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2022-03-31-accounts

LIBRARIES CONNECTED

(Formerly Society of Chief Librarians)

(LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements

for the year ending 31 March 2022

Company Number: 07559747 Charity Number: 1176482

LIBRARIES CONNECTED

(LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

Content Pages
Reference and Administrative details 3
Report of the Board of Trustees 4-24
Independent Auditor’s Report 25-28
Statement of Financial Activities 29
Balance Sheet 30
Statement of Cash Flows 31
Notes to the Financial Statements 32-42

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The Board of Trustees Carol Stump President
(Trustees are also Company Directors) Mark Freeman Past-President
MBE
Ayub Khan MBE President-Elect
Martin Burton BEM Trustee
Jane Ellison BEM Trustee
Julie Griffiths Trustee (resigned 29 June 2022)
Ilona Kish Trustee
Neil MacInnes OBE Trustee
Vera Owen Trustee (resigned 10 March 2022)
Elizabeth White Trustee (resigned 10 March 2022)
Kathryn Harrison Honorary Treasurer
Anthony Hopkins Trustee
BEM
Emma Noyce Trustee
Company Secretary & Chief Executive Isobel Hunter MBE
Registered Office Libraries Connected
3rdFloor, Islington Central Library
2 Fieldway Crescent
London N5 1PF
Auditors Sayer Vincent LLP
Invicta House
108-114 Golden Lane
London, EC1Y OTL
Bankers Royal Bank of Scotland
13-15 London Road
Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1PR
Company Number 07559747
Charity Number 1176482

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

The Trustees present their annual report with audited financial statement for the year ended 31 March 2022. The comparative figures are those for the year ended 31 March 2021.

Public benefit, mission and values

The trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remained focused on its stated purposes.

The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

The Objects of the Charity are to advance the education of the public by assisting in the establishment, maintenance, operation and development of libraries and library services in the United Kingdom (which are either public or from which the public may benefit) and to further such other charitable purposes consistent with the above as the Trustees, in their absolute discretion, shall determine.

Libraries Connected is the membership organisation for the public library sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

Libraries Connected’s vision is an inclusive, modern, sustainable and high-quality public library service at the heart of every community in the UK. We believe modern public libraries should be the cornerstone of the community and should deliver a diverse spectrum of local needs around information, learning, literacy, employment and digital skills, health, culture and leisure.

As a sector support membership organisation, our mission is to work in the sector, for the sector to:

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

Plans and future activities

This year the sector focused on rebuilding and adapting after the pandemic. Despite the unprecedented challenges of the last two years, we are pleased to see that public libraries have emerged stronger and more resilient than ever. This has allowed us to return to some of the key outcomes of our business plan, which was necessarily amended during the pandemic. The outcomes below are based on our 2018-22 business plan, which ends this year. In May 2022 we submited a new application to ACE for continued support as a Sector Support Organisation (SSO), along with a new business plan and strategy covering 2023-2027.

Public library services are relevant, well-used services at the heart of communities providing strong benefit to communities and meeting local need.

Activities to include:

Public library services are responsive and able to adapt to new opportunities and challenges, using sector-wide test and learn approaches, research and evidence to inform approaches to new service development and adaptation.

Activities to include:

The public library leadership and workforce has access to the skills and information they need to respond to changing contexts, deliver high quality service and develop and adapt new services as needed.

Activities to include:

The core offer of public libraries is understood by stakeholders, partners and funders, and this offer is seen as valuable and relevant to the outcomes they wish to achieve, leveraging new partnership opportunities and funding streams.

Activities to include:

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Libraries Connected is a strong, sustainable sector support organisation which also supports the wider sustainability of the sector.

Activities to include:

Advocacy and services

Our members are at the heart of everything we do, and we regularly consult them about the development of our work through their presence on our Board, Advisory Committee, regional networks, Universal Library Offer networks and through various tailored consultation events and reference groups.

Libraries Connected is also committed to working in partnership with other agencies to deliver tangible benefits to library services. Libraries Connected could not have accomplished all that it has during this financial year without the efforts and expertise of our partners. We would like to thank them for all their support and look forward to our continued partnership.

Achievement and performance

This year saw Libraries Connected adapt to support our members as they adjusted to the postpandemic landscape. For much of the previous year we were focused on delivering a COVID support

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and recovery programme to our members, but the end of lockdowns and the full reopening of the sector meant we were able to return to our core work. This included:

All this work in evidenced under our three main areas of activity:

  1. Supporting our members as they reopen and rebuild after the pandemic and delivering a valued membership offer

  2. Delivering our business plan as a Sector Support Organisation

  3. Delivering key strategic programmes to support sector development

  4. Supporting our members as they reopen and rebuild after the pandemic and delivering a valued membership offer

Equal opportunities

During 2021 we put in place some of the areas identified in our Equality and Diversity Strategy Action Plan 2020. Race and managing collections was identified as a key area of work, and the evaluation of the Novels that Shaped Our World project also highlighted the importance of diverse communities seeing themselves represented in public library collections. As a result we worked with our partners at CILIP to commission a piece of research from the University of Coventry which is exploring the diversity of library collections including staff collection knowledge, collection policy and acquisition. The report will be published in early 2023. Libraries Connected also partnered the National Literacy Trust to run a series of three webinars for public and school librarians and teachers on diversity on children’s books in 2021 -2022 and are running a further series in 2022-2023.

Webinars

Our programme of webinars, established during COVID, continued to develop this year and has become a key part of our membership offer. We held a total of 27 webinars this year; some were related to our major projects, while others explored more general topics of interest to the sector. They featured expert speakers and case studies, with time for discussion, and most were made available on our YouTube channel afterwards. Depending on the topic, they were aimed at Heads of Service, senior managers or wider library staff.

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We will continue to grow and refine the webinar programme next year, with the aim of running one a week.

Learning Pool

We continue to offer our six e-learning courses via the Learning Pool platform, plus two courses developed by Learning Pool (our platform provider): one about COVID, and one which explores racial inequality in the workplace.

Our courses are available free of charge to people working in public libraries in England Wales, Northern Ireland and Crown Dependencies. As libraries re-opened and restrictions were lifted the number of people using our online training reduced significantly. Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, 1,944 modules were completed compared to 16,863 the previous year. The ‘Digital Divide and Your Role as a Public Library Digital Champion’ module was most popular with 220 completions.

Volunteer course checkers were recruited from the Universal Library Offer groups to monitor and review the courses regularly. While most received minor updates, the Digital Information Skills course is going to be replaced by a new set of modules looking at Digital, Media and Information Skills. This course will have two modules funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport and will link to their Online Media Literacy Strategy. Plans are in place to launch a new course which will pull together the resources developed during the Leading Libraries project. Permission has also been given to make the NaCTSO’s Action Counter Terrorism Awareness e-learning course available to library staff via our platform.

