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2025-03-31-accounts

Registered number: 10876876 Charity number: 1180787

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report and financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2025

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Contents

Page
Reference and administrative details of the charity, its Trustees and advisers 1
Trustees' report 2 - 13
Independent auditor's report on the financial statements 14 - 16
Statement of financial activities 17
Balance sheet 18
Statement of cash flows 19
Notes to the financial statements 20 - 36

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Reference and administrative details of the charity, its Trustees and advisers for the year ended 31 March 2025

Trustees Jane Laughton, Chair (appointed 4 December 2024)
Derek Higton, Chair (resigned 4 December 2024)
Sarah Fowler
Carol Hart
Louise Bainbridge
Danny Bouckley
Graham Feek
Mark Shardlow
Christopher Hassell
Fiona Callaghan
Rachel North
Michael Rich
Adam Hill
Company registered
number
10876876
Charity registered
number
1180787
Registered office
Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre
Saltergate
Chesterfield
S40 1UT
Senior Management
Team
Ilana Freestone, Chief Executive Officer
Stuart Batchelor, Strategic Director Derbyshire
Kerryn Rhodes-Chamberlin, Strategic Director Nottinghamshire
Margaret Blount, Head of Operations
Michelle Skinner, Strategic Director Place
Independent auditor
Bates Weston Audit Ltd
Statutory Auditors
Chartered Accountants
The Mills
Canal Street
Derby
DE1 2RJ
Bankers
Natwest Bank
16 South Parade
Nottingham
NG1 2JX
Nationwide Building Society
Kings Park Road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6NW

Page 1

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report for the year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees, who are directors, for the purposes of company law, present the annual report together with the financial statements of the charitable company for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Structure, governance and management

Nature of governing document

Active Partners Trust (APT) is a company limited by guarantee, registered with Companies House on 20 July 2017. It has no share capital and the liability of each member is limited to £10. We applied to the Charity Commission to become a registered charity in March 2018 and confirmation was received in November 2018. Minor revisions were required to the charity’s objects to meet the requirements of the Charity Commission. Hence APT operates under the rules of its memorandum dated 20 July 2017 and articles of association dated 29 October 2018.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

Trustees are recruited by open advertisement and appointed based on skills and experience. Trustees cannot number less than two or more than twelve and at least 25% of trustees must be independent as defined in the Code for Sports Governance. Full details of trustee recruitment, appointment and powers are detailed in the articles of association.

Induction and training of trustees

The Chief Executive and/or Chair meet with all new trustees prior to their first board meeting. An online induction checklist is shared with them and discussed. This checklist links to all the key governing documents, policies, strategies, action plans and financial information. The annual training budget includes provision for trustees’ training.

Arrangements for setting key management personnel remuneration

On set up in 2017, the initial pay bands were set following a benchmarking exercise of similar roles in other Active Partnerships around the country. This information, along with the then salary scales of Derbyshire County Council and Nottingham Trent University were considered. The trustees agreed an APT Remuneration Policy on 7 May 2019. As stated in this policy, annual pay increases are not guaranteed and are not a contractual entitlement. Pay increases are considered based on an individual’s performance and affordability. Proposed increases are reviewed by the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and approved by the APT Board.

Organisational structure

Active Partners Trust, set up in 2017, is a single legal entity which brought together the county sports partnerships (CSPs) in Derbyshire (previously Derbyshire Sport) and Nottinghamshire (previously Sport Notts).

In Derbyshire we operate under the brand ‘Active Derbyshire’ and in Nottinghamshire, it is ‘Active Notts’. In both counties we work with organisations and networks in the county to address inequality and empower everyone to be active in a way that works for them.

The responsibility for overall policy setting and strategic insight sits with the APT Board of trustees, which meets at least four times each year.

County panels were set up in 2019/20 for both Derbyshire and Notts. The terms of reference for both county panels were revised by the board in 2023/24 to better reflect how they operate as advisory and consultative panels. Both the Active Notts panel and the Active Derbyshire panel met four times in 2024/25. APT trustees chair the panels: Active Derbyshire panel by Sarah Fowler and the Active Notts panel by Graham Feek.

The APT Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, chaired by Stephen Jackson, was set up in March 2019 to advise the trustees on finance and risk management. Its terms of reference were updated in 2022. The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee met four times in 2024/25.

Page 2

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

The two sub-committees set up by the trustees in 2022/23 continued to meet as and when required: People and Resources Committee and Nominations Committee. In 2024/25, the People and Resources Committee met twice.

Code for Sports Governance

As APT is in receipt of more than £1m from Sport England we are required to meet Tier 3 of this code. The code was first launched in 2016 and APT was set up in 2017 to meet the code’s requirements. A revised version of the code was published in December 2021 which included additional requirements particularly in relation to increasing the diversity of the board and leadership teams. The trustees embedded the required changes in 2022/23 and 2023/24 and Sport England confirmed that APT had met the requirements of the revised code in April 2024.

Operational Management

Day to day management and service delivery is the responsibility of the Chief Executive, Ilana Freestone. On 31st March 2025, APT had 37 employees (31.3 FTE). As of end of June 2025, due to retirements and team members moving on to new roles, this is now 34 employees (28.5 FTE).

During 2024/25 all new employees were appointed on an office based contract. A number of the team continue to have either home based or hybrid contracts. More of the team are now working from APT’s two office bases on a regular basis hence the requirement during 2024/25 to move to larger office premises.

In April 2025 we terminated the lease of a small (three person) permanent office in Derby and a new lease was signed for a larger office (eight person) in Chesterfield in March 25, moving in mid-April 25. The six person office in Dryden Enterprise Centre, Nottingham continues to work well.

Objects and aims

Through the two brands: Active Derbyshire and Active Notts, APT aims to address inequality and empower everyone to be active in a way that works for them.

The formal objectives of Active Partners Trust are:

Vision, purpose, strategies and activities

Sport England launched their 10-year plan ‘Uniting the Movement’ in January 2021. This is a 10-year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity, with a mission to tackle deep-rooted inequalities and unlock the advantage of being active for everyone.

During 2024/25, the key focus for the team and the trustees was to work with partners towards meeting the five shared aims of ‘Making our Move – Our shared vision for Uniting the Movement in Notts and Derbyshire’.

