2020-08-31-accounts - Soulscape

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soulscape

Registered Charity Number 1169989

SOULSCAPE

Annual report and financial statements

For the year ended 31 August 2020

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Index	Pages
Reference and administrative details for Soulscape	3
Trustees report	4
Objectives and activities	4
Achievements and performance	6
Feedback from Staff and Students	9
Plans for the future	9
Public benefit	10
Financial Review	10
Remuneration policy for key management personnel	11
Investment policy	11
Fundraising policy	11
Reserves policy and going concern	11
Risk	12
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities	12
Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of Soulscape	14
Financial Statement	16
Use of our report	18

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Reference and administrative details for Soulscape

Soulscape is a Charity registered in England and under number 1169989. It was originally a Charitable Trust known as Wokingham Area School’s Christian Workers Trust, which was registered on 10 January 1996; charity number 1051870. On 2 November 2016, Soulscape was registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and, following approval of the Charity Commission, the assets and liabilities of Wokingham Area School’s Christian Workers Trust were transferred to Soulscape. Wokingham Area School’s Christian Workers Trust has now ceased and been removed from the Charity Commission register. Soulscape is governed by its Constitution dated 24 October 2016.

Board of Trustees

Jonathan Newport (Chair of Trustees)

Vicki Gibson (Secretary, resigned February 2020)

Geoffrey Hulme (Treasurer)

James Harmer

Marion Standing (resigned February 2020)

Executive team

Nick Barnett (CEO)

Michelle McLeish (Operations Manager)

Graham Preston (Finance & Resources Manager)

Vasileia Petraki (Community & Corporate Partnerships Manager, appointed January 2020)

Zoe Maynard (Fundraising Manager, appointed February 2020)

Charity address

Kings Place, 9 Station Road, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 2AD

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Bankers

CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4JQ

Solicitors

Blandy & Blandy LLP, 1 Friar Street, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1DA

Auditor

Ian Phillips, 47 Manor Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 4AR

Trustees report

The trustees submit the annual report and the audited financial statements of Soulscape for the year ended 31 August 2020. The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity Constitution and Accounting and Reporting by Charities Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015).

Objectives and activities

The objectives of the Charity are to advance the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Beliefs appearing in the Charity’s Constitution and advance education in accordance with Christian principles, particularly amongst children and young people in the schools and other educational establishments in Wokingham, Berkshire and the surrounding area and in such other parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the Trustees determine.

The Charity achieves these objectives by employing workers who possess the necessary skills and training to run activities within schools. The Charity currently has a pool of approximately 70 volunteers, drawn from many sources including churches across Wokingham, who support schools by delivering activities that help their students deal with the pressures they face from stress at school, bullying, sexual pressures and bleak employment prospects. These services are given from a Christian moral and spiritual perspective where appropriate.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Purpose and aims

The charity works in partnership with schools to give young people the space they need to explore the issues that they have identified as affecting them.

The Pressure

Being a teenager has always been tough. But for today’s young people, peer pressure happens around the clock, bullying invades their own homes, and exam pressures at school have ratcheted up. With pressure to keep up appearances online, be available 24/7, perfect (and share) their bodies, get the best grades, think and say the ‘right’ thing, and support their families too, teenagers live with a huge amount of stress.

The Consequences

The Charity is seeing a mental health epidemic in our young people. The number of teenagers with mental health problems has doubled in the last 20 years. In 2018, more than a fifth of 14-year-old girls said they had self-harmed. And for those who do not become ill, there is little time and space at school or home to switch off, breathe, reflect, and form their own opinions and ideas – something that is a crucial part of adolescence.

Our aim is to create space

Young people don’t need yet another voice telling them what to think and do. Rather than pile more pressure onto them (“do these ten things to feel better”), the Charity believes in creating space away from it all. Space to reflect, to ask big questions, to explore what’s going on inside, and to creatively express their own ideas.

The Charity does this by:

Listening to young people’s ideas and requests about what they want to discuss, whether that be self-harm, pornography, or how to make good decisions.
Running workshops on these topics in their schools, where they can explore, debate, reflect and express themselves through the creative arts.
Helping schools in Wokingham and Bracknell to run an effective PSHE and RE curriculum.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Achievements and performance

The year 2019/20 turned out to be unprecedented due to the national and international spread of the Coronavirus, and the consequential national lockdown on 23 March 2020, with schools closing their doors to in person teaching on 20 March 2020. Soulscape was unable to deliver face to face workshops for the second half of the year. That, however, did not stop the charity as we took some of our projects online as well as introducing a weekly lockdown vlog for students, which ran for 13 consecutive weeks. The lockdown vlogs were published through Soulscape’s YouTube and Instagram channels.

