## COMMUNITIES WELFARE NETWORK
Supporting needs and improving lives
ANNUAL REPORT 2023-2024
## **CHARITY INFORMATION**
## **Board of Directors**
Chairperson Felix Wohi Treasurer Beugre Jacques Ndouba Secretary Miss Yllo Aya Kohi Vice-Secretary Mr Frabrice Kragbe Vice-Treasurer Miss Lydie Sykely Registered Address 49 Camberwell New Road London SE5 0RZ Email Address cowelfare.net@gmail.com Twitter @Network_Welfare Website https://cowelfare.net Company N0: 05199047 Charity N0: 1167437
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## **CONTENT**
|**Items**|**Pages**|
|---|---|
|Directors Report|3|
|Aim and Objectives|4|
|Financial Review|5|
|Activities & Outcome|6-8|
|Financial statement|9-14|
|Independent Examiner|14|
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## **DIRECTORS’ REPORT**
## **The Directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 of March 2024**
The Communities Welfare Network (CowNet) was established in 2003 as a charitable Community Organisation and a company limited by guarantee.
The organisation is based in London supporting the needs of disadvantaged people from minority communities, particularly, Asylum seekers, Refugees migrants, displaced people from their country of origin because of war, victim of violence, political or religious beliefs, intimidation and threat to their lives.
Most of the organisation’s activities are focused on tackling poverty, social exclusion, capacity building of the communities and welfare support services.
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## **AIMS AND OBJECTIVES**
The aims and Objectives of the organisation are:
The advancement of education and the tackling of causes of poverty affecting Minority Communities throughout Lambeth, Southwark and Westminster.
And the aim is achieved by carrying out the following activities:
- The provision of information and advice by means of workshops, drop - in and one to one sessions.
- The Provision of training for employment and employment related advice
- The provision of financial capability training and advice sessions
- The Provision of literacy and numeracy classes and supplementary education for children.
- The Provision of recreational Activities
- The provision of health promotion activities
- The provision of befriending, interpreting and domestic support services
- Assistance to victims of the rising cost of living
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## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
For this Financial year we had unrestricted income of £11,700 and restricted income of £49,695. Total income was £61,395. We had a surplus of £6807. Income brought Forward from previous year amounted to £37,434, giving a total of £44241 carried forward over the period 2024-2025. The charity had unrestricted reserves of £10900, and restricted reserves was £23775 to continue pending projects. At the end of 23/24, total Reserves was £34675.
## **Public benefit statement**
In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the trustees have considered clause 17 of the Charity Act 2011 and the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
The above achievements demonstrate the public benefit arising from the Charity’s activities.
## **Risk Management**
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which Communities Welfare is Exposed and are satisfied that the systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks including risk assessment, maintaining a risk register, which is reviewed annually.
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**Activities For The Period 2023-2024**
## **Employment Support Services**
The employment support services targeted people who are not in employment and self-employment. We delivered one to one service at the centre and telephone advice sessions. The activities included CV building and job interview technic sessions, basic IT skills training, online Job applications and voluntary job placement. The programme benefited 26 people.
## **Advice and Support Services**
The organisation’s advice and support services covered the following areas:
- Welfare benefit
- Employment and self-employment
- Debt
- Health
- Education and
- • Referrals
We delivered one to one advice and information sessions and made 17 referrals to specialist services. About 36 People benefited from the activities
## **English Skills (ESOL Project)**
The organisation has delivered ESOL (English for Speakers of other languages) at pre-entry level and Entry Level 1 for 18 refuges and asylum seekers.
The aim of the activities was to improve migrants, refugees and asylum seekers’ English skills and facilitate their integration into the wider community and entry into part or full-time employment **.**
## **Rising Living Cost Support Services**
We run important support services for people affected by the rising cost of living so that they can survive, improve their confidence and resilience. Services offered include debt and financial advice, advocacy on behalf of 39 users.
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## **PLAN FOR 2023-2024**
- The organisation will continue to deliver employment skills training and employment related advice for unemployed migrants and refugees who have no right to state benefit.
We will support about 26 people in this programme to improve their skills and employability chances.
- We will continue to assist about 33 elderly people through domestic support, social clubs and befriending services.
- We will increase assistance to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in need of housing, education, welfare benefit and employment. Our target is to help about 38 people over the period 2024-2025
- The organisation will continue to deliver more ESOL training courses for new refugees, migrants and asylum seekers and we aim to train about 19 clients over the period 2024-2025 to improve their employability chances and facilitate their integration into the wider community.
- The organisation will increase support to local families with the educational need of their children, mainly uneducated parents who cannot help their children with their schoolwork. We aim to support about 25 children in need from poor families who have no alternative.
