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2023-12-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report and Independently Examined Accounts

For the year period ending 31st December 2023

www.freetobekids.org.uk

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 1

Reference and administrative details

STATUS Charitable Incorporated Organisation REGISTERED OFFICE Living Space 1 Coral Street Lambeth London SE1 7BE TRUSTEES Emma Kendall (Chair from Feb 2023) Rosie Macpherson (Chair until February 2023) Amy Gutcher (Treasurer, resigned November 2023) Elena Davies (appointed May 2023, Treasurer from November 2023) Debbie Boughtflower (Deputy Chair, resigned February 2024) Dr Gemma Cheney Chris Butterfield (resigned May 2023) Beulah Antonin Leila Shepherd-North Richard Nicholas Olusola Adebiyi (appointed September 2023) Theresa Dauncey (appointed May 2024) Joel Campbell-Brazier (appointed May 2024) Amy-Kate Robinson (appointed May 2024) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Mike Gee Rachel Mugan BANKERS HSBC plc INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Shruti Soni FCCA FCIE Shruti Soni Ltd Chartered Certified Accountants 117A St. John’s Hill Sevenoaks TN13 3PE

The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 of the accounts. They comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011, and the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (“SORP”), applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

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Overview

The particularly vulnerable children Free to Be supports have little other access to time away from often very challenging home circumstances, no access to the benefits of the outdoors or, for increasing numbers, to effective mental health support. The cumulative impact of first Covid and resulting lockdowns, followed quickly by the cost of living crisis, continues to be immense. The majority have had the building blocks of good mental health deeply eroded - reaching us with destroyed confidence and very significant challenges around anxiety, resilience, managing frustration/anger, and with most having extremely limited belief in their capacity to achieve. 2023 has seen us continue to deliver deeply impactful work transforming these children’s mental health.

In 2023, 213 individual children accessed joy and adventure on our programmes and came away reporting vastly improved confidence, increased resilience, gains in the capacity to work together, manage frustration and a reduction in anxiety. Feelings of hopelessness and risk taking behaviour improved as our projects helped vulnerable children develop their stories about themselves, supported them to achieve beyond their own expectations, increased educational aspirations and unlocked children’s belief in the power of their own potential. In total we provided 327 residential programme places, 3,503 healthy meals, and just under 20,000 hours of mental health focussed support to this exceptionally vulnerable group of young people.

Financial results for the year have been strong, producing a surplus of £63,500 following last year’s small deficit (£16,000) – this reflects the investment in staffing and organisational infrastructures designed to help us build our fundraising, volunteer recruitment and other key capacity areas across 2023 and 2024, these being crucial foundations for planned sustainable growth to meet need through 2025-2026 and onwards. The charity remains in a financially stable position, holding free unrestricted reserves of approximately 5-6 months’ full expenditure, though as with most charities, reliant upon in-year fundraising to deliver its services.

Our 5 year strategy is focussed on long-term follow on support to the highest need young people of the already deeply vulnerable children we work with, including an eventual aim to double place numbers built around sustainable and gradual growth of our existing long-term support pathways: our Mentoring, Young Leaders’ and Journey Programmes. 2023 again saw significant financial and time investment towards the foundations which will underpin this focus on long-term support.

Throughout the year, Trustees had regard for the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit when overseeing the activities of the charity.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 3

Our model - about Free to Be Kids

Free to Be Kids (colloquially ‘Free to Be’) supports some of the most vulnerable children in London to rebuild the foundations of positive mental health using the power of nature and the outdoors.

The majority of children referred to us have deeply ingrained negative views of themselves and their potential. Often reinforced by deeply challenging home and school lives, many arrive believing they are different, failing, rejected or alone. The majority have never left their area of London before. Abuse, harm, trauma and neglect characterise the majority of their childhoods. Most families referred to us do not access other mainstream support.

Our residential and mentoring projects support these children to feel proud, brave, adventurous and special, transforming their stories about who they are, and what they can achieve. Using the power of the outdoors, our programmes are carefully designed using key concepts from attachment, narrative and systems theories to support anxiety, rebuild confidence, address challenges managing anger/frustration, develop resilience and increase aspirations.

