## Level Trust Trustees Report and Accounts **September 2019 to August 2020** Because poverty shouldn’t stop a child from loving to learn Level Trust registered charity 1178223 Iiip, Welco ## Contents 3 Charity Information - 4 Chair’s Forward - 5 Trustee’s Report 13 Partners and Funders - 16 Accounts - 19 Notes to the Accounts - 24 Independent Examiners Report **3** ## Charity Information ## **As of 31st August 2020** Charity name: Level Trust Charity number: 1178223 (formally 1153936) Principal address: Level Trust The Uniform Exchange 2G The Mall Luton LU1 2TW Trustees: Mrs Bina Briggs Mr Christopher Curtis Mrs Tina Edwards Mr Altaf Hussain Mr Mostaque Koyes Mrs Suzanne Spicer, Treasurer Mr Francis Steer, Chair Bankers: Metro Bank 10-20 Castle Street Luton LU1 3AJ Independent examiner: Mr Joseph Foxwell FCCA FCIE 39 Enfield Road Poole BH15 3LJ **4** ## Chair’s Forward As I have said in the past, it is always a great pleasure to write the forward to the Level Trust annual report and to look back over the year. What a year it has been for not only for the charity but for peoples’ lives across the world during this Covid-19 pandemic. Like many organisation across Luton and the country, Level Trust had to adapt to the Covid-19 crisis and national lockdowns. The aims of Level Trust - to support children living in poverty in our town so they have all the basics and essentials they need in order to learn without poverty being any impediment – was even more essential than ever as families had to adapt to the pandemic. We had to close our Uniform Exchange in the Mall and furlough our staff. Staff and volunteers were asked to to work from home and I am very grateful to our team for adapting to home working and the other changes we had to introduce throughout the charity. One of our biggest and most far reaching adaptations was to take the Uniform Exchange online, allowing parents to select the items of school uniform they require to ‘Click & Collect’ at the Uniform Exchange – or if they are unable to visit to request a home delivery. New volunteers came on board with Level Trust to help us deliver uniform during the first national lockdown. This innovation not only kept us helping families in poverty in Luton throughout the pandemic but has changed the way we will work and support children in the future. Our summer scheme for aged children 8 -12, SMASH, has been a huge success in past years with an increasing number of children taking part. This year continued with the summer scheme remotely. We identified the huge problem of digital access that the pandemic highlighted and in partnership launched Luton Learning Link, providing 147 laptops to local children across Luton and Bedfordshire This project gave children access to remote learning that was essential during the lockdowns. As with the online Uniform Exchange, this is an innovation that is here to stay for the future and Luton Learning Link has now provided 1,700 laptops across the county. Our thanks go to our partners and all the donors who allowed this project to start up and enable us to provide much needed laptops and iPads in such a small space of time. As part of our Covid-19 response, Level Trust also launched our Emergency Home School Project providing learning items that pupils needed to carry on their schooling at home during the lockdowns and school closures. We also Provided 1,600 learning packs that provided children aged 4 – 16 with learning items they needed to carry on their schooling at home. I would like to thank the staff and volunteers who have helped with all the changed ways of working, particularly our Chief Executive, Jane Malcolm, who as always, has driven the enforced changes, has kept our staff and volunteers safe during the pandemic and has continued to make sure that Level Trust can help all families in poverty. Finally, my thanks also to the Trustee board - who all took to Zoom - and have overseen not only the changes we had to make during this exceptional and challenging year, but also looking towards the future expansion of the charity. ## **Francis Steer Chair of Trustees** **5** ## Trustees’ Report ## **1. Background** This year has been like no other. The Covid-19 pandemic which engulfed our world, intensified the needs of the 46% of children in Luton who live in poverty and caused others to experience financial hardship. Those living in poverty have been more likely to have been effected by a Covid-19 death and have been at greater risk of hunger, the cold and poor mental