During the year the Charity managed to reach over 5,000 young people through delivered workshops, namely: REAL, REvive, Object, Pause, Care (online), Give & Take and Mind The Gap (online).

REAL stands for Relationships, Esteem, Aspirations, and Lifestyle. These workshops allow space for students to reflect and think through for themselves the areas of relationships, self-esteem, sex education to consider life choices. Through story discussion and reflection, they explore skills for building strong and positive relationships

REvive is a programme that supports the RE Curriculum, creating space for students to explore new ideas for themselves. Soulscape aims to challenge, surprise, inform & empower students to think independently, running drop down days, for whole year groups, where Christians share their stories and what motivates them, putting their faith into action, looking at the issues of poverty, prison ministry, persecution, Christian pilgrimage, evangelism, the world church, etc… Soulscape also organises walking tours, where young people can visit local churches to hear about their beliefs, history and community engagement.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Give and Take looks at drug related antisocial behaviour and is delivered in primary and secondary schools. Our workshops are delivered by second and third year diploma students (Years 12 & 13) from Reading College’s performing arts department and are designed to help young people explore the issues around drugs, develop self-esteem, make positive relationships and engage in positive activities

MIND THE GAP (MTG) is a transition project helping year 6 to make a happy journey to secondary school. Teams go into Primary Schools and meet with Year 6 pupils. They talk about how to make friends, run team building activities and talk to the students about what to expect when starting Secondary School. Staff run parent's evenings as part of MTG with the aim of helping parents of Year 6 pupils appreciate the challenges and opportunities faced by starting Secondary School

Object explores the issues around pornography through theatre and peer led discussion. The thought-provoking theatre presentation tours secondary school to examine the issues raised by the increasing and instant availability of pornographic images on the internet and the damaging effects this may have in young people's lives and relationships.

Pause provides interactive prayer spaces for young people at schools - time out space to reflect, explore and pray. It invites young people of all faiths and none to think about what and who is important in their lives.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

CARE stands for Creation, Awareness, Recycling and Educating. It is a creative project addressing the anxiety and passion that young people have about climate change and the environment and putting them to good use. In collaboration with a local artist, the Charity uses creative art to help young people express their worries and passions and to make a difference by educating the people around them.

Soulscape continues to support the school staff in a practical way by serving coffee and cake, either weekly or fortnightly in four schools. The result of us investing time with the staff and serving them has been to build a stronger relationship of trust and create more opportunities within those schools. The cakes are baked by volunteers from the churches around Wokingham.

This year has been an opportunity to demonstrate that the Charity can deliver its projects efficiently and effectively without placing an unnecessary strain on the management team. Despite the coronavirus and consequential national lockdown, the Charity has met this objective, which is a massive achievement.

Communication is important for any Charity that relies on fund raising and publicising what we do and how we do it. Soulscape continues to benefit from the support of a specialist communications consultant who provides us with 8 hours of support each week and with FRESH01, a digital agency, who donate their time.

As part of the Charity’s plan to build financial resilience it successfully recruited a Fundraising Manager and a Community & Corporate Partnership Manager during the early part of 2020. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic it has been challenging for these roles to develop and benefit the charity as it was intended.

The Coronavirus and the consequential national lockdown continues to affect the Charity’s financial position, and efforts to increase income have largely been thwarted. That said, the Charity took advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme with

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

regards to one of its employees and ended the year in a better financial position than was anticipated, which was indeed very good news.

Feedback from Staff and Students

Feedback is received from students and staff to enable the trustees to shape the work of the Charity in accordance with its purposes and resources.

"What I like about Soulscape is that they are not teachers; their workshops are different to, and compliment, the work we do in the classroom." - Head of RE, St. Crispins.

" Our students were fully absorbed and engage during the Object presentation." - Head of RE, Forest School

"Pornography is having an increasing impact on the lives of young people. Not just young men but women as well" - Headteacher, The Holt School

"Being a Christian might make you think about decisions you make" - year 7 pupil.

"l liked the fact that Mind The Gap was there just for the children" - Parent.

“You know they will be kind to you" - year 8 pupil

"PAUSE came at just the right time after all the stress of exams" - year 9 teacher

"l was a child again with no worries" year 7 response to PAUSE.

