OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2025-03-31-accounts

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

Contents Page
Trustees annual report 1 to 8
Independent examiner’s report 9
Statement offinancial activities (including income
and expenditure account) 10
Balance sheet 1]
Notestofinancialstatements 12to18

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

For the year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees are pleased to present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the period ending 31 March 2025, which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a Directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act purposes. The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, 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 2019).

1. Objectives and Activities

The objectives of the charity are to promote the better care, upbringing, and establishment in life of children residing in Sunderland and the surrounding areas by:

a) Promoting the role of kinship care;

2. Achievements and Performance

To achieve our aims and objectives the Trustees have continued to support over 450 families and welcomed many new families too. In Sunderland and surrounding areas there are families raising in excess of 500 children who are living in kinship care placements. We moved into our new premises at

1

Sunderland High Street in February 2024 and this has allowed us to provide a wide range of new groups to our kinship families.

We have continued to work, in partnership with many local support networks, to further benefit the lives of kinship families and provide a holistic approach to meeting the specific needs of kinship families. As with the previous year the cost-of-living crisis continued to bring new challenges to kinship families, and we have continued to provide emergency food support and wellbeing packs to those families who struggling as well as delivering remote support via Facebook, face to face group peer support, outreach face to face peer support groups, kinship fitness and food, training sessions, recreational activities, children's groups and events.

During the various school holidays throughout the year, we provided meals for the children to help address ‘holiday hunger’. These sessions were well attended and provided further opportunities for peer support for our carers. Our projects also included outings to places such as Barnes Park, Preston Park and museum, Butterfly World and Bowes Museum, all well attended with many families stating they had never taken the children previously due to the costs, transport issues, age related health conditions and the challenging behavior of the children due to trauma and neurodiverse conditions.

In December 2024 we held our own Pantomime, ‘Snow White and the Curse of the Poisoned Sausage Roll’. This was a huge success with our families and guests, and very well attended. The work involved in producing the pantomime with the children and families was a massive undertaking but gave the children an opportunity to learn and develop their skills. Our children and team are already planning our 2025 pantomime.

We also held our annual Kinship Christmas party which wasa roaring success with over 90 attendees, this included a live singer, buffet and a visit from Santa. Throughout each weekend in December we also held breakfast with Santa and this was opened up to the general public to help fundraise for the charity. This was also a success and we received some amazing feedback from our attendees.

Our weekly peer support group in Sunderland and monthly support group in Durham continue to be well attended. Carers can talk through their challenges in a safe way and find solutions to their problems with people in

2

similar situations. Through our partnership with Feeding Families, they also have access to a food bank if needed and in some sessions we have been able to provide relaxation therapy to encourage resilience. Through relationships that are formed in the group, they now provide mutual support to each other as one big family network.

We have delivered a variety of training sessions to our carers including: Non-violent Resistance Training (therapeutic parenting); navigating the care conundrum; supporting kinship children in education and supporting children with Special Guardianship in education; and self-care for carers. Each event was attended by 50 Kinship carers and held at Queen Street Masonic Temple in Sunderland. The Queen Street Masonic Temple have been and continue to be a great support to us.

Whilst we continued to deliver weekly children’s sessions after school (daily during school holidays) and to work with other local VCS groups to provide activities, we have developed new projects to in 2024/25.

2024/25 saw us develop a Youth Project for our older young people. We initially rana pizza and planning consultation evening with our young people to explore what they would like to do/gain from their Youth Group. The children were extremely vocal about what they felt would benefit them most and quite surprisingly they suggested some life skills sessions including basic home economic skills such as cooking, baking, budgeting, child care, first aid, laundry, etc. They also requested sessions which would improve their mental health and help them understand who they are as people, knowing and understanding their rights, understanding relationship sand developing positive relationships, knowing their boundaries and increasing their confidence to push their own personal boundaries whilst understanding their limitations but most of all they wanted some self-care sessions along with fun recreational activities.

With the current issues around men’s mental health, we developed a Men’s project to encourage more male kinship carers to access support. Again, we followed the format of a pizza and planning session. Our male carers stated they would like to take their group out into the community to get involved in things such as walking football, snooker, bowling, etc. However, they have also asked if they can have sessions around cookery and hair styling to enable them to style their grandchildren’s hair.