The objects of the CIO are, for the public benefit, the relief of children and young people residing in London who are in need by reason of their youth, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage via the provision of services that:

c. increase access to new or enriching experiences that will facilitate social learning and the development of new skills.

| freetobekids.org.uk

4

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 5

Programme Structure

Children are referred by Child Protection Social Workers, schools, domestic violence refuges, Young Carers’ groups, and others working with some of the most marginalised children in London. Heavily oversubscribed annually, all projects are provided free of charge to families to prioritise access for families in exceptional need. We specialise in working with families described by others as ‘hard to reach’.

Children initially attend ‘Thrive Outside’, a range of 5 day therapeutically structured residentials designed to rebuild the foundations of positive mental health (confidence, selfesteem, resilience, positive aspirations) via a carefully scaffolded programme of outdoor activities. The projects are characterised by joy, adventure, and belonging and employ high adult:child ratios of 1:2 to ensure every child has the attention, support and care they need to rebuild often deeply damaged narratives about their worth and potential. The highest need children return year on year for as long as they need us.

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Thrive Outside intentionally functions as a gateway into our longer term support programmes:

Journey Programme: a series of 6 specialised small group, high intervention residentials attended by the same cohort of older young people (aged 12-15) with complex needs over 18 months. Designed to deliver deep impact in supporting harder to reach young people to develop their story about themselves, improve their emotional and mental health, and to make healthier life choices.

Mentoring Programme: providing a year’s worth of one-to-one support during evenings and weekends to higher need children who’ve attended Thrive Outside gateway projects and are in need of longer term support to build confidence and aspirations. 30 sessions over a year.

Young Leaders Programme: supports our oldest teenagers (aged 14-17) who, having graduated from our other programmes, are trained and supported to return on Thrive Outside residentials as young volunteers. Further developing responsibility, teamwork and key life and employability skills the programme empowers them to complete their journey from beneficiary to leader as they dedicate their own time to role modelling and leadership of younger peers.

We are deeply committed to evaluation and evidencing impact, publishing a detailed Impact Report annually.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 7

Structure, Governance and Management

Free to Be Kids is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (C.I.O), registered charity number 1165678, and is governed via its constitution and its ‘Policy & Procedures’ manual. As an organisation built around delivering direct support to vulnerable children, with an emphasis on residential work, Free to Be recognises the special responsibilities it holds in respect of safeguarding and child protection. Robust safer recruitment procedures are in place governing the recruitment of volunteers. All components of all projects are subject to thorough risk assessment. Where external instructors are required, they are selected in line with the relevant standards for accreditation. Policies in these areas are carefully developed in accordance with current legislation and sector best practice and are reviewed every two years.

The Trustees confirm appropriate insurance is in place covering all activities.

The charity is led by a small leadership team with governance provided by the separate Trustee Board. Between them the leadership team have in excess of 40 years’ experience leading interventions and residential work with extremely vulnerable young people. The charity’s safeguarding provision is led by Mike Gee who is a consultant social worker with 20 year’s post-qualifying practice and particular experience working with vulnerable children in non-mainstream settings.

Through the financial year the Board undertook an in-depth skills audit and subsequent recruitment process, culminating in the appointment of two new trustees to the Board. New trustees are appointed by due process led by the current trustees, and trustees serve for a term of three years, after which they may be reappointed. Trustee meetings took place at least termly.

The Board includes senior professionals qualified in the following areas of expertise:

Free to Be Kids is run by a small staff team, increasing during 2023 from 6 up to 7, keeping core costs to a minimum. All staff work directly with young people as part of their role. The Charity relies upon and benefits immensely from several thousand hours of volunteer support each year. We believe it is the special qualities uniquely brought by volunteers – their particular passion, creativity and commitment to come together to make things work and to do the small things well, which makes what we offer so special.

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8

Achievements and Performance

The Trustee’s primary goals for the 2023 financial year were:

The charity has achieved each of these aims. The focus for the year has very much been one of ‘sustainability’. We have invested large amounts of work in adapting our operations and programme structure to now run all of our Thrive Programmes via our new base at Cudham Environmental Activities Centre, with great success, cemented via our strong partnership with the Woodcraft Folk. This has involved much systems redesign, but now allows these projects to run on a much more efficient basis than the previous ‘pop up venue’ model, laying strong foundations for future growth.

