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2023-04-30-accounts

Charity no. 1179417

Agenda CIO Report and Unaudited Financial Statements 30 April 2023

Agenda CIO

Reference and administrative details

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Charity number 1179417 Registered office and We Work Hoxton, Senna Building operational address Gorsuch Place, London, E2 8JF

The trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows: Trustees Kaammini Chanrai Victoria Harfield (Treasurer, Vice Chair from 29 September 2022) Sarah Hughes (Resigned, 15 December 2022) Henrietta Imoreh Rt Hon Fiona Mactaggart (Term ended 29 September 2022) Laura McIntyre Polly Neate Lynn Percival Esther Sample (Resigned, 30 June 2022) Shivani Uberoi Rachel White (Resigned, 29 March 2023) Lilly Lewi-Bell (Appointed, 28 June 2023) Rani Patel (Appointed, 28 June 2023) Abigail Ayers (Appointed, 28 June 2023) Shani Newbold (Appointed, 28 June 2023) Shiryn Sayani (Appointed, 28 June 2023) Chief executive officer Indy Cross Bankers CAF Bank Limited 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling Kent, ME19 4JQ Accountants Accountability Europe Limited 75 Maygrove Road London NW6 2EG Independent Godfrey Wilson Limited examiners Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD

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Agenda CIO

Report of the trustees

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Constitution and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities (effective from 1 January 2019).

Structure, Governance and Management

Agenda is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, charity number 1179417, its members are its charity trustees. Its governing document is a constitution registered 1 August 2018.

Agenda became a registered charity in 2018. It had previously been hosted by The Young Foundation. On 1 October 2018 Agenda span out from the Young Foundation and became independent.

Overall governance of Agenda is the responsibility of the trustees. The day-to-day running of the organisation is delegated to the CEO. In March and April 2023, the CEO was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, so the role was covered by Deputy CEO, Jessica Southgate.

Apart from the first charity trustees, every appointed trustee must be appointed for a term of four years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as appointed charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.

This year, the Trustees decided to recruit new Trustees to the Board, in order to fill skills gaps and diversify the Board, to better enable us to achieve our new 5-year strategic plan. Some Trustees gave up their seat to allow space for new Trustees (including Esther Sample and Sarah Hughes). Recruitment discussions began towards the end of this financial year.

Trustees meet at least quarterly. There are two sub-committees:

Agenda was founded as an Alliance and now has over 100 members who have signed up to support our mission and values.

Objectives and activities

Agenda’s objects are

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To achieve those objectives Agenda works to ensure that women and girls at risk of abuse, poverty, poor mental health, addiction and homelessness get the support and protection they need. We campaign for systems and services to be transformed. We raise awareness across sectors and promote public and political understanding of the lives of women and girls facing multiple disadvantage. We do this through research and making and supporting the implementation of proposals designed to improve provision.

Public benefit

Agenda works to create a society where women and girls can fulfil their potential and live their lives free from inequality, poverty and violence. The notion of public benefit is enshrined in our objectives and we do not restrict access to this benefit. The board of trustees has had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit as they established Agenda as an independent charity and agreed the charity’s objectives and priorities.

Our purpose

We want public services to respond better to the distinct and multiple unmet needs of women and girls, including appropriately responding to gender, age, race and trauma.

For the whole system to respond better, we stand in solidarity with the voluntary sector and advocate for them to be empowered.

Our mission

We advocate and campaign for systems and services to respond appropriately to women and girls with unmet needs.

Our vision

Ending the cycle of trauma and harm so that all women and girls can thrive

Our values

Our values are our guiding principles for our work to deliver our mission. It is who we are and how we behave.

We promise to be:

INTERSECTIONAL We understand that the most disadvantaged women and girls experience multiple types of intersecting trauma and disadvantage. So, we approach our work in a way that cuts across services, sectors and systems that are there to support the full breadth of issues and disadvantages that women and girls face.

COURAGEOUS We are courageous in speaking out and taking action for and with all women and girls. We stand in solidarity with all women and girls and provide platforms for their views and voices. We campaign confidently, with pride, strength and grit.

CREDIBLE We design campaigns that are grounded in robust evidence, proven good practice and the experiences of women and girls. We are committed to constant learning from the wider sector and our Alliance members – including small, specialist, front-line organisations – and learning from women and girls.

CLEAR We communicate with clarity and try to be as clear as possible, so that everybody can understand, contribute and join our social movement. We speak in plain English and are committed to translating into different languages when required, included BSL. We do not waffle and are impactful when we present.

COLLABORATIVE We collaborate with others in a meaningful way and stay true to our history of convening the sector. We will continue to listen to different perspectives and draw strength from

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Report of the trustees For the year ended 30 April 2023

diversity. We seek to develop shared understanding, to find new ways of talking, thinking and working across divides and boundaries.

Our activities and impact

This has been an exciting year for Agenda Alliance, as we rebranded, refreshed our vision, mission and values, launched a new website, and published our new five-year strategic plan.

Our new brand aims to reflect both the feminist unity and collaboration at the heart of our Alliance and our strategic plan (2023-2027) outlines our priorities and focus in the coming years (https://www.agendaalliance.org/our-work/five-year-strategy/).

Our new strategy builds on the success of the previous four years of work. These new goals will enable us to continue to champion women and girls with complex and multiple unmet needs, to ensure systems and services respond more appropriately – responding in particular to gender, age, race and trauma. This report outlines our progress throughout the year to meet the strategic goals of our new strategy.

Our strategic goals (2023-2027)

  1. Convene an Alliance that is empowered and cohesive and has regular opportunities to influence public policy and practice to respond appropriately to women and girls with unmet needs.

  2. Mature and build the charity's foundations, including embedding women and girls' voices and strengthening our internal systems to become resilient and sustainable.

  3. Develop a holistic evidence-base on the harm that racism causes to women and girls accessing public services. This will be the flagship project in collaboration with the Alliance members.

  4. Reduce the number of girls and young women being excluded from school.

  5. Call for criminal justice to respond better to women's unmet needs – our particular target is the Young Women's Strategy.

  6. Ensure women and girls' mental health is prioritised in Government Policy.

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Below sets out our activities and achievements throughout the year 2022-23, across each of our strategic goals.

Advocating for women and girls with multiple unmet needs

Throughout the year Agenda Alliance has continued to advocate and campaign for systems and services to respond appropriately to women and girls with unmet needs – working with parliamentarians, officials, policy makers and across our alliance membership to ensure that women and girls at most risk of being overlooked, are reflected in decision making.

In autumn 2022, we shared our top priorities for the new Cabinet and Prime Minister, calling for women and girls’ needs to be reflected in policy decisions and government funding under the new Government in ‘ ’ our Action Plan for Women and Girls at Risk . The plan highlighted five key actions from the policy priorities evidenced from our work, calling on Government to have a standalone cabinet position of Minister for Women and Equalities, produce a national women and girls’ mental health strategy, to introduce measures to support the most disadvantaged girls at risk of exclusion from education, to publish the promised Young Adult Women’s Strategy, and for greater training for all criminal justice staff on culture, ethnicity, race, faith, gender and anti-racism for the Government.