Page 3

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

We and other system and community partners have different roles to play to meet this vision. APT’s role was detailed in our 2024/25 action plan and the team invested considerable time capturing the changes we are seeing in places, communities and systems as a result of our and partners’ work. We have spent time analysing these changes and reflecting on any learning to take forward and share.

Work started during 2024/25 to refresh ‘Making our Move’, taking into account our capture and learning from the progress made to date. The refreshed plan will be finalised and shared in 2025/26.

APT’s vision, purpose and priorities are:

Our vision is: working together we will address inequality and empower everyone to be active in a way that works for them.

Our purpose is to connect, collaborate, influence and help create a culture where everyone can be active.

Our priorities are to:

Understand people and communities Build our insight and learning with partners Share insight and learning to inform decision making

Enable by

Creating opportunities Developing people Advocating and influencing for change in policy and practice Creating conditions for change

Invest by

Seeking investment to support our work Target resources to where they are most needed Align existing resources

Public benefit

Across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, one in four adults and one in three children and young people do less activity than the recommended 60 minutes each day.

Being active helps more than just individuals. It benefits communities and wider society. It has a knock-on effect on the environment. Through physical activity:

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

What we set out to do in 2024/25 and what we achieved

Our main funder, Sport England, funds our governance, funds us to work with and influence partners in the system in our counties and funds us to deliver specific programmes. Other funders are also interested in these three strands hence this report will illustrate what we have achieved and how we have done it using these three headings.

Governance

Four new trustees were appointed March 2024 and now are now really understanding our work, their role, what they can bring to the board based on their knowledge, experience and networks.

To support them, we have brought in external expertise to help all our trustees understand systems leadership and learn about what this means for their role. We explored what good looks like for a systemic organisation and the role they can play. On the back of this, and having appointed a new Chair in December, we had a board development day in February 2025, designed as a safe space to explore this further, review the feedback from the annual board appraisal conversations and an opportunity to develop a work plan and consider how the Board wants to function going forwards.

Our Board is supportive, informed and works well, providing the right amount of trust and challenge. All trustees participate in either one of the sub-committees/panels or is a board champion for a theme e.g. environmental sustainability, safeguarding.

We continued to have a live discussion with our trustees about how best to report back to them on the range and complexity of the team’s work, the changes we are seeing and impact we are having. We have a variety of methods: the CEO report, feedback from Sport England, the partners’ survey, feedback from events and Talking Spaces, board discussions on work areas led by a team member etc.

A brief partners’ survey was sent out between December 2024 and February 2025 and we had 80 responses from a variety of organisations we work regularly with. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being high, in response to the questions:

Key words that came up most in the comments included ‘support,’ ‘partnership’ and ‘value.’

We were pleased with the positive feedback we received but we also spent time looking at where and how we could do better.

For 2025/26 will are introducing Goalscape as a framework for the team to record their progress against actions in the annual action plan. We are confident this will allow us to produce useful summary reports of progress, which we will continue to expand on with more detailed, nuanced narratives and examples.

We continue, with our insight partner, Press Red, to develop our use of Artificial Intelligence (AI - Claude) to draw out/summarize key themes and significant changes from the large amount of content the team capture every quarter.

Systems working - our place work

We played this systemic role in each of the 19 local authority areas across Notts and Derbyshire. We are clear and have a strong rationale for where we are focusing our energy (bespoke to each place) and we are acknowledging that this differs from place to place.

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Our place-based work continued to be embedded during the year. Wider system partners e.g. health, are aligning their place-based work and collectively, and in many areas, there is a momentum and desire to focus on the areas experiencing greatest inequality and to work in a systemic way; genuine collaboration, understanding the need for decisions and shaping of the work to be led by insight, co-designed and co-produced with people and communities thus bringing in diversity of thought. There has been a growing recognition of what this takes and the mindsets required.

We have been working through Place-Based Partnerships to embed systemic place-based work within Integrated Neighbourhood Working and we are finding that where there are partners with energy, permission and capability to work in this way, collaboration feels natural and easy. The remit of the Place Based Partnerships in Nottinghamshire and the mandate from the Integrated Care Boards (ICB) around the need for an integrated care system creates a sense of purpose that enables this way of working and collaboration. APT is seen as a valued key partner in this work, acting as a translator and convenor across systems where this work is new and unfamiliar. By being involved in this way it allows physical activity to be embedded and woven into the work as it progresses.

Our work with communities and with the system that supports those communities, takes place across both counties. This place work is funded through our Sport England System Partner funding, Sport England Place Partnership funding, local authority funding and NHS integrated neighbourhood work/funding. For APT and our places, how the work is funded is not important.

Place Partnership funding

With the opportunity to apply for Sport England Place Partnership funding over summer 2024, we actively considered how we integrate the Place Partnership programme within our wider place work. ‘Making Our Move’ set out a way of working that aligns closely to Sport England’s Place Partnership programme and we have been working in this way since 2017. In some places our work with communities and with the system that supports those communities is more advanced than in our current Place Partnership areas of Ashfield, Derby, Erewash and Nottingham.

Considerable staff time was spent over spring and summer 2024 developing, with partners, the application for Place Partnership funding for the four areas and once confirmation of funding came through, more time was spent recruiting new a workforce in each place. All new roles were filled by December 2024 with the focus in the first quarter of 2025 on the induction of the new employees.

Systems working - How did we capture insight, lived experience and understand community needs?

All the above relies on our team and our partners capturing and sharing insight, lived experience and a shared understanding of community needs. We facilitated this in a number of ways.

Setting up and facilitating formal learning spaces e.g. the Walk Derbyshire Learning Network. These half-day sessions brought together pilot leads and consortium members, with professional scribing support to capture insights. This commitment to regular and collective reflection allowed exploration of consortium working, community engagement and sustainable approaches which informed the next stage of the work.

Walking work in High Peak is an example of ensuring resident voice reaches decision-makers. The High Peak Walk Derbyshire consortium presented community insights at New Mills Town Hall, with attendance from key stakeholders including borough councillors.

We hosted regular ‘Talking Spaces’ (online lunch time events for partners). During 2024/25 we organised the following:

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

All these sessions were recorded and shared on our website so that interested people could watch or listen at a time convenient to them. The attendance numbers and the feedback from all the sessions was positive and led to new actions being taken forward.