Annual seminar

The 2021 Libraries Connect Annual Seminar took place on 19 – 20 October at Wyboston Lakes, a new venue for us in Bedfordshire. This was the first face-to-face seminar since June 2019 and the largest in person annual seminar so far with 187 people booked to attend. The event was attended by Heads of Library Services, Senior Manager and invited partners along with representatives from 13 companies who sponsored the event.

Speakers included:

100% of those who completed the evaluation survey would recommend it to colleagues and feedback showed the programme had been informative and inspirational and delegates felt they had benefited a lot by attending. They particularly enjoying being able to network with colleagues again face to face. The new venue was also a success with the majority of

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delegates saying it had been easy to get to and its facilities were adequate or above average.

AGM

The 2021 AGM took place online on 20 January 2022 and 51 people attended. Of the 51 people 45 were members with voting rights (the remainder were staff and independent Trustees who do not have voting rights). At the meeting the motion to appoint new auditors for the financial year 2021/2022 was passed, as was the motion to hold an EGM to review and approve the annual report and accounts. Both motions were approved. The EGM was held on the 25 April 2022, 38 members attended, and the annual report and accounts were approved.

Innovation Network

Membership of the Innovation Network on Basecamp has increased from 887 on 31 March 2021 to 1032 on 31 March 2022. This year there have been 417 messages on the network’s message board which have generated a further 952 posts. The messages that generated the most interest was about a digital inclusion project. The network continues to operate mainly online as the annual gathering wasn’t possible in 2021-22, but a face-to-face gathering is being planned for 2022-23.

Heads of Service network

The Head of Service Network has continued to be a valued place for Heads of Service to connect and support one another and a key channel for Libraries Connected to engage with those leading library services. Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 there were 461 messages posted on the network, which generated a further 1884 comments. The post that generated the most comments was about step 4 COVID guidance in England. Membership of the network remains restricted to Heads of Service, but a second senior manager contact can be added at our discretion. Out of the 176 library services in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Crown Dependencies only eight are not represented on the network (down from 11 the previous year).

Libraries Connected Awards

This year saw the introduction of the Libraries Connected Awards. The awards were created to:

There were six awards, one for each of the Universal Library Offers and Promises, for which people working in and with libraries were invited to nominate library staff (individuals or teams) who’d had a positive impact on the library service, library users or the local community.

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A seventh ‘President’s Special Achievement Award’ was also given honouring someone who had made an outstanding contribution to libraries and deserved recognition for their work. The winner was chosen by the President and President Elect of Libraries Connected. OverDrive sponsored the event helping bring additional publicity to the awards and making it possible to offer winners a free place at our annual seminar in October.

In total 111 nominations were received from 53 library services, all of which were of a very high calibre and provided useful case studies. Feedback showed that the awards were inspirational and provided a lift to those involved. The awards ceremony took place at the annual seminar in showcasing library talent an innovation to sector leaders.

The awards will become an annual event and will run again next year, with an awards ceremony during the annual seminar in June.

Advocacy

A large majority of advocacy delivered this year was around COVID support and activity to support libraries’ development and recovery coming out of the pandemic – as well as supporting libraries respond to the emerging societal challenges. This included:

As the financial year ended the war in Ukraine was beginning and Libraries Connected brought together libraries to explore ways in which the sector could support refugees from this situation, as well as improve the offer for all refugees. Information was provided to local authorities and funding bodies highlighting libraries’ role. A further briefing sheet for refugees was developed for distribution to all refugees through UK Visa sites.

2. Delivering our business plan as a Sector Support Organisation

Regional support

The funded Regional Support Project ended in March 2021 and an evaluation report was published in June 2021. The key recommendations from the report were that we develop a time-limited regional support programme based on the hybrid model of individual and network-focused support, review the delivery model for the RSO alongside its existing programmes, to ensure value for money and maximum reach of the programme, and establish our own framework contract of specialist consultants to reduce procurement costs and speed up access to support for library services.

Moving forward we have established bi-annual meetings for Regional/National Chairs to improve cross-region/nation information sharing and strengthen the Chairs’ network. We

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have also been working with regional networks to develop template governance documents and role descriptions and have begun developing an induction process for new Chairs. Additional funding is also being sought to help us build the capacity of the regional networks, to enable them to work together more effectively and pursue regional funding opportunities.

Key activities from the Universal Library Offers

In June 2021 Libraries Connected ran an online all-day seminar which highlighted and celebrates the role of the Universal Library Offers. Over 1,000 library staff joined the seminar during the day. During the seminar there was an offer update from all four ULO leads and the two Promise leads, flash films from libraries and external speakers relating to each offer. These included:

Books and Reading

This year we heard we had been successful in the Ask for A Book ACE project grant to pilot a new digital book recommendation platform. Work is underway with some pilot library services and Opening the Book.

We ran a Reading Round Table on 22nd October at the British Library, six speakers, each representing different areas of the book and reading world reflected upon the growth of interest in reading during the last 18 months and shared their thoughts about how to keep leaves of reading interest high. Speakers included award-winning author Monique Roffey, Young Adult author Sufiya Ahmed and James Bartlett from RNIB.

Following a compelling presentation at the Libraries Connected seminar, we secured funding from ACE to work with the National Literacy Trust to explore children’s post-pandemic literacy recovery and libraries.

Health and Wellbeing

In this year the offer team supported rolling out of death positive libraries across the sector and supported the roll out of Reading Friends with Reading Agency. The offer is also a partner in CILIP’s Health Information Literacy project with Health Education England, developing a role of Health Information Ambassador was piloted in 2022 and supporting a first tranche of health information pilot libraries.

Culture and Creativity

Between October 2021 and February 2022 INN CROWD and Libraries Connected collaborated to deliver a pilot tour of INN CROWD shows to 21 library services across the country. The project brought professional, purpose made shows, to small, often rural, communities.

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From June 2021 to December 2021 Libraries Connected worked with the Family Arts Campaign to support 10 library services to work towards the Family Arts or Age-Friendly Standards. This involved each library service undertaking a self-assessment and creating a targeted action-plan for development.

Information and Digital

A small team from the group worked together on two new learning pool modules, one on basic digital skills and the other -a new information literacy module for Learning Pool with funding secured from DCMS. As part of the project Upskill Digital were commissioned to create content and to conduct a skills survey of library staff, identifying lack of confidence in certain areas as a key element to be tackled

The Information and Digital Lead, Dave Lloyd, joined the DCMS Media Literacy Taskforce.