Throughout the year we worked with MPs, parliamentarians, officials and decision makers to raise the profile of our work and champion the needs of women and girls. We regularly provided evidence from our work, such as to Baroness Glenys Thornton (Shadow Lords Women and Equalities Spokesperson) in support of tabling questions in the House of Lords; met with key influencing bodies, such as the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioners Office; and sat on government advisory groups, such as the Ministry of Justice Advisory Group on Women in the Justice System and the Home Office Police Crime and Equalities group.

We have drawn on our widely respected evidence base to comment on the publication of key policy documents and strategies, shining a light on the opportunities and challenges these have presented for women and girls with multiple unmet needs - such as the Government’s Domestic Abuse Plan, developments of the Women’s Mental Health Strategy, and the Major Conditions Strategy proposal, proposed in place of the previously promised 10 Year Mental Health & Wellbeing Plan. We raised concerns about a lack of progress made since the Government's 2018 Female Offender Strategy, following publication of the Justice Committee’s report on Women in Prison, which we submitted oral and written evidence to.

We consistently used opportunities to share our evidence and examples of good practice from within our Alliance membership to influence policy, including through Labour’s policy consultation ahead of formulating their next manifesto commitments, participating in the BBC’s Review of gender disparity in prosecutions for TV License fee evasion, responding to the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing’s Police Race Action Plan, and submitting joint responses with Alliance members, such as with Women in Prison to the Health and Social Care Committee's Prevention inquiry.

We joined with the voices of others across the sector, and women with lived experience of multiple unmet needs, in solidarity and support of wider campaigns. We condemned the governments increased hostility towards refugees and asylum seekers through the Illegal Migration Bill (now Act), supported the Libertycoordinated campaign against the introduction of a proposed Bill of Rights and supported awareness raising by the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector of the impact this could have, and we added our name to call for ‘No Births Behind Bars’ for women in prison, signing a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Justice and the Sentencing Council.

We worked with and through Alliance members to raise the need for greater gender- and traumaresponsive support, such as sitting on Mind’s girls and young women's programme development workshop group, to inform the development of new work to address poor health amongst young women

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and non-binary young people. Following the damning revelations of the Casey Report, alongside the Fawcett Society, The Runnymede Trust and the Muslim Women’s Network UK in March 2023 we signed an open letter to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Mark Rowley, highlighting that this was just the tip of the iceberg for women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ communities who are failed by policing at every level of their interaction. Following this we were invited for a meeting with the Commissioner to discuss our concerns.

We have raised our voices throughout the year to highlight issues affecting the women and girls we advocate for through blogs, media and social media, such as raising awareness of the realities and prevalence of sexual violence through the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week #ItsNotOk campaign. Following revelations of the terrible incident surrounding the strip-searching of the young woman known as ‘Child Q’, we highlighted that this was likely to be just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ through our blogs and social media.

In addition, we worked throughout the year to meet our strategic goals across a range of specific projects.

Activities across our strategic goals

  1. Convene an Alliance that is empowered and cohesive and has regular opportunities to influence public policy and practice to respond appropriately to women and girls with unmet needs

Building Agenda’s alliance

This year we laid the foundations for growing the success and impact of Agenda’s alliance, a critical strand of our new strategy. In spring 2023, our Deputy CEO stepped into a new role of Alliance Development, supporting our strategic goal to convene an Alliance that is empowered and cohesive and has regular opportunities to influence public policy and practice to respond appropriately to women and girls with unmet needs. This will be a key focus of our work over the coming year, building upon years of learning since Agenda was first founded of how we can best work with and through our members to collectively help end the cycle of trauma and harm so women and girls can thrive.

While we begin our concerted efforts to strengthen the Alliance, we continue nurturing relationships with our members and working jointly on policy and public affairs work, as well as specific projects, such as Transforming Services for Women’s Futures and our work in Greater Manchester.

Transforming Services for Women’s Futures

Following the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls, and the specialist services supporting them, our Transforming Services for Women’s Futures project, in partnership with Changing Lives, explored the ways in which public services could be redesigned to better meet the needs of women with multiple unmet needs. The project title was chosen by women researchers involved in the project, reflecting their wish for a hopeful name that showed there be a future for women with multiple unmet needs with the right support.

By working with those with both lived and learned experience in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, our research considered how the ways in which services could be optimised to improve women’s lives. We carried out interviews, surveys and focus groups with local practitioners, local and combined authority officials, and women with lived experience, supported by desk-based research.

To support our research, we convened a Community of Practice, attended by experts with both lived and

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learned experience, providing expertise of the local context and service provision, and how this could be best improved to meet the needs of the most marginalised women following the pandemic. They identified and explored themes including: the importance of relationships between women with multiple unmet needs and service practitioners; the cost-of-living crisis and its impact; preventing women’s premature deaths; and how victim-survivors could be better supported.

Our national Expert Advisory Group - which included Baroness Hilary Armstrong (House of Lords), Kim McGuiness (Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria), Alison Lowe (West Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime) and Brigid Featherstone (Professor of Social Work at the University of Huddersfield) - provided overall policy expertise and strategic guidance throughout the project.

Ten women, who are experts by experience, formed our research group. All women were remunerated for their time and involvement in the project and provided with a bespoke training programme aimed at preparing them for the project and developing their confidence and skills. The research team co-produced our research methodology, developed a series of blogs on their experiences and insights, and spoke to the media throughout the year.

Our research findings were supported by additional data analysis by Dr Janet Howard, whose work provided an understanding of the overall economic cost of women accessing services in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear over the past four years. This evidence bolsters our research paper by showing the cost to the public purse of failing to meet the needs of women at-risk, complementing our qualitative research on the social impact.

The final report, to be published in July 2023, will include local and national recommendations based on the findings of the research. This will build upon previous Agenda Alliance publications, illustrating the ways in which the most marginalised women and girls are systematically let down and overlooked, and provide unique and timely evidence of the pressing need for a different approach to improving women’s lives.

Greater Manchester Learning Partner

This year we built on the foundations of work in Greater Manchester with local services, officials and decision makers across the ten boroughs and combined authority. In our briefings, funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation, Tackling Multiple Disadvantage in Greater Manchester and Devolution and women’s disadvantage (Agenda and AVA, both 2021) – we made a series of recommendations focused on tackling women and girls’ multiple unmet needs at a regional level.

Following this, we worked with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) officials to support their work to review and refresh the membership and scope of their ‘Vulnerable and Marginalised Women’s Board’, supporting a transition to the ‘Tackling Women’s Multiple Unmet Needs in Greater Manchester Steering Group’. Next year, Agenda Alliance will be working alongside this group as a Learning Partner, convening local front-line organisations (including Agenda Alliance members), statutory services and women with lived experience of multiple unmet needs to understand and illustrate how the system is letting women down across key identified areas. Scoping so far has identified that an area of shared concern and significant importance for both women and services is support for women with multiple unmet needs whose children are removed into social care, who journeys are often underpinned by experience of domestic abuse. Within this we will focus on the ways in which Black, Asian and minoritised women, and those with No Recourse to Public Funds, can be supported.