The topics in January and February 2025 (supporting people to be active during Ramadan and tackling racism in communities) generated interest in learning more about these and how we might better support colleagues and communities. We observed that attendees for both sessions were those who wanted to learn how to be better allies and wanted to grow their confidence in being so. This was evident through some of the questions asked about how to deal with and respond to racism they had come across in their work and how they could develop their processes to deal with this. A number of attendees have gone on to create codes of conduct for their social media channels. These include partners from local community groups and organisations supporting people to be active so by creating anti racist policies, we can start to demonstrate there are safe spaces for people to be active.

During the year we started work to refresh ‘Making our Move: Uniting the Movement in Notts and Derbyshire’. This started with a concentrated look across and making sense of all the learning over the last four years. This exercise has been used to update the shared priorities (goals) and re-align some of the cross-cutting themes (removing references to covid, including EDI and environmental sustainability) to ensure it is up to date. The process of undertaking a refresh of ‘Making Our Move’ has helped us realise the scale of the work, the broad spectrum of partners involved and the amount of learning we have.

Systems working - How did we work with system partners?

During the second half of the year, we undertook a strategic assessment of our monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) with a systems evaluation specialist. She independently reviewed our work and the MEL requirements of Place Partnership funding, system partner place work, Place Universal offer funding and local programmes/evaluation. From this, we set out an approach for 2025/26 to align all these strands of evaluation and learning. We have developed our approach to assess system maturity using a matrix and how we will develop and use theories of change to help us understand change that is taking place.

Systems Leadership training

System change takes time and involves many other organisations, working towards a shared aim and in a similar way. For some people, working in organisations we sit around tables with, in our places, system working is second nature. For others it is new. To support our partners in place, understand the need for and potential of system change, over the past two years we have invested in a systems leadership training programme, open and free to all, some sessions online, some face to face.

Our systems leadership workshops have continued to build skills and capability around systems thinking, together with partners. These sessions bring a network of people with different expertise and across different sectors together to learn from each other about systemic barriers and enablers. The process of understanding and learning together, including members of our Place team, is invaluable in building the relationships and trust needed to work in place.

In 2024/25, six open sessions were delivered online by the Leadership Centre. They were designed in a way that participants did not need to attend every session but could just select those that were of interest to them. The open sessions have engaged over 200 participants from across both Derbyshire and Notts ICBs, Public Health and local authorities. There has been less engagement through the voluntary and community sector, which is

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

something we are seeking to understand better.

The development of the Active Environment Network in 2024/25 has been significant and given access to new partners across the leisure, parks, community safety, nature, voluntary sector, health, transport, planning and highways system. It has helped our and their understanding of the importance of improving the opportunities for people to journey from their own doorstep through walking, wheeling or cycling.

With the team in place early April 2024, work started in earnest in summer 2024 to develop a systems approach to walking across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. A new website has been developed, new relationships in place and the first county/city wide walking festival was organised for May 2025.

Systems working - How did we collaborate during the year?

Our work is all collaborative – it is inherent in how we operate. This is true for all our activity across the 19 local authorities and across the different parts of the system (sectors) that we work in.

In October and in response to feedback indicating a desire to connect, we held a conference for over 200 system partners, across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire who are working with us to implement ‘Making Our Move: Uniting the Movement in Notts and Derbyshire’. We created a shared space for ourselves and partners to connect and an opportunity to learn from others and with others in the system across a range of themes (health, active environments, young people, working with communities). The thread running through all sessions was exploring what it takes to lead systemic work.

Health

The strength of the collaborative working with partners in health is evident. The systems leadership sessions, delivered by The Leadership Centre, have been attended by many working in the health system. Conversations during the sessions and in subsequent systems leadership informal catch ups have indicated where approaches are being used and where these are challenging or working well.

Across our two counties, health systems are in transition, with a growing emphasis on integrating physical activity into place-based health strategies. This shift has been particularly evident through the emergence of Place Alliances/ Place Based Partnerships’ focus on integrated neighbourhood work and neighbourhood-level (placebased) collaboration. Through these networks and directives, we have influenced and seen evidence where physical activity is no longer viewed as a stand-alone initiative but as a core component of holistic health improvement and a contributor to the prevention agenda.

Our team, our work and our skillset and expertise in place-based working is recognised and valued in these spaces and this has opened up opportunities to embed physical activity within the work, led by health and wider system partners.

A collaborative relationship with Nottinghamshire County Public Health allowed us to influence the emerging Spatial Planning and Health Framework, with APT seen as a partner with Public Health in launching the framework.

Mid Notts Integrated Neighbourhood Working Community of Practice came about from conversations with the Place Based Partnership/transformation team about how we work more collaboratively across place. This is bringing together system partners to explore working in place to improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of residents and communities with the highest levels of health inequalities. The NHS’s building blocks of health framework is being used to unite and create a shared purpose within this community of practice.

In Amber Valley, Public Health provided locality funding to help progress the ‘Amber Valley Move More Strategy,’ which has then helped to align the ARCH PCN Health Inequalities Strategy. This has demonstrated to the clinicians the benefits and necessity of working collaboratively, with shared priorities and aims. Physical activity is embedded within these strategies and provides a mandate for action.

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(A company limited by guarantee)

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

These examples of collaboration highlighted a cultural shift in ways of working and that partners are increasingly recognising the value of physical activity in achieving broader health goals, with Active Notts and Active Derbyshire playing a crucial role in translating policy into practice.

Delivery

Delivery of programmes like Opening Schools Facilities and School Games complemented and helped us to undertake our systemic role. The two do not sit in isolation. Our delivery work was prioritised and aligned to the places that we are working in: communities experiencing the greatest inequalities.

Opening Schools Facilities

2024/25 was the third and final year of this DFE funded programme. 67 schools across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire received funding in this final year, including 10 special schools. Written and video case studies have been produced and shared on the Making our Move website, showing the positive impact this funding has had on the pupils and the wider community.

School Games

The School Games is committed to:

In Notts and Derbyshire the School Games aims to delivered on these pledges in a safe, inclusive, accessible and meaningful way. The pledges very much align with Making our Move. Through a targeted approach, informed by insight, youth consultation and collaboration, in 2024/25, the county School Games offer in Notts and Derbyshire engaged with more than 1300 young people from 120 schools.

