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2021-08-31-accounts

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Table of Contents

Letter from the Founders 3
What is Play for Progress? 5
Who Our Work Impacts 8
What Covid Taught Us 10
Trauma Informed Practice 13
Case Studies 15
Highlights, Achievements, & Developments 17
Plans Ahead 20
Our Funding 21
Financial Review 23
Reference and Administrative Details 24
Structure, Governance and Management 24
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities 26
Financial Statements 27
Report of the Independent Examiner 36

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Letter from the Founders

Last year we ended our letter with the words: “ you could say that this next year is all about being responsive, getting creative, getting playful, and staying healthy… ”. And goodness wasn’t that the truth!

2020-2021 was certainly the year of ‘being responsive.’ Due to the extreme limitations on movement and access to services that Covid-19 imposed on young people within our community, their already underserved needs were heightened to dangerous extents. In addition to this, our delivery team of primarily freelance musicians, artists, and therapists experienced negative impacts on their livelihoods due to lockdowns and insufficient selfemployed support for those working in the creative sector.

As a result, we had to think quickly, creatively, and really keep our organisation’s health at the forefront of our mind; it was time to put into practice all of the investment we had made in organisational health and staff wellbeing to ensure that we could communicate clearly, plan and strategise effectively for long term success (despite endless unknowns), and respond to swiftly changing parameters for work, needs, and grievances.

The pages that follow will tell you all about how we managed that, but the bottom line is that it was an incredibly useful albeit challenging point of consolidation. We were forced to strip away all of the extras, all of the bits of our work and delivery that were nice to have, and very seriously interrogate why we do what we do, what we stand for, and what our young people really come to us for.

The answer came back loud and clear from our young people themselves: Community. Relationships. Friendships. A steady place to come and be looked after, to engage in a creative project to escape or care for your mind for a while, to visit old friends or make new ones, and perhaps most of all, to have your growth and being witnessed by people who really care. We saw young people who we first met in 2016 return to our spaces to plug into the community they found grounding in; we saw young people who had stayed on the side-lines of all activities in our old venues engage more strongly than ever, some not missing a single class; and we saw young people bring friends who they knew were in need, but who were suffering in isolation and silence, to ensure they were seen and cared for by our staff.

These were signs that our decision to prioritise in-person delivery (even in an altered and reduced form) was absolutely the right one, and that all the work we’d done to ensure consistent delivery was just as crucial to our community’s survival as we’d thought.

In 2020-2021 we were able to see the resilience we had aimed to build into the fabric of our organisation put to the test and it saw us through extreme unforeseen challenges. Our community members gained confidence in one another by riding this storm together, and we were all able to emerge knowing more of ourselves, our purposes, and just how much we mean to each other.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

In 2021-2022 we hope to take time to process all that we’ve learned in this year and put even more of it into conscious practice to ensure that well and truly, we can see each other through whatever lies ahead.

Alyson Frazier Founder & Co-Director

Anna MacDonald Founder & Co-Director

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

What is Play for Progress?

Who We Are and What We Do

We used to describe ourselves as “ a small charity that delivers therapeutic and educational music and art programmes, advocacy, and well-being support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people .”

While we still do all of those things, this year we have begun to consider our work in the larger context of the sector and describe ourselves somewhat differently.

We realised that one of our very special qualities is that we have placed the implementation of an infrastructure that supports long term organisational health and the goal of promoting intergenerational healing at the heart and forefront of all that we do.

We have noticed that not all organisations that support asylum-seeking people do this, whether in

social care, activity groups, or educational institutions.

The problem endemic throughout the sector seems to be that that many organisations…

These dangers can result in the perpetuation of broken relationships with young people and/or unnecessary suffering and re-traumatisation caused by staff not being informed about how certain activities and actions might impact young people.

That’s why we provide therapeutic, practical, and activity-based services for young people, it’s why our staff receive monthly therapeutic sessions, bi-annual whole org trainings in new trauma science (mandatory for all, including board members and leadership), and on-call supervision, and it’s why we pay all of our staff union rates. There’s so much more that goes into sustaining a healthy community that works in one of the hardest and more burn-out impacted sectors, but these are the points that we’ve been working hard to spread the word about.