Visual and Print Impaired People’s Promise

Children’s Promise

In the past year ASCEL has focused on expanding its range of partnerships to offer targeted and quality support for children and young people post-pandemic. New partnerships include:

Working closely with new and existing partners in the sector, ASCEL is exploring innovative ways to deliver on the Children’s Promise.

ASCEL Conference

The ASCEL 2021 conference remained online. The conference offered inspiration for leaders of School Library Services and public library services for children and young people. Key themes included how to

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The 2022 conference focused on supporting ASCEL members to strengthen the creative voice of children and young people in the development and delivery of public library services and school library services.

ASCEL is seeking to become an Arts Council Investment Principles Support Organisation in 2023 in order to continue our dedicated work supporting children and young people.

Regional and national networks

North East

The North East region implemented their new Terms of Reference, developed as part of the Regional Support project, to help us structure our recovery. Half of authorities in the region have also begun working together on a Library Apprentice scheme, managed by Stockton Libraries. In addition to their more formal network meetings, the network continues to hold informal Friday meetings which Heads of Service can drop into. These meeting were introduced during the COVID pandemic when the regional group became a valuable peer support network.

North West

This year the North West region finalised the strategic plan which focused on three key areas: workforce development, value and impact, and future funding and plans are underway to recruit a Strategic Plan & Programme Manager.

We worked with artist Thomas Brian on a Jubilee themed project called ‘Jubilation’ and will be gathering stories to create a book. We’re also working together to run events in libraries across the region linked to the Rugby League World Cup.

Our ‘Time to Read’ programme continues with the ‘Words Project’, a Collaboration between librarians and publishers which saw 11 host libraries reached over 700 people and a Bronte event at Bolton had over 300 people join. A school sharing event also went well with 2 sessions taking place and a ‘Digital book festival’ with podcasting and live streaming was well attended.

Yorkshire & Humber

This year the Yorkshire and Humberside Region has continued to develop its governance arrangements and shared services work.

We produced a procurement policy in line with our governance work and used the framework to procure project management support to help us further develop our approach to consortium working with a focus on the shared LMS in the first instance. Activist were recruited to this role, supporting us to develop a regional

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strategic plan with clear outcomes while also helping us to move forward with our LMS work.

We have been working together to position our core combined offer at a subregional level. One successful project has been ‘Digital Link’, where libraries and have joined together with West Yorkshire Health Care Partnership to plan for the implementation of a device gifting scheme that will use the library infrastructure to both distribute the devices and support recipients with the skills to use them.

We organised a regional development day for Heads of Service on the theme of service transformation with a particular focus on alignment with health. The meeting took place in June 2021 with excellent presentations from Kirklees, East Riding and Bradford. Following this we have been considering how to take the learning from this session forward as part of our regional development plan We have been working to plan a programme of cultural activity to support Rugby League World Cup 2022

West Midlands

The 14 members, plus a regional ACE representative, meet four times a year and hold an annual toolkit conference for frontline staff, in partnership with the West Midlands Readers’ Network.

Representatives from The Reading Agency attended the March 2022 meeting to talk about the Big Jubilee Read. Members have also been involved in regional preparations to celebrate the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in July.

Negotiations are ongoing with the Birmingham Rep, which hopes to attract funding to deliver a touring theatre project that could potentially visit libraries across the region during the Christmas season.

There have been discussions around racism in libraries - amongst customers and staff - and talk of a potential training programme for frontline staff, funded by a small West Midlands group budget surplus.

East Midlands

East Midlands regional network continued to work together to support heads of services as they managed the implications of the pandemic, sharing best practice and approaches to recovery being the core focus of meetings. LIEM Libraries and Information East Midlands (LIEM) our regional training arm recruited a new training programme manager, Jo Walley to take over from Carol Brooks from March 2022. The regional work in shared procurement continues as it looks to re tender for e resources, stock and LMS in the coming 2 years.

Meetings have returned to a quarterly pattern and continue to be via teams, with an annual face to face planning and review session scheduled for each autumn.

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Membership of the group has remained the same as 2020/21. In 2022/23 we are going to review our organisational arrangements and governance in the light of the work undertaken by other regions.

East of England

Moving beyond the disruptions caused by COVID regulations and embedding the return to “business as usual” has characterised the work across the East of England region in 2021/22. All services have experiencing ongoing recruitment challenges relating to underlying changes in the labour market, exacerbated by periodic upsurges in COVID related sickness. Despite these challenges we have seen a return to in person activities and progress with initiatives supporting the Universal Offers (such as loaning devices; Reading Friends groups; supporting families in food poverty; links with Healthy Hubs; and ACE funded cultural projects etc.).

Investment in library buildings is continuing, with several new and refurbished libraries opening across the region and more (including a Libraries Improvement Fund project) in the pipeline.

In November 2021 we began planning a joint impact study and had secured funds to progress by March 2022. This joint project will be a focus for our Region next year.

South West

The South West group has continued to meet quarterly throughout the year as COVID recovery continued, with excellent representation from services across the region. Membership of the group changed over the year, with several Heads of Services retiring after long periods of service. The region has been adapting to this loss of collective experience while welcoming others to the group. The region continues to benefit from the regular input of Arts Council England, Libraries Connected and SWRLS (South Western Library Services CIO) into meetings and activity.

South East

Unsurprisingly this last period has been dominated by COVID and recovery from lockdowns. The South East group continued with its quarterly meetings but throughout the period added monthly catch-ups so members could update on developments, share recovery experience and act as a support group. The work of the group has turned to refreshing the Governance for the region which is now out for final comment.

The group also came together to plan for the Queen’s jubilee and was one of the regions to get behind the national programme for a regionally hosted virtual event that Libraries Connected hosted. The group continues to share good practice on topics including the challenging local authority financial climate, continued recovery, income generation and Libraries of Sanctuary.

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London

London Libraries succeeded in its ambitions to deliver high quality collaborative projects and advocate for libraries across London.

We worked with Creative Concern on a social media campaign which ran across the autumn of 2021. This reached over 652,000 people with nearly 8,000 engagements, over 6,000 website visits and an overall ad impression of 1.3m. Almost 300 people signed up to the monthly newsletter. We will build upon the momentum of the campaign to take marketing aspirations forwards.

London Libraries concluded phase one of the Homelessness Project with Activist and Homeless Link, developing proposals for the next phase. Representatives from the Big Issue, Homeless Link, Libraries Connected and The Reading Agency are involved as project board members – giving the opportunity for this work to inform thinking at a national level.

We also delivered the first part of our successful City of Stories: Home initiative (the legacy to the initial project which ran in 2018-19). Every authority in London took part, after securing over a £100k in funding from Arts Council England and £20k from Cockayne Arts. Over 750 people attended 33 workshops with 300 entries being received for the short story writing competition.