Various multi-activity events were organised across both counties including the Girls Active events.

Girls Active

Following the recommendations in the Nottingham Trent University’s evaluation of our Girls Active programme 2023/24 (academic year) and the additional investment available through Youth Sport Trust, we decided to expand and re-launch the Girls Active programme. Working closely with Youth Sport Trust and using relationships developed through Opening School Facilities, we identified five new secondary schools in Nottingham to invite onto the programme. The schools were chosen using data such as IDACHE codes, FSM, EAL and SEND data leading us to believe they have higher numbers of girls more likely to fall within the less/fairly active categories. The girls attended an introductory inspiration day in February 2025 and took part in theory and practical workshops to enable them to be ambassadors back in school. They are working with their PE teachers and peers to create a curriculum and extra-curricular offer that caters for all girls, not just the “sporty” ones. The first day that the girls helped to plan and lead for their peers took place in June 2025.

How are we becoming a better organisation?

The staff survey completed by every member of the team in May 2024 asked specific questions about culture, values, and behaviours and how these are embedded within our organisation. The results were positive and demonstrated that the team felt valued and empowered, that leadership is distributed, and that our work on values and behaviours is contributing to a supportive culture across the team. In response to the question ‘Would you recommend APT as an employer, we achieved a net promoter score of 94.

The successful application to Sport England for Place Partnership funding meant that the team increased from 32 roles in April 2024 to 37 roles in March 2025. In addition to newly created roles, we also had some team members retiring or moving on to new organisations and therefore new team members joining to fill these vacancies. In total we had 12 new starters in the year. With this growing team, we had a strong focus on team

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

development. All new starters, as part of their induction, have had an introductory development day focused on our culture, values and behaviours and how we collectively support these, understanding the unique and diverse contributions that we bring (different personality types). We have also had a full team development day focused on how we are navigating and managing change. What strategies we are applying. How are we maintaining resilience and what support might we need individually and collectively.

We introduced a new software system to support us in this recruitment: Applied, a platform for de-biased recruitment. This is skills focused and has served well to remove bias. To create a workforce that is more representative, we have actively sought to bring in people with lived experiences of the inequalities we are looking to address.

Our onboarding and induction processes took some time to plan and implement for the 12 new starters we have had. This did impact on the team, who all play a part in this, but the feedback from the new starters has been that it is a very welcoming and informative way to bring them up to speed on the complexity and range of our work and a good way to meet all team members in small meetings in their first three months. We will continue to improve and revise this process as required.

New Funding Awards in 2024/25

Applications submitted and new Sport England funding awarded to APT for:

New funding awards from other funders are:

Extensions to funding awards which were due to end March 2024

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Performance measurement

Evaluating the impact of the work of the team against APT’s goals and priorities is complex. Much of the work that the team does cannot be measured numerically. System change is not easily attributable to one organisation and the level of change, we are seeking to make, takes a long time.

One of the challenges is that every funding stream has its own evaluation and reporting requirements. We are striving to collect one set of qualitative and quantitative data that we can use to meet all reporting requirements and that has a methodology around it that enables us to learn as we go along. It needs to be simple, joined-up, able to flex locally and applicable to the governance structures within our places and communities.

During 2024/25 we started to explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has been helping us review our data and we have continued to evolve our version of ‘Claude’. We currently collect data against the actions in our annual plan on a quarterly basis and this goes into Claude, along with any observations and reflections we have about what is changing, and what is helping or hindering that change. We have developed (and are continuing to improve) the prompts we ask Claude to help us understand overall progress against our shared priorities (goals), in our places, and the conditions we are helping to create.

The information captured and analysed is used to feed into the six monthly Sport England reports and regular reports to the Board.

In addition, we continue to capture, record and share changes we see in the following ways:

Financial review

In 2024/25, Sport England was the main funder with a total of £1,462,107 received in 2024/25 (all restricted) for

Award Term
Systemic & Governing funding 04/22 - 03/27
Programme funding incl, School Games & extended workforce 04/22 - 03/25
Place Partnership (Expansion) 08/24 - 08/26
Sport Welfare Officers 10/23 - 03/27

Local Authority funding is the next largest source.

Amount in year Award Term
Derbyshire County Council restricted £144,000 p.a. 04/24 - 03/29
Derbyshire County Council restricted £498.922 p.a. 04/24 - 03/29*
Derby City & district/boroughs designated £134,626 p.a. up to 03/25
Nottingham City Council restricted £124,000 04/24 - 03/26
Nottinghamshire County Council restricted £61,000 p.a. 04/24 - 03/25

*This funding received from Derbyshire County Council is 100% distributed to organsiations as developed and agreed by the physical activity collaborative (a Derbyshire wide network). As APT is operating as an agent with this proportion of the funding, this allocation is not recongised in the statement of financial activities.

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

The possible loss of any local authority funding in the future, is recognised as an amber risk in the APT risk register and actions are in place to mitigate this risk. This includes maintaining close relationships with key individuals to identify any issues early and by developing our relationships with departments delivering statutory responsibilities as well as with leisure departments (non-statutory). In 2024/25 we also started to explore and develop links with the new East Midlands Combined County Authority.

The Finance Audit and Risk Committee met four times during the year to review the management accounts for 2024/25 and draft 2025/26 budget before these were presented to the Board. The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee also reviewed the following documents during the year before recommending Board approval:

Going forward into 2025/26, APT is in a good position financially with Sport England systemic and governance funding agreed until March 27 and an indicative funding commitment for Place Partnership work up to March 2028, assuming the full award application is successful. The Sport England programme funding that was due to end March 25 has been extended up to March 27.

However, with a fixed income to cover APT’s core systemic and governance costs, increasing inflation rates may present challenges in future years, particularly in relation to employment costs.

Policy on reserves

The unrestricted fund total, shown in the 2024/25 Financial Activities statement is £1,370,911.

The Reserves Policy is reviewed annually. A minimum amount of reserves is allocated to cover costs which would arise if a decision to cease operations was taken (Sinking Fund). The sinking fund must be able to cover the following costs:

The sinking fund on 31st March 2025 was £425,000 however this will increase to £500,000 for financial year 2025/26.