In the coming year we will begin a period of evidence gathering and present findings back to the Steering Group and Greater Manchester officials. This process will make practical, action-focused recommendations with clear ‘asks’ of the system for how to improve the situation for local women facing multiple unmet needs - focused on tangible changes the GMCA system could make. The aim is that steering group members will then be able to commit to change, help embed recommendations to policy and practice changes, and feed these asks into wider governance structures to take forward.

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  1. Mature and build the charity's foundations, including embedding women and girls' voices and strengthening our internal systems to become resilient and sustainable

This strategic goal has been the focus this year, as Agenda Alliance took the necessary step to focus on our internal systems, including financial, HR, income generation and team development. Some great progress has been made, in particular on embedding women and girls’ voices; our anti-racism journey; and governance.

Women and girls’ voices

Centring the voices and experiences of women and girls with lived experience of unmet needs across our policy, research and campaigns has remained core to our approach. Throughout the year Agenda has consistently championed women and girls’ voices, and continued to develop our approach to involving women and girls with lived experience in project development, strategic planning, and staff recruitment.

Women and girls’ voices and perspectives have been core to the delivery of our Young Women’s Justice Project, Double Disadvantage partnership, and Transforming Services for Women’s Futures work. Women and girls coproduced blogs throughout the year, including on the importance of meeting women’s needs and women-only spaces on International Women's Day, and around women who have had their children removed into social care ahead of Mother’s Day. As the cost-of-living crisis hit women and girls already most affected by poverty and disadvantage hardest, we provided opportunities to share their perspectives through the media, exploring the gendered impact of the crisis.

We know from women and girls we work the positive impact of working in this way. One woman, who took part in media with Agenda this year said: “ I’m proud of myself, I really hope it helps someone ”, and another said “ [I’m] delighted to be able to use my voice and share my lived experience to help raise awareness for others .”

On the basis of feedback from women of our work to-date, and our learning about how we can best embed lived experience across our work, we began meetings of our newly formed Women’s Advisory Network. In the coming year we aim to grow this network, ensuring we recruit a diverse range of voices to help inform our work, and will review the ways in which we involve girls and young women in our work in an ongoing way. We have focused on putting down the foundations needed to grow this in future and are excited about this ever-developing strand of our work.

Strengthening governance

This year has been a period of positive and necessary change and growth for Agenda Alliance. Our team expanded to reflect our refreshed vision and ambition, and we recruited five new trustees to our board bringing a combined wealth of experience and expertise. Our refreshed board helps strengthen our foundations and ensure we are representative of our alliance members and the women and girls we seek to represent. In the coming year we will recruit a new Chair and conduct a governance review – ensuring we are functioning effectively and identifying areas for growth and improvement.

Anti-racism at Agenda Alliance

This year we continued our internal anti-racism journey, with staff and trustee training, and internal discussions to consider how we can make our work more inclusive, anti-oppressive and anti-racist, and alive to the ways in which white supremacy presents itself through our work.

Throughout the year we championed specialist organisations led by and for Black, Asian and minoritised women and girls, including through a blog celebrating the work of Alliance members including Kids of Colour and Hibiscus Initiatives for Black History Month, through our Double Disadvantage partnership, and

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by working with on Milk, Honey, Bees (who participated in our Girls Speak research) to highlight the impact of adultification on young Black girls through a piece on BBC Woman’s Hour in November 2022.

These training sessions were put on pause while our CEO recovered from cancer treatment, and to allow new trustees to join, and have resumed in the summer 2023.

3. Develop a holistic evidence-base on the harm that racism causes to women and girls accessing public services

In the coming year we will grow work around our strategic goal to develop a holistic evidence-base on the harm that racism causes to women and girls accessing public services. We have begun scoping existing evidence on this critical subject, and will grow this throughout the year, to develop a better understanding of the ways in which Agenda can help bring about systemic change to address the harms caused to women and girls by racism in public services.

Double Disadvantage

Spring 2023 marked a year since the Tackling Double Disadvantage Action Plan was published , in partnership with Criminal Justice Alliance, Hibiscus, Muslim Women in Prison, Women in Prison (WiP) and Zaid Mubarak Trust, and funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust. The Tackling Double Disadvantage 10 point action plan for change provides practical steps to address and reduce inequalities faced by Black, Asian, minoritised and migrant women in the criminal justice system, including the overrepresentation of women and girls from ethnic minority groups at all stages of the criminal justice process.

In March 2023 the Double Disadvantage partnership held a roundtable, taking stock of progress and highlighting where further progress could be made. Roundtable participants included senior leaders in the Police, Crown Prosecution Service, HM Prisons and Probation Service, Ministry of Justice, Home Office, Magistrates’ Association and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. During the event, women shared their lived experience of the challenges and disparate treatment they had faced within the system – emphasising their desire to ensure that no other woman be at a ‘double disadvantage’.

While challenges such as staffing capacity and a lack of disaggregated data were highlighted, the roundtable demonstrated some progress had been made, including: mandatory criminal justice training on issues such as unconscious bias; research on racial disproportionality; partnerships with community organisations; and upcoming plans to update guidance and strategies. Throughout the discussion, a commitment to implement change and centre the voices of women with lived experience was regularly emphasised.

The project continued to gain the attention of national decision makers throughout the year. The Public Accounts Committee report, Improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system (2022), referenced the work and noted that the Ministry of Justice had stated they wished to work with the partnership to the concerns we had raised. Kit Malthouse, then Minister for Crime and Policing, responded to written questions from Lyn Brown MP about the Double Disadvantage action plan. And the NPCC’s Police Race Action plan, which several members of the partnership responded to the consultation for, acknowledged that racial inequality in the application of police powers is amplified due to overlapping with other protected characteristics, such as age and gender.

In support of this work, our CEO was interviewed by ITV News as part of a feature about the racist treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised women in the criminal justice system, alongside Double Disadvantage partner Criminal Justice Alliance and the poet Lady Unchained.

As a partnership, we will continue to work with decision makers and women with lived experience to ensure the recommendations in the action plan are implemented. The discussion informed a progress briefing to

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be published by the Tackling Double Disadvantage partnership in summer 2023, alongside a planned Westminster Hall debate, tabled by Kate Osamor MP with the support of other MPs, to stimulate continued efforts to implement reforms.

4. Reduce the number of girls and young women being excluded from school

Girls Speak

This year we came to the end of our Girls Speak project, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, publishing our final report Pushed Out – Left Out in November 2022. This built on the two previous Girls Speak briefing papers Struggling Alone , exploring the growing crisis in girls and young women’s mental health, and Girls at Risk of Exclusion, on the ways in which girls and young women are impacted by school exclusions.