A number of colleagues across London were recognised in the Queen’s honours for their services to libraries. Brent, City of London and Newham were successful in securing funding from the Library Improvement Fund.

The SiLL project concluded at the end of 2021 with considerable success having supported over 2560 participants, with 318 new businesses created and 72 net jobs (projected to increase to 1009 new businesses and 1227 net jobs by 2025). 94% of the early stage businesses were still trading by the end of the project despite the pandemic.

Libraries NI

The 2021/22 year was another challenging one and as with the previous year, continued to be framed by the evolving and at times unpredictable nature of the pandemic. As such, much of our focus was on re-establishing services and reconnecting with our library users and the communities we serve. There was also a significant focus on attracting new library members and encouraging participation in library services and programming. A membership drive initiative, utilising key partnerships and established flagship events including BBC BookWeek NI, Love Your Library Day, Heritage from Home, Summer Reading Challenge and Give it a Go Month, was developed to attract new members and increase active membership numbers. There was a particular focus on families and older people, the groups most heavily impacted by the pandemic. Open Days and Family Fun Days formed part of the approach taken, and in addition a dedicated advertising campaign ran from midFebruary to the end of March, based around three core themes: events for children, the library as a place to reconnect with people, and libraries providing services that

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are free of charge; something that became an increasingly important message in the context of the cost of living crisis that emerged during the latter part of 2021/22. Other programming included Celebrating Books and Reading incorporating World Book Day, Shakespeare Week and World Poetry Day, Residencies with authors, writers and storytellers, Digital Inclusion and Good Relations activities, Empathy Day, Northern Ireland Science Festival and STEM Ambassadors subject specific Storytimes.

As part of the Carnegie UK Trust’s Engaging Libraries project Libraries NI delivered ‘Turning Heads’ an innovative project which entailed a series of workshops and events to spark discussion and curiosity around the cultural and societal significance of hair. The research partner for the project was Ulster University, and good relations specialists Beyond Skin and the Armstrong Storytelling Trust also worked with Libraries NI to deliver a range of activities. Events included online talks on the genetics of red hair, the symbolism of hair in Irish mythology, storytelling sessions and poetry workshops.

The removal of overdue charges was a very positive policy development removing a barrier to accessing library services at a time when we were working hard to encourage customers to return to libraries.

Wales

SCL Cymru published the Options Appraisal for the LMS Cymru Library Management System carried out by Actica Consulting and it now forms a basis for ongoing discussions with Welsh Government for the re-procurement of the LMS and the development of the Library Digital Ecosystem in Wales.

Welsh Government continues to review the Welsh Public Library Standards – in the meantime authorities continued to report using the reduced template for 21-22. Welsh Government’s Capital Transformation Grants programme which funds capital improvements to library buildings and facilities was reviewed – outcomes not yet known but funding will continue to be available in 22-23.

SCL Cymru secured £0.5m funding from the Winter of Wellbeing campaign (Welsh Government) for a national programme of engagement activities aimed at getting children back into libraries both in person and digitally. The programme was delivered in a very short timescale by the Reading Agency working with library authorities.

SCL Cymru have identified key priorities for public library services in Wales: The economy; health and wellbeing; information and digital; reading and literacy; and Welsh language and culture. Current challenges include the evident need for UKwide partners to ensure that the Welsh governance, strategic context, and cultural dimension, are considered from the outset and that the English language is not treated preferentially to Welsh. Continued and active consideration of this will be essential to ensure that Welsh public libraries are able to fully capitalise on all opportunities to develop and promote services moving forward.

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Front End Services for visa applicants

The UKVI service reached the end of its initial period at the end of October 2021, and we negotiated an extension at more preferential rates for the libraries and agreed with the libraries an increased commission that fully covers Libraries Connected’s costs.

The service went from generating £100,253 in the month of April 2021 for library services to generating £200,915 in March 2022. This resulted in £1.653m for library services over the full year, with Libraries Connected retaining £51,474 of this for management of the contract.

The contract reaches an end in October 2023, and we are working with Sopra Steria on their new bid as well as exploring other opportunities for library services.

3. Delivering key strategic programmes to support sector development

Leading Libraries

The Leading Libraries programme funded by ACE’s Transforming Leadership Fund ended with a celebratory conference online on 9 June attended by approx. 100 people including partners and other parts of our wider sector interested in the programme. During the final year the 15 library services undertook their strategic challenges where they used their leadership skills on a real world project. Case studies and the full evaluation of the programme were published on Libraries Connected’s website.

Short Leadership Course

We worked with the Birmingham Leadership Institute to develop a short leadership course which ran for six months from October 2021-March 2022, based upon the same principles as Leading Libraries. 60 members of staff applied and 21 members of staff many from diverse backgrounds were selected to take part. Evaluation demonstrates that a deeper understanding of issues of diversity and inclusion were an important learning outcome from the course.

Novels That Shaped Our World

This project came to a close in March 2022. The project faced many challenges as libraries switched between physical and online delivery. However the 12,000 people engaged with the project physically and 500,000 people were exposed to the project through social media platforms. There were many creative and innovative approaches to reach target communities and libraries worked with a wide range of people including refugees, people experiencing homelessness, young people, and older isolated people. They also worked with an extensive range of partners and artists. We enjoyed a showcase and celebration of the Novels project hosted by the British Library on 22 October, live streamed to libraries and featuring Stephen James Yeoman (BBC Arts), author Juno Dawson, speakers from Brent, Sheffield and Newham Libraries. The full evaluation and a brochure highlighting all the activities taking place in libraries is available on our website.

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Family Hubs

From September 2021 we have worked with the Local Government Association to develop a peer review programme which explored best practice in effective partnership between libraries and children’s services. The peer reviews took place from January to March 2022 and the report was published in Summer 2022.

Marketing the Library

Marketing the library is our new project, funded by ACE, to help libraries to develop their ability to deliver professional, targeted marketing campaigns to a range of audiences. This year with the help of marketing agency Creative Concern, we delivered two targeted marketing campaigns for two library networks. Each campaign was tailored to the needs and behavioural tendencies of each network’s chosen age range. The first campaign, which took place around Christmas 2021, targeted young adults. The second, in the spring of 2022, was focused on teenagers and used Instagram and TikTok. Creative Concern also held three webinars during 2021 for the entire library network. The project will be completed next year with a marketing toolkit, findings report and other guidance for libraries. In addition, the first campaign has provided the London Libraries network with a new website and newsletter.

