150,000	8,448	–	12,559	171,007
	================================	============================	============================	============================	================================

The charity acquired the freehold property at a value of £150,000 (based on a professional valuation in 2017) when the charity was formed from the merger of Voluntary Action Oldham and Community Voluntary Action Tameside.

- 40 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

17. Investments

Investments
	Listed	Other
	investments	investments	Total
	£	£	£
Cost or valuation
At 1 April 2021	1,298,140	22,813	1,320,953
Additions	24,563	–	24,563
Disposals	–	(1,939)	(1,939)
Fair value movements	25,177	–	25,177
	-----------------------------------------	----------------------------	-----------------------------------------
At 31 March 2022	1,347,880	20,874	1,368,754
	=========================================	============================	=========================================
Impairment
At 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022		–	–
		============================	=========================================
Carrying amount
At 31 March 2022	1,347,880	20,874	1,368,754
	=========================================	============================	=========================================
At 31 March 2021	1,298,140	22,813	1,320,953
	=========================================	============================	=========================================

All investments shown above are held at valuation.

Financial assets held at fair value

All listed investments are held in the United Kingdom and are incorporated at fair value at March 31, 2022.

18. Debtors

18.	Debtors
		2022	2021
		£	£
	Accounts receivable	270,975	160,483
	Prepayments	17,404	8,551
	Other debtors	1,565	5,132
		--------------------------------	--------------------------------
		289,944	174,166
		================================	================================
19.	Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
		2022	2021
		£	£
	Amounts payable	4,147	7,875
	Accruals	55,764	121,491
	Social security and other taxes	58,288	88,669
	Income deferred	35,000	315,200
		--------------------------------	--------------------------------
		153,199	533,235
		================================	================================
	Income deferred is explained in the Accounting Policies under Incoming resources.
	The movements are as follows:
	Deferred income brought forward	315,200
	Resources deferred during the year	20,000
	Amounts released from previous years	(300,200)
	Deferred income carried forward	35,000

- 41 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

20. Pensions and other post retirement benefits

Defined contribution plans

The amount recognised in income or expenditure as an expense in relation to defined contribution plans was £112,696 (2021: £104,401).

21. Analysis of charitable funds

Unrestricted funds

	At				Gains and	At 31 Mar
	1 Apr 2021	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	losses	2022
	£	£	£	£	£	£
General funds	952,701	83,109	49,099	(13,487)	9,852	1,081,274
Designated Fund	77,000	–	–	13,487	–	90,487
	-----------------------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	-----------------------	-----------------------------------------
	1,029,701	83,109	49,099	-	9,852	1,171,761
	=========================================	============================	============================	============================	=======================	=========================================
	At				Gains and	At 31 Mar
	1 Apr 2020	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	losses	2021
	£	£	£	£	£	£
General funds	965,893	62,627	(64,678)	(77,000)	65,859	952,701
Designated Fund	–	–	–	77,000	–	77,000
	--------------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	----------------------------	-----------------------------------------
	965,893	62,627	(64,678)	–	65,859	1,029,701
	================================	============================	============================	============================	============================	=========================================
Restricted funds
	At				Gains and	At 31 Mar
	1 Apr 2021	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	losses	2022
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Direct charitable
activities	2,796,790	6,828,303	(6,068,141)	–	15,325	3,572,277
	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================	==============	============================	=========================================
	At				Gains and	At 31 Mar
	1 Apr 2020	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	losses	2021
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Direct charitable
activities	1,922,381	4,691,155	(3,944,893)	–	128,147	2,796,790
	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================	==============	================================	=========================================

22. Related parties

There are no related party transactions.

- 42 -

Action Together CIO

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

23. Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total Funds
	Funds	Funds	2022
	£	£	£
Tangible fixed assets	171,176	–	171,176
Investments	354,857	1,013,897	1,368,754
Current assets	763,927	2,593,380	3,357,307
Creditors less than 1 year	(118,199)	(35,000)	(153,199)
	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net assets	1,171,761	3,572,277	4,744,038
	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total Funds
	Funds	Funds	2021
	£	£	£
Tangible fixed assets	171,007	–	171,007
Investments	368,427	952,526	1,320,953
Current assets	708,302	2,159,464	2,867,766
Creditors less than 1 year	(218,035)	(315,200)	(533,235)
	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------	-----------------------------------------
Net assets	1,029,701	2,796,790	3,826,491
	=========================================	=========================================	=========================================

24. Going concern

The Trustees have assessed the current financial standing of the organisation with reference to current activity projections, cash flows and reserves as well as the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and its impact on the organisation and have concluded that the charity is a going concern.

25. Analysis of changes in net debt

Analysis of changes in net debt
				At
	At	1 Apr 2021	Cash flows	31 Mar 2022
		£	£	£
Cash at bank and in hand		2,693,600	373,763	3,067,363
		=========================================	================================	=========================================

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