Pushed Out Left Out found that girls and young women face distinct risks from boys and young men and “gender-neutral” policy fails to consider these distinct risks and needs, that statutory services are often inaccessible for girls and young women with multiple unmet needs, and can marginalise them further as a result of overstretched frontline professionals or inappropriate and/or discriminatory responses. We found that every missed opportunity to help a young woman with multiple unmet needs causes harm and pushes her further away from getting the support that she deserves, and recommended that policy and practice must be developed in a way that is gender-, age-, trauma-, and culturally- responsive to address this.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests we submitted to all local authorities in England and Wales as part of the research, found: 60% of local authorities do not provide any gender-specialist services for girls and young women, and 90% of local authorities do not provide any gender-specialist support for Black, Asian, and minoritised girls and young women; 70% of local authorities do not have representation of genderspecialist services for girls and young women as part of their Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships; and only 20% of local authorities include any reference to the specific needs of girls and young women within their local strategy for children and young people.

We hosted a Chatham House discussion with at Portcullis House to discuss the findings in November 2022. Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities and Labour Party Chair, hosted this discussion, and Caroline Nokes (Con, Women and Equalities Committee Chair) attended, hearing from three young women who contributed to the report attended and shared their personal experiences of consistently being let down by services, the hopelessness they felt and the value of opportunities like this to be heard.

A launch event for the report was held online, with four young women from our advisory panel speaking alongside a panel including: Baroness Hilary Armstrong; Bright Futures Co-directors; and Kadra Abdinasir, Director of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. The report publication received media coverage including in the Guardian, Children and Young People Now and 5Live.

Following the launch we shared our findings and recommendations for improving gender, age, trauma and culturally-responsive practice at a meeting with officials from the Government Gender Equalities Office Gender Equality policy unit; with officials from the Department for Education; presented at the National Youth Sector Advisory Board, attended by the Children’s Commissioner for England and Tim Loughton MP, as well as sharing at a National Youth Agency sector event for youth practitioners; and submitted evidence from the report as part of our response to the Education Committee's Call for Evidence on Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils.

We also drew on this evidence to engage with the Commission on Young Lives, chaired by Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner for England. In summer 2022 we ran a roundtable in partnership, on the theme of young women at risk of violence and contact with the justice system with a group of expert

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practitioners. Evidence from this was drawn up for their final report Hidden in Plain Sight , which included a section on ‘girls at risk of or involved in exploitation’, and we continue to work with the Commission to focus on this important topic.

Reducing exclusions

Throughout Girls Speak young women with multiple unmet needs and the services supporting them told us about the ways in which the most at-risk young women are being systematically let down in education and by wider services.

In summer 2022, we analysed the latest Department for Education statistics on permanent exclusion and suspensions in England (for the school year 2020 to 2021), which showed that – while overall permanent exclusions of children decreased – the rate of girls being suspended had risen by 20% when compared with the year before. Meanwhile the rate of boys being suspended increased by 11%. In addition, we found that while the numbers of exclusions and suspensions decreased in 2019/2020 (pandemic year) rates of exclusions among particular groups of Black and minoritised girls were still disproportionally high, with ‘mixed white’ and ‘Black Caribbean’ girls were being excluded at three times the rate of their white British counterparts. Our analysis attracted media coverage in the Times Education Supplement, the Voice, and Children and Young People Now.

In light of these concerning trends, unearthed by Agenda, we set ourselves an ambitious new strategic goal - to reduce the number of girls and young women excluded from school. We aim to ensure education providers, organisations supporting young women and policy-makers have an increased awareness of the need for education settings to respond appropriately to gender, race, age and trauma, to reduce exclusions and ensure more girls and young women are supported to remain in education.

To support this, over the coming year we will focus on: growing our membership of youth and specialist services supporting girls at risk of exclusion; expanding our evidence base; tackling inequality and discrimination, with a specific focus on Black and minoritised girls and the services supporting them; promoting inclusive and trauma-informed practice, and advocating for specialist wraparound support for young women.

5. Call for criminal justice to respond better to women's unmet needs

Young Women’s Justice Project

Following the publication of the final report of the Young Women’s Justice Project, We’ve Not Given Up: Young women surviving the criminal justice system, in partnership with the Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ), we shared our research findings through a parliamentary event in the House of Commons in June 2022. Hosted by Florence Eshalomi, Labour MP for Vauxhall and attended by 75 guests, the event heard from: young women with lived experience involved in the project; Mahala McGuffie, HMPPS lead for the Young Adult Women’s Strategy; Keith Fraser, Chair of the Youth Justice Board; and Chief Superintendent Samantha Millar, Program Director of VAWG Taskforce for the National Police Chiefs Council.

To share and disseminate our findings we: engaged with the offices of Ellie Reeves MP (Shadow Justice Minister), Steve Reed MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Justice) and Anna McCorrin MP (Shadow Minister, Justice) to inform their work; briefed Ellie Reeves MP, Jane Hutt MS and Jess Phillips, at a Fabian Women's Network event on women who’ve experienced VAWG and the justice system; shared findings with Dame Vera Baird, then Victim’s Commissioner; and Bishop Rachel of Gloucester tabled written questions about young women to the Lords Ministry of Justice Minister.

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We have used opportunities to share findings from the project to date, including inputting to the Children’s Rights Alliance for England Civil Society Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN Committee) on criminal justice and policing, and the report was referenced in several key

documents, inducing a House of Commons briefing on Youth Custody. One grassroots organisation was able to use the report findings to grow their own trauma-informed training for professionals working with young women in the justice system, and to support successful funding applications.

We presented the work through numerous spaces including: speaking on a panel alongside Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, for the launch of Centre for Women’s Justice’s report ‘ Double standard: ending the unjust criminalisation of victims of male violence ’; at an event hosted by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies; at Revolving Doors and the Policing Foundation’s Knowledge Exchange session on ‘Policing young women and girls’; at a cross-departmental meeting in Southwark to consider the needs of girls in the borough; through the Youth Justice Board Voluntary Sector Liaison group; and with the Transitions to Adulthood Alliance, hosted by Barrow Cadbury Trust. We presented at the ID Essence #SheMatters Criminal Justice Conference, supporting a young woman who contributed to the report to speak about her experiences, highlighting the ways in which gender and race intersect to form a double disadvantage for young women of colour.

On the strength of our evidence base we were invited to join a newly formed Stakeholder group, led by Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, National Police Chiefs' Council coordinator for tackling VAWG across policing, on ‘Policing Violence Against Women and Girls’, and invited to join the Young Adult Women HMPPS Women’s Directorate Project Board to help inform the development of bespoke young adult pilots in HMP Bronzefield and HMP Styal.

As a result of the success of our project to date, we were awarded extension funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation to continue this important work. Throughout 2022-2023 we will continue to work with the AYJ, focusing on three goals to embed the findings from our research, build on existing success and momentum, and create lasting change.

