1
## **MARGINAL CIO**
# **ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 202 4**
**Charity number: 1178831**
2
## **CONTENTS**
||**PAGE.**|
|---|---|
|**Trustee Annual Report**|**3**|
|**Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities**|**5**|
|**Statement of Financial Activities**|**6**|
|**Balance Sheet**|**7**|
|**Notes to the Financial Statements**|**8**|
|**Independent Examiner’s statement**|**9**|
3
## **Trustee Report**
## **OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES**
In so far as it is complementary to the charity's objects, the charity is guided by both local and national policy. Advice from local organisations has proved invaluable to the charity in establishing improved links within the community and identifying relevant policy developments and prospective funding. The principal objects and activities in the year under review continued to focus on the development of social welfare, physical and mental health of children and young people aged 13+ within the Liverpool City Region.
This is achieved by providing leisure time activities designed to develop young people’s capabilities so that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society. The charitable company operates a number of projects and initiatives and works in partnership with other agencies to ensure the widest: range of services are available that best match the needs of its client population.
## **PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT**
In considering the objectives and activities, the Trustees have considered Charity guidance on public benefit to ensure that the organisation is meeting its requirements.
## **ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE**
Over the past financial year, we continued to develop our specialist publishing and story-making programmes that enable children and young people to shape how their identities, experiences and futures are represented. Through our work with 103 children and young people across the Liverpool City Region, we offered a creative and therapeutic pathway that supports young people aged 8–25 who have experienced marginalisation, including looked-after and previously looked-after children, young people living with chronic and life-limiting illnesses, and SEND young people.
This year, the wider context has been challenging. The cost-of-living crisis has increased demand for youth mental health support, while competitive funding environments and rising operational costs have placed strain on services across the region. Within this climate, our publishing-led model—centred on narrative ownership, expressive freedom and lived-experience authorship—provided a distinctive and increasingly essential route for young people whose anxiety, depression, and trauma often leave them unable to engage with generic youth provision.
We delivered workshops within children’s homes, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, and through 1-2-1 online sessions, enabling young people to participate safely and consistently. Our commissioning and print services continued to strengthen our organisational resilience. Key achievements included the development of several lived-experience-led publications, the completion of the Pencil Pals Anthology capturing patient stories at Alder Hey, and commissioning a new publication exploring marginalised joy, authored by young people themselves.
Evaluation findings highlight the impact of our relational, creative approach. 62% of participants reported improvements in mental wellbeing; 56% experienced reduced thoughts linked to suicidal ideation; and 85% reported increased social connectedness after 12 weeks of engagement. A significant proportion (66%) had never accessed other youth services, describing those environments as overwhelming or unsafe. On initial engagement, 94% reported loneliness and 78% reported having few or no friends, evidencing the acute isolation faced by many of the young people we support.
Local communities benefited from increased access to positive, stigma-reducing youth activities, as well as strengthened community cohesion through volunteering and progression routes into education, training and employment. We are deeply grateful to all partners whose support enabled us to deliver meaningful, highquality publishing opportunities during a year of considerable sector pressure.
4
## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
Total income for the year was £40,000 of which £0 related to funding projects upon which restrictions are placed. Total expenditure in the year was £38,980 leaving a surplus for the year. The charitable company’s reserves stand at £94127.
## **RISK MANAGEMENT**
The main risks to which the charitable company is exposed as identified by the Trustees has been considered and systems have been established to mitigate those risks.
## **RESERVES POLICY**
Reserves policy: It is the policy of Marginal CIO to maintain unrestricted funds, which are free reserves at a level to cover 12 months running costs (£29,000) and redundancy costs. As an organisation we have secured this amount and will continue to increasing our reserves.
## **PLANS FOR THE FUTURE**
We have had an exciting and positive start to the year and will:
- Continue to develop Marginal as the first young person led publishing house in the UK.
- Launch a young people’s editorial collective to give participants greater influence over commissioning, design and decision-making.
- Expand our 1-2-1 service to young people experiencing anxiety and or depression.
- Develop a volunteer development programme to upskill children and young people to take ownership of Marginal CIO in the future.
- Deliver hyperlocal workshops in communities most affected by the cost-of-living crisis and youth service reductions.
- Strengthen our data collection to better understand the impact of story-making on mental wellbeing.
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
Marginal CIO (the charity) is an incorporated entity governed under a Constitution of an Incorporated Organisation. The Trustees are responsible for the overall management and control of Marginal CIO and hold regular meetings.
All trustees give their time freely and no remuneration was paid during the year.