In addition to the sinking fund, APT’s board in 2021/22 agreed to spend £453k of unrestricted reserves, over a five year period (up to March 2027) to move forward priorities identified in ‘Making our Move’. This planned spend of reserves is on-going, continuing to fund the following work:

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

These are still priority work areas and £240.5k of unrestricted reserves is still committed to be spent in this way by March 2027.

In 2025/26 historical restricted funding pots were reviewed and where required or feasible funders were approach for approval to unrestrict this funding. The management accounts for 2025/26 will be structured to reflect these changes. Criteria will be developed to direct the spend of this unrestricted funding in a way that supports/enhances the work we are doing in place.

Funds over and above the amount required in APT’s current account to meet our cash flow requirements are invested in interest generating accounts following the principles outlined in APT’s Investment Policy.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees (who are also the directors of Active Partners Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with the United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) and applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by order of the members of the board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Date:

................................................ Jane Laughton

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ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Independent auditor's report to the Members of Active Partners Trust

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Active Partners Trust (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of financial activities, the Balance sheet, the Statement of cash flows and the related notes, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is 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).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

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

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

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

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

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report other than the financial statements and our Auditor's report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial

Page 14

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST (A company limited by guarantee)

Independent auditor's report to the Members of Active Partners Trust (continued)

statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees' report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

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

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

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

Page 15

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Independent auditor's report to the Members of Active Partners Trust (continued)

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

Based on our understanding of the charity and industry in which it operates, we considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

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

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditor's report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and its members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Wayne Thomas FCA (Senior statutory auditor)

for and on behalf of Bates Weston Audit Ltd Statutory Auditors Chartered Accountants The Mills Canal Street Derby DE1 2RJ

Date:

Page 16

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Statement of financial activities (incorporating income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Note
Income from:
Donations and legacies
2
Charitable activities
3
Investments
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
Total expenditure
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers between funds
15
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
Net movement in funds
Total funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
134,626
6,093
63,111
203,830
108,144
108,144
95,686
83,761
179,447
1,191,464
179,447
1,370,911		 Restricted
funds
2025
£
929,625
1,053,151
-
1,982,776
1,960,916
1,960,916
21,860
(83,761)
(61,901)
903,411
(61,901)
841,510		 Total
funds
2025
£
1,064,251
1,059,244
63,111
2,186,606
2,069,060
2,069,060
117,546
-
117,546
2,094,875
117,546
2,212,421		 Total
funds
2024
£
1,519,576
523,883
32,430
2,075,889
2,183,701
2,183,701
(107,812)
-
(107,812)
2,202,687
(107,812)
2,094,875

The notes on pages 20 to 36 form part of these financial statements.

Page 17

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee) Registered number: 10876876

Balance sheet as at 31 March 2025

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
9
Investments
10
Current assets
Debtors
11
Investments
12
Cash at bank and in hand
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one
year
13
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Total net assets
Charity funds
Restricted funds
15
Unrestricted funds
15
Total funds		 153,339
1,287,844
704,742
2,145,925
(122,339)		 2025
£
18,835
170,000
188,835
2,023,586
2,212,421
2,212,421
841,510
1,370,911
2,212,421		 80,300
956,587
1,185,606
2,222,493
(137,416)		 2024
£
9,798
-
9,798
2,085,077
2,094,875
2,094,875
903,411
1,191,464
2,094,875

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and preparation of financial statements. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to entities subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

................................................

Jane Laughton

Date:

The notes on pages 20 to 36 form part of these financial statements.

Page 18

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Statement of cash flows
for the year ended 31 March 2025
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash used in operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Net cash used in investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
The notes on pages 20 to 36 form part of these financial statements		 2025
£
34,973
(14,580)
(14,580)
20,393
2,142,193
2,162,586		 2024
£
(227,961)
(8,983)
(8,983)
(236,944)
2,379,137
2,142,193

Page 19

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies

1.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Active Partners Trust 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.

1.2 Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

The trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate i.e. whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of one year from the date of approval of the financial statements.

No material uncertainties exist regarding going concern.

1.3 Income

Voluntary income including donations, gifts, legacies and grants that provide core funding or are of a general nature is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Grants are recognised when the charity has an entitlement to the funds and any conditions linked to the grants have been met. Where performance conditions are attached to the grant are yet to be met, the income is recognised as a liability and included on the balance sheet as deferred income to be released.

Income tax recoverable in relation to investment income is recognised at the time the investment income is receivable.

1.4 Expenditure

All expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to that expenditure, it is probable settlement is required and the amount can be measured reliably. All costs are allocated to the applicable expenditure heading that aggregate similar costs to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of resources, with central staff costs allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset’s use. Other support costs are allocated based on the spread of staff costs.

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

Page 20

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

1.5 Government grants

Government grants relating to tangible fixed assets are treated as deferred income and released to the Statement of financial activities upon the completion of the relevant performance-related conditions. Other grants that are not subject to performance-related conditions are credited to the Statement of financial activities as the grant proceeds are received. Grants received prior to the revenue recognition criteria being satisfied are recognised as a liability.

1.6 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 institution with whom the funds are deposited.

1.7 Taxation

The charity is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

1.8 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Individual fixed assets costing £500 or more are initially recorded at cost, less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.

Tangible fixed assets are initially recognised at cost. After recognition, under the cost model, tangible fixed assets are measured at cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. All costs incurred to bring a tangible fixed asset into its intended working condition should be included in the measurement of cost.

Depreciation is charged so as to allocate the cost of tangible fixed assets less their residual value over their estimated useful lives, using the straight-line method.

Depreciation is provided on the following bases:

1.9 Investments

Fixed asset investments are a form of financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction cost and subsequently measured at fair value at the Balance sheet date, unless the value cannot be measured reliably in which case it is measured at cost less impairment. Investment gains and losses, whether realised or unrealised, are combined and presented as ‘Gains/(Losses) on investments’ in the Statement of financial activities.

Page 21

(A company limited by guarantee)

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

1.10 Debtors

Trade debtors are amounts due from funding partners to support activities carried out by the charity during the period.

1.11 Cash at bank and in hand

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other short-term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.