We successfully extended our Journey Programme duration from 4 residentials to 6, increasing by 50% the amount of support we are now able to offer our most vulnerable cohort of young people. We also rolled out enhancements to our Young Leaders’ Programme building in additional year-round support for these young volunteers, as well as continuing our successful Mentoring Programme. Taken together this embodies the beginning of our strategy to focus our support on our highest need children – in fact leading to a slight drop in individual children supported (229 in 2022 down to 213 this year), but with higher numbers of project places delivered (from 319, up slightly to 327 this year), as well as an increase in overall hours of support provided. These numbers reflect a continued focus on smaller scale projects to maximise impact for our most vulnerable young people.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 9

This was all made possible by continued focus on our infrastructure, to ensure that we have the right bedrock in place to ensure future growth is sustainable. Investment in staffing, growing the team from 6 FTE up to 7 this year, with plans for this to increase to 8 during 2024, and successfully trialling summer seasonal staff, are key aspects of this. Our airtable based new database for children, volunteer and project data is also now fully embedded throughout the organisation and has led to huge simplification of residential project planning and on-project systems, saving significant time which can now be reinvested in high quality direct work with young people.

Finally, 2023 also saw us access pro-bono advice and discounted support to re-work ‘our look’ to better reflect the journey we’ve been on from micro charity in 2016 to impactful medium sized charity now. 2024 will see a new website with targeted information for referrers, families, funders and volunteers, alongside strategies around communications and reach, forming central aspects of our strategy to grow our volunteer numbers and funding base prior to delivering on our 5 year strategy to double places for our most vulnerable young people.

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Programmes delivered were:

----- Start of picture text -----
Individual
Notes
young people
----- End of picture text -----

216 Thrive Outside residential places provided to 171 children
Thrive Outside 170 (As via our recurring respite ongoing support strand, higher need
children attend multiple times to enhance impact.)
As a rolling 18 month programme, 2 cohorts of 8 young people started
Journey
Programme		 37 their journey in 2023, whilst a separate 4 cohorts fnished, some
having been extended due to Covid delays in 2021.
Total residentialprojectplaces delivered = 80.
Mentoring
Programme		 14
Young Leaders’
Programme		 10
Saturday Club 21

Table referrers to individual children participating on each project. Some children attended more than one project/category of project. Total unique children worked with across all projects in 2023 was 213.

Referrals & Need:

We again experienced very high demand for our services as the cost of living crisis severely impacted family’s mental health, finances, and coping strategies. There were very many incredibly sad stories, including a 12 year old girl who’d had 5 foster placements and 13 social workers in the past 3 years, and a 9 year old boy selfharming after years of witnessing domestic abuse.

As usual, referring organisations included a wide range of primary and secondary schools operating in deprived areas of London, specialist homelessness charities, Social Services teams, Young Carers’ projects, housing associations and a range of other community and charitable organisations. Families referred were often dealing with multiple, often inter-linked, issues of poverty, emotional and behavioural challenges and historical trauma.

Of those referred to us in 2023:

For 91% these difficulties were impacting mental health, leading to emotional or social difficulties assessed within either their school or home environment. In particular, the majority struggled with issues relating to low self-confidence, low self-esteem and very limited views of their own worth and potential.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 11

Volunteers & staffing:

Volunteers are our most crucial resource and growth of our volunteer pool continued to be the key aim for 2023 as, alongside funding base growth, this is the key catalyst in unlocking future project place growth. In total 2023 saw 230 volunteers support our projects with over 16,000 combined volunteering hours, an increase of 43% from 161 volunteers in 2022, and 104 in 2021.

As per last year’s report, a core task has been to grow our staff team to prepare for planned growth. Full time equivalent staffing grew from 6 FTE to 7 by the end of 2022. Further, limited, staffing growth will be required over the next 2 years to ensure planned delivery aims are sustainable with a forecast of 8-9 FTE required to deliver the organisation’s core work sustainably by late 2024. Securing longer term grants and corporate support to underpin staffing growth, in turn underpinning increased project delivery, remains a key aim for 2024.

Impact:

The trustees place a high value on evidencing the value and impact of the services Free to Be provides. At the end of projects young people complete child focussed feedback forms allowing us to gather their stories, drawings and the words they use to describe the growth and change. Adult volunteers complete observation sheets and structured feedback opportunities are provided for referrers and for parents. In 2023:

For our long term Journey Programme, 100% of young people self-assessed themselves as having increased resilience, anger management, confidence or other core social skills. 92% of parents/carers reported that their children had reduced risk in at least 2 key areas following the programme (including risk of school exclusion, becoming involved in criminality and developing mental health problems) with 92% of young people and 100% of parents/carers reporting their child showing improved aspirations and belief that they can achieve more than they had thought by the end of the programme.