health. School and community support, that children and young people rely on to give them the resilience they need to survive living in poverty, became harder if not impossible to access. As a result, poorer children have been less able to participate in learning and less able to stay connected to social support. This has caused them to fall further behind in their learning and become more isolated compared with wealthier peers. Level Trust started in 2013 with group of local volunteers who wanted to support children suffering the effects of poverty. In April that year Level Trust was born on the kitchen table of our founding CEO, Jane Malcolm. Our aim was to make sure that every child had what they needed to access learning. Eight years on, our schools, local community and donors have seen the difference we make to children and have got behind our work. This year, what we do has been more important than ever. We are proud that despite huge challenges, we have been able to help children on 4994 occasions, 783 more than the year before. **4994 children helped this year!** _Image: Visitors to our Uniform Exchange before the pandemic_ **6** ## **2. Our aims** The aims of Level Trust are to: - a) give children living in poverty what they need to thrive in their learning; - b) help schools provide quality support to poor children; - c) empower children, young people and parents to lead the changes they believe will make the greatest difference in alleviating poverty in the longer term. ## **3. Values** Our values are incredibly important to us. They underpin everything we do. At Level Trust, we... - … - are committed to true **partnership** working, believing it brings about the best results - … treat all people, especially those affected by poverty, with the utmost **dignity** - … believe that all children deserve to be safe, happy and have **fun** , and try to have fun ourselves - … are **generous** and try to give other people the best of what we have to offer - … are passionate about **Luton** , celebrate its attributes and contribute towards making it even better. ## **4. The team** Level Trust is run day to day by a skilled and compassionate team of staff and volunteers, without whom we would not be able to fulfil our important aims. This year has been a challenge for all of us, with staff on furlough, volunteers having to step back due to health risks and adapting to working at home. Throughout all the uncertainty, the team have been highly resilient, flexible and committed. We are incredibly grateful for all that they have given and proud of what they have achieved under such difficult circumstances. Additional support for specific projects is provided by project partners, businesses and school staff, without whom we would not have been able to achieve much of our work. At the beginning of this year our Collaborative Projects Manager, Christian Iszchak and our Fundraising, Marketing and Project Manager Maddy Iszchak moved on from Level Trust. We are very grateful for the years of service they gave and all they did to make a difference to the lives of local children. We were delighted to invite Phyl Rainey onto the team in March as our Youth and Schools Project Manager and were very grateful for all she did to deliver our Covid-19 response plan, resulting in us helping thousands of children. _Image: Reopening our Uniform Exchange after lock-down._ **7** ## **5. Governance** Our team is governed by our highly experienced Board. Our constitution provides for a minimum of three trustees but to ensure we have all areas covered we have seven serving trustees. Their role includes, but is not limited too, overseeing the financial management of the charity, all policies including our safeguarding practice, managing and mitigating risk and setting our strategic direction. This year we moved to a committee structure which has helped us to better meet the demands of a growing charity. We are particularly grateful to Mr Chris Curtis who has become the chair of our Strategy and Finance Committee and Mr Altaf Hussain who has become chair of our Human Resources and Policy Committee. ## **6. What we did** This year we provided: - free school shoes to 299 children, - free winter coats to 222 children, - free school uniform to 1950 children, - free learning resources including stationery, books and games to 1600 children, - emergency home learning resources, food and clothing to 507 children, - a remote activity scheme to 267 children, - and worked in partnership to