The charity is run by the Trustees. The Trustees are made full members of the organisation, elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.
5
## **MARGINAL CIO STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES**
The Trustees are to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the CIO as at the balance sheet date and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, for the financial year.
In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees’ should follow best practice and
- Select suitable accounting policies then apply them consistently
- Observe the methods and principle in the Charities SORP
- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the CIO will continue as a going concern
- State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departure disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
The Trustees’ are responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the CIO and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with all the relevant processes. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the CIO and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the Charities act 2011, Accounting and Reporting by Charities; Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP 2015) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1st January 2015).
## **By Order of the Board**
**………………………………….. Rhiannon Mair, Chair**
**Date: 20 /1 1 /202 5**
6
## **MARGINAL CIO STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2021**
|**Income and endowments**|**Notes Unrestricted**|**Notes Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total funds**|
**Total funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**from**||**funds**|**funds**|**2024**|**2023**|
|Charitable activities||40000|00000|40000|50000|
|Other trading activities||0.00|0.00|0.00|0.00|
|**Total income**||**40000**|**0.00**|**40000**|**55000**|
|**Expenditure on**||||||
|Charitable activities||27000|0.00|27000|37980|
|Total expenditure||~~**2700**~~|**0.00**|**27000**|**37980**|
|**Total funds brought forward**||**81127**|**0.00**|**81127**|**69107**|
|**Total funds carried forward**||**94127**|**0.00**|**94127**|**81127**|
**All the above amounts relate to continuing activities of the CIO**
7
## **MARGINAL CIO BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st DECEMBER 2020**
|Notes|31st December|31st December|31st December|
|---|---|---|---|
||2024|2024|2023|
||(Unrestricted)|(Restricted)||
||£|£|£|
|**Fixed Assets**||||
|Tangible Fixed Assets|0.00|0.00|0.00|
|**Current Assets**||||
|Cash at bank and at hand|94127|0.00|81127|
|Prepayments|0.00|0.00|0/00|
||||_ _ _ _ _|
||_ _ _ _ _|_ _ _ _ _||
||94127||81127.00|
|**Current Liabilities**||||
|Creditors: amount falling||||
|Due within 1 year|0.00|0.00|0.00|
||_ _ _ _ _|_ _ _ _ _|_ _ _ _ _ _|
|**Net Current Assets**||**94127**|**8127**|
|||**_ _ _ _**|**_ _ _ _ _ _**|
|**Total Assets less Current Liabilities**||**94127**|**81127**|
8
**These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of ireland (FRS102).**
## **MARGINAL CIO FINANCIAL NOTES OF THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 202 4**
|**Unrestricted funds**
**2024**
**Note 1. Income**
**Grant**
**income-Children In**
**Need- for Project worker**
**Salary & stationery**
**Commission**
40,000
**40,000**
**Note 2. Expenditure on charitable activities**
**Unrestricted funds**
**2024**
**1700.00**
5500.00
2050.00
1500.00
450.00
500.00
**27000**
**Project Session worker**
**Printing Costs**
**Artwork**
**Adobe creative suites**
**Accounts preparation**
**Insurance**|**Unrestricted funds**
**2024**
**Note 1. Income**
**Grant**
**income-Children In**
**Need- for Project worker**
**Salary & stationery**
**Commission**
40,000
**40,000**
**Note 2. Expenditure on charitable activities**
**Unrestricted funds**
**2024**
**1700.00**
5500.00
2050.00
1500.00
450.00
500.00
**27000**
**Project Session worker**
**Printing Costs**
**Artwork**
**Adobe creative suites**
**Accounts preparation**
**Insurance**|**Restricted funds**
**2024**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**Restricted funds **
**2024**
**0.00**
**0.00**|**Total Funds**
**2023**
**10,000**
**4**0000
**50,000**
**Total Funds**
**2023**
**18000.00**
5000.00
2400.00
1680.00
450.00
450.00
**37980.00**|
|---|---|---|---|
|
**Project Session worker**
**Printing Costs**
**Artwork**
**Adobe creative suites**
**Accounts preparation**
**Insurance**||||
||
|||
9
## **Independent Examiner’s report**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/202 4
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act,
- to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act, and
- to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of Independent examiner’s statement**
## **Independent examiner's statement**
- My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair' view, and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with section 386 of the Companies Act 2006; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting Charities have not been met; or (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: _J C McChrystal_ Date: 10 /1 1 /202 5 Name: J C McChrystal Qualification: CIMA Adv diploma of management