1.12 Liabilities and provisions

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Trade creditors are classified as current liabilities if the charity does not have an unconditional right, at the end of the reporting period, to defer settlement of the creditor for at least twelve months after the reporting date. If there is an unconditional right to defer settlement for at least twelve months after the reporting date, they are presented as non-current liabilities.

Provisions are measured at the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation. Where the effect of the time value of money is material, the provision is based on the present value of those amounts, discounted at the pre-tax discount rate that reflects the risks specific to the liability. The unwinding of the discount is recognised in the Statement of financial activities as a finance cost.

1.13 Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity. Pension costs in the Statement of Financial Activities represent the contributions payable by the charity during the year.

1.14 Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.

Page 22

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

2. Income from donations and legacies

Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
Government grants
Derby City Council
25,056
Amber Valley Borough Council
15,701
Erewash Borough Council
15,117
South Derbyshire District Council
12,191
Derbyshire County Council
-
High Peak Borough Council
13,603
Derbyshire Dales District Council
11,823
Chesterfield Borough Council
14,610
North East Derbyshire District Council
14,450
Bolsover District Council
12,075
Total government grants
134,626
Grants
-
Subtotal
-
134,626
Total 2024
134,626		 Restricted
funds
2025
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
929,625
929,625
929,625
1,384,950		 Total
funds
2025
£
25,056
15,701
15,117
12,191
-
13,603
11,823
14,610
14,450
12,075
134,626
929,625
929,625
1,064,251
1,519,576		 Total
funds
2024
£
25,056
15,701
15,117
12,191
464,000
13,603
11,823
14,610
14,450
12,075
598,626
920,950
920,950
1,519,576

Page 23

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

3. Income from charitable activities

Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
Grants
-
Government grants
328
Training fees
2,649
Other fees
3,116
Total 2025
6,093
Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
Government grants
Nottinghamshire County Council
-
Nottingham City Council
328
Derbyshire County Council
-
Ashfield District Council
-
328
Total 2024
28		 Restricted
funds
2025
£
720,698
185,000
-
147,453
1,053,151
Restricted
funds
2025
£
61,000
124,000
-
-
185,000
88,137		 Total
funds
2025
£
720,698
185,328
2,649
150,569
1,059,244
Total
funds
2025
£
61,000
124,328
-
-
185,328
88,165		 Total
funds
2024
£
420,191
88,165
10,246
5,281
523,883
Total
funds
2024
£
60,000
25,165
1,000
2,000
88,165

Page 24

(A company limited by guarantee)

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

4. Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities

Summary by fund type

Unrestricted
funds
2025
£
Young people's participation
15
Place based work
48,407
Priority group support & advocacy
1,040
Workforce development
22,084
Insight
36,598
108,144		 Restricted
funds
2025
£
331,493
541,816
449,471
267,413
370,723
1,960,916		 Total
2025
£
331,508
590,223
450,511
289,497
407,321
2,069,060		 Total
2024
£
323,165
578,760
448,768
395,085
437,923
2,183,701

5. Analysis of expenditure by activities

Young people's participation
Place based work
Priority group support & advocacy
Workforce development
Insight
Total 2024		 Activities
undertaken
directly
2025
£
70,377
176,080
107,409
8,563
25,321
387,750
604,657		 Support
costs
2025
£
261,131
414,143
343,102
280,934
382,000
1,681,310
1,579,044		 Total
funds
2025
£
331,508
590,223
450,511
289,497
407,321
2,069,060
2,183,701		 Total
funds
2024
£
323,165
578,760
448,768
395,085
437,923
2,183,701

Page 25

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

5. Analysis of expenditure by activities (continued)

Analysis of support costs

Staff costs
Premises and IT
Consultancy
Marketing
Governance		 Total
funds
2025
£
1,335,083
173,163
138,276
34,788
-
1,681,310		 Total
funds
2024
£
1,162,263
113,956
252,609
46,481
3,735
1,579,044

Support costs are allocated in proportion to overall staff time spent on each activity.

6. Auditor's remuneration

The auditor's remuneration amounts to an auditor fee of £7,850 ( 2024 - £7,500 ).

7. Staff costs

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
The average number of persons employed by the charity during the year was
Average number of employees		 2025
£
1,156,940
111,894
66,249
1,335,083
as follows:
2025
32		 2024
£
1,007,058
96,928
58,277
1,162,263
2024
29

Page 26

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

7. Staff costs (continued)

The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was:

2025 2024
No. No.
In the band £60,001 - £70,000 2 2

The roles within the senior management team are as listed in the reference and administrative section on page 1.

The total employee benefits of the senior management team of the charity were £306,896 (2024 - £286,090).

8. Trustees' remuneration and expenses

During the year, no Trustees received any remuneration or other benefits (2024 - £NIL) .

During the year ended 31 March 2025, travel expenses totalling £181 were reimbursed to 2 Trustees' (2024 - £ 137).

9. Tangible fixed assets

Cost
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
Depreciation
At 1 April 2024
Charge for the year
At 31 March 2025
Net book value
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024		 Office
equipment
£
1,195
-
1,195
-
398
398
797
1,195		 Computer
equipment
£
38,031
14,580
52,611
29,428
5,145
34,573
18,038
8,603		 Total
£
39,226
14,580
53,806
29,428
5,543
34,971
18,835
9,798

Page 27

(A company limited by guarantee)

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

Notes to the financial statements
for the year ended 31 March 2025
10.
Fixed asset investments
Cost
Additions
At 31 March 2025
11.
Debtors
Due within one year
Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
12.
Current asset investments
Cash held on short term deposit
13.
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Other taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accrued expenses		 2025
£
65,980
87,359
153,339
2025
£
1,287,844
2025
£
47,147
25,157
12,352
37,683
122,339		 Fixed term
deposits
£
170,000
170,000
2024
£
16,336
63,964
80,300
2024
£
956,587
2024
£
70,154
22,848
11,045
33,369
137,416

Page 28

(A company limited by guarantee)

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

14. Agency Arrangements

During the reporting period, the charity has acted as an agent on behalf of Derbyshire County Council as part of the physical activity partnership agreement. Under this agreement the charity received £642,922 of which £498,922 was provided for the charity to distribute to various other borough councils and is not represented in the statement of financial activities, the remaining £144,000 does not form part of the agency arrangement and is reflected in the statement of financial activities. All of the funds received as an agent were distributed in accordance with the agreement, therefore the charity retains no liability at the end of the reporting period.