The first goal is to publish a briefing, identifying gaps, limitations and best practice in delivering support to young women in contact with the justice system. In April 2023, we brought together practitioners from women’s centres, youth services, specialist ‘by and for’ services and young women with lived experience to explore this.

The second goal is to convene engaged Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) and policing bodies, calling for them to recognise and champion girls and young women’s needs, and to adopt and promote the experiences of young women in the CJS as a priority issue.

Our final overarching goal is to press the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)/HMPPS for the publication of a comprehensive Young Adult Women’s Strategy which responds to and prioritises investment in girls and young women at all stages of the criminal justice system. This was promised in the Prisons Strategy White Paper (December 2021) and further committed to in the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan (January 2023).

Using evidence from our roundtable, we will produce a short briefing paper in autumn 2023, aimed at funders, commissioners and local/national decision-makers to propose an approach which could better meet girls’ needs in practice. Following this, in autumn 2023, we will hold a Police and Crime Commissioner roundtable, bringing interested PCCs together to support influencing of their future Police and Crime plans ahead of PCC elections in May 2024.

12

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Influencing the system

Throughout the year we have continued to bring together specialist voluntary sector organisations working to support women in the justice system, through the Clinks and Agenda Alliance women’s networking forum.

In January 2023 we held a joint networking forum with Clinks’ Race and Justice network, at which Agenda

and Hibiscus presented the Double Disadvantage action plan and shared ideas with colleagues on how to progress the priorities highlighted through this in their own work.

In March 2023 the meeting focused on influencing policy and creating change for women in the criminal justice system, with speakers from the Ministry of Justice ‘Female Offenders and Health Policy Team’ and the HMPPS Women’s Team presenting on the recently published Female Offender Strategy Delivery plan, the government’s progress reports on the Farmer Review for Women and the Concordat on Women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System.

Following our engagement with the Ministry of Justice Data and Evidence team around evidence shared through the Women in the Criminal Justice System 2021 publication and ‘data dashboard’, we were pleased to see greater accessibility of available data on women in the justice system, and data from across a number of government departments. We will continue to push for greater accessibility of data, that can be reviewed by the public and analysed intersectionally, to enable those advocating with and for women with multiple unmet needs to have the information they need to make the case for change.

6. Ensure women and girls' mental health is prioritised in Government Policy

Suicidality and intimate partner violence

Our report with Sally McManus (of the Violence, Health and Society - VISION – consortium), Underexamined and Underreported: suicidality and intimate partner violence: Connecting two major public health domains was published in February 2023. This shared original data analysis alongside insight from experts with both lived and learned experience, with robust policy recommendations that had widespread support across different sectors. The media coverage achieved significant traction across the media and Twitter, and we shared it directly with parliamentarians by writing letters to approximately 50 MPs.

This is one of a series of papers presenting data from the APMS from which Agenda publications Hidden Hurt, Joining the Dots and Often Overlooked originated, with the aim of making this information more accessible to an audience of policy makers, sector and practitioners. We engaged widely with stakeholders to ensure our policy calls were in line with best practice and policy recommendations, gathering insight and advice from Refuge, Action after Fatal Domestic Abuse and Surviving Economic Abuse.

The report drove considerable traffic to our website, with 7000 unique visitors in the first quarter of the (calendar) year. The evidence secured coverage in the Guardian, iNews, an on-ed on financial abuse in the Big Issue calling for changes to Universal Credit, and the Independent, with quotes from women with lived experience. The Guardian article was shared by several high-profile people including: Chief Prosecutor Nazir Afzal; Barrister and Academic Dr Charlotte Proudman; Domestic Abuse Campaigner David Challen; Professor Jane Monckton Smith and C4 Producer Jamie Roberton. One of the women involved told us: “I love it. I’m proud of myself, I really hope it helps someone.”

13

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Supporting practice improvement

We were delighted this year to see the grantees of the first year of the new Pilgrim Trust young women’s mental health programme, aimed at improving the mental health of women aged 16-25. In the development of this new programme, Agenda Alliance had supported Pilgrim Trust to convene a group of experts to explore what the programme should involve, and shared insights from our evidence base around young women’s mental health.

The first cohort includes 10 projects based in Greater Manchester (England) and Northern Ireland, with evaluation showing clear positive impacts of the programme on young women, including increased confidence and self-esteem, increased mental health awareness, the development of positive coping strategies, and a supporting network as well as overall improvement of wellbeing and daily life.

Government mental health policy

Along with others in the sector, Agenda Alliance was disappointed to see the government’s change in direction regarding their planned 10 Year Mental Health & Wellbeing Plan, replacing this instead with a broader strategy which covers a range of conditions including cancers, stroke, diabetes and mental health. Agenda's mental health evidence had been referenced on a number of occasions in the DHSC Mental health and wellbeing plan: discussion paper. This move was widely criticised by the sector, including Agenda’s mental health alliance members. With this change in direction, and possible opportunities to have improved women and girls’ mental health through this, we will be reviewing our mental health focus to develop our plans for the coming year.

This year we continued to monitor the progress of the DHSC Women's Health Strategy, which was published later than anticipated in July 2022. Government’s response to the consultation demonstrated a clear call for the strategy to focus on both multiple disadvantage and young women, as well as prioritising mental health, suggesting Agenda’s evidence and strong submission supported by many of our members had an impact. We commented on the new strategy and wrote to the new Women’s Health Ambassador, Dame Lesley Regan, welcoming this development and calling for this to be used as a vehicle for progressing action on women and girls’ mental health. We continue to push for this to have a central focus on women and girls’ mental health.

Our achievements and impact

This year, we chose to focus our attention on strengthening the foundation of the charity, so that we are in a good place to grow our impact in the next year of the strategic plan. Despite navigating a challenging period this year, with the CEO’s breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment, our highlights include the following:

14

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Financial review

During the year Agenda CIO made a net deficit of (£3,378) resulting in net assets of £260,423. Principal sources of funding were from Barrow Cadbury Trust, Pilgrim Trust, Esmee Fairbairn, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and a number of other supporters.

Reserves policy

The trustees have determined a target level of unrestricted reserves of 6 months’ annual expenditure is realistic and appropriate, this equates to £175,000. The unrestricted funds at the end of the year were £142,765 (equates to 5 months), the trustees are satisfied the reserves will return to a minimum of 6 months in the coming financial year.

Management of risk

The trustees have a risk management strategy that involves quarterly review of risks by the Finance, Risk and Fundraising committee and annually as a board. Systems of monitoring and mitigating identified risks is continually reviewed and implementation of procedures to minimize any impact of risks on the charity.

15

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales 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 the incoming resources and application of resources, including the net income or expenditure, of the charity for the year. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the constitution. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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

Members of the charity have no liability to contribute to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Independent examiners

Godfrey Wilson Limited were re-appointed as independent examiners to the charity during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

Approved by the trustees on 14 December 2023 and signed on their behalf by

Victoria Harfield – Vice Chair

16

Independent examiner's report

To the trustees of

Agenda CIO

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Agenda CIO (the CIO) for the year ended 30 April 2023, which are set out on pages 18 to 30.