" lt was a place to think about what's in your heart. You don't usually do that at school". - yr 9 pupil

Plans for the future

The Charity is continuing with its plans to build resilience and sustainability in terms of its financial position and delivery of projects. Delivery remains a challenge in the current climate and with the uncertainty of whether the nation (and schools) will enter a second or even third national lockdown. That said, the Charity is working with schools to ensure that it is able, wherever possible, to continue to deliver projects. This requires a degree of creativity regarding delivery and thankfully the Charity is well placed to achieve this.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

The Charity’s plans to increase delivery may not be achieved depending on the guidance from the DofE regarding outside organisations visiting schools. In that respect, some of the Charity’s plans for the forthcoming year may be delayed until the following academic year.

Soulscape intends to continue to provide projects working in partnership with schools to ensure we deliver them in a way that supports the work of the school curriculum and adds value. These are likely to be REAL, Mind The Gap, Object, Pause and Revive.

Public benefit

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties. The public benefit of the Charity’s activities is defined in our objectives (see above) and these are achieved principally by supporting local schools in helping students to deal with life pressures e.g. stress at school, bullying, sexual pressures and drugs. The Charity also supports the Religious Education curriculum in schools to both advance the Christian faith and education. All services are delivered (where appropriate) from a Christian moral and spiritual perspective.

The Charity receives feedback from students and staff of the schools it visits in the Wokingham area to enable it to create new activities and to update/tailor current workshops/clubs/activities to keep them relevant.

Financial Review

The Charity’s bank balance reduced by £25.2k during the year, starting at its record high of £31.1k, ending on £5.9k, which represents 1 month of operating costs and is below its target of holding at least two months of costs. The year brought a number of unprecedented challenges to Soulscape and all charities, but the Charity is happy to report that it has met the challenges and emerged stronger.

Net Income for the year shows a loss of £23.3k. This compares to a £0.9k profit of the previous year, and is a £24.4k adverse movement. Income has reduced by £28.6k to £49.8k largely due to coronavirus restrictions, and Expenditure has reduced by £4.4k to £73.1k as the Charity has largely maintained its structure.

Local churches are the Charity’s foundation, and although the giving here fell by £10k, almost all of this reduction is due to reduced one off donations, or calendar phasing. The regular basic church support has overall held up well. The Charity would not exist

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

without its church support. Grant income fell by £8k as the Charity had no opportunities to deliver new programs. Fundraising income fell by £4.5k due to COVID restrictions. Individual and Organisation giving fell by £11.5k, but £11k of this was again due to a reduction in one off items. One off income items have in total reduced from £29.7k in the previous year to £8.7k this year, including the £5.6k grant from the HMRC for Covid Job Retention Scheme.

The Personnel costs for the year have remained fairly stable.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

The trustees have identified the charity’s CEO and Operations Manager as the key management personnel of the charity. Executive pay is determined by the Trustees, with decisions about executive pay being informed by comparison to salaries within the sector, and subject to a “value for money” test. Salaries are reviewed annually.

Investment policy

The Charity has power to do anything which is calculated to further its Objects or is conducive or incidental to doing so. In particular, the CIO has power to: deposit or invest funds, employ a professional fund-manager and arrange for the investments or other property of the CIO to be held in the name of a nominee, in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as the trustees of a trust are permitted to do by the Trustee Act 2000; and do anything else within the law which is incidental and conducive to the Objects.

Fundraising policy

The Charity does engage in public fundraising (through volunteers and commercial participators) but does not use professional fundraisers. We monitor the relevant fundraising regulations and codes to ensure compliance, if relevant. During the year there was no non-compliance of these regulations and codes and the Charity received no complaints relating to its fundraising practice.

Reserves policy and going concern

The Charity has agreed to maintain a liquid balance of income equal to at least two months of salary expenditure to meet its commitments and provide stability in the event of any deterioration in voluntary giving. Two months of salary expenditure for

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

the current year equates to over £11.8k and the balance on Trust income at £5.9k is below this sum. It is anticipated that this is a temporary position, and a supporter of the Charity has agreed to underwrite any shortfall that should occur in this respect. Details of the reasons that have caused this position are set out above in the financial review.

The trustees have reviewed the position and are content that the potential risk presented it the Charities reserves policy has been mitigated and that there is no significant short or medium term financial risks to the charity’s continued operations. Therefore, the accounts have been prepared on the going concern basis.