provide laptops to 144 young people. We delivered this work through adapting projects we have run for many years and setting up new projects to fit the new context. The existing projects we adapted were I Love Learning, SMASH and the Uniform Exchange. The new projects we started were the Emergency Home School Project and partnership project, Luton Learning Link. **Uniform Exchange** is a free second hand uniform shop in Luton town centre. Families use the Exchange by swapping school uniform they have finished with for school uniform they need, all for free. Children with no uniform to swap can be referred by one of our partners to receive uniform without exchange. This year we had to temporarily close the Uniform Exchange during the first lock-down. Without children at school they no longer had need of free school uniform. We used this time to develop an online Uniform Exchange, enabling us to safely provide school uniform to children through a click and collect system when ## _Image: Learning packs ready to give out to children_ **8** schools reopened. This system has enabled us to safely provide uniform to children throughout the pandemic. Big thanks goes to Sheraph who worked with us to set up this new system. Over the year we provided 5519 items of school uniform to 1950. This is a decrease of 441 children on the year before. This is down to children not needing school uniform as regularly with schools closed and the Uniform Exchange being unable to operate for four months. We are incredibly grateful to our funders, The National Lottery Community Fund and The Steel Charitable Trust and 40 regular volunteers who have supported this project over the last year, helping us adapt to the demands of the pandemic. **I Love Learning** provides school shoes, winter coats and learning resources for children, free of charge. During the pandemic we adapted this project so we could get support to children while they were learning at home. Our demand for school shoes and coats decreased significantly due to school closures, meaning we provided 299 pairs of shoes (down by 470 on the year before) and 222 coats (down by 257 on the year before). We put together and distributed 1,600 home learning packs providing stationery, games and books to children in need of these resources. This project perfectly fit the new context so we were quickly able to provide this resource to 1300 more children than the year before. **SMASH** is the name we give our summer holiday enrichment programme. The scheme provides a week of free educational activities, healthy hot meals and transport to venues for children aged 8 -12. This year, safety restrictions meant we had to take the decision to run this project remotely. 267 children took part receiving activity, food and well-being packs. We communicate with children via post and children took part in competitions. The standard of work the children produced was very high and we were very proud to be able to display it all in an exhibition in Luton Mall. _Image: Volunteers delivering learning packs to local schools_ **9** We are very grateful to the support of BBC Children in Need for funding our SMASH programme and for their flexibility and support. We are also thankful to all our project partners including the University of Bedfordshire Access Partnership Team, Team Beds and Luton and our amazing volunteers. **Emergency Home School Project** was launched this year to ensure children had what they needed to safely participate in learning from home. We did this by providing emergency food, clothing and learning resources to 507 children through online purchasing and vouchers. **Luton Learning Link** was set up in partnership with the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Luton Mosques to provide computers to young people who couldn’t afford one to access online learning. In the reporting year we provided computers to 144 Luton young people. ## **7. National influence** This year our relationships with national organisations seeking to make longer term change for children living in poverty has grown. We were pleased to have our case studies used as part of ‘The Wrong Blazer’ a Children’s Society report about the cost of school uniform and were involved in supporting Mike Amesbury MP’s School Uniform Bill which passed it’s first reading in the house of commons. ## **8. Fundraising and marketing** We are incredibly grateful to all our donors, funders and partners, without whom we would have been unable to support all our children and