15. Statement of funds

Statement of funds - current year

Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Sinking fund
Committed projects
General funds
General fund
Total Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
AD DCC
AD GOGA
AD PH Commission
AD Walk Derbyshire
AN NCC Walk One Step
AN NCC Walk Lead
SE APT Core		 Balance at 1
April 2024
£
425,000
274,201
699,201
492,263
1,191,464
Balance at 1
April 2024
£
86,410
6,046
-
389,464
70,276
(4,132)
51,741		 Income
£
-
2,849
2,849
200,981
203,830
Income
£
144,000
60,000
499
-
-
186,915
1,052,257		 Expenditure
£
-
(36,613)
(36,613)
(71,531)
(108,144)
Expenditure
£
(22,108)
(54,000)
-
(201,298)
(33,500)
(93,916)
(1,013,590)		 Transfers
in/out
£
-
205
205
83,556
83,761
Transfers
in/out
£
(147,000)
(12,046)
-
51,124
-
-
41,041		 Balance at
31 March
2025
£
425,000
240,642
665,642
705,269
1,370,911
Balance at
31 March
2025
£
61,302
-
499
239,290
36,776
88,867
131,449

Page 29

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

15. Statement of funds (continued)

Statement of funds - current year (continued)

Balance at
Balance at 1 Transfers 31 March
April 2024 Income Expenditure in/out 2025
£ £ £ £ £
AN SE Priority Places 35,622 - (14,077) - 21,545
SE CYP School Games 79,407 50,000 (59,450) (44,407) 25,550
SE CYP School Facilities 949 66,310 (67,961) 700 (2)
SE Sport Welfare 19,641 133,850 (79,777) - 73,714
PP APT Capacity - 33,000 (22,948) - 10,052
PP Derby - 55,500 (34,245) - 21,255
PP Nottingham - 87,750 (54,224) - 33,526
Funds below £30k 167,987 112,695 (209,822) 26,827 97,687
903,411 1,982,776 (1,960,916) (83,761) 841,510
Balance at
Balance at 1 Transfers 31 March
April 2024 Income Expenditure in/out 2025
£ £ £ £ £
Total of funds 2,094,875 2,186,606 (2,069,060) - 2,212,421
Statement of funds - prior year
Balance at
Balance at Transfers 31 March
1 April 2023 Income Expenditure in/out 2024
£ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Sinking fund 400,000 - - 25,000 425,000
Committed projects 309,407 - (16,773) (18,433) 274,201
709,407 - (16,773) 6,567 699,201

Page 30

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

15. Statement of funds (continued)

General funds
General fund
Total Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
AD DCC Public Health
AD DCC
AD GOGA
AD Walk Derbyshire
AN PH
AN NCC Walk One Step
AN NCC Walk Lead
AN Nott City
SE APT Core
SE AN Priority Places
SE CYP Workforce
SE CYP Place
SE CYP School Games
SE CYP School Facilities
SE Club Matters
SE TIF
SE Social Prescribing
APT Insight
APT Marketing & Comms
Funds below £20k
Total of funds		 Balance at
1 April 2023
£
399,118
1,108,525
30,869
76,836
6,046
508,908
31,284
49,311
12,476
27,850
6,963
43,601
22,777
28,513
73,147
(235)
43,880
74,756
5,578
(3,951)
2,308
53,245
1,094,162
2,202,687		 Income
£
170,848
170,848
-
144,000
39,866
320,000
-
60,000
-
-
1,051,125
-
10,131
-
50,000
65,999
-
-
42,800
26,400
2,769
91,951
1,905,041
2,075,889		 Expenditure
£
(58,090)
(74,863)
(12,213)
(25,426)
(39,866)
(439,444)
(1,060)
(39,035)
(34,608)
(12,150)
(1,058,747)
(7,979)
(14,515)
-
(43,740)
(63,865)
(14,105)
(72,782)
(38,084)
(54,013)
(46,480)
(90,726)
(2,108,838)
(2,183,701)		 Transfers
in/out
£
(19,613)
(13,046)
-
(109,000)
-
-
(18,000)
-
18,000
-
52,400
-
-
-
-
(950)
(3,000)
(1,974)
(430)
30,000
45,000
1,000
13,046
-		 Balance at
31 March
2024
£
492,263
1,191,464
18,656
86,410
6,046
389,464
12,224
70,276
(4,132)
15,700
51,741
35,622
18,393
28,513
79,407
949
26,775
-
9,864
(1,564)
3,597
55,470
903,411
2,094,875

Page 31

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

16. Purpose of funds

The specific purposes for which the restricted funds are to be applied are as follows:

AD Delivery DCC - This is the part of the total £3,201,181 grant from Derbyshire County Council from April 2024 to March 2029 to fund Active Derbyshire’s strategic lead role in the county and the development of the collaborative commissioning work. The amount of this which is for APT is £144k p.a.

AD GOGA - The original 3-year award from Activity Alliance was extended by an additional £60k for 2024/25. The award is to continue to support disabled and non-disabled people to be active together in Heanor and the surrounding area. The programme and its delivery are managed by the Active Amber Valley partnership and APT. As a member of this partnership, APT is the accountable body for this funding award.

AD PH Commission - This is the delivery part of the total £3,201,181 grant from Derbyshire County Council from April 2024 to March 2029 which APT is responsible for managing. APT is responsible for working with existing and new partners to develop PA opportunities to meet the needs of their residents, based on insight. Once plans agreed, APT is responsible for distributing 100% of the delivery allocation to locality partners. In 2024/25 £499.9k was distributed.

AD Walk Derbyshire - Funding from Derbyshire County Council of £825,000 for Walk Derbyshire programme from 01/01/22 to 31/12/23. With agreement from Derbyshire County Council, underspends in employments costs, delays in partners spending their allocations, plus the contribution from Derby City Council have allowed APT to extend this work up to 31/03/2026.

AN NCC Walk One Step - Funding from Nottinghamshire County Council from March 2022 to support local ‘One step at a time’ projects, including walking, across the county. Funding held by APT on behalf of a partners group, of which APT is a member.