Further detail regarding our impact can be found within our 2023 Impact Report

Risk Review

The charity did not experience any major incidents of risk relating to its operations, reputation, finances nor the safeguarding or welfare of participants during the period.

Trustees continued to maintain, review and update a register of significant risks to the charity’s operation and ongoing effectiveness. The trustees confirm that the major risks to which the charity may be exposed continue to be kept under review and that systems are in place and functioning effectively to manage any such risks.

12 | freetobekids.org.uk

Financial Review

2023 was a very strong fundraising year with income increasing 61% to £663,991 (2022: £412,030; 2021: £456,809), outperforming projections (£580,000) principally as a result of two larger one-off donations, one in particular arising from the sad closure of a charity doing similar work to Free to Be Kids who donated part proceeds of their closure property sale. As projected however, the majority of this very significant jump in income comes directly from 2022-23’s investment in increased staffing resources. Investment in mid-2022 to create 2 Operations team staff posts directly led 6-9 months later to increased CEO time, supplemented by our first ever fundraising hire mid-2023, to divert to a refocussed fundraising strategy which included our first larger scale Corporate partnerships, refined pitches to key Trusts & Foundations, launching our first sponsorship events programme and building larger scale campaigns around our May celebration gala and June ‘double your donation’ match funded drive.

Income from Trusts, Foundations and Corporates remained the largest stream, at £429,261 accounting for approximately 65% of income (2022: £283,832, 69%), followed by Individual Giving & Events at £142,700, 21%. (2022: £44,000, 11%). This latter result is influenced by a large one-off donation (£56,250 including Gift Aid) but even discounting this reflects a doubling of income in this category, reflective of the significant time invested in diversifying income streams in 2023. As per last year, successful delivery of local Government contracts under the Government’s ‘Holiday activity and food programme’ (HAF) brought in £33,700 (5%), slightly down from £41,000 in 2022 due to over-subscription of these funds resulting in increased competition and lowered funding awards. The balance of income came from Gifts/Services in Kind (£36,240, 5%, nearly doubled from 2022’s £19,386) and referrer contributions (3%).

Significant successes included the growth of our now annual Fundraising gala event, led by our wonderful corporate partners Higson Consulting, raising just under £35,000, up from c£15,000 in its inaugural year last year. Proceeds from participation in the Childhood Trust’s summer ‘double your donation’ match funded campaign more than trebled from £23,000 in 2022 to £85,000 this. Both events were key areas of focus as we worked hard to diversify our reliance on Trusts and Foundations amidst a deeply challenging national climate for Foundation led giving. The trustees remain incredibly grateful to all the individual donors who ran marathons; sky dived from planes; undertook triathlons, and donated via birthday, wedding, funeral collections and more throughout the year.

Income by percentage 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
69
70
64.7 63 % of income (2023)
% of income (2022)
% of income (2021)
52.5
35
21.5
17.5 15
10.7 10 11
8
5 5.5 5.5 4.3
3.3 2.5
1.2
0.1 0.1
0
Grants & Individuals HAF Gifts in Kind Referrer Other
corporates & events contracts contributions
----- End of picture text -----

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 13

Costs: in line with our on-going strategic plan to invest in our infrastructure to prepare the foundations for planned sustainable future growth, overall costs have risen 40% to £600,461 (2022: £428,031). Our principal cost remains staffing - the complex needs of the children Free to Be support requires projects are planned and then led on the ground by experienced and skilled staff. As participant project places grow, and as we invest to ensure workloads are sustainable, consequently so does the organisation’s salary needs. Salary and employment related costs increased 48% from £202,457 (2022) to £300,444 this year, driven by this planned staffing growth but also impacted by continued high UK inflation. This was in line with pre-year projections. Staff costs are projected to rise to c.£350,000 for 2024 and c.£415,000 in 2025 before stabilising from 2026 as staff numbers grow to support significantly increased project delivery to vulnerable young people.

90% of the charity’s expenditure in 2023 (2022: 93%) related to delivery and management of projects and provision of support to young people, including project support costs, with the remaining 10% relating to the cost of raising funds, infrastructure costs, and governance. Inevitably as the organisation grows to support more young people, the associated fundraising task will require further staffing support, but the trustees remain committed that all staff regardless of role will always spend time working directly on projects with vulnerable children as this ensures the charity remains orientated entirely around the needs of the children we support.