It’s also why we have decided to change how we describe our work. We want to explicitly share our objectives so that we can discuss just why these parameters are crucial for us to implement across the sector, and as a whole society:

----- Start of picture text -----
Play for Progress, a Croydon-based charity that supports unaccompanied asylum-seeking
young people and promotes community resilience through trauma-informed creative
engagement in the arts.
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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Our Vision

Play for Progress strives to build a world in which societies ensure equal access to the use of the arts, play, and therapies in safe spaces, in order to improve:

Our Mission

Play for Progress’s mission is to ensure that the young displaced people with whom we work have all the community support they need to survive the arduous process of seeking the right to refuge and thrive once their status is settled.

We aim to provide them with the tools, resources, and people they need to develop the skills that will best help them to establish and deepen their foundation of wellbeing. We firmly believe that the arts, play, and creative therapies are best placed to accomplish this.

Our organisation has been built on the efforts of musicians, artists, therapists, educators, activists, and alumni from around the world. Our team is committed to building a healthy, creative, playful, and mutually-supportive community model that we want to see flourish across our societies and our globe.

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Who Our Work Impacts

2021-2022 Engagement Stats

Age

15 - 22

Gender

Mixed, though predominantly young people identifying as male.

Countries of Origin

Most common countries of origin in 2020-2021: Iran (Kurdistan), Iraq (Kurdistan), Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan.

Other countries of origin from the past year include: Syria, Guinea, Algeria, Niger, Chad, Libya, Egypt, China, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Romania.

Personal Challenges

Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, chronic stress, sleep disorders, daily mental health concerns, language barriers, lack of access or experience of education, interrupted formative years of emotional growth in childhood.

Systemic Challenges

National lockdowns caused a severe reduction in social care provision, which was already insufficiently supported pre-pandemic. The asylum system became even more complex and opaque with the complete closing of the judicial system, which caused additional delays to the processing of asylum applications, some that had already been delayed for 3 years being extended for another 18 months. We saw an increase in the number of scenarios whereby these delays caused extreme anxiety among young people approaching the age of 18. This community remains exceedingly marginalised within society, which is fostering a hostile environment and does not provide them with sufficient support to access certain ‘available’ opportunities that are legally required or which could promote cultural adjustment.

Participant Recruitment & Retention

The community of young people we work with is extremely transient. Many are assigned to live in Croydon for anything from a few months to a few years before being relocated with little or no notice across the country. Further, they have an extraordinary number of demands on their time; they have to navigate numerous legal cases related to their asylum claim, engage with a myriad of professionals and housing structures without sufficient understanding of their roles and processes (social workers, key workers, solicitors, local council etc), and, if they’re lucky enough to be engaged in school (often for the first time in their lives), they also have homework to manage. As such, we do not demand mandatory attendance in order to remain enrolled in our programmes. Instead, we intend and embody unconditional love and compassion. Young people know where, when, and how to find us (we communicate with our entire enrolled student list every week), and we trust that if we are doing a good job, they will come to us as and when is precisely the right time for them.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

With all that in mind, especially in light of it being a highly restricted year with Covid and lockdowns, we are very proud that across 2020/21 our average retention rate on our creative programmes was:

Retention rates in our Support Services are higher and we are working to compile data in this area as part of our impact reporting strategy, which we hope to include in next year’s reports.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

What Covid Taught Us

With the initial response to Covid-19 behind us, we were able to refocus our efforts from emergency response to long term adaptation strategies. We saw firsthand the negative impact that the reduction of services was having on young people’s well-being; many were extremely confused, unsure about the reality of the threat of Covid-19, exceedingly isolated and experiencing extreme decline in mental health.

And we knew that our position as a small grassroots organisation would enable us to adapt more quickly than larger organisations and address needs. While we had plenty of ideas about what we could do, we turned to our Young Leaders to ensure that we were on the right track and developing what was really needed and wanted by the young people we serve.

Youth Leadership

We engaged with our Young Leaders each week to check in on their wellbeing and understand more about what they were experiencing and what they were noticing about how Covid-19 was impacting their peer and community groups.

These meetings enabled us to realise just how important it was to our young people that we showed up and delivered, almost regardless of format. It seemed that the community as a whole was experiencing the extremes - so many had screen exhaustion from having to access their education online, while others couldn’t access anything online at all because of insufficient access to technology and/or because of the barriers of computer literacy in a new language.

And so, with this knowledge, we redesigned our roster of programmes with our Young Leaders, flagged systemic issues with social care and the sector, and identified and troubleshot easy solutions that we could facilitate where possible

A New Way of Working

In October we reopened our in-person delivery in an exceedingly altered form. To protect our community from the threat of contagion, we strictly bubbled our staff into three so that any rotation would allow for the 14-day isolation period without threatening to impact consistency for young people. Thanks to the input from our Young Leaders, we decided to prioritise relationships, continuity of delivery, and provision for staff, and redesigned our offerings accordingly. While all supplemental services (1-1 therapy, casework, education support, etc) continued, we drastically changed our roster of creative programmes.