Future Funding

Future Funding is an Arts Council England-funded programme delivered by Libraries Connected to help public libraries develop the skills, abilities and knowledge necessary to take a proactive approach to diversifying and increasing their income. The aim of the programme is to help library services to actively develop and deliver income generation strategies for their services. This year we completed development of the Commercial Skills course content, which was developed in collaboration with our pathfinder cohort of 12 participants. Following this we delivered an eight-month commercial skills course which consisted of workshops, mentored small groups and active learning sets for 33 participants across 31 different Library authorities. In addition to this we ran a webinar series which was open to all library authorities, on a range of topics related to commercial skills. Next yearthe final year of the project - we will publish the Future Funding toolkit, a comprehensive guide to income generation and diversification for public libraries.

Accreditation

Last year we received a grant of £128,000 from Arts Council England to investigate what a public library accreditation scheme might look like, and how it could work. This year we worked closely with Arts Council England, CILIP and consultants Shared Intelligence to develop the new framework. A pilot of the draft accreditation scheme took place during the summer of 2021 and involved three library services working through each stage of the process. Learning from this informed a re-draft which went to the ACE Executive Board in October. The draft accreditation scheme will be published next year, when will be begin the next stage in the process: identifying a sponsoring body that can manage, assess and promote the scheme.

Personnel

This year two members of staff left the organisation. One employee earns more than £70,000 per year.

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

We have consolidated our processes as a dispersed, national organisation with staff continuing to work primarily from home connected by weekly team meetings, and we ran a team awayday in July 2021.

We are grateful to our external contractors, as their support throughout the year has supported our successful operations as a dispersed organisation:

Volunteers

Libraries Connected is supported by many volunteers from across our membership. These include Trustees, members of our Advisory Board, regional chairs, Universal Library Offer leads, and steering or reference groups.

Together, they make invaluable contributions to support our governance, strategic planning, fundraising, advocacy and programme development and delivery. We are extremely grateful to them all for their enormous contribution.

Reserves policy

Libraries Connected has established a reserves policy which appropriately reflects the risks to which the charity is exposed. In compliance with such policy, it will review both the sum it wishes to hold in reserves in the unrestricted budget and the basis for that figure. The reserve does not consider expenditure which is linked to restricted earnings which are covered by restricted funds.

The purpose of the unrestricted funds is to support all day to day activities necessary at Libraries Connected programmes, and development of prospects; due consideration has been given to these activities in the annual review of reserves policy.

In reviewing the potential costs that arise should a significant reduction in income be incurred, the Trustees have determined that unrestricted reserves should be maintained at approximately three months running costs £378,462. The Trustees manage Libraries Connected finances so that an adequate level of reserves can be maintained in compliance with the reserves policy. Following a concerted effort to build up reserve funds, at 31 March 2022 this was £792,025. The Trustees are aware this is over the minimum level of the reserves policy, so will review this in the first quarter of the new financial year.

Principal funding sources

Libraries Connected Trustees record their thanks to all those individuals and organisations who have funded our work. Arts Council England which has provided £509,200 for our work as a Sector

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

Support Organisation, and an additional £275,450 for project funding in 2021-22 and will provide £509,200 next year to fund our work as a Sector Support Organisation.

Our membership subscriptions continue to make an important contribution to our work nationally and regionally.

Investment activities

Under the memorandum and articles of association, the charitable company has the power to make investment which the trustees see fit. Investments are made where required to further the aims and objectives and objects of the charity. The charity does not currently hold any investments other than cash on deposit with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Financial review

The organisation is substantially supported by Arts Council England.

In the reporting period £1,182,338 (2021: £1,223,712) was spent on charitable activities, while £52,238 (2021: £1,152) was spent on income generation resulting in £279,271 surplus (2021: £422,016. There was a surplus on regional funds of £81,768 (2021: £108,619 surplus).

At the end of 2021/22, the charity total reserves now stand at £1,546,300 of which £456,227 is for regional funds and £186,664 is restricted funds, free reserves stand at £792,025 ( 2021: 578,372) at the year end.

Related parties

A register of interests has been established for Trustees and management staff to declare any interests including as Trustees of other organisations.

Mark Freeman is a Trustee for Share the Vision, which provides Libraries Connected with funding towards a project manager post for the Universal Library Offers.

Martin Burton is an employee for South Gloucestershire Council which operates a UKVI service point as part of the contract that Libraries Connected has with Sopra Steria.

We work in partnership with a range of organisations, and our relationships are documented, as appropriate, by partnership agreements and Memoranda of Understanding.

Risk management

The Board maintains a corporate risk register which is reviewed at every Board meeting. Projects have their own more detailed risk registers, which feed into the corporate risk register.

The risk register sets out the risks, their likelihood and impact and the mitigation measures. The risks relate to delivery of our business plan and major funded projects, as well as to our reputation, corporate partnerships and standing with our members.

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

The Board's Finance and Remuneration Sub-Committee has a role to review our financial risks in more detail, and the Board also established a commercial projects sub-committee to manage the risks associated with our commercial projects.

The major risk for our work was the ongoing process of recovery from the pandemic, placing strain on library services and ongoing uncertainty on our own operations. We addressed these by continuing close engagement with our members and tailored support webinars and briefing, and for our own operations planning flexibly and with contingency plans to move face-to-face meetings online if necessary. The other key risk was the end of our funded period as a Sector Support Organisation, and we addressed this by submitting a new funding bid for the next round of ACE funding.

We also addressed our own internal risks by continuing to develop our project management and project governance processes, and reviewing our financial and procurement policies.

Going concern

The trustees have considered going concern and have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. We have secured Arts Council England funding for our core activities for the next two years, and hope to meet the criteria to be eligible for a third year’s core funding. In addition we have been diversifying our funding beyond this core grant, and have built up sufficient reserves to meet our reserves target.

Fundraising activities

This year, we secured a grant of £509,200 from ACE for an extension year as a Sector Support Organisation.

We also secured additional grants from ACE for these projects:

We also secured a grant of £20,000 from DCMS to support the development of a training module for library staff on media literacy.

During the year, the Charity did not engage any professional fundraiser or commercial participator to carry out any fundraising activities; any such activity was performed internally by the charity’s own staff in the course of their duties.

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

During the year, no complaints about fundraising activity were received by the charity, or by a person acting on its behalf for the purposes of fundraising.

We do not raise funding directly from the public, so do not make any contact with the public or vulnerable people in relation to funding or supporting our work.

Structure, governance and management

Constitution

Libraries Connected is a registered charity (Charity number: 1176482; Company number: 07559747) limited by guarantee in England and Wales. The Company was registered on 10 March 2011 and as a charity on 02 January 2018 and therefore is governed by a Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Management of the company is vested in the trustees who are also directors of the company. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information on page 3 of these financial statements. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are to provide core services of information advice and support to all members in England and Wales.