Other principal costs were again accommodation hire for residential programmes, outdoor activity instructor fees, food, fuel and other consumables directly related to residential project delivery.

Costs by percentage 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
Cost of raising funds 10%
Other Programmes 10%
Thrive Outside 49%
Mentoring 6%
Journey Programme 25%
----- End of picture text -----

As a whole, 2023’s figures present a strong set of financial results, leading to a surplus of c£63,500, increased diversification of income and planned cost growth managed broadly in line with projections. The charity continues to grow significantly and has continued to deliver strong donor confidence whilst doing so. Despite this year’s, likely one-off, surplus, projections show future income tracking within 3-5% of costs through 2024 and 2025, with an aim to have built the capacity (fundraising and volunteer numbers) to grow more rapidly through 2026-27 onwards.

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Projected Income & Costs 2023-2026, showing 5 year history

----- Start of picture text -----
800,000
Income by year
Costs by year
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
----- End of picture text -----

Key aims for 2024 remain to further imbed sustainability whilst managing steady growth, before a potential step change in the amount of long-term follow-on beneficiary support (mentoring, Young Leaders, Journey Programmes) from 2025-2026 onwards, though this stage of the growth plan is reliant upon first achieving funding stability at the current level of operations and will not proceed until the Trustees assess the charity is ready. In order to support these sustainability and growth goals, the charity continues to need the support of longer-term grant funding and corporate donors, and will reach out to funders particularly interested in supporting the sustainable growth of high promise small charities.

Reserves statement:

The Board have kept the charity’s reserves policy and position under review throughout the year. Following such review, the Board have this year updated the Reserves policy to better reflect the year round nature of our work and increasing staffing costs, to now state “Our policy requires we hold a minimum of three, and maximum of six, months’ full costs in reserve”.

At the end of the 2023 financial year, projected quarterly operating expenditure for 2024 was calculated at c£164,000, therefore requiring a reserves position of £164,000 to £328,000. Free unrestricted reserves stood at £293,977 at the end of 2023 with nil restricted reserves. (2022: Total reserves £255,439 of which £108,233 free, £100,000 designated, £47,206 restricted.) During the year the Board undesignated the fund of £100,000 previously set aside to future residential site acquisition, in recognition this aim had been achieved for the medium term via the partnership with Woodcraft Folk and their Cudham Environmental Activities Centre.

Reserves held were therefore in accordance with the charity’s reserves policy.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 15

Future development

Core aims for the 2024 operating period:

Registered Address & Contact details

The charity’s registered address is:

Free to Be Kids, Living Space, 1 Coral Street, Lambeth, London SE1 7BE

0203 778 0323

hello@freetobekids.org.uk | www.freetobekids.org.uk

16 | freetobekids.org.uk

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual 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 & Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Trust’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Trust and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Trust and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the contents above as a true reflection of the charity’s activities, operations and financial position within the 2023 operating period.

Signed on 26th October 2024 on behalf of the trustees:

Miss Emma Kendall (Chair)

Mrs Elena Davies (Treasurer)

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 17

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Free To Be Kids

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2023 which are set out on page 19 to 31.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

Since the company’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountant, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Shruti Soni FCCA FCIE

Date: 29 October 2024

Shruti Soni Ltd • Chartered Certified Accountants 117a St. John’s Hill, Sevenoaks TN13 3PE

18 | freetobekids.org.uk

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

For the period ended 31 December 2023 For the period ended 31 December 2023 2022
Total
£
385,852
25,895
223
60
412,030
17,045
410,986
428,031
(16,001)
-
(16,001)
271,440
255,439
Note
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
Charitable activities
Thrive Outside Gateway
5
Other trading activities
Investments
Total income
Expenditure on:
7
Raising funds
Charitable activities
Total expenditure
Net income / (expenditure)
for the year
8
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
£
328,124
22,250
-
70
350,444
54,751
177,475
232,226
118,218
(7,482)
110,736
208,233
318,969		 Restricted
£
313,547
-
-
-
313,547
5,128
363,107
368,235
(54,688)
7,482
(47,206)
47,206
-		 2023 Total
£
641,671
22,250
-
70
663,991
59,879
540,582
600,461
63,530
-
63,530
255,439
318,969		 Unrestricted
£
166,720
25,895
223
60
192,898
17,045
210,568
227,613
(34,715)
5,924
(28,791)
237,024
208,233		 Restricted
£
219,132
-
-
-
219,132
-
200,418
200,418
18,714
(5,924)
12,790
34,416
47,206		 2022
Total
£
385,852
25,895
223
60
412,030
17,045
410,986
428,031
(16,001)
-
(16,001)
271,440
255,439

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.

Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 17 to the financial statements.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 19

Balance sheet

As at 31 December 2023

As at 31 December 2023
2022
£
11,847
11,847
243,592
255,439
255,439
47,206
208,233
255,439
Note
Fixed assets:
Tangible assets
12
Current assets:
Debtors
13
Cash at bank and in hand
Liabilities:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
14
Net current assets / (liabilities)
Total assets less current liabilities
Total net assets / (liabilities)
16
The funds of the charity:
17
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total charity funds		 £
44,710
293,977
338,687
25,641
-
318,969		 2023
£
5,923
5,923
313,046
318,969
318,969
-
318,969
318,969		 £
12,186
313,108
325,294
81,702
100,000
108,233

Approved by the trustees on

and signed on their behalf by ~~Emma Kendall~~

Name:

20 | freetobekids.org.uk

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 December 2023

For the year ended 31 December 2023
2022
£
(16,001)
5,924
(60)
(9,826)
(532)
(20,495)
60
(20,435)
333,543
313,108
At 31
December
2022
£
313,108
313,108
At end of
year
£
293,977
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
Depreciation charges
Dividends, interest and rent from investments
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net cash from /(used in) operating activities
Cash fows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand and at bank
Total cash and cash equivalents
Analysis of changes in net debt
Cash in hand and at bank		 £
70		 2023
£
63,530
5,924
(70)
(32,524)
(56,061)
(19,201)
70
(19,131)
313,108
293,977
At 31
December
2023
£
293,977
293,977
At start of
year
£
313,108		 £
60
Cashfows
£
(19,131)		 2022
£
(16,001)
5,924
(60)
(9,826)
(532)
(20,495)
60
(20,435)
333,543
313,108
At 31
December
2022
£
313,108
313,108
At end of
year
£
293,977

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 21

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 December 2023

1. Accounting policies

a. Basis of preparation

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

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

b. Public benefit entity

The charitable meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

c. Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

d. Income

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

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

e.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

f. Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

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

g. Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

h. Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

22 | freetobekids.org.uk

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 December 2023

1. Accounting policies (continued)

i. Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

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

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

j. Allocation of support costs

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the basis of estimated staff time attributable to each activity.

k. Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

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

• Motor Vehicles 4 years

l. Debtors

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

m. Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. Cash balances exclude any funds held on behalf of service users.

n. Creditors and provisions

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

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

o. Pensions

The charity contributes towards the employees’ personal pension schemes. The cost of the contribution is charged to the statement of financial activities on an accrual basis.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 23

Notes to the financial statements

For the period ended 31 December 2023

3. Income from donations and legacies

. g
Grants and donations
Donation in kind (note 4)
4. Donation in kind
Donation in kind includes
Venue room hire
Vehicle maintenance
Equipment & consumables
Training
Professional services
Software
Food & household
Ofce IT equipment
Project phones, comms, systems
5. Income from charitable activities
Thrive Outside Gateway
Total income from Charitable activities		 Unrestricted
£
328,124
-
328,124
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Unrestricted
£
22,250
22,250		 Restricted
£
277,307
36,240
313,547
Restricted
£
20,726
220
2,477
1,214
-
3,190
2,913
2,350
3,150
36,240
Restricted
£
-
-		 2023 Total
£
605,431
36,240
641,671
2023 Total
£
20,726
220
2,477
1,214
-
3,190
2,913
2,350
3,150
36,240
2023 Total
£
22,250
22,250		 2022 Total
£
353,540
32,312
385,852
2022 Total
£
18,158
1,981
4,833
300
5,000
2,040
-
-
-
32,312
2022 Total
£
25,895
25,895

Charity has awarded subsidies of £56,175 to the participating schools and organisations. This has been netted off against the receipt of Referrer contributions £78,425.