families this year. Their commitment to us, responsiveness and flexibility has helped get us through this difficult year. We raise funding through applications to grant making bodies, building relationships with individual donors, working with corporate partners and through community campaigns. We had particular success this year in raising £27,365 from The Luton School Rely, a sponsored garden run. _Image: SMASH artwork display in Luton Mall_ **10** We are very grateful to Dan Chaplen from Challenge Inspiration and St Matthew’s Primary School who ran this event for us and to all those who donated. We are regularly featured in good news stories in the local and national press and this year took part in several TV pieces for local news channels. Our work was also advertised on local radio stations. Our growing presence on social media has resulted in more followers and we are expecting this to result in further income. Families find out about our work mainly through link workers in each of our schools and through other community organisations. ## **9. Financial review** The financial statements show a net surplus for the year of £122,266. The previous year we had a deficit of £34,721. During the year, the charity generated income of £318,625. Of this income, £289,898 was raised for specific programmes. Expenditure totalled £196,359 for the year, of which £196,332 was spent on specific programmes. Our income this year was £134,266 more than the year before. This is for three reasons: - As the accountable partner for Luton Learning Link we held all funds which amounted to £44,804. - The Luton community were particularly generous throughout the pandemic raising us an additional £39,599 that we had not projected. - Our fundraising strategy which we implemented in January 2019 to ensure we didn’t have another deficit in this financial year was successful. Expenditure was less by £22,721 as we only re-recruited one member full time member of staff half way through the year to replace two full members of staff we had lost at the beginning of the year. ## **10. Reserves policy** The charity has unrestricted reserves at 31st August 2020 of £65,138, plus a project contingency of £18,275. The reserves represent six months expenditure on charitable activities. It is the policy of the charity to hold no less than three months reserves, although our aim is to hold six. Continency represents 7% of the planned budget for the following year. _Image: Learning to read in school uniform from the Uniform Exchange_ **11** Restricted funds are held by the charity for only as long as is necessary to organise the relevant programmes. Normally these funds are spent within twelve months of receipt. ## **11. Post balance sheet events** No matters or circumstances have arisen since the end of the financial period which significantly affected or may significantly affect the operations of the charity, the results of these operations or the state of affairs of the Charity in the financial year subsequent to the financial period ended 31st August 2020. ## **12. Future plans** Although the pandemic has presented us with many challenges, there have been some opportunities too. Before the pandemic, we had been exploring replication of the Uniform Exchange in other locations. The work we have done with Luton Learning Link has fast tracked that work by giving us the connections and knowledge we need to grow our work in the rest of the county. Next year we want to: - Intensify our work in Luton. We want to provide 5000 children with the opportunities and items they need for learning every year. - Empower young people to influence their communities on child poverty issues and launch a training centre teaching schools on the inclusion of poorer pupils. - Replicate the Uniform Exchange in one more Bedfordshire location, and grow the work of Luton Learning Link across Bedfordshire. In order to achieve this we need to recruit more operational staff to run our current projects, freeing up the time of existing experienced staff to pursue these goals and diversify our income streams. ## **13. Statement of trustees’ responsibilities** Charity law requires the trustees to prepare the financial statements for each financial year which show a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and its financial activities for that year. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to: - Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; - Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; - State whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and _Image: Delivering laptops to local schools_ **12** - Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operational existence. The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2006. 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. ## **14. Independent examiner** We are very grateful to Jason Foxwell FCCA FCIE who has undertaken our Independent Examination this year. ## **15. Trustees report signed on behalf of the trustees:** 10 Jun 2021 Mr Francis Benedict Steer, Chair ……………….......……..…………….. Date: ………………. 10 Jun 2021 Suzanne Spicer Mrs Suzanne Spicer, Treasurer ……………….......……..…………….. Date: ………………. _Image: Learning as a family with SMASH_ **13** ## Partners and Funders We want to extend a huge thank you to all our project partners, schools and funders without whom, our work would not be possible. We are very grateful for your time, money, venues, vehicles, skills and ideas. ## **16. Strategic partnerships** We are delighted to have continued our work with End Child Poverty and Child Poverty Action Group, learning from their Cost of the School Day Work. We were delighted to have them come and share their findings at our annual conference and support their efforts to cut the costs children are required to pay towards learning. ## **17. School partners** Ashcroft High School Beech Hill Primary School Beechwood Primary School Bramingham Primary School Bushmead Primary School Cardinal Newman High School Chalk Hill Academy Challney High School for Boys Chantry Primary Academy Cheynes Infant School Crawley Green Infant School Dallow Primary School Denbigh High School Denbigh Primary School Downside Primary School Farley Junior School Ferrars Academy Ferrars Junior School Foxdell Infant School Foxdell Junior School Grasmere Nursery Hillborough Infant School Hillborough Junior School Icknield High School Lea Manor High School Lealands High School Maidenhall Primary School Norton Road Primary School Pirton Hill Primary School Putteridge High School Putteridge Primary School Ramridge Primary School Riverbank Primary School Sacred Heart Primary School Someries Infant School Someries Junior School Southfield Primary School St Joseph’s Primary School St Margarets Primary School St Matthews Primary School Stockwood Park Academy Stopsley Primary School Sundon Park Junior School Surrey Street Primary School Tennyson Road Primary School The Meads Primary School Warden Hill Infant School Warden Hill Junior School Waulud Primary School Wenlock C of E Junior School Whipperley Infant School Whitefield Primary School William Austin Infant School William Austin Junior School ## **18. Project partners** **14** ## **19. Corporate and community partners** ## **20. Funders** 15 Finonciol Eeport **16** ## Accounts ## **21. Management accounts** ||||**Restricted**|**Restricted**|||**Unrestricted**||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**I Love**
**Learning**|**Learning**
**Fund**|**Overheads**|**SMASH**|**Uniform**
**Exchange**|**Luton**
**Learning**
**Link**|**Unrestricted**|**Total 2020**|**2019**| |**Incoming Resources**|||||||||| |Unrestricted Income|-|-|-|-|6,333|-|8,617|14,950|5,141| |Grants and Trusts|45,452|15,000|25,520|33,473|61,546|30,900|-|211,891|139,474| |Fundraising Events|-|-|-|-|-|-|423|423|17,902| |Other Fundraising|8,821|39,599|-|-|5,875|904|9,517|64,716|5,942| |Regular Donors|19|-|-|-|-|-|8,021|8,040|8,842| |Gift Aid|-|-|-|-|-|-|1,816|1,816|563| |Bank Interest|-|-|-|-|-|-|333|333|256| |Corporate Partners|3,456|-|-|-|-|13,000|-|16,456|6,239| |**Total**|**57,748**|**54,599**|**25,520**|**33,473**|**73,754**|**44,804**|**28,727**|**318,625**|**184,359**| |**Resources expended**|||||||||| |Rent|-|-|500|-|12,096|-|-|12,596|13,127| |Rates and Utilities|-|-|149|-|1,437|-|-|1,586|1,798| |Learn at Home Packs|16,978|-|-|51|-|-|-|17,029|8,588| |Conference Costs||||||-||-|1,499| |School Uniform|27|-|-|-|1,468|-|-|1,495|3,157| |Laundry|-|-|-|-|2,070|-|-|2,070
|3,120| |Equipment|14|-|276|117|1,940|794|-|3,141|6,456| |Project Costs|53|24,306|75|9,276|1,069|26,276|2|61,057|21,076| |Shoes|10,162|-|-|-|-|-|-|10,162|25,537| |Coats|3,018|-|-|-|-|-|-|3,018|8,882| |Wages and salaries|7,190|3,260|27,399|5,524|24,240|-|-|67,613|88,991| |Employer's NI|256|-|1,058|73|720|-|-|2,107|21,376| |Pensions|216|-|335|7|452|-|-|1,010|3,493| |Advertising & Marketing|-|-|465|-|395|-|-|860|1,415| |Audit & Accountancy fees and|