3

It was particularly pleasing for More than Grandparents to receive the VCAS Open Arms Large Community Group Award 2024. This award was open to the public vote and we were up against some very tough competition. We also won the Northern Enterprise Award 2024 for Best Kinship Family Support Charity 2024- North East, and finally our fantastic CEO received the Highly Commended VCAS Open Arms Award 2024. None of this would have been possible without the unwavering commitment from our very small team, volunteers and trustees.

In last years Trustee report, we talked about the production of our Kinship Care Notebook which was produced in collaboration with our Kinship Families to help raise awareness amongst school children. This was originally produced in online

format only, however in 2024/25 we were proud to share that the book was now published and in all schools across Sunderland, South Tyneside and Durham areas. This has been very successful with schools requesting in person attendance to provide talks to families and teachers about kinship care. Our kinship care notebook can be found at https://issuu.com/artmattersnow/docs/the_kinship_care_ notebook

We have continued to work positively with the NHS and other local agencies to provide holistic support to our families and we continue to seek new partnerships to meet the needs of our carers and children.

More than Grandparents were able to strengthen the board with two new Trustees joining in the year and three resignation. Following a challenging year which saw the board and Charity work closely with the Charities Commission, Trustees have attended training and we are pleased to report a clean bill of health from the Commission and a very positive, supportive relationship developed with them.

We are very proud to share some of the Feedback we have had from Carers

‘Mel and everyone at More than Grandparents are so supportive and nonjudgemental, they are always there with opens minds, hearts and ready to listen showing you kindness and a cuppa if needed. First class training and fabulous events for all the children’

4

‘’ve yet to come across any organisations that supports Kinships families in the same way as More than Grandparents. The help, guidance and friendship is above and beyond’

‘Some days like is really hard especially when you have health issues or family worries, knowing the group is there keeps you going’

‘Helped me through the darkest days’

‘Couldn't of getting through this situation if this wasn’t here, | always worry it’s not going to be here evenif | don’t need it for weeks it’s my safety net more than social workers and family can give’

  1. Plans for Future Periods

As demand is increasing for our services due to the cost-of-living crisis and an increase in children entering kinship care arrangements, there is even more of a need for our services. It is our intention to continue with our positive attitude towards securing funding from external sources to be able to continue our holistic support to kinship families. As funding streams become more difficult to access, the role of the Assistant Director has become even more crucial to the charity. This role has successfully accessed new funding streams for 2024/25 and this will continue in to 2025/26.

We will continue to work with our families to ensure that we are delivering a service that meets their needs.

We have a meeting set up in early 2025 (Financial year) with a Lead from Children's Social Care in Sunderland, we are keen to continue building positive relationships with Children’s Service and encourage better support for our kinship families.

Our carers have recently asked if we can create a Kinship Choir so we are keen to explore this more in 2025.

Recruitment of new Trustees will continue as an objective for 2025/2026.

  1. Reference and administrative details of the charity, it’s trustees and advisors

Charity Name: More than Grandparents

5

Registered Charity Number: 1173253

Operational address: Lambton House, Floor One, 145 High Street West, West Sunniside, Sunderland SR1 1UW

Trustees:

Karen Davison — Chairperson

Susie Thompson — Secretary

Adam Matthews — Treasurer

Michelle Brodie

Steven Dixon (recruited 20/11/2024)

Scott Brodie (recruited 31/05/2025)

Independent Examiner: O.E. Sandy Osbourne Sandy & Co., 10 Grange Terrace, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear SR2 7DF

Bankers : Santander 12-13 Waterloo Place, Sunderland SR1 3HS

5. Structure, Governance and Management

Governing documents: The organisation is a CIO, registered on the 2 June 2017.

Method of Recruitment of Trustees: Trustees are appointed by existing trustees.

Risk management: The Trustees have assessed the risks to which the charitable company is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charitable company, and are satisfied that systems and procedures are in place to mitigate any risk.

6. Financial Review

More Than Grandparents is primarily funded by grants and donations. The total income for the year was restricted £142,548 (2024: £166,765 Unrestricted £34,247 (2024: £22,601) this income is allocated across respective funds on the Statement of Receipts and Payments in

6

|

accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice. The Statement of Receipts and Payments for the year ended 31 March 2025, shows a net payments across all funds of £31,075 (2024: £63,814). The Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 31 March 2025 shows total cash fund carried forward of £162,861 (2024: £131,786) of which there are £125,123 restricted funds (2024: £ 106,597).