Responsibilities and basis of report

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

I report in respect of my examination of the CIO’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

Since the CIO’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 am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which is one of the listed bodies.

Godfrey Wilson Limited also provided bookkeeping and payroll services to the CIO until 31 January 2023. I confirm that as a member of the ICAEW I am subject to the FRC’s Revised Ethical Standard 2016, which I have applied with respect to this engagement.

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

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.

Laura May Richards

Date: Dec 15, 2023 Laura Richards ACA Member of the ICAEW For and on behalf of: Godfrey Wilson Limited Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD

17

Agenda CIO

Statement of financial activities

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Note
Income from:
2
3
5
6
Reconciliation of funds:
Total income
Total expenditure
Net income / (expenditure) for
the year
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Raising funds
Total funds carried forward
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Other income
Investments
Donations and grants
Total funds brought forward		 Unrestricted
£
153,150
954
888		 Restricted
£
219,613
-
-		 2023
Total
£
372,763
954
888		 Unrestricted
£
187,589
5,060
32		 Restricted
£
86,596
-
-		 2022
Total
£
274,185
5,060
32
154,992 219,613 374,605 192,681 86,596 279,277
97,214
128,116		 -
152,653		 97,214
280,769		 60,380
131,375		 -
115,061		 60,380
246,436
225,330 152,653 377,983 191,755 115,061 306,816
(70,338)
2,009		 66,960
(2,009)		 (3,378)
-		 926
7,841		 (28,465)
(7,841)		 (27,539)
-
(68,329)
214,511		 64,951
49,290		 (3,378)
263,801		 8,767
205,744		 (36,306)
85,596		 (27,539)
291,340
146,182 114,241 260,423 214,511 49,290 263,801

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in note 13 to the accounts.

18

Agenda CIO

Balance sheet

As at 30 April 2023

Note
Fixed assets:
9
Current assets:
10
Liabilities:
11
12
13
Total net assets
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Debtors
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
General funds
Total charity funds		 2023
£
1,021
274,850
275,871
(18,865)		 2023
£
3,417
3,417
257,006
260,423
114,241
146,182
260,423		 2022
£
1,697
1,697
668
279,304
279,972
(17,868)
262,104
263,801
49,290
214,511
263,801

Approved by the trustees on 14 December 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

…………………………………….

Victoria Harfield - Vice Chair

19

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

1 Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities in preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

Agenda CIO meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

b) Going concern basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared on the assumption that the charity is able to continue as a going concern based on the level of unrestricted reserves held at the year end. There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from the date on which these financial statements are approved.

c) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from the government and other grants, whether 'capital' grants or 'revenue' grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

d) Donated services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item, is probable and the economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), general volunteer time is not recognised.

On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

e) Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity: this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

20

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

f) Funds accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity's work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

g) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

h) Allocation of support and governance costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity, including the costs of complying with constitutional and statutory requirements and any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities based on the proportion of staff costs.

2023 2022
Raising funds 25% 22%
Charitable activities 75% 78%

i) Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Computer equipment 3 years straight line basis
Office equipment 3 years straight line basis

j) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

k) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

21

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

l) Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

m) 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 with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently recognised at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

n) Accounting estimates and key judgements

In the application of the charity's accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods.

There are no key sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements.

2 Income from donations

Grants:
Lottery Digital Fund
Smallwood Trust
The Pilgrim Trust
The Sisters' Trust
Double Disadvantage
Lloyds Bank Foundation
Barrow Cadbury Trust
Esmee Fairbairn
Treebeard Trust
Paul Hamlyn Foundation		 Unrestricted
£
2,300
5,850
70,000
-
40,000
-
-
35,000
-
-
153,150		 Restricted
£
44,865
33,000
7,000
30,000
-
3,500
50,331
-
47,374
3,543
219,613		 2023
Total
£
47,165
38,850
77,000
30,000
40,000
3,500
50,331
35,000
47,374
3,543
372,763

22

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

2 Income from donations (continued) Prior period comparative:

Prior period comparative:
Income from donations (continued)
Grants:
AB Charitable Trust
Smallwood Trust
MIND
The Sisters' Trust
Double Disadvantage
Other donations
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Lloyds Bank Foundation
Barrow Cadbury Trust
Esmee Fairbairn
Lankelly Chase		 Unrestricted
£
-
-
50,000
75,000
40,000
15,000
-
-
-
-
7,589
187,589		 Restricted
£
1,525
34,000
-
-
-
-
18,975
2,957
26,139
3,000
-
86,596		 2022
Total
£
1,525
34,000
50,000
75,000
40,000
15,000
18,975
2,957
26,139
3,000
7,589
274,185
Income from charitable activities
Earned income Unrestricted
£
954
954		 Restricted
£
-
-		 2023
Total
£
954
954		 2022
Total
£
5,060
5,060

All income from charitable activities in the prior period was unrestricted.

4 Government grants

In the prior year, the charity received government grants, defined as funding from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to fund charitable activities. The total value of such grants in the period ending 30 April 2023 was £nil (2022: £7,271). There are no unfulfilled conditions or contingencies attaching to these grants in 2022/23.

23

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

5 Total expenditure

Total expenditure
£
37,847
-
-
-
-
-
-
9,600
-
-
5,134
52,581
44,633
97,214
£
30,440
-
4,245
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,759
36,444
23,936
60,380
Allocation of support and governance costs
Total expenditure
Prior period comparative
Partners, consultants and research
Events
Web, phone and I.T.
Office costs
Legal and professional
Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll
Depreciation
Strategic development
Sub-total
Events
Web, phone and I.T.
Office costs
Allocation of support and governance costs
Total expenditure
Total governance costs were £1,800 (2022: £1,500).
Raising
funds
Staff costs (note 8)
Other staff and volunteer costs
Freelance costs
Legal and professional
Strategic development
Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll
Depreciation
Raising
funds
Sub-total
Staff costs (note 8)
Other staff and volunteer costs
Freelance costs
Partners, consultants and research		 £
116,898
5,090
250
24,354
279
-
-
-
-
-
-
146,871
133,898
280,769
£
108,641
-
11,560
40,779
28
-
-
-
-
-
-
161,008
85,428
246,436
Charitable
activities
Charitable
activities		 £
81,800
12,139
28,621
3,703
-
7,629
29,788
2,506
10,212
2,133
-
178,531
(178,531)
-
£
50,200
25,154
9,733
-
-
2,885
9,764
1,405
9,015
1,208
-
109,364
(109,364)
-
Support and
governance
costs
Support and
governance
costs		 2023 Total
£
236,545
17,229
28,871
28,057
279
7,629
29,788
12,106
10,212
2,133
5,134
377,983
-
377,983
2022 Total
£
189,281
25,154
25,538
40,779
28
2,885
9,764
1,405
9,015
1,208
1,759
306,816
-
306,816

24

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

6 Net movement in funds

Net movement in funds
This is stated after charging: 2023 2022
£ £
Depreciation 2,133 1,208
Trustees' remuneration Nil Nill
Trustees' reimbursed expenses Nil Nill
Independent examiner's remuneration:
Independent examination (excluding VAT) 1,500 1,250
Other services (excluding VAT) 3,271 4,238

7 Staff costs and numbers

Staff costs were as follows:

Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension costs		 2023
£
209,167
12,663
14,715
236,545		 2022
£
168,084
12,597
8,600
189,281

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer National Insurance and employer pension) over £60,000, during the year in the following band:

£60,000 - £69,999 2023
1		 2022
0

The total employee benefits of the key management personnel (Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chief Executive) were £129,343 (2022: £96,213).