While we previously delivered 3 classes per week, each dedicated to a different team, for the Autumn term of this

year we reduced down to one class per week which incorporated members of each department - music, art, therapy, and education. This would ensure that our young people could engage with whatever type of service they needed, it would keep staff remembering they were part of a larger dynamic whole (even if we weren’t seeing each other every week as usual), and we hoped that the opportunity for the intersection of departments would yield greater learning and perhaps even some hopes and dreams for future collaboration work. (Hint: it did!)

It was a rich and demanding time of learning, as each department had to adjust to new parameters of working that maintained a safe space and rich soil for the building of relationships and trust with young people who were in more

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

extreme need than before. It was a huge period of active responsiveness and learning about how best to keep our community safe with new science, and therefore adaptations, emerging each week.

This required constant vigilance, communication, and compassion between all members of staff, and it showed just how useful our investment in organisational health had been. It ensured that we had a wealth of combined experience and language to help us navigate this exceedingly stressful time when staff and leadership alike could not predict how we would come through.

We were one of only two organisations in the refugee sector in Croydon that returned to in-person delivery that autumn and despite us having to source a new venue, young people returned to our class.

The Importance of Home

A new opportunity arose in March 2021 to relocate to a new, more permanent home within the heart of Croydon’s Buddhist Centre , and we jumped at the chance.

We were keenly aware of the impact such a sudden second relocation could have on our young people (potentially triggering experiences of forced displacement), and we also knew that moving into the centre would provide us with a safe, held, welcoming space that was supported by a dynamic community of compassionate individuals. So our therapy team supported us in developing a ritual activity that would help us healthily hold the relocation and enable us to step confidently into the move.

We are exceedingly grateful to the Buddhist Centre of Croydon and their incredible community. They’ve shown us such warmth and welcome and our young people really feel it. Within the first

weeks of the relocation, they said how it “feels like a home” and “wow so warm” and “I like this place, I think I stay here.” This feeling has only grown throughout the year as we’ve been able to adorn the space with our artwork and instruments.

Needless to say, we were overjoyed and encouraged to persevere - to settle into this new home and embrace the hope for the future it lit up within us.

Over the course of the Spring/Summer Term we continued delivering our weekly class, and we’ve made plans for returning to pre-Covid-19 delivery in the new year.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

As such, we owe the warmest of thanks to Croydon’s Buddhist Centre , who offered us a home in our time of need,

and who has shown such heartfelt solidarity through all of their efforts to support our young people; they’ve fundraised for us, welcomed us as their charity for Buddhist Action Month, offered donations of art books, instruments, meditation support for our staff, and more.

We hope that in time the Buddhist Centre’s close proximity to our former home, the Refugee Council Children’s Section, and fellow sector organisations Young Roots and Off the Record will enable us all to foster the growth of a new physical hub for refugee support in the heart of Croydon.

What We’re Taking Forwards

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Trauma Informed Practice

What We Learned and Embedded in 2020-2021

Organisational Learning

Through online and in-person training we developed and furthered awareness and education around safety, selfregulation, co-regulation and stability. Using the ongoing theme of balance, staff members embodied breath work and exercises to inspire their practice, encourage self-care and encourage adaptation in their own unique setting in the organisation.

The Board

We worked on integrating the Board into the wider organisation looking at self-care, value and participation. In terms of organisational health it is understood that what is experienced in one area/department or relationship can and will show up in another area/department or relationship. It is vital in this field of refugee care that the organisation itself does not mirror aspects of the young people's displacement, stress cycle or trauma and the first step in ensuring this is to make every member of the organisation realise the importance of their role, commitment and self-care.

Staff Support

In person reflection and supervision sessions moved instantly online, one of the first things we delivered when the country shut down due to COVID was a staff reflection session. Overnight most of our staff lost their livelihoods and could see very little support or ways forward, so giving them space and time to voice their concerns, fears and frustrations was vital. This allowed individuals to support each other in very practical ways, gave space for those who needed to voice their feelings, and ensured the community was still dynamic and active so when online and inperson activities recommenced the organisation was functioning, prepared and responsive.

