www.nntburnley.org
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2026
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Reference and administrative information
| Charity Number | 1179812 |
|---|---|
| Charity Status | Foundation Charitable Incorporated |
| Organisation | |
| Trustees |
Julie Sidhu |
| Rachel Retford | |
| Teeman Zaki | |
| Maureen Butler | |
| Susan Ryan | |
| Principal office | Northbridge House |
| Elm St | |
| Burnley | |
| BB10 1PD | |
| Bankers | Santander |
| Independent Examiner | Mark Heaton FCCA FCIE |
| KM, Chartered Accountants | |
| 1stFloor, Block C, The Wharf | |
| Manchester Rd, Burnley | |
| BB11 1JG |
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2026
The Trustees present their report on the activities of the charity.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The objects as set out in the constitution are :
The promotion of social inclusion for the public benefit among people who are asylum seekers and refugees, who are socially excluded on the grounds of their social and economic position, by providing:
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1) education and training in the English language and vocational skills.
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2) social and recreational facilities and events involving the local community. To relieve poverty (or financial hardship) among asylum seekers, refugees and their dependants living in Burnley and neighbouring areas by providing: interpreting, translating, advocacy, health, housing advice and education.
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3) To advance the education of the public in general about the issues relating to refugees and those seeking asylum.
INTRODUCTION
This has been another very busy and productive year, and much has been achieved, as New Neighbours Together (NNT) has continued to grow and develop. In particular we have targeted our Outreach work, and we have developed and established a skilled and effective team of lived experience outreach workers, who have been busy building understanding and cross-cultural connection between the diverse grassroots communities, which make up Burnley. We have established new community partnerships to deliver our Outreach programme and strengthened existing ones through initiatives such as our very successful Stories of Hope work and will continue this and other initiatives into the future.
In addition, our client-based services have continued to expand the depth and reach of their remit, targeting enabling initiatives such as our Skills for Life programme delivered through our 3 weekly Drop ins and our 5 days a week access to office appointments for our clients.
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2026 (continued)
Our charity is conscious that we are living through a time of significant challenges to community cohesion in Burnley, caused by political division and unrest and the looming council reorganisation which lies directly ahead in 2027, and we are conscious that this makes all our work, particularly Outreach, even more vital as we move forward. Our charity has and will seek to remain at the forefront of both providing vital support services to asylum seekers arriving here and building a united community in our town, where all can thrive and all can prosper, Building Burnley Stronger Together.
THIS YEAR – CHALLENGES, CHANGES & RESPONSE
Looking back over another busy and challenging year we can see significant changes in the way we are responding to the needs we see both in the incoming asylum/refugee communities and in our grassroots community groups in Burnley. Increasingly our focus is on helping people to rebuild and re-establish meaningful lives in communities which are united in diversity and where people benefit from the support and feeling of belonging that community unity brings. We believe that the primary measure of longterm success is achieved when people resettling here successfully, feel and become, contributing, welcomed and accepted members of our community.
We have continued to develop and improve our client-based service offer and the take up of our Drop In and office based help continues to grow, helping people acquire the knowledge and skills they need to successfully negotiate their forward path to reestablishing safe and happy lives here. Over the last year we have significantly increased the attendance of women and children by offering a ladies only ESOL class and a family craft session once weekly for mums and preschool age children. In addition, we have targeted Skills for life sessions for all our clients helping them to gain the knowledge and skills needed to successfully adapt to life here.
We have continued registering new clients throughout the year as people arrive here and seek our help, but this is somewhat counter balanced by some of the people who arrive here moving away after their cases have been determined (either positively or negatively) and at any one-time Asylum Seekers make up only half a percent of the total Burnley population. Our challenge is to ensure that by working with grassroots communities we build the bridges that bring people together and benefit the lives of everyone living here.
The essential services we provide, helping our clients, also alleviates the burden falling on statutory organisations and this means that our charity is the first port of call for statutory organisations, and all asylum seekers / refugees, to access or get specialist help. For our clients, NNT is the place where they will find someone who speaks their language/has the experience and understanding to help them manage their difficulties, can sign post them to help etc, and vitally help them learn English and learn about and prepare for life in our country. We also now allow migrants registered with the Burnley Job Centre in our local community to access our English classes.
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2026 (continued)
Our work with the City of Sanctuary organisation continues and we have plans to establish a Burnley Ambassador of Sanctuary group where people with lived experience can get the training and development needed to be able to help their local communities in the future.
During the year we also applied for and were successful in gaining Shared Prosperity funding to deliver a large community cohesion project called Stories of Hope which culminated in an event at the end, where all attendees could be part of an experiential journey into the world of being an asylum seeker. We commissioned Burnley Youth Theatre and over 7 months ran a trauma-based outreach volunteer development programme for 8 of our lived experience clients/staff who visited 10 local organisations to deliver sessions aimed at establishing human connection and understanding by presenting the true facts around these issues, using personal stories, and set in the context of Burnley and its needs today. The project has completed but we are still delivering similar outreach sessions today and this has been a springboard for us enabling our plans for future unity and cohesion work.
We also commissioned a client survey using Civil Society Together CIO halfway through the year to review all the services we offer and how these affected their wellbeing and hopes for the future. We were delighted to receive a 90% + rating of excellent from a survey of 70+clients.
Despite the challenges this has been a good year, we have secured funding for next year and we are looking forward to continuing our work going forward in growing partnerships with other Burnley organisations and grassroots communities as we fulfil our mission to Build Burnley Stronger Together.