Average head count 2023
No.
6		 2022
No.
5

8 Taxation

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

25

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

9 Tangible fixed assets

Trade Debtors
Prepayments
At the end of the year At 30 April 2023
Net book value
At the end of the year At 30 April 2023
At the start of the year 30 April 2022
Cost
Depreciation
Charge for the year
At the start of the year At 1 May 2022
At the start of the year At 1 May 2022
Additions in year
At the end of the year At 30 April 2023
Debtors
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Accruals
Tax and social security
Other creditors		 Computer
equipment
£
3,990
3,853
7,843
2,293
2,133
4,426
3,417
1,697		 Office
equipment
£
108
-
108
108
-
108
-
-
2023
£
180
841
1,021
2023
£
7,096
6,431
5,338
-
18,865		 Total
£
4,098
3,853
7,951
2,401
2,133
4,534
3,417
1,697
2022
£
-
668
668
2022
£
5,900
9,860
1,229
879
17,868

10 Debtors

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

26

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

12 Analysis of net assets between funds - current Year Analysis of net assets between funds - current Year
Restricted General Total
funds funds funds
£ £ £
Tangible fixed assets - 3,417 3,417
Current assets 114,241 161,630 275,871
Current liabilities - (18,865) (18,865)
Net assets at 30 April 2023 114,241 146,182 260,423
Analysis of net assets between funds - prior year
Restricted General Total
funds funds funds
£ £ £
Tangible fixed assets - 1,697 1,697
Current assets 49,290 230,682 279,972
Current liabilities - (17,868) (17,868)
Net assets at 30 April 2022 49,290 214,511 263,801
13 Movements in funds Current Year
Transfers At the
At the start between end of
of the year Income Expenditure funds the year
£ £ £ £ £
Restricted funds
Public Health Research Council /
NatCen Social		 750 - (750) - -
Tampon Tax (Mind project) 8,187 - - 8,187
MIND Event 523 - - 523
Transform/AVA 1,525 - - (1,525) -
Lloyds National Criminal - Justice
Programme		 6,134 44,865 (18,593) - 32,406
The Sisters' Trust - Fundraising 6,135 - (1,440) - 4,695
The Sisters' Trust - Deputy CEO - 47,374 (44,913) - 2,461
The Sisters' Trust - Event 6,400 - - 6,400
Esmee Funder Plus - 7,000 (4,680) - 2,320
Lankelly Chase 842 - (358) (484) -
Treebeard Trust - 30,000 - - 30,000
Lancashire Women: Lottery -
Digital Fund		 4,000 3,500 - - 7,500
Barrow Cadbury 1,000 33,000 (33,377) - 623
Double Disadvantage - 3,543 (3,189) - 354
Smallwood Trust 13,794 50,331 (45,353) - 18,772
Total Restricted Funds 49,290 219,613 (152,653) (2,009) 114,241
Unrestricted general funds 214,511 154,992 (225,330) 2,009 146,182
Total funds 263,801 374,605 (377,983) - 260,423

27

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Purposes of restricted funds

Public Health Research Council / NatCen Social Research

Often overlooked- Agenda published new research, undertaken by analysts at the National Centre of Social Research, which focused on connections between poverty and non-suicidal selfharm in young women across England. It is based on new analysis of data from more than 20,000 people.

Tampon Tax (Mind project)

This is funding for a forthcoming project in partnership building on the Women Side by Side Project.

MIND Event

Agenda and Mind have collaborated on a roundtable on ‘Addressing current and future challenges in women and girls’ mental health post Covid-19'.

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Girls Speak- This is Agenda’s campaign to ensure girls and young women facing inequality, poverty and violence get the support and protection they need. By working directly with girls, we will ensure their needs and experiences are taken into account in policy and practice – creating real, lasting change for girls across the country.

Lloyds Bank Foundation Transform/AVA

Breaking Down the Barriers in Greater Manchester- This project in partnership with AVA took forward the findings of The Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and Multiple Disadvantage. Through collaborative work in Greater Manchester the project influenced local policy makers to improve responses to survivors with multiple disadvantage.

Lloyds National Criminal Justice Programme

Young Women’s Justice Project- In partnership with The Alliance for Youth Justice the Young Women’s Justice Project is part of our ‘Girls Speak’ campaign and will engage with young women (17-25), front-line practitioners, and other experts, over two years with the aim of:

The Sisters' Trust - Fundraising

The Sisters’ Trust funded additional fundraising capacity for Agenda.

The Sisters' Trust - Deputy CEO

The Sisters' Trust are supporting additional senior capacity for Agenda, by funding the Deputy CEO post.

The Sisters' Trust - Event

The Sisters' Trust are funding an event, co-produced with women with lived experience of multiple disadvantage, to set out key policy priorities to support the women and girls most at risk in our society.

Esmee Funder Plus

Agenda received funding from Esmée Fairbairn’s Funder Plus programme for support with the development of a fundraising strategy.

28

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

Purposes of restricted funds (continued)

Lankelly Chase

Stakeholder Perceptions Audit- Agenda undertook a stakeholder perception audit to support the development of our new strategy.

Staff Wellbeing- This grant has enabled us to invest in staff wellbeing, for instance through clinical supervision and social events.

Lancashire Women: Lottery Digital Fund

Agenda is working in partnership with Lancashire Women on Developing Digital Early Intervention Support for Women facing Multiple Disadvantage.

Barrow Cadbury

This grant is to support the staffing costs for Agenda's core work programme.

Double Disadvantage

Agenda worked in partnership with 5 other organisations to develop an action plan to address the recommendations presented in the Double Disadvantage report (2017). The collaboration was led by Hibiscus and funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust.

Smallwood Trust

This project is working in a local area - Tyne and Wear - to research, explore and map how public services have changed during the Covid-19 crisis and how these can be redesigned postpandemic to better meet the needs of women and girls facing multiple disadvantage.