6. Income from other trading activities

g
Other sales		 Unrestricted
£
-
-		 Restricted
£
-
-		 2023 Total
£
-
-		 2022 Total
£
223
223

24 | freetobekids.org.uk

Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2023 2022
Total
£
202,457
9,742
7,705
49,465
20,695
13,060
3,756
599
7. Analysis of expenditure
Staf costs (Note 9)
Cost of
raising
funds
£
41,670		 C H A R I TA B L E AC T I V I T I E S Support
costs
£
26,098		 2023
Total
£
300,444
Thrive
Outside
Gateway		 Journey
Programme		 Mentoring
Programme		 Other
programmes
£
119,535		 £
66,388		 £
17,860		 £
28,893
Recruitment, training
and retention
Travel
Programme costs
Food & Household
Equipment &
consumables
Rent and Insurance
Ofce cost and
Admin expenses		 7,384
163
675
3,803
1,120
-
-		 1,364
1,820
24,550
18,135
4,854
-
8		 -
985
14,948
4,541
1,125
-
-		 -
926
6,563
1,559
-
-
-		 34
327
4,183
2,002
205
-
-		 8,520
878
2,473
2,395
8,763
12,082
823		 17,302
5,099
53,392
32,435
16,067
12,082
831
Professional fees
Telephone, IT systems
and software
Vehicle costs
Venue Hire
Depreciation
Independent
examination
Other Staf cost
Support costs
Total expenditure 2023
Total expenditure 2022		 2,880
253
-
1,931
-
-
-
59,879
-
59,879
28,165		 -
1,079
11,147
32,274
-
-
10,826
225,592
71,002
296,594
225,880		 -
131
5,652
14,331
-
-
-
108,101
39,433
147,534
100,304		 83
-
-
-
-
-
754
27,745
10,609
38,354
29,206		 -
-
1,395
3,899
-
-
-
40,938
17,162
58,100
44,476		 17,154
14,528
11,895
21,944
5,924
1,911
2,818
138,206
(138,206)
-
-		 20,117
15,991
30,089
74,379
5,924
1,911
14,398
600,461
-
600,461
428,031		 10,000
8,153
21,938
72,051
5,924
2,486
-
428,031
-
428,031

Of the total expenditure, £232,226 was unrestricted (2022: £227,613) and £368,235 was restricted (2022: £200,418).

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 25

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

8. Net incoming resources for the year

g y
This is stated after charging / crediting:
Depreciation
Trustees’ remuneration
Trustees’ expenses		 2023
£
5,924
Nil
Nil		 2022
£
5,924
Nil
Nil

9. Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

g p
Staf costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Employer’s contribution to defned contribution pension schemes
employees earned more than £60000 during the year (2022: nil)		 2023
£
263,980
22,950
13,514
300,444		 2022
£
177,961
15,808
8,688
202,457

No employees earned more than £60,000 during the year (2022: nil).

The total employee benefits including pension contributions of the key management personnel were £131,488 (2022: £89,362).

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2022: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2022: £nil).

10.Staff numbers

Staf numbers
The average number of employees (head count based on number of staf employed) during the year was as
follows:
2023 2022
No. No.
Charitable activities 6.7 5.5
6.7 5.5

11. Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions to disclose for 2022 (2022: none).

During the year unrestricted donation of £46,350 was received from one trustee (2022: nil). There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

26 | freetobekids.org.uk

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

12. Tangible fixed assets

g
Cost or valuation
At the start of the year
Additions in year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
f the above assets are used for charitable purposes.
Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Accruals
Deferred income		 Motor Vehicles
£
23,695
-
23,695
11,848
5,924
17,772
5,923
11,847
2023
£
4,740
2,065
5,065
32,840
44,710
2023
£
5,121
1,020
19,500
25,641		 Total
£
23,695
-
23,695
11,848
5,924
17,772
5,923
11,847
2022
£
3,620
1,847
6,719
-
12,186
2022
£
-
1,020
80,682
81,702

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

13. Debtors

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 27

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

15. Deferred income

Deferred income comprises grant funding received in advance that relates to future years:

eerre ncome comprses gran unng receve n avance a reaes o u
Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year		 ure years:
2023
£
80,682
(80,682)
19,500
19,500		 2022
£
81,214
(81,214)
80,682
80,682