-|-|708|-|-|-|-|708|941| |Networking|-|-|100|-|-|-|-|100|176| |Bank Fees|-|-|120|-|-|-|4|124|142| |Cleaning|-|-|63|-|494|-|-|557|709| |Premises Maintenance|-|-|264|-|1,289|-|-|1,553|245| |Postage, Freight & Courier|29|385|-|1,328|-|-|-|1,742|572| |Office Refreshments|-|-|19|-|4|-|-|23|80| |Management Meetings|-|-|36|-|12|-|-|48|118| |General Expenses|-|-|-|-|-|-|21|21|50| |Volunteer Expenses|-|-|-|-|45|-|-|45|65| |Insurance|-|-|982|-|203|-|-|1,185|1,090| |Printing & Stationery|767|110|487|828|157|-|-|2,349|1,032| |IT Software and Consumables|13|-|478|14|131|-|-|636|312| |Volunteer Training|-|-|66|-|13|-|-|79|143| |Staff Training|-|-|552|-|143|-|-|695|1,814| |Governance|-|-|188|-|53|-|-|241|321| |Telephone & Internet|-|-|655|-|22|-|-|677|455| |Staff Travel|65|300|167|167|217|-|-|916|403| |Volunteer Travel|-|15|97|293|157|-|-|562|515| |Fundraising Expenses|120|-|234|-|-|-|-|354|1,382| |**Total**|**38,908**|**28,376**|**35,473**|**17,678**|**48,827**|**27,070**|**27**|**196,359**|**219,080**| |**Surplus/(Deficit) of Income**
**over Expenditure**|**18,840**|**26,223**|**(9,953)**|**15,795**|**24,927**|**17,734**|**28,700**|**122,266**|**(34,721)**| |Fund balance b/f 2020|950|-|9,917|12,826|8,109|-|76,713|108,515|143,236| |Balance before transfer|19,790|26,223|(36)|28,621|33,036|17,734|105,413|230,781|108,515| |Transfer from Unassigned|-|-|13,000|-|9,000|-|(22,000)|-|| |Balance after transfer|19,790|26,223|12,964|28,621|42,036|17,734|83,413|230,781|108,515| |Percentage Spend|19.81%|14.45%|18.07%|9.00%|24.87%|13.79%|0.01%|100.00%|| **17** ## **22. Statement of financial activities** ||||**2020**|**2019**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**
**funds**|**Total funds**|**Prior year**
**funds**| ||£|£|£|£| |**Incoming Resources**||||| |Unrestricted Income|8,617|6,333|14,950|5,141| |Grants and Trusts|-|211,891|211,891|139,474| |Fundraising Events|423|-|423|17,902| |Other Fundraising|9,517|55,199|64,716|5,942| |Regular Donors|8,021|19|8,040|8,842| |Gift Aid|1,816|-|1,816|563| |Bank Interest|333|-|333|256| |Corporate Partners|-|16,456|16,456|6,239| |**Total**|**28,727**|**289,898**|**318,625**|**184,359**| |**Resources expended**||||| |Rent|-|12,596|12,596|13,127| |Rates and Utilities|-|1,586|1,586|1,798| |Learn at Home Packs|-|17,029|17,029|8,588| |Conference Costs|-|-|-|1,499| |School Uniform|-|1,495|1,495|3,157| |Laundry|-|2,070|2,070|3,120| |Equipment|-|3,141|3,141|6,456| |Project Costs|2|61,055|61,057|21,076| |Shoes|-|10,162|10,162|25,537| |Coats|-|3,018|3,018|8,882| |Wages and salaries|-|67,613|67,613|88,991| |Employer's NI|-|2,107|2,107|21,376| |Pensions|-|1,010|1,010|3,493| |Advertising & Marketing|-|860|860|1,415| |Audit & Accountancy fees and website|-|708|708|941| |Networking|-|100|100|176| |Bank Fees|4|120|124|142| |Cleaning|-|557|557|709| |Premises Maintenance|-|1,553|1,553|245| |Postage, Freight & Courier|-|1,742|1,742|572| |Office Refreshments|-|23|23|80| |Management Meetings|-|48|48|118| |General Expenses|21|-
|21|50| |Volunteer Expenses|-|45|45|65| |Insurance|-|1,185|1,185|1,090| |Printing & Stationery|-|2,349|2,349|1,032| |IT Software and Consumables|-|636|636|312| |Volunteer Training|-|79|79|143| |Staff Training|-|695|695|1,814| |Governance|-|241|241|321| |Telephone & Internet|-|677|677|455| |Staff Travel|-|916|916|403| |Volunteer Travel|-|562|562|515| |Fundraising Expenses|-|354|354|1,382| |**Total**|**27**|**196,332**|**196,359**|**219,080**| |**Surplus/(Deficit) of Income over**
**Expenditure**|**28,700**|**93,566**|**122,266**|**(34,721)**| |Fund balance b/f 2020|76,713|31,802|108,515|143,236| |Balance before transfer|105,413|125,368|230,781|108,515| |Transfer from Unrestricted|(22,000)|22,000|-|-| |Balance after transfer|83,413|147,368|230,781|108,515| **18** ## **23. Balance sheet** |**23. Balance sheet**||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||||**2020**||**2019**| ||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**
**funds**||**Total**||**Total**| ||£|£|£||£|| |**Fixed assets**||||||| |Intangible assets|9,030|-||9,030||-| ||9,030|-||9,030||-| |**Current assets**||||||| |Debtors|3,529|-||3,529||-| |Cash at bank and in hand|78,298|147,368||225,666||113,656| ||81,827|147,368||229,195||113,656| |**Creditors: amounts falling due withi**|(7,444)|-||(7,444)||(5,141)| |Net current assets|74,383|147,368||221,751||108,515| |Net assets|83,413|147,368||230,781||108,515| |**Funds of the Charity**||||||| |Restricted funds|-|147,368||147,368||31,802| |Unrestricted funds|83,413|-||83,413||76,713| |**Total Funds**|83,413|147,368||230,781||108,515| |||||||| ## **24. Signed on behalf of the trustees** 10 Jun 2021 Mr Francis Benedict Steer, Chair ……………….......