In the event of charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per trustee of the charity.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

The Trustees were appointed through a process of open recruitment run by the Libraries Connected executive. We have 9 trustees –The chair of the Trustees is the President, and this role is elected by the membership.

Pay and remuneration of the Senior Management Team is decided using the industry norm as a guide.

Trustees’ Induction and training

All new Trustees are provided with a comprehensive induction to Libraries Connected, which include the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the current strategic plan, staffing structure, annual budget and a copy of the latest audited financial statements. The Trustees received details of their obligations under both the charity and company law. Following their appointment, the three new Trustees attended a trustees’ induction course run by NCVO.

We also joined the Association of Chairs as a source of advice and development for our President.

We held a Board away day in July 2021 which focused on governance development.

"Statement of responsibilities of the Trustees"

The Trustees, who are also directors of Libraries Connected for company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual report and the financial statement in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of Libraries Connected and enable them to ensure that the financial statement comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of Libraries Connected and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Auditors

Sayer Vincent LLP were appointed as auditor to Libraries Connected during 2022.

Statement of disclosure to the auditors

In so far as the trustees are aware: at the time of approving our trustees’ annual report:

The report was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Ayub Khan

Trustee and President

Date 17 January 2023

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of Libraries Connected

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Libraries Connected (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on Libraries Connected's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other Information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of Libraries Connected

cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of Libraries Connected

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

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LIBRARIES CONNECTED

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of Libraries Connected

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities . This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members 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 charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Noelia Serrano (Senior statutory auditor)

Date 18 January 2023

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor

Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL

28

Libraries Connected

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

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Note
Income from:
2
3
4
7
Transfers between funds
18
Reconciliation of funds:
18
Investment income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Other income activities
Charitable activities
Total funds carried forward
Raising funds
Total expenditure
Charitable activities
Services to improve the public library
sector
Total funds brought forward ( restated)
Net income for the year		 Unrestricted
£
671,800
446,310
92		 Restricted
£
395,645
-
-		 2022
Total
£
1,067,445
446,310
92		 restated
Unrestricted
£
901,201
252,593
335		 restated
Restricted
£
492,751
-
-		 2021
Total
£
1,393,952
252,593
335
1,118,202 395,645 1,513,847 1,154,129 492,751 1,646,880
52,238
666,830		 -
515,508		 52,238
1,182,338		 1,152
824,570		 -
399,142		 1,152
1,223,712
719,068 515,508 1,234,576 825,722 399,142 1,224,864
399,134
(111,384)
960,502		 (119,863)
111,384
306,527		 279,271
-
1,267,029		 328,407
-
632,095		 93,609
-
212,918		 422,016
-
845,013
1,248,252 298,048 1,546,300 960,502 306,527 1,267,029

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 17 to the financial statements.

29

Libraries Connected

Balance sheet

Balance sheet
As at 31 March 2022 Company no. 07559747
2022
£
16,555		 £
904,086
885,451		 2021
£
7,671
16,555
1,529,745		 7,671
1,259,358
1,789,537
(530,179)
586,041
374,461
1,546,300 1,267,029
298,048
1,248,252		 306,527
960,502

Approved by the trustees on 17 January 2023 and signed on their behalf by

Ayub Khan Trustee and President

30

Libraries Connected Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Cash flows from operating activities
Net income for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Depreciation charges
Interest income
Interest paid
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from financing activities:
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the
year
Net cash provided (used in) investing activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of fixed assets
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Net cash (used in) financing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Interest received
Interest paid		 £
£
279,271
8,276
(92)
451
(911,193)
832,953
209,666
(17,160)
(17,160)
92
(451)
(359)
192,147
885,451
1,077,598
2022		 £
£
279,271
8,276
(92)
451
(911,193)
832,953
209,666
(17,160)
(17,160)
92
(451)
(359)
192,147
885,451
1,077,598
2022		 £
£
422,016
3,828
(335)
474
(310,685)
(44,820)
70,478
(2,227)
(2,227)
334
(474)
(140)
68,111
817,340
885,451
2021		 £
£
422,016
3,828
(335)
474
(310,685)
(44,820)
70,478
(2,227)
(2,227)
334
(474)
(140)
68,111
817,340
885,451
2021
209,666
(17,160)
(359)		 70,478
(2,227)
(140)
92
(451)		 334
(474)
192,147
885,451		 68,111
817,340
1,077,598 885,451

31

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies

(a)�General information and basis of preparation

Libraries Connected is a registered charity (Charity number 1176482) and a company (Company number: 07559747) limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales. In the event of the company being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member. The address of the registered office is 3rd Floor, Islington Central Library, 2 Fieldway Crescent, London N5 1PF. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are to provide core services of information advice and support to all members in England and Wales.

The charity is a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) effective from 1 January 2019, the Companies Act 2006 and the Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention. The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest pound.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated

Going Concern

The trustees have considered going concern and have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. We have secured Arts Council England funding for our core activities for the next two years, and hope to meet the criteria to be eligible for a third year’s core funding. In addition we have been diversifying our funding beyond this core grant, and have built up sufficient reserves to meet our reserves target.Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

(b) Fund accounting

The charity maintains various types of funds as follows.

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds represent income which is expendable at the discretion of the Trustees in the furtherance of the objects of the charity.

Designated funds - Regional funds:

Regional funds represent those funds held on behalf of regions.

Restricted funds

Restricted income represent income that can be spent wholly and exclusively on the project in line with the funding contract.

(c) Incoming resources from other trading activities

Incoming resources from other trading activities relates to membership subscriptions for services provided by the organisation. They are included in the year in which they are receivable, which is when the charity becomes entitled to the resource and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. These are valued at the estimated value to the charity of the services received.

32

1 Accounting policies ( continued)

(d) Incoming resources from charitable activities

Incoming resources from charitable activities relates to performance related grants, mostly received from Arts Council England. Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, as it is probable that income will be received.

Deferred income represents amounts received for future periods and is released to incoming resources in the period in which it is earned. Investment income is included in the SOFA in the year in which it is receivable.

(e) Resources expended and basis of allocation of costs

Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred, inclusive of VAT which cannot be recovered. Grants payable are charged in the year they become payable. Grants are available to qualifying persons upon submission of a relevant and reasonable application. Consideration of such application is made on an individual basis at meetings of management who decide upon the most deserving recipients. Grants payable should be recognised when the commitment is made which might be different to when the grant is payable.

Other resources expended are allocated directly to the activity where the cost relates to the activity.

Support costs have been allocated between charitable activities. Costs that are not wholly attributable to an expenditure category have been apportioned to each activity on an estimate of staff time.