Reserves policy

More Than Grandparents has maintained a level of free reserves over the years currently (Unrestricted) £37,738 (2024 £25,189) to meet the working capital requirements of the charity in the event of a significant drop in funding. More than grandparents has established a policy whereby the unrestricted cash funds held by the charity should be sufficient to ensure that the charity provide cores services for at least three months. The trustees intend to build reserves to enable the charity to secure and expand its services. All restricted funds are spent in accordance with grant terms and conditions.

7. Statement of Trustee Responsibilities

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

The charity trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of incoming resources and application of resources. In preparing financial statements, the trustees are required to:

7

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. 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.

Approved by the Trustees on 5th November 2025 and are signed on their behalf by:

Scott Brodie a =

8

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of More Than Grandparents for the year ended 31st March 2025, which are set out on pages 10 to 18.

Responsibilities and basis of report

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

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

Independent examiner’s statement

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

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

Osbourne Edward Sandy OsbourneChartered SandyAccountants & Co 10 Grange Terrace Sunderland SR2 7DF

----- Start of picture text -----
(
----- End of picture text -----

5 November 2025

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

----- Start of picture text -----
||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |&|Unrestricted|Restricted|Total|Total| |Z|Funds|Funds|2025|2024| |£|£|£|£| |Receipts| |Donations|and|legacy|3|34,247|-|34,247|22,601| |Grants|4|-|142,548|142,548|166,765| |34,247|142,548|176,795|189,366| |Payments| |Charitable|expenditure| |Activity|costs|6|5,907|83,788|89,695|69,206| |Support|costs|6|15,791|39,334|55,125|56,346| |Governance|costs|6|-|900|900|-| |21,698|124,022|145,720|125,552| |Net|of receipts/-|payments|12,549|18,526|31,075|63,814| |Opening|cash|at bank|and|in|hand|25,189|106,597|131,786|67,972| |Closing|cash|at|bank and|in|hand|37,738|125,123|162,861|131,786|

----- End of picture text -----

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The notes on page 12 to 18 form an integral part of these accounts.

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

Charity Number 1173253 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2625

g
Z
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total
2025
Total
2024
£ £ £ £
Cash funds
Cash at bank and in hand 12 37,738 125,123 162,861 131,786
Liabilities 13 3,982 2,873

The notes on pages 12 to 18 form and integral part of these accounts.

These financial statements were approved by the Trustees on Sth November 2025 and are si gned on their behalf by Scott Brodie JAA

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

1. Accounting policies

The principle accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the prepation of the financial statements are as follows:

2. Basis of accounting

2.1 Basis of preparation

The accounts have been prepared using the receipts and payments basis. An audit is not required by the Charity's constitution and has not been requested by the Trustees.

Analysis ofIncome Analysis ofIncome Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Funds Funds 2025 2024
£ £ £ £
3. Donations and legacy
Donations 34,247 - 34,247 22,601
4. Grants
Awards For All . - - - 10,000
Ballinger - 10,000 10,000 -
Barbour Foundation — - - 15,000 15,000 10,000
AlbertHunt - - - 2,000
Allen Lane - 8,000 8,000 -
Cash4Kids - 2,448 2,448 -
Catherine Cookson = - - 1,000
Cloth Workers - - - 10,000
Community Foundation - - - 1,265
Community Foundation -Summer - 8,000 8,000 -
Community Foundation - Willan - - - 10,000
Durham Freemasons - 7,500 7,500 -
EdgarELawley - 2,000 2,000 -
Garfield Weston - - - 20,000
James Knott - - - 5,000
John Prestman - - = 4,000
Karbon Homes - - - 1,000
Masonic Hall - 4,500 4,500 4,500
ReachingCommunities - 75,000 75,000 63,000
Sports England - - - 15,000
SVSA - 1,000 1,000 -
Rose Joicey - 1,000 1,000 -
Rotherly Trust - 700 700 -
The Joicey.Trust - 2,000 2,000 -
The Masonic Charitable Foundation - 5,000 5,000 -
Trust House - - - 10,000
Warburtons - 400 400 -
- 142,548 142,548 166,765