Care leavers

Young people ageing out of our service presented crucial learning. Our awareness of the systemic challenges young people face leaving care increased and our commitment to countering the damage overnight withdrawal of care creates strengthened. We were able to step in and provide weekly online therapy sessions and advocacy work for numerous young people, we are now responsive to each unique individual, understanding a young person who ‘ages out’ of our service still needs access to a safety net, care and community.

Sharing

Disseminating good practice is vital. The response to the pandemic across society revealed a chronically stressed and in many cases burnt out work force. High turnover, burnout, stress and overwhelm in the refugee sector prevent long term sustainable change and the ‘hostile environment’ banks on an exhausted workforce. This year has strengthened our resolve to build from the grass roots a sustainable and compassionate workforce that is in it for the long haul, we cannot do this alone so our commitment to exchanging and supporting good practice across the sector is key.

Changes

As a result of the above learnings, we have decided to ensure that ALL members of the organisation, including office staff, delivery staff, and board members, participate in all of our trainings. We hope this will ensure the embedding of our whole org ethos and commitment to our principles of working.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Going Forward

In the years to come, we intend to share our learnings more actively with organisations looking to work with such communities out of a real urgency and desire to prevent re-traumatization, and enable others to make good and responsible use of passionate volunteers (for the long term)

We also hope to gain enough financial stability to to pay staff for their time when attending monthly reflection sessions and termly trainings, as their commitment to attending these sessions in full is crucial to ensuring that the organisation embed trauma informed practice across the organisation to the highest degree.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Case Studies

This year everything was different, so we will present our case study differently too. This year was about how our community as a whole navigated all of the unknowns. As such, we will take a look here at a number of young people

The Story of S____

Before we had to relocate, when we still operated out of the Refugee Council Children’s Section, S____ would come up to our floor and peek in the door, have a look at what we were doing, then depart. After a few weeks he snagged some snacks from our table, and then headed off. After a few more weeks he grabbed his snacks and stood at the doorway, watching our opening activity then left. It took over 6 months of space-giving engagement for S____ to decide to stay for the class, and still longer for him to choose to participate or engage with a tutor, but we were delighted to see at every step his increasing levels of comfort, trust and joy. When Covid-19 hit we were shattered, and especially concerned about this young person, with whom we knew it would be difficult to communicate over the phone, as his English was still rudimentary.

So it was to our immense surprise and delight that this young person was the very first through our door when we re-opened in October . Not only did he return, but he had the most solid attendance out of all young people this year and he showed incredible development. He evidently felt safe and connected in our space, brought friends to class, engaged in 1-1 English, and took charge of the music playlist at the entrance, turning our speaker system into ‘S____ Radio.’

S____ taught us so much about the need to throw out any expectations or timelines, and is proof that the normal ‘impact measures’ really don’t cut the mustard for this line of work! We are also proud of how we have fostered a space in which everyone can grow on their own terms, at their own speed.

and consider the bigger picture of what they reveal about our community’s resilience.

Peer-Referrals

The thing about teenagers across the globe is that no matter what, they will NOT voluntarily do something they do not want to do. So we know we’re onto something good

when our young people start bringing their friends to class and they keep on attending. Whether it’s because they’re forging strong connections with peers or tutors in the space, loving learning new skills or ways of expressing themselves, or coming because they know the level of respect and support they will receive, our young people keep coming back, and bringing their friends to boot. They don’t have adults pushing them to attend (many living on their own without guardians) and we have no enrolment or attendance requirements, so if they’re coming, it’s because they want to.

We were delighted to welcome a whole new group of

young people through peer referrals which grew throughout the year. A few young people found their way to us through referrals by social workers as well, and through sector network contacts.

We completed the Spring Term having engaged with 11 new young people who were consistently attending, and given that we had a restriction of no more than 15 young people per class (per government health guidelines), we consider that a great success.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Alumni

We were also delighted by the re-engagement of some very well-known faces. Alumni and Young Leaders like Baharu, Mo, Yeski, Reza, Jalal, and Hussein visited our new venue to touch base, catch up, see how ‘the new boys’ were doing, and see if there was anything they could do.

It was particularly delightful to see their joy at seeing one another again when they happened to meet in the space, especially after quite a time apart and in isolation. One young person shared “I found my best friends here, my family. Without this group, I never would have found them.” It was clear that the alumni were struggling with the impacts of the pandemic, too, and we were relieved to see and hear that we were helping them to get through it too.