AN NCC Walk Lead - In 2022/23 this funding from Nottinghamshire County Council funded the costs of Ridewise to develop a shared vision for walking across Nottinghamshire. All the funding was spent and Ridewise’s contract ended March 2024 and new funding from Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council will be received April 2024 to fund the Walk Notts programme until March 2026.

APT Core - This includes the Systemic and Governing funding from Sport England towards the core costs of APT, covering the employment costs of most of the team plus office running costs etc. It also includes some of the programme funding from Sport England to cover the employment costs of team members delivering Sport England programmes.

AN SE Priority Places - Funding from Sport England 01/10/18-31/03/21 to finance the Nottingham local priority places pilot work. Making progress was difficult and it was agreed with Sport England and partners that despite an underspend, the project would end March 2021. Sport England agreed that the underspend could be kept by APT to be spent in Nottingham, with their prior approval. This is on-going.

SE CYP School Games - Sport England programme funding awarded to deliver the school games across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. This is delivery funding for the school games. The funding to employ the team members leading on young people work sits within APT Core.

SE CYP School Facilities - Funding to support schools to open their facilities for community use. Initially this funding was from Sport England. It is now from Active Partnerships (the national network) who were awarded a contract from the Department of Education to deliver a national Opening Schools Facilities programme through its network of Active Partnerships. APT has a three-year agreement (01/23-03/25) with Active Partnerships for £198.9k capacity funding to deliver the programme on their behalf in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. This funding is now 100% spent.

Page 32

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

SE Sport Welfare - Sport England funding awarded to fund the appointment and delivery budget for two new roles: Sport Welfare Lead Derbyshire and Sport Welfare Lead Nottinghamshire. The funding award is a total of £382,200 from October 2023 to 31 March 2027. Two new team members started in the roles March 2024.

Place Partnership APT Capacity - Place Partnership funding is a new Sport England award of £1,219,511 from August 2024 to August 2026, to fund community engagement and build skills and capacity of workers and residents in 4 places; Ashfield, Derby, Erewash, Nottingham to understand the barriers to being active in these places. The award also includes some funding to increase APT’s capacity to manage this work and to fund external evaluation work. This award has been split into 5 budget classes, this class being the internal capacity element. The place budget classes are detailed below.

Place Partnership Derby - Funding application submitted to Sport England requested different amounts per place depending on size of place and resources required. Two new team members appointed (1.6 FTE) to take this work forward.

Place Partnership Nottingham - Funding application submitted to Sport England requested different amounts per place depending on size of place and resources required. Three new team members were appointed (3 FTE) to take this work forward.

Transfers

Transfers include reallocations within restricted funds, the clearing down of restricted fund overspends with unrestricted funds, and the further designation of unrestricted funds.

17. Summary of funds

Summary of funds - current year

Designated funds
General funds
Restricted funds		 Balance at 1
April 2024
£
699,201
492,263
903,411
2,094,875		 Income
£
2,849
200,981
1,982,776
2,186,606		 Expenditure
£
(36,613)
(71,531)
(1,960,916)
(2,069,060)		 Transfers
in/out
£
205
83,556
(83,761)
-		 Balance at
31 March
2025
£
665,642
705,269
841,510
2,212,421

Page 33

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

17. Summary of funds (continued)

Summary of funds - prior year

Balance at
Balance at Transfers 31 March
1 April 2023 Income Expenditure in/out 2024
£ £ £ £ £
Designated funds 709,407 - (16,773) 6,567 699,201
General funds 399,118 170,848 (58,090) (19,613) 492,263
Restricted funds 1,094,162 1,905,041 (2,108,838) 13,046 903,411
2,202,687 2,075,889 (2,183,701) - 2,094,875
Analysis of net assets between funds
Analysis of net assets between funds - current year
Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds
2025 2025 2025
£ £ £
Tangible fixed assets 18,835 - 18,835
Fixed asset investments 40,005 - 40,005
Current assets 1,312,071 963,849 2,275,920
Creditors due within one year - (122,339) (122,339)
Total 1,370,911 841,510 2,212,421
Analysis of net assets between funds - prior year
Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds
2024 2024 2024
£ £ £
Tangible fixed assets 9,798 - 9,798
Current assets 1,181,666 1,040,827 2,222,493
Creditors due within one year - (137,416) (137,416)
Total 1,191,464 903,411 2,094,875

18. Analysis of net assets between funds Analysis of net assets between funds - current year

Page 34

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST

(A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

19. Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities

Net income/expenditure for the year (as per Statement
Activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Increase in debtors
Increase/(Decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities
20.
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand
Cash on fixed term deposit
Total cash and cash equivalents
21.
Analysis of changes in net debt
Cash at bank and in hand
Cash on fixed term deposit		 of Financial
At 1 April
2024
£
1,185,606
956,587
2,142,193		 2025
£
117,546
5,543
(73,039)
(15,077)
34,973
2025
£
704,742
1,457,844
2,162,586
Cash flows
£
(480,864)
501,257
20,393		 2024
£
(107,812)
4,510
(41,258)
(83,401)
(227,961)
2024
£
1,185,606
956,587
2,142,193
At 31 March
2025
£
704,742
1,457,844
2,162,586

Page 35

ACTIVE PARTNERS TRUST (A company limited by guarantee)

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

22. Operating lease commitments

At 31 March 2025 the charity had commitments to make future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases as follows:

2025 2024
£ £
Not later than 1 year 4,422 5,445

23. Charity Status

The charity is a private company limited by guarantee and consequently does not have share capital. Each of the trustees is liable to contribute an amount not exceeding £10 towards the assets of the charity in the event of liquidation.

24. Related party transactions

C Hart is Shadow Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing at Erewash Borough Council. During the year ended 31 March 2024 the charity received grants of £15,117 (2024: £15,117) from the council. C Hart is also a County Councillor for Derbyshire County Council for the Breadall and West Hallam Division. During the year ended 31 March 2025 the charity received grants of £144,000 (2024: £465,000) from the council.

D Higton is the Service Director for Place and Communities at Nottinghamshire County Council. During the year ended 31 March 2025 the charity received grants of £61,000 (2024: £60,000) from the council.

R North is a Director of R J North Consultancy Ltd. During the year ended 31 March 2025 the charity paid £4,200 for consultancy services (2024: £Nil) from R J North Consultancy Ltd.

Page 36