16. Analysis of net assets between funds

y
Tangible fxed assets
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Tangible fxed assets
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year		 General
unrestricted
£
-
318,969
318,969
General
unrestricted
£
-
108,233
108,233		 Designated
£
-
-
-
Designated
£
-
100,000
100,000		 Restricted
£
5,923
(5,923)
-
Restricted
£
11,847
35,359
47,206		 Total funds
2023
£
5,923
313,046
318,969
Total funds
2022
£
11,847
243,592
255,439

28 | freetobekids.org.uk

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

17. Movements in funds

.
Restricted funds:
Programme funds
Thrive Outside Gateway
Journey Programme
Other programmes
Project support - stafng
Project support - other
Non project costs
Fundraising
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Developing future sites
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 At the start
of the year
2023
£
35,359
-
-
-
11,847
-
-
47,206
100,000
100,000
108,233
208,233
255,439		 Incoming
resources
& gains
£
138,434
74,490
22,651
32,573
40,866
2,350
2,183
313,547
-
-
350,444
350,444
663,991		 Outgoing
resources
& losses
£
(173,793)
(74,490)
(30,133)
(32,573)
(52,713)
(2,350)
(2,183)
(368,235)
-
-
(232,226)
(232,226)
(600,461)		 Transfers
£
-
-
7,482
-
-
-
-
7,482
(100,000)
(100,000)
92,518
(7,482)
-		 At the
end of the
year 2023
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
318,969
318,969
318,969

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 29

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

17. Movements in funds (continued ...)

. ...
Restricted funds:
Programme funds
Thrive Outside Gateway
Journey Programme
Other programmes
Project support - stafng
Project support - other
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Developing future sites
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 At the start
of the year
2022
£
4,645
-
-
12,000
17,771
34,416
100,000
100,000
137,024
237,024
271,440		 Incoming
resources
& gains
£
132,288
21,012
16,012
36,865
12,955
219,132
-
-
192,898
192,898
412,030		 Outgoing
resources
& losses
£
(101,574)
(21,012)
(16,012)
(48,865)
(12,955)
(200,418)
-
-
(227,613)
(227,613)
(428,031)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
(5,924)
(5,924)
-
-
5,924
5,924
-		 At the
end of the
year 2022
£
35,359
-
-
-
11,847
47,206
100,000
100,000
108,233
208,233
255,439

30 | freetobekids.org.uk

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Purposes of restricted designated funds

Within unrestricted funds are designated funds of £100,000 – these are funds that the Trustees had designated in previous years for use in developing a future site for projects, in line with the charity’s strategy to grow its impact. During the year, the trustees have decided to release the designated funds which have been transferred into general funds.

Thrive Outside Gateway - Costs of delivering our Thrive Outside gateway and recurring respite programme. These are 5 day residential projects with high staffing ratios catering to particularly vulnerable children. Based around a carefully designed programme of outdoor activities the key aim is to rebuild the foundations of positive mental health via using adventure activities and youthwork techniques to build confidence, selfesteem, teamwork, social problem solving, resilience and aspirations. Ultimately leading to improved mental health, improved social relationships and key social/life skills, and key engagement with education. Children referred by schools/social workers and the highest need return for as often as they need us throughout their childhood. Includes all venue, transport, food, activity, equipment and staffing costs.

Journey Programme - A follow-on intensive support programme for the highest need of our Thrive Outside attendees. Built around 6 small group, high intervention residentials spread over 18 months and designed for 13 - 15 year olds with complex emotional, social or behavioural needs. The key aim is around improving mental health, rebuilding aspirations, helping young people at risk of ‘going off the rails’ to find a positive path through adolescence. Includes all venue, transport, food, activity, equipment and staffing costs.

Other Programmes - Covers our smaller follow-on programmes for medium-high need Thrive Outside attendees. Includes our Mentoring Programme: a year’s worth of London based 1:1 mentoring matched to a volunteer who’s also attended our projects. Young Leaders Programme: a training and support programme for our older teenagers 15-17 who are supported to return on projects as young volunteers, going full circle from former beneficiary to now being a positive role model for the next generation of attendees. Includes wraparound support around life skills and employability. Saturday Adventure Club: A Saturday group project fro 9-12 year olds assessed to need additional intervention in between Thrive Outside projects. For all 3 Programmes cost totals include all venue, transport, food, activity, equipment and staffing costs.

Project Support - Covers staffing and operational costs incurred for running the programmes and activities of the organisation.

Free to Be Kids Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 | 31