SERVICES WE PROVIDE
Drop Ins - x3 weekly
Advice& Advocacy - x2 weekly Drop In Sessions & Appointments X 5 days in office Housing Needs Team - x 2 weekly Drop In sessions and appointments X 5 days in office
ESOL and Skills for Life - X 3 lessons weekly
Social and Hospitality Free Café space - X 3 times weekly + free lunch weekly NHS Outreach sessions - Wellbeing/ TB/ |Hepatitis/Vaccination etc Programme Children & Family Welfare Team - Weekly
Outreach - Building Burnley Stronger together Dedicated lived experience outreach team
Welfare Support - Helping people facing destitution through assistance with supermarket shopping vouchers and giving clients access to free good as new clothing and household good and referrals to partner organisations who can also offer help and assistance.
PUBLIC BENEFIT
We confirm that the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in undertaking our activities.
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2026 (continued)
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The trustees are pleased to report that we have been able to continue to grow and develop our service and outreach work despite some significant financial challenges over the course of this reporting year. This has been a challenging year financially and decisions had to be made which impacted our finances this year, in order to facilitate the improved future management of our finances and funding going forward in the future.
In addition, 2025-2026 was the last year of our 3 year funding from Reaching Communities. Their contribution was a smaller amount than the year before when we had been successful in achieving a cost of living rise additional payment from them. In response, we managed to hold/ control costs of some of our Drop-In services particularly around hospitality issues by changing purchasing methods etc, with no detrimental effect on the quality of our services. Despite this, NNT was facing financial uncertainty about our future viability at a time when we were developing our much needed and increasingly successful outreach initiative, and ensuring that our client service response continued to improve both in its reach and proven positive impact on our clients.
However, we are pleased to report that we have secured a further 4 years funding from Reaching Communities which will allow us to continue developing our community building work and maintain our client services. The board took the decision, based on simplifying our Financial Management & Reporting processes etc that they would delay the start date of this new Reaching Communities Money by 2 months, as it’s receipt would then coincide with the start of our new financial year and simplify our Accounting and Reporting processes removing the necessity to report on part financial years etc. This meant that part of the reserve we had managed to accumulate was used up and we entered our new year with a diminished funding reserve of only 1 month’s finance, £9,131, and this is something the Board will monitor as the new financial year unfolds.
As we look forward, we can see that there are many continuing financial challenges ahead. The change in Local Council Reorganisation being one of them, and we are approaching different funders and working hard on ensuring we secure the future of our vital work here – for the benefit of those who arrive here in our town and our whole community - Building Burnley Stronger Together.
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2026 (continued)
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
The charity is a Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation governed by its constitution dated 5[th] September 2018.
All Trustees must be appointed for a term of 3 years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the existing charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
The trustees assess the risks facing the charity on an ongoing basis.
Trustee changes from the start of the financial year:
Teeman Zaki – appointed 9th June 2025
Huriyah Hussein – resigned 3rd September 2025
Michael Hewitt - resigned 9th September 2025
Rachel Retford - appointed 26th September 2025
Lynn Middleton - resigned 26th September 2025
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf on 17[th] August 2026 by:
Trustee
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF NEW NEIGHBOURS TOGETHER CIO
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31[st] March 2026.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:
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(1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by Section 130 of the Act; or
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(2) the accounts do not accord with those records.
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.
Mark Heaton FCCA FCIE
KM, Chartered Accountants
1[st] Floor, Block C, The Wharf
Manchester Rd, Burnley
BB11 1JG
17[th] August 2026
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New Neighbours Together CIO Receipts and Payments Account For the year ended 31[st] March 2026
| RECEIPTS Grants & contracts: B P R CVS Burnley Borough Council Talent Fund Reaching Communities Donations and earned income Total PAYMENTS Burnley Borough Council costs Reaching Communities costs Unrestricted costs Net receipts Balances brought forward Balances carried forward STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES Bank balances |
General £ 16830 15000 12876 |
Restricted RC £ 20000 |
TOTAL £ 16830 15000 20000 12876 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44706 | 20000 | 64706 | |
| 96000 project 50967 |
34000 | 96000 34000 50967 |
|
| 146967 | 34000 | 180967 | |
| -102261 111392 |
-14000 14000 |
-116261 125392 |
|
| 9131 | 0 | 9131 | |
| 9131 | 0 | 9131 |
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf on 17[th] August 2026 by:
Trustee
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New Neighbours Together CIO
Notes to the Financial Statements
1. Basis of preparation
These accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.
2. Fund Accounting
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a) Unrestricted funds are those that can be expended at the discretion of the trustees in the furtherance of the objects of the charity
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b) Restricted funds are those that may only be used for specific purposes. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor.
3. Taxation
The charity is not liable to tax on its charitable activities.
The charity is not registered for VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the expense to which it relates.
4. Transactions with trustees
No remuneration nor expenses were paid to trustees, or any persons connected with them during the year or previous year.
- 5 Analysis of payments
| Staffing Session Costs - Drop-in Client Wellbeing Office Costs Independent Examination Outreach + other costs Total 6 Comparative amounts: Year ended 31st March 2025 |
2026 2025 127744 99506 18689 14283 2107 6868 14572 14867 1050 1100 16805 373 |
|---|---|
| 180967 136997 |
|
| 6 Comparative amounts: Year ended 31st March 2025 |
|
|---|---|
| Total receipts Total payments Net receipts Balances bfd Balances cfd |
All funds 191346 -136997 |
| 54349 71043 |
|
| 125392 |
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