They also inevitably came to engage themselves, and before long, no matter the leadership bravado that they brought with them into the space, they pulled out a drum, got on the dance floor, or started making the tea. It was a

joy to watch them being welcomed back with warm hugs and inside jokes with tutors, to watch the new young people see them and the reception they received, to see the new young people eventually approach the alumni for advice and words, and for us to feel at the heart of a growing dynamic community. It confirmed that all the work we had done to get back to in-person delivery had been worth it and was doing the work of getting us through this trying time.

Reconnections

Young people we’d worked with before, but who hadn’t been engaged in our Young Leaders programme returned too. One particularly memorable engagement was when Adam - a student who connected deeply with the violin, and with whom we hadn’t seen or managed to reinstate contact with in over 18 months came to our new venue and said “this my group. I am glad to be back.” He had lost his SIM card and been unable to contact us again, but when he saw our signs up in the new venue, he came the very next day and re-engaged. It’s one of the reasons we feel that consistency of delivery is so important. If we continue to deliver in the same place, same days, same times, young people can find us.

The Big Picture

So this year was all about responding to need, more than ever before. Releasing many of our expectations of what our services would look like, what “normal” was, and finding and feeling our way into a new form of sustaining our community.

Throughout this year we were able to re-establish and deepen our

engagement with faces old, new, and in between, and regain some of our momentum heading into the 2021-2022 year.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Highlights, Achievements, & Developments

Highlights

Autumn Term

Winter Term

Spring Term

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Young People

more emphatic endorsement of our work than our young people wanting to share us with their friends.

Staff & Board

In the last year we undertook a review of our staffing structure and introduced a number of new roles to help build capacity and ensure our sustainability into the future. These included:

We also strengthened and deepened our Board by welcoming Ceri Sunu, Naomi Webb, and Hannah Barker in the Spring Term of 2021 who bring with them additional expertise in fundraising, impact management, strategic planning and leadership at the intersection of the arts and asylum-seeker sectors. We bid a fond farewell to Anthony Wheedon who continues to have a close relationship with the Charity in an ad hoc advisory capacity.

Sector

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Plans Ahead

Looking ahead to 2021-2022 feels hopeful. We have survived turbulent times, regained momentum, nourished our connections, settled into a new home, and are looking forward to how we can thrive again, not just survive.

The Change We Want to Make for Young People

What

How

Change We Want to Make within the System

What

How

Change We Want to Make within Play for Progress

What

How

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Our Funding

As the Covid-19 crisis continued across the UK in 2020 and into 2021 we reached out to a number of organisations offering to fund the sort of changes we were implementing to our usual programme delivery in order to maintain a consistent and reliable connection with the young people who rely on us. We are immensely grateful to have secured vital support from:

We are also incredibly grateful to our individual givers , who raised over £6,000 in perhaps one of the greatest years of financial difficulty. Thank you for your generosity and support!

Fundraising Committee

In August 2020 we established our Fundraising Committee consisting of two of our Trustees, Tamzin Aitken and Stuart Burns, alongside co-founder Alyson Frazier. The subcommittee has since been joined by new Trustee, and professional fundraiser, Ceri Sunu and our Fundraising Officer Caroline Halls.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

The committee meets monthly with a focus on further developing our long- and short-term strategic approaches and to building greater sustainability and resilience for the future.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Financial Review

Finance and Reserves

The charity had income for the year of £138,520 . At the end of the financial year, total reserves stood at £96,861 .

The Charity has a policy to maintain reserves required for an orderly shutdown in the event of a sudden loss of funding taking into account contractual notice periods and operating costs during the period assumed for shut down. Such provision is vital to ensure that the highly vulnerable community with which we work would not be adversely affected by a sudden shortfall in funding.

Due to the very vulnerable nature of the young people we support, the trustees recognise the importance of ensuring continuity of work.

The Charity has an objective to continue building reserves to take account of other potential events including an amount to cover deficits related to events that could be incurred as a result of the Charity’s closure and an amount to cover other unforeseen costs. The current general reserves adequately cover approximately three months or one term's worth of operating expenses.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Reference and Administrative Details

Charity Name: Play for Progress Charity Registration Number: 1166328 Company Registration Number: 09157780 Principal Address & Registered Office: Suite 7, Onedin Point, Ensign Street, London E1 8JT

TRUSTEES of the Charity & DIRECTORS of the Company

– who served in the reporting period and those appointed since as at the reporting date:

Colin Farmer Appointed 19 May 2017 Stuart Burns Appointed 25 April 2020 Tamzin Aitken Appointed 27 April 2020 Hannah Barker Appointed 5 March 2021 Naomi Webb Appointed 5 March 2021 Ceri Sunu Appointed 9 April 2021 Anthony Weeden Appointed 19 May 2017 and resigned 4 June 2021

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER: Stephen Meredith (FCA, DChA) Alliotts LLP Friary Court 13-21 High Street Guildford, GU1 3DL

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The charity was incorporated as a company on 1 August 2014 with the company registration number 09157780 and was registered as a charity under the charity number 1166328 on 1 April 2016. It is governed by its constitution set out in the Memorandum and Articles incorporated 08 June 2015 as amended by special resolutions dated 25 January 2016.

Play for Progress is a registered charity, and a company limited by guarantee, not having share capital. Every trustee undertakes to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charitable company in the event of it being wound-up during the period of membership, or within one year thereafter. The current members of the charitable company are the trustees and directors.

Management

The overall strategic direction of the charity is determined by the trustees who met monthly in 2020-2021 to consider all matters of relevance to the charity.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

The day-to-day management of the charity is carried out by the Co-Directors and former trustees, Anna MacDonald and Alyson Frazier. This related party disclosure has been made below. No conflict of interest has been declared at Trustee or management level.

Relationships with Related Parties

The charity is closely related to the founders Anna MacDonald and Alyson Frazier who continue to serve as the charity’s Head of Support Services and Head of Creative Programming respectively.

Recruitment, Appointment, Election, Induction and Training of Trustees

Trustee Recruitment

If the trustees decide that it would be advantageous to the charity to have one or more new trustee for example after a skills audit has shown a required expertise not present in the current members, then this will be agreed at a meeting of the trustees, either as an agenda item or upon request of an extraordinary meeting by at least two of the current trustees.

Such trustees may have put themselves forward, have been approached by a current trustee or there may be a requirement for such a trustee without having a specific person in mind at the time. In this latter case, the current trustees will decide upon the most appropriate way of recruiting.

Trustee Appointment

Appointment will be by vote of the trustees of the charity at a properly convened meeting of the trustees. The meeting will only be valid if at least half of the current trustees are present. Election will be by a simple majority of the trustees voting in favour of the proposed trustee.

Trustee Induction and Training

Existing trustees induct and train new trustees using the trustee induction pack. All trustees are responsible for staying up to date with small charity good practice and seeking training opportunities where possible.

Risk Management

The board acknowledges their responsibility to appropriately manage the risks the organisation is vulnerable to. We maintain a Risk Register to capture and assess the risks identified, to better enable us to determine how each risk should be managed. The board reviews the Risk Register as a standing item on the agenda at every trustee meeting to ensure that the charity’s exposure to risk is minimised.

As a board, the trustees are risk averse, and will therefore do everything in their power to minimise the charity’s exposure to risk at all times. Risk management and corporate governance matters are seen as the collective responsibility of all trustees.

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Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees (who are also the directors of Play for Progress for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the trustees are preparing the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and applicable law). Under company law, the trustees must not approve financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for that period.

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from the legislation in other jurisdictions.

This report was approved by the trustees on 27 May 2022 and was signed for and on behalf of the board by Tamzin Aitken

Tamzin Aitken Trustee

Page 26 of 36

Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

for Financial Statements UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL AcnvmES Ilneludlng Ineome & Expendlture Aeeounti for the year ended 31 Augus¢ 2021 nre5 es nc Funds Funds Total Total 2021 2020 Notes INCOME from thnalion5 55,083 83,436 138,519 68,300 Inveslwent$ Olh8r Income 1,090 TOTAL INCOME $5,084 83,436 138,520 69,394 EXPENDITURE on Raising funds Charitable actwIt￿5 3.334 9,327 3.334 105,071 1.645 108,280 95,744 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 12,661 95,744 108,405 109,925 NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR & NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 42.423 112.3081 30.115 40.531 RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS Fund balantes brought forward at 1 September 2020 54,438 12,308 66,746 107,277 FUND BALANCES CARRIED FORWARD AT 31 AUGUST 2021 96,861 96,861 66,746 Th8 r￿t movement in funds for the year arises from the charrtable company's continuing Operati[￿$. No separate Statetnent of Total ReGogni5ed Gall￿ and L055e5 has been presented as all sush gain5 aThJ Ios5e5 are d8alt ￿1th In the Stalem8nl of Financial Activit18S. A detailed analysis of the tomparativè 2020 SOFA is indudèd on Ihè follobMng pa9È. Page 27 of 36 Play fc>r Progre551 Trustee5' Annual Report & Finance Staternent51 Year Ending 31 ALJgust 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

for COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (including Income & Expenditure Accounti for the year ended 31 August 2021 Unre$trlctÈd Funds Restrleted Funds Total 2020 Notes INCOME Irom Donations 36.075 32.225 68.300 Investments oth8r Ineom 1,090 1.090 TOTAL INCOME 37,169 32,225 69,394 EXPENDITURE on Raising fuThJs Charitable activibes 1,645 81,291 1,645 108,280 26,989 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 82,936 26,989 109,925 INCOME FOR THE YEAR & NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 145,7671 5,236 40,531 RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS Fund balances bfought IoTward at 1 S8pt8mb8r 2019 100.205 7,072 107.277 FUND BALANCES CARRIED FORWARD AT 31 AUGUST 2020 $4,438 12,308 66,746 Page 28 of 36 Play fc>r Progre551 Trustee5' Annual Report & Finance Staternent51 Year Ending 31 ALJgust 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

For the year ended 31 August 2021, the charitable company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”). No member of the charitable company has deposited a notice, pursuant to section 476 of the Act, requiring an audit of these financial statements.

The trustees and directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.

These financial statements are prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements on pages 27 to 36 were approved by the trustees and authorised for issue on 27 May 2022 and are signed on their behalf by

Tamsin Aitkin Trustee

Page 29 of 36

Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

PLAY FOR PROGRESS

Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2021

ACCOUNTING POLICIES

CHARITY INFORMATION

Play for Progress is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office and business address is Suite 7, Onedin Point, Ensign Street, London E1 8JT.

BASIS OF ACCOUNTING

The financial statements have been prepared to comply with current statutory requirements (principally being the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011), under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice. The recommendations in Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statements of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102 (effective from 1 January 2019) have been followed. The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the period.

The charitable company is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS102.

The accounts are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

GOING CONCERN

At the time of approving the accounts the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company will have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

On the basis of the above, and also taking into consideration the effects of Covid-19, the trustees are satisfied that the going concern basis of preparation of these financial statements is appropriate.

INCOMING RESOURCES

General donations and other similar types of voluntary income are brought into account when receivable. Donated income is included gross of any attributable tax recoverable, where relevant. Donations given for specific purposes are treated as restricted income.

RESOURCES EXPENDED

Resources expended are allocated directly to the charitable company’s principal activities where the costs can be so identified. All other costs are classified as support costs and are apportioned between those same categories on the basis of the trustees’ estimate of relevant, appropriate and allocations.

Governance costs are the costs associated with the charitable company’s compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements. In particular, they include estimated proportions of support costs, including legal, professional and accountancy fees.

Page 30 of 36

Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

PLAY FOR PROGRESS

Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2021

ACCOUNTING POLICIES

FUND ACCOUNTING

The general fund comprises the accumulated surpluses of unrestricted incoming resources over resources expended, which are available for use in furtherance of the general objectives of the charitable company.

Designated funds are a particular form of unrestricted funds consisting of amounts, which have been allocated or designated for specific purposes by the trustees. The use of designated funds remains at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds are funds subject to specific conditions imposed by donors. The purpose and use of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the accounts. Amounts unspent at the year-end are carried forward in the balance sheet.

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The charitable company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the charitable company's balance sheet when the charitable company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable

within one year are not amortised. Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Taxation

No provision for taxation arises on the income of the company due to its charitable status.

Tangible Fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are measured at cost, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Musical instruments – 5 years straight line Computer equipment - 5 years straight line

Page 31 of 36

Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

for NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 August 2021 Uh￿strIcted funds Restrl¢ted funds Total Total 2021 2020 1 VOLUNTARY INCOME Donations 22,083 31,000 2,000 22,083 114,438 2,000 17,059 49.225 2,018 1090 Grants 83,438 Gifts in kind other Incorne Investment 55,084 83,436 138,520 69,394 2 RESOURCES EXPENDED Unrestrl¢te(I funds Restrl¢ted funds Total Total 2021 2020 Fundraiser 2.942 2.942 1.252 91 Promotional materials Website 392 392 302 3,334 3.334 1.645 Charltablt èX￿ndItU Dire¢t ¢osts'. Tea¢hing wogramm&s 7,243 95.744 102.987 106.202 Support CO8ts.' Independent exarnination fees Govemance cost 2,000 2,000 2,016 Bank charges 84 62 9,327 95,744 105,071 108,280 Page 32 of 36 Play fc>r Progre551 Trustee5' Annual Report & Finance Statement51 Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

for NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for th• y￿r ènde¢J 31 August 2021 3 Employe88 Employment (x)sts 2021 2020 Wag8s and salarie5 So￿&1 security costs 31,102 700 11,848 31.802 11.848 The averag8 number of empk)yees during the year was 212020.. 21. There wer8 no 8rnployees whos8 annual retnuneialion wa5 tbU,UUU or tnore12U2U." nill. The truste8s receiv8d no r8rnun8ration fortheir 5ervice5 piovidgd to th8 chairtab18 cornpany during th8 P8ric￿, total of £nil12020.' nil) was reimbursed to trustees for travel and meet'ng &xpens$s. 4 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS Cost Muslc Equlpment At 1 S8Pt8rntrer 2020 Additions 2,200 957 At 31 August 2021 3.157 Depreclatlon At 1 s8Pt8rn￿r 2020 Depreciation charged in the y8ar 814 572 At 31 August 2021 1,386 Carylng amount At 31 August 2021 1.771 At 31 August 2020 1.386 Page 33 of 36 Play fc>r Progre551 Trustee5' Annual Report & Finance Statement51 Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

for the year ended 31 August 2021

5
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year:
Other creditors
Taxation and social security costs
6
THE FUNDS OF THE CHARITY
Income funds:
Unrestricted General Fund
Made up as follow s:
-
Designated reserves
-
General unrestricted reserves
Restricted Funds:
BBC Children in Need
Croydon Council - covid
Sound Connections
TNFL
BBC CIN Booster
Foyle
The D'oyle carte
The harold Hyam Wingate
Julia and Hans Rausing
Ragdoll
Youth Music
Garden Trusts
Total Restricted funds
Purposes of restricted funds:
BBC Children in Need
Croydon Council - Covid
Sound Connections
TNFL
BBC CIN Booster
Foyle
The D'oyle carte
The harold Hyam Wingate
Julia and Hans Rausing
Ragdoll
Youth Music
Garden Trsuts		 2021
2020
£
£
358
-
508
-
866
-
Balance at 1
September 2020
Income
Expenditure
Balance at 31
August 2021
£
£
£
£
54,438
55,084
(12,661)
96,861
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,000
(10,000)
-
1558
-
(1,558)
-
750
-
(750)
-
10000
-
(10,000)
-
-
2,596
(2,596)
-
-
5,000
(5,000)
-
-
3,500
(3,500)
-
-
4,000
(4,000)
-
-
30,000
(30,000)
-
-
15,000
(15,000)
-
-
11,340
(11,340)
-
-
2,000
(2,000)
-
12,308
83,436
(95,744)
-
66,746
138,520
(108,405)
96,861
Page34of
– restricted to Half Term Projects
– restricted to Covid Alternative delivery
– restricted to Covid Alternative delivery
– restricted to Covid Alternative delivery
- restricted Staffing & activities
- restricted Core cost
- restricted w eekly recording, arranging and w ritising sessions
- restricted (delivery of RAW music classes in summer term 2021
- restricted core costs and overheads Youth CentreRecovery Fund
- restricted Summer Term 2021: Record, Arrange & Write Programme
- restricted raw after school classes
- restricted Raw session 1-1 music lessons

Page 34 of 36

Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

for NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 August 2021 7 Analysls of nèt assèts bttwètn funds UnrnstrSet•d Reserves R•strlet•d ReseNes Total Reserves Fund balan¢e¥ at 31 August 2021 reprÈsented by". FNed asset5 1,771 95.956 186ei 1,771 95.956 18661 Current assets Current liabilitie5 96,861 96.861 8 RELATED PARTY TRAN8ACTION8 There were no ￿lated partytransacts'ons during tho yoar. Page 35 of 36 Play fc>r Progre551 Trustee5' Annual Report & Finance Statement51 Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328

PLAY FOR PROGRESS

Report of the Independent Examiner for the year ended 31 August 2021

I report on the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2021, which include the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet and supporting notes.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the financial statements present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the next statement.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Stephen Meredith FCA, DChA

Alliotts LLP Friary Court, 13-21 High Street, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3DL

30 June 2022

Page 36 of 36

Play for Progress | Trustees’ Annual Report & Finance Statements | Year Ending 31 August 2021 Company Number 09157780 | Charity Number 1166328