Treebeard Trust

Funding from Treebeard Trust will enable the Deputy CEO (an existing post) to take on the role of reviewing and building our membership, to meet Agenda's strategic goal of convening an Alliance that is empowered and cohesive and has regular opportunities to influence public policy and practice to respond appropriately to women and girls with unmet needs. To enable this Agenda will recruit a new role of Policy & Campaigns Manager (appointed June 2023) to manage the policy team and oversee delivery of Agenda's core projects. The funding will be utilised between November 2022 and May 2024, and will cover associated costs for the work, including part salary contributions for the Deputy CEO and others in the team working on this project

29

Agenda CIO

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 30 April 2023

13 Movements in funds (continued) Prior period comparative

Restricted funds
Tampon Tax (Mind project)
MIND Event
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Lloyds Bank Foundation
Transform/AVA
Lloyds National Criminal
Justice Programme
The Sisters' Trust - Fundraising
The Sisters' Trust - Deputy CEO
The Sisters' Trust - Event
Esmee Funder Plus
Lankelly Chase
Lancashire Women: Lottery
Digital Fund
Barrow Cadbury
Double Disadvantage
Smallwood Trust
Total Restricted Funds
Unrestricted general funds
Total funds
Public Health Research Council /
NatCen Social		 At the start
of the year
£
8,187
-
25,016
-
-
-
31,617
7,500
-
-
206
8,320
-
4,000
-
-
-
85,596
205,744
291,340
750		 Income
£
-
2,957
-
-
1,525
-
-
-
19,739
6,400
-
-
-
-
34,000
3,000
18,975
86,596
192,681
279,277
-		 Expenditure
£
-
(2,434)
(25,016)
-
-
-
(17,642)
(1,365)
(19,739)
-
(206)
(7,478)
-
-
(33,000)
(3,000)
(5,181)
(115,061)
(191,755)
(306,816)
-		 Transfers
between
funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
(7,841)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(7,841)
7,841
-
-		 At the
end of
the year
£
8,187
523
-
-
1,525
-
6,134
6,135
-
6,400
-
842
-
4,000
1,000
-
13,794
750
49,290
214,511
263,801

14 Operating lease commitments

The charity had operating leases at the year end with total future minimum lease payments as follows:

Amount falling due:
Within 1 year
Within 1 - 5 years		 2023
£
18,141
5,736
23,877		 2022
£
6,682
-
6,682

15 Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions during the current or prior period.

30

Laura Richards Godfrey Wilson Limited Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors 5[th] Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD

14 December 2023

Dear Laura

Letter of Representations on the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 April 2023

We confirm that the following representations are made on the basis of enquiries of the trustees, management and staff with relevant knowledge and experience (and, where appropriate, of inspection of supporting documentation) sufficient to satisfy ourselves that we can properly make each of the following representations to you:

  1. We have fulfilled our responsibilities as trustees, as set out in the terms of your engagement letter dated 31 October 2021, under the Charities Act 2011 for preparing financial statements, in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

We confirm that in our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view and in particular that where any additional information must be disclosed in order to give a true and fair view that information has in fact been disclosed. We confirm that the selection and application of the accounting policies used in the preparation of the financial statements are appropriate, and we approve these accounts for the year ended 30 April 2023.

  1. We confirm that all accounting records have been made available to you for the purpose of your examination, in accordance with your terms of engagement, and that all the transactions undertaken by the charity have been properly reflected and recorded in the accounting records. All other records and related information, including minutes of all management, trustees’ and members’ meetings, have been made available to you. We have given you unrestricted access to persons within the charity in order to obtain evidence and have provided any additional information that you have requested for the purposes of your examination.

  2. We confirm the charity has satisfactory title to all assets and there are no liens or encumbrances on the assets, except for those disclosed in the financial statements.

  3. We confirm that significant assumptions used by us in making accounting estimates, including those measured at fair value, are reasonable. We confirm that we have no plans or intentions that may materially alter the carrying value and where relevant the fair value measurements or classification of assets and liabilities reflected in the financial statements.

Agenda Alliance adminsupport@agendaalliance.org

London E1 6LA Charity number: 1179417

First Floor West agendaalliance.org 35-47 Bethnal Green Road

  1. We confirm that the charity has no liabilities or contingent liabilities other than those disclosed in the financial statements.

  2. We confirm that all known actual or possible litigation and claims whose effects should be considered when preparing the financial statements have been disclosed to you and accounted for and disclosed in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.

  3. We confirm that there have been no events since the balance sheet date which require disclosing or which would materially affect the amounts in the financial statements, other than those already disclosed or included in the financial statements.

  4. We confirm that we are aware that a related party of the charity is a person or organisation which either (directly or indirectly) controls, has joint control of, or significantly influences the charity or vice versa and as a result will include: trustees, other key management, close family and other business interests of the previous. We confirm that all related party relationships and transactions have been accounted for and disclosed in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.

  5. We confirm that the charity neither had, at any time during the year, any arrangement, transaction or agreement to provide credit facilities (including advances and credits granted by the charity) for trustees, nor provided guarantees of any kind on behalf of the trustees except as disclosed in the financial statements.

  6. We confirm that the charity has not contracted for any capital expenditure other than as disclosed in the financial statements.

  7. We confirm that the charity has complied with all aspects of contractual agreements that could have a material effect on the financial statements in the event of non-compliance.

  8. We confirm that we are not aware of any possible or actual instance of non-compliance with those laws and regulations which provide a legal framework within which the charity conducts its activities and which are central to the charity’s ability to conduct its activities, except as explained to you and as disclosed in the financial statements.

  9. We acknowledge our responsibility for the design, implementation and maintenance of internal controls to prevent and detect fraud. We confirm that we have disclosed to you the results of our risk assessment of the risk of fraud in the organisation. There have been no deficiencies in internal control of which we are aware.

  10. We confirm that there have been no actual or suspected instances of fraud involving trustees, management or employees who have a significant role in internal control or that could have a material effect on the financial statements. We also confirm that we are not aware of any allegations of fraud by trustees, former trustees, employees, former employees, regulators or others.

Agenda Alliance adminsupport@agendaalliance.org

First Floor West agendaalliance.org 35-47 Bethnal Green Road

London E1 6LA Charity number: 1179417

  1. We confirm that, in our opinion, the charity’s financial statements should be prepared on the going concern basis on the grounds that current and future sources of funding or support will be more than adequate for the charity’s needs. In reaching this conclusion, we have taken into account all relevant matters of which we are aware, and have considered a period of at least one year from the date on which the financial statements will be approved.

  2. We confirm that in our opinion the effects of uncorrected misstatements are immaterial, both individually and in aggregate, to the financial statements as a whole.

  3. We confirm that we are not aware of any matters of material significance that should be reported to regulators. We confirm that all correspondence with the Charity Commission has been made available to you.

  4. We confirm that all grants, donations and other income, including those subject to special terms or conditions or received for restricted purposes, have been notified to you. There have been no breaches of terms or conditions during the period regarding the application of such income.

Yours sincerely

Victoria Harfield – Vice-Chair

For and on behalf of the trustees of Agenda CIO

Agenda Alliance adminsupport@agendaalliance.org

First Floor West agendaalliance.org 35-47 Bethnal Green Road

London E1 6LA Charity number: 1179417