……..…………….. Date: ………………. 10 Jun 2021 Mrs Suzanne Spicer, Treasurer ……………….......……..…………….. Suzanne Spicer Date: ………………. _Image: Volunteers from Luton Town Football Club supporting in the Uniform Exchange_ **19** ## Notes to the Accounts ## **25. Accounting policies** ## **Basis of preparation** The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014, The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and with the Charities Act 2011. There have been no changes of accounting policy, changes to accounting estimates or material prior year errors. ## **Recognition of income** Income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when - the charity becomes entitled to the resources; - it is more likely than not that the trustees will receive the resources; and - the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability. Grants and donations are only included in the SoFA when the general income recognition criteria are met. In the case of performance related grants, income must only be recognised to the extent that the charity has provided the specified goods or services as entitlement to the grant only occurs when the performance related conditions are met (5.16 FRS 102 SORP). ## **Offsetting** There has been no offsetting of assets and liabilities, or income and expenses, unless required or permitted by the FRS 102 SORP or FRS 102. ## **Tax reclaims on donations and gifts** Gift Aid receivable is included in income when there is a valid declaration from the donor. ## **Volunteer help** The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ annual report. ## **Interest Income** This is included in the accounts when receipt is probable and the amount receivable can be measured reliably. ## **Liability recognition** Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty. ## **Governance and support costs** Support costs have been allocated between governance costs and other support. Governance costs comprise all costs involving public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice. Support costs include central functions and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources, eg allocating property costs by floor areas, or per capita, staff costs by the time spent and other costs by their usage. ## **Intangible fixed assets** Intangible fixed assets are measured at cost less accumulative amortisation and any accumulative impairment losses. These are capitalised if they can be used for more than one year, and cost at least £1,000. **20** ## **Debtors** Debtors (including trade debtors, prepayments and loans receivable) are measured on initial recognition at settlement amount after any trade discounts or amount advanced by the charity. Subsequently, they are measured at the cash or other consideration expected to be received. ## **Pensions** Contributions to defined contribution plans are expensed in the period to which they relate. ## **26. Employee costs** ||**2020**|**2019**| |---|---|---| |Salaries and
wages|67,613|102,153| |Social secu-
ritycosts|2,107|8,213| |Pension
costs|1,010|3,493| |**Total**|**70,730**|**113,859**| No employees received employee benefits for the reporting period of more than £60,00. Pension contributions are allocated to activities or overheads, on the basis of which activity the employee works on. This year our salary costs represented 36% of our expenditure compared with 52% the year before. We had an average of four staff working on charitable activities compared with five the year before. ## **27. Intangible fixed assets** Website development costs: **Cost** Additions 9,030 At 31 August 2020 9,030 **Amortisation** At 31 August 2020 - **Net book value** At 31 August 2020 9,030 Website development costs are being written off in equal annual instalments over its estimated economic life of 3 years. ## **28. Debtors** |**Debtors**||**2020**||**2019**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||£||£|| |Other debtors||3,529||-| |**29. Creditors**||||| |**Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**||**2020**||**2019**| ||£||£|| |Trade creditors||7,444||5,141| **21** ## **30. Charity funds** |**30. Charity funds**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Fund Name**|**b/f**