Risk

The major risks to which the Charity is exposed have been identified by the Trustees and procedures established to mitigate these risks are monitored and reviewed regularly and have been recorded in the risk register. We minimise finance risk by the preparation and monitoring of budgets; strategic risk by the maintenance of good practice in delivery of our services; and operational risk and regulation compliance risk through the regular review of activities and the use of professional advisers, where appropriate.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

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 charity’s financial activities during the period and of its financial position at the end of the period. In preparing financial statements giving a true and fair view, the Trustees should follow best practice and:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principals in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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

Independent Auditor

Ian Phillips was appointed as the charity’s auditor during the period and has expressed his willingness to act in that capacity.

This report was approved by the Trustees on 9 June 2021 and signed by:

if Nal? Jonathan Newport

Chair of Trustees

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees of Soulscape

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and

That an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Examine the accounts under section L44 of the Charities Act
to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's statement

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

Independent examiner's statement

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

which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
to keep accounting records in accordance with section L30 of the Charities Act;

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or
to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed:

Name: Ian Phillips ACA

Date: 27 June 2021

Relevant professional qualification(s) or body: ICAEW Address: 47 Manor Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 4AR

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Financial Statement

General Income and Expenditure
Income
Notes
Total Sponsoring Churches
3
Wokingham United Charities (Give & Take)
Other Fund Raising
Regular Giving
Regular Giving - Gift aided
Donations from Organisations
Schools
HMRC Coronavirus JRS grant
Bank Interest
Total Receipts
Expenditure
Total Personnel Costs
4
Artists Costs
Film maker
Training and Travel
Project Resources
Coffee etc for School Staff
Office and Telephones
Stationery and office supplies
Insurance
Computer Equipment & Software
D & B Checks
Volunteer Appreciation/Expenses
Payroll Agency Charges
Communication & Publicity
Miscellaneous
Fundraising Expenses
Bank Charges
Total Expenditure
Excess of Income over Expenditure
(Excess of Expenditure over Income)
Balance Brought Forward
Balance Carried Forward
Assets and Liabilities as at 31st August
Bank and other Current Assets
Accrued Income
Accounts Receivable
CAF Cash
CAF Gold
Petty Cash
5
Total Current Assets
Liabilities
Current Liabilities
6
NET ASSETS

Actual
Actual
year ended
year ended
31-Aug-20
31-Aug-19
22,558.00
33,014.61
0.00
8,000.00
422.61
4,910.80
4,057.26
15,365.34
9,913.96
11,150.77
1,050.00
0.00
6,145.00
5,901.00
5,645.88
0.00
25.78
46.07
49,818.49
78,388.59
68,123.15
68,698.69
640.00
320.00
0.00
750.00
302.85
528.39
195.22
1,486.84
0.00
53.40
935.44
713.13
76.22
71.40
1,032.43
956.69
367.04
1,252.86
467.75
181.25
20.00
18.23
363.60
363.60
226.00
387.73
284.17
1,506.26
21.00
139.52
60.00
60.00
73,114.87
77,487.99
-23,296.38
900.60
29,656.50
28,755.90
6,360.12
29,656.50
1,331.20
2,750.00
120.00
0.00
1,382.65
1,295.93
4,326.22
29,650.25
150.00
150.00
7,310.07
33,846.18
949.95
4,189.68
6,360.12
29,656.50

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

1. BASIS OF ACCOUNTS

These accounts have been prepared on a “receipts and payments” basis as prescribed by the Charities Commissioners, and they meet the legal requirements.

2. SUPPORTING CHURCHES

The following church charities supported the Trust during the year:

All Saints Church

St Pauls Church

Kerith Church

Crowthorne Baptist Church

Finchampstead Baptist Church

Kings Church

St Sebastians Church

Wokingham Baptist Church

Woosehill Community Church

3. PERSONNEL COSTS

These payments are for two employees and two contractors working on a part-time basis.

4. CASH FLOAT

This represents advances to employees for expenses.

5. CURRENT LIABILITIES

Sundry Accruals (Mel £366) Deferred income NEST Control Pay as You Earn	31-Aug-20 31-Aug-19 366.00 1,972.75 0.00 240.00 165.51 155.59 418.44 1,821.34 949.95 4,189.68

6. OTHER ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

There are no other significant assets or liabilities.

The accounts and statement of assets and liabilities set out on pages16 & 17 relating to the year ended 31 August 2020 are as approved by the trustees.

Signed ……………………………………..………(Trustee)

Date …………………………………..

Geoff Hulme

Treasurer

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20

Use of our report

Use of our report This report is made solely to the charity's trustees as a body, in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Soulscape Annual Report & Financial Statements 19/20