(f) Costs of raising funds

Costs of raising funds comprise costs incurred in the pursuit of the charitable objects of the charity. Those costs, where not wholly attributable, are apportioned between the categories of charitable expenditure in addition to the direct costs

(g) Costs of generating voluntary funds

Costs of charitable activities comprise costs incurred in the pursuit of the charitable objects of the charity. Those costs, where not wholly attributable, are apportioned between the categories of charitable expenditure in addition to the direct costs.

(h) Charitable activities

Costs of charitable activities comprise costs incurred in the pursuit of the charitable objects of the charity. Those costs, where not wholly attributable, are apportioned between the categories of charitable expenditure in addition to the direct costs.

(i) Governance costs

Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity such as cost of board meetings, statutory compliance and costs linked to strategic management of the charity.

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash at bank and in hand and deposits held by the banks.

33

1 Accounting policies ( continued)

(k) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Fixed assets costing more than £150 are capitalised and included on the balance sheet at cost.

Fixed assets are depreciated on a reducing balance basis so as to write off the cost, less anticipated residual value, over their anticipated useful lives, subject to annual review, as follows:

Fixtures & Fittings 33.30%
Computer equipment 33.30%

(l) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

(m) Debtors and creditors receivable / payable within one year

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

(n) Pension cost

The charity contributes to a stakeholder pension scheme by employees or contributes towards employee’s personal pension schemes. The cost of the contributions is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when the cost is incurred.

(o) Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement

In the view of the Trustees, applying the accounting policies, no judgements were required that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements, or assumptions made carry a significant risk of material adjustment in the next financial year.

34

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Arts Council Grants
Other Grants		 Unrestricted
£
654,800
17,000		 £
395,645
-
Restricted		 £
-
-
Regional
designated
funds		 2022 Total
£
1,050,445
17,000		 Unrestricted
£
901,201
-		 £
492,751
-
Restricted		 £
-
-
Regional
designated
funds		 2021
Total
£
1,393,952
-
671,800 395,645 - 1,067,445 901,201 492,751 - 1,393,952

Some of prior year figures have been re-classified from unrestricted to restricted, see note 18

Seminar
Regional network
Programme
Subscription
UK visa and immigration		 Unrestricted
£
114,165
-
29,844
77,952
75,749		 £
-
-
-
-
-
Restricted		 £
-
148,600
-
-
-
Regional
designated
funds		 2022
Total
£
114,165
148,600
29,844
77,952
75,749
Unrestricted
£
17,015
-
-
72,716
14,556		 £
-
-
-
-
-
Restricted		 £
-
148,306
-
-
-
Regional
designated
funds		 2021
Total
£
17,015
148,306
-
72,716
14,556
297,710 - 148,600 446,310 104,287 - 148,306 252,593

35

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

4 Resources expended on charitable activities

Unrestricted
£
246,951
59,170
113,698
140,257
31,646
-
8,276		 £
288,576
226,932
-
-
-
-
-
Restricted		 £
-
-
-
-
-
66,832
-
Regional
designated
funds		 2022
Total
£
535,527
286,102
113,698
140,257
31,646
66,832
8,276

 Unrestricted
£
262,556
323,036
118,184
64,482
12,795
-
3,828		 £
210,000
189,142
-
-
-
-
-
Restricted		 £
-
-
-
-
-
39,689
-
Regional
designated
funds		 2021
Total
£
472,556
512,178
118,184
64,482
12,795
39,689
3,828

Some of prior year figures have been re-classified from unrestricted to restricted see note 18.

5 Charitable activities

Charitable activities
Cost of charitable activities
General costs
Accountancy
Financial reporting (payroll)
Audit fees
Meeting cost
Support and governance costs		 Direct staff
costs
£
535,527
£
548,333
Other direct
costs		 £
31,646

Support &
Governance
costs		 2022
Total
£
1,115,506

 Direct staff
costs
£
472,556
£
694,844
Other direct
costs		 £
12,795

Support &
Governance
costs		 2021
Total
£
1,180,195
£
8,300
1,151
(1,413)
-
-
Support
costs		 £
-
-
-
13,495
10,113

Governance
costs		 2022
Total
£
8,300
1,151
(1,413)
13,495
10,113
 £
3,540
835
345
-
-
Support
costs		 £
-
-
-
8,000
75

Governance
costs		 2021
Total
£
3,540
835
345
8,000
75
8,038 23,608 31,646 4,720 8,075 12,795

6 Support and governance costs

Support costs are allocated to activities based on an assessment of the time spent by staff on each activity.

36

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

This is stated after charging:

This is stated after charging:
2022 2021
£ £
Depreciation 8,276 3,828
Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):
Auditor's fee 9,900 8,000
Under accrual from prior year 3,595 -

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension costs		 2022
£
467,723
44,484
23,320		 2021
£
409,283
42,891
20,382
535,527 472,556

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year between:

2022 2021
No. No.
£70,000 - £79,999 1 1

The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £82,265 (2021: £81,491).

The charity trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2021: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2021: £nil).

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £10,113 (2021: £1,586) incurred by 13 (2021: 5) members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees.

9 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 13 (2021: 13).

Communications Manager
Finance Manager
Project Manager
Commercial Director
Chief Executive
Membership Manager
Programme Director
Administrative		 2022
No.
1.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
3.0
3.0		 2021
No.
1.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
3.0
3.0
13.0 13.0

37

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

10 Related party transactions

A register of interests has been established for Trustees and management staff to declare any interests including as Trustees of other organisations. Mark Freeman is a Trustee for Share the Vision, which provides Libraries Connected with funding towards a project manager post for the Universal Library Offers.

Martin Burton is an employee for South Gloucestershire Council which operates a UKVI service point as part of the contract that Libraries Connected has with Sopra Steria.

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

11 Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

12 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the start of the year
Additions in year
Depreciation
At the end of the year
Net book value
Cost
At the start of the year
At the end of the year		 Computer
equipment
£
17,249
17,160		 Fixtures
and fittings
£
3,604
-		 Total
£
20,853
17,160
34,409 3,604 38,013
10,647
7,920		 2,535
356		 13,182
8,276
18,567 2,891 21,458
15,842 713 16,555
6,602 1,069 7,671

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

13 Debtors

Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Accrued income		 2022
£
965,428
833,101
16,750		 2021
£
465,544
438,542
-
1,815,279 904,086

38

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

e year ended 31 March 2022
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Accruals
Deferred income (note 15)
Other creditors		 2022
£
70,387
31,880
58,377
1,202,488		 2021
£
51,173
24,935
-
454,071
1,363,132 530,179

15 Deferred income

Deferred income comprises invoices issued in financial year for a seminar which are to take place in June 2022.

Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year		 2022
£
-
-
58,377		 2021
£
54,234
(54,234)
-
58,377 -

16a Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

Tangible fixed assets
Current assets
Creditors: amount falling within one year
Tangible fixed assets
Creditors: amount falling within one year
Current assets
Net assets at 31 March 2022
Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year) restated
Net assets at 31 March 2021		 Unrestricted
£
16,555
2,138,602
(1,363,132)		 Regional
£
-
456,227
-		 Restricted
£
-
298,048
-		 Total funds
£
16,555
2,892,877
(1,363,132)
792,025 456,227 298,048 1,546,300
Unrestricted
£
7,671
1,108,551
(530,179)		 Regional
£
-
374,459
-		 Restricted
£
-
306,527
-		 Total funds
£
7,671
1,789,537
(530,179)
586,043 374,459 306,527 1,267,029

16b Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year) restated

39

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

17a Movements in funds (current year)

Total restricted funds
Total unrestricted funds
Restricted funds:
Accreditation
East of England
Future Funding
Future Funding Phase 2
Transforming Leadership
Library Impact
Marketing
Novels
Transforming
Unrestricted funds:
Regional funds
General funds
Total funds		 At 1 April
2021
£
46,701
-
43,818
65,089
66,162
-
-
84,757
-		 Income &
gains
£
12,846
55,000
15,000
125,421
6,000
30,000
52,500
29,818
69,060		 Expenditure
& losses
£
(48,344)
-
(4,434)
(169,322)
-
-
(23,956)
(89,008)
(180,444)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
111,384		 At 31 March
2022
£
11,203
55,000
54,384
21,188
72,162
30,000
28,544
25,567
-
306,527 395,645 (515,508) 111,384 298,048
374,459
586,043		 148,600
969,602		 (66,832)
(652,236)		 -
(111,384)		 456,227
792,025
960,502 1,118,202 (719,068) (111,384) 1,248,252
1,267,029 1,513,847 (1,234,576) - 1,546,300

The narrative to explain the purpose of each fund is given at the foot of the note below.

17b Movements in funds (prior year) restated

Total restricted funds
Total unrestricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Total funds
Regional funds
Restricted funds:
Novels
Future Funding Phase 2
Transforming Leadership
General funds
Accreditation
Future Funding		 At 1 April
2020
£
36,378
28,517
-
83,070
64,953		 Income &
gains
£
51,382
60,000
156,777
123,120
101,472		 Expenditure
& losses
£
(41,059)
(44,699)
(91,688)
(140,028)
(81,668)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 March
2021
£
46,701
43,818
65,089
66,162
84,757
212,918 492,751 (399,142) - 306,527
265,842
366,253		 148,306
1,005,823		 (39,689)
(786,033)		 -
-		 374,459
586,043
632,095 1,154,129 (825,722) - 960,502
845,013 1,646,880 (1,224,864) - 1,267,029

40

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Purposes of restricted funds

Accreditation for public libraries

Grant of up to £128,456 towards the costs of scoping and developing through co-creation a form of accreditation for the statutory public library network in England, with potential for this to apply across other jurisdictions, and to include proposals for implementation, governance and sustainable administration. The grant was to support the costs of expert contractors, board and steering group meetings, webinars for libraries and project management.

Library Impacts in the East

Grant of up to £30,000 towards the costs of commissioning, supporting and publishing independent research to help measure, manage and evidence the impact of social connections in public libraries in the East of England. This will provide an indication of financial return on social investment in key areas of library activity and will support effective negotiations and strong advocacy with partners and funding bodies, demonstrating the difference libraries make. The research will use a recommended methodology with credible measures and a modular design to provide a transferable framework; and will articulate a financial value of social investment in key areas of digital inclusion; health and independent living; and children’s literacy. The funding will support the costs of an expert contractor, consultation sessions and project management.

Commercial Income Generation Capacity Building phase 1: “Future Funding”

Grant of up to £150,000 towards the costs of the first phase of researching, developing and promoting a knowledge base and resources for the public library sector to increase their capacity for income generation through individual service initiatives and participation in national programmes. The funding supported the costs of an expert contractor, consultation and meeting costs with a steering group and project management.

Commercial Income Generation Capacity Building phase 2: “Future Funding”

Grant of up to £313,553 towards the costs of delivering the programme developed in the R&D phase 1 project to promote a knowledge base and resources for the public library sector to increase their capacity for income generation through individual service initiatives and participation in national programmes. The funding supported the costs of an expert contractor to deliver and develop the training programme and resources, venue costs, resource production and project

Transforming Leadership: “Leading Libraries”

A grant of up to £342,000 towards the costs of a leadership programme for libraries, with a focus on fostering diverse leadership and taking an innovative “whole service” approach. The funding will support the costs of an expert contractor, venue and travel costs for training sessions, resource production, webinars, project management and evaluation.

Marketing the Library

A grant of up to £35,000 towards the costs of commissioning a capacity building programme for public libraries in England to develop their skills and abilities to deliver professional, targeted marketing campaigns that will attract audiences as services emerge from the pandemic. The funding will support the costs of an expert contractor to work with two networks of libraries, digital marketing campaigns, training webinars, training resources and project management and evaluation.

Novels that Shaped Our World Community Festival

£253,680 towards the costs of a programme to engage diverse audiences with reading, using creative approaches. The funding will support project management; grants for libraries to deliver creative activities with commissioned artists, performers, writers; training sessions for the libraries; evaluation and marketing.

Purposes of designated funds

The regional funds are levied by each of our regional networks. The funds are designated for use in each region, on purposes such as staff training, regional programmes, grants to libraries within the region, freelance admin and project management support and match funding for regional project grants.

41

Libraries Connected Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

18 Prior year adjustment

Reserves position
Funds previously reported
Adjustments on transition
Funds restated
Correction between Restricted and
Unrestricted 2019/20
Correction between Restricted and
Unrestricted 2020/21		 Unrestricted
Restricted
£
£
1,161,682
105,347
(113,291)
113,291
87,889
(87,889)
960,502
306,527
31 March 2021

 Unrestricted
Restricted
£
£
1,161,682
105,347
(113,291)
113,291
87,889
(87,889)
960,502
306,527
31 March 2021

 Total
£
1,267,029
-
-		 Unrestricted
£
745,386
(113,291)
-		 Restricted
Total
£
£
99,627
845,013
113,291
-
-
-
212,918
845,013
1 April 2020		 Restricted
Total
£
£
99,627
845,013
113,291
-
-
-
212,918
845,013
1 April 2020
960,502 306,527 1,267,029 632,095 212,918 845,013

It was noted in the year, that some of the income streams should be reported as restricted, this correction was to update the income and expenditure brought forward and carried forward funds.

19 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

42