**01/09/2019**||**Income**|**Expenditure**||**Transfers**|**c/f**
**31/08/2020**| ||£|£||£|£||£| |I Love Learning|950||57,748|(38,908)||-|19,790| |Learning fund|-||54,599|(28,376)||-|26,223| |Overheads|9,917||25,520|(35,473)||13,000|12,964| |SMASH|12,826||33,473|(17,678)||-|28,621| |Uniform Exchange|8,109||73,754|(48,827)||9,000|42,036| |Luton Learning Link|-||44,804|(27,070)||-|17,734| |Unrestricted|76,713||28,727|(27)||(22,000)|83,413| |**Total**|108,515||318,625|(196,359)||-|230,781| |**Fund Name**|**b/f**
**01/09/2018**||**Income**|**Expenditure**||**Transfers**|**c/f**
**31/8/2019**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||£|£||£|£||£| |I Love Learning|19,246||46,722|(68,018)||3,000|950| |Learning fund|-||-|-||-|-| |SMASH|3,745||34,394|(25,313)||-|12,826| |Overheads|52,224||-|(57,307)||15,000|9,917| |Uniform Exchange|10,713||65,822|(68,426)||-|8,109| |Luton Learning Link|-||-|||-|-| |Unrestricted|57,308||37,421|(16)||(18,000)|76,713| |**Total**|143,236||184,359|(219,080)||-|108,515| |
Unrestricted
**Total**|57,308
143,236|37,421
(16)
(18,000)
184,359
(219,080)
-| |---|---|---| |**Fund Name**|**Type**|**Purpose**| |I Love Learning|Restricted|Learn at Home Packs, Coats and Shoes| |Learning fund|Restricted|Learning Resource, equipment, clothing and opportunities| |Overheards|Restricted|Overheads| |SMASH|Restricted|School holiday Learning Programmes| |Uniform Exchange|Restricted|Providing Uniforms| |Luton Learning Link|Restricted|Laptops and computers for learning| |Unrestricted|Unrestricted|No Restrictions| Transfers from unrestricted funds to restricted funds are made to fund specific projects where restricted funds raised are not sufficient to cover the project costs. ## **31. Analysis of overhead costs to project cost balance** This year our overhead costs represented 18% of our expenditure compared with 26% the year before. ## **32. Income analysis** **22** ## **33. Income from grants and trusts** |**33. Income from grants and trusts**||| |---|---|---| |**Funding Body**|**Restricted to**|**Amount**| |BBC Children In Need|SMASH|£33,473| |Bedfordshire Coronavirus Emergency Fund
Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation|Luton Learning Link|£18,500| |Bedfordshire Coronavirus Emergency Fund
Bedfordshire and Luton CommunityFoundation|Emergency Home School Project|£7,500| |The Connolly Foundation|I Love Learning|£25,000| |Crimebeat Bedfordshire|Luton Learning Link|£12,400| |Gale Family Charity Trust|Core Costs|£3,000| |London Luton Airport Ltd
Bedfordshire and Luton CommunityFoundation|I Love Learning|£7,952| |London Luton Airport Ltd Community Investment Fund
Bedfordshire and Luton CommunityFoundation|Core Costs|£21,520| |The National Lottery Community Fund|Uniform Exchange|£35,952| |The National Lottery Community Fund Cov-
id-19 Response|Emergency Home School Fund and
Uniform Exchange|£16,094| |Sage Publishing|Uniform Exchange|£2,000| |The Steel Charitable Trust|Uniform Exchange|£15,000| |The Swire Charitable Trust|I Love Learning|£12,500| |The Neighbourly Community Fund|Core Costs|£500| |The Woodrofe Benton Foundation|Core Costs|£500| |**TOTAL**||**£211,891**| _Image: Donations from our local Tesco_ **23** ## **34. Accounts approved by the board of trustees and signed on its behalf by:** Mr Francis Benedict Steer, Chair ……………….......……..…………….. 10 Jun 2021 Date: ………………. Mrs Suzanne Spicer, Treasurer ……………….......……..…………….. Suzanne Spicer 10 Jun 2021 Date: ………………. **24** ## Independent Examiners Report ## **Year ended 31st August 2020** I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Level Trust (the charitable company) for the year ended 31 August 2020. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the trustees of the charitable company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’). Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the charitable company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charitable company’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act. ## **Independent examiner’s statement** Since the Company’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I a member of ACCA and ACIE, both of which are listed bodies. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with my examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charitable company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or 4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities. I have no concerns and have 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. ## **Mr J P Foxwell FCCA FCIE independent-examiner.net** **39 Enfield Road, Poole, BH15 3LJ** ## **Signed by independent examiners** Name........................................................... Signature............……………….......……..…………….. Date: ……………….