- Over the period 2024-2025, the organisation will assist about 41 families facing financial crisis due to the rising cost of living, through food and domestic items supply
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## **FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
||||**Incoming Resources**|**Incoming Resources**|**Incoming Resources**|**Incoming Resources**|**Incoming Resources**|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||||||||
||**Unrestricted**||||**Restricted**||||||**2024**|||**2023**||
|||||£||£||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||
|Grant receivable(1)||||||49695||||49695|||39686|||
|Fundraising& Donation||||6950||||||6950|||9800|||
|Centre rental fees||||4750||||||4750|||7900|||
|Membership|||||||||||||320|||
|||||||||||||||||
|**Total Incoming Resources**||||**11700**||**49695.00**||||**61395**|||**57706**|||
|||||||||||||||||
|**Resources Expended**||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||
|Salary& Wages||||||7800.00||||7800|||7600|||
|Sessional Trainers Cost||||||6950.00||||6950|||7900|||
|Rent & Rates||2300.00||||15200.00|||17500.00|||17060.00||||
|Heat/Light/ utilities||||||4380.00|||4380|||3300||||
|Insurances||||||340.00|||340|||340||||
|Telephone Internet & Fax||||||2800.00|||2800.00|||2770.00||||
|Post/Stationery||||||630.00|||630|||520||||
|Printing& Publicity||||||340.00|||340|||855||||
|Deliverycost and travel expenses||||||2206.00|||2206.00|||1100.00||||
|Accountancycost||350.00|||||||350|||220.00||||
|Refreshment||470.00|||||||470.00|||500.00||||
|Volunteer Cost||540.00||||3006.00|||3546.00|||3300.00||||
|Depreciation Charge||726.00|||||||726.00|||967||||
|Maintenance & Repairs||260.00|||||||260|||520||||
|Administration Cost||180.00||||600.00|||780.00|||700||||
|Food Bank & Essential Items||||||5200|||5200|||4100||||
|Equipment||||||||||||2300||||
|Fundraisingcost||310.00|||||||310.00|||550.00||||
|||||||||||||||||
|**Total Resources Expended**||**5136.00**||||**49452.00**|||**54588**|||**54602**||||
|||||||||||||||||
|**Net Incoming Resources**||**6564.00**|||||**243.00**||**6807.00**|||||**3104**||
|||||||||||||||||
|**Total Funds at 1 April 2024**|||||||||**6807.00**|||||**3104**||
|||||||||||||||||
|Fund B/F|||||||||**37434**|||**34330**||||
|||||||||||||||||
|**Funds Carried forward at 31 March 2024**||||||||**44241.00**||||**37434**||||
|||||||||||||||||
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**BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31/03/ 2024**
|Tangible Assets(3)||2075|2901|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
|||||
|Current Assets||||
|||||
|Cash receivable||38500|30434|
|||||
|Current Liability||0||
|||||
|Creditors||-5900|-6300|
|||||
|||||
|Total Net Assets||**34675**|**27035**|
|||||
|**Funds**||||
|Restricted||23775|12200|
|||||
|Unrestricted||10900|14835|
|||||
|**Total**||**34675**|**27035**|
For the year ending 31/03/2024 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476, the directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts these accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small company’s regime.
Signed on behalf of the board of Directors
Felix Wohi - Director
Signed: ----------------------------------------Date:------------------------------------2024
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## **NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (1)**
## **Notes to the Accounts for the Year ended 31 /03/ 2024**
Accounting policies
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, as modified by the inclusion of fixed assets investments at Market value, and in accordance with applicable accounting standards and follow the recommendation in the statement of SORP 2011 and company law 2006.
## **1. Grants**
Grants are recognized in the statements on accrual basis following the satisfaction of any preconditions.
## **2. Depreciation**
Provision for depreciation of fixed assets held for use by the charity is made at an annual rate calculated to spread the cost of the assets over its expected useful life. The depreciation charge rate in use is 25% on reducing balance method.
## **3. Restricted Funds**
Restricted funds are grants awarded for specific projects and cannot be used for any other project. We apply this rule strictly.
## **Reserves Policy**
The organization ’s reserves policy is to maintain a level of unrestricted and undesignated reserves equivalent to 3-6 months' turnover
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## **GRANTS RECEIVABLE (2)**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
City Bridge Trust 7895
Ubele Initiative 12600
Seven Friends Foundation 5800
Foyle Foundation 4000
McCathy Store Foundation 11400
CABWI 8000
Total 49695
**----- End of picture text -----**
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**DEPRECIATION OF FIXED ASSESTS (3)**
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||2024||**2023**||
|||||||
|At thebeginningof theyear||2901||1568||
|Addition||0||2300||
|||||||
|At the end of Year||2901||**3868**||
|||||||
|**Depreciation**||||||
|At thebeginningof theyear||2901||3868||
|**Charge for theyear**||726||967||
|AccumulatedDepreciation||3627||3006||
|||||||
|Net BookValue||**2175**||**2901**||
|||||||
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## **DIRECTORS’ RESPOSIBILITIES**
Company and charity law requires the Directors who are also the charity trustees, to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the company and of the results of the company at that period.
In preparing those financial statements, the directors are required to: Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume that the company will not continue on that basis.
The directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable it to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.
They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps and detect fraud and other irregularities.
Signed on behalf of the board of Directors
Felix Wohi - Director
25 / 09 / Signed: ----------------------------------------Date:------------------------------------2024 ,
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## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT**
I report on the accounts of the company for year ended 31 /03/2024
The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustee consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 43(2) of the company Act 2006 and that an independent examination needed and that the Company qualifies as a small company under the company Act 2006.
It is my responsibility to carry out procedures designed to enable me to report my opinion. My examination was carried out to ascertain that the accounting records kept by the charity are in accordance with the accounts presented with those records and that no unusual items or disclosures in the accounts come to my attention.
## **EXAMINER’S STATEMENT**
The financial statements are in agreement with those accounting records kept by the company under section 386 of Companies Act 2006;
Having regard only to, and on the basis of the information contained in those accounting records, the financial statements have been drawn up in a manner consistent with the accounting requirements specified in section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice 2011
30/09/ --------------------------------------------- Date --------------------------------------2024
Mr Yoboue Richard Community Accountant 5 Prescott House London SE17 3PH
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