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

|

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

Analysis ofresources expended Analysis ofresources expended Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Funds Funds 2025 2024
£ £ £ £
6. Charitable activities
Activity costs 4,062 32,652 36,714 27,938
Advertising 382 528 910 595
Kids resources 996 13,170 14,166 5,218
Room hire 395 1,538 1,933 1,670
Staff costs 31 779 810 2,186
Staffsalaries - 34,314 34,314 31,599
Support Costs - 707 707 -
Volunteers expenses 4] 100 141 -
5,907 83,788 89,695 69,206
Support costs
Consultancy fees 3,995 19,739 23,734 28,678
IT
.
613 1,071 1,684 1,619
Office costs 10,699 1,754 12,453 941
Printing, postage and stationery 484 2,268 2,752 1,547
Professional fees - - 2,179
Rent - 14,502 14,502 21,382
15,791 39,334 55,125 56,346
Governance costs
Trustee meeting cost - - - -
Independent examiner's fees - 900 900 -
- 900 900 -

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

  1. Fees for examination of the accounts 2025 2024 £ £ Independent examiner's fees for reporting on the accounts 900 - Other accountancy services paid to the examiner 204 - 1,104 -

Other fees were charged for the payroll preparation these costs have been included in other staff costs. See note 13 for the expected fee to paid to our independent examiner engaged for the 2025 accounts year.

8. Analysis ofstaffcosts and the cost ofkeymanagement personnel 2025 2024
£ £
Salaries and wages 33,548 30,636
Social security costs - =
Pension costs (defined contribution pension plan) 766 963
34,314 31,599

No employee received remuneration above £60,000.

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and manager. The total employee(2024: £30,636).benefits of the key. management personnel of the charity were £23,069

9. Staff numbers :

At the start of the year the charity emplopyed one member of staff and from November 2024 another staff member was employed.

10. Transactions with trustees

The trustees have been paid remunerations and received other benefits from an employment with their charity or a related entity.

The Charity Commission have confirmed that a founder member and ex-trustee can be remunerated by the Charity based on the going rate for the works undertaken.

Trustees' expenses

No trustee expenses have been incurred in the year.

Transaction(s) with related parties

The following detail the related party transactions in the reporting period.

Up until October 2024 an ex-trustee provided self-employed services to the charity. The amount paid for those services was £16,917 (2024: £21,750). The Charity Commission have confirmed they can be remunerated by the Charity based on the going rate for the works undertaken.

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

11. Corporation tax

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objectives.

12. Cash at bank and in hand

12. Cash at bank andand in hand Unrestricted Restricted
Funds Funds 2024
£ £ £
Cash atbank and in hand 25,189 106,597 131,786
Unrestricted Restricted
Funds Funds 2025
£ £ £
Cash at bank and in hand 37,738 125,123 162,861
13. Liabilities atthe period end 2025 2024
£ £
Independent examination ofaccounts (previous) - 87
Independent examination ofaccounts (current) 792 900
Collector oftaxes 3,190 1,682
Pension - 204
3,982 2,873

14. Analysis of charitable funds

Analysis of movements in unrestricted funds for the year ended 31st March 2025

Fund Fund
balances Incoming Resources balances
b/f resources expended Transfers e/f
£ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General unrestricted
fund 25,189 34,247 (21,698) - 37,738

|

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

14. Analysis of charitable funds (continued)

Analysis of movements in unrestricted funds for the year ended 31st March 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Fund|Fund| |balances|Incoming|Resources|balances| |b/f|resources|expended|Transfers|e/f| |£|£|£|£|£| |Unrestricted|funds| |General|unrestricted| |fund|10,658|22,601|(8,070)|-|25,189| |Purpose|of unrestricted|funds| |General|unrestricted|fund|The|‘free|reserves'|of the|charity.|

----- End of picture text -----

Analysis of movements in restricted funds for the year ended 31st March 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
|||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Fund|Fund| |balances|Incoming|Resources|balances| |b/f|resources|expended|Transfers|c/f| |Restricted|funds|£|£|£|£|£| |AlbertAwardsHuntFor|All|/_|;|602-|10,0002,000|(3,895)(630)|--|6,1051,972| |Barbour|4,500|10,000|(13,561)|-|939| |Catherine|Cookson|-|1,000|-|1,000| |Cloth|Workers|-|10,000|-|10,000| |Community|Foundation|-|1,265|(1,265)|-|-| |Community|Foundation|-Willan|-|10,000|-|10,000| |COOP|1,457|-|(1,457)|-|-| |Garfield|Weston|5,179|20,000|(5,182)|-|19,997| |James|Knott|48|5,000|(5,048)|-|-| |John|Prestman|-|4,000|-|4,000| |Karbon|Homes|-|1,000|(1,000)|-|-| |Masonic|Hall|-|4,500|(3,518)|-|982| |M&S|1,000|-|(1,000)|-|-| |National|Heritage|250|-|(48)|-|202| |Local|Giving|500|-|(500)|-|-| |Reaching|Communities|30,528|63,000|(54,444)|-|39,084| |Sports|England|-|15,000|(9,530)|-|5,470| |Sunderland|City|Council|3,250|-|(3,250)|-|-| |Trust House|10,000|10,000|(13,154)|-|6,846| |57,314|166,765|(117,482)|-|106,597|

----- End of picture text -----

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

Analysis ofmovements in restricted Analysis ofmovements in restricted funds for theyear ended 31stMarch 2025 31stMarch 2025
Fund Fund
balances Incoming Resources balances
b/f resources expended Transfers c/f
Restricted funds £ £ £ £ £
Albert Hunt 1,972 - (1,719) - 253
Allen Lane - 8,000 (3,738) - 4,262
Awards For All 6,105 - (6,099) - 6
Ballinger - 10,000 (6,790) - 3,210
Barbour 939 15,000 (939) - 15,000
Cash4Kids - 2,448 (2,448) - -
Catherine Cookson 1,000 - (992) - 8
Cloth Workers 10,000 - (10,000) - -
Community Foundation - Summer - 8,000 (8,000) - -
Community Foundation -Willan 10,000 - (10,000) - -
Durham Freemasons - 7,500 (6,838) - 662
EdgerE Lawley - 2,000 - - 2,000
Garfield Weston . 19,997 - (19,997) - -
John Prestman 4,000 7 (3,262) - 738
Masonic Hall
.
982 4,500 (975) - 4,507
National Heritage : 202 - (202) - -
Reaching Communities 39,084 75,000 (27,707) - 86,377
Rose Joicey - 1,000 (1,000) - -
Rotherly Trust - 700 - - 700
Sports England 5,470 _- (5,470) - -
SVSA - 1,000 (1,000) - -
The Joicey Trust - 2,000 - - 2,000
The Masonic Charitable Foundation - 5,000 - - 5,000
Trust House 6,846 - (6,846) - -
Warburtons - 400 - - 400
106,597 142,548 (124,022) - 125,123

MORE THAN GRANDPARENTS

|

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

Purpose of restricted funds

Restricted funds represent income resources used for a specific purpose within the charity as

identified by the donor. Albert Hunt Project cost Allen Lane Youth project Awards for All Activities and events Ballinger Project cost Barbour Rent Cash4Kids Kids and youth project Catherine Cookson Youth Project Cloth Workers Nursery Furniture Community Foundation - Summer Summer Holidays provision and food Community Foundation - Willan Pantomime and project cost Durham Freemasons Project cost Edgar E Lawley Kids club Garfield Weston Project cost James Knott Project cost John Prestman Project cost Masonic Hall ~ Project cost National Heritage Project cost Reaching Communities Project cost Rose Joicey Minsteracres trips Rotherly Trust Database Sports England Sports Activities SVSA Social value kinship alternative therapies The Joicey Trust Project cost The Masonic Charitable Foundation Project cost Trust House Project cost Warburton Youth project

|

  1. Capital commitments As at 31st March 2025 the charity had no capital commitments (2024- £nil).

  2. Guarantee There have been no guarantees given by the charity at 31st March 2025.

  3. Debt There is no debt outstanding which is owed by the charity and which is secured by an excess charge on any of the assets of the charity at 31st March 2025.

  4. Governing document The organisation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation - Foundation registered on 2nd June 2017 as a body corporate under